Van Gogh work

 Our art study notebook page. I also have a large print of the original work for her.

Our nature study notebooking page.

Mary's still life study of one of daddy's flowers in a vase. The original is 12x15ish and contained in a sketchbook. I had her draw the flower in oil pastels and then we created a resist and painted over top with watercolor.

A diagram to go with the nature study.

Moving on, this is Mary's version of Starry Night. It is in her sketchbook with oil pastel and swirly yarn glued on. She liked drawing with glue.

I ran out of time to put together nature materials for stars or nighttime, but Mary did independently draw her own solar system. Forgot to take a pic of the Starry Night art study page.

Van Gogh

To inaugurate our homeschooling journey, we started with a Vincent Van Gogh art study. We were going to start with Emily Carr until I happened upon a print of Van Gogh's sunflowers. Inspired by my husband's sunflower orchard (three years in the making), I made a quick switch and sunflowers it is. More pictures to come, but I wanted a record of the books we're using. All of these are available at our library.


Van Gogh for KidsBy Hyde, Margaret E.A board book with some prints and very limited text. More appropriate for the three and under set.
Van Gogh: A RetrospectiveBy Gogh, Vincent vanA large, comprehensive book great for all ages. We're mostly using it for the pictures, of which there are many, but Mary is able to read the details under the pictures. The book publishes Vincent's letters.
Vincent Van Gogh
By Connolly, Sean(Book - 2006)A non-fiction book appropriate for Mary's level that gives basic information about his life. It does not ignore the ear cutting or suicide.
Vincent's Colors: Words and Pictures by Vincent Van GoghBy Gogh, Vincent van(Book - 2005)Prints and few words. Mary could have read it last year, as well. The book uses descriptions pulled from Van Gogh's letters to describe his own work.
Camille and the Sunflowers: A Story about Vincent Van GoghBy Anholt, Laurence(Book - 1994)Children's fiction detailing Vincent's stay in Arles told from the perspective of the son of the postman, who is featured in one of Vincent's portraits.
Painting the Wind
By Dionetti, Michelle(Book - 1996)Longer and more complex than Camille and the Sunflowers, Mary is not able to narrate this one as well or absorb as much of the story. Told from the perspective of the (imagined) daughter of Vincent's housekeeper in Arles.
Van Gogh
By Bernard, Bruce(Book - 2000)Non-fiction. We have not used this one as it's too far above Mary's level.
I'm pleased with our study so far. We studied sunflowers in depth and did several art projects related to them, including a still life study in pastels. We pressed a small sunflower and some leaves and will preserve them eventually. We also did a simple nature study of the sunflower. Mary is able to tell me when Vincent was born and died, where he was born, find the Netherlands and France on a map, and tell why Vincent cut off his ear. She has trouble remembering enough of the books to narrate and is also struggling to use her imagination to describe her feelings upon looking at a painting. 
In Week 2 we're studying Starry Night. This may extend to a study of the stars but I doubt it as my resources are a bit advanced (got some freebies from the National Research Council). I'm trying to get her to slow down while doing art. She'll scribble less that way. She's working on her own version of Starry Night at the moment and we should be putting the finishing touches on tomorrow - swirly yarn bits for some mixed media (she has also learned what a medium is and can identify the medium she uses in her own artwork).
Week 1 - Sunflowers
Week 2 - Starry Night
Week 3 - Irises
Week 4 - Bedroom at Arles
Week 5 - Self Portrait (before her birthday)

Fairy Mary Turned 5

I'm not going to wait till I have pictures of finished sewing projects. I DO have finished projects. I never remember to take pictures until it's night time and too dark for a decent pic, or until it's daytime, but the house is so filthy there's no good location for photos.

So a few weeks ago I celebrated my 5th anniversary of motherhood. In other words, Mary turned 5. FIVE. I have a five-year-old. Fairy Mary had a fairy-themed birthday and we had wings for everyone as well as an abundance of fairy-themed swag.

Snacks: star-shaped cheese, rice krispies, and pineapple on "wands" (skewers) and stuck into produce for display. The other one is marshmallows - the kids later dipped those into chocolate sauce and sprinkles. In the background you can see my fabric streamers strung up in the window. And a fairy brother, of course.

This looked cool, but it was super tippy so the pineapples went into watermelon instead.

There were fairy baby brothers, too, of course.

Pin the wand on the fairy, with a gorgeous sparkly fairy poster created by my friend Jessica.

Five girly fairies in a fairy house, with a fairy prince inside, too!

There was a fairy cake, with wings you can't really see, featuring hot pink fondant. My friend Mandie helped me with the fondant.

