P has been looking for her box of big plastic pony beads. Don't tell her, but I think I got rid of them in a recent clean up.
I thought she was ready to work with smaller seed beads.
She was thrilled that I let her use some of my beads and took to the process like a fish to water.
She added beads to the hem of the doll skirt she made back in the summer.
I think she may be adding beads to her clothes and whatever bits of fabric she can get her hands on. Yeah, I agree. Beading is fun.
I am grateful for homegrown foods. It might be time for dinner in a pumpkin again.
I am grateful that she enjoys artistic endeavors and likes to spend time working on projects in the sewing room with me.
Pumpkins by P and D.
We have just about finshed the outhouse/playhouse renovation. In the last two years we built a foundation in a new location, laid a floor, gave it new shingles, new siding, windows, fresh paint, a front porch....
Just in case you are wondering there are some orginal parts there - just look at that little cresent moon.
The door is original but B took it completely apart and put in a large glass window. It is shorter than it used to be because the bottom of the door had rotted. Actually, the whole outhouse is shorter due to rot. But P is not as tall as the rest of us so that worked out pretty well.
P, of course, chose the paint colors!
B found the windows in our barn and installed them so that they swing open. He also designed and made a clever handle that can allow the window to be held partially open.
The curtain rods are made from some of B's old wood arrows. He carved the holders for them too. The curtains are made from fabric from a friend's sewing room clean out. Thanks Karen!
I love the old knobs.
B fixed the door with a ball and socket latch so you just have to pull it open and shut and there is no danger of getting locked inside.
Yesterday we completed our work by putting a front porch in place. The porch is a big slab of cement that used to be part of a retaining wall by the barn.
It is fun to see the outhouse and lots of found objects have a new life as a fun and functional playhouse.
Her "fairy garden" is next to the playhouse so bringing the flowers up to and around the house is the next step. We'll do that in the spring.
B has said that he will put in a flip up table and a small corner shelf. The old wooden chairs for the playhouse are chairs that the boys used when they went to the coop preschool that all three kids attended. The chairs were replaced before P started school but she has enjoyed using a few of them here.
This is what it looked like a couple of years before we started the renovation.
We've been swinging through some pretty early fall days - some rain and some sun.I'm afraid the snow pants days will be here too soon. They always come too soon.
While traveling in the car on our trip we listened to a recording of The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall.
Our local librarian recommended it as a good book for the whole family. I think everyone liked the amusing story of four sisters and their adventures on summer vacation. I know I did.
They got into just enough trouble and adventure to keep everyone interested without overwhelming the youngest in the car. I have also just seen online that there are more books about the Penderwick sisters. We'll have to check those out!Speaking of stories about siblings, our family is starting a new chapter this month.Yesterday M moved out and into the dorm.
D will be moving this weekend. All three kids start school Tuesday after labor day. Our schedule here at home will be much more relaxed with only a first grader. P wrote M a letter when we got home from dropping him off at college. "Evrea day at skoole I will cri my ise aowt. Love P"
I am hoping I'll be able to get lots of sewing done!
After visiting the guitar factory we stopped at Ringing Rocks State Park and hit some rocks.
Back in Philadelphia, we walked from our B & B in search of some food.
On our walk we passed Philadelphia's Magic Gardens.
This kind of folk art is so interesting.
I love the doily imprints.
Our walk ended here, at the famous Geno's Steaks.
The next day we arrived at my mother-in-law's in Virginia just in time to experience the first earthquake! We really had a fun vacation!
While in Philladelphia we didn't see the historic spots downtown, we toured the Martin guitar factory just north of Philladelphia.
It was a much bigger operation than I was expecting.
Guitar parts were everywhere.
I loved all of these clothes pins used in this step.
They have a mix of automated and hand work procedures.
The on site museum was also interesting. You can get a taste of the older ways of making guitars and see some pretty fancy custom work.
I couldn't resist a little costume bling.
If you are ever in the area I think it's worth a stop.
Our trip south to Virginia included a few big east coast cities. The first was Boston. We stopped long enough to take a walk around Harvard and visit the Harvard Natural History Museum.My favorite exhibit there was the collection of glass flowers.
Yes, these are pictures of flowers that are made of glass. "The models were created by father and son Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka, nineteenth century glass artisans who perfected their family craft. Their lineage of jewelers and glassmakers trace as far back as the fifteenth century." (from the Harvard Natural History Museum website.)
They worked on the flowers from from 1887 to 1936.
Truely incredible delicate creations all of glass.
I also enjoyed some of the needlework like these molas.
We also took a quick walk around the MIT campus and saw this which wins for "coolest building on a college campus".
I wonder what you have to do to get this lab space.We also saw this sculpture on our MIT walk.
From there we headed to Rhode Island. Because, well, none of us had ever been there before! (I think this means that Alaska is the only state I have not visited!) Next we drove through New York City, just because we could and stopped in Philadelphia.
I hope you are not too bored with the details of our trip. We have been home a couple of days and are still dealing with the catch up at home. We have lots of garden stuff to do and the boys are packing and cleaning their rooms in preparation to move off to school later this week.
It is wonderful to extend my vacation by sharing a bit of it with you.
