Mama Squirrel

Sew Much Fun!

Thursday was my last Basic Hand Sewing class of the summer session. Both of my week-long classes were full of amazing students who were eager to learn and take creative risks. Just look at this pillow made by a six year old student featuring the ultimate fantasy animal--A Rainbow Unicorn Pegasus:  

This picture shows this little guy as a work in progress, but he was just as adorable the next day when he was finished by the second grader who made him.  If I remember correctly, she named him Scraps.

Although I'm sad to say good bye to my summer sewing group, I'm looking forward to the classes I will be teaching in the fall  including a monthly embroidery class called Hoopin' It Up and Simple Gifts, a class where students can learn to sew and make something for everyone on their Christmas list!  You can read more  about these and other creative opportunities in the BAYarts Fall Newsletter.  

Since I'm blessed with two wonderful, creative  children the sewing lessons continue beyond my BAYarts classroom.  We spent quite a bit of time sewing this weekend because Little Tiger wanted to make some clothes for her American Girl Doll.  With minimal guidance from me, she completed a scarf, hat and pants.  When she was finished, she was very proud and pleased to dress her doll in its new finery.

I was especially impressed with the scarf.  She wanted to applique a sun onto one end of the scarf and her six year old hands sewed each little orange ray on individually.  Here's a closer look at her handiwork: 

I wasn't planning on breaking out the machine with her anytime soon, but that may change.  I think she's almost ready.  Does anyone have any age guidelines or advice for teaching machine sewing to young children?  

Keepin' it Cool

This week I've been teaching an amazing group of kids in my Basic Hand Sewing class at BAYarts.  On Monday we made pillows. Tuesday we started stuffed bears and monkeys and finished them today.  Some students were even able to complete a sunglasses case today so they left for home with TWO completed projects.  

 This time around some of the kids got really creative with their stuffed animals and decided to make clothes for their new friends.  Yeah, right about now I'm kicking myself that I didn't take pictures.  I meant to, but we were all so absorbed in our work that time melted away in the summer heat.  When one of my assistants told me it was 11:30 (time to leave) I thought she was kidding...until I looked up from working with a child and saw parents waiting patiently at the door.  Oops.

Afternoons have been spent trying to keep cool.  Our friends Carson, Emily and their daughter, The Amazing Miss E are visiting us from out of town and  Little Tiger and the Milk Belly Princess are thrilled to have a live-in friend for the week.  Carson took these pics of Little Tiger and Miss E in the water and The Milk Belly Princess sporting the stylish sun shade that Grandma bought for her:

 

 

Whatever you're doing, I hope you're having fun and keeping cool!

 

 

Summer at BAYarts: Part Two

I'm excited to be teaching at BAYarts again this summer.   If you're local you can look here to find the descriptions for all of the the BAYarts July camps that begin next week (July 16-19).  I will be teaching Basic Hand Sewing in the mornings from 9:30 to 11:30.  The following week (July 23-26) I'm also hoping to spend the afternoons teaching  a class called Hand Sewn Accessories where students will use their sewing skills to create a variety of quick, fun projects to wear or give as gifts.  After all, handmade is so much nicer than store bought.  

Side note:  although "story time" has not traditionally been a part of my sewing classes I REALLY want to buy this book to read to my students.  I stumbled upon it while browsing at my local bookstore and, oh my,  I wish I'd written it myself.  There's even a blog based on the book which I will definitely check out the next time I have two minutes to spare.

At the present time, the enrollment for Hand Sewn Accessories is a bit low.  I'm really hoping more students sign up because I'm excited about the projects for this class.  Here is a picture of three of them:

The elephant is a pin, the violet is a hair clip and the pendant...well...it's not just an ordinary necklace.  Underneath the decorative cover is...

...a place to hide a key!  As someone who spent the better part of her childhood wearing a house key on a thick, itchy cord from the hardware store, I would have loved something like this.  I know that times have changed and there may not be as many children who need to carry house keys, but it could also be a useful place to keep a neighbor's key when tasked with feeding pets or watering plants while they are on vacation.

There is one more project for this class, but after I made the model I realized it needed some modifications.  My goal is to finish this evening and have a picture for you tomorrow...provided that the littles cooperate.

