a number of things

A Review

The lovely Elizabeth Foss has hosted a beautiful autumn tea, and also written a very kind review of Tea & Cake with the Saints!  Thank you so much, Elizabeth!!

                                                

Camping Time Again

          

Well, it's camping time again down here in the deep south and what fabulous weather we had for our first trip of the season!

          

Perfect days and chilly nights, cooking over the campfire, leisurely crocheting or reading in the sunshine.  The Mitchell family decided to join us for this trip and Colleen even brought a pumpkin!

          

She carved the most brilliant pumpkin moonshine and we lit him up with a small camping lantern. The kids (10 between us) spent their days building sand villages and fairy homes with the occasional earthquake from the 3, 4 and 5 year olds.

         

Frequent canoe trips (Actually, too many to count!) were a necessity, as our camp was right on the lake. The big boys were allowed to go out on their own, and the younger ones with parents.  With the boys outnumbering the girls eight to two, I took it upon myself to take Amelia and Marie on a few special "girls only" canoeing adventures to "shop" for lily pads and explore hidden coves.

         

"'Nice? It's the only thing,' said the Water Rat solemnly, as he leant forward for his stroke.`Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing -- absolute nothing -- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing,' he went on dreamily: `messing -- about -- in -- boats; messing -- -- "

        ~ The Wind in the Willows, chapter 1    

         

What amazing fun!

   

The Loveliness of Autumn Leaves

My friend and neighbor, Colleen from Footprints on the Fridge, is gathering posts, thoughts, memories, etc for a wonderful "Loveliness of Leaves" fair.  She has set the date for Monday, October 29th, so get your submissions in ASAP!

I just love autumn!

 

It's a Book Walk!

Hop over to Cay Gibson's wonderful blog tomorrow (Thursday) for a Book Walk and a chance to win a free book!  Here is a bit of a description from Cay:

"Remember those Cake Walks at your church festival?  That's where the idea of a Book-Walk comes from.  It's a chance to feel like a kid again...and win a free prize. 

But I cannot take credit for the idea.  A librarian on a children's writer forum I'm on was hosting a book-walk for the teenagers at the next PTA meeting at their school.  I thought it was a marvelously inventive idea and adopted it to fit a Virtual Book-Walk here on my blog."

You can check out this post for more details!

    

October Beauty of Toymaking Fair!

The October Beauty of Toymaking Fair is up and running!  Click on over to Soul of the Home and see what treats Almamater has lined up for us!  This is inspiring me to get busy on my own toymaking plans for Christmas. :-)

Have a beautiful day!

    

Crafts From Nature

          

As the autumn weather calls us outdoors more, we are enjoying an assortment of nature-inspired crafts.  We began a couple of weeks ago with simple, small pine needle baskets. We used the instructions from this site, but there are a few other sites out there with directions and some beautiful examples of this art.  They make mine look like the clumsy first effort that it is. :-) 

          

Amelia made one into a petite sewing basket!  I desperately want to learn other forms of basketry and we have found the book Handmade Baskets from Nature's Colorful Materials quite helpful in getting us started.  Hopefully I will have other examples to show you soon.

I have also been harvesting job's tears again.  I grew them for years but haven't intentionally grown any in a while.  Job's tears are in the grass family and I learned the hard way to never plant them where you don't want them forever! The plants I am gathering from right now are growing in my unruly, pathetic excuse for a flower bed.  Every year I try to pull all the sprouts in the spring, but every year a few get by me.

         

I do find it so amazing that God created a plant that grows perfect beads.  They have been used for making rosaries (and jewelry, etc.) for hundreds of years!  (I actually started out in rosary making by creating rosaries from my homegrown "tears".) After letting the seeds air dry in the house for about a week, the tiny center "sprout" can be easily pulled out leaving a perfect hole for stringing.   

         

The above photo shows them in various stages of ripening.  When they turn dark to light gray and the little "sprout" turns brown, they are ready to be picked.  Actually, at this point they are ready to fall off and if you don't pick them (very often, as they ripen) they escape into the tangle of weeds below and grow into new plants next spring. 

         

Hand dipped beeswax candles, with wax from a nearby bee keeper, is on the agenda soon.  The ones above were made by my mom last year.  I love the smell and the glow given off by pure beeswax. 

By far, the most nature-craft fun we have been enjoying lately has come from this book. The Little Book of Whittling: Passing Time on the Trail, on the Porch, and Under the Stars is a truly inspiring book!  You see, we have a little tradition around here of being able to to get your very own pocket knife after you have turned ten.  It started when James asked for one for his tenth birthday which resulted in Amelia pleading for one for the next two years.  When she finally turned ten, she chose the Edelweiss Swiss Army Knife and get this, she keeps it in her pillow case! (I have no idea...) 

