Messy Homestead

I have been saving toilet paper tubes for a while now, thinking that I am going to use them for some brilliant craft. Well, today I finally did! Judah loved them! He loved the whole process of making them (which to be honest, took a while). First we painted them, then we glued on the eyes, then we cut them, then we played with them! Octopus out of toilet paper tube We kept stacking them and saying "ah, there's an octopus on my head!" The Octopus round-up! While playing, I mentioned that "octo" means eight and that's why we call it an octopus, because it has eight legs. Simple introduction to language skills and critical thinking. So fun and easy!

I have been on a crazy sewing kick lately! Nothing I make is good enough to sell (or even give away!), but I enjoy making these things for my kiddos. Here is a rattle that I made for David, my 10 month old. I used scrap fabric and some embroidery thread. I got the idea from this website, but instead of printing out the pattern, I just freehanded some shapes. and since I'm still learning what all the terms mean, I had to re-do the ears three times! But I learned an important lesson for a dress that I'm making (finishing - I started it many many years ago!), so I'd much rather redo little itty bitty ears than a whole dress!

We received a gnome house for a white elephant present a few years ago and it came with a very cute little family. I have been wanting to make more people and I finally did it! Viola! As per the Waldorf way, they don't have smiles because then they can have any emotion. However, when I made one and showed it to Judah, he requested eyes. So they all have eyes. I guess they can just never be asleep then. I followed the directions here .

We've already talked about how I love cloth napkins (see here ) and they really feed my sewing itch because they are SO easy and make me feel like I'm accomplishing something. I was inspired by this blog post to make ones for my boys because Judah has loved using cloth napkins lately! I spent roughly $4 on fabric and they each took about 5-10 minutes to make (I got faster as I went). Judah loves them and it's also really fun to share these with his friends when they come over!

I love learning to sew! And I love cloth napkins. I'm a nerd. My sister-in-law had a ton of really cute cloth napkins that she had made for a baby shower and I got inspired to copy her (story of my life). Here's my latest project! I know, three of one color and one of another? Whatever, don't judge me. That was the scrap fabric I had. They are roughly 9" (or maybe 9.5") and are "square". I love them! Next: check out my Kid's Cloth Napkins !