Double Digits and Rice Crispy Pops

"What do you think my special talents are, Mama?"
"Do you think I have any special talents?"
"What should I do when I grow up?"
"Will I get pimples on my face in a few years?"
"When can I go to the park by myself?"
"Is it okay if I stay home by myself now?"
"What treat can I share with my friends for my birthday?"

All I could think of, by way of answers to the stream of questions by the newly minted ten year old, was just que sera sera... and, "rice crispy pops!!"

Usually inordinately taciturn, the girl has been spouting a lot of queries, some of which were easier to answer than others.

Seeing her every day through my mommy filter, I end up treating her like a baby more often than needed. Even if I know deep down that she is strong and thoughtful, I end up rushing to protect her or lecturing her when all she wants is some space for herself and distance from me.

On the other hand, I am thankful that we can still find things that we both enjoy doing. She made Rice Crispy Pops for her friends. I helped. Instead of the other way round.

She makes her own breakfast and lunch most weekends. I've been egging her on to cook a meal for us soon. She does not like using the old and temperamental gas stove. I catch myself saying, "When I was 10, I would cook..." hoping to nudge her into finding joy in cooking. But, all in good time. Whenever she is ready.

It was a low-key birthday, no fuss. I made some fun t-shirts for her, or rather, added some iron-on transfers to store-bought $3 t-shirts which I customized for her style. One got a scalloped hemline plus some photo pile-like arrangement of pictures from her recent trip to Winston Wildlife Safari, Humboldt Redwoods, Golden Gate Bridge, Monterey Bay Aquarium and such.

One white t-shirt was partially dyed blue to evoke a feeling of flowing water in which I had ironed on some pictures from our recent trip to Monterey bay Aquarium,

One shirt got an angular and slightly asymmetrical hemline. to which I added cute picture of her pets - cat and guinea pig - with the words, "Make new friends but keep the old; One is silver and the other's gold."

And her favorite is this white one with a picture of the cake pops that she had made a couple of years ago; the special feature being the fringe hemline and sleeves that I added. Coupled with white capris, this t-shirt has become her favorite outfit of late.

Kids Sewing: The Felt Purse

Or more accurately, "Evolution of the Felt Purse Over the Last 2 Years."


Starting with the simple felt purse which were hand-sewn at the sides with beads, no strap;

then, moving on to making the same hand-sewn purse with finger-knitted strap;

and then, making crocheted strap;

finally, sewing gusseted purse with lace strap and embellishments...

It has been quite a journey for the 8 yo. Many of them were made specially for her friends. 

Kids Sewing: Easy Felt Gusseted Purse

We came across Crafty Bags for Stylish Girls by Elizabeth Ingrid Hauser at the library. While most of the purses there were not my style at all (possibly because I am not a "stylish girl"), the 8 yo liked it enough to borrow it and pore over it at home. Finally, she picked out the first purse she wanted to make from the book.

Felt fabric was recommended, but, the girl chose fleece, which is fine as this is just a fancy purse, not the hold-all that I pass off as my purse.

She was fascinated by the gussets on the sides for the purse described in the instructions. It frustrated her to read the instructions all the way through, having to go back and read the previous steps in various iterations. Finally she figured it out and was ready to sew.

Skipping the tedious details of making the purse (as it is available in the copyrighted book), we get to the fun part of embellishing to personalize it.

Raiding my stash of laces, rick racks, buttons and appliques, she chose the lace for the shoulder strap and beaded dragonfly applique for the embellishment.

Of course, the finish is a bit rough: while raw-edges on fleece are fine to leave unfinished, the ones on the cotton gussets aren't. But the girl did not want to pay attention to such details, especially when they are not easy to do. So what if the insides were a bit of a mess? She loves it and wears it around the house all the time - even when doing her cleaning jobs!

All in all a fun project, so much so that she has designed a couple more similar ones to make, with minor variations in size and colors and decorations.

Kids Sewing: Half-Apron

Every once in a while, the 8 yo gets into this phase where she can't do anything else until the art/craft/sewing project in her mind takes physical shape.

And, every once in a while, I get gung-ho about showing her a simple item to sew, whether it is in her radar or not. It helps if the item is for her friends or family - it acts as a powerful motivator, to be able to finish and give it away.

And that's how this half-apron came about.

Her friend's birthday was coming up - a friend who is herself a mini-seamstress. The trademark purses she makes for her friends' birthdays wouldn't work as she has already given a nice hand-made felt purse to this friend last year.

Half-apron seemed like a good idea.

I let her raid my fabric stash and choose some fabric. We decided to make it reversible, so, we had two different fabrics for the apron - polka dot on one side, plain white on the other.

Then, I measured her waist and the height for the apron. Since we needed gathers/pleats, we kept the full waist measurement. And then I got very generous with the measurements. And decided to make it large enough for a little girl and possibly her Mama.

