October 2010

A few weeks ago Sonya, from A Toy Garden, sent along a few goodies for us to review. As it turns out, two of the items made there way into Pixie's Rainbow Birthday Bowl, and now that she's had time to play with them, we can give a kid's perspective review.
 

Juggling Balls - Assorted Rainbow Patterns

Let me start by saying they are beautiful. The colors are so vibrant and exciting, plus the patterns are so fun. Pixie, and the rest of the brood, love them! As far as play value goes... at four years old Pixie may be too young to juggle 3 balls, but she loves trying! In the end she wound up throwing 1 up at a time, but it's a start! Fortunately, Michelle can juggle quite well so she'll have lots of help. And, Michelle says they are perfect juggling balls... nice weight and perfect size. But even if you don't want to juggle with them, they make an all around great little ball, easy to hold on to, and perfect for a riveting game of "put and take" for the youngest jugglers! According to the website's description:

"A set of 3 hand-crocheted Juggling balls in Assorted Rainbow Patterns. Great for beginning jugglers or just to throw and catch and play and count. Fair Trade, made in Guatemala."

And, at a price of $9.95 for the set of three, I think they are a good value. Here's Pixie giving juggling a try. Notice, no frustration here! Losing and retrieving the balls proved to be silly good fun!

 

Natural Soy Crayons

 

Pixie LOVES her new Natural Soy Crayons. They have become her crayons of choice, and she has lots to choose from! She is using great care with them, always putting them back in the box they came with, and she keeps them packed in her take-along craft bag. 

Why does she like them so much? First, they are shaped for little kids' hands. They are easy to grasp and to hold on to.  Because of their shape, Michelle found them rather awkward to hold, but they weren't bought for an adult to use :) Next, the colors are beautiful. They are brilliant rainbow colors, that are deep and rich. Very satisfying! Finally, because they are soy, they are a softer crayon, meaning you do not need to press hard to achieve your colors. The flip side to that, if looking for the negative, the tips are not suitable for fine work, but for broad, expressive coloring, they are wonderful, however, Pixie did not mind one bit! Here is the description from A Toy Garden:

Our Natural Soy Crayons are lovely, natural, made in the USA alternative. Our expert testers found that these crayons have an equal brilliance to the Stockmar crayons we carry. We could not see a difference in the picture!

This set comes with 6 Crystal Shaped crayons in red, orange, yellow, bright green, blue and purple. Crayons are 2 1/2 inches long.

Ingredients: Kosher soy wax, Mayan mineral pigments, stearic acid, palmitic acid, and natural Brazilian rosin.

There are no chemical dyes or additives. Not recommended for children under 3 years due to their small size. Washable with soap and water. Notice: This product contains soy.

Made in the USA!

Speaking from experience, having made both soy and beeswax candles, I think a price tag of $5.50 is very reasonable. We will definitely get these again. Below are a few photos of Pixie working with them. She had just gotten a new coloring book at the Renaissance Festival and wanted to use her new crayons, although I think she'll enjoy them most with a big piece of white paper!

  

We want to thank Sonya, at A Toy Garden, for sharing these products with us. As always, we love her shop and have always been delighted with the products she carries. 

 EDIT: We've already gotten 2 comments and an email asking about Pixie's capelet. Neither Michelle nor I made it, but it was made by her Aunt Tina. She got the pattern HERE.

 

My mother has put together a beautiful collection of Applique Blocks. Although the reason they are popular with quilters is obvious, I am challenging our readers to think "Outside the Block." There are many ways to use these Applique Block Patterns in other crafty endeavors. But first things first, we need to know how to re-scale the patterns and that is what we are going to talk about today.

Reducing and Enlarging Your Patterns:

All of our pattern blocks are designed to fit on a 6 inch square but of course often your project will vary in size. Here are several ways to reduce or enlarge our patterns to fit everything from a 1 inch barrette to an 8 foot tall wall mural, using a bit of math and a variety of tools depending on your needs and what you have available to you.

First let us talk about the basic math formula for reducing and enlarging. You will need to know the existing size of either the height or width of the image and your desired size of the same measurement.

Desired Size / Existing Size = Percentage to Enlarge or Reduce the Pattern

Reducing for a t-shirt pocket example:
You have a pattern with a width of 5 inches and would like it to be 2 inches wide.
2 / 5 = 0.4 (40%)

Enlarging to Make a Wall Hanging example:
You have a pattern with a height of 6 inches and would like to be 14 inches tall.
14 / 6 = 2.33 (233%)

Second let us talk about tools for scaling. Depending on your home computer/printer's capabilities, learning to use that may be all you need but there are other ways to think big (or small) as well that requires nothing more than a ruler and a pencil.

