Embroidery with Children

Step 2 - Embroider Design onto Fabric
Originally uploaded by Pictures by Ann

This is a pillow that Olivia (who is 6 years old) is hand-embroidering. She is doing the back-stitch for the entire pillow and her stitches are about 1/16" of an inch. Very tiny and precise for a 6-year old.

The image is one that she drew on paper and I transferred onto fabric with a blue fabric pen (the ink disappers when water is placed on it).

Olivia drew a picture of herself with Casey (a pet who passed away unexpectedly in February 2008 who she loved and was close to). They are standing by the apple tree in the backyard on a beautiful sunny day.

Doing this project on an almost daily basis has given Olivia an opportunity to process her grief, talk about Casey, and remember some happier times with her dog. She will have a permanent reminder of Casey which she can put on her bed and sleep with each night. It is a meaningful and practical activity that she did as part of her homeschooling this spring.

Green Pink and Rainbow Stars

Green Pink and Rainbow Stars
Originally uploaded by Pictures by Ann

These are the three most recent stars I've made. I make the stars by hand-folding small squares of paper, overlaying the folded paper, and then gluing them together to create different patterns.

The green and pink stars are both very intricate window stars, and both take quite a while to make. They are the more complex stars offered by Harvest Moon by Hand.

Please visit my Etsy shop at http://www.harvestmoonbyhand.etsy.com if you're interested in any of these stars. There also is a link to my shop on the right side of this blog.

Trying on Wooden Shoes

Trying on Wooden Shoes
Originally uploaded by Pictures by Ann

The girls, their grandparents, and I traveled to Pella, Iowa, as an extension of the girls' unit study about the Netherlands. Pella was originally a Dutch settlement in the 1800s.

It has prospered since that time, and each year the community does a cultural festival. We traveled the week before the festival so it was much quieter and more peaceful. We could enjoy the over 80,000 tulips that were planted throughout the town. It was a stunning example of tulip gardening.

The girls are in a store adjacent to the Klokkenspel. We had some time to look around before the Klokkenspel went off at 1 p.m.

Here, the girls found their sizes in the wooden shoes. They aren't the most comfortable shoes...perhaps with padding they might be more comfortable. However, the girls certainly had fun trying them on and walking around in them.