Candlemaking

Tuesday is craft day in our house!

Big Brother has been asking to make candles since last spring when he saw the homesteading class at co-op make them. Yesterday, we finally did it!

All you need is beeswax, small wax-lined paper cups, a wick, and a way to melt the wax (we used our double boiler). We also added a little apple spice to our candles...perfect for fall! The beeswax is wonderful on its own too, however.

This is a very quick project, and great for gift giving. We'll be doing this a lot this season!

Our new mealtime blessing candle!

Wool Felt Play Food

Over the past two months, I've spent most of my spare time working on felt play food to stock my niece's play kitchen.

Veggies for Christmas...

A three-layer cake with pans for her First Birthday this past weekend...

Birthday fruit...

I have a few more pieces of fruit to make then I hope to move on to some other sets for her and my boys.

I purchase my patterns on Etsy (though a more creative person could easily design her own!). My two favorite sellers are Buggabugs and UmeCrafts.

Quilt Square for a Grieving Mom

A local mother recently lost her toddler in a tragic accident, and the homeschooling moms on one of my boards (the members are scattered worldwide!) are working together to make a quilt for her. After many challenges (sick baby and faulty machine!) I mailed my square off today. I created the design myself and free-handed the lettering. I'm not 100% pleased, but it was created with love and many, many prayers for this grieving family.

Second Waldorf Doll

Here is my second attempt at doll making. I finished this a few weeks ago for a sweet baby girl. Her mother obligingly took this picture for me, and I think it came out much better than my first try. The head has a better shape and it's attached more as it should be. Not quite invisible, but definitely getting there! The face is a little more to my liking as well. Overall, the construction is crisper.

It's giving me the confidence to make a doll with a full body soon!

I hope she receives many cuddles and lots of teething "love!"

Making Valentines

Today we made our Valentines!

We started with watercolors....

Turned them into hearts...

Added some glue...

Some red cards and a stamp...

Voila!

It was a fun process and M. was absolutely delighted to present my mother with hers this afternoon!

First Handmade Doll

Emma asked me several months ago to post about the doll I made N. for Christmas. I managed to remember to take photos of most steps, so here they are!

First of all, I bought this pattern from Fern and Faerie: http://hyenacart.com/FernandFaerie/index.php?c=11&p=23

This doll is basic enough that a more experienced sewer could easily do it without a pattern, but since I hadn't touched my sewing machine in over a year (and then only to hem maternity pants!) it was a must-buy.

First step: form the head. I stuffed tubular stockinette with wool then tied the eyeline and vertical strings. The head came out a bit smaller than I wanted, but I've since modified my method of stuffing and my second doll is much better!

Next I used peach cotton-interlock for the outer head and embroidered the eyes and mouth (this required dollmaking needles).

After that it was on to the body. Although the pattern called for print and solid flannels, I used two solids.

Once the two body pieces were done, I attached the head. This was the toughest part. I need to work on my ladder stitch to hide the stitches.

I made the hat, blanket stitched it on, and tied knots at the end of the hat, "arms," and "legs" and that's it! Most the project went very quickly. N. uses the doll for teething and sleeps with it each night.

As I mentioned previously, I'm working on another doll and I'll post a few pictures when that one is done too. This time, I'm embroidering the baby's name and birth date on the doll to make it even more special!

Handmade Christmas 2008

Overdue, but I wanted to share this year's handmade Christmas gifts.

I embroidered the boys' handprints for my parents...

A wool felt Holy Family for a friend:

DH made a fridge for M's Elves and Angels kitchen:

My first try at dollmaking was a knot doll for N:

(I'm planning on doing a post showing this process soon!)

I'm so happy to be back into sewing. I'm currently working on another knot doll for a brand new baby girl and a wool felt Noah's Ark for my boys.

Fall Mobile

From this:

To this:

We were inspired from a photo at Waldorf Mama's Flickr group, Waldorf Home.