United We Stand One Nation Under God

Two Pioneers pose {you earn an extra 5 points if you can identify the person in the van} as they will carry our American Heritage Girls banner in front of our float. We are parked in our spot putting the finishing touches on everything (and everyone) preparing to walk in the parade > sunscreen on everyone and plenty of water bottles as we nearly roasted last year. Of course, rain was predicted for 11 a.m., parade start time.

Photo shoot time while we wait for the judges to drive past. Jacqui named our float theme One Nation Under God.

Here's my group of Pioneer/Patriots. Rachel is excited about being the first Patriot (high school age) in the group.

The uniformed paper dolls, standing in AHG unit order:
pathfinder (blue T), tenderheart (red vest), explorer (blue vest), pioneer(sash/white shirt), patriot (sash/red shirt) -
spell out the parade theme "United We Stand". Peggy was so organized!!

And we are off! See me in the red, white & blue floral hat? :-)

Stan & Caleb came to watch. The big guys & Maryn had to work.

Here's the view into "downtown"

and the rear view.

As we rode along, we sang the AHG creed and oath songs. Ms Traci kept telling the girls, "Louder!"

I told them, "Smile and wave!"

I enjoyed seeing some folks getting into the spirit of the day. God bless America!

Many smiled and waved back at us. It was fun seeing many friends in the crowd - a benefit of living in a small town. :-) Sometimes people applauded when the girls got to the end of a song.

"I have a creed (I have a creed) That I live by (that I live by) that helps me choose (that helps me choose) the way that's right (the way that's right). I have a creed that I live by that helps me choose the way that's right. I'll be compassionate, helpful and honest. I'll be loyal, perseverant and pure. I'll be resourceful, respectful, responsible and reverent. This will be my creed..."

How can you prove you are patriotic? Just decorate your livestock!

Here we are close to the downtown craft show. Doesn't Laran's hair look beautiful?

Some of the girls handed out leaflets telling about AHG which they offered to families with girls.
There's my Rachel in her red patriot shirt.

See how thrilled the girls are to have won the "Best Youth Float" trophy for the second year in a row, the second year of our troop existance?

More important are the young lives, impacted, we leaders & parents pray, by the AHG themes and goals: building women of integrity, promising to love God, cherish their family, honor their country and serve in their community, remembering what an American Heritage Girl is supposed to be to help them choose the Way that is Right.

Amen.

Training a Leader

Three of us completed half of the AHG leader training last night complete with questions, discussion, jokes, a tiny bit of calendar work, delicious hot teas (honey or sugar?), cheese & crackers and bite sized Reeses cups.

What I learned:

There is something called a Joining Award Leader Resource Packet that we've never seen.

Our troop really needs a shepherd.
Our Charter Organization is supposed to provide one.
A shepherd prays with & gets to know the girls plus provides spiritual leadership for the leaders and moms.

Leaders are only supposed to hold a position for no longer than three years. That can be a good thing. Rachel has 4 more years after this one. Time is fleeting!

Cows frolic. Yes, that did come up during the meeting. No, you really don't want to know.

AHG has its own official polo shirts that are muy expensive (who pays $25 for a polo?) required uniform attire but are not available for sale at convention & charges outrageous shipping & handling. Hm.

Stars & Stripes Award has a required one hundred hour community service project that must be completed by age 18.

The AHG Creed is based on the 10 Commandments. I still haven't figured out which goes with which commandment (not that I've pondered for very long...): An American Heritage Girl is compassionate, helpful, honest, loyal, perseverent, pure, resourceful, respectful, responsible, reverent.

1. Only worship God.
2. No idols.
3. No misusing God's Name.
4. Keep the Sabbath holy.
5. Honor your parents.
6. Do not murder.
7. Do not commit adultery.
8. Do not steal.
9. Do not lie.
10. Do not covet.

Which would you put together?

We plan to finish our training next week. Same bat time & place although the snacks may vary.

Last Day of Sewing Camp

Where did we leave the sewing camp crew yesterday?

In the pool!
We really did get out & go home.
Eventually.
But we did not swim today.



We focused instead on finishing up a couple of yesterday's projects.
>>Swimming pool opened at noon yesterday.
Priorities!
I'm sure you understand.






Then the girls made full size pillowcases.

Got the drill yet?
Select & cut fabric to specific sizes.
Rachel had cats.

Iron.

Grace & Veronica had horses.





Iron some more.
Maybe do some pinning.

Sew.
Show off with flair the lovely creations ready to adorn girly bedrooms.

Ms Peggy thought a wall hanging incorporating some squares from fabric brought by each girl would make a nice memento. She & I put together this one for Ms. Linda & sent home with each girl a stack of 6 squares.

Sewing camp homework:

Make your wall hanging.

Other Sewing Camp memories:

Non-campers watching movies on Ms Peggy's portable DVD player.






