The Hoyer Family

Gardner School Field Trip

2008-05-04T07:44:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics from Lily's recent field trip. One of the things we love about the Gardner school is the thematic studies. For two months, Lily's school studied Native Americans. What's nice about this is that the whole school studies the same thing, they put on plays, host events (Lily's class hosted a Native American Potlatch) and go on field trips all related to the theme. They had Native Americans come to their school and talk with them about their way of life. This way the kids do not have to be bothered with memorization of history - they can live it as much as possible and learn and remember naturally. The trip was to the Ridgefield Plankhouse.

The picture above is the outside of the plankhouse.

Above is the inside.Here is Lily leaning up against the plankhouse with schoolmates.

Here's the kids having fun at lunchtime.

Here's the Loowit class.More Loowits inside the plankhouse.

StitchCraft Website Is Up!

2008-04-12T08:18:00.000-07:00

Yea! The website is up. The product list is not complete but we're working on it. Check it out at www.stitchcraft.us

Lily's New School

2008-03-25T06:32:00.002-07:00

We are pleased to announce that we found a wonderful private school for Lily - The Gardner School. The Gardner School reflects our values and the education is unbeatable. Being parents to a gifted child like Lily required a lot of attention that we simply couldn't give. In just one month, her teachers have tailored a curriculum just for her that will enable her to flourish academically and emotionally. I was so impressed at how they picked up on the learning issues we've faced as homeschoolers, and have answers to help us solve our problems.

For example, we believed Lily started reading from age three, but it probably was more like 18 months based on the fact that she is a sight reader. When she was that young, she would recite books to us, but I thought it was only pure memorization. Because she learned to read on her own, she never learned to read phonetically, and as a result, has been struggling with spelling. Now that we have this information (about her learning to read as a sight reader), we can work with her teachers and give her the tools she needs to learn to spell. In just this month we've come a very long way. Another issue they've helped us with is that Lily has a trait of perfection, which was actually stopping her from trying new things, and learning new things - in her mind, if she couldn't do it perfectly the first time, she wouldn't try it at all. So back to the spelling example - two years ago she was demanding to have her own dictionary and wouldn't "sound anything out". It was getting hard for me as a homeschooling parent and mom to another little one to be spelling everything for her almost every minute of the day (she was writing her own books and comic books). I'm now learning, from this wonderful school, that Lily couldn't learn to spell on her own because kids that learn to spell on their own are initially phonetic readers. We needed to approach spelling differently with Lily and her school is pointing the way. Perfectionism is another trait common to gifted kids. We are learning that we have to approach life very differently with Lily in order for her to be able to face life's challenges in the best way she can.

While we always knew there was something different about Lily, it's nice to have the validation that we weren't crazy as parents to a very sensitive, opinionated, challenging, bright child who would require more than we could give her as homeschoolers. So, how does Lily feel about all this?

She was not happy about going to school. It was not her decision, so she was pretty pissed off. She was worried that the school kids would "know" more than her. Her perfectionism was making her feel she wouldn't "match up". She needs to feel in control and I can understand her feelings. We really felt we needed to put her in a situation that would be more challenging and in a place where we could feel she was getting the best academic care and wouldn't be thrown into some categorized "gifted" program. Her emotions about school and her anxieties are being addressed in a most caring way. The Gardner School really reflects our values, provides us with a good sense of community, and we are looking forward to the next 7 years with Gardner.

Judy Verhoeven

2008-03-08T07:06:00.000-08:00

Is my absolutely fabulous artist, cousin-by-marriage. People wanted to know how I came up with the StitchCraft logo - I didn't, she did. Here is a link to Judy's website and artwork. Judy's been working madly over the last two years getting back into her artwork after being a stay-at-home-mom. She's won best in many art shows and has had her work in a few galleries now. Her artwork is in a bunch of people's homes as a result. Take a look at her stuff. You'll want it in your home too!

Pics of the Shop

2008-03-06T16:46:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics of the shop for your viewing pleasure.

We are on historical Main St. in downtown Vancouver, Washington. Here's a view down the street. It's a very cute area with bistros, cafes, spas, antique shops, and right next door, a homemade ice cream shop.

Here are the temporary signs with the logo in the windows.

Here's a view from the inside looking out. I have 1, 045 s.f.

