My second giveaway!

I love crafting and sewing.

My sewing machine has a problem with the bobbin thingy, so I'm using my Mom's right now. It's a Pfaff sewing machine she bought right before we moved to Paraguay 28 years ago. We all learned how to sew on this machine. I've done some sewing for others the last few months, but I'll have to wait now, to see if my Brother sewing machine can be fixed soon.

Crocheting and knitting are also favorite hobbies of mine. I love drinking Maté (a kind of hot yerba tea) in the morning with my husband and my crocheting or knitting on something. I have made so many things over time. Bags, sweaters, tops, barbie dresses, scarves, slippers and lots more. I just wish our store would carry a bigger and better collection of wool and yarn. I find a lot of my patterns for free on the Internet or out of crafting magazines. The following websites have great patterns, check them out:

http://www.lionbrand.com/

http://www.interweaveknits.com/

www.garnstudio.com/lang/en/kategori_oversikt.php

http://www.freepatterns.com/

www.redheart.com/FreePatterns

There are many more. Just google it:)

I'll be finishing my newest project in the next few days, and will post some pictures of the original in the interweave magazine and of my version in different colors.

Now for my giveaway!

The lucky winner will receive a handmade bag. I made this bag (just as the last giveaway prize) for the craft show last year. Its made of recycled jeans (or repurposed?) and dusty rose lace and satin inserts.

It also has some decorative iron-on sequins on one side.

It's fully lined and even has a pocket on the inside.

Just like in my last giveaway, I'll be putting something else in the package before I send it. For anyone in my area, it will be something from my kitchen (cookies or a cake) and for any winner outside of Paraguay it will be a souvenir of Paraguay.

To enter in the drawing, you must:

1. Follow my blog.

2. Write a comment on this post and let me know what your favorite hobby or craft is. Please also let me know how to reach you if you win (email or blog address). (Entries of Paraguay: leave your full name so I can find your phone number or leave your e-mail address.)

You can enter by midnight of Friday, the 5. of February (that's a tongue-twister). I will randomly pick a winner on Saturday, and will post the winners name on my blog post that day.

Good luck!

Mark your calendar!

Cindy's female rabbit died a few weeks ago. So we bought a young white rabbit. Her name is Luna. We introduced her to Domino (the male) this morning. I won't post pictures of that, don't worry.

We will mark our calendars for 4 weeks from today, to see if anything happened.:)

Everybody loves baby rabbits, right?

Giveaway starts Friday....

I'll be having another giveaway on my blog this week. Check in on friday to see what I'll be giving to a lucky follower.


Now it's time for some random photos. Just to relax and smile a little!

Opa

Today was my grandfather's funeral in Canada. I would have loved to be there, remembering him and my Oma.
But as I can't be there, I would like to share the words of my favorite church hymn with all of you.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
let this blest assurance control,
that Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
and hath shed his own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

And, Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
the clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
the trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
even so, it is well with my soul.

Camping with the In-Laws

Is this what they mean when they call camping: roughing it?

( The yellow stuff beside the toilet paper is sandpaper!)

Room makeovers part 2

This is the wall in Brianna and Cindy's room. The walls are painted a very pale shade of blue and I painted the tree on one of the walls. I just love the cute owl sitting and watching the girls. We will also paint some butterflies on the walls too. I'm glad we're done painting for now though. I think I pulled a muscle in my shoulder while painting. Although the pain was less last week, it started up again today. I really need a vacation... speaking of vacations, check in again soon to see the pictures of our camping trip last weekend. Have a good nights rest everyone!

Polyvore set made of Opa's picture

Room Makeovers

For Christmas 2009 my daughters wished for a room makeover. They know exactly what they are doing to me, asking for something like this. (I am not my sister!)

After a lot of thinking and stalling we finally started two weeks ago with Amy's room. She likes dolphins, so she wanted a under the sea kind of wall mural. He room was painted in a pale purple, and because she is 14, it wasn't the right color anymore for her. (Sorry about the poor quality of the pictures, some were made with my phone without a flash)

We did the bottom part of the wall blue and ended it in a wavy pattern about 1.5 m from the floor. The upper part we painted white. Then we mixed a very pale blue and with a crumpled plastic bag, we dabbed and dabbed (is that a real word?).

This is what it looked like when we were done. Amy has painted a sailboat on one wall and a lighthouse on the wall beside the doorway. She also wants to paint a dolphin in the water someday.

I'll post pictures of Cindy and Brianna's room after they clean it up.

I have a lot on my mind this week. My Grandpa passed away early this morning. He was dearly loved by his family and we will miss him.

I'd also like to blog about our family camping trip with a lot of pictures, but it will have to wait. I have to finish a dress for a friend this week and need to be at my sewing machine and not at the computer.

Please drop in later this week for more posts.

To my sisters: I love you all like crazy!

I yelled at a baseball bat in my car because thats how I roll.

Hello all my bloggy friends. I noticed I hadn't posted anything for over 2 weeks.

The picture above is from our traditional cookie baking day at my mom's house.

Christmas was great! Our three daughters all had parts in a Christmas programm here in our village. Amy even played the guitar. After the programm we went home for snacks and opening presents. The girls were all very happy with their gifts, even though they were not as big or expensive as in the previous years. (No harvest = skinny Santa)

On Christmas Day we were invited for lunch at our neighbors house, Mrs. Klassen. Her husband (Marv's uncle) died 7 years ago and she lives alone with her son, Thomas (the race car driver, see earlier posts). They didn't have any fanily gathering until the next day, so we had a barbeque there.

Afternoon was reserved for my side of the family. We had a big barbeque and a lot of snacks and fresh fruit before that.

Boxing Day was a family gathering from Marvin's side of the family.

You can see, our Christmas's are packed full of family and barbeques.

Ok, now for something really fun. I just hopped over to Ann Again, and she has a great idea for a post. As some of you know, sometimes I try to take part in a Virtual Blog Party. You can read all the detail about it at: annagain66.blogspot.com. Or just click on the link to her blog on the right hand side of my blog.

The challenge she gave us is hard to explain, but easy to do. She has a chart with different phrases and you have to pick your birthday month and year, etc. and use the phrase after that to build a sentence. So here goes:

I yelled at a baseball bat in my car because thats how I roll.

So now you know how the title in my post was created:)

My New Year's resolution: more blogging, less facebooking!

Have a great 2010!