Orange, pumpkin, tomatoes, and berries

So today was another day off so we made the girls big pin cushions. I made a large orange, my oldest made a pumpkin and the youngest two made hot pink velvet tomatoes.

My oldest and my self have already put ours to use. The other girls I am sure will load theirs up soon with supplies. I made the youngest two for them they stuffed them, but my oldest made hers for a first try I think it came out pretty good.

Berries, Beads, Sequins

So I had Monday off of work and my daughters wanted to make something with Mom. We had gone to a quilt fair last week ( I was bad forgot to take pictures even though I had my camera). Any way at the quilt fair there was a garage sale and a free table the girls grabbed all kinds of little scraps from the free table.

This is where the story begins they have been pestering me in a good way to figure out what to make with those fabric scraps. Then Saturday they went to a church activity with their Pai and one daughter came home from the festivities with a small bag of wood shavings (something about digging threw wood shavings to find candy) I was at work so not sure what happened at the activity. So add this to the pile of stuff they want to craft with.

Scraps of fabric and wood shavings to me equal berries. So we got to cutting out 12 berries and inners (yes this hurts my wrist but the girls where having fun). I sewed them on the sewing machine then the middle daughter stuffed and the oldest daughter and myself sewed the tops closed. This was easy for her as it just like closing a yo yo which she has made tons of. Then we got out my sizzixx and some green antique wool and a flower dye cut and cut tops for these.

Next I handed the oldest two a jar a sequins and said they could embellish the berries. The youngest thought she was to young to do this although we asked if she wanted to. She said no and preceded to tell the oldest just how she wanted her three berries to look in the end. I used beads instead of sequins on my velvet berry I liked my other two left alone as the upholstery fabric was cool as is.

I printed the pattern for the berries off of Martha but I didn't even read the instructions after all berries are easy to make. Make a muslin liner, stuff and and close then make an outer shell and place liner in it and close attach greens and hanger and embellish done.

Now each daughter has three berries for needles and is started on her way to having her own sewing kit. We will have to work on this more this summer, next up tomato pin cushion.

yoyo quilt help

I haven't worked on the four patch yoyo quilt in a while, we have about 5 different yoyo quilts in different stages of finished. So when we went to Nevada I took it along as one of my car travel projects. The yoyos are all safety pined together so when ever we stopped I could pick up the project and fold it and everything stays in place. I want to make more yoyos in the future to make this a little bigger but at the moment we just need to get the current yoyos all sewn down and in place.

When we got home from Nevada my oldest daughter agreed to help me some on it. Nice to have a child old enough to add an extra pair of hands to a project. My daughter is sitting on the yoyos that are already sewn together she isn't sitting on the safety pins encase one opens.

Progress on kids and my crochet lace

One of my kids has finished her ball of thread the one doing finger crochet. I have finished mine and decided I wanted more lace so I added another ball and I am continuing to crochet lace. The oldest hasn't finished her ball yet but she is steadily working on it. My middle daughter seams to have hit a wall and hasn't progressed much. But that is normal for her she usually is a little more timid on picking up new skills in time she will go gangbusters on it when she is more comfortable with it all. But I may switch her over to tatting before she gets this as tatting maybe a little easier for her to manipulate. I know that sounds odd but its true. Tatting is actually easier than most people think especially if you start with chains and not rings make a yard of chain then make a foot of chain with picots then switch to rings and then join then you have it.

What little hands can do

Decided to update earlier than Wednesday

So all three have tried their hands at crochet and they had me make a piece of lace too. They didn't want to be alone in their endeavor so I made a piece of lace and will continue to till my ball of thread is gone. I have a habit of doing this if I make lace for fun I have to use the whole ball. As to why I do not know.

Results we will go from oldest to youngest I guess this includes me.I made yardage lace using size 10 thread and a 6 hook (same thread size, color and hook the 10 and 8 year old used). Bad light in the next two photos the ones of my oldest daughter is closer to the actual color of the thread.

The pattern I used can be found here if you want to make it too. If you use tiny thread like size 20 and smaller makes a lovely bookmark as she shows or a real nice delicate lace. But if you use size 10 thread makes a nice heavy weight lace suitable for clothing and linens such as pillows and sheets and table clothes. If you use yarn a lovely scarf. I have over 3 1/2 yards made already of this lace which is the sum of one ball but I plan on making it longer.

The oldest daughters pattern came from leisure arts book 111 easy crochet edgings number 8 in the book.

