No Sew Poncho Tutorial

My nieces have been visiting this week and it has been raining.  A lot.  We needed something to do indoors.

This project came about after I saw a kit in a store. My nieces love to make stuff, but the kit had a few problems: It only came in one size and one colour. I decided I could figure out how to make some myself. My 5-year-old niece completed this project with some help in about 45 minutes. Her sister, age 8, finished in about 30 minutes with no help. The only thing that required any sewing was the button she had to learn how to sew on. We made these out of thin fleece that doesn’t fray, so we got away with no real sewing!

Materials:

1 meter of the main fabric (1 meter is 4 inches longer than a yard. 1 yard of fabric would work just as well.)

0.5 meter of the fringe fabric (about)

Optional: Buttons

What to do:

1) Fold the rectangle of your main fabric so that you can make it into a square. I can’t explain that very well! Use the picture. J

2) Hold the fabric (still folded in half diagonally) against the child’s back to measure it. I cut them so that tip to tip they are as wide as the child wrist to wrist. Make sure the points are in the center of the child’s body. I had to cut about 6 inches off for the 5-year-old, and 3 inches off for the 8-year-old. You should still have a “perfect” square when you are finished.

3) Now you need a neck-hole.  Fold the square so it is a half-square triangle, then fold it again so it is a smaller half-square triangle.  You will cut off the top of the triangle.  I cut about 10 cm (4 inches), then had the girls try them on.  It is easier to take off more than to try and fix it if you cut too much.

4) Lay the square out flat. About 3-4 centimeters (one inch) from the edge, cut small slits that are 2cm (1/2 inch) wide. Do this all the way around the edge, about every 3 cm.

 

5) Now cut your fringe. We made ours 20cm (8 inches) long, then about 2cm (1/2 inch) wide. They could have been longer, but wouldn’t have worked if they were shorter.

 

6) Fold a fringe piece in half. Push the fold through a slit, and then pull the loose ends through to form a slipknot. Pull this firmly, but not too tight. They are easy to untie and fix!  They may have been too easy to untie, so we (adults) went around and tightened each fringe when the girls (who really wanted to do it alone!) weren’t looking.  Having longer fringe may help them stay tied.

Do this all the way around and you are basically done. We added some contrasting flowers to jazz it up. J wanted to add many flowers, but decided against it after sewing the first one on. 

 

These will be washed on the gentle cycle in the machine and hung to dry so the fringe has a better chance of staying on.  J already has plans to make one for her teacher for Christmas and for friends for their birthdays!  I think I have decided that mine will be black with rainbow fringe, perfect for recess duty in September and October.

Sunday Garden Tour: Nearing Fall

Today is unoffically my last day of summer.  School doesn’t start for two more weeks, but this coming week I am in an Autism workshop for 3 days, then at school for two days, then at a TRIBES training workshop for 4 days, hopefully not at school for my last Friday, then Tuesday is the big day!  Add to that the fact that I have applied for another 2 jobs.  Both are closer to home (one only 10 minutes away at a school lovingly referred to as ‘The Country Club’!)  and if kids come to live with us this year that will be important.  They will go to the school where I am teaching and it would be nice for all of us to be close to home.  This is becoming post that is NOT about gardening!

This has been a wierd summer for us.  There has been a lot of rain.  Days will start out looking gray and bleak, then the sun is out by noon and as soon as the bathing suits are on  and the towels packed, the rain is back.  My garden hasn’t done well as a result.  It has NOTHING to do with the fact that I have neglected it.  The weather is COMPLETELY to blame!

These are my Black Eyed Susans.  There were some in the garden when we moved in, but I have added a few plants every year.  I really love them.

I have quite a lot of wild roses growing around the yard.  These have been cut done to the ground a few times, but they keep coming back.  They are nice for about 2 weeks.  The thorns on them are pretty wicked though.

