Garden Time

One day last spring, my husband and I decided to join his sister's family in doing a garden together. It's been years since we've tended a big garden, and it was kind of a spur of the moment thing. One Sunday afternoon we were all sitting together drinking coffee, and here it comes -- "Let's do a garden together this year. It would be such fun!" This weekend I continued to reap some of the rewards of that fun garden impulse. And it truly has been fun -- despite the weeds, rabbits eating off the first batch of beans, insect bites, and HOT summer days. My pictures are of the tomato processing. It's showing the process backwards, but I haven't quite figured out how to get the pictures to go where I want them to yet. :) On the last batch I added a basil leaf to each jar for added flavor. Oh, so tasty!

Flowers & Pumpkins

Flowers and pumpkins. I've mixed mums and pumpkins in decorating, but these flowers are summer flowers! They are still growing so beautifully in my garden beds. The vegetable garden continues producing swiss chard, beets, tomatoes, peppers, green beans, lima beans ... and ... wonderful, little orange pumpkins. They are so cute! So, my moment of creativity today is to mix the end of summer with a touch of autumn.

School

In four short days, life at the elementary school I teach at will come alive with the faces and voices of excited children. This week has been full of preparation ... setting up the room, meetings, posters up, new supplies out, lesson planning (well--I have a bit of THAT to do yet before I'm ready!)... One of the things I love about summer break is that I don't have to think about making a lunch in the morning. On school mornings I'm sometimes on my way out the door and think ... "Oh, lunch! What can I take today?" It's a race back to the fridge, grab some leftovers from the night before, stick it in a plastic grocery bag, and continue on my way. Last year I decided a plastic grocery bag just was not classy enough to stand up to some of the lovely lunch bags my fellow teachers carried -- the purple Tupperware lunch set, or the fuzzy plaid lunch bag, to name a few. Nope -- plastic bag tied in a knot would no longer cut it. So I used a pattern found on Allpeoplequilt.com called Lunch Sack Gift Bags, and created my own pretty bag to use for my lunch. It was super easy to make! Tuesday morning I'll head out the door with lunch bag in hand, ready to begin a new year of teaching and inspiring a wonderful group of children.

Can a creative moment win a Serger?

SewMamaSew at http://sewmamasew.com is hosting a giveaway for a Husqvarna Viking Serger. They've asked the question, "How would your life be better with a serger?", and are looking for creative responses from which to choose a winner. If you have done a fair amount of sewing and do not own a serger, my guess is that you, like me have wished for one. As a teacher one of my goals is to inspire the children I teach to become life long learners. Several years ago I received a grant and was able to set up a classroom cooking center, tool center, and sewing center. In the sewing center, it was priceless one year to see the pride and sense of accomplishment students felt in sewing a pillow -- even kindergarten students! So what does this all have to do with the question -- How would my life be better with a serger? I, too, always want to remain a life long learner. My sewing started as a child -- learning from my mom. When I graduated from high school my mom gave me a beautiful little old portable Singer sewing machine. I loved it. Not only was it cute, but it sewed a beautiful straight stitch. I used that for many years. My next machine was purchased several years ago. My Janome is great, and sews beautifully. Now I'd love to learn to use a serger and take my sewing projects to a new level. So.... here is my moment of creativity...

See a difference in my sewing,

Easy serging will get me going,

Really quick and effortless,

Giving seams loveliness,

Even finishes in a snap,

Ready I am to own one at last!

I enjoy old dishes -- especially those with blue, purple, pink, or yellow. This love of dishes came from my Mom, and perhaps my grandmothers as well. I remember all of their china closets -- Grandma K. had several sets of pretty china in her closet; Grandma S. had a light, milky blue set with square plates and saucers, and Mom had a beautiful blue and white set, part of which I now enjoy in my own china closet. The other day I was at a thrift store seeing if I could find a "treasure", and as I was paying for my 64 cent vase, I saw this beautiful child's tea set on the counter. I asked about it, of course, and waited -- hoping the price would be right. It was -- $2.99 for the set!! So here it is -- my moment of creativity -- bringing a smile to my face as it reminds me of the other women in my family who loved pretty dishes as much as I do.

Hi friends,

Do I really want to create a blog? Yes, after reading many blogs out there, I decided I would like a spot to "journal" some of my own creative moments. This blog, just like my creativity, will be a work in progress. It may take a few days...weeks?...but let's see where it goes. My first task will be to figure out how to design a page! :)

Cary