Tenacity

The majority of this week was spent working on my contribution to the BAYarts education fundraiser.  I wanted to make something big, so I used an 18 x 24 inch canvas.  It took longer than expected, but I'm happy with how it turned out.  Here it is:
  The way I see it, there were three reasons why this project took longer than I thought it would.  First, I spent more time than I ever thought I would choosing a variety of different white buttons from my stash.  I like the juxtaposition of big chunks of shiny white plastic next to small, delicate shells and I wanted to make sure I had a good mix of both.  I probably told myself "this is the LAST TIME I'm going to look through the buttons" at least 17 times.  

Second, since the canvas is large, there is an additional support in the form of a piece of wood that runs from the top to the bottom of the frame right in the center of the canvas.  In order to sew on the buttons in the middle of the heart, I had to negotiate this unwieldy piece of wood.  Notice that many of the larger buttons appear in the middle of the heart.  Larger buttons = less challenging sewing on this part of the project.

Finally, I just finished reading this book and I think that's why I kept stopping every 15 minutes or so to look at my work.  I kept wondering about the original garments the buttons came from.  Who wore them?  What did the clothes look like?  How did the buttons get separated from the fabric?  How long did these buttons sit in sewing baskets or in the bottoms of drawers before they became part of my craft stash?  

If you're interested, here are the details for the BAYarts show in which this piece appears.  One hundred artists created 100 pieces of art that will be sold for $100 each.  The opening for the show is tomorrow night from 7-9.  I'll be there volunteering, so stop by and say hello.

Little Red Four Year Old

Before we get too far away from the birth month of The Milk Belly Princess, I would like to share some pieces of her birthday party with you.  Seven little girls gathered at BAYarts on a Saturday afternoon to help us celebrate.  Per the request of The Milk Belly Princess, the theme was Little Red Riding Hood, a theme she decided on at this time last year.  In fact, last spring,  when the local JoAnn Fabrics went out of business, I bought an entire bolt of red felt at their clearance sale.  I had lofty goals of making little red riding hoods for all of the guests.  Then, as the year wore on and it was time to start making the hoods, I began to wonder whether they would look as adorable as I'd originally envisoned.  Would The Milk Belly Princess and her friends look like the sweet protagonist of her favorite fairy tale, or would they seem more like tiny druids?  

In the end, my mother, The Amazing Grammy Susan, made one beautiful red riding hood as seen here, being modeled by Miss Milk Belly herself.

I thought it would be cute to have a photo booth where each guest could dress up and pose for a picture with her basket for granny, but my little one was the only one who wanted to do this.  

We began with snacks of fruit.  I tried to make the beautiful "Marshrooms" that I found here, but they did not look as beautiful as they did in the picture that inspired me.  I wasn't sure how to keep the apple tops from sliding off the marshmallows.  Toothpicks seemed risky with such little kids, but the marshmallow fluff I used as glue was too slippery.  I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that I'm not the first mama to fail at something she saw on Pinterest, so I'm not going to let it get me down.  

My wonderful friend Laura painted hands and faces,

We played "Pin the Hood on Little Red" with the game board courtesy of The Mister.

Then it was time to sing our baby into another year.  I wish I knew what she was thinking here.

Once again our favorite birthday cake bakery did not disappoint and created this delicious cake to fit our theme:

After the cake, it was time for our final craft, decorating our very own basket to take to grandmother's house.  I looked long and hard to find a craft that would fit our theme, but this was silly.  Little kids like to paint, regardless of what it is.  It's more about the sensation of touching and pushing paint than creating a final product.  

Really, this could be said about children's parties in general.  Instead of obsessing over themes I should savor the pushing paint, the process, the moment, the gathering.  I spent a lot of time planning thematic crafts and games, but that was more for me than my youngest daughter.  At the end of the day, when I asked her about her favorite part of the party, she said it was "playing with balloons with my friends."  

Late Night Valentine Craftiness

You know you're in trouble when you look up from your evening's work and realize that if you went to bed RIGHT THIS MINUTE the amount of sleep you'd get before your alarm goes off is more like that of an afternoon nap.  Such was the case yesterday evening, but I didn't care.  I had fun playing with my buttons and making these:

I started with the intention of making the sample project for next week's hand sewing class at BAYarts.  The girls have spent the past two weeks working on purses, so I want next week to be a shorter project that they can start and finish in one class.   I thought pins would be a fun accessory for the girls to make and keep or give to their mothers for Valentine's Day.  