Last, but not least, my measly tomotoes.  I planted more tomatoes this year than I ever have, but my harvest has been as small as it always is.  I, of course, blame the weather.  It was pretty cool and damp, which tomatoes don’t like.  These little cherry tomotoes won’t even make it to a salad because I have promised myself I will eat them and enjoy them while they are still warm from the sun!

More Sunday Garden Tour here.

 

 

Slice of Life: Citizenship Test

Today I took my Canadian citizenship test. We were supposed to arrive in time for a 9:00 am test. At 8:25 my husband and I walked up to the door of the building and it was still locked. We waited outside with several others until the door unlocked, then made our way to the third floor. One other woman was there before me, so I eaves-dropped on her conversation with the test administrator. 8:30 a.m. and this lady was already cranky and rude. How was the rest of her day destined to go? She explained to the woman, who spoke little English, that her passport had been stamped three times, yet she declared she had never left Canada after becoming a landed immigrant. “Where did you go? How long were you there?” “I didn’t go anywhere,” was the reply. “YES YOU DID! Your passport is stamped 3 times! Where did you go? How long did you stay?” A blank stare was all she got in return. Finally, she must have decided that these 3 trips didn’t matter because she let the woman go sit down and wait for the test. Several others had similar experiences. I felt sympathy for them, but was a little annoyed at the same time. Shouldn’t there have been away to check all this before these people arrived at the test? At the border they always scan passports and residency cards, so shouldn’t there be some record SOMEWHERE of people coming and going? I have an immigrant ID number. Can’t they just type it into their computer and check where I have been? So much for national security! They will harrass us about bring more than $50 worth of clothing back from New York after a day trip, but other than that they don’t seem to be tracking much.

Finally my turn. I cleared the first hurdle, then sat for the wait. I hadn’t brought a book. What was I thinking? Wait wait wait wait. Exasperated sigh. Get out the iPod and listen to some distracting music. Check the time. Make note of the line of people who have arrived well after 9:00. Exasperated sigh. Should I be making small talk and bonding with these people? We will probably become citizens at the same time. Shouldn’t that link us together in time? Oh, who cares! Back to the sighing. This room would give Stacy and Clinton nightmares, and plenty of make-over candidates for the next three seasons. I can hear Stacy’s voice now: “Just because you can zip it, doesn’t mean it fits you.” Sigh. Someone asks to go to the bathroom and no sooner is she out the door than Miss Mary Sunshine announces she would like to start but can’t because “someone” has left the room and she doesn’t want to repeat the instructions.

The instructions go like this: “This is a multiple choice test. Circle the letter on your answer sheet that matches the letter of the answer you want to mark on the test. Don’t write on the test because I will be marking the answer sheet. You’ll all have different versions of the test, so it probably isn’t smart to try and compare with your neightbor. (laugh laugh) Some of you will finish in 5 minutes, some of you will take longer. When you finish, bring me the test and I will mark it and give you your results….blah blah blah…3-4 months you get a letter to tell you when you take the oath…blah blah blah…ok, I’ll pass out the tests now.”

I got 19 out of 20 correct. I studied for a whole week, and the test was so ridiculously easy that I finished in 5 minutes. Kind of a let down. I wanted to really answer a lot of questions and get them all right and then I could say to people, “Oh, it was so hard! But, yeah, I passed on the first try.” Instead, I have discovered that all I have to say is: “The only question I didn’t know was ‘Which province was the last to join the confederation?’” Nobody else has known it yet, except my father-in-law, and they are all Canadians by birth. For the rest of my life, I will always remember it was Newfoundland!

More Slice of Life Stories here.  Stacy and Ruth are also sharing some great ideas for starting the school year right! 

 

Fabric!

At Camp, there were several girls who had those cool flannel quilts with the fringe that goes down the seams on the front of the quilt. I have wanted to make one, but google doesn’t give me any results for “flannel quilts with the fringe on the front”. I spent some time with each of these blankets and quizzed their makers and figured out how to make one for myself. Today I bought enough fabric to make one for each of my husband’s sisters children (2 adorable girls). I can’t wait! They are going to be Christmas presents. Hear that?? I have started my Christmas shopping already! haha I WILL FINISH ON TIME THIS YEAR!!!