Using a Home Printer...
Most home printers today can also make photocopies. This is a great tool for minimal scaling options. Use the scaling formula above to determine the percentage to which you will need to set your printer/copier. This works as long as the finished image size will fit on the printer paper.

Tiling...
Some home printer/copiers will allow for tiling, which means it will enlarge and print an image that is greater than a single sheet of paper by printing a portion of the image on several sheets of paper that can then be taped together to form the one large image. Check your printer’s manual for details on this option.

Using a Copy Center…
Copy Centers have the ability to print very large images. This is a great option if you would like to enlarge your image to create something like a large banner. They will even do the math for you if you haven’t already calculated your scaling percentage.

Graphing/Gridding…
This is an old school technique (very old school, it was employed in decorating the pyramids) for scaling images. Draw a grid over your pattern. For our six inch blocks a one inch grid pattern would be an easy starting point. This means you would have 6x6 block grid pattern to follow. Now draw another 6x6 block grid pattern at the scale of your desired size. If you would like your image to be 3 feet tall, draw a 3 foot tall box and then grid it with 6x6 blocks. In this example, you would have 6 inch square blocks in your enlarged grid. Now you need to freehand copy what appears in each pattern grid blocks to the new sized grid blocks. Breaking up the image into these smaller blocks and then focusing on drawing one block at a time makes it easier to draw the pattern and keep it in proportion… even for the untrained, I can’t draw anything crafter.

Overhead Projector…
If you have an overhead projector available to you, it also can be a useful tool for enlarging images. You will need to copy your pattern onto a sheet of transparency paper. You can get transparency paper that will run through your home printer/copier. Once you have your transparent pattern, place a large sheet of paper on the wall, set up your projector so that it is displaying the pattern at the desired size on the wall. You can then trace the projected image onto the paper.

Now you have the tools to think outside the 6 inch block.

This time of year, of course brings us to the cider mill... or I should say mills. I believe Johnny Appleseed would be pleased to find the acres of orchards in our community. We've already visited 3 different cider mills in our area, drank gallons of cider, eaten dozens of warm donuts, and picked bags of apples. We've made apple pie, apple crisp and apple bread. We've made apple stackers and still need to make some carmel apples. Yum!

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This week we are working on Week Six of our Harvest Time unit. I will be posting a weekly update to give everyone a space to chat about the program. If you would like more information about the program you can learn more and download the free homeschooling curriculum on our Harvest Time page. All of the directions for the art projects, recipes and activities are included in the curriculum guide. If your family is participating in the Harvest Time curriculum either for homeschooling or after school enrichment we would love to hear about it! Please leave a comment in this post in regards to your experiences with Harvest Time’s Week Six activities. You are welcome, and highly encouraged to leave links to your Harvest Time’s Week Six blog posts or pictures in the comment section of this post.

Harvest Time Week Six
Primary Book: Johnny Appleseed
Enrichment Book: How Do Apples Grow,
Activities: Apple Prints,
Field Trip Idea: Orchard,
Art: Archery of the Mandan,
Poem: Little Boy Blue,
Flower Fairies: Thrift Fairy & Coloring Page

Links from Our first time completing the Unit...
Apple Prints
Cider Press
Apple Bread

If your family is working on the Harvest Time curriculum either full time or just for some family fun enrichment, you are welcome to add the Harvest Time button on your website. You can save the button to you computer and upload as a photo to your site (you may want to link it back to the Main Harvest Time Page http://weefolkart.com/content/harvest-time-preschoolkindergarten-curriculum) or just copy the green text below and add it to you site.

 

Yes, as some of you have asked. I did get a spinning wheel for my birthday. An early gift from my hubby (my birthday is not until the end of the month). If you are curious about which wheel and why... I got a Majacraft Pioneer. I had a chance to try Maple's Majacraft Suzie Pro and it was just heavenly. So smooth, so sturdy, so natural feeling. The Pioneer is the entry level wheel for Majacraft but can use almost all of the accessories and should be able to do everything I want (it comes with a great range of ratios). I also love it's simple lines and light finish that just blends in with my bamboo floors. It looks perfectly at home in my family room (fyi... Pioneer has been recently updated with honey finish instead of the cream wash). It is not fussy and very easy to use. I'm very happy with my choice... although Fairy is still a bit bummed that I didn't get the Ladybug.

I have spun every bit of fiber I've been able to get my hands on in the last week or so since I got my wheel. I am enthralled with the whole process. My first few skeins were fairly bulky and a bit uneven... but beautiful just the same. I needed a project to showcase these special skeins.

