Kleas

harvest festival

We celebrated autumn with our preschool families yesterday during our Michaelmas festival.  We made a craft together, the children sang songs for their parents, we welcomed Mother Nature, shared a meal and played in the rain.    

In preparation, the children ground the wheat and made the bread dough at the preschool last week.

One of our traditions is to wrap a bulb for mother nature to pass out to the children.  I haven't changed the way I do this in four years.  Always a tulip bulb and the same poem.  Here is my worktable the night before.

I wrapped them in burlap and tied with twine and added a piece of orange wool for an autumn leaf.

Focusing on the theme of the meteor showers that accompanied St Michael in early autumn, I thought it would be fun to make shooting stars at the festival. The craft is made with parent and child, so I needed to prep the project as much as possible.  The night before I began cutting wool stars to stitch and stuff.

I quickly realized that I needed a shortcut to make 25 of these before morning and altered the assembly just slightly.  Instead of stitching around the star and stuffing with wool, I placed the extra large dragon tear (to give weight to the star) in the center of the wool and joined the star pieces by stitching around just the glass stone.  At the festival, children then added crystal rhinestones and with the help of parents stitched the tails on the star. 

It was fun to watch them flying through the air.  

(this photo was taken today...a perfectly sunny afternoon)

Our big act of courage for the children at this festival is to have each one of them step forward and receive their gift from Mother Nature.  It is not an easy thing to do when you are three or four.

Summer goodbye

Summer goodbye

You may no longer stay,

Autumn is on its way,

Summer goodbye

Summer goodbye

tear sheets

I never knew there was an actual term for all those pages I had been ripping out of magazines for years.  I also didn't realize I wasn't the only one who did this. I was pretty serious about my tear sheets...I usually traveled with several magazines to read on those long flights I use to take and always came home with a folder full of magazine pages.  I even filed them, filling a box with folders... *recipes*, *craft*, *garden* and so on.  

My mom did it.  Not long ago she brought me her file folders of (vintage) magazine pages (more recipes, crafts and garden ideas). 

My friend Jen introduced me to the term...she even hosted a swap and started a flickr group.

I think of Pinterest as our modern day tear pages.  Friends suggested I try it after I started having trouble tracking all my favorite links...and I LOVE IT!  If you haven't joined yet, you may want to.  If you have, let me know, you can find me here.

It's also fun seeing what things of mine people are pinning.  Last years preschool project Big Leaf Printing seems to be the most popular.  

It helps me see what boards my preschool projects are being pinned to because it leads to the discovery of other child friendly projects I may want to try with my preschoolers.

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Since I'm talking about big leaf printing...Thank you to...

Katie Brown, Rachel of Sun Scholars and Laura of GiftRap

autumn

We began last week with a 90 degree day.  Two days later we had a frost advisory that sent most of us to our gardens to salvage what we could of the tender plants.  

It also sent me to the closets scrambling around for cold weather clothes to appropriately dress the boys for school.  Of course they have each grown about three inches over the summer so last weekend was a good time to take inventory.  Also a good time to start knitting again.

I love the bright colors and squishy soft wool of the Loops & Threads yarn we used for this project, so went back to the craft store for two more skeins. 

The pattern is Invictus (a free Ravelry download by Emily Ringelman).  It knit up easily in a few hours after I taught myself a few new stitches...which I learned how to do from video tutorials found at YouTube. The internet is an amazing tool, isn't it?

Julen is quite pleased with his new scarf.

My plan is to knit up a whole new batch of scarves so there is always a clean and dry one available to grab on these chilly days ahead.  I have two more on the needles now and am still looking around for more patterns...soooo, if you have a favorite, I'd love to know about it!

Happy Autumn!!

Meeting Jennifer and Amy

We made it.  Just barely.  Sneaking in the door two hours before the gallery was to close.  I had been looking forward to meeting these two women so much, I just walked up and introduced myself.  So much kindness and sweetness and talent in each of them.  It was such a delight to be surrounded by all of their beautiful artwork and even better to meet them in person.

It was a bit hard to concentrate with my wiggly boys moving around so much, but I love that they loved being there almost as much as I did.  

 
 
 

As they were looking toward packing up, we were offered the display flowers and came home with a bouquet of these huge gorgeous yellow dahlias from Amy's garden.

 
We also bought this lovely piece of artwork.

 

To see more of their work you can find their etsy shops here: Jennifer Davis and Amy Rice. 

a walk to the river

We've been enjoying every minute possible outside...trying to soak up all of the warm and sunny days September has to offer.

Anyone have any idea what these are?

settling in

Yesterday marked the end of our first two weeks at the preschool this year.  We usually allow up to three months for the children to get accustomed to the rhythm of our day.  This year is unique however, as we have so many children returning from last year.  They already know what is expected of them at Willow House and for the few new students we have, they have very easily adapted to the rhythm of the day.

The handwork in the first few days of school is kept very simple.  The first week, each child was given a short length of wool yarn (about ten inches long) to feel and explore and talk about.  My ultimate goal was to teach them how to tie a knot.  But it's fun to see where the children take this on their own. Some began to make shapes and letters, others wound it around their finger and made a puppet...one child even pretended it was a mustache.  After playing for a while, we began the lesson of tying a knot. For some it came quite easily...the younger children had to work at it a bit harder, but eventually, they were all able to make several knots.  Pure joy and satisfaction was revealed in their very expressive faces.

