Feed the Birds

I kept noticing the empty little bird feeder on my back deck, and how little sparrows would fly up to it in hopes of food, then fly away quickly after finding nothing. It made me so sad!

 So, one day before class Karen and I made an effort to feed the birds. We found some pine cones, got out the Jiffy, we scoured my house for anything that would look appetizing to a bird, and rolled the pine cones in it. We had flax seeds, raisins, sunflower seeds, and crushed up bran flakes and cornflakes to make our tasty treats.  Then, we hung them up with red yarn, and watched an array of colorful birds happily flying to and from the deck with the feast. It was so much fun! It has also been lovely observing so many different kinds of birds.

Here are some photos to enjoy! 

Karen stringing up or bird treats

 

Painting the Roses Red

Just a simple project I did the other day - I had this awesome cutout picture frame, that I loved in white, but I needed a little more spice, so painted it red, and I love it even more now! As my grandmother says about photographs, "Why would you want black and white, when you could have color?" She is a very wise woman. 

The Elijah School

Tuesday of this week, Karen and I took our class to visit the Elijah School in Rising Sun, Maryland for a little sewing workshop. The Elijah school is a small school founded by my Mother-in-law, Marilyn Groop, geared toward students who face challenges in traditional school settings. The school asked me to come once a month and do a sewing/fashion workshop with two of the highschool girls in order to open their minds to possible interests to pursue after highschool. Bringing Karen along made it so much more fun!

We decided to remake garments that we had found in the back of our closets or Salvation Army into pieces we would actually love and wear. Here is what we did:

Beth's dress was a floor length Jessica McClintock that she found at Salvation Army that we turned into a little party dress!

It had this fantastic bow in the back

And Jenny's was a very stretchy purple dress when we began, and she ended up using the bottom of Beth's skirt to make a skirt of her own!

Karen brought this little granny nightgown, and simply hemmed it up to fit her style. The dress was really sweet when she finished!

I had plenty more photos to add, but am still a little new at this blog, so I will have to leave the before photos out for now. Anyway, we had a great time together teaching this sewing workshop, and I think the girls did as well. 

A "New" Creation

God said that the old has passed away, and now I am a new creation, completely new - created to serve a different purpose. It is a challenging thought, and amazing to BE a new creation. There is nothing completely "new" these days, we simply take old ideas, vintage pieces and remake them into newer versions of the old. 

        The Karen and Kate class starts today, and we are attempting to reinvent the old as well as create something new. We are taking pieces of clothing we found at the Salvation Army or in the back of our closets, and altering them till we have something cool and contemporary to wear. We are also focusing on making simple sewing projects to screenprint on. And hopefully through this class, I will learn to be a better blogger, and not wait an entire year between posts. Coming soon should be photos of my design ideas, the process, and finished products! I am so glad I have a Creator to imitate, who has given me a deep instinct...and deep desire to create, to attempt to create something new.