Craft a block crayon case

Here is a little project that the children and you can do.

We measured our felt according to the size of our block crayons. As you can see it was made for our three primary colours. The size of the felt is about 12cm, 4.75in by 14cm, 5.5in.

I then folded over about 4cm, 1.5in of the longer side. I pinned it, then the children stitched along the edge. They sewed according to their sewing ability. Sheth just over stitched. He was 5. Caleb and Hannah did blanket stitch around their edge.

I sewed two dividing lines of straight stitch on my sewing machine, at 4cm / 1.5in intervals. This can be done by hand. This made three compartments for the block crayons.

I then taught Caleb and Hannah how to chain stitch and they stitched the first letter of the colour. You can see it in the photo.

This pattern can be adjusted for more block crayons, stick crayons and Stockmar pencils. It would be even more special if you made your own felt! If you have never heard of block crayons it is an artistic medium that is used in Waldorf schools. I have written about a fantastic resource on how to use them. http://terri.ashleycooper.net/2011/04/art-curriculum-colouring-with-block.html

Winter crafting

This year was a very fertile year as most of my friends are pregnant.

My best friend just had her third baby, a boy. Another close friend is having her first baby in August, she is having a girl. And one of my oldest friends' wife is also having a baby in August, also a girl.

So to get, make the right gift is very important. My best friend has a beautiful home, a fully fitted nursery and a mother in law who does the most fantastic crafts, she crotchets, quilts, fabric paints, does woodwork and makes ceramic dolls. So I chose to make her a quilt, knowing the style her mother in law does, I made my style quilt!

How I made the quilt

1. I decided on the size I wanted to make it.
2. I decided on the pattern, design I wanted to use.
3. I got the measurements together. The actual finished measurements.
4. Now I added on seam allowance, 0.75mm on each side.
5. I chose my fabric. I always use cotton.
6. I cut out my quilt pieces.
7. I stitched it together using a sewing machine. I prefer hand quilting but this was a project I needed to get finished rather quickly.
8. I sandwiched the top, batting and bottom fabric together with a basting stitch.
9. I machine quilted it all together.
10. I finished it off around the edges with bias binding.

And voila! It is finished.

My close friend is very healthy and will not use disposable nappies so I bought her pre-made toweling nappies.

My oldest friend, and his wife are Jewish. They have the most fantastic support system. They have everything they need and more!

Therefore I have chosen to crotchet them a baby blanket. Their pram is pink, baby carrier is pink and most of everything else, so taking that cue I chose a mottled pink acrylic wool. I normally do not use acrylic, but because our winters are wet and I know what it is like having a newborn baby I got a yarn that washes in the machine, dries quickly and the colour will not fade. It is also 100 percent acrylic sticking with the torah - the torah states that we should not mix different types of yarn. According to my friends this is to keep the purity of the yarn.

I am not very advanced with crocheting so I used a very basic pattern. And, this is what I ended up with.