October 2008

Once a month we are going to be making quilt squares to highlight some of the fun things we are learning about this year. We will each be making one 10" x 10" square every month and then at the end of the school year we will sew them all into a memory quilt.

This month we used a Glue Batik Fabric Painting method to highlight our recent apple studies. I stumbled across this idea on That Artist Woman's blog and knew we had to try it (check out her site for detailed directions). It was a really easy project for any age child but it does take a couple days to complete due to drying times.

First I cut out 10" squares of white muslin. Then we drew a design on the fabric with pencils.

After we had our designs ready, we traced them with the Blue Gel Elmer's School Glue. Then the fabric had to dry over night.

The next day we used water down acrylic paints to cover the entire square of fabric.

Once that dried we washed out the glue with hot water and a little dish soap. I hung the squares to dry and then ironed them flat.

A few notes: The next time we do this (and oh yes... I imagine we will be doing this many more times) I will encourage everyone to get more detailed - or at least cover more surface area with the glue. I also think I watered down my paints too much. I would have like brighter colors... they ended up drying a lot lighter than they originally looked but I had been afraid of the fabric ending up really stiff.

Fall has come to the Thicket, and just like the woodland animals, the gnomes are getting ready for the coming cold months. Although gnomes tolerate the cold quite well, after a busy day outdoors, they still like to settle in with a pint of warm cider, a chair by a toasty fire, and a cozy quilt to snuggle under on especially chilly nights.

Britta has been busy getting her house ready for the cool fall nights. She spent the day getting her quilts out of storage. Several needed a bit of mending, seems some naughty mice had been nibbling on corners, but most just needed a good airing. Nothing is lovelier than snuggling under a toasty quilt that smells of autumn sunshine! Britta has plans for a new quilt she wants to make. Now, just to find time!

Note: Directions for the Quilt can be found HERE.

This week's Unplugged Challenge theme was white. I'm sure I'm not the only one who took the theme white and combined it with upcoming Halloween and thought... hmmm ghosts. We did a stiff fabric technique to make our ghosts. I have seen this done before with gauze but thought that might be too difficult for the kids to handle so we used light weight muslin.

First we built a base to drape our fabric ghosts over. I cut the tops off pop bottles, blew up a balloon, taped the balloon over the opening and slide a skewer though to give some arm definition.

We ripped the fabric (wanted a torn, frayed edge) into squares big enough to cover our forms. Then we filled a large bowl with equal parts Elmer's Glue and water. We soaked the fabric in the glue mixture, wrung it out and then draped it over the form. There was lots of "ewws and yucks"... it was very sticky! They spread out the fabric over the form (I had to help hold the form up - it was top heavy, maybe a can or a rock in the bottom of the pop bottle would have helped). After the fabric was spread out nicely, we left it to dry over night.

A couple days later we added googly eyes with tacky glue, removed the ghosts from the frames, and threaded string in the center of the head for hanging (fishing line would have been nice but I just had white thread on hand).

I was afraid they might not hold their form since we used such a large piece of fabric but they really did. One was a little bit limp, but it was the last one in the glue bath and just didn't get enough coverage. I made a little more of the glue mixture and brushed it on the following morning, let it set up and all was well. I think they make great, spooky ghost decorations on the front porch. I hope they stay dry enough!

LOL - Just after the outdoor photo was taken and I typed the above post, it started to rain. The kids were really worried about their ghosts getting wet so we decided to move them indoors. They are currently haunting the pass through from our dining room to living room.

The Fun on the Farm theme for this week was Fur and Feathers (kids activity at our local petting farm). It was a perfect tie in for us and a beautiful day so we packed up and headed to the farm.

There was a brief demonstration and explanation of the difference between animals with fur or feathers. Mainly they classified the farm animals into one group or the other. They read a couple stories, had a snack, did a quick craft and then out on the farm we went.

The kids favorite part was getting to lead one of the goats around on a rope (even better than walking the dog, something they always fight over). It became too difficult for me to try and keep up with the three kids going in opposite directions, carry all the coats (because it really warmed up) and not damage my camera in the process so there are unfortunately no outdoor shots just the ones from in the barn.

I found a little time this weekend to finish up the bean bag project I've been working on. (Also got in some time to muck with the gnome house and came up with totally cute gnome trick or treaters but I'll get to them later in the week!) Anyway, as I mentioned before I am a beginning crocheter. I was messing around with making circles, and decided if I made a couple, then blanket stitched them together, they would make great, although rather flat, bean bags. They turned out cute and the kids love them. They've been flying around all weekend. Thinking about quilting a tic-tac board for them. Later I was thinking if you didn't sew them together they'd make great coasters. Hmmm, that has Christmas gift written all over them! I will spend some time this week writing down the instructions for all you crocheters. Remember, novice crocheter here! If I can make these, anyone can!

