Shoe Organizer

Today we overhauled Jeremi's room. You know, sorting through the closet, removing outgrown clothes; dumping out drawers and organizing, removing junk; sorting through his bookshelves, passing down books too juvenile. In the process he informed me that his 'shoe keeper' on the floor was bending his expensive size 10 shoes, and he couldn't use it anymore. Apparently we needed a new shoe keeper solution.

Now, I know that these can be purchased, and in fact, we have several in our house now, but isn't it much more fun to create your own?? I crafted this from material I had on hand and a cardboard box from the barn. It isn't perfect, but it is certainly functional--and free!



Overheard in the school/sewing room:

"Mom, what are you doing?"

"I'm creating. I learned it from my dad."

"Did Papa make things?"

"Oh no, my heavenly Father."

"Moooommmmmmm"

Crochet

Apparently one of Bethani's friends has taken up crochet, and suddenly Bethani really wanted to learn. I saw that Hobby Lobby had their yarn on sale for $.99 per skein, so she took some of her money, bought a skein and a 'stick.' I'm sorry to say that this skill skipped my generation. I have never even tried to crochet. I'm not sure I have the patience for it.



Wednesday afternoon on the way to my college class, Bethani sat in the back seat watching Tiffani crochet (who learned 5 years ago) and trying to copy her. It looked very awkward for her. After about 5 minutes, I realized that she was trying to copy her EXACTLY. "Oh, baby, Tiffani is left handed, try putting your 'stick' in your right hand." She switched hands and said, "Oh, that feels much better."

By the time my class was over 2 hours later, she was stitching a chain so fast, I couldn't keep up with her fingers! She is now working on a scarf, then she wants to make bookmarkers. Ater that...? Maybe she will feel ambitious and make a baby blanket for her new cousin.

For now it is serving as motivation for her to finish her school work early so she can sit and crochet. Our Friday night plans include: a simple dinner, fire, books, yarn, soft music, family.

Pencil Toppers

I just stumbled across a cute little idea for pencil toppers from Missy at Crafty Carnival She also has several really cool tutorials--one for a sweet tooth fairy pillow complete with pattern download! (I could have used that pattern about 11 years ago!)



Nevertheless, I modified the toppers for the current season, and whipped one up this morning. I often have little segments of time when my kids are taking tests or doing math problems or writing assignments. I find my hands fidgeting, needing something to make. (We mom's have an innate need to multi-task.) (Sure I can stitch while I read off my daughter's spelling words for her test!)

Now Bethani is making a list of the people in her life that need pencil toppers.