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create beauty, nurture our families, nurture ourselves Home 08/15/2012 Waldorf Birthday Crown and Cape Waldorf birthday crown and cape School started yesterday at our Waldorf school . My children were genuinely excited and happy to be back at school, but my son admitted that he was really tired after that first day. He told me that he was going to go to bed especially early--and he did! I hope this lasts... My son's class teacher is new to our school this year so all of the parents are doing what we can to help and support her. One dad made beautiful handmade wooden beeswax stands. One mom mended and reinforced all of the crayon pouches. Our teacher also asked for a new birthday cape and/or crown, so I decided to make them in time for the class' first birthday celebration in a couple days. Unfortunately here in Hawaii, we don't have any local stores that carry handwork supplies like 100% wool felt, finished silk squares, etc. We mostly depend on ordering supplies online and shipping them here. So, with my time constraint of 2 days, I had to be creative and use what I had in my handwork "stash". I wanted the cape and crown to match so I decided that I would have to dye the base materials. Luckily I had a large, undyed silk veil (hemmed) to make the cape with, but I didn't have any undyed wool felt. I did have plenty of undyed wool batting though and decided that I would make the felt. (I know that making felt might sound very time consuming and crazy, but I found a new way to make large yardage of felt using water soluable facing. I'll share that in a post later.) I had bits of dye, so I used what I had. I thought a "rainbow" theme would be a bit more grown up than princesses/princes. They are 2nd graders after all... The cape and crown came together much more quickly than I thought! I made the felt and dyed on one day. I sewed and embroidered them the next day. Everything flowed easily--even my tiny sewing machine (uncharacteristically) cooperated. I was so happy that I was able to make the birthday crown and cape in two days. I guess a well stocked handwork stash is just like a well stocked pantry. You dig around and you can always create something yummy! Aug 15, 2012 9:54:00 PM | All Handwork , Felting , Handmade Toys , Waldorf Comment 0 Reblog It 0 08/09/2012 Waldorf Peg Dolls Waldorf Wooden Peg Dolls I bought lots of these wooden peg dolls several years ago intending to make toys for my kids. I never got inspired to make them though--mainly because I didn't want to paint them or glue fabric onto them. I had the idea a couple weeks ago that I could cover the head with doll skin fabric and sew (instead of glue) the hat and clothing on. I was so excited and set to work... I really loved the softness gained by using doll skin cloth. Also, I could make a multitude of skin colors--reflecting the "melting pot' of cultures that we have here in Hawaii. I went a little crazy and covered A LOT of doll heads. I thought I'd better invite another Mom over to help me finish the dolls. This is where the magic of working with others starts... The other Waldorf mom and I starting working. With the head done, I started sewing the clothes onto the wooden peg. I was having a hard time getting the clothes tightly around the curved edges of the body. The other mom watched my struggle and then had the brilliant idea to wet felt the clothes onto the doll. She tried and it worked perfectly! The clothes fit snugly and the different colors added wonderful texture and interest. While our kids played together, my friend and fellow mom and I made two dolls fairly quickly. It was so much fun to collaborate and create together. It was a good reminder of the benefit of gathering other moms together. There is so much synergy... Many more peg dolls to make though! I'm working on a set of rainbow gnomes and I think I'll try to gather a group of moms together to make lots for our Waldorf school's fair. I'll show more pictures in the weeks to come... Aug 9, 2012 11:54:53 AM | All Handwork , Felting , Handmade Toys , Waldorf Comment 2 Reblog It 0 08/05/2012 How to Make a Lei or Flower Garland... How to make a lei My son's new 2nd grade teacher from our Waldorf school was coming over for a home visit. We have been very fortunate to have had both my daughter and son's new teachers over to our house before school starts. It gives the children a chance to meet and chat with the teacher and helps to alleviate those first-day-of-school jitters. We had made a pot of tea and cut up some fruit to serve, but my son also wanted to make a lei for his teacher--who is a newcomer to Hawaii. Giving a lei is something that we do a lot in Hawaii. We give them for birthdays, for graduations, for first days on the job, for mother's day, whenever. Giving a lei is a gesture of affection or what we call aloha. We are lucky in Hawaii to have flowering trees and bushes year round, but we were recently in California and the Pacific Northwest and I saw so many flowers blooming! I thought that some of those flowers would make beautiful lei or a beautiful flower garland for a lucky young child to wear. Hawaiian professional lei makers like these ladies use 8 inch long lei making needles and doubled lightweight cotton string. For us amateurs however, a piece of sturdy wire makes a good needle. I couldn't find wire for my son, so I un bent a large paper clip and used pliers to make a very small "eye" of the needle. It worked perfectly! The next "trick" is to use waxed dental floss. It's strong so you don't need to double it. Just tie the end of the dental floss on to the eye of the needle. The waxed floss helps the flowers to slide across it easily. Gather a basket of sturdy flowers--or flowers with a sturdy base or "receptacle". (the part of the stem where the petals are attached) Thread the needle thru the very middle of the flower or thru the base of the flower. A lei is usually about 36 inches long, but you can make it shorter if you don't have enough flowers or if you're making a head garland. Just make sure to tie the ends together very securely--knotting and re-knotting. Add a bow if you'd like--they're especially pretty on a head garland. My son made his teacher's lei in no time and was so proud to give it to her as a gesture of welcome to the islands and a gesture of thanks for coming to visit. For his teacher--made and given with true aloha... Aug 5, 2012 11:54:13 AM | All Handwork , Kids Projects , Tutorials , Waldorf Comment 0 Reblog It 0 08/02/2012 Nurturing Yourself and Parenting Parenting and Nurturing I first met Linda at the Parent/Child class at our Waldorf School. I came with my daughter. She came with her grandson--and her knitting. Linda is a master knitter and soon became my knitting mentor. She comes to our Knitting Circle at school (whenever she's not on some fabulous international vacation) and we often have a Knitting Circle of four--Linda, me and our two dogs. We chat and knit and our dogs play. When our kids were younger, we'd get her grandchilden and my children together to swim. As a former public and Waldorf school teacher, mother of two and grandmother of three, I've always watched her loving, yet unflinchingly firm grandparenting skills. I was so happy to hear that she started a blog "Notes from Nana Linda" for her church. Like Linda, her posts on parenting and nurturing are simple and to the point. I enjoy reading them and always come away inspired and refocused. I asked her if I could include some of her posts in my blog and was so thrilled when she readily agreed! So here's two "reblogs" of "Notes from Nana Linda". I hope that you benefit as much as I have from my wise mentor and friend. Her blog can be found at Notes from Nana Linda About Linda Miller I am a retired teacher, the mother of two daughters, and the grandmother of three children. I co-chair the Sunday school at LCH and am very proud of what we do in our program. In my spare time I teach knitting to children at two l...