The middle daughters pattern came out of my head and is posted here.

The youngest tried to make lace like the oldest then we switched hook sizes and yarn sizes to no avail. She is ambidextrous so she kept switching which hand the hook was in as she figured it would feel better in one of the two. The problem with being ambidextrous is that if something is new and awkward she tries it in both hands and doesn't get comfortable with just one hand. We had this issue all school year with her writing she would not pick a hand so she kept bouncing between the two making for messy handwriting as neither hand is very skilled at it. This lead her to a few tears as she wasn't sure why her sisters could get comfortable and not her. So I decided no implements in her hands would be best. Yep finger crocheting miles and miles of chain. She is very proud of herself because in less than thirty minutes her chain was longer than oldest sisters lace and middle sisters strip and even longer than Mae's lace. So she went from tears to boasting about how fast she was with just her hands where every one else had to have something else but not her. I didn't notice that when I took the photo her hand was in the back ground fitting since she is the one doing finger crochet.

Like I said they all can do it just have to find the right tool, pattern, yarn and so forth. In this case chubby fingers, chains, and cotton yarn.

Making Petal People

So what happens when you are in a car for about four hours every day with your kids in the middle of commute rush hours? They get board and want things to do other than just their homework. So I told them that when I was a little girl growing up in my Vavo's flower shop, I used to make dolls out of petals and wire/pipe cleaners.

They wanted me to explain how this was done. I told them, nope they had to figure it out for themselves and I would bring them petals from work every now and again so they could work on them in the car. My boss said this was fine, that I could take the girls petals to play with. This is just a few of the dolls they have come up with using nothing but dead headed flowers and guard petals of roses and pipe cleaners. I think they came out pretty cute for a first attempt.

Incase you don't know what guard petals are, they are the petals a florist takes off of every rose, usually two or three petals per rose. These are the ones that are usually greenish or damaged from growing. Most people who don't work in a floral shop have never heard of guard petals. Everyone who works in the business knows a rose is usually only pretty to a customer once these are removed.

A Lot of Firsts

1. It is the first time in 10 years I have gone job hunting.
2. The first time in 12 years for me make a floral arrangement as part of a job interview (I passed that test just fine; not to rusty after all).
3. My first time using kiosks to send a resume (just so we know, I am not fond of those things).
4. My first three call backs in less than 1 day after dropping off resumes (good to know I am still considered a good catch to employers).
   
5. My first time applying to teach art at an elementary school (k-4) (1 of my dream jobs, it is even at the school my children go to); pray for me on this one. (On a side note, other dream jobs: being a pattern tester in almost any fiber medium, owning a fiber art museum and teaching classes there, enough of that).
   
6. The first time my littlest daughter has ever lost a tooth.
7. First time for any of my children to wear glasses (I think they look cute in them, I have no idea why she is doing a blank stare in the photo).

Lots of first the last three weeks. I thought life was supposed to slow down as you got older; it seems to be speeding up on me. Not complaining, just amazing how fast life changes. No job, yet, still hunting. I have been offered a few, but I want to wait a few days more so I can compare them and see what works best for my family.

Kids art

If anyone remembers, my kids entered a tree decorating contest at Christmas time. Well, they did not win first prise, but they are fine with that. They did win one of the other prises, and they think it is better than first prise. They get to have their tree in a magazine next year at Christmas time. How's that for ages 6, 8, and 10. They got in a magazine 20 some-odd years before their mother did, age-wise that is. Because of this, yes Christmas is still up at our house because I haven't had a chance to take good photos, yet; at least not ones I want to have the world see. They also got this prize in the mail as a thank you for entering. This is not my photo; someone at Mary Jane's Farm took the photo, that is who hosted the contest.

Note posted on forum by Meg (Mary Jane's Daughter)

We wanted to do something special for Sunshine's little farmerettes that won an honorable mention in the Christmas Tree Contest. Their tree was so beautiful and all handmade by the three girls.Thanks for sharing your beautiful tree with us and watch the mail for a package!

MaryJane's daughter,
Meg

Colorados

My daughters were playing with my oldest Colorados the other night and decided to make a picture of my fairy girl (oldest daughter). They got a little bored waiting for grandparents to come and visit; they, the grandparents, were a little late due to unforeseen circumstances. A few days prior my oldest two daughters had a piano recital that the grandparents were not able to go to through no fault of their own. So they where coming over for a private recital from the girls.