StitchCraft, LLC

2008-02-27T17:44:00.000-08:00

Now that I can talk about it...I'm opening a retail yarn and fabric boutique here in downtown Vancouver. I'm so excited. My first business. I turn 40 this year and owning my own business is on my list of things to do. All that's left on the list is travel, official surfing lessons, scuba diving certification and bagging a 12,000 ft. or higher peak. Of course, growing old with my man is on the list too.

StitchCraft, LLC is Vancouver, Washington's premier yarn and fabric boutique. Handmade is beautiful (c).

StitchCraft, LLC features yarn, fabric, patterns, books and notions with a fashion forward sense using high quality, natural fibers. If you love to sew, knit, crochet, embroider, embellish - this is a boutique for you. We also carry a nice stash of organic yarns, fabric and lace and hand dyed wool felt.

My idea for the shop came with my experience as a knitwear designer and instructor, but I've been sewing just as long as I've been crocheting and knitting (from about age 7). My business experience in corporate real estate was essential in creating my business plan. The organic side of the business comes from my chemistry degree along with years as an environmental, health and safety professional. This shop is really the essence of who I am all put together. I can't wait to meet all the people that love to create and give them quality tools to work with.

I'll post some pics of the shop in raw form soon. I'll also have the website up sometime this week.

Nicholette's December Flamenco Performance Video

2008-02-15T20:17:00.000-08:00

Here is Nicholette's buleria with Brandon at Costello's Travel Cafe in Portland, OR.

What would you do? Take the quiz...

2008-02-06T16:39:00.000-08:00

I found this on another woman's blog today - a woman from Ravelry. Click on the button below and take the quiz yourself:

39%

Vacation -- all I ever wanted ...

2008-01-25T19:55:00.000-08:00

What's a sure antidote to the short days, rainy skies, and cold temperatures of December in Portland? A trip down to the Sunshine state! This past December, the family made the second annual Christmas trip down to visit Nana in lovely and swank Jupiter, Florida. The trip was long but went okay. Flying through Atlanta rather than Houston was an improvement.

We were there for sixteen days and the weather was outstanding for fourteen of them. The typical day was about 80 degrees and mostly sunny. Every day we went swimming in Nana's pool at least once. Here's a video of Frost jumping in.

This year we arrived almost a full week before Christmas so it was a long stretch for the kids before they got to tear into the presents and increase their inventory of available toy about two or three fold.

The club at Nana's community offers several dinners for families around the holidays. We went to two of them and had a great time. The first featured a balloon artist and face painter and the second had a balloon artist (better than the first one) and some animals from an area wildlife rescue foundation.

The great weather meant that we got to spend some time at the beach. The water was plenty warm for playing in the surf. Last year, Lily was intimidated by the waves but this trip she was out in the little breakers playing quite a bit. She even rode the boogie board in a few times.

We visited the Bush Wildlife refuge and saw the animals. They have a great collection of rescued wildlife and some good interpretive shows. We also went to the Loggerhead turtle rescue center and saw some big sea turtles. Here's a picture of Frost and I studying some turtle eggs.

One of the highlights of the trip for the kids was our trip to the Lion Country Safari. As the name implies, they had some lions -- along with a bunch of other wildlife, most of it grazing animals. Do you know how big ostriches are? Really big. Realy, really big. Giraffes are pretty big too and I got to feed one. Yes, their tongues are very long and kind of raspy like a cat. They had some rides and other things in the stroll around part of the park.

Nicholette got to go to the gym and take a bunch of yoga and step classes. She also had some spa time to enjoy. I shipped my bike to Florida so I took a number of very enjoyable rides -- all of which went along Jupiter Island, home of Tiger Woods among other big wigs.

While it was nice to head home to Vancouver, we were all sad to leave Florida. Oh, yeah, the landing in Portland? The worst I've ever had. It was bumpy and lumpy and scary.

Busy as a bee!

2008-01-07T17:26:00.000-08:00

Sorry we haven't been updating. We just got back from over two weeks in Florida (our annual family migration). Things to come:

Florida trip update
Nicholette's flamenco performance
Nicholette's opening a retail shop

My Next Performance

2007-11-30T14:14:00.001-08:00

Yea! I'm going to perform flamenco dance again. Hope to see you there. Here is the link to the show:

Details are:

An Evening of Flamenco with students and artists of
Solo Flamenco
Guest Artists: Mark Ferguson, Laurena Marrone
Saturday, December 8 7:30 p.m.

