A bit of redecorating

 Relaxation and reading area.  I put my fox painting on the wall, and gave her the fox amigurumi I made last year, which it isn't able to be seen, but he is hugging 'A Wrinkle in Time' and protecting it for our next reading session.  I knit the rug on the floor a year or so ago, and it has been through the washing machine numerous times.  It's nice to put your feet on when reading.

Roger the tiger is guarding.
Cookie Rabbit is in the clothes hanger organizer, along with another vibrant pink lion that was a Valentine toy but I don't think ever kept a name.  She has her red ibis (flamingo, it gets called often) that I made up in her bed as a pillow.

A new rug under her desk, star shaped string lights above her bed so she can 'sleep under the stars', and she is actually using the hanger organizer I bought for her closet area - so it was a good investment.  She spent her allowance today on a scented candle and saved allowance on a dragon shaped water fountain.

This is her memory box, which has lots of rocks she has found or gotten from shops or geology kits, and snail shells and shells from the lakes, a suncatcher from Grandma, a tag she wore for Veteran's Day with my father's name on it and a few other things in there. 

We didn't get to go to the park today, it started raining.  We did get the present for the bday party next week and then did all this instead.  Esme begged for kielbasa and peppers, which I made.  We have to wrap the gift and then in a bit our guest is due to arrive for the sleepover!

List for sewing school clothes

I have some of these done - but no pictures yet.  So, for now - I am just posting the list.
School starts in about three weeks -- I have to get cracking.

2 Sleeveless dress tops with zipper backs - because August is still HOT here. (pics soon)
1 Long sleeved 'fancy' dress - I'm thinking a repeat of her purple flower ruffled one from last year.
A short sleeved dress top with zipper back
A long sleeved or 'kimono sleeve' over jacket with buttons
4 pairs of new pants with pockets.  (1 pair is done)

Then to buy:
1 pair of storebought jeans or legging jeans
A package of socks
A new pair of shoes
3 plain t shirts or 2 tshirts and another shirt she chooses
maybe a pair of leggings to try for wearing under a skirt

// I am using a lot of the fabric I received from the lady at work a few months ago, and need to replenish a little bit of thread in order to get the rest of these done.  Her pants are so long now it is hard to find a piece of fabric that will cut all of the pieces out... that is the hardest.  The dresses are a bit easier as I can split the pieces up and find ways to make them work out of two fabrics.

Starting on a kid-size stuffed armchair, framework

We got this far, added two more crossmembers to the back to help support it - and will save the rest of it for the days off this week.  But, it is starting to take some shape.  This was a project sparked by a cardboard and plush one Esme saw in the store - and I told her we could probably make 'something' like it.  It would be filled in with more stuffing, chair padding and then covered in upholstery fabric.

New book holders for childrens room decor out of product boxes from the store

 These boxes once held a kind of tool at my store and were left empty on the shelf.  I picked them up and was impressed by how sturdy and clean feeling they were .. they deserved a second life before they would eventually go to rubbish...  I could see Esme's lighter weight magazines and books going in them on the shelf instead of stacked as she has been want to do.  And, she loves to paint like I do.  I started to paint the blue one myself and she came in from playing outside and volunteered for the second one, with suggestions for decor on the blue one.  She decided to leave the bottom of the sides on her pink box white so they look like clouds in the sky.  That was intentional.

I'll see what she paints on hers for decoration tomorrow... it was late and I put her to bed while the pink layer dries.  We also got a large display board that she has drawn stick figures on, but I hope she will use for writing her sight words on and/or make a landscape in to use as a backdrop screen in her room.  One of my days off next week I'll ask her about it.

Note:
Last night I told Esme I still want to be a scientist when I grow up... she did the 'wait what?' look at me and started to argue I was grown up tall already I couldn't grow up anymore.. so we talked about grown ups might still learn things they want to do after they grow up tall... and she told me I needed to go learn in my books, and she would learn too and be a scientist rockstar astronaut cowboy who goes bounce on the moon with a guitar. Ok, then. Let's shoot for that.