In the process of waiting, this idea came into my daughters' heads -- to make the oldest out of blocks. It is actually a real cool toy; I'm just not sure if I think that really looks like my daughter. But at least the eyes are blue and the image has short hair like she does. I am just thinking she doesn't have a green nose and purple cheeks or bright red lips. I don't know what do you think (rhetorical question).

Between midnight and 8am

That is when all this snow fell onto our back deck. We didn't haul any up the stairs; this was already there. The kids are excited to make a snowman. They received a gift of an instant snowman in a box at Christmas, and they have been waiting for one really good snow fall so they could make him on the deck ,so this is the day. The instant snow man is pretty cool; he came with eyes, corn cob pipe and mouth, a carrot nose, buttons and scarf and hat.

In the process of making this post I discovered there is a turkey in the box, too. How funny!

Update

While I was posting, they changed their mind to make a snow cave instead. Funny because they have been waiting for almost four weeks to make a snowman.

All Done!

They made a snowman after all. He is sort of the Mount Rushmore of snowmen, I guess. Go figure, kids! They stayed out so long that their little bodies got so cold they couldn't feel themselves. But, they made the snowman, so that is all that mattered.

Christmas gifts ...

This is what my children made for each other when they had 1 day each in my studio to make what ever they wanted.

From the oldest daughter to her two sisters:

She is 10 and designed the butterfly herself and the scripture cover for both of her sisters. Butterfly, of course, is for the sister with the butterfly room. The lady bug on the scripture cover is because it is for the sister with the lady bug bedroom.

From the youngest daughter to her two sisters:

She wanted both of her sisters to have a teddy bear that could fit in their hands and be different (thus one is standing and one sitting). She thought they might fight over whose was who's if they looked the same.

From the middle daughter to her two sisters:

My youngest daughter wanted a ballerina for Christmas (hence the polka dot tutus on the red bears she gave); it's also the reason this sister made her a ballerina bear. Bear is 24 inches tall.

She wanted both to have bears so this is the one for the older sister.

Mamae & daughter craft time

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow is craft time with my three daughters. Each daughter gets to think about what she wants made for her two sisters. Then each gets with me privately in the studio and we plan colors and fabrics and things of that sort; the youngest has all hers made as of 6:30 this morning. Next is the middle daughter and so on to the oldest. They each have thought out their gifts; let's just say for only one day in the studio each, they push me to the limit of getting things done. Even though I do most of the sewing and such (because they are not quiet there yet in ability) they are there in their imagination and ability to tell me exactly what they want, to the last detail. After Christmas I will post what all of them are having me make.

Holiday Tutorials On This blog

Clicking on words will take you to tutorial; clicking on image will take you to where that image is hosted on flickr.

1. We three trees
2. Pomander Balls
3. Cream cheese Mints
4. Kid's airplane ornament
5. Holiday Brooch
6. Old fashioned rock candy
7. Kissing Ball
8. Embroidered Felt Ornament
9. Holiday Journey -- Not a tutorial, but a fun family activity
10. Triangle Hair scarf; easy gift
11. Yoyo doll vintage-looking gift

Crafts and Family Time / Update

My kids are wanting to enter a Christmas Ornament /Decorated tree contest, so out came the crafts. So far, two are making quilled ornaments and one is working on Origami ornaments. I think they are going to have a lot of fun with this project, and they have almost two months till the deadline. So I can guess there will probably be lots of glue out for the next few weeks.

I have made a little bit of progress on the Halloween yoyo quilt.

Geography Day Report on Brazil

Two of my daughters did a report together for their school on September 27 for their school's geography day. They decided to do it on Brazil since their Pai had lived there for two years of his life. For their finales they sang acapella and solo happy birthday in Portuguese. Pretty amazing since their Mae is Portuguese and their Pai isn't, and he can speak Portuguese and I can't. Since our children were babies he has always talked to them in Portuguese; they understand what he is saying to them, but the funny part is that they always translate it in their heads to English and answer in English. I do this some, but for basic things like when my husband asks them questions or tells them to do something, I usually know what he is saying or the gist of it anyway.

The older of the two wasn't feeling very well that day, but I think she did a great job any way. The reports were given separately, but they made the poster that is in the backdrop of these photos together.

Way too tired.... but the kids aren't

So what happens when Mae, pronounced MY, and Pai, pronounced Pie, (Mom and Dad) are too tired to make a haunted house? The kids do it on their own, and this is what they came up with.