Costello's Travel Caffe
2222 NE Broadway
Tickets: $9 adults; $5 youth under 12
Purchase Tickets: 503/972.1178
www.costellostravelcaffe.com

Halloween 2007

2007-11-20T15:27:00.000-08:00

Chasing the evil spirits away. This is Lily's design - a Harry Potter pumpkin. She's currently reading the 7th book, thus the inspiration. I started reading the series too. I'm on book one. Only a few thousand more pages to go. The following are some pictures from Gingerbread House's trip to the pumpkin patch. Gingerbread House is the name we came up with for our home school co-op.

Here is Lily and Frost in front of some giant cabbages. Two to three times the size of Frost's head! Yes, I made the hats.

Frost and mom on the hayride.From left to right is Teri, Alan, Miles, Alex, Lily, Sam, Tabitha and Summer.

Lily and Sam having fun.

The search for the perfect pumpkin. Found one, two, three.

Above are the co-op's haunted houses made from milk cartons.

Here are Lily and Frost in their costumes. They're sitting by their respective haunted houses. The kids made up their own costumes this year. I am very busy writing my business plan. Lily is Harry Potter and Frost is a Lady Bug.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I have a lot to be thankful for.

Frost is Three

2007-11-04T06:35:00.000-08:00

Three years ago, I had the quickest labor of my life. One hour and ten minutes. Compared to the 30 hours of labor with my first child, this was a cake walk. On the morning of Frost's birth, I went to my midwife for my weekly visit and she told me I was about 2cm dilated. It was one week before my due date. Lily was born one week before her due date too. You can stay dilated for a number of weeks, so I thought nothing of the midwife appointment that morning.

I had some minor contractions that evening during dinner. I really thought it was just Braxton Hicks. My labor with Lily was so much more intense, that I thought nothing of those dinner contractions. The contractions went away after dinner. Around 9pm that night, I was putting Lily to bed and contractions started suddenly, were intensely strong and close together. I yelled for Brooke to call the midwife. He was in slow motion. We both thought we were going to be in for a long night. Lily's labor was so long, we didn't know we'd be holding our second child very soon.

I went into the living room to await the arrival of our midwife Liz and her midwife in training. The contractions were very intense, but not intolerable. Brooke finished putting Lily to bed. Liz arrived at 9:45pm - about a half hour after Brooke called her. By this time, my contractions were toe curling. I couldn't talk through them. I didn't want to move. I felt intense pressure from the baby. With the next contraction, my water broke. Three contractions later, two pushes and Frost was born! 10:10pm.

It was so nice to be at home. He was so tiny and sweet. He cried for two hours after he was born. The midwife said such a quick birth that he just had to let us know what it was like to come so fast. She said in her 600 birth experiences that he was her fastest do date. We couldn't imagine having gone to a hospital. He would have been born on the way. He was smaller than Lily - 6 lbs. 14 oz. Lily was 8 lbs. 4oz. I was smaller too. With Lily I gained 50 lbs. With Frost I only gained 35lbs.

Home birth was really relaxing. To be in my "cave" with the people I love and incredible midwives was so comforting. The midwives stayed for another four hours. They cleaned up the house, made us food and simply shared the joy. We snuggled close to our son in our bed. Our daughter was asleep during the whole thing. She really wanted to cut the cord, but we couldn't wake her, so Brooke had the honors.

Frost is a very mellow guy. He goes with the flow. He has his frustrated moments, but he's very easy to calm and help. He loves to ride his bike with dad. They "off road" it in the yard and ride around the block together. He entered his first cyclocross race this year. He loves any kind of construction vehicle - anything that moves really. I love to watch him study how these things work. You can see him calculating the physics.

Frost now weighs 31 lbs!

THE Bernina Aurora 430

2007-11-03T15:22:00.000-07:00

In April, for my 39th birthday, my wonderful husband bought me one of the best presents ever. The Bernina Aurora 430. Here's a picture of her.

I cannot tell you how much easier my sewing life is due to this fabulous machine. If you're a frustrated seamstress, crafter, home decorator - whatever you call yourself, and you currently have a crappy machine, you must get this machine. I've sewn more projects in the last 6 months than in the last 6 years. Here's the list:

Amy Butler photo envelopes
Retro aprons for me and the girl
Apron for Brooke (he's always ruining his shirts when he cooks and cleans the kitchen)
Bean bag chairs for the kids
Bib for my father-in-law (he's always ruining his shirts when he eats)
Place mats for my mother-in-law to match her beautiful kitchen and decor
Play clothes for the kids
Blanket for Frost with fabric he picked out
Patchwork shower curtain (my design, pics soon)

I'll post the pictures of some of this stuff soon. No wonder I've had no time to knit.