There was another fairy prince. Due to allergies he was not allowed to eat the actual cake, but the fondant was okay.

No longer a fairy, just a little boy with a dragon. Love the lips. That's his concentrating face.

FIVE. My smart, independent, determined, strong, loving, beautiful daughter is FIVE.

T is for Super Hero

So far I've made things for Mary and things for gifts, but Thomas didn't have anything cool yet. That needed to be rectified, so I made him his own super hero cape. Total cost - $.10. The blue fabric was freecycled, as was the red felt. The blue felt is real wool and a piece of a larger remnant I did buy from a store. The striped lining was contributed by my mom.

"T is for... what, Thomas?"

"Super heroes!"

I've been rescued countless times already, and given bunches of super hero hugs.

The cape was based on this one, with a few adjustments. I also didn't have any velcro, but it ties up just fine.

Psychedelic Grandma Quilt

After much hemming and hawing, my Grandma decided she could part with some of her sewing things. She's 86 and can't sew anymore (can't see), but she's still holding on to some of her supplies "just in case." No matter. My mom (who stays with her once a week) called me over the other night. I dropped the older two off with friends and off George and I went. He's a great helper. Ate a sandwich all over Grandma's floor.

Anyway, I came away with a huge stack of quilting books and magazines, some patterns, and a mega stash of high quality quilting fabric, including a few awesomely precious vintage pieces. There were also these:

Ten beautiful 12" quilt squares pieced together God knows how long ago from scraps of fabulous 60s and 70s fabric. Check out all that polyester! I can't even begin to imagine the awesome outfits my mom and her sisters would have worn from these. I needed to use them immediately.

I set one aside and cut 16 squares from this bright turquoise (rayon?) fabric brought home from a recent thrift store shopping spree. That stuff was a pain in the ass to cut, but I couldn't ask for a better color to go with Grandma's squares.

And here it is, my first quilt top. Crooked? Absolutely. In my defense, the original squares weren't quite square either, but no matter. I'm in love with it.

Check out that color! Unfortunately, I don't know the first thing about the next steps in the quilting process. For now, I'm just enjoying it's beauty spread out on the dining room table.

new(er) sewer

It's been so long since I updated this thing that my third baby is almost as old as the second kid was when I last posted.

I've been sewing. One of my friends found a free sewing class in a town a half hour away, so we've been going. I'm so stoked I'm trying to start a similar group locally. The best part? Mary is old enough to help me now.

Today we made this bag. We got our first letter from our new sponsor child in Bolivia, and Mary wanted to make her a book bag just like I made for her the first night at the new sewing class. Except the latest bag is way better. It's big enough to fit small exercise books and some soft-back phonics books, and the strap is long enough to go over the shoulder. Best part? Total cost: $0.

Before this bag, Mary requested a "mat." I'm not exactly sure what she was envisioning, but she's pleased with the result. She sleeps with it, wraps it around her like a cape, and otherwise cuddles up with it. The top is made from three fat quarters from the bargain bin at the quilt shop, $5. The white strips and blue corduroy backing were picked up at the Recycle Exchange for about 25¢.

I've also cleared out the storage area downstairs and turned it into my own little space. It needs some paint on the walls before I put p shelves, and I'm working next to the furnace, but it's MY space. There are two doors making for a quick exit, and BOTH of them have locks.

I made a coordinating crayon roll from the same set of fabric as the bag. Only took me about an hour! (not including time I was called away by kids, dinner, bedtime, etc) Isn't it pretty? I even made matching ribbons. It's meant to fit 8 jumbo crayons, but it also fits 24 regular ones.

Mary's List

Mary: Go car, Mummy!
Mummy: You want to go car?
Mary: Yeah! Go a mall!
Mummy: What do you want to do at the mall?
Mary: Umm... buy.
Mummy: What do you want to buy at the mall?
Mary: Umm... bananas!
Mummy: You want to buy bananas? What else do you want to buy?
Mary: Umm... milk!
Mummy: What else?
Mary: Umm... potatoes.
Mummy: And what else should we buy.
Mary: Umm... POOPOOS! *obnoxious laughter*
Mummy: You want to buy poopoos???
Mary: Yeah! *more obnoxious laughter*



She went on to also list fishies and cereal. So since we had nothing in particular else to do, we got ready to go to the grocery store. Mary helped me write our list. Then she chose a few extra things to put on.

We walked through the store without argument and collected all the things on the list, and nothing more. Mary had a great conversation with the check-out lady about her poopoos and who might eat them, and how yummy they were. They also discussed her housecoat. Then I asked Mary if she would like to go home, and rather than insist on going into the rest of the mall, she said yes.