More felting...why gnomes??

This is so addictive.  I love it, and it is even relaxing....but I think I need to expand my color palette beyond what came with my first kit.  Brown, orange & white aren't exactly summer colors!  I did see a tutorial on how to dye natural wool with kool aid, so that is next I think.  A friend gave HB a drop spindle & some wool so I have a bit of roving to experiment on.  Thank you to the great fiber artists who post their tutorials online - what would I do without you (link below)?!  But - why gnomes??  I guess they're easy to start with, especially if they don't have faces, arms or legs like my first little guy.

Here he is, almost done!  He's made with those 3 little balls we wet felted a week or so ago - just wrapped white wool around the top one for the head.  I didn't have to wet felt them, but it was an easy first project.

I did add eyes & a beard - he has to lean which is fine, and he even matches his woodland friends

Last night's gnome - so fun!  I mixed the wool so it would look all swirly for the hat, used a wool-wrapped pipe cleaner for the arms...and I may make it into a girl w/ braids.  For today Tweeters loves her without a face!  Weird!  The tutorial I used was from http://fionaduthie.blogspot.com/2011/01/love-gnomes.html

Art Faire

Over the weekend we attended an art faire in a nearby town.  We brought along Grandma & Grandpa & had a blast!  Jam just wanted to play in the fountain & eat, but Tweeters soaked up the art like her big sis.  Last year Flash ran a food booth with his chef pal but since they have a new baby they didn't do it this summer.  Honey Bunches plans to do a henna tattoo & renaissance-type booth next year!  And she just told me she got a job at a tattoo parlor doing henna!!!  Ack!! 

Yep, painting a...rock

this was cool - screen printing a turtle onto a bag - for FREE!

pottery wheel 101 - what awesome volunteers!!

Grandma enjoying the gorgeous day!

Jam's artful contribution

Dolcimer guy was great - played Twinkle Little Star just for Tweeters & Jam

Grandpa added his artistic talents with a piece entitled "Kilroy was here" ;0)  Do you know the 'rest of the story'?  You should look up where that came from - great story!

Make your own butterfly & pond net!

I love the shears over our bookcases - they really clear a lot of visual clutter.  And we have another whole bag of frilly ones in the shed just waiting for a purpose!  What to do with them?  Sew up some butterfly nets of course ;0)  I found a super easy pattern in "The Kids' Nature Book" (a crafty thing to do every day of the year by seasons) & jumped in.  HB didn't want to part w/ any of her terrible wire hangers (I don't use those EVER, thanks to the movie "Mommy Dearest"!!) so I dug some bailing wire out of the shed.  That shed is a wonderland of useful hidden junk.  After charging the battery on the drill I made a small hole in the ends of 2 sticks, 'cause of course with 2 little ones I will need 2 nets.  I cut the shears, ruffles & all & voila, nets!  Ok, there was a tiny bit of sewing involved, but really it was 'sew' easy.....

So many possibilities for these simple patterns - continent bags, purses - the pocket along the top for the wire is even already there b/c that's where the rod would normally go for the curtains!  The one on the left is actually the bottom of the curtain so the wire is strung through the hem.

We had to try them out right away - no fish but lots of life on the bottom of the lake that came home for a few days.  We've had a blast identifying the critters - some pics to come in a future post.

HB enjoyed the nets as well - but we didn't try to get any dragonflies or butterflies...apparently I "mimimalized" my butterfly house :0(  That's ok - next project is to make one with the old CURTAINS!

Wet felting - our first time & some history on the technique...

This was really fun, and faster than needle felting I think?  Well, if you consider the playing w/ bubbles & clean up....maybe not!  Not sure what we'll make with our balls - maybe a little summer person to put on the science table.  They are drying now so I have time to figure that out.  I found the tutorial at this site:http://www.lilblueboo.com/2012/02/how-to-make-felt-balls-wet-felting-101.html

Hot soapy water & left over wool from the fox

After rolling them in our hands for about 10 minutes, we had these nice little hard balls - great for making people or animals or even stringing into jewelry!

