MommyCoddle

work week progress

It's been a busy week so far--ferrying lunches and mid-morning snacks over to the "new" house, fitting in a load of laundry and a trip to the grocery store here and there. The girls are champing at the bit, knowing Dan is just around the corner, and yet so busy.

And of course I waited until the last minute to tackle a birthday present for my cousin (yes, when you're father comes from a family of 15, you have cousins the same age as your own children) whose little birthday get-together was tonight.

It was her turn for a pillow, just like I had done for her older brother a year or two ago. I think she knew it was coming, especially when she saw a soft, square gift, wrapped in paper. And she was happy. This project made me realize two things:

1. My fabric supply needs some replenishing--starting with the fact that I need some more solid colors and simple prints.

2. I love hand sewing. The minute I sat down in my rocking chair, flicked on the lamp beside me and began to stitch up the last little opening on the pillow, I felt so much busy-ness and stress and worry leave my mind and body. I need to make more time for this kind of simple sewing, or even knitting. It brings such peace. Isn't it a gift that we have these simple ways to unwind?

Dan and his brother have been doing some crafting of their own at the house this week--tearing out and replacing rotten logs, and laying down new floor. It has been so fascinating to see the old bones of the house. The progress is slow and there's always something that doesn't go as planned. But having the extra help here and the solid week of work is making things move along.

I intended to share some good mail in this post, too...but I think I'll call it quits for tonight. My book, journal and clean sheets are calling to me. And I need to coax my achy, sore, tired husband from the couch to the bed. The girls tucked him in before I took them to bed for the night--he has a pillow over his face and a blanket draped over his knees and ankles. I'm going to guess he'll be more comfortable in our bed.

More soon......good night, friends.

do something creative

 
Lori and I often email back and forth about homeschooling our children. (Well actually, I email with all my homeschooling woes and she emails back encouragement and ideas.) A few weeks ago in one of my emails she told me that there are a few tasks her boys are required to do each day, on their own. She and I have similar learners--independent learners. Generally, if wasn't Emma's idea, she's not too keen on working on it. It can make for quite a few battles when I try to do some concentrated work with her.

But this is all a series of learning, trying new things, adjusting, evaluating and getting to know my children better. I think I change my approach to homeschooling every other week, but so far, this simple little idea, at the suggestion of Lori, is working.

On a piece of cardstock, which I "laminated" (with packing tape), Emma has a series of tasks she must do every day. She slides the list into her notebook, traces the right side edge, dates the page, and puts a sticker beside every task as she completes it. It allows her to do things on her own time, at her own pace and I believe she feels like she is controlling some of her learning. My help is required for many of the tasks, but it still has an air of independence to it.

Of course, the two favorite things on her list are "play outside" and "do something creative". She wakes up ready to tackle both of these before breakfast has made its way into her stomach. This morning, we shoved bagels and cream cheese aside to break out the ironing board, wool felt and floss. `A la The Creative Family at Home, she's stitching up a wool felt cube for Elizabeth's birthday next week. It's been a great little project for her to work on and chill out in a comfy chair on this gray and damp afternoon. And the whole process of creativity brings a sense of peace and calm to our home. Even Mary has a square that she's filling with giant pink stitches.

I'm thankful for this little taste of quiet, busy hands on a Friday morning.

Happy Weekend, everyone. Wishing you lots of greening grass, warm sun and peace.

my life::up close:: 2/30

the birds and the bees

The birds:
I made cutting boards for my family two years ago in this sparrow shape and I've been wanting to do something else with it ever since. So last week when I had my sewing machine out, I tried a swallow-shaped pillow. However, I don't think they are going to work as a pillow. I haven't stuffed them yet, but I think they'll lose their shape and charm when stuffed. Now I'm thinking they'd make a great applique on a pillow....any other ideas?

My purpose for having out the machine was to make two of these friendly little turtles--a favorite homemade toy in our home, who are now wrapped up and safely on their way to a very, very, VERY patient family.

The bees:
Melissa sent me an email this week, asking me to blog about a very important project. The Great Sunflower Project is an effort to attract and count honeybees in personal and community gardens. If you sign up for the project they will send you a free packet of sunflower seeds to plant in your garden (or even a pot on your deck). All you need to do in return is take two bee counts (according to their simple instructions) and send in or fill out their online count. The whole count will take less than 30 minutes. I'm going to do it as a school project with Emma and Mary. I hope you'll join Melissa and me and be a part of this important project. (I'd love to know if you decide to join in!) Here is an article in the NYTimes about our honeybees in peril.

The birds and the bees:

First of all, no. I am not pregnant. But that doesn't stop me from getting inspiration from an amazing new book that April at Chronicle Books sent me last week. The book is called Nursery Style and it is by Serena Dugan and Lily Kanter of the California-based store, Serena and Lily. I love these kinds of books because I find so much inspiration and ideas packed into them. And I love paying attention to the little details--the artwork, the pillows, how the toys are put away, how an armoire is utilized, the curtains.