I pulled out some large needles and just started playing with the yarn. This is what I ended up with... a fun Pointed Pixie (or Gnome) Hat.

Gauge is huge... 5 stitches in stockinette = 2 inches

Super Bulky Yarn (5wpi) or two strands of yarn held together to get the guage (not exactly sure on length... maybe 50-70 yards). Using the super bulky yarn gave the hat a sturdy structure and it really stands up and keeps it's shape well.

Set of 5 Size 13 DPNs (opt circular... switch to DPNs when it gets too small)

Sizes Child Small, Med, Large (if you need to adjust the sizing more, use multiples of 4 and keep in mind that with a gauge this large a little change makes a big difference).
Shown in size Med... both girls modeling the same hat. I think Fairy won ownership of this one.

Click here to add this pattern to your Ravelry queue.

CO 40, (44, 48)
Using 4 needles, place 10, (11, 12) sts on each needle. Knit with the 5th needle... or place markers every 10 (11, 12) sts.
Join in the round, careful not to twist. Work in stockinette stitch.
This hat has a rolled edge brim.
Knit to 4.75, (5.25, 6) inches from edge (you might want a bit more if your edge is rolling a lot).
Next row decrease at both ends of each needle (or before and after each marker) by knitting 2 together (ie K2tog, K 6, K2tog for the small). You will decrease 8 sts ending up with 32, (36, 40) sts left.
Knit 6 rows.
Decrease again at both ends of each needle by K2tog. You will have 24, (28, 32) sts left.
Knit 5 rows.
Decrease again at both ends of each needle by K2tog. You will have 16, (20, 24) sts left.
Knit 4 rows.
Decrease again at both ends of each needle by K2tog. You will have 8, (12, 16) sts left.
Knit 3 rows.
K2tog across the row. You will have 4, (6, 8) sts left.
Small and Med Knit 2 rows, cut yarn, pull through the stitches and tie off. Weave in ends.
Large knit 2 rows, K2tog again, Knit 1 row, cut yarn, pull through the stitches and tie off. Weave in ends.

History has a way of repeating itself. Having just returned from our trip to Wisconsin, (Miss you so much Little Lady!) and with our 20th Annual Pumpkin Carving Party fast approaching, I felt like I woke up this morning running. As I was trying to finish up a project I wanted to share on Wee Folk Art tomorrow, I realized I was deriving no pleasure from the experience. As a matter of fact, my back was killing me, but I was pushing myself to get it done. Then I remembered writing a post about this very same thing, just 2 years ago. So, I closed up my bucket of paint, cleaned my paint brushes, and decided to attack the project in the morning when I could enjoy the process. I then dug out this article, first posted October 16, 2008, and marveled at the similarities. I needed to reread this. I hope it speaks to you, too. Wishing everyone an "Unhurried" day! 

I love to bake. As a matter of fact I like cooking in general. Whenever I hear someone say they find the task of making dinner an unsavory experience, I get this idiotic look on my face, my brow wrinkles, I turn my head sideways like our dog Scully when she's trying to process "STAY". To me cooking and baking is anything but mundane. It's creative...it's rejuvenating...why, it's downright fun.

So, today, when I burnt a batch of Oatmeal Scotchies, I knew that something was amiss in my day. I've got a million things going on right now. The parent situation has calmed down, but in its wake are all the neglected tasks that normally get done weekly. So I'm trying to catch up, but at the same time, ready my house for next week's 18TH ANNUAL PUMPKIN CARVING PARTY and the weekend visitors that come with it. I've got the party down to a science, but it still involves plenty of time. So, here I am, trying to get some cookies made before the grandbabies show up for lunch, finishing up a craft project for Wee Folk Art, doing a couple loads of laundry, and slowly piling party necessities.

Normal multi-tasking, right? The thing is, I was allowing myself to stress. Running from room to room, picking up, sorting, baking, folding, and all the while not enjoying a single thing I was doing! Life's too short not to enjoy what you're doing. Restating...I love to bake. Instead of taking a few minutes, to truly relish the experience, to drink in the sites and smells, the task got heaped into my pile of "to dos". WRONG!!! How much time would I have lost from my day, if I chose to sit while my cookies baked? 10 minutes? Let's say I decided to make 2 batches...what...half an hour? If I had savored the experience, and sat at the dining room table, waiting for the cookies to bake, while guilt free flipping through one of the new crafting books I got this week and still haven't been able to crack open, the world as I know it would not have ended, and my disposition for the rest of the day could have been enhanced instead of frazzled!