Andrea Carol Knell Welch

2007-10-11T18:50:00.001-07:00

Many of you have heard the story of my parents divorce, but not necessarily all the details. In August of 1985, my mother filed for divorce. My father, being so emotionally disturbed and abusive, didn't handle the divorce papers well. The divorce was really a long time coming, and my mother finally got up the nerve to do it. My father, as a result, became much more emotionally and physically abusive after the filing. He actually tried to bribe my brother and I with a "free ride" through University if we, together, would drive my mother out of the house. I was not going to go along with that plan, and so, my brother and my father literally drove my mother and I out of the house.

The things we suffered in the months after my mother filed were absolutely awful. At first, we just split everything in the house down the "middle". We had our own dishes, food, toilet paper, etc. Then it got worse; chasing us around the house with baseball bats, threatening us with knives, having my mother arrested a number of times (they told the police that she was doing to them what they were actually doing to us - essentially lying to get her arrested). Many times I didn't have the bail money and had to rely on my mother's friends to bail her out of jail, while explaining many times to the police that my father and brother were really the problem.

Well, one night, my father got pretty violent with me and I had a goose egg on my forehead as a result. Finally, we got a court restraining order that he wasn't to go near me. Unfortunately, that wasn't much protection because we were still living with them. My mother told me she was instructed by her lawyer to stay in the house because the courts would look unfavorably at a mother that would "abandon" her under aged child - my brother. At least, that was what my mother told me her lawyer said. So, the night that my dad slammed my head into our kitchen counter was the day I ran over to a neighbors house asking for help. The neighbor was Andi and Jim Welch's house. I told them what happened and the police were called. A few days later, my mother and I were approached by the Welch's with the proposal that I stay with them so I could finish my last year of high school and go on to my chosen University.

You cannot imagine the relief I had, knowing I didn't have to live in terror anymore. I can't believe I actually could sleep those 6 months in that house. We tried to take pictures of what my father and brother were doing and when my dad found the camera, he tried to flush the film - the pictures never came out. If Andi and Jim didn't make the move they did to help me, I really believe I might not be here today. You read in the newspapers and hear many incidents of domestic violence ending with children killed and mothers killed. Our situation was definitely escalating and very worrisome. Why couldn't the police see this? They knew our house was a troubled one not only from that year, but previous years.

I babysat for the Welch's most of my high school years. I knew them very well and had made a very good friend in Andi. I loved her kids and was always privy to the loving relationship she had with her husband Jim. I learned a lot from the Welch's, especially Andi. She was a wonderful mother to her kids and me. She was vivacious and kind. She treated everyone with respect. I have modeled my own mothering from her example and I've picked a wonderful husband using Jim as an example. I couldn't have asked for better mentors at that time in my life.

A couple of weeks ago, I recieved news that Andi died. She was only 53. She died of complications from surgery. She is always on my mind and my grief comes in waves. I'm so grateful that I have Flamenco in my life to express my grief and Andi, being a dancer herself, would be happy to know that she is an inspiration to my dancing and my life.

This is a picture of Andi and Lily. Lily was 5 months old. It was taken just before we moved from the Chicago area to Vancouver.

Over the years, since we moved here, I would talk on the phone with Andi maybe three times per year. I would send emails and she would send emails. I'm grateful I got the chance to talk to her on the phone over the Summer. It's such a reminder that every second we're here counts. You never know what's around the corner.

I'm going to Chicago for the memorial service next week. I've only been back there once for Thanksgiving a few years ago. I didn't expect that this would be the reason for my second visit back home. I will miss Andi.

Bend, baby!

2007-10-02T19:29:00.000-07:00

Early every September, we spend four or five days in Bend for my birthday. The high desert is a wonderful place and late summer is a nice time to visit. The whole family loves the High Desert Museum with it's cultural and natural exhibits and wonderfully landscaped grounds. We've also been exploring many of the volcanic features in the area -- there has been volcanic activity as recently as 1,500 years ago. And sometime, I'll learn how to fly fish and try my hand on the Deschutes.