1. image 1, 2. image 2, 3. image 3, 4. image 4

Even though the book is aimed at nursery design, there are still so many great ideas in this book for anyone decorating a home with and for children.(stefani, I thought about you with those silhouettes in image 3. Can you do that?! :) So baby on the way or not, this book is full of beautifully designed living spaces, new ideas and fantastic tips and hints for decorating. And April, I want everything on page 74 and 75.

Happy Weekend everyone. Sign up for your bee count, read a good book and take it easy.
See you Monday.

"those hearts are nasty,

They taste like chalk!" My children weren't big fans of the little message heart candy that they dribbled all over the "valentine's cake". I gave them free reign with the decorating of the cake. I frost it and set it down on the kitchen table and walk away. It's great. So when they started biting in to the hard little candies, they weren't so excited about their decorating choices. Now we have a valentine's cake covered in potholes where little fingers have gone around removing the 'nasty' candies.

Another valentine gift that didn't go over so well was the gift I made for Dan. After seeing Blair's post, it was the push I needed to finally sit down and sew some of these rice bags that I've been meaning to make for quite some time.

I told Jennifer that I'd given up sewing for awhile, until life slowed down, but with some of her cute fabric staring at me, a little more time on my hands and some inspiration from Blair, I broke out (my friend's) sewing machine. (my machine is still out of commission...those darn knits!)

 

I think the rice bags would have been a hit, had I not gone the extra mile and put a little handful of dried lavender inside each bag.  That was the spoiler. I was simply trying to avoid that cooked rice smell. But now, the lavender smell was overpowering to Dan, enough that it sent him to bed clutching his stomach. We slept with a window open, if that tells you anything about how strong he thought the smell was. And I swear, the smell wasn't that strong, it's just that I also made a bag for each of the girls, myself and a friend. So I guess that adds up to a lot of lavender. And a whole heck of a lot of rice.

But nevertheless, my girls came through. They love them. We heat them up every night before bed--3 minutes each in the microwave. And they head off to slumberland with toasty warm toes.

(I altered Blair's pattern a little bit--I made the bag out of muslin and then sewed a separate cover with ties at one end. I figured there would mostly likely be a need to wash them in the future, knowing my children...)

And now that I have my sewing machine out, the requests are flying in from my children. The latest (and one that's sounds do-able) is a sleep bonnet/cap like Mary and Laura Ingalls wear in Little House on the Prairie. I can't really find any kind of pattern anywhere. Have any of you made one? I'm thinking just a circle with some elastic sewn in? Is that right? Help?? Anyone?

happy weekend everyone....see you on monday.

take and replace

"Take and replace." It's my new mantra with Emma and Mary these days as they deal with Elizabeth, who now wants to come crashing in on whatever they are doing. Playing with schleich animals? She wants to sit in the middle and suck on the giraffe. Drawing at your desk? She wants to stand up beside you and pull the papers down to shred. So I've taught them "take and replace." Take away what she has that you want. Replace it with something else she'll like.

Maybe that's what Martha Stewart is doing with the new special issue of Martha Stewart Good Things: Kids ? Take away MSKids, replace with MS Good Things? This special issue is good--full of some old favorites that I recognize from my MSKids back issues and some new things, too. Having the issue in hand makes me realize how much I miss Martha Stewart Kids. It makes me want to do something.... like write a letter to Martha or Jodi Levine. Or start a new blog--a petition begging them to bring it back!! There are other good children's magazines out there. Wondertime has filled the Kids-void for me, but it isn't as craft-heavy, which is what I loved about MS Kids...

I sat with the issue last night and went through and made a list of a few of the projects I want to try first--the button bracelets, wrapped pencils, decorated bobby pins. So much good stuff.

I've been an embroidering fool this weekend. I got started on an old bird drawing of emma's that I found which has wing bars. I got it all filled in with the colors she suggested, but then got a little stuck. I'm not sure what direction I want to go from here--a pale grey to fill in the other parts, leave them "blank"? But it made me glad I did a practice run before jumping in with the other sketch. I also need to use less strands of floss in the smaller areas like the beak and dark crown. This is all a fun learning process for me.

**my pictures look so blurry in typepad this morning. they're much better in flickr today. hmm.**

And this morning, just because I wanted something to work on while I drank my cup of coffee, I did this drawing I found buried in my sewing basket. Now Mary is begging for me to do something of hers, too. I'm going to have to make a trip to IKEA this weekend for some cheap frames, if this keeps up. They want to draw everything on fabric. Thank goodness for cheap, but simple muslin cloth.