So, I feed my garbage disposal the inedible confection...btw...not even my dogs would eat them...scooped up a new batch...and picked up one of the books. True, there were a few things I could have accomplished during that time, but the time was not wasted. When the perfect batch of cookies was taken from the oven, and put on cooling racks to, well, cool, I felt good, even revitalized. I am now ready to move on to the next task, which turned out to be writing this blog, but I managed to UNHURRY my day. UNHURRYING your days is about embracing everything you do and giving it attention and appreciation. It is a choice, and given the emotional well being it provides, well worth putting it at the top of your "to do" list!

{this moment :: inspired by soule mama}

a single picture, requiring no words, yet telling a story worth remembering!

have a lovely weekend ~ Michelle and Kimara

This is a stitch I have been wanting to try for awhile now. I've seen it called both a Cross Stitch or a Basket Weave. It has a fun woven look to it and makes for a dense knit. The first time I read a pattern with this stitch it kinda left me scratching my head. It is not that hard but it did take me a few minutes of playing with it to figure it out.

I won this very pretty Bamboo yarn from Kitty Grrlz on a blog giveaway. I only have one skein of this colorway and needed a small project to use with it. It is so shiny, silky and smooth. The stitch definition is great and it lended itself well to trying out this cross-stitch pattern.

So I made a skinny scarf with it. The pattern is easy to memorize but you do need to pay attention while knitting. I can't knit this one without looking at it.

Size 8 needles/ DK Weight Yarn

Cast on 19 sts. (If you increase... keep in mind you need an odd number of stitches for the pattern to work - the purls and knits need to be offset).

Gauge is not overly important here. What is important is comfortably matching your yarn to needles. I used larger needles than I normally would for the DK weight yarn I had. Slightly looser stitches makes it easier to work this pattern.

You can add more stitches to make a wider scarf, just remember to that you need an odd number to offset the backside of the pattern.

Slip the first stitch as if to knit, knit 18.

(All even rows) Slip the first stitch as if to knit. Bring yarn to front. (Purl the second stitch on your needle. Do not remove it from your needle. Purl the first stitch on your needle. Remove both stitches.) Repeat purl pattern to last 2 sts. Purl 1, knit1.

(All odd rows) Slip the first stitch as if to knit. (Knit the second stitch on your needle by knitting into the back of the stitch. Do not remove it from your needle. Knit the first stitch on your needle. Remove both stitches.) Repeat knit pattern to last 2 sts. Knit 2.

Repeat until you get the length you want. Bind off on a knit row.

TIP... if you are a tight gauge knitter loosen up! The knits stitches especially will be tricky if you are knitting tight.

Add this patern to your Ravelry queue.

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CROSS STITCH TUTORIAL

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KNIT SIDE IMAGES

Knit the second stitch on your needle by knitting into the back of the stitch. Do not remove it from your needle.

Knit the first stitch on your needle.

Remove both stitches.

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PURL SIDE IMAGES

Purl the second stitch on your needle. Do not remove it from your needle.

Purl the first stitch on your needle.

Remove both stitches.

Yesterday there was a lovely comment made by Tara at Fiddle Mama. (Thank you, Tara :) She also mentioned that she just made the Quick Craft Basket. She was delighted that now she has all their crafting supplies in one spot, and when the creative juices start flowing in her wee ones, she isn't riping the house apart looking for supplies, they're all in a basket, ready to go.

It made me think of a couple of PERSONAL truisms:

First, if something is left out, I am more apt to use it. If I have to dig through cluttered cupboards or stand on step stools to get supplies and toys, chances are they won't be used as frequently as items laying about.

And, if I deem something ugly, I tend to hide it. 
 
So, over the years I've learned to hide crafting supplies and toys in plain site. For me, the secret is to have lovely containers to hold my supplies and to own beautiful toys, made with natural materials, that become part of my decor.

Like my Gnome Home...

And my knitting baskets...

And the play silks with changing colors for the seasons...

And a table that holds wooden toys which I rotate frequently to renew interest...
 
A quick look at the cupboard at the top of the post, and you see an Autumn display. Look closer and you'll find knitting supplies, toys, and yes, the Quick Craft Basket. (Notice in the corner of the room you can see a three tiered basket holding other crafting supplies for children along with their books and magazines.)  

Throughout the house I have bowls, baskets, boxes and shelves that are both functional and appealing to me. Storage does not need to be unsightly, but it can become a beautiful addition to your room. Instead of trying to hide everything or resigning myself to look at unattractive containers, I am always looking for ways to display art supplies, yarn, and toys in a manner that I find pleasing. If you are tired of looking at the clutter that children inevitably create, try hitting garage sales and resale shops and see just how creatively you can hide supplies in plain site!  
 