The Lawn

I cut the grass today. Again. Sometimes when I get going I feel like I never stopped. When we moved into this house we bought a used lawn tractor and at the end of last summer it died. (I may have had a hand in that. But I wouldn’t exactly call it homocide.) With the lawn tractor it took me about an hour to cut the entire yard. But, this spring, since we were/are talking about moving to a “city” where our yard is bound to be smaller, I decided that there would be no reason to replace it. Scott did buy a new push mower (which we really needed, even if we had replaced the riding mower) so I can start it with just 2 pulls. Who knew this would be the wettest spring EVER and the grass would grow as if it were jungle grass and I would be unable to cut for up to 2 weeks at a time. It takes me 2.5 hours on a good day to cut the grass. I usually divide up into 2 days. Back in the spring it took me more than 3 hours a few times because the grass was so tall.

One of the things I have discovered though is that there is a certain meditative quality to going around and around and around in circles, or back and forth and back and forth. And I am definitely willing to trade my lawnmower for a snowblower!

Slice of Life: Summer Reading

I woke up late because I had been up late reading.  It took me a minute to remember that I was in the middle of a really good book, but before I put a foot on the ground I was back into it.  My growling stomach is the only thing that eventually got me out of bed.  I took my book and my cereal out to the porch and read in my housecoat until I decided I was being too lazy and shouldn’t waste the day reading. 

I am sure the neighbors were glad that the next time I emerged from the house I had some actual clothing on.  (I don’t really care if they care or not, to be quite honest.  That is the great thing about living in the country!)  An hour of gardening later and I just couldn’t stand it any longer.  I quickly made lunch for the hubby and sat down to read some more.  He wanted to go to town (I can’t even remember why!) so I took my book in the car.  I can’t read when I am in the car without getting a little sick, but this book was worth it.  I know we ate, and I think it was pizza, and we got home in time for a few more chapters before I fell asleep sitting up in bed.

This morning I looked at the dishes still in the sink and the floor that should have been vacuumed  yesterday and the stack of read alouds that need to be organized before school starts and the book just kept calling to me.  I grabbed it, and some cereal and juice, and stayed on the porch until the end.

That is how I know it was a good book.  That is how I know I am having a great summer.

To read more Slice of Life stories, visit Two Writing Teachers.

The book??  The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult.  I like all her  books!

 

Memoir Monday: Uncle Huck

When my great uncle and my grandpa were growing up, they were always getting into some trouble or another.  This earned my uncle the nickname “Huck”, after Huckleberry Finn.  When he died at age 80-something, people (friends and family) still called him Huck.

Uncle Huck never married.  He was born, raised and died in the same house his entire life.  He and my grandpa took over Great-Grandpa’s farm at some point and raised turkeys.  This continued until my grandpa died from too much cigarette smoke and turkey dust festering in his lungs for too long. Uncle Huck tore down the turkey sheds not long after that and planted vegetables and fruit trees where they had been.  When my grandma sold her half of the farm and Someone Else moved in, Huck just made his garden a little smaller. 

We were forever trying to build up enough courage to ask Uncle Huck if we could, please, pick something from the garden.  He had grapes, tomatoes, cherries, peaches, apricots, and just about anything else we could want.  All summer we surveyed the garden before one of us lost the dare to go ask him if we could have one.  He always said yes.  I don’t recall why we  were so scared of him.  Probably because he was prone to pinching and lies, like serious explanations about how the food we had just eaten would cause hair to grow on our chests (not a welcome thought to 4 little girls!)

Huck died in 2006, just a few months before my brother was married.  John and his wife moved into Huck’s old house for a few months and tried to keep up with the garden and orchard.  My parents tried to help out.  But nobody could do it as well as the 70ish year old man had done it.  They didn’t have the energy!    Huck asked to be buried in the cemetary where most of our family is buried rather than in Idaho with his parents because he wanted to be where people would still come visit him.  My 5 year old nephew and my dad went and dug a hole for Huck’s ashes and had as grand a discussion about life and death and life after death as any two people ever had.