The gnome's house is all ready for Halloween. They will be having a great party and the children will trick or treat with their woodland friends.

Over the next few days I will be sharing directions for making the banner, pumpkins, ghosts and our mummy gnome. Stop by often!

Instead of working with wool roving like I had initially intended this week, we ended up starting a weaving project. We have not finished them yet but I wanted to share some photos. I will be leaving them out for the next week or two so they can sit down and work at it when they like.

First I cut out approximately a 4"x8" rectangle of card board (the flaps of an Amazon box actually). I then cut seven 1/4" deep notches along both the top and bottom... about 1/4" apart. I taped a piece of yarn to the back and then wrap the yarn from bottom to top through the notches. I cut the yarn and taped down the end to the back as well.

Then I let the kids pull out a bunch of yarn from my stash and cut about 8" long pieces. I think this is their favorite part... getting to take scissors to my yarn (I did lock away the really good stuff). They love the fuzzy fun furs and the nubby yarns that I have left over from making our farm mat.

Bug and Fairy had no problem figuring out the weaving process. I thought it was going to take a lot more demonstration then it did. One quick example and they were at it.

I will post an update when we finish them.

We went on a wonderful field trip this morning. Our local bakery does a terrific tour for the kiddos. They read a story, Little Red Hen of course. Then they got to see how the bakery grinds their own flour, the huge mixing bowls used for kneading the dough, the large rotating oven and the noisy loaf slicer.  The kids were all given a ball of dough to knead themselves and the baker demonstrated how they form their Easter bunny loaves. After that we ate our fill of tons of samples. Yumm! It was a big hit. We were also sent home with seeds to sprout our own wheat. If we take the sprouted wheat back to the bakery we get a free loaf of bread... how cool is that!

I am ALWAYS trying to come up with new ideas of organization that work for me. Not an easy task...I'm not known for my strong organizational abilities! Still, I'm always on the look out for the perfect system...ever the optimist! I am always coming up with ideas when I'm out and about. I have to record those ideas quickly or they are gone forever! So, I've tried all sorts of different note taking aids. I've carried little spiral notebooks, but I'm always catching the spiral on things. I LOVE Moleskin notebooks, but I hate ripping pages out of them. And, I am definitely not a Blackberry kind of gal! So, more often then not, I'm writing things on the back of receipts or store advertisements. And there is only a 50/50 chance that I'll ever see the info again!

I was thinking I should start carrying 3x5 cards with me. They are easy to write on and when I get home, they are easy to organize. So, tonight, after a crazy weekend of house guests and our Pumpkin Carving Party, I sat down and made a little 3x5 carrier. I love how it turned out! It's all blanket and stem stitch, with a vintage button and elastic closer. I might want to add a pen carrier, but that's easy enough to do. Looking forward to giving it a try. 

I'll get instructions online later in the week for anyone interested in making their own! 

The directions are now ready for making your own Perky Note Holder. Make up this holder to help you get organized when you are out-and-about. Reduce it to 70% and make a great holder for standard sized business cards. Follow my design or create your own. Enjoy!

Over the past week we've gotten many new members at Wee Folk Art. First off, welcome! We hope everyone feels at home, finds something of interest and comes back often. We also hope you feel comfortable commenting and participating. For all you new folks, and for our "old timers"...okay, this is JUST our 2nd Crafting Club (Pattern of the Month) Contest...we wanted to remind everyone that if you make this month's craft, and post a picture of the completed project on our Wee Folk Art Crafting pool, you will be eligible for a drawing to receive a kit for next month's craft of the month. (INPORTANT NOTE: Your flickr username may be different than your Wee Folk Art (WFA) username. When leaving a comment on flickr make sure to include your WFA username so we know who you are!!!) Next month we will be sharing our rendition of the old spoon dolls. We are very excited about them for a couple of reasons. First, they can be used as a doll or as wonderful puppets. And, it is a project you can get your children involved with. As a matter of fact, children over 8 should be able to make these with minimal help.

So, if you need an incentive to finish up this month's craft...you still have a couple of days...and the winner will be able to take her pick of a wizard or queen spoon doll/puppet kit. Check out the flickr pool to see this month's entries and good luck!