Giving Up

The above is a picture of our living room from shortly before we got our Christmas tree this year. Before I had kids I never thought I would have such a mess of toys and brightly colored plastic all over my living room, and even as the kid stuff started to pile up I was able to keep it out of this space (the focal point of our whole house) for a long time. At some point I had to give up on it though and this is the result.

I had different ideas about keeping the toys and art materials in the loft or in Echo's bedroom but it never seemed to work out, we would always end up bringing whatever we were doing to the living room. It hit home to me after reading a book on project based homeschooling (and a conversation with Eric) where they talked about the importance of keeping materials in the heart of your home. If you keep materials put away in a distant room no one will use them and then what is the point of having all these great toys, games, books and art supplies?

So I gave up on having the front room of our house be a showpiece an gave in to having kid stuff strewn everywhere and I'm totally ok with it. For one thing this is their house too, why shouldn't they be allowed to have their things where they want them? Also, when I get down about all our kid clutter I just remember that as a unschooling mom my number one job is the kid's education, having materials easily available and being available myself are the most important important things I can do for them. If these means having a messy living room so be it.

Lastly whenever I find a little scene like the one in this picture:

It makes me so unbelievably happy. Echo explained to me that this was her and her sister sailing in a boat with their animals. Joy doesn't even begin to cover what these kids make me feel :-)

Sewing Small Toys for Echo

As I mentioned before, I got some awesome new sewing supplies and books for my Birthday and I have had a lot of fun putting them to good use. I have been using some scraps to sew some small stuffed toys for Echo, here's what I have so far.

This small stuffed rabbit is from from the book Baby Stuff by Aranzi Aronzo.It is so cute and made of terry cloth so when Echo chews on it it has the added bonus of soaking up some of her drool, yay! It was actually much harder to make than I thought because it is so teeny tiny and it came out a little bit lopsided but I still think it's cute. It's the perfect size for Echo to hold in her hand or in her mouth.

The next project I took on was a fabric ball. This is a great way to use up scraps and is super cute and fun for baby to play with. Echo is at a stage where she loves balls and will even roll one back and forth to you for a little bit. I can't find the tutorial I used anymore but you can find a similar one here.  Really this couldn't be easier to make, I may do some more of them with different color schemes.

I have also been putting little jingle bells in all my toys for Echo because she loves shaking things that make noise. If you do this you just have to make sure the toy is sewn up really well so it's not a choking hazard.

I tried to get a picture of Echo playing with her toys but she was only interested in running at the camera. You can see her cat scratches here poor thing, some day she will learn to leave them alone!

Silk Scarf Dyeing Tutorial

Echo playing with her new silk scarf

Silk scarves are a great toy for imaginative play no matter what age your child is. They are so soft and beautiful and are good for everything from dress up to making forts. My mom and I were interested in purchasing some for Echo but were surprised at how expensive they are. We found that it was a little bit cheaper to buy plain white scarves and dye them yourselves so we decided to give it a go. Not only is it less expensive but it's a fun activity to boot. 

all you need is icing dye, water and white vinegar 

 Icing dyes are a great way to add color to your scarves since it is food safe and safe for babies to chew on. Boil enough water to submerge your scarves completely and add about a quarter of a teaspoon of the dye to the water, stirring well to break up any clumps.

Soaking the scarves in water with a little vinegar mixed in will help the dye set

You'll also want to add a few tablespoons of vinegar to your dye solution before putting your scarves in. Once you add the scarf to the dye mixture make sure you stir it around really well to evenly distribute the dye. 

Simmer the scarves in the dye mixture for about 30 minutes and then remove and rinse with cold water until the water runs clear. 

Dry to scarves in the sun and iron when they are slightly damp, this makes them soft and smooth. 

Look at my cool scarf!

 You can do a variety of colors or mix colors, you can even tie dye! The scarves turn out so soft and vibrant, we just love them!