Napkins

 See the pretty mitered corners?  And I almost got all the lines matching (on this one side of one napkin)

Today I finally figured out how to add the loop to napkin!  It only took me three napkins to figure it out.  Go me.

A Summer to Sew

After a truly terrible afternoon with my sewing machine, I angrily packed it away in a box and then pretended I didn't own for two years.  Then recently, my SIL wanted to take a class together and she chose a quilt block class at Joanns.  And in wonder, I realized that sewing could actually be fun again.  I concluded that I need to start over and go over the basics again, and if I'm going to do that, I might as well bring Elyse along for the ride.  I bought us a book with 33 simple projects.  Each lessons teaches one basic concept and has a simple project.  The next lesson builds on the previous skill, aka practicing the previous skill again, and adds one more conept with another project.  There are three projects in each chapter and lots of different ways to embellish and alter the projects to fit your creative style.  So instead of signing Elyse up for anything this summer, we're holing up in the cool basement and tackling each chapter of this book.  We've already finished lesson one--with minimal unpicking!

Tea towel with folded over corners and stamped fruit:

Here's a link to the book. 
Sewing Book

 It even comes with patterns in the front pocket. Today I'm trying to make napkins with mitered corners and a loop to hang them on a hook. The loop is throwing me for a...well, a loop. I can't figure out how to sew it on and have it sticking in the right direction. Lots of unpicking today...

Piggy Boy

I forgot to add this photo to Luke's birthday post.  Luke requested bacon for breakfast and Jarom discovered it's like one of his all-time favorite foods.  Pretty ironic, since the bright pink piggy (we loving refer to as one armed piggy because, you know, he's only got one arm.  It took Jarom a while to figure out that one armed piggy can't clap hands like froggy.  And now piggy is getting a giant hole in his head, too.  But I digress...) is his all time favorite animal to play with.

Jarom's Birthday

 Three days after Luke's b-day is Jarom's, who turned two this year.  Weird.  I can't believe he's already two.  Here he is with a brand new piggy from Elyse.  Piggies and froggies are his favorite animals and he was so excited about this new one that he immediately pounced on it and hugged it to the ground.

 We biked to the ward picnic later that day.  Jarom didn't make it back home awake.

 Then we headed to Gramma Sue and Papa's pond where all the other cousins met to swim and cool off because it was a HOT day.  Jarom couldn't figure out how to blow the candles out by himself, but there were plenty of other cousins there to help him with that.

Luke's Birthday

Luke turned five on May 27th.  We moved into this house when he was three weeks old, so I always know how long I've lived here.  It's weird to think this is the only home he's ever known.  His birthday was also the same day as his preschool graduation, which he thought was pretty cool.  Luke's all ready for kindergarten and talks about it almost daily.  For his birthday we went miniature golfing as a family and then we left the kids home and took Luke out for a special dinner of his choosing.  Oddly enough, he chose Hello Sushi because he loves the Japanese carrot ginger dressing salad and miso soup.