A little history of wet felting from http://www.livingfelt.com/felt.html  :
 Felt is the oldest textile fabric dating as far back as 6300 BC. It is created from wool or other animal fibers that are densely matted together. Felting predates spinning, weaving or knitting and for centuries, this non-woven fabric has been used for yurts, blankets, rugs, hats, boots and clothing. Felt has the ability to protect against cold and insulate against heat, and can absorb and hold moisture, and can be cut without fraying.
The creation of felt using traditional techniques simply requires wool, water, soap and two hands. A few other items can aid in the creation of felt - but no machinery is required to create this amazing fabric.
Wool may be used in it's natural state, or processed, dyed and carded.
Wool is layed out in layers with each layer going in a different direction. Hot water and soap is added, gentle agitation begins. The process of agitation varies depending on the methods of the felter and the piece being created, but the result is the same. The more agitation, the tighter the resuting fabric. Wool fibers have scales -- the process of felting causes these scales to grab onto neighboring fibers and interlock.
To emulate what people created with wet felting, industry created the felting needle. Thousands of these needles were used together to "needle punch" wool into a fabric and allow the creation of felt without soap or water. The felting needles have small, downward barbs that entangle the wool fibers together. It is from this process that industrial felt is made - the kind you find in the craft store, in your car's air filter, etc.
"Needle felting" is a term for using one or more felting needles by hand to create flat felt or felt sculpture. The first use of felting needles in this manner that we know of was in the early 1980's by artisans David & Eleanor Stanwood who took a tool from the woolen mill industry to use on a small scale and began needle felting by hand. David & Eleanor taught Ayala Talpai who then created some fun books and shared needle felting with others in the quest to promote the craft. Needle felting is currently less practiced than wet felting, but it is gaining popularity amongst crafters, doll makers, bear artists, and artisans.

Geometry for Flash & crafting a woolen whale

Ok, so it's just a shot of my big guy doing geometry, not the actual work ;0)  But my posts are weighed heavily with little people & I want to include everyone....while he worked on that I made a whale!

That's Math U See...found it at a yard sale for 85 cents w/ the videos & unused workbook.  Some day he'll finish this & I can pass it along to someone!

This is an old sweater of mine that I don't wear anymore (obviously!).  I washed it in HOT water to felt it & cut off the sleeve.  I didn't even have to sew the top & bottom because that was where the seam was already....the reason it looks like it has a nose?  So I can stuff it in to make a mouth!  I actually just free-handed the sewing w/ HB's machine & then cut it out - a little backwards but it made it SO easy!

Emroidered some eyes & now he is eating Jonah!  I think he ate Thomas the Tank Engine this afternoon...but hey, someday we'll get our bible stories straight. 

What a busy day! Homemade ice cream & cream cheese

Somehow we did so much today - where did we have time for it all??  And I don't even have any pictures of our 2 hours at the park!  While we were there we made chalk rock drawings, played tic tac toe w/ rocks, and retold the whole story of 'Madeline's Rescue' using rocks!  It was funny, but they loved it!  Here are the 'cooking' things....

Tweeters spooning homemade yogurt into a tea towel set in a strainer over a bowl to make cream cheese

My helper - in a dress made by her great-grandma for HB 14 years ago!!  Wow!

showing how the whey drips down into the bowl - should be done by this evening & then we can make more cream cheese & cucumber sandwiches tomorrow for lunch!  (well, if there are more cucumbers ripe in the garden...).

got 4 gallons of milk yesterday - one went to making yogurt, and there was enough cream to make ice cream!  We added strawberries & it was delish :0) Thank you Big Mama (my great-grandma) for the wonderful recipe - still bringing us joy & awesome ice cream!!

Summer play area set up

We moved the play kitchen back out to the playhouse by the garden - we thought it would get more use out there with us in the garden more, and now we are seeing more mud pies!  We've had it in the house since spring when we first started our Waldorf journey, so it was time anyway.  We also added in a science table of sorts, which we've had for years but never really did a lot with.

