Fourth of July Birthday Garland

Broken Arm Update: I had my evaluation for physical therapy. I have progressed from about 20% range of motion to about 60% range of motion which is terrific! But not terrific enough to graduate from physical therapy. We scheduled another four weeks. 

Last year we welcomed our very own firecracker! 

My youngest grandson, Louis, was born during our city's Fourth of July parade. He and his mommy were able to watch the fireworks from the top floor of the hospital. He looks very impressed. 

Mom wanted a Fourth of July fabric garland to put behind Louis for his first birthday pictures.  Since I can't go shopping, I went to the fabric closet. This was quite the experience because I have more fabric than a fabric store and it is piled on shelves from floor to ceiling. I considered the pulling, shifting, piling, falling and re-piling of fabric to be my physical therapy for the day. It did take one day just to corral all my fabric. Day two began with ironing (even though it doesn't look like there was any pressing in this photo), folding and cutting with my rotary cutter. I had search several pinterest pages looking for suggested measurements. I ended up going with 12" long and between 1 1/2 inches and 3 inches wide. 

Something I did learn on Pinterest was to tie my clothesline between two chairs so I could sit on the couch and tie them together. I was so happy to finally part with the red checked fabric. It was from my mother's stash and now I feel like she is with Louis for his birthday. 

My daughter wanted a vintage Fourth of July baseball theme and these are just some of the fabrics I had in that color family. To knot the strips, I just made a loop in the middle and pull both ends through. It only took me an afternoon to make the 7 foot garland. 

This is the "teaser" from Louis's birthday session! I think it came out pretty darn good. 

Mom isn't sure if Louis is actually hosting a birthday party for the Fourth of July. The original plan was a pool party and picnic at their house! Instead of the primitive colors, she wanted to go with more primary red, white and blue. As long as I did not have grandchildren to babysit and since I had the rotary cutter and mat on the table, I set to work on a garland for the party. 

More tying on to a clothesline.  I decided not to use the red stripe. I have the white high chair that was mine as a baby. It does not have a strap to belt in a child (so they can slide out under the tray. The tray lifts up to release the child or for the child to flip and throw food around the room. But it does look nice in pictures. 

For the party I will staple the garland to the high chair. I am trying to decide if the chair needs a good cleaning or I should try to repaint it. 

I ended up cutting enough of both color families to make at least one more garland from each.  I haven't decided if I am keeping them all or giving them away. The photographer and my daughters and daughter in laws have all expressed interest.  As my daughter told our photographer, only my mom would have a closet full of fabric in just the right colors to make a last minute garland. 

Summer Wreath

Broken Arm Update: Physical Therapy is kicking me in the rear. I am back to sleeping in my recliner. I was up most of the night and my plan was to sleep all day until I was woken by a 5 year old. His dad had a curbside pickup at a home improvement store in the next town and there is no room in the pickup for a booster seat. I do have a greater range of motion and am starting to actually accomplish a few things. 

Earlier this spring, there was a great wreath going around social media having something to do with a bicycle. I lost the inspiration photo, but I did order some plastic bicycles from Ebay that arrived about three months later from China. 

We are, of course, social distancing and, of course, our local craft stores are not requiring masks. I had to make due with what I had. 

It took six spools of 9 yard ribbon with a slight wire edge.

Searched the internet and anywhere with curb side pickup for these. Thought I would have to use an old grapevine wreath and then found two in my sewing closet. (Two pictured)

Took another day to find a spool of floral wire, then I cut the ribbon and wound wire around the loops. 

I then wired the loops to the frame using some kind of pattern that I lost track of. I am not sure this was the easiest method of doing this. 

But it looks better from the front. Kinda

Then I wired my Chinese plastic bike to the front. 

Unfortunately the colors don't really pop on the door. The bicycle was totally lost in the door color, so I ended up backing it with a white foam paper plate for now.  I have two bicycles left and one more frame, so I may offer this to my daughter who has a white front door and try to come up with some ribbon colors that contrast more with the door. I think if I fill in the middle with a contrasting color of ribbon loops, the bicycle will still show. 

But now I have to move on to the next project with a six day deadline. My youngest grandson will turn one year old on the Fourth of July and mom needs a red, white and blue fabric banner for his one year photo shoot. Fortunately I had practically a shelf of fabric in these colors in the sewing closet so off to fabric cutting I go! 

Last Day of Homeschool

Arm update: I have been to physical therapy three times and have had three different therapists. The unit just reopened and it is finding it's feet again. Lots of safety precautions. The first two sessions went well, I thought. The third left me unable to move for two days. 

Homeschool Update:

The first grade had a year end project to accomplish. The students read the story of the Three Little Pigs and had one week to build a house out of household materials that could withstand the winds of a hair dryer.  I thought we were going big, but on the driving by tour to see the other houses in driveways - two of them were at least four feet tall! Many were much smaller, made from legos. 

Grampa helped the student cut pieces from scrap lumber. Miss Merry mixed leftover acrylic paints to achieve a brick color. 

Mortar was added to confuse the big bad wolf by thinking the wooden house was a brick house. 

We were directed to create a poster to explain the process. I taught the student the old trick of pencil lines on the cardboard to help keep the sentences straight. 

The shutters made from popsicle sticks changed color three times before the builder was satisfied. 

While his brother and a flat first grade teacher looked on, the house passed the hair dryer test!!

Memorial Day

Arm Update: I was very disappointed to find out that, instead of doing amazingly well, I now have encapsulation of the shoulder, elbow and wrist. Our hospital just reopened their physical therapy department and I am one of the first customers. I have a feeling this might have been avoided if I had gone a month ago instead of being "on my own". Darn that Rona!

Home School Update: We traveled on our first "home school" field trip on Friday for Memorial Day. Field trips are a little tricky in the current environment. We wanted to be close enough to home in case anyone needed a restroom. We wanted to travel to a location where we would not encounter other people. And, unfortunately, we do not feel comfortable standing in carry out lines for ice cream. No one seems to be respecting others by wearing a mask and no one seems to be able to estimate six feet for social distancing. 

Our first stop was a drive by to my country church cemetery. I showed the grandchildren/students the bronze plaque on the back of my parent's stone and explained about my father's military service in Korea. We looked around the cemetery at all the veterans graves, marked on the back with plaques and talked about how this year the American Legion had already put out flags for each person without the usual well attended ceremony. 

We drove down the road to a neighboring village which has a small park in front of their Catholic Church. All the monuments honor war veterans. The students are posing in front of the Civil War monument which lists citizens who served on the reverse side. Those who lost their lives in the war are marked with stars. This will be true on all monuments. 

World War I.  Every year the village hosts a Memorial Day parade with marching boy scouts, girl scouts, 4-H clubs and a large contingent of decorated bicycles. All participants end up at the park where the American Legion distributes popsicles. This year the parade was cancelled. 

World War II. My uncle Del's name is on this list and my dad's name is on the plaque of the fundraisers on the right. There are also two soldiers with my maiden name marked with stars. I will need to research this list. 

Korea. This one has my dad's name (their great grandfather). He was awarded 4 bronze stars, but made it home. One of the people marked with the stars was a female nurse from the village. Although I don't think she is a family member, I will be researching this brave lady, too. 

Vietnam. That is a lot of names for such a tiny village. I can't pick out stars, but I remember seeing them. 

Had to drag the students away from this.  They were full of questions about all the monuments and the first grader can read the names.  They were both appalled to find out that we still have active military serving in dangerous circumstances overseas. The whole Korean Conflict may require some age appropriate books.  

When we came home, they helped me put my row 24" flags along our landscaping.