 

All finished with hers with no help from me.  

She is really growing up :)

She is comparing the design pictures and realizing hers is different now, I have four - this has six.  

Me: Yes... but they are both awesome. 

 Esme:  They are!  They match!

We did a little homeschool before I went to work today.  I made her a checklist for what she did on the box and she read the words and checked them off.  Then we made a grocery map of our store and she helped me make a list of things she wanted, we looked at the map to find out where they were in the store and marked numbers on the map and the list so we knew which item was where.

Her list: bananas, strawberries, apples, oranges, juice, chicken soup.  Most of that is in the produce section!

day off with cloning machine cardboard box fun

 Esme wanted to play with cardboard this morning.  I have a head cold, but this seemed like a better bet than wandering around outside behind her in the mud.  I robbed a length from my pvc tent bag for the rod and would like to get some plastic hangers and a few wooden knobs to finish the project.  She wanted a 'tube with the (lever) that you turn and open the door and there will be a sister inside, or maybe a brother - and it will be all the things and go 'boom' and it will be fun.  She told me this while she was in the bathtub this morning and was very upset we could not build a real one -- she has been on this kick for a while, actually... and we finally discussed we could make one like 'pretend'... 'no not the park with all the things pretend - the part with the (building) like pretend' (her strange words), but finally accepted that we would build the machine like pretend.  We found a few boxes in the garage and talked about how to build it.  She got inside it and pretended she was a Mummy coming out of a sarcophagus (like a Scooby doo mystery show) she said, and then we finally settled on putting doors on it.

The doors are laced on the side with yarn after punching through with a crochet hook and a double pointed needle (mom work)... She wanted to keep all the white part white (good!) and I insisted we paint more than just the doors so it would look nicer.. She had a mad fit about that - but then came back with the blue and we continued.

Helping me paint the doors yellow like the sun coming inside... the other door ended up pink after she used up most of the yellow paint ;)

This was earlier when she was playing Velma with her glasses and trying to make hot dogs out of playdough.

A Round tent for reading and playing

I've been wanting to spruce up Esme's room to make it more fun for both of us to play in there - instead of just me sit and watch her jump off her bed twenty times in a row etc etc...  I read up on a few different ways to make a tent in her room - but I was worried about her pulling down some of the other designs, and we had all the materials for this one on hand.  It is a hula hoop hung from the ceiling with strong cotton yarn, and then the fabric curtains I made for it are also tied on with cotton yarn through tab loops at the top.  I had wondered what to use this donkey fabric for - and it is a perfect match as a pretend 'tee pee' pattern. 

Boo!  She loves it :)

She says I made it and that is a hero thing.

setting up a blanket for Mr.Frog
There is my old combination lock from work on the toy chest.  I brought it home 'broken' and not working right - and she told me we needed to get a small hard tool and put it in the hole in the back of the lock (where does she get these things?) and we all worked on it together and it came open eventually.  We reset the combination and she put it on the footlocker herself (but not actually locking the box) and she actually remembered the combination this morning and was taking it off and putting it back on today.  She says she is a smart girl that is a remembering girl, who can think :)

Showing off her handiwork with Mr.Frog and the 'bed'.
I had hoped we could sit here and read books as well.  We've read some of the Hobbit together today on the Kindle e-reader.

Sitting on top of her bed with the new toothbrushing calendar

Things to remember:  Esme told me her elephants were 'making mud on the African savannah, like the lion king.'  The other day we were going to school with her and the sun was coming through the clouds in little pinpoint rays here and there.  She said that was like Africa, way over there, and there were lions over there who were holding up a baby, like on the cartoon, and all the animals - can we go there?  There is a lot going on in this little mind :)

We gave Yoda kitten and most of her siblings away today.  I wish her well... I wouldn't have given her up except the lady promised she would be very good and gentle with her.. she was still so much tinier than all of the others.

