My New Skirt!

Ok so I have never sewed a skirt before. So I decided to blog about my first attempt! Now for those of you who don't know me I am not one to follow all of the rules. So keep that in mind if you should decide to critique my work. I used a little improvising to make this work!

This is the material I chose. It is brown with little flowers. It is kinof plain but I like it. It kindof reminds me of something they would have used during the 1800's for an every day skirt.

First I ironed the material so that it would lay flat when I was cutting out the pattern.

Then I pinned the pattern onto the material.

Next I cut the material out.


And sewed it together


Here is one section. But upon sewing the whol thing together I discovered that I made it much too small. I am not as skinny as I once was and miss judged the size I needed to make it work! GRRR. Any way with som improvization i altered the skirt and it wound up shorter than I origonally planned but at least now it fits.

The skirt is still not finished. I need to hem it and add somelastic to the waist. But over all It turned out ok. My seams may not be perficatly streight and I might have some stray strings flying about but when I am done I think it will look just fine. And with time perhaps I can refine my sewing skills and pattern reading enough to sew a better skirt. Either than or I'll spend a week with my mom and perhaps she can teach me.

Track Meet 1 & 2

Ansir joined track this year and seems to be enjoying himself. I have discovered that 7th grade track is a time of exploration to see what each child might be good at or enjoy competing in. Here you can see Ansir getting ready to throw the discus.

Here is the wind up.

And the pitch! It didn't get too far but if he keeps practicing he will improve!

This is Ansir running the 200 meter dash. He likes to look at the ground.

Here he has his head up and is concentrating on the race.

Now we are at today's track meet. It was a beautiful day. These are all the boys as they walk to their starting line. They look like they are walking to the fight of their lives.

I love this shot! He is in mid stride. No feet touching the ground and the look of determination on his face.

Another air shot but I like the shadow on this picture.

They are nearing the finish line and they are giving it all they have.

Come on Ansir you can do it You can catch him. Go! Go! Go!
Ansir may not have won his race but we sure are proud of him for trying. We just know that with time, Practice and the Lords help he will get faster. Rember it's not that you win the race its that you ran it the best you could!

Easter Egg Dying the Ukrainian Way

These are my daddy's hands working so diligently on his Ukrainian egg. He always has to be different, Instead of using the candle to remove the wax he used his pocket knife to scrape the wax off before dying it. I didn't think it would turn out but it did. And he didn't have a lot of excess wax to melt and remove.

Here you can see the full concentration on his face. I am glad that everyone enjoyed making their special creations.

These are my mothers hands. She also enjoyed making her eggs. She was able to complete two of them. We must have spent hours doing them. And to my surprise she didn't even brake one.

Here are both of my parents. Mom with a smile as she is enjoying this activity and dad totally serious.

Again my mom with her smile. She really enjoyed herself.

These are my grandma's hands as she is is decorating her egg.
(I remember as a kid I used to curve my little finger just like hers when used a fork or drank from a coffee cup. I guess I wanted to be just like her.)

Grandma even joined in the act. She thought her hands were much too shaky but her egg was turning out beautiful until it jumped out of her hands and landed on the floor. That was the end of her egg making days. She had made some with markers years ago and she figured they were just as beautiful.

I also joined in the fun. I could do this for hours. Too bad we don't have that much time to sit and create!

Here are some pictures of the finished products.

The one with the butterfly and the black one with yellow on are my mothers eggs. The black one with spiderwebs on it is my dads and the other two are mine.
Melissa's Egg

New Crosses for My Cross Wall

This is a cross that I bought about a month ago at the craft fair being held at the hotel that I work at. I loved the Easter theme and that it was made of bob wire. I also found it interesting that the seller and creator was from Rapid City. So I moved all the way to ND just to buy something from someone in SD.

This cross was a special gift from my best friend Ann. I absolutely love it and will cherish it always. If you click on the picture you will see what the words say! Again an Easter message.

My friend also gave me this angel. This too has found a special place on my cross wall!
I pray that each of you have a special friend to share special times with. Even if they are far far away! Most of all remember to share Gods love and his special Easter message with them. For Christ Has Risen
He Has Risen Indeed! Hallelujah !!!

Just a Note

In case you didn't realize. Each of the book titles on my reading challenge list are linked to amazon.com so that you can easily find info on the book if you are interested.