Category Archives: Home & Family

Homemaking, parenting and special needs

For Today’s High School Grads

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One of the things I know for certain is that children grow up fast (even if it doesn’t feel like it while they’re little), and before you know it they’re on their own.

It’s so hard to make sure you’ve taught them everything you want them to know before they leave home. Here’s an interesting article, “What I Would Tell a High School Graduate Today,” that touches on several subjects that your teens should consider. Give it to them to read, or read it yourself to get ideas for topics to discuss with them before they leave the nest. It definitely makes for worthwhile reading.

Repurposing My Corduroy Jeans

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The good news is that I lost weight. The bad news is that my lovely vintage corduroy jeans are way too big on me. They’re made out of strong and stretchy corduroy, the kind you can’t find in stores any more:

They’re a good brand, too:

What to do? Make them into corduroy pants for an active 5-year-old grandson. First up, smooth out one pants leg:

Then pin and cut out a boys’ pants pattern piece:

Do the same for the other pant leg and the other leg pattern piece. Then cut out the pocket:

Attach to the pocket piece something that makes the pants into “Superhero pants!” at the request of said grandson:

Follow pattern directions, and you have a “new” pair of Superhero pants. Front:

And back:

Then, so little sister gets something, too, make a pair of flannel Peppa Pig pants in a smaller size:

Those, of course, were not repurposed and required a trip to the fabric store for Peppa Pig flannel  🙂 Grandma doesn’t want anyone to feel left out!

 

Late Summer in the Garden

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Late summer in the garden is always kind of sad, because it’s just a matter of a month or so before we see the first snowflake. But the garden isn’t done yet. This sunflower, one of the few that wasn’t beheaded by the squirrels weeks ago, looks pretty good.

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Morning glories, zinnias and a few struggling petunias congregate together. The morning glories have climbed about 12 feet up, over the neighbor’s evergreens:

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The carnations are doing fine (they smell great!), while behind them it’s the first year for the autumn joy clematis, which has just begun flowering:

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The gerbera daisies are hanging in there, and in the cold frame, our third crop of green beans are thriving where the lettuce grew earlier this season. With any luck, we’ll be eating fresh green beans again in a week or so:

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But winter will be here before long. When I was in Madison this week, I saw several trees with gold and even red leaves already.

 

Summer of Sewing

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I took a break from quilting this summer in favor of a few sewing projects. I made matching dresses for my little granddaughters that they wore when we all got together in July:

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I turned some old tops of mine that were made out of very good fabric into leggings (the dark pink ones are capris) for my youngest granddaughter, using the principle of repurposing that I learned from my gram so many years ago:

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Then I made Baby Girl one more pair of leggings out of some fabric I bought at a fabric sale:

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It’s so much fun to make little duds! I also made some other projects that I will share in future posts. Before long, I also hope to start another quilt 🙂