So now it is a dress up area!  Great find here on this commercial childcare dress up piece - $7 at the thrift store (and it's on wheels!!)!!  It also has a mirror on the end, see?  And the little wooden dolly cradle was $5 at another thrift store...I'm telling you, we have the best thrift stores!!  That pink dress on the left was made for Tweeters by HB about 2 years ago but it still fits ;0)

The handy shelf on the wall was a Goodwill find when we were in Florida, toted all the way back in the RV...glad we picked it up though.  I want to add a few more things but it is a space in progress as the season goes by.  When veggies start coming on in full force I plan to add the wooden velcro food for Jam to practice cutting & imitating what he'll be seeing us do!

How do you change your play areas as the seasons change or your children grow?  I'd love to hear from you!

Yard sale finds, homemade & saved

Home-made balance board - easy peasy w/ wood we had lying around. The 1/2 circle piece is just slab wood that we burn in our wood furnace!

I am a firm believer in reusing or making what you can - and that includes lots of thrift stores & yard sales.  Resisting the temptation to buy what we DON'T need is a little hard sometimes though!  Guess that's how we ended up with 'Mac' & 1/2 a dozen other characters from the Cars movie.  Jam sure loves them, but oh how I really don't like toys from movies!!  I would say normally that it kills the creativity & imagination, and perhaps he is just recreating scenes from the movie....but he has done this for hours and hours and hours. 

Yard sale: No way!  I was gearing up to learn how to make some beeswax candles - even planning a trip to a bee supplier for real beeswax!  Friday we went to some yard sales & voila!  A $2 pillar (the price tag said $45!!!).  We bought another pillar like this but round, and 2 small pillars (so $4 for all 4 candles!!!).

Saved!  HB & Flash's dress up clothes....I especially love the white cotton cloves & "The Butler Hat"....pics of our summer spaces including dress up area coming soon.  By the way, the gloves are from my great-grandma who HB & Flash got to know, but Tweeters & Jam weren't born yet when she died.  Flash got the hat in when HB pulled the sword out of the stone in Disney ages ago!

What are some of your great yard sale finds?  How about things you make yourself?  Do share!

Welcome Baby M & more sewing projects

She's a beaut!  HB drove an hour to the hospital to visit her & can't wait to get her hands on her again!  For a girl who wants to be a midwife it's a great thing she loves babies so much ;0)  PM was born 2 weeks ago....

The happy couple & their boys came out here to the beach to swim just 3 days before the baby was born!

The elephant we made 2 weeks ago was for Baby M...but another friend had a baby this past week so we had this little guy to make.  The corduroy is luxuriously soft & a bit stretchy (women's pants!), but darker than I had invisioned.  I really wasn't going for the 'black cat' look!  Anyway, he turned out so soft & cute I hardly want him to go!  SH will enjoy chewing on this kitty's ears & hearing the soft bells we put in his head & tummy....now one more to go for now....our neighbors had a baby Thursday!

Tweeters loves to sew, and chose this over legos w/ the boys!

I think a bow around the neck will finish him!

Today in the garden

Grey zucchini - Flash ate one of these raw today, the whole thing skin & all.  My vegan boy...

zuchhini & a butternut squash plant in near bed, then tomatoes, then sweet potatoes where the trellis is...beyond that is a carrot bed, salad bed, strawberries (done now), blackberries (coming soon!), asparagus & horseradish

This side has potatoes (not shown), cucumbers (need a trellis!), green peppers (by Jam), tomoatoes, carrots, onions, greenhouse

Last week's art - Henna & foot painting!

HB has recently become interested in henna...it started w/ henna in her hair b/c it is of course, natural.  Now she is creating some awesome temporary tattoos!  She's been practicing on our house guests (who after a full month are heading home tomorrow!  Wow!) & I think she could even earn some money doing this.  It started when a missionary came to church to tell how she had learned the art of henna while in India, and used this to tell bible stories to Muslim women.  They would later tell their children & husbands the stories.  We have a small e-book of hers but she is also working on one that includes the stories to tell as you do the henna....here's a link if you want to learn more:
http://southasianpeoples.imb.org/resources/evangelism/henna/

This is mine...I didn't want it too big.  It lasts about a week & this took an hour!

She's got this size down to around 4 hours I think - had both arms done last week!  I think she got tired around the elbow....

Not henna, but still lots of painting fun ;0)  They love this!  I think we'll try mouth painting sometime.