First day of vacation

Besides my earlier post about corn, this is also the first day of the last of my vacation for the year. I have a little over a week off. I have spent the morning home in the garden for a while, and now inside making something for Esme (and us, actually). This cardboard butterfly was made with an old box, some yarn and a needle and then paint. It is hanging above Esme's desk now up against the ceiling. I think the features turned out pretty good for not looking at anything and following instincts... it even ended up with 'legs' against its chest ;) Mark sharpened a knife to cut the box with, and I cut it out. Esme painted some of the black, pink and orange and then played on her bike until I had finished the rest.




about four feet wingspan

I cleared out all of the old cornstalks out of the main garden and have exposed another four foot by six foot bare space. I have to think if I am going to let it sit (who, me?) or what to put there for the summer to the fall.

Esme helps make her cat doll

She asked for a cat doll the other day when she found these amber and green safety eyes in a box. She waited patiently tonight until I finished the pair of shorts to match her purple dress. Then she told me what she wanted it to look like. She wanted it to be a 'cat machine doll' with a GO button and a STOP button on their paws. She wanted it to be a girl cat and it could be 'like Pollywog' our mama cat. This is the best I could oblige, and she helped (some) to make it.

My Kingdom for a Box

Or is that my kingdom as a box? Remember that awesome box I scored at work the other day? We finally got to working with it. It is the perfect castle shape, so I gave it a drawbridge.


Welcome to my Castle


Interior decorating


a little Tom Sawyer


C'mon Mom, you can do it, come in!


Odd little curious George smile she does

In other News
The Mayflower beans are about to give two seed pods and the Shackamaxon have a handful of swelling pods waiting. And on top of those I am 'reserving' there are pounds and pounds of regular beans coming in! With gallons of soup frozen already, I need another way to use these without having to blanch them the regular way (getting them cold enough afterwards is the part we keep failing on).

This recipe looks good!:
Scalloped Green Beans originally from easy southern cooking, converted to what I have on hand:

Gallon ziploc bag full of beans, trimmed and washed
1 onion, diced up
2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
1/3 c. diced up Cheddar cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
Half the soup can milk
crushed up crackers or toast crumbs

Combine all ingredients except crumbs in greased casserole; mix well. Top with crumbs. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes or until bubbly.

Other recipes for using up the harvest(s):
saucy green bean bake probably without the 'processed cheese' though...
walnuts, onions and cheddar cheese over olive-oil steamed green beans (my thought)

Other 'other' recipes that peaked my interest:
lemon yogurt cornbread, odd but intriguing
Lemon ginger carrot cornbread idea
Lemon cornmeal cookies<--- gotta try this!
Crown Jewel patties, carrot and onion patties covered with cornflakes and baked

Lolrus the Sock Walrus and his bucket

In the grand Farkism tradition of lolrus comes this sock walrus, made from a lonely singleton argyle knee sock. He has a bucket, so he is a pretty happy walrus compared to the ones in most of the Lolrus pictures. He even has a few fish to munch on.

I was halfway through making this guy's body when Mark suggested what he would be - and here he is, our very first sock walrus. Quite the endangered species, you think?

Check for more handmade LOLrus toys in our shop!




SOLD

I'm A Toy Artist at Heart:
I really love to make these custom toys, the one-of-a-kinds that get such a life of their own. I'm boosting that part of my shop a bit, on Etsy, Google, Flickr etc... It is so much nicer to know that something is being made for someone, and not just wondering if anyone will like what I happened to think up that day. There is a pleasure in seeing toys I felt like making get good homes, too -- but it isn't quite the same.

Some super-cool toys I saw on Flickr today:

• Electric Rhino made from a six-year-old's drawing, this rhino packs one HUGE horn. Interesting construction as well.


• weirdbuglady's five legged frog. Her construction techniques have really become professional looking and she has some neat 'two-headed' creatures as well.
  
• girlsavage has some beautiful deer in her shop with very interesting ears. I love how she takes external seams (which are usually ugly) and makes them artful.