Previously, we've stayed in a yurt at Tumalo, an Oregon State Park. However, this time we decided to stay in a deluxe cabin at La Pine, another Oregon State Park about 20 miles south of Bend. The deluxe cabin was cush. It had a microwave, refrigerator, bathroom with shower, and a propane grill on the deck. It was great for the four of us.

There are lots of trails along the Deschutes at La Pine and it also features the largest/oldest Ponderosa pine in the state. There is a sign from the road pointing to the "Big Tree."

The rhythm of our days went something like this: Get up and get going after breakfast. Do something fun. Come back for Frost's nap in the early afternoon and hang around camp all evening. Since we were farther away from Band, we didn't spend much time in town and that okay with me. I had fun seeing some sights, hiking a little, and hanging around with Nicholette and the kids.

One of the most interesting new sights we saw was the big obsidian flow up in the Newberry Volcanic Monument. It was incredible. Another new thing for us was a stop at the Warm Springs Native American museum on the way out to Bend. It's a very nice museum -- much better than the Native American exhibits at the High Desert Museum.

The weather was great and we had to drive back to Vancouver all too soon.

More pictures HERE.

Time Alone

2007-09-11T15:42:00.001-07:00

Here we are on our first overnight date together since having kids. Frost weaned about a month ago and after nursing for 6.5 years straight, I was so glad to get away with just the man. Don't get me wrong, extended nursing is one of the best things I could ever do for my kids as a mom, but I really am glad to get my body back.

We ventured to Beacon Rock first, for some heavy non-trad climbing (he he). Brooke is skillfully holding the camera to take our picture.
See what I mean? Non trad. Note: non-trad is a climber's way of saying that the climbing route was greatly assisted (usually with bolts, or railings!).
The vista from Beacon Rock.
This is the pool at the Bonneville Hot Springs Resort & Spa, where we stayed. It was quite lovely with all the teak woodwork. No chlorine smell here; just pure, warm, mineral water. We checked in and went swimming immediately. Their restaurant was very good and we had a nice dinner. On another vacation this summer, we discovered that, as a couple, we really like doing puzzles together. I know, I know, a couple of "old farts" in the making. But, we REALLY like it. Here is the puzzle we did on our date. 700 pieces. It took us a total of 6 hours.
Here we are tooling around at breakfast.

After the Spa we hiked in the gorge on the Oregon side. We did a 4.5 mile hike called Angel's Rest. Here's the vista.Needless-to-say, we had a great first overnight date alone.

Shopping

2007-08-30T07:58:00.000-07:00

People are always wondering where do we get our clothing. "Where do you find organic cotton for the whole family?" Here are the links:

Patagonia
Blue Canoe
Nau
Hanna Andersson

Homo Sapiens Sapiens

2007-08-22T20:12:00.000-07:00

Here is the Hoyer Army Corps of Engineers dabbling in dam construction. It's funny, but you get a bunch of hominids and a "river" and what do they want to do? Control it! So ironic.

We were at the beach for a few days about a week ago and had a blast as usual. Frost went in the water head first, fish he is, and got a mouthful of sand. Lily is of course neat as can be and hardly got a grain on her. Totally opposite kids - who would have thought? Below is a picture of the final dam - two hours in the making. Frost is standing in the parabola of the monstrosity. Note the many dam breaches and diversions.

Nicholette's Flamenco Performance Video

2007-08-10T20:54:00.000-07:00

Here's the video of Nicholette's flamenco performance at Pix North as part of the Solo Flamenco performance group.

Environmental Wish List

2007-08-07T19:43:00.000-07:00

So, here are the things we want to do to the house to make it our complete environmental pad. Complete to our standards, because we know a heck of a lot of people that are taking things much further than us. Take No Impact Man, for example, we are not them but wish we were.

1) Solar Panels
2) Rainwater Collection System
3) Whole House Fan
4) More Attic Insulation
5) New, Energy Star Water Heater, or On Demand Hot Water System

The rest of our list is complete. We are dedicated to living a simple lifestyle on a small footprint. Here's what we've done so far to reach our goal.