 

{this moment :: inspired by soule mama}

a single picture, requiring no words, yet telling a story worth remembering!

have a lovely weekend ~ Michelle and Kimara

Here is a fun, quick project that can add to your spooky Halloween decor. We are going to be revisiting this project today. It was originally published Sep 18, 2008 on Nature's Way Learning/WeeFolkAcitivies.

This week's Unplugged Challenge theme was Sand. We made sand candles using the kids hand/foot prints. They were really easy and we used recycled materials... so it was a free craft too.

First I collected up a bunch of random votive candles. I seem to have them in mass, but seldom actually use them. I pulled the stickers off the bottom, then pulled out the wicks and set those aside. I put 2 votives at a time into my potpourri crock pot to melt.

Then the kids and I filled a Pyrex baking dish with sand from the sand box (I would recommend using clean craft sand, but this is what we had on hand). We dampened the sand and each kid got a turn to make an impression. The older kiddos used their hands (I had to help push them down far enough) and for B we did her footprint. I poured the melted wax into the impression (each candle took about 2 votives worth of wax) and set in one of the wicks in the deepest part. Once the candle cooled to the touch, we removed it from the sand, rinsed off the excess sand with cool water and set up the sand for the next impression.

I think we ended up with some really cool Halloween candles.

Make sure to read this all the way through. There is a special invitation after the recipe!

I often mention that the family has dinner at our house every Sunday. As a matter of fact, we start by having bagels at 12, then dinner at 4. There are usually 12 for dinner unless we have company. I love this time spent with the family and it is always fun trying out new recipes or dredging up almost forgot favorites. The other day I made a Cream Cheese Pumpkin Roll. I haven't made this in years. Four year old Pixie was fascinated by the swirl. "Gammy, how did you do that?" I briefly explained the process to her. She was a little confused and told me she wanted to come over and make one for our Pumpkin Carving Party. So last Friday, she came over, ready to bake. Although Fairy helped, and Bug was around to lick the bowls, this was Pixie's project. When we reached the part of rolling the cake in a tea towel she was so excited to learn how it was done. As an extra bonus, cream cheese is one of Pixie's favorite foods and she thought this was the yummiest dessert she ever ate! Although this requires a little effort, it is not hard, and makes a delicious and attractive dessert. Hey, if Pixie can do it, right?  

Cake Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup pumpkin
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling Ingredients:
16 ounces cream cheese, softened
8 tablespoons butter, softened 
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS
In an electric mixer beat eggs and sugar until thick and light yellow in color. Add pumpkin and lemon juice and thoroughly mix.

In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, spices and salt. Add to egg mixture a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Spread on a greased, parchment paper lined 12-by-18-inch jelly-roll pan.

Bake at 350 ° for 15 minutes and then remove from oven. Cool for 15 minutes. Turn cake out onto a clean tea towel sprinkled liberally with powdered sugar. Peel bake the parchment paper and discard the paper. Cool 10 minutes longer. From 12- inch side, firmly roll cake up in towel. Set aside.



In the meantime, prepare the filling. Beat together cream cheese and butter; stir in powdered sugar and vanilla and blend until smooth.
 
Unroll the cake. Spread the filling evenly over cake. Carefully reroll the cake. Firmly wrap in plastic wrap. Cover and chill at least 1 hour.


Prior to serving, remove the plastic wrap and dust with powdered sugar. Beginning at an end, slice into 1/2" slices. Refrigerate left overs. Freezes well.

Do you have a favorite recipe using pumpkin? It might be a killer pie recipe your Gammy taught you how to make. Maybe it is pumpkin soup. Or maybe it is a crunchy cookie. Well, whatever it is, we are true fans of pumpkins and tis the season to incorporate them in your cooking. If you would like to share a recipe, just follow these guidelines.

Email the recipe to weefolkart@yahoo.com .

Include a little anecdotal background.

Attach a photo.

We will let you know in advance when we plan to share your recipe. If you have a blog and would like us to stop by and say "hi", make sure to include your URL. We will include a link to your blog when we post. 

We will be sharing pumpkin recipes until Thanksgiving. We will try to feature all recipes we receive. Please understand that by sharing your recipes, stories and photos, you are giving us permission to use them on our blog.

 

We hope many of you decide to share a recipe. Pumpkin is definitely a favorite around here and we love trying new recipes! 

 

 {this moment :: inspired by soule mama}

a single picture, requiring no words, yet telling a story worth remembering!

have a lovely weekend ~ Michelle and Kimara