Passport Wallets

Kristin and I are taking a trip to London in September. I was inspired to make passport wallets after seeing ones made by a fellow seamstress on the Sense & Sensibility Sewing Forum. I thought this would be a good project for Kristin and me to do together. I had started teaching her to sew several years ago, but our plans were derailed when she broke her arm in two places. We just never got back to it. So this was a golden opportunity. The pattern was originally in Adorn magazine. It was fairly easy, although there were a few directions left out/"Oops's" (such as when the directions left out the turning under the 1/2" raw edges after turning the credit card holder, and to turn under the raw edges on both sides of the accent stripe), but altogether it was a very nice pattern.

It was fun! Kristin was a quick study and did most of her wallet herself. I did the sewing of the vinyl driver's licesnse pocket, which was a challenge for me as well. I used a roller foot, specially made for sewing vinyl and leather, but it was still difficult to keep it straight. (The trick was to start sewing the seam from the middle of the seam instead of at the end, then turn it around and sew the other half of the seam.)

I chose dark blue with floral for my colors; Kristin wanted more subdued colors, so chose black and dark blue. The photos were not cooperating. We tried many times, but kept getting glare or bad colors. I really have to have someone teach me how to use a digital camera properly.

My wallet

Kristin's

The outsides

Updates

A couple of quick updates. Hopefully photos will follow at some point. Here is what we have been working on:

1. Kristin and I made our passport wallets for our upcoming trip in September.
2. We have begun the arduous task of cleaning and organizing the basement. This includes more uncluttering and purging, repainting the concrete floor, demolishing an old and inefficient tool bench that Paul has hated since we moved in, purchasing another, larger wire shelf to store Paul's tools, and finally ordering a train table for Robert's model railroad, that we have been waiting to set up for several years (it will go in the spot where the inefficient tool bench was). Cleaning a basement is an awful job to do, but already things are looking nicer, cleaner, fresher, and more organized. This makes me very happy!
3. Paul put up the wood molding around the inside of the bathroom door. All that is left is to install the little glass shelf/towel bar above the toilet (which I ordered yesterday).
4. I am happy to report that Tyler is now almost completely toilet trained, including night training. Within a week of the Potty Party he was completely day trained. I recommend the potty training method we used to anyone!

Potty Party!

My grandson will soon turn three. He loved his nursery school class last year so much, he never missed a day. But for his three-year-old program, he must be potty trained. Julie and I realized there were only about six weeks to get the job done. We got a book from the library that I had heard was a recommended approach to potty training called, Potty Train Your Child In Just One Day. The idea is to spend one full day, mother and child alone, first having the pair "teach" a baby doll to go on the potty, then the rest of the day teaching the child. After reading the book, we planned the party, shopped for decorations, and ordered a male doll that "goes". Julie chose a day when Paul and I would be at work, and Kristin and Robert made plans to be tucked away in their rooms unseen in the morning, and off to their activities in the afternoon.

Here is the potty room on Monday night, the night before the party:

Two gifts for Tyler: a Thomas stuffed pillow pal (the party had a Thomas the Tank Engine theme) and the Corolle Potty Doll "Paul", wrapped up for Tyler to open

Step-stool for getting on and off the potty, stickers for his "successes" to be put on a potty chart, potty-themed books to read while on the pot, boxes of flushable wipes, and a Thomas train storage case, which was temporarily filled with little treats to be given initially for "attempts" and then for "successes"


The Potty Chart, waiting to be filled in with stickers

Julie was utterly exhausted the evening after the party, somewhat discouraged because Tyler had only gone on the potty twice succesfully, and certainly wasn't trained in one day. But with gentle reinforcement, every day this week we are seeing him improve so much (several times telling us he needed to go instead of us having to encourage him at intervals) that we are astonished!

Playing Harp Again

After months of a creative abyss, I have begun playing my harp again. I would play sporadically, but I was not working in a manner that would improve my playing or prepare a piece for performance. There is nothing worse than a lull in creativity. This affected not only my harp playing, but my sewing as well. The problem was a combination of stress, work overload, and taking care of everyone but myself. But I have taken steps to alleviate that (having Julie take more control of Tyler's care, being more assertive at work with not being sucked into working more shifts than I want to, having my children do more chores, and not feeling guilty about having a life outside of housework, family care, and work).


So, I am working on the following pieces:

1. La Source by Alphonse Hasselmans (difficult, challenging piece, totally gorgeous)
2. Romanza (guitar piece, anonymous composer/arranged for harp by Barbara Brundage)
3. Beautiful Dreamer by Stephen Foster (19th century nostalgic piece)
4. Requiem by John Rutter (piece for choir and orchestra, to be performed by my church choir in the spring)

One thing I know is that life is very dull without music, and I am so glad that I can be creative in this way.

My pedal harp, a Salvi Diana

Health Problems and Getting Things Done

One of the biggest frustrations in my life these days is my bouts of illnesses that seem to come frequently and throw me off course. The most recent one had an odd silver lining. Due to a 6-day medication I needed to be on to deal with my asthma exacerbation with a bad cold/cough, I had a surprising, almost manic, burst of energy. This has not happened before on this medication. Usually the side effects are all rather unpleasant, but this energy burst - well, I took advantage of it. It happened to coincide with a week off work. I sorted, purged, organized, cleaned, got caught up on correspondence, gardened like a madwoman, made delightful plans. The medication finished, wore off, and I am back to my old self (underscore the word old!), and actually felt somewhat worse until tonight.

The frustrating thing was that I saw how efficient and productive I am capable of being. But where is that woman? Why can't she come out and play under normal circumstances? It was like getting a glimpse into a wonderful new world, but now it has gone away. The trick is to find a way to have that energy with natural means. Food, exercise, supplements? I've tried all of that. I haven't found the answer yet.

Ah well, I am enjoying my clean house, my planted garden, my sorted papers, my tidy sewing area, my much reduced things-to-do list, and so forth. Actually, this boost did help me greatly in just getting a foothold in my tasks and taking away feelings of being overwhelmed and completely disorganized. So thinking about new tasks is a little easier as I start a new week.

Memorial Day

We had a very nice Memorial Day Weekend. Tyler got to really see and appreciate our small town parade.

Waiting for the Parade

Some of our Vets, proudly carrying the flag. God Bless Them!




The Marching Band

Fire Engines! Sirens!

Enjoying A Spring Rain

On Wednesday, Kristin and I spent the early afternoon planting annuals. We had just gotten the majority in when it began to drizzle. We decided to stay and finish the job, even though we got a bit wet! But then it began to rain very hard, and for some reason Tyler got it into his head that he wanted to go outside! So Julie and he went out in the backyard and spent several gleeful minutes running around and experiencing the rain.

"If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gumdrops,

Oh what a rain that would be.

Standing outside with my mouth open wide,

Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!"

My Drenched Little Pal