Crafts

The Puppet Theater, And A WIP As Well

Published on: by catballou24 2 Comments

So last night J and I were able to catch a show!  We were so excited.  We gave the ticket taker our tickets, grabbed a cold beverage from concessions and found our seats.  The puppet show had a spooky Halloween theme.  Very thrilling!  The puppeteer was wonderful and we thoroughly enjoyed every moment. 

 
 
 
 
As for the WIP…a holiday gift for my little one.  Can you tell what I’m making?  It’s my first one and I’m having so much fun with it.  I’ll post more pictures of the progress.
 
What are you doing this weekend?
Peace! 

Poncho, Spider and Creativity

Published on: by catballou24 9 Comments

So here is a project I finished for my little Farm Girl.  We were completely inspired by Shelley over at Waldorf Mama and her creation for her little one.   The pattern is about as easy as it gets and was really fun to knit.  Lola saw the rainbow colors on Shelley’s site and had to have one.  The only real change I made on this pattern was to crochet a yoke as Lola has narrow shoulders and a long lean torso, so even the smallest size was slipping off her shoulders.   I also added a couple extra rows per color to compensate for the extra length she needed.  The success of this project was shown last week when my darling one just had to wear it everyday to school, and came home exclaiming that her friends now wanted me to knit for them.  We’ll see how far I get with my other holiday gifts..shh…


 
 
Spider projects were on the agenda tonight.  Lola had to research a spider, make a model and find 8 facts to present to her class.  She chose the Jumping Spider .  We researched and found our facts over the last couple of days, and so tonight was all about the model.  We made our own clay and she created her spider based on pictures we found online.  Then it was baked and painted.  Lola wrote out her 8 facts on strips of paper which I then attached to the legs of her model after the paint was dry.  What fun it was to create!  She had a blast not only with the clay, but practicing her presentation and learning about her creepy crawly friend.  I’m very proud of how she threw herself into this project.
Lola wasn’t the only one expressing her creativity, Xi got in on the action too.  These are her creations, which since have been baked and will be painted tomorrow.  The small one is her interpretation of a bee and the larger one is a funky giraffe.  Hah!  I love them!
 
The girls had so much fun with this project, that I do believe I have some ideas for them for the holidays and expressing even more of their gift giving creativity.
Hope you are having a creative, warm, happy week! 
Peace!

Birthday Present Finished

Published on: by catballou24 4 Comments


Well, part of it anyway. I still have the crown to make tonight but I can use the machine for most of that. This was the heirloom piece I wanted to finish for Xi’s 4th birthday this weekend. All hand-sewn by your’s truly. It is made out of 100% wool felt and batting with cotton embroidery thread. Legs are button jointed so she can sit up by herself. What a truly fun craft this was to make. I poured alot of love into this. Our baby is entering a whole new era of her life and I felt it was truly important to honor this transition with a piece made from mama’s hands and love. The pattern is Mimi’s Hand Sewn Felt Doll and I found it at The Purl Bee. So many wonderful ideas over there, check them out!

Sunday is the actual birthday, but her party is tomorrow. I still have a ton of stuff to do to get ready, but I really think she’ll have a blast. When did my little one grow so much? How quickly the time passes, I try to enjoy each and every moment of our time together. Even the frustrating moments can be secret lessons for both of us and sometimes some of the strongest memories.

I’ll have a post dedicated to her on the actual day of her birth…but for now I wanted to share with you all – before she even sees it – the birthday present finished.

Peace!




Seasons Round Exchange

Published on: by catballou24 9 Comments

I joined this group this summer and the time has just flown by. The point of the group is to make seasonal items for another family’s nature table. Everyone signs up by a certain date and then Kyrie pairs people up. We are on the Autumn season right now obviously, I’ll be signing up for the Winter in a couple weeks. My Fall package is going out today, a day late but I just missed the post yesterday. By September 29, everyone is to post 3 pictures of what they made and 3 pictures of what they received at the Flickr group set up for the Exchange. Take a quick peek at some of the things that people have put together. Really beautiful nature filled objects!