         

Anyway, all this is to say, that in this house, whittling is something enjoyed by both girls (me too!) and boys.  When I ordered this little book I was hoping for a few ideas for the kids, what I got was an amazing little book that has kept them busy for days.  Above is a fork that Amelia recently made and James has an assortment of wooden knives and letter openers to his credit, so far.

Not only are the ideas and photos terrific, but all throughout the book are small gray boxes with such treasures as "Know Your Knots","How to Bait a Hook" and "Avoiding Poisonous Plants".  There are also recipes for such tempting lovelies as "Old-Fashioned Mustard", "Sun-Dried Tomato Mayonnaise", "Ultimate Peanut Butter S'mores", and much, much more!

         

This wonderful book, coupled with a small pocket knife, would make a great Christmas gift.  With projects such as a knife, spoon, animals, a canoe, slingshot and whistle, I am not kidding when I tell you that it makes me want to grab my little Swiss army knife (yep, I've had one since I was a kid), and a pile of sticks, and whittle away the day.

       

Almost Time for Another Toymaking Fair!

Don't forget!  The October edition of the Toymaking Fair is fast approaching!  This month's festivities will be hosted by the lovely Almamater, over at the beautiful Soul of the Home, on October 20th.

So hurry and get all those terrific toymaking ideas, resources, memories and thoughts to Almamater so they can be included in this month's fun!

   

Autumn Days

         

That amazing autumn weather has finally drug itself southward and arrived in Louisiana. Our days have been filled to the brim with enjoying the great outdoors (lots of nature study), plenty of baking (blackberry cobbler, winter squash, homemade breads), creating kid-sized fairy houses under the ligustrum bushes and spending hours upon hours there.            

         

We have been indulging in more nature crafts (which is a post of its own), long leisurely picnics, perusing a new cookbook, planting the fall garden, and evening stargazing.

         

We are planning the season's first camping trip, catching up on outdoor honey-do's, neglecting the housework, going on adventures, and having countless pinecone wars.

         

Oh yes, somewhere in there is a little school work thrown in for good measure. :-)

       

Stitching Again

         

Well, I have a new sewing machine!  New to me, that is.  It is actually a vintage Bernina, and I love it! I have a good friend, (who has been singing the praises of older model Berninas for years), who coached me on what to look for and purchase when my old Singer had to be retired to "kid sewing machine" recently. 

I had been dreading the day when I would have to get a new machine.  I was so comfortable with the old one... but I am quickly getting acquainted with the new one!  My favorite thing, is the fact that it is so basic.  It has everything I want and need with no extra bells and whistles...and, it's built like a tank!  It sews so beautifully and came with an assortment of feet that I can't wait to try out.

The first thing on the sewing agenda was to finish the two dress-up cloaks that I had started before the other machine quit on me.

           

Cloaks are probably the most popular dress-up items we have around here.  They are so versatile and they can transform the wearer into almost anything.  We already have a red one (Red-Riding-Hood, etc) and a black one (various villains), but we seem to be on something of a Robin Hood kick around here, so new cloaks (in more earthy tones) were needed.   

        

The result is one Hobbit-olive, and another habit-brown cloak. What fun!

            

Books & Beads

I was browsing Amazon.com a few weeks back, when I discovered a listing for Sewing with St. Anne!  I sent the link to my dad, who promptly left a review. (A somewhat ridiculous one, in that I doubt he has even read the book! Have you, Dad? ;-))  Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else, who happens to have the book, would consider leaving a review for "Sewing"?

I have a few more tweaks and touch-ups to do, and then the Gardens of Grace autumn 2007 update will be ready to go up.  Pop on over after 2pm today, if you'd like to take a peak!

  Have a terrific day!

 

Watercolors: Lesson Two

         

We finally got around to our second watercolor lesson last Friday, and it seemed to go over well.

Here is the overview of lesson #2:

• Still using the 3 primary colors and having them mix others.
• Drew 3 squares on the paper, (we were working small because I was running low on watercolor paper) and had them paint the first with plain water and then dab on different colors to see what they do and how they flow. ("wet on wet" intro)
• In the 2nd square, had them paint with plain water then carefully paint on a single color to achieve a smooth, even block of color. (a "wash")
• In the 3rd square, had them paint with plain water, then apply color to the top and part way down to achieve a "graded wash".

         

• Introduced the terms "landscape" and "portrait" in regards to paper positioning. 
• On some really cruddy watercolor paper I had (have got to re-stock with the 140lb!), had them do a blue wash and lift off color with natural sponges for clouds. (Big hit!)
• Introduced the term "horizon line" and had them add green for grass and set aside to dry for a few minutes.
• After the grass was dry, they painted in simple trees and used the other end of the brush to "scrape" in the trunks.
• Was planning on having them do some smaller trees in the distance and introduce elementary "perspective", but things sort of fell apart right about then. :-)