Learning to use the sharp rotary cutters.







Ms. Linda of the Sew Diva Kids Camp & many encouraging words.
She SAID "no helicopters" to alleviate hovering.
But I know the TRUTH.
I think she enjoyed seeing the mom's working with their daughters as much as she liked teaching the girls. :-) This camp provided an opportunity for some mother-daughter bonding, and I'm not talking about the inter facing.



Brownies!
Courtesy of Christi
And let's not forget the marvelous fruity muffins baked fresh daily by George. Yum!


New friends to pal around with.








Sewing Camp: $40 plus materials, time, energy, effort and some frustration.

Spending time with friends, learning some new skills, discovering part of the Great Designer in yourself
- we are made in His Image after all:
Priceless

Sewing Camp Day 4

We kicked off our shoes and jumped right into today's sewing project: a cloth basket for the bedchamber.









Measuring & dissecting fabric into 9.5 X 13.5 pieces - 2 of each, the girls once again chose some coordinating colors and practiced their skillful use of the rotary cutters.


The boys, having discovered this blog, clamored for some equal time.


Boys happily jumped on the trampoline.







Meanwhile, the girls ironed inner facing cut 8.5 x 12.5, rough side toward the fabric so it won't stick to the iron onto the wrong side of one of their cloth sections. Ms. Linda explained that it would help stiffen the fabric so the baskets would stand up. No one wants a lazy, sleeping basket.




Boys enjoyed running around in the yard being chased by the miniature bull large dog who lives there & answers to the name of Duke. Macho name.

As the girls carefully sewed the short ends then refolded and pressed those sewn edges making stripes down the middle and sewed the open long sides.

Some boys were swinging

while some girls carefully measured then cut out two inch squares from each corner

then pulled those freshly cut edges into a straight line and sewed them flat to make bottom basket edges.

At this point the baskets were turned right-side-out through a hole left for that purpose with that wonderful hemostat. What would they do without it?

As one nameless young lady stuffed her excess cloth into her bag I heard Ms. Linda say, "Don't scrunch fabric! I love fabric."

See?

You ARE supposed to fold it to put it away.
Don't look in my bag...

Several of the moms prepared for the next day by cutting out pattern sections.

While the girls were cutting and pressing into shape tabs for the sides, chose two buttons to hand-sew on for decoration then

TADA!
The finished (or nearly so) products.

Don't they look great? I know you are wishing YOU had one for YOUR dresser.

Yes, I've made a big deal out of this shot because once again I have failed to secure a photo of everyone with their creations.
Why not?
Because everyone wanted to go SWIMMING!

We're planning to have more fun tomorrow.

Sewing Camp Day 3

Today's meeting began with show-n-tell.
After studying the AHG handbook, Ms. Linda proceeded to expound on some info necessary to secure sewing badges for the girls.

1. Get acquainted with the tools of the sewing trade. Identify and describe the use of various sewing items such as scissors, measuring tape, pinking shears, pins, needles, seam ripper, thimble, bobbins, buttons, felt, bias tape, piping...

2. Identify the following types of fabric: woven cotton, polyester knit, fleece, flannel, terrycloth, vinyl, upholstery...

She did a great job going down the list showing, explaining & quizzing the girls.
There was even a test complete with essay questions.
NOT!

Today's first project was making a notebook cover. Girls had to measure their notebooks to determine the proper size to cut their 2 pieces of outside fabric awa the "floppy doodles" that fit inside the covers to keep the cover on the book.


Securing the top, middle folded pieces & bottom pieces together presented a great opportunity to use basting stitches (item #4).







Rachel decided to pin hers since she's mastered basting.
You think someone would create a cleaning-your-room camp? :-)








Once pieces are placed precisely in proper positions you sew, sew, sew!


Then out come that handy hemostat.






Ms. Linda modeled the latest fashion, a cloth bookmark complete with contrasting fabric highlights and button decor, also known as Project Number Two.





Which requires more ironing of those complementary fabric 3 x 9 pieces, once you cut them to size.







Then a bit more ironing of the decorative stripes.
Yes, that's me in the photo. You can blame thank Traci. [grin]


More sew, sew, sewing. That's what the camp's all about, after all.





Oh.
And maybe some froggy "rippit" too.
But only when necessary.









Once the machine has zipped around inside the parameter, pinking shears are employed to provide that festive (and unraveling resistant) border.

Ms. Linda emphasized that the kids were designing their bookmarks, expressing their creativity.
Q. Did we bring our kids to sewing camp so that one day they will be Designing Women?
Just a thought.

A little bit of time was taken to delve into Traci's sewing basket to discuss the fine art of quilting. Gnarly!




The boys had a great time playing in the wet outdoors and inside with Lego's












before we faced the bumpy road home.

Girls finished their projects at different times & departed so I didn't get a group shot today.

Hopefully tomorrow. I'll keep you posted!