Then had her cut the initial rectangle of  waist x height, out of both the fabrics. Plus cut out long strips for the waist-band-tie from both the fabrics.

With the fabric cut out and ready, and armed with a pincushion full of pins, I was ready to show her what to do.

Since this is not a sewing tutorial, let me skip the tedious details and get to the final part, which was to sew a hand-made tag that says, "Made by:__________ for_______".

Did she enjoy the process of making it? Yes.
Will she be able to do this again by herself? Probably.
Will the finish on the independent one be as smooth as this one which I oversaw zealously? Probably not.

The fun was to hear her friend, the recipient, say that she liked it, and that she was glad it was a half-apron as she had just sewn a full-apron for herself not too long ago.

Kids Craft: Mini Heart Felt Pillows

The 5 yo will sew if he is in the mood: if some sewing activity is suggested to him and he feels he has nothing else to interest him at the moment, and if the project is quick and simple, that catches his fancy, he will do it.

He came home excited one evening and squealed, "Mama, you are going to love this! This is going to make you so happy! I made this for you in school today!" And he handed me this sweet little felt heart with beads sewn on it.

In my customary way, I was all smiles and asked him to tell me all about it. "I got some thread, then used the needle threader to thread the needle, then tied a knot at the end, and sewed the beads on this heart, because I love you, Mama!"

Since his sister has graduated to using my sewing machine and doesn't want to do much hand-sewing unless it is a cute softie, or for something incidental to her bigger project, I asked if Og wanted to sew a few heart pillows. More as a fine motor exercise than any fancy finished product. And he did.

Cut out two felt pieces in heart shape for each "pillow". Save scrap felt and other fabric pieces for stuffing the pillow. Simply let the kids sew along the edges and stuff before completing the final stretch of sewing. Optionally, add a cotton ball soaked in essential oil to make it a tiny fragrant heart felt pillow.  We used lavender in one and geranium in the other. So, they can be sachets of some sort.

Patching Fun

I received a few hand-me-down jeans for the 5 yo which were perfectly fine in all respects, except for - you guessed it - the knees!

So, I've been patching up the knees in the traditional way - hand-sew some extra-thick corduroy patch or one of my favorite batik scraps doubled with felt padding, the usual.

And then, I came across Monster Knee Patches at Pinterest and had to make one. Luckily one of the jeans' knees was still waiting to be patched.

Seeing how much fun this is, the 8 yo, whose jeans knees never have ever ripped in regular use, wants to deliberately cut them so she can try this.

As long a she can patch it on her own, I've given her  my approval.

Random Hand-made Things

While the 8-year old hasn't really cared much for the run-of-the-mill pom-pom and paper plate kind of crafts so far, she still cares to create and craft with her own hands as and when inspiration hits.

Of late, inspiration hasn't hit much in the traditional way... or rather, it probably hits at all the wrong times when she'd much rather be riding her bike or reading a book... plus she is a lazy crafter, like her Mama. Stars have to align and universes brought to order before all the teeming ideas in the head ever materialize into a tangible outcome.

Though not much for drawing or painting these days except a rare doodle or two, every once in a while there is something that she puts under my nose with a, "Here, Mama, for you." I can't bring myself to toss these into the recycling pile. Like this picture of her zapatos, for instance.

She seems to love paper crafts of all kinds. At least for now. That can change anytime. She still loves Origami-- the sole paper-crane-maker at home. Stamping and card-making is a favorite activity as well-- especially after binge-watching youtube videos of 25 Days of Christmas Cards. We have a ton of cards we don't quite know who to send to as they are all one-of-a-kind sort-of-experimental ones... maybe we have to set up her own Etsy store or something.

And fabric crafts is another favorite. Making her trademark purses for her friends' birthdays has become a must these days. From choosing the wool felt for the purse and matching yarn for the strap to the decorative beads to sew the purse together she puts in some thought and heart into making them.

Making footwear--She found two good scraps of wood, traced her foot shape on each, and got Papa to cut it for her and staple the fabric on to make a pair of unique wooden footwear. Not terribly comfortable to take a leisurely stroll in, but more for a clunky meditative ambling...

Designing clothes-- of course, the Fashion Design Sketch Portfolio Kit that her aunt gave last year was a great hit with the kiddo even if Mama was squirming and frowning at the models. The (Fashion Angels™) Kit comes with stencils for clothes and accessories, plus a sketchbook full of outrageously unrealistic models to draw on.

Of course, the stencils can be quite limiting, and perhaps best used as a guideline for lines and flow and fall of fabrics when designing...

But, she had a lot of fun adding her own whimsical touches to it, completely oblivious to the disproportionate figures.

My favorite is this design she calls "Fancy Blues"-- love the little details of the accessories in the hair, the blue around the eyes, and the fact that since no single stencil has that exact long dress she improvised by shifting the short skirt stencil down a little each time to add the frilly layers at the bottom of the dress... plus the little pattern on the fabric to indicate fish-scale-like shimmer... Wish I could sew her designs!