Mae made the frosting at 9:30 pm and was just too tired from the day to help with the decorating of the house; went to ask Pai and he had already fallen asleep on the parlor room floor, of all places. So I looked at the kids and said, "We can wait until tomorrow or you can do it yourselves." Well, what do you think a 5-, 8-, and 9- year old said? "Oh, we can do it!"
So they did. They set to work making their house. Normally we give direction on these types of projects. Well, the 9-year old took over that job and the frosting job, and the 5- and 8- year old took over putting the candies on, and not too bad, actually. Top photo is the front of the house; bottom photo the back of the house.

Alien Ooze/ Haunted Houses and a Birthday

Tonight or tomorrow night we are going to decorate our Halloween cookie house. We have made other haunted cookie houses in the past, but I forgot to take pictures of them. However, here are some we made for Christmas and Easter. My girls are all excited to do this together. So, after we make this, I will post photos of their completed work.

We have made alien ooze in the past at Halloween time, too.

Today is my Vavo's birthday; she is all of 93 today. Wish I could be there with her, but it is a 4-hour plane flight, plus lay-over, plus 1-hour drive; or a 12 hour drive, neither of which works with kids in school.

To the left is one of my favorite pictures of her; just love that bow. This was taken at her Holy Communion back in the teens of the previous century (1900s). That chair is pretty cool, too.

If you want to wish her a happy birthday leave a note here, and I will send this off to her later. She got a real big kick out of it last year, and I would like to do that again.

WIP: Flag in Russian Needle punch

My oldest daughter has a take-home assignment from her art class at school. During the semester she is supposed to make an item that shows at least one hour of work. She is up to eight hours of work on this so far and I think she will finish it today. This is how she wanted to spend Spring Break. Learning a new skill. She was upset when it was her younger sister learning how for a take-home assignment and not her. So when it came time for her do her take-home, she asked to learn what her sister had learned. I think children as young as five can learn how to do this if you thread the needle for them. Older children can thread the needle themselves.

Front

The design she came up with herself. We discussed a few things then I handed her a post-it note tablet and let her draw her design. If you do this, remember on the fabric the image is drawn on the back of the work and has to be a mirror image or something like a flag will be backward and so will words if you don't plan ahead.

Back

To see all the Russian needle punch that both daughters and myself have posted thus far, go here.

If you want to view just the photos and not the stories that go with them, go here on flickr.

I also started a group today if you do this type of needle work I would love to see it join the group and add your photos.

Part 3: On Vacation in Cali, Kids art

While we were in California, my oldest daughter saw a set of cookie cutters to make a ginger bread sleigh in a magazine. Little did she realize her Tia (aunt in Portuguese -- my older sister) was getting it for me so I could use it for Christmas 2007. After much study of the magazine, and a few discussions with Vo-va, she decided she just had to make one out of paper. So, without a pattern so to speak -- just looking at the photos in the magazine, she came up with this. Pretty good, too. I guess she is turning out to be like mae (pronounced "my" -- means mom in Portuguese).

She decided it would be best to use card stock for the body of the deer. But the sleigh had to be made out of paper. We questioned her on this because that was a weak thing to use. She had a good reason for going for the weaker product. It was for aesthetics. She wanted the sleigh to look like it was made out of wood. So she figured that the stripes on ruled paper looked like planks of wood. How's that for an idea. I forgot to say Santa is made out of card stock, too. Here is the cute thing -- she added Rudolph and colored his nose so you would be sure and know it was him, the fact that she wrote the names of all the deer on their bodies didn't matter; she had to be clear on that point, that this was Rudolph.

Mommy and kids time

Sunday I was taking a nap. When I awoke ,my kids had been trying to make clothes pin people and had asked their daddy for clothes pins and pipe cleaners. They all looked like mummies; white and pink fuzzy mummies. I offered to help if we could undo the first ones, and I would get them more supplies.

So, after about 10 minutes of looking for supplies, I found scraps of fabric, more pipe cleaners, scraps of handmade lace (both crochet and tatted), yarn, paint, glue and tape. Then for about an hour the kids looked through all of the supplies to figure out what they wanted.

This is what all of us, together, came up with. They made little girls giving away Valentine's. I guess they have seen me making so many Valentine's lately they have Valentine's on the brain, as well.

Kids defiantly have different ideas. The oldest daughter gave hers an apron and long flowing hair. The middle daughter gave hers a shawl over the head and a bun. The littlest daughter wanted a ballerina so she retrieved a really long piece of hand made lace and we gathered it for her tutu; this one is also singing if you notice her mouth.