Honeybees in May

HoneybeeInstead of getting my honeybees local, I’ve opted to purchase them online mainly because I won’t be ready for them when April comes around. I’m a bit disappointed but I’m happy that I’ll still be able to get my bees this year.

The time I’m an “official bee owner” will only be delayed by one month, so that’s not bad at all. By the time May arrives, I’ll have finally settled on a nice suitable home for the honeybees. Instead of three pounds of bees, I’m seriously thinking about getting six pounds, which will be enough for two beehives.

Honey isn’t the reason I want the bees, I’m getting them for their awesome pollination skills. Last year, we had nice sized produce from our garden. This year, hopefully we’ll have larger produce with the help of the honeybees. Since I have over a month to prepare I’ll be creating another flower garden right near the bees home. Did you know that bees can travel up to 60 miles per day? They’re also fly around 15 miles per hour.

I’ve always been fascinated with honeybees. I don’t view them as pests. Honeybees are amazing pollinators and many of the produce we eat wouldn’t be around without their assistance.

 

Photo Source: Geocaching

It’s here! I’m loving my chakoner…

My chakoner aka chalk wheel finally arrived.

Chakoner_1

 

The first thing I noticed was the packaging, isn’t it pretty? It’s nothing elaborate but I’m impressed by the little touches. When I had my natural skin care company, I received a lot of compliments on the little things I did to make my customers experience memorable. So yes… my packaging was always attractive.

 

Chakoner_2

 

I ordered my chakoner from Sarah Veblen, I found her site when I was searching for chalkoner’s. I sent her an email asking did she have any in stock, and she responded quite quickly to assure me that she had. She also told me she was forwarding my email to her assistant so in case I placed an order it would be processed quickly. I thought that was thoughtful! Included with the package was my invoice and Sarah’s assistant, Marcie, included a nice note. I thought that was a very nice touch. Thank you! 🙂 I used to do the same thing with my business.

So yeah… I’m already having warm fuzzy feelings about Sarah Veblen’s clothing originals.  An added bonus is that she’s published a sewing book about sewing perfect fitting patterns and she teaches advanced sewing classes, and she lives in Maryland.

I’m not being paid to link to Sarah in fact you’ll find me linking to various sites quite often on Celebrate Life. I notice that some people are quick to complain when they receive poor service and that can be helpful since it alerts the reader of issues they have, but I think it’s important to recognize exceptional service too. Jennifer, over at My Blissful Journey, is really good at doing this too.

But on to the chakoner. This  handy chalk wheel chakoner came at a perfect time, since I’m sewing costumes for my Lutheran church’s upcoming Passion Play. Hopefully this weekend, I’ll have a chance to post pictures of it in action as I mark up the fabric that will be turned into costumes.

 

No excuses…

Not a quitterLast evening, around 8:00 p.m., my daughter decided to tell me she had a Math test today.

My immediate thought was…

Yeah, you could have told me this when I asked you six hours earlier!

What was hilarious was the fact that she thought she could tell me that and then slip into bed. I wasn’t having it! I made her stay up an additional 1.5 hours to quiz her on Math to ensure she was ready for her test today. She wasn’t liking that at all and really pouted when I told her tomorrow morning I’d be quizzing her again. I normally know about her tests in advance, but this one slipped right past me.
When I asked her why she didn’t tell me about the test? Her response was, I didn’t want to take the test.

Me: “The test was still going to take place, right?”

Daughter: Well, yeah…

Me: Well, doesn’t it make sense to be prepared so you do well? Poor grades are unacceptable in this house since I know your capabilities. You know this…

As I told her, childhood is a training manual… the habits you develop now can be beneficial to you as an adult. I also told her she might not always like the decisions I make for her and that’s fine, as she gets older I’ll step back and let her make more of her own decisions. My daughter and I are good friends, but I’m still her parent.  When it comes to schooling, as much as I’m involved with her education to ensure she does well, I don’t want to hear any excuses.

My daughter is nine years old, so I’m not going to expect her to approach each activity with the same amount of enthusiasm, but you know what? That’s when it’s my job as the parent to step up and give her the gentle nudge needed or on the rare occasion banning her from a much loved activity to ensure she always does her best.

Regarding schoolwork, my daughter’s grades are either A’s or a B+. I would say part of the reason she does so well is that I do make an effort to be there and help her if she does struggle with something. It’s not always easy, I’m busy but I always make time for her. Sometimes this means that I have to do extra work to make sure I understand what she needs help with. Yes, that takes additional time, but if I want her to continue to do well, it’s my responsibility to do what’s needed to make that happen.

Teacher’s aren’t always to blame…

I am not one of those parents who always find blame with the teachers. Teachers aren’t always the issue. Sometimes parents need to understand that their “little darlings” are the culprits. It’s personal responsibility folks, quit making excuses for them! You really aren’t helping the situation when you do that. And you know what? Sometimes parents/guardians are to blame also for not doing enough to ensure that their children do well.

 

 

Just in time…

My daughter attends a Lutheran school…

The children are required to wear uniforms, which is fine by me since it means I don’t have to spend more money for school clothes. Private schools can be pricey. Throughout the year, the school has “casual days” it’s a chance for students to wear “regular clothes” at school. It’s quite popular and most students take advantage of these days even when they have to pay ($2.00) on some of the casual clothes.