1) Complete remodel of basement (instead of buying a larger home). We added a family room, playroom, 4th bedroom and bathroom.
2) Complete upgrade of all household appliances to energy star ratings (electric bill went from $90/month when we moved in to $31/month). Lots of coal-fire power plant savings there. New washer/dryer, dishwasher, refrigerator, furnace, all light bulbs are compact florescent.
3) We have one car.
4) Brooke rides his bike to work (helps cyclocross training too).
5) Organic Gardening - no watering the grass for us! Raising our own organic vegetables. Going easy on any pesticides/herbicides.
6) Composting our food waste.
7) Recycling everything that we can.
8) Never using another plastic bag at the grocery store.
9) Installed a water filtration system instead of getting plastic, bottled water.
10) We finished a course from the Northwest Earth Institute called Healthy Children/Healthy Planet
11) If we must buy stuff, we purchase from environmentally friendly and/or local businesses. No Wal Mart or big box stores for us.
12) We eat organic food.
13) We get outside every day.
14) We are not buying anything for 6 months (except food of course). Yes, this includes birthdays, anniversaries, holidays. We will get creative about our gifts this year.
15) We learned how to can our food.
16) No TV - get off the sofa and into life. Not to mention the benefits of not being bombarded by materialistic advertisements.

It's been six years in the making, but we've really done a lot when we review the list.

Flamenco

2007-07-30T19:22:00.000-07:00

Brooke and I went out on the town this past Saturday night to watch Maria Bermudez and Sonidos Gitanos perform. It was so amazing, passionate. You can't help but sweat when you watch Flamenco at this level of expertise. Here is a link to the review from the Oregonian.

I started studying Flamenco about four years ago - from afar. It's history, jargon, music was so intriguing. I was introduced to it by a friend, Holly Stewart, who lives in 100 Mile House, BC (of all places). She led me to the water so-to-speak. I am fortunate enough to live in a city where Flamenco is taken seriously.

In February of 2006, I began studying "seriously". I say that in quotes, because with two children, I could only spare two sessions of lessons per week. I was completely taken off guard by this form of dance. I've studied ballet, jazz, tap, ballroom and modern dance, but Flamenco is like no other. My most favorite dance, the Buleria is done in 6/8 time. This rhythm is not heard in our culture. It took me about three months before I could actually understand the rhythm - and this is with 27+ years of dance experience. Buleria is the most difficult dance and highly improvisational. But I persevered, and was given a chance to perform in October of 2006.

Since that life changing performance, life has happened and I've not been to classes but a handful of times. This performance that Brooke and I went to on Saturday was inspiring. I might get back into it in the fall. I'll have to see what life throws my way then, and make a decision then. Brooke is going to post my October performance soon. You won't be able to see the whole performance - Brooke didn't want to "miss" it while capturing it on film.

Here's a picture of us before our Flamenco date.

Cyclocross World Champion 2028

2007-07-27T15:57:00.001-07:00

Here’s the boy with the messenger vibe. We got the Skuut in the spring but it was slightly too big. He grew into it last month and now he flies around the driveway and yard. He loves his Skuut so much, he insists on riding it in the house.

Knitting Shops

2007-07-15T09:53:00.000-07:00

Yea! Brooke has made me an official contributor to the blog now. I'm going to talk about knitting today.

Well, two more, of the 31 + yarn shops within a 20 miles radius of our home are closing. One I'm particularly sad about because it carried the full line of Blue Sky Alpacas yarns, which I absolutely love. The Portland market is saturated with yarn shops and I've been anxiously awaiting the fallout of that saturation. Wanting to own my own yarn shop for a while now, I've completed due diligence on two shops for sale in the area. Neither are the right purchase for me, which makes me frustrated.

On the bright side, I'm learning a lot about starting up a needlework shop of my own. I can see myself owning my own business in about 10 years, after the kids are more grown, and the homeschooling has taken off. I really couldn't imagine putting them in school so I could pursue my business goals.

I'm going to continue teaching and selling my designs at the Yarn Garden. I'm adding other needlework to my repertoire. I just began cross-stitching and I'm loving it. There are so many more fibers to choose from across the needlework spectrum. Silk on linen is my favorite for cross stitch.

I'm in the process of updating my website. Those pictures of me are about 3 years old, I have many more patterns to add, and more class listings. This fall at Yarn Garden I'll be teaching two classes. One is sweaters from the neck down and the other is for these sweet little Russian Satchel's. The pattern for these will be on my website soon.

Our family as the Simpsons

2007-07-06T10:33:00.000-07:00

I'm not being original. I got the idea from Erik Voldengen. So here we are!

You can make your own here.