Hope your Fall season is starting out wonderfully. I know we are enjoying the cooler mornings and looking forward to even more as the season moves forward!

Peace!


Planting Time Is Almost Here! (And A Finished Project)

Published on: by catballou24 1 Comment

So garlic and onions are in the ground! Today I will do potatoes and pick up our seeds at the feed store for more veggie goodness. We are really hoping for a better year this year in terms of rain (and everything else if we are going to be honest here). Last year we had 100 degree weather starting in May and it didn’t end until well into November. Needless to say the gardens were not very productive or happy, neither was our water bill! So maybe I can request that everyone do a quick, happy rain dance for this year? haha! We’ll see if that appeases the gods any. We are also busy amending our soil with what we have here and it is turning out well so far! We are going to add organic topsoil to the lasagna bed, but the nutrients are just exploding out of what we’ve put down already. It’s very exciting and we are hoping to have a better garden this year. Upside down are the way we are doing our tomatoes this year too. We really liked how well they turned out last year, so are going to do alot more this year and save the garden space for other veggies.

The animals are doing good. We’ve added ferrets to the brood as well. They were gifted to the girls from some good friends of our’s. We have 3 of them, Calamity, Pookie and Moose. They are so funny to play with and are the friendliest little creatures. The girls love them!

I’ve been knitting and knitting and knitting. Finally conquered my fear of socks and am now on a mission to find the perfect yarn for my darling little red-head who hates anything that might be even remotely itchy. 100% cotton for her…and not just any cotton, so the quest begins. L is much more laid back for that and already picked out her yarn from my stash. So her socks will go on the needles this week, I hope.

Some new pictures and lots of peace going out to you all!


Icy mornings the past few days.



Really hoping Kubra is with kids, hard to tell now although she is looking rounder in the belly, but we won’t be certain until late February or early March.


My new sconces (thank you Nicole for the gift card!)


My first socks! For me! Yay!


Wee Folks Have Beds

Published on: by catballou24 1 Comment


Did these last night. I am loving this creative streak in me. It is really making me happy to use the things I already have and turn them into something fun for the girls. Our homemade holidays are quickly approaching so I need to work a little faster now. Haha! But I’m pretty confident I’ll get it all done. I’m trying to do the small projects first, one every night. Then the bigger projects in between – Lola’s sweater, which I’m still waiting on my yarn for. I ordered it from a co-op weeks ago and it still hasn’t arrived. And Xiola’s Waldorf doll – have the head started which is half the battle.

I’m going to finish Lola’s leg warmers tonight and then start on her mittens she requested. I want to dye some yarn for Xiola’s mittens and leg warmers too, but won’t get to that until maybe Friday.

So much to do! Peace!

ETA: I feel like a dolt, but I completely forgot to thank Kimara over at Wee Folk Art for the bed pattern and constant inspiration. You really need to check out her blog! Thanks!

Knitting Machine Music

Published on: by catballou24 1 Comment

I saw this over at Wee Folk Art and was just amazed. I knit and am knitting quite alot for the holidays this year, so this captured my attention and I just had to share it with you all. Plus the music is really beautiful.

The band is called Tricot Machine, which literally means knitting machine. The video was animated from more than 700 real wool knits done on a knitting machine. Just beautiful.

Enjoy!

Wee Folk Addiction

Published on: by catballou24 3 Comments

We are having a homemade holiday this season, and so I’ve been planning, knitting and now creating. These are two little dolls I made this evening for the girls’ St. Nick gifts in their shoes. We are going to celebrate St. Nicholas day on December 6th this year, as well as Christmas. We are not religious, but the idea behind the festivities is something that we are attracted to. And we can use all the cheer and glittery distractions after the year we’ve had.

So the first one is for X and the second for L. They stand around 3 inches tall and are really addicting to make. I didn’t have a pattern, but have seen these little dolls all over the Waldorf forums, so I created my own. Enjoy and Peace!