Sew What?

I remember having one sewing class in middle school.  We actually sewed on treadle sewing machines...just foot power.  I kept trying to sew and was able to decipher patterns pretty well, but not everything I made I would want to wear.

Here is a dress I made when I was a teenager, 16 or 17.  The year would have been 1960-61 perhaps.
It had lots of bright flowers and was silky to the touch.  I love that I know how to sew some simple things.  It's a very useful skill.  I made underwear for your parents a few times!  LOL

Would I be back in style?

Brave by Sara Bareilles - BYU Vocal Point (a cappella tribute)

Hey, Grandpa and I saw this group perform this week.

Enjoy this fun "Brave" number from Vocal Point.

Initially Great!

These, I believe are the last of the birthday initials from 2013!  I had a great time making them for each of the grandkids and I learned lots of good stuff too.  I had a friend help with the framing that made them all look fantastic!

Adam

Erica

Clara

Lou

Golden

Eloise

In other news...

                                        Noah is acting in the Philadelphia story.  Then his school will be putting on Les Miserables, a huge production.
                             Julia has plans to go on a service/tour this summer (July) to Nicaragua   Two of her Sedgwick cousins are going too.  She is excited about that.
James David is about ready to put in his mission papers.
This is a link to                   Allen IV's animation reel - kind of like a resume.  The password is: animation

http://ostergaranimation.blogspot.com/

James A. has started a blog...

Here is a link to James' new blog.  Check it out!
I will also put it in the side bar with other family blogs.
www.redstonefornoobs.com

Odds and Ends...

The Bee Z Beaver!!  Awwww!

Where are you sailing, James?

From a letter to Adam from Uncle Allen. Mary Falck played the organ in both the Saturday evening session and on Sunday.  She was terrific.

For FHE last night I did a lesson on what it means to be an Ostergar.  We had FHE with the Melanie and Kennie Jacobsen on the boat.  I shared the story of Grandpa working all summer and being paid a valuable purebred calf.  It later died at the fair before he could sell it.  We talked about being an Ostergar means working hard looking on the positive side of things when things don’t work out how we expect.  I talked about James’ dad being a hard worker.  We also talked about the Ostergar love of missionary work.  Then we sang our beaver songs.

Ruth's been sewing up a storm...darling dress!

Bird Brain?

Peter goes swamp camping...

Peter went camping with the Scouts by the Great Dismal Swamp for three days after Christmas.  The campsite was on an island in a swamp. He canoed for about 30 minutes to get to the site.  The water is black from all the tannins in the vegetation.  (As vegetation decomposes it releases tannins which make the water black and the water was pretty black).   The water also had duck weed on the surface which makes the water look scummy.    You can see it in the picture with Peter and his friend in their life vests.  The canoe in the background aside the dock is in the water.  It looks like it is on the ground, but the green stuff is the duckweed on the water.   

The trees were also really cool.  Some of them were cyprus trees and they grew right out of the water.  They have the wide bases to provide stability in the water - you can also see them in the pictures.   Some of them were covered with spanish moss, and some of them had mistletoe on them.   

The trip was fairly cold.  It got down in to the 20s at night and was in the 40-50s during the day.  They always had a good fire going at night and everyone brought two sleeping bags.  

During the day one of the leaders taught the finer points of managing a canoe (e.g. the J-stroke) in the morning and the afternoon was set aside for exploring the lake and surrounding rivers.    Three of the boys did swim in the lake, but not really by choice.  One of them tried to jump from a tree into a canoe the other two boys were in.  He ended up tipping the canoe and all the boys ended up in the water.    Lesson learned, don't jump from trees into canoes.  

There are alligators in this lake, but they didn't see any this year.  A few years back they saw one about 5 feet from the Scoutmaster's canoe.  The group did see turtles, bald eagles, a deer and a beaver.   (Peter and his Dad sang the beaver song as they went by a beaver house.)

The morning they left they had to break through ice with their canoes in some places in the lake.  It was cool.  (ha, ha).  

All in all it was a great trip.  

Check out the swamp and the duck weed and Peter

Cypress trees and Peter

Peter in the Great Dismal Swamp