Stay tuned for a FACTORY TOUR tomorrow!
B took us to a very interesting shop, Liberty Tool, not far from our camp site.
It was filled to the brim with tools and other old interesting things.
I am pretty sure they would have just about anything you might be looking for...do you have a tool with a broken handle?
Do you need a hammer?
Or maybe a saw?
It was a great place to browse.
The first floor was pretty much all tools but the upper three, yes there were FOUR floors to this place, had more variety. There were lots of books but we also saw an unusual piano, an early style bike, and a huge floor loom, and a number of things that I have NO idea what they were.
I liked that most items were displayed in old wood crates of all sizes.
If you are ever in the area it is definitely worth a stop. There is even a great ice cream shop around the corner. They make all their ice cream on site.
My posts about our trip to Maine wouldn't be complete without a post on boats.
We saw lots of boats.
So many different boats.
Can you tell I loved the shore?
I have a couple of other fun places to share with you next week.
We found lots of treasures on our walks on the beach.
There were lots of interesting shells,
and sea creatures.
Rock hunting was fun too. We found a few heart shaped rocks.
D found this BIG heart shaped rock. It gave his sister a thrill!
I even found time to do some stitching on my Daisy Chain Sampler.
Yesterday I told you about what was down hill from our campsite. Today we go up the hill.
There are many trails in the park but we had limited time so we chose the trail to the highest point, of course.
It was a steep climb and we were trying to make it to the top for a sunset view. Some of us got tired and waited at a spot near the top with a great view and a few wild blueberries while the boys dashed to the top.
I let them take the camera so we could know what we missed.
Beautiful. (Our view was similar just not from the very top.)
You can see Camden there at the bottom.
While in Maine we camped at the Camden Hills State Park. Our campsite was a short walk from the shore.
The Maine shore is very rocky.
So. many. rocks.
The rocks are great for climbing
and skipping.
I do love the places where water and land meet.
I had a lot of fun taking photographs -over a thousand pictures of the trip!
I'm warning you that there might be a couple more posts on our vacation.
We have been traveling!
Our trip started by driving east through Canada. We made a quick stop at Torontoand the bluffs just beyond.
We were thrilled to leave the mosquitoes behind in Michigan and enjoyed a little wading at Sandbanks Provincial Park.
We had lots of fun squishing the "seaweed" together and squeezing the water out to make balls to toss around. They were a lot like balls of felt but they fell apart again when they got wet.
We stayed the night on Amherst Island and continued through Canada to Main. The scenery was lovely, especially in the "magic hour" light.
We even saw a MOOSE cross the road just at dusk!Stay tuned for more from our trip.
P and I are sad that our favorite items (the slide, merry-go-round, and monkey bars) at our favorite park in town were removed this summer.
Last night we took a picnic dinner to the school playground where everything is very shiny and colorful.
I tried to ignore the giant inflated plastic objects scattered around the playground.
P had lots of fun on the swings and started thinking about going back to school and playing with her friends at recess.
P tells me that you know you're swinging really fast when your hair blows in your face! That is some fast hair!
We had lots of fun but I still miss the old park equipment.
Yesterday P decided that SHE wanted to make something for her doll. We settled on a simple waistband with gathered skirt. We measured the doll, did some math, (2.5 times the waist size for the skirt piece) and cut out two rectangles of fabric.
I helped with cutting and pinning but she did all of the sewing. P thought the magic of pulling gathering threads was pretty cool.
I showed her how to hand stitch the inside of the waistband.
She got the hang of it pretty fast.
Just look at these tiny little stitches.
She was tired of hand stitching after sewing the waistband down and opted for a machine stitched hem.
She thinks the skirt looks great with the sweater I made last year.
We were both pretty thrilled with our afternoon time in the sewing room.
P says we need to make the panties today...
My friend, and knitting partner, Adele came for a quick visit not too long ago. She brought P and me some goodies. P got a doll that she LOVES and we also got a dressmaking book for dolls.
P and I looked through the many designs in the book and decided on our first project, a pretty simple dress with bodice. I wanted to make sure the pattern size that we had chosen would fit the doll.
Then we made a pinafore to go with the dress.
I have to say that this book, The Doll's Dressmaker: The Complete Pattern Book by Venus A Dodge, is pretty spectacular. It has basic pattern pieces for all of the dresses in five different sizes. It gives good directions for choosing the right pattern size and how to make adjustments. There are also directions for making MANY different styles of dresses from the basic pattern pieces and lots of ideas for dressing them up for more grown up dolls and making them simpler for baby dolls. The possibilities are endless. There are a few simple styles that I'll let P try too.
The book also has shoe patterns, hat patterns, and directions for other doll accessories.
I think we'll be using this book a lot. P has marked a lot for dresses that she likes.
Next up, panties - because every doll needs some panties. And then a slip, and a bonnet, and a dress with some lace....Thanks Adele. We have been enjoying our time together in the sewing room!
"One, two, tie up my shoe."
1, 2, Tie Up My Shoe a New Look at an Old Nursery Rhyme, Liz Underhill, 1990.
(We shopped in the hand me down dresser for some new school sneakers. I showed her ONCE how to tie them. That was all she needed.)
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