This is Thomas brand new! Thanks Momma Leah for the cute pic.
Here's our dog, Chloe, in all her glory. She sits by my Mom's garden at the lake and waits for the chipmunks to make an appearance. Almost 13 and she's still kickin' it.
I've been noticing a lot of purples, pinks, and oranges together lately. I love it! This will be one of the flowers I offer this season. I found a glue I really like that helps the fabric stay firm. It gives the flower pin a little more integrity...always a good thing. 
This is my new favorite craft tool! I found this bobbin holder at Gruber's in St. Cloud. I wish I would have picked up a couple more. I carry it around with me when I'm sewing and knitting. It's compact and perfect for on the go. I keep it with all my knitting tools now. Whomever created this BobbinSaver is a GENIUS!
I've been doing some sketching this summer. I like the idea of combining knitting with sewing. After being inspired by Matilda Jane Clothing, I thought it would be fun to create a layered ruffled hat with all sorts of different fabrics. I came up with this sketch...as you can see I never got to the colored pencils part! Life interrupted my process. :) My sketch book has peanut butter smudges, coffee spills and spots of watermelon juice on it. There's evidence of what I was eating and drinking on each page. :)
This is Brekka. Her Mom told me she's been using this hat all summer. Didn't mean for her to have to do that! :) Glad she got good use out of it though....
This is Peyton and Kinsley. Their Mom makes great earrings, so we traded. It was like a shopping spree. I rarely buy jewelry these days...it seems to be an expense I forgo. I had so much fun looking through her creations and picking out the ones I wanted to take home. Thanks Kate!
This is Graham the other day. We were going into the YMCA and I couldn't resist snapping a photo of him. I had an outfit laid out for him (the same shirt with the shorts that go with it). He wanted to wear his soccer shorts instead. I gently (ok, maybe not that gently) told him the brown shorts work better with the shirt. He yelled, "YOU ARE NOT THE BOSS OF MY SHIRT!!!" 
This is Fin the other day. We have been going to the doctor a lot lately and so Fin's nap usually suffers. I've started leaving blankets in my car and this one came in handy. He slept the whole time.
Keenan! He was born Tuesday. Isn't he sweet?!? Look at how crisp and clean that onesie is! They never stayed like that for long in my house.
Mandy's latest...love these. She just gets better and better. 
The gardener and his tree from seed. He started it on a school field trip this spring. We decided to take a pic of it every spring. I love how he's hugging it. That's him to a tee. Oh, and sorry about the messy kitchen. That's me to a tee. 
I was cleaning out my computer the other day and came across this pic of him when he was 2. Oh my goodness...it all happens too fast. Love that curly hair...
This is Rebeckah. Her Friend, Rachel, ordered this hat for her for her birthday. I made 2 flower pins so she can mix and match depending on what she's wearing. This style hat is great for Moms since it's loose enough not to flatten our neatly done hair. :)
Then...
...and now.
Mandy and I went up stairs for a moment, came down and saw this. Chase was sitting in the sun. Soon all the kids and dog congregated around him. How cute!
Saw this on my counter this morning. Fin took a bite and decided he didn't want it.
Here's Brody on his first car ride. Welcome to our world, sweet boy.
What a dream to have my hats part of this photo shoot. Everything was perfect. The clothes, the kids, the day, and of course the photographer. Mandy is a true artist. I love watching her get all her props ready. It's amazing how she finds things at rummage sales, antique stores, on-line...pretty much anywhere. Then she puts them together perfectly. That is a gift in itself! Thanks Miss Mandy for having my hats be a part of that great day.
This is KK. She's so independent and sassy. Can you tell? Those eyes!!! She is going to be something amazing when she goes up...definitely in a leadership role of some kind. I love watching her personality unfold.
Here's Preslee. She is so sweet. She's almost 3 and my 2 year old is much larger than she! She is the tiniest little thing...adorable. See the chair she's on? That's one of Mandy's finds.
Mandy posted this sneak peek of Gav from her recent Urban session. This is his signature sweet look. Can't believe he's so big. In a blink of an eye he went from 3 1/2 lbs. to this amazing young person who woke up last night at 10:30 p.m. for another sandwich. :) They grow too fast, don't they?
It's great to see a picture of this hat again! I haven't seen it photographed in a while. It reminds me how much I love it. The flower would be cute on a headband too.
Fin's latest handy work. Who's the rookie (me) who bought cheap markers for Easter baskets??? Turns out there was a reason they were in the dollar bin. 
Here's Fin watching TV. The minute he woke up he wanted these googles on. He can barely see out of them but he insisted. Meals were particularly challenging. 
Here's where I chose to dry my dyed wool. The birds were very hesitant to come to the feeders when the wet yarn arrived. This came to be because a friend asked me to make her a royal blue hat. It was tough to find that color so I decided to dye my own. I used my big soup pot, put it on my stove top and 30 minutes later had great hand dyed yarn. Fun! I've been dragging my feet to try it. I always thought of it like a "gateway drug". If I dye my own yarn then I'll want to learn to spin the wool. Then that would lead to wanting my own alpaca farm. I would like to stay married so I'm going to use all my will power and stick to dying yarn on my stove top. :)
I was having coffee in my kitchen with some friends...peeked down off the deck and saw this. This is my Mom to a tee. Isn't she great?!?!
This hat is being auctioned off at Christ Lutheran's May Fest Friday night. I found this button in my stash. Not sure how old it is, but I think it pulls it all together. I just made the Amy Butler Halter Top out of this fabric as well. It turned out really cute and is very simple! Crafty Planet has made me very busy lately. It's my dream store...fabulous fabrics and yarn!
I'm trying out some new yarns for fall. This one is organic cotton. It's luscious and indulgent (is that too much?). I love the way it feels when I'm knitting with it. It's silky without feeling....synthetically silky. The true test will be how it holds up. Organics tend to be a bit more delicate so I want to see how this yarn behaves. Isn't Chase the perfect ginny pig? He is such a calm soul. He seems to like brunettes (smart already). When I'm talking he sits and smiles and flirts with me. It's so distracting that I can't finish what I'm saying. I just surrender and coo with him. Babies, like the ones I know, make it hard not to want another.....
This little girl you may recognize from Mandy's blog. Her Momma got a hat too, but it always seems a bit harder for the Moms to send pics of themselves. :) Thanks for the pic Lindsey!