And speaking of birds, check out these amazing felted birds I stumbled upon last night by Lauren Alane. Aren't they amazing? These kill me. She just updated her shop and sold out, but may be updating again this week, according to her blog. I wish I'd found them earlier. They would have made sweet little valentine gifts for the girls.

It's freezing cold here today. Although I remember, when I lived in Wisconsin, thinking these temperatures being what we called "relief". It's in the twenties. I remember being happy to see double digits again, back in my Wisconsin winter days. Brrr.

stay warm.....

good things to know

1. Always check your barley

...before you shake a big pile of it into your hot bubbling stew that has been happily cooking along in the crockpot all day. Because that barley---that you didn't store in an airtight container--just might be laced with tiny bugs that you'll dump into the stew before noticing them wriggling and writhing around in the hot broth. And you'll hurriedly scoop out as many of the offensive bugs as you can, but when you take a big ladle full from the bottom, there'll still be a few stray deceased offenders floating in it.   

2. You can't register for classes at the local community college

....if you're on academic probation. If, last year, you accidentally signed up for pottery workshop as a credit class instead of an audit, and then you had a difficult pregnancy and didn't do one stitch of pottery, and your professor called you two days before the end of the semester wanting to go over your goals and see your work, and you had nothing, he'll give you an F. And if you have an F on your permanent record, you can't sign up for pottery again (as an audit) without dragging your three children over to Student Services to meet with an academic advisor who will give you permission to take another class. You're never too old for a little academic probation.

3. Don't give your daughter a sharpie

...and tell her to draw her best bird on the muslin cloth so that you can embroider it, without first giving her some direction. Because she'll draw a really good bird on the cloth, one that you really love, with wing bars, but she'll draw it so close to the edge of the cloth that you won't be able to fit it into the embroidery hoop. And the project that you wanted to sit down and work on right away that evening to unwind, will have to wait until you figure out a way to get more room around the edges of that very good drawing of a bird. But then she'll draw you two flowers to work on instead, and that will make you happy. And as you work, you'll realize you really know nothing about embroidery, but it's extremely relaxing and it just might be your new thing.

for the mouthy one

I made this wee patchwork blanket for Elizabeth yesterday. The child loves to suck on fabric--a girl after my own heart. She's not picky-- she'll yank a piece of her onesie into those gums or gnaw the dishtowel over my shoulder or the tag hanging off the playmat where she spends some serious time. If she spits up, she gets the purest pleasure if I mop out the insides of her mouth instead of just dabbing up the stuff making a mad dash out of the corner of her mouth, down her cheek and behind her ear lobe.

It's all made with things I had on hand--including some of Kristen's fabric and a perfectly worn piece of flannel from my grandmother's old sheets for the back. It is something I'm really trying to stay committed to lately--the ideas of economy and getting as much life out of an item as possible. Of course, you had to know I'd have a Wendell Berry quote for this one, too:

“Granny was sitting by one of the windows with her sewing basket and button box and a heap of Graddaddy’s and Uncle Ernest’s work shirts beside her on the table. She was patching torn places and replacing buttons, making the shirts last. She too was not making a sound. She was under the spell of her own quietness in the quiet house, and was enjoying being alone”. 

I love that. And if Elizabeth decides that this just might be a favorite thing --(Elizabeth, I so won't mind if you decide that), then I hope it gets full of patches and extra stitches. I'm sure I can find lots of life in it.

more with the tag-team theme

In keeping with the theme of tag-teaming (or not) in life, Emma and I have been working on this new soft horse for her this week. It was definitely a tag team effort in the sense that it was like working with an editor-in-chief constantly over my shoulder:
"I think its ear is a little too long."
"The nose looks funny."
"Why do the legs look backwards?"
"Don't you think it would look better with a smaller head?"
"Well, in real life, a horse's mane, forelock (yes, she used the word forelock), and tail would all be the same color."
"Don't you think you should put a little more stuffing in it's neck?"

I really do believe that part of her was making plans for something more than just a little stuffed pony. She was putting so much thought and effort and detail into this pony, I think she was secretly hoping it might magically become the real thing.

The other night as I was leaving her room at bedtime I saw some serious eye-squinting, hand-clasping and feverish whispering. I asked her what she was doing and she told me she was making a wish. I put it all together when the following morning she ran outside (in her pajamas) to check the barn to see "if her wish had come true." This girl is pining away for the real, living, breathing version of the one we just made together.

So after much help in the 'design' phase of everything, I worked on stitching it up and adding the mane and tail. It was pretty fun making the hair. I just pulled lengths of yarn through the fabric and knotted them so they wouldn't slip during any braiding or brushing sessions.

I love crafting for my children. I've said before on here, that there's something different and special when you're making something with someone in mind, especially someone you love. But I do look forward to the day when we'll be taking turns at the sewing machine or with the needle and thread.
That will be special in its own way, too.

