Sorry it's been so long. I was busy being crafty.

As the spring days lengthen into a hot, muggy summer, we don't get much learnin' done ;) and instead find other ways to occupy our time as we sit and listen to the poor, overworked air conditioner cough and sputter.  Because, when it's ninety degrees inside your house, it's just too hot to worry about phonics. 

I've been doing a lot of crafting lately.  I bought Sydney a Nifty Knitter circular loom, something I've been reading about in some Waldorf books I have on hand, and quickly found that I have as much fun with it as she does!  It makes adorable hats very quickly, and as an added bonus it really helps you understand the inner workings of knitting, much more so than using the standard needles.

I'm still experimenting, but Syd loves the first couple hats I've cranked out for her.

I've continued to work on my sewing, too, and so far have made some reversible placemats for the dining room table:

and another skirt for Syd, for which she picked the fabric:

The sewing isn't as cost effective as the knitting, but it has the bonus of instant gratification.  My next project is going to be a red riding hood for her dress up chest, lined with red satin.  I'm also going to make a doctor's coat for her, because she'd spend all day taking care of her stuffed animals and dolls with her doctor's kit if she could.

Soon I'll post about the handful of academic activities we've done, but first, I have chicken Marsala that just isn't going to cook itself.

Learning to Sew: My First Two Projects

The old Singer my mom gave me an eon ago has been sitting in the corner of my bedroom for awhile now, eyeing me every time I go in there, scowling at me for not using it.  So I finally gave in and broke down and learned how to thread the thing (and thread bobbins, and use the different stitches, and so on and so forth).

I've made two projects to date.  The first was a pillow for the cats to lounge on:

I sacrificed one of the hubby's polo shirts for the effort, and it turned out well.  The cats don't actually get to do much lounging because the hubby is usually snuggled up to it on the couch.

For my second project, I followed the simple skirt tutorial over at Made and sewed a cute pink dress for Sydney:

It turned out nice, better than I was expecting.  I'm a little concerned the white layer I sewed underneath might fray, but for my freshman effort, I'll take it.  Now that I have the hang of it, whipping up little skirts (or bigger versions for me) will be a snap.

Next, I'm planning to make a set of placemats for the dining room table.  All the ones I like in the store are five or six bucks apiece, and I can make them for a quarter of that.  Just need to find the perfect fabric!