Birthday Pillows

Last week my niece turned four. They recently moved to a new house, and my parents got her some new bedding. I made matching pillows:
I based these on the instructions in this book. They came together easily, and I'm really pleased with them. Stay tuned for my latest project-- naptime skirts! There are more photos from the par-tay here.

They (are about to) pave paradise and put up a parking lot

This weekend my dad took me to see my family's dairy farm. It had been in our family since the 1700s, and the ancestor who built the farm actually purchased the land from William Penn. My great-grandfather sold the farm to some Amish in the 1960s, and they recently sold it to the Manheim Auto Auction. They will be knocking down all of the buildings and paving the fields to make more parking. My dad and his brother and sisters have a lot of memories of the farm, and I'm so glad I got to see it for myself before it is gone. I heard lots of stories and took lots of pictures. It is amazing that the farm had been in our family for so long, and in just a few weeks it will be completely gone. The farmhouse:

It looks totally different here than in did when my family owned it. The Amish family really let it fall into disrepair.

Many of my ancestors are buried on the farm. At one point, all of these headstones were breaking and falling down. My great-grandfather gathered them all up and arranged them like this. They date back to the 1700s, and some are written in German.

{ break time }

I need to take a break from blogging/flickr/reading others' blogs for a few days. I have a bit of Christmas sewing that I need to do, and then I plan on enjoying some cookies, hanging out with my family, and relaxing. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Happy Birthday, Clint!

Yesterday was my brother Clint's birthday. He's not really a lounge singer; this is him at my wedding singing "Ring of Fire." Ha!

Anchors Aweigh

My mom and I spent the past two days in the Chicago area for my brother Curt's graduation from Navy boot camp. We met his fiancee, Jamie, there, and also got to see a good friend of mine. After not seeing each other for two months, I don't think I've ever seen two people happier to see each other than those two. Curt only had "liberty" for a few hours (and then had to return to the base), so we caught up and he entertained us with stories from boot camp. His next step is linguistics school in Monterey, California. Way to go, Curt!






And, in completely unrelated news, I am going to be participating in my very first craft show! It is at the Coleman Chapel (just up the road from where we live) and will be pretty small and low-key... the perfect place for starting out. It is less than a month away, so I must get busy. I also got an order for two bibs and for a purse! I think I will be spending most of today at my sewing machine.