Contrary to some peoples beliefs not all private schools (or those who attend them) are “rolling in money.” Various fund raisers are given throughout  to assist with teachers salaries and the general maintenance, equipment and upkeep that goes on at a typical school

 

Sewing: daughter's jacket
Sewing: daughter’s jacket

 

Tomorrow is casual day at my daughter’s school and since I’ve finished sewing her jacket yesterday she asked could she wear it tomorrow. I’m not thrilled about this fabric, but my daughter likes it… As you can see she’s already chosen the outfit she’ll wear it with tomorrow and I think she did a nice job matching up the dots and pinstripes. If you look closely, you can see the leggings peeking through the top of her dress.

Sewing, back of jacket
Sewing, back of jacket

 

I still need to press the jacket and use a smaller hanger next time I take a picture. You see how the hanger has pulled up one side of the jacket? These pictures were taken immediately after it was washed yesterday so it had some wrinkles, but once it’s pressed I’ll hang it on a much smaller hanger and give it to my daughter.

Life goes on; Sewing with my Brother PC420 and Brother 1034D

Even with the unfortunate events related to my Aunt, life still goes on…

I’ve always found working with my hands to be soothing, even in stressful situations.

Yesterday, I started sewing a simple 100% cotton jacket for my nine-year old daughter. It’s a simple bolero jacket and I drafted my own pattern. I used my newest sewing machines for this project; the Brother Pc-420 to sew the seams and I used my Brother 1034D aka serger/overlock machine to finish the raw edges. I love these sewing machines!

All my fabric is washed before I use the material. The main reason is because the bolts can get dusty sitting on the shelves and it can be handled by a lot of people before it reaches me. Yuck! Another reason (although minor) is that some fabric will shrink after it’s been washed. I’ve had some fabric that wasn’t supposed to shrink, but the material shrank after it was washed! Good thing, I prewash fabric, right? Otherwise I’d have had an outfit that might not fit. Because of those experiences, I don’t always believe fabric labels. 🙂

One key to making professional items is to press each seam right after it’s sewn… while it adds to the total production time, the end result more than makes up for the additional time that’s added.

Sewing: Bolero jacket
Sewing: Bolero jacket

 

Adding a lining is another way to add to an outfits longevity. In the above picture, I’d just sewed the lining to the jacket. I’ve placed the garment on the ironing board and am about to press the seams. I usually like really wild fabric linings, but my “wild fabrics” are being used for a few other projects and so I selected plain fabric for this garment. Yawns, ho hum… My daughter chose the dotted fabric and was thrilled when I told her I was going to make part of it into a jacket. The background color perfectly matches a long dress that she has.

Freshly sewn sleeve. Time to press!
Freshly sewn sleeve. Time to serge and press

 

After finishing the body I moved on to the sleeves. I use double seams on most outfits and this jacket was no exception. And although the raw edges are hidden (because of the lining) I serged all edges.

I’m thrilled to say that her jacket is complete and once the outfit is washed, I’ll take a picture and post it on Celebrate Life.

All the way from Malaysia…

Friday evening my daughter told me “I had a lumpy letter with lots of stamps…”

I had no idea what she was talking about, but promised her I’d take a look as soon as I was finished cleaning.

Surprise from Malaysia_2

 

As soon as I walked towards the package I knew who it was from, Suituapui’s! He lives in Malaysia!

If you haven’t strolled over to Suituapui’s virtual planet, you’re really missing out. He has a very active community and he keeps his readers entertained with all the delicious foods and the entertaining stories that accompany them.

 

Surprise from Malaysia_1

 

My daughter and I loved the items that were included. Thank you, Suituapui! I’m going to laminate the poems so they can be “bookmarks.” My daughter and I read a lot, and this way we’ll  always have something to remind us of our Malaysian blogging pal. My daughter saw the turtle magnet and promptly claimed it for her own. She loves turtles. She’s already added the postcard to her scrapbook.

 

 

When I first heard that suituapui lived in Sibu I instantly thought of the Song of the Cebu. I was pronouncing “Sibu” as “Cebu”.  When my daughter was younger it was one of her favorite Veggie Tales songs.

Thanks so much suituapui, for the lovely items, you added a bright spark to my already sparkling day!

Perfectly marked hems; vintage skirt marker

Last evening, I was thrilled when I stumbled upon this vintage Collins skirt maker.

The item I won is in like new condition and comes with a yardstick, hand pump, and chalk to mark the hemline. This one was probably made in 1950 or 1960s. I’ll know once it arrives to my house. These were used for making perfect hems and while they still make them now, I much prefer using the vintage design. First you need to mark where you want your hemline to fall with the ruler, then as you turn, you press the pump this ‘marks’ the skirt by marking the area with a thin line of chalk.

Collins Skirt Marker
Collins Skirt Marker

 

 

When it comes to sewing clothes, I mainly used disappearing ink pens but recently I purchased a tailors chalk marker from Joann Fabrics.  I love them! The serrated wheel in the tip of the chalk markers makes a very fine chalk line. I most likely will still use the disappearing ink pens for delicate fabrics since I’d be worried about snagging, but for everything else I most likely will be using a tailors chalk marker.

The only thing I was disappointed about was the actual marker. It’s cheaply made and I can already see a crack in the container that holds the chalk. I purchased it this past Saturday!

 

Chakoner - chalk marker
Chakoner – chalk marker

 

After a bit of research I found the Chakoner. It’s in the shape of a heart, how cool is that? It has received excellent reviews. Yesterday I purchased one for myself. The powdered chalk should be enough to mark fabric for several years. Even better, I purchased my chakoner from a local lady and she has published a book about tailoring and she also offers advanced sewing classes. So, I most likely will take one of her classes sometime this year.

Last evening, I drafted one costume for the upcoming Passion Play, so this afternoon I most likely will start sewing Mary Magdalene’s costume.