My main reason for sitting down to make the model was to see whether I should teach the girls how to sew the pin onto the back or do it for them before the beginning of class.  
Although it will take awhile, I think I'm going to take care of this step before class.  We did a similar project during one of my classes in the summer and attaching the pin was frustrating for some of the girls.  As new little sewists (yes, because sewER is too much like sewer/sewage/etc...  Thank you Meg McElwee for introducing me to this new word.)  it was difficult for them to avoid sewing over the pin.

I ended up getting a little carried away.  Instead of one model, I made five.  I think these will be included in the valentines that Little Tiger and The Milk Belly Princess give to their teachers.  This one is my favorite:

I like the way all of the old buttons look together, but I also like to think about where they came from.  Were the gold-painted buttons on a fancy dress?  Did the little ladybug adorn doll's clothes or  a child's pinafore?  Were they all from clothes belonging to the same family?

What I Learned

The clock is ticking away the final hours of 2011.  After sixteen months, I think it's safe to say  I'm not going to crack in the next few hours and go on a shopping spree at the local Toys R Us.  

In other words, 

I DID IT!

In August of 2010 I used Facebook to ask anyone out there who cared to answer whether they thought I could go an entire year without buying toys for my children.  Not only did I get some enthusiastic responses, but it was suggested that I start a blog and write about my experience.  I began with this post.  

Even though  it was only August, I'd already bought quite a few toys for Christmas 2010.  To be fair, I decided that my experiment had to extend beyond the upcoming Christmas and through all of 2011.  In addition to a time frame, I made up some more rules and wrote about them here.  At the time, sixteen months, "until December 31, 2011"  seemed so long.

...except it really wasn't.  And now it's over.

So what did I take away from this experiment?

•  I will never see stuff in the same way.  Not just toys for the girls, but clothes, gadgets and decorative items for my home.  Where I used to buy impulsively for myself when I saw something that caught my eye, now I'm more apt to think about the purchase and it's long term implications.  It's fun to stumble upon kitsch from the 50s and 60s at an estate sale or flea market, but what's left after the thrill of the find?  Just something else to dust.  
• I've learned to value experiences over objects.  I put some of the time and effort I spent shopping for toys into providing Little Tiger and The Milk Belly Princess with experiences.  They've enjoyed classes in dance, swimming, ice skating, horseback riding, painting and yoga. In addition to teaching them different skill sets, those experiences have helped them develop poise and confidence in a way no toy ever could.  Along with different kinds of lessons, the girls accompanied The Mister and I to  concerts, plays and other family-oriented events.  We all savored our time together and focused on what we were doing rather than the souvenir we would get at the end.
• I got back to my crafty roots.  I started sewing again and wonder why I ever stopped.   Since August of 2010 I've had the pleasure of creating dolls and loveys for my girls and their cousins and friends.   I get a lot of joy from giving handmade gifts to people who are important to me.  One of my favorite comments from this blog is this statement by my friend Laura:  "Overall I believe that there is a correlation between the quality of the gift and the level of relationship. I think that if it isn't worth MAKING a gift for that person, then maybe a gift isn't appropriate for that relationship."  I know that due to time and skill constraints this isn't always possible.  (My lovely Aunt Barbara in Hawaii should not feel obligated to carve a surfboard for her children.)  But it is good food for thought.
• I discovered new opportunities that I never knew existed.   My job at Bayarts came about as a result of this blog.  Teaching hand sewing to children who really want to learn and use their creativity to take what I teach them and extend their projects into wonderfully original creations is so gratifying.  Without the craftiness that was reawakened by this experiment, I probably would not have become so  interested in Zerolandfill and, subsequently, Collective Upcycle which further inspired me.  

So what's next?  I've decided to continue with this blog.  I've always enjoyed writing and this space gives me an opportunity to write for an audience about topics that are important to me without the pressure of deadlines.  

I'm going to continue to give my girls handmade gifts, but give myself permission to purchase them when it is appropriate.  I'm not sure I'll ever again be able to justify the purchase of dolls or stuffed animals, but I won't feel guilty about buying them yoga mats since that isn't something I or anyone I know can make by hand.  