We still think about him every year during gardening season and talk about him even more often than that.  Seems like a pretty good legacy for an old bachelor.

Poetry Friday: Camp

As I was taking photos (nearly non-stop) at my camp this past week, I kept wishing that a photo could truly capture a moment.  I know the visual moment was captured, and that will be a prompt for memories of the moment.  But years from now, this photo will become just another pretty moment and I will probably remember that it is a photo of Little Clear Lake and that I took it during Girl’s Camp.  Will I remember that while I was trying to get my angles right and hold still so I could capture the light reflected on the dark lake there were 12 girls behind me discussing various techniques for getting a marshmallow the exact shade of toasted brown that they like?  Will I remember that there were at least 10 girls singing their way up the hill to get ready for “sleep”?  I hope I will remember the feelings that nearly overwhelmed me as I realized that all of this beauty exists in the world because God wants us to have it. 

I am going to be brave today and post an original senryu poem. :0)

 

cool lake and blue sky

meet in the dark of the night

camp fire at my back

a canoe, a dock

and all of a girl’s best friends

perfect summer day

Today’s Poetry Friday Round-up is at The Well Read Child.

Camping

   

I am not much of a camper.  My sisters and I used to sleep in the yard in  a tent most of the summer and we thought that was camping. But out of the last 24 years (!) I have been to Girls Camp about 15 times.  This year marks my 16th time, if I am doing my math correctly.

Girls Camp is a week of camping, or “camping” depending on where I was living.  It is for girls only and involves the girls at my church who are between the ages of 12 and 18 (plus some die-hard adults like me who seem to show up every year!)  I have been as a camper, as a Youth Leader, as a certification specialist, and now I am the Camp Director. This is the 5th time I have planned and executed the camp.  Basically, it is the funnest thing I do all year!   And I do mean FUNNEST!  (not most fun as would be grammatically correct.)  For a week we will be sleeping in cabins out in the woods, canoeing as much as we want, singing at the camp fire, and generally having a fun time.  I love it so much because there are no boys and for teenage girls there are few things that ruin a good time like boys!  When boys are around you have to wash your hair AND comb it, wear things that match,  laugh at things you don’t understand, and only shake your booty slightly to a few songs.   When the boys are away, you can go the whole week without taking off your pajamas (hiking in PJ’s?  Why not!) and you can act the fool from morning to night.   Why stop because it’s night?  Just fill yourself with candy the next day and nobody will ever know you stayed up the ENTIRE NIGHT!

I can’t wait!  See you next week.

Poetry Friday: Pioneers

I grew up in the state of Utah.  Yesterday was a holiday there:  Pioneer Day.  It commemorates the day the Mormons traveling to Utah for the first time finally reached the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.  I haven’t celebrated that holiday in years (18 of them to be exact) but I thought I would find a pioneer poem for today.  That will be my celebration! 

Living a pioneer life often crosses my mind when I am unfortunate enough to have to do serious labour (like stacking wood for the fireplace!) or when I bake bread.  I just can’t figure out how one would do all the things listed in this poem on one day.  I think the poem captures the essence of how busy life was for homesteaders in the “pioneer days”. 

The Pioneer Women

Grandma, on her start of day
Milked the cows and fed them hay
Slopped the pigs, saddled the mule
And got the children off to school.
Did the washing, mopped the floors
Shined the windows and did some chores
Cooked a dish of home dried fruit

Read the rest here.

I can’t tell from the website exactly who wrote this, but the poems on this page are attributed to “my two cousins: Marjory (Pedersen) Huntley © and Marion (Pedersen) St John”. 

The round-up is at A Year of Reading today.

This is a link for a special Pioneer Day concert that will be presented on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. MST.  The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and the Osmonds will be performing.