Sewing in the sun

I found a new sewing spot today. Daniel was determined to play outside with the other children, and because we don't have fences yet and he has a tendency to wander, I need to supervise him closely. So I had no choice but to be outside with him all day. And thankfully I found the perfect place - out on the new (nearly) finished deck, on my recently thrifted table, behind the sewing machine, overlooking the whole yard as well as the valley beyond...
I barely touched the housework today, but I do have a mostly finished quilt top and some sunburn to show for my efforts - and the kids had a wonderful day outside altogether. I think we may be onto something here, for the upcoming school holidays!

Brooom, broomm!!

Here's a project I know some of you will be interested in making with your kids. This is actually my mums work (although I was a contributor) so I got her permission to post it here. Right up until about last year, Mum had a couple of boards with a road map drawn on with thick black marker for the kids to play on. Apparently I drew it way back when I was about as old as Aaron and Hannah. As you can see, the boards have been updated to a full-colour mat/blanket, though still with most of the original design. It's soft to sit on, and nice and colourful to look at, and it packs away easily when it's bedtime! I think it's made mostly by applique, with the road markings stitched on. It has non-slip rubbery stuff on the back (the kind you put under rugs to stop them slipping). It also has an inner padded layer, which might be batting, although seeing as Mum made, it could actually be anything in there ("make do with what you have"...).
Caleb and his cousin don't care what's inside - they think it's perfect.
And I love any sewing project that incorporates children's drawings!

Screenprinted softies

Screenprinting with Aunty Arls

So here's what we got up to on Tuesday. My sister asked for some screenprinting time at our house, so I figured it was the perfect opportunity to let the kids make up a screen too. This was a fairly ambitious project, involving quite a number of steps:
- drawing up a design
- painting the design onto the prepared screens with drawing fluid - waiting for it to dry - filling the screen with screen filler :)
- waiting for it to dry
- washing out the drawing fluid
- waiting for it to dry- printing the images onto fabric
- waiting for it to dry
The little upside-down red guy is Caleb. He drew himself, I painted and made up his silk screen, and then we pulled the prints together (until he decided he didn't need me anymore). Now the kids are busy turning their best print into a simple softie. I'm pretty excited about how they are looking. We'll share a picture when they're done.

My old sewing machine

Please excuse the overabundance of photos today but we've been busy beavers here! Phil cleaned up my old sewing machine, so Aaron and Hannah got to try it out today. They both took to it like naturals. I can't remember how my mum introduced me to the sewing machine. I know that in highschool the first thing we had to do was stitch along some lines - straight, curvy, and crooked - so we started with that.
This old machine was given to be when I was 12, by a lady in our church. I was in my element, and it has served well ever since. I still used it to sew clothes for myself when I was a uni student, and it also gets pulled out and used during power failures. And now I'm very happy to see it enter a new phase in its life.
(Although I'd rather Daniel stayed out of the life and times of my sewing machine for now...)
From sewing lines, the kids quickly moved on to sewing monsters. (I'll share them soon). Caleb wanted to make one too, of course, so we whipped up Toby from Make a Monster by Fiona Goble.
He could stuff it himself, and he's pretty chuffed with the outcome.Tomorrow I'll show you the exciting stuff we did together yesterday! (hmmm, that's a rather awkward sentence, but oh, well...)