{kind of}making the cut

When I get a piece of fabric that I love, I have a hard time cutting in to it. It's silly really, because why have it hiding away in my cupboard, when it could be made into something I might actually use and enjoy. I don't know what it is. For one, I just don't trust my sewing skills enough. And I can never decide what it is worthy of becoming--a simple pillow, a quilt, a bag...? So, the truth is, I've got a big stash of fabric that I love and have yet to work up the courage to actually cut into. Cutting, stitching--it's all so permanent.

But, when Kristen sent me a new batch of fabric recently, she made me promise I'd cut into some of the fabric that she'd given me in the past. So this week I finally worked up the nerve and put some to use. Technically, I did cut the fabric but I think this is really baby steps in my "favorite fabric cutting therapy".

I got the four cork board tiles at Target. And my initial thought was that I would use these as little inspiration boards above my desk. But once they were all made, the idea of sticking little pins through the beautiful fabric was too painful to think about. So they became some fresh artwork for above the bed.

So I did it. Baby steps, but I did it.
And a big thank you to my husband who measured and hung the boards while I got to slip out of the house and run a few errands all. by. my. self. xo.

practical sewing, bedtime drama and the recipe

My creative life lately has been filled with very practical things--like sewing up a gaping and quite revealing hole in my husband's work-as in saturday outside, hard labor-pants, replacing buttons, and appliqued washcloths.  Which obviously means that my sewing machine is working now. Thank you for all your suggestions. I did almost all of them, so I really have no idea what worked. But new bobbin, new needle, rethreaded, screws tightened, dust vacuumed...it's working.

But back to the washcloth....it's a small part of Dan's and my attempt to work through some bedtime battles. The girls share a room now, and the struggles have been escalating since Elizabeth was born. It's call you in a million times, get all settled and tucked into bed then remember you have to go the bathroom, grumbling because your sister is talking, whining because your "tummy hurts", bad attitude, hyper-active, over-tired--you name it, we're experiencing it at bedtime.

When we first put them in the same room it was heaven. Dan and I would be dumb-struck, sitting in the living room waiting for the little voices to call out to us, but they never did. It was like they were so happy to be together, they didn't need us anymore. I guess the charm has worn off.

And really there's nothing worse than ending your day with them with these struggles and anger and frustration, especially for Dan, who's time with them when he gets home from work is already limited.

SO, we're making some changes around here. (how many times have I said that on this blog?) Starting with adopting my grandmother's (mother of 15, granola recipe to follow) strict bedtime philosophy. Many times since we've lived here on the farm with her, I've heard her mention how they would call the children in from playing at 7:30, even in the summer when there was still plenty of light for playing, and all the other neighbor children were still awake and available.
Granted, I don't have quite so many children to get ready for bed but we'd been letting bedtime slip later and later this summer and the kids were so tired...ugh. it was just horrible. So we've established a "time to come in" time--a tiny bit later than my grandmother's but still early by previous standards. And we've established a bedtime routine.

Part 1:
after dinner before before you can go outside, play, swim, etc, the girls must have three things on their pillow:
--pajamas
--a book
--whatever stuffed they are sleeping with

Then, once we come in, we have a bedtime routine:
1. Get on pajamas
2. Brush teeth
3. Wash hands, face (usually legs, feet and arms in the summer)
4. Go to the bathroom
5. Get a cup of water for beside your bed
6. Get in bed
7. Story
8. Pray
9. SLEEP

It seems like a lot of steps, but really all those bathroom steps flow together. I mean, we've tried everything but a real routine, so I'm hoping this helps. And we took down their bunk beds until further notice. (It seems to help mary to be able to see emma. She doesn't call us in as much.) And as I write this many of you are probably thinking, "Duh, molly, we all already have a bedtime routine, this is nothing new...", but I'm pretty sure we all still have a few bedtime battles that we fight each night. Ours has just grown quite a bit, lately.

So what does this have to do with a washcloth? Well, the day I introduced the new routine, we sat at the kitchen table and drew little pictures of all the steps--I never thought I'd spend so much time trying to teach emma how to draw a toilet...and then I gave each of them their own appliqued washcloth to hang on the hooks by the sink. Just trying to drum up some enthusiasm for the new routine, you know?!

It's day three of "Project Bedtime Routine" and it seems to be helping. Things seem calmer at bedtime. And I do believe that children like a little routine and structure and regularity in their lives. I do, too. I'll keep you posted on how this works. Parenting is contstant evaluation and adjusting, isn't it?!

+++++
So, this is really long. Thanks to those that stayed with me.
I think I"ll save the recipe for Monday. If you're desperate for it, let me know and I'll email it to you. I just finished up my jar of it and want to make some this weekend, too.