on Wednesdays
Every Wednesday afternoon is playgroup. It's an essential part of our homeschooling rhythm, where the kids (and mom) get to connect with friends and benefit from group activities like art experiences, math games and other projects. Last week, under Laura's leadership, the kids made mozzarella! This morning I flipped through my copy of
Earthways
and landed on a sewing project - comet balls.
Let's see... first crank out some large circles with our Go! Baby cutter. Oftentimes all the little threads aren't cut, so snip-snip to free them.
When our friends arrive and choose their fabrics, I zipped around each circle (right sides together) leaving an opening for turning and filling.
Kiddos of all ages dig filling pouches with beans or rice. Pouring, pouring, funnel, funnel. Yes, it gets all over...
Add a silk square for the comet tail, and then close up the opening with some really casual top stitching. Success?
Oh, definitely. These balls are easy to launch, fly gracefully and are so, so easy to catch. Hey, if you miss the ball, you can catch the tail! If you want to make them and don't have silk squares for the comet tail, use ribbon or a cluster of thin fabric strips.
See that behind Liam? That's the garden we do use and the barn we don't. They both mostly came with the house, though we did have to renovate the garden. As you can see, the barn is perfect just the way it is (wink), at least for photographs now and then. Anyhoo, last weekend got a fresh pair of piggies, whose pen is inside the garden enclosure. Do you want to meet them?
Aren't they too cute? Fortunately they don't stay this cute or life would be a little harder to accept. We aren't vegetarians, so raising some of our own meat seems like a kinder way to live. We're thankful for the opportunity to do so, and hope to add a few cows someday. We've also kept Indian Runner ducks for eggs, and plan to have a new batch of them soon.
In the garden there are some tomatoes blushing! All credit goes to my mom who not only seeds them, helps me plant them, but even fertilized them when she stopped by the other day. She's awesome. But this healthy growth of volunteer zucchini was actually planted by last season's pigs. It looks like it'll bare some fruit soon. Sometimes, sometimes weeds are good.
Now the friends are gone and it's about time for this mama to see if she can turn turnips into a side dish my family might tolerate. Such are the challenges dealt out by membership in a local CSA program. We try to be brave.
I'll leave you with this picture Aria snapped earlier today. After the kids are tucked into bed, I'll be back at it in my favorite spot, stitching away. Looking forward to showing you what I've been up too real soon!
and landed on a sewing project - comet balls.
Let's see... first crank out some large circles with our Go! Baby cutter. Oftentimes all the little threads aren't cut, so snip-snip to free them.
When our friends arrive and choose their fabrics, I zipped around each circle (right sides together) leaving an opening for turning and filling.
Kiddos of all ages dig filling pouches with beans or rice. Pouring, pouring, funnel, funnel. Yes, it gets all over...
Add a silk square for the comet tail, and then close up the opening with some really casual top stitching. Success?
Oh, definitely. These balls are easy to launch, fly gracefully and are so, so easy to catch. Hey, if you miss the ball, you can catch the tail! If you want to make them and don't have silk squares for the comet tail, use ribbon or a cluster of thin fabric strips.
See that behind Liam? That's the garden we do use and the barn we don't. They both mostly came with the house, though we did have to renovate the garden. As you can see, the barn is perfect just the way it is (wink), at least for photographs now and then. Anyhoo, last weekend got a fresh pair of piggies, whose pen is inside the garden enclosure. Do you want to meet them?
Aren't they too cute? Fortunately they don't stay this cute or life would be a little harder to accept. We aren't vegetarians, so raising some of our own meat seems like a kinder way to live. We're thankful for the opportunity to do so, and hope to add a few cows someday. We've also kept Indian Runner ducks for eggs, and plan to have a new batch of them soon.
In the garden there are some tomatoes blushing! All credit goes to my mom who not only seeds them, helps me plant them, but even fertilized them when she stopped by the other day. She's awesome. But this healthy growth of volunteer zucchini was actually planted by last season's pigs. It looks like it'll bare some fruit soon. Sometimes, sometimes weeds are good.
Now the friends are gone and it's about time for this mama to see if she can turn turnips into a side dish my family might tolerate. Such are the challenges dealt out by membership in a local CSA program. We try to be brave.
I'll leave you with this picture Aria snapped earlier today. After the kids are tucked into bed, I'll be back at it in my favorite spot, stitching away. Looking forward to showing you what I've been up too real soon!