One of our children is fascinated by bunnies...and somehow manages to work a bunny into all he creates.  Can you see it in the photo above?

In the second week, we continued working with yarn and this time we made rope twists.  This was a great exercise in fine motor skills as well as learning to work with a partner.

We used Loops & Threads Kaleidoscope 100% wool yarn.  I love this squishy yarn...it almost feels more like roving than wool.  It's nice and easy for the children to work with because it is so thick.

We began with a length of yarn about two yards long.  (I pulled out a piece that reached from hand to hand across my out-stretched arms).  Fold the yarn in half and the child who is helping holds the looped end in their hand, the other child begins by twisting the ends of the yarn (be sure they continue to twist in only one direction).  Here Julen is helping a friend.

Once the yarn has been twisted from end to end, I stepped in to gently take both ends being careful to keep the yarn taught.  I then asked the child to find the halfway point on the twisted yarn and push down (I am still holding the other ends together).

Make sure they are watching the yarn as in the next step when they gently pull their finger out, they will see as the yarn twists upon itself creating a beautiful rope.  It's like magic!

 I knotted together the two ends I was holding, and the child then chose a bead to add to their cord.  They turned out beautifully!

 They can be worn as a necklace (or bracelet).

They can be used as a bookmark, a key fob, or just played with as is.  Julen put his on the doorknob.

This is even fun for adults!  If you don't have a partner, you could hook the looped end over a doorknob so you are free to twist.  

local artists

My Jennifer Davis painting from The Enormous Tiny art show arrived yesterday and I was so excited to see it in person, I couldn't open the box it arrived in fast enough.  Original paintings are like that.   The magic they hold in real life never translate from the computer screen.  This is not where it will stay. I wanted to see it on the wall immediately, so stuck it on the first available nail.  It's perfect.  

For any of you who live locally and are interested in seeing more of this artist, you are in luck.  The work of Jennifer Davis, along with that of another highly celebrated local artist, Amy Rice, can be seen in Delightful 3: A Pop-Up Art Gallery starting today in downtown St. Paul and ending on Saturday.  Go here  for more information (be sure to scroll down to see their collaborative works...they are wonderful!!).

I recently spotted this Amy Rice painting at The State Fair.

To see more of their work you can find their etsy shops here: Jennifer Davis and Amy Rice.  Also be sure and stop at The Enormous Tiny Art website to browse more work by a variety of very talented artists.

Monarch Festival 2011

The third annual Monarch Festival was held over the weekend at the lake near my home and proved to be just as delightful (if not more so) than previous years.  We arrived just in time to register for the fun run.  (So much more fun when you race with a friend).

 There was continuous live music and dancing...I loved the colorful outfits.

There were lots of activities...monarch bingo, milkweed seed balls to make and bring home to plant, passport game (take the journey the monarchs will make to Mexico) and of course the tagging and releasing of the monarchs.  A tree representing those found in Michoacán was there for the children to add their paper Monarchs to as they finished their passport journey.

And there were lots of craft projects to make.  Last year we did the steam roller printing (see that post here for details) which was so popular they just had to return.  There were also giant cardboard puppets on a stick to make but my boys chose to do the sunprinting. 

It was the perfect day to hang out in the warm September sun with friends. 

remembering...

A long time ago, before I was a mother, I traveled all over the world for my work.  An airplane was my primary mode of transportation.  Things are so very different now...it's almost hard to believe we used to have no security check of any kind before boarding a plane.  Just a ticket and a photo ID got you on board. How things have changed.

Today I am thinking of Richard Ross and his family.  It was with his company I began my first years in the travel industry...so while I held my breath as my phone rang off the hook that devastating morning, (quick gasps of "are you home?", "are you safe?" meeting my "hello"), news that he had been on one of the planes filled me with that dread that this was all too real.  This was no individual tragedy, this was one the entire world felt.  

Today...I am remembering.

elderberries!

They are black, they are ripe and they are bursting with juice.  I found them easily this year...last year, I wasn't paying attention and they ripened so early...so no elderberry syrup was made.  This year, I am seeing them everywhere.  I quickly cut an entire basket full.

There are many ways to prepare them, an internet search will open your eyes to all the possibilities. I just discovered that Kristine Brown offers her elixir recipe on Rhythm of the Home.   Here's how I use mine (see this post when I first write about making elderberry syrup). 

Elderberry Syrup 

1 cup fresh elderberries, stripped from branches and washed

3 cups water

1/4 tsp cloves (powdered or whole-I used a little of each)

1-3 cinnamon sticks

1 inch fresh ginger-chopped

1 cup honey

(optional...add a few tablespoons of vodka to extend the life of the syrup)

Place all ingredients (minus the honey) into a large pot and simmer about two hours.  Once cool, pour the syrup through cheese cloth or a fine mesh colander.  While still slightly warm, add the honey.  Store in the refrigerator in glass jars.  Enjoy a tablespoon daily to help ward off the flu (my boys also discovered it tastes delicious on pancakes).

I had enough elderberries to triple the batch.

We should all be in good health this season.

Happy Friday friends!