Happy New Year!  Have fun tonight with your family and friends.  I'll leave you with a picture of how The Milk Belly Princess and I spent our afternoon:

Little Tiger's Super Artsy Saturday

Following a brief thrifting adventure with my mother this morning, I picked up Little Tiger and we embarked on an art-filled day.  Like many school districts at this time of year, the one where I work is celebrating the school year in a plethora of different ways and today it was time for the art and music departments to show their stuff.  

Despite its small population, rural location and very limited funds, the district where I teach has an AMAZING fine art department.  This is due, in large part, to my friend Laura who is one of the most motivated and innovative teachers I've ever met.  Seriously, its not just me who thinks it either.  In addition to being adored by her students, last year Laura received an award for being the best high school art teacher IN THE STATE.  She is amazingly humble about this and is probably going to read this and cringe that I even posted it here, which kind of amazes me.  If I won something that prestigious, I would probably have it tattooed on my eyelids so every time I blinked people could be impressed all over again.

Anyway, Little Tiger and I had a blast at the Fine Arts Festival.  She spent quite awhile decorating a mask. Notice the necklace she is wearing.  It was made by students in the high school's art society from colored pencils that were too stubby to draw with anymore.  This next picture is blurry, because it is a cropped version of the previous picture, but I think this merits a closer, albeit blurry, look.
I must remember on Monday to tell the art society students in my College Writing class that, even though I know that their tastes are much more refined, I appreciate their remembering in the creation of this jewelry that, when you are five years old, you know that pink and purple are the best colors and that you will love them the best forever.  Before we left the art festival, Little Tiger humored me and posed for this picture:  She looks a little too sleepy/content to really do Munch justice, but, as her Mama, that's fine with me.

After the arts festival, it was time to go to Bayarts where Little Tiger is in the midst of a four week class to prepare for Parade the Circle 2011.  Anyone who is local and free on June 11th MUST go check this out.  Here is a video from when Little Tiger and I were in it last year:  

I'm one of the mama birds walking alongside the float and Little Tiger is a baby bird in the nest.  It was a lot of fun, as Little Tiger shares in the debriefing at the very end of the video.

This year the theme for Bayarts is "Night Flyers."  Here is a sneak preview of the creation that Little Tiger is making with her group: Here's a view of this friendly creature from the front:
I hope that all of you had an equally fun and satisfying Saturday!  

Coolest Summer Job Ever!

As a teacher, I've had countless people ask me what I do in the summer.  During the summers after my first few years of school, I did try to find a summer school position, but it never worked out.  After Little Tiger was born, I stopped looking because I wanted to use the summer months to spend more time with her and, eventually, her younger sister.  This year I was presented with a wonderful opportunity that allows me to do both.  

A few months ago Erin Stack, the educational director of Bayarts asked me if I was interested in teaching there this summer.  I was ecstatic.  I love the idea of teaching small art/craft classes to a group of students who are creative and enthusiastic about what they are learning.  Little Tiger, The Milk Belly Princess and I have all taken several classes at Bayarts and benefited from the wonderful staff and positive energy.  

For those of you who are local, you can find the summer newsletter which includes the schedule of classes here.  I'm going to be teaching for two weeks in July and August.  In July, I am teaching a class called Hand Sewing for 6-8 year olds and in August I'll be teaching a class called Teddy Bear Picnic for 3-5 year olds.  I'll post pictures of my completed projects and tell you all about them in future posts.  

By the way, if you're local, don't worry about all of the the rain we've been having.  It's sure to stop soon.  Why?  Because I just bought this amazing raincoat, that's why.

Halloween Lovies

I cannot make this a long post because interim reports are due tomorrow at school and the amount of grading I have to do before I go to bed tonight is--oh my goodness--I don't even want to think about it.  I have many College Writing essays to go before I sleep.  Anyway, I took my idea of making Little Tiger's drawings into loveys and added a Halloween twist.   Here are two of them.
 I actually made these at about the time that I began this blog, but didn't get around to photographing them until this week.  Once I started sewing them, they were kind of addictive and I ended up with several.  I put about ten of them in a basket, took them to Bayarts a wonderful local creative space that has classes, galleries and a gift shop and asked the lady in charge of the shop if she would be interested in selling them in the Bayarts shop.  She said she was and when I hung up the phone I was excited in the same way that little kids are when the teacher decides to read their story in front of the rest of the class.  Aw, shucks.