And, it is interesting that she chose strong pencil lines for the face coloring and freckles. As she clarified, the yellow hair is a wig.

Sewing: for now, she is just getting her feet wet on my sewing machine. Pillowcases are a breeze of course. So, for practise, being the ever-tough instructor that I am, I gave her a piece of fabric with "Og" written with a marker and asked her to sew on the marked lines. She did it fine enough for her first attempt, turning the fabric as she went, stopping and adjusting as needed. It just takes practise...

And then we had to step it up a bit: she designed a skirt for Enid and sewed it using the machine for the most part, except for the waistband which, being so small, can get tricky, and therefore best done by hand.

Race Car, Elephant, Bird, Cat, Black Sheep

Nope, they have nothing much in common, except they adorn the fleece tops I've sewn for the kids :)

Kids Crafts: Rubber-stamped Fabric Goody Bags

Oggie was completely involved in preparing for his fourth birthday - from pinpointing the venue/activity to celebrate with his friends, to making the goody bags + some of the items that went into it.

We have quite a stash of rubber stamps. I chose one of the larger ones I had (the fish) to make it go faster, but, Oggie insisted on using the smaller bugs stamps explaining, "I want my friends to have bugs on the goody bag, mama. They will really like bugs and find it funny."

So we chose a few stamps we wanted to use; got some acrylic paints ready; and stamped away in two sessions over two different evenings.

Items Used: unbleached muslin fabric, acrylic paints, foam rubber stamps

1. Stamp the fabric
2. Hang it up for drying
3. Heat-set it by ironing on the reverse side
4. Cut to required size and sew, attaching a piece of ribbon or yarn to serve as a tie

I sorely missed my serger. What would've been a breeze turned into a bit of a challenging task as my sewing machine didn't want to co-operate initially. No matter. It all turned out acceptable anyway.

Kids Craft: Felt and Beads Hanging Decoration

One afternoon, during summer break, Ana was just looking at the hand-made hanging decorations in her room that her Pattee (my mom) had made for her when she was little: Sea Creatures and Birds.

And declared, I want to make something like that myself, Mama.

It must've worked on her mind for a while before she came out with it. Half my projects are mostly done in my mind before I even start gathering the materials to actually make it.

Anyway, after sewing felt purses and felt animals, bracelets and headbands, I knew she was ready to handle something like this on her own.

So, I raided my scrap fabric stash and bead collection and gathered the thread and needle and such to get Ana started on her project.

Items used:
Felt scraps in bold solid colors
Scissors
Paper template cut-out for the shape/object
Sewing pins (optional - keeps the fabric pieces from sliding around while sewing)
Needle, thread (we used Crochet Cotton Thread for some, 3-strand embroidery floss for some)
Faceted/flower beads (Ana's choice, can use any favorite beads or embellishments)
Jute/cotton/wool yarn about 2½ to 3 feet long for stringing up the hanging decoration
other beads for stringing up the felt creatures

1. Prepare the template. We went with fish. Cut 2 pieces of fabric for each animal/item template for the hanging decoration to sew together with beads. We did not discard felt scraps as we were going to use them to stuff the two pieces we sew together.
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Rather than matching up the colors for each fish, we mixed it up a bit - red on one side, blue on the other and so on.
   
   After she cut out the fish and was ready to carry on with the project, I rather took it upon myself to dot the edges as guides for sewing the beads. Which Ana ignored for the most part, but, looked like it was helpful in some way to keep her stitches even.
   
   Thread a sturdy needle with Crochet Cotton Thread, pin two cut out fish pieces together and start sewing, adding beads as we go along on both sides - in and out, just regular running stitch along the edge.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Before sewing up all the way through, leave a 2-inch gap and stuff the fish with scraps of felt or other fabric or anything soft that will hold the shape and yet be pliable. Then sew up all the way so the fish is ready.
   
   
   
   
   
   Add embellishments as the mood calls for. Ana decided to add "scales" for the fish - some by sewing across the fish with a few rows of beads, some by simply gluing on rick-rack trim I had.
   
   
   
   
   
   We used a large silver sequin for the eye - the way it catches the light as it twirls in the air makes quite a good simulation of the glassy huge fish eyes.
   
   
4. Ana wanted to do just 4 fish for this hanging decoration. Any number is fine, of course. Once the fish were ready, she just strung them up with a large needle and yarn, adding beads in between.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. We made a little tassel-like end piece to complete the decoration. It was a toss-up between hanging a bell at the bottom so it makes beautiful music when the wind blows, or just a tassel/fringe-like thing that will sway gracefully in the wind.
   
   Ana's choice: tassel as she wanted to learn how to make it.
   
   We added a few small cowbells to the tassel just in case the strong autumn winds sway the hanging decoration hard enough to make the bells chime.
   
   
   
   
   
   Tassels can be any length. We went with approximately 3 inches finished size. It can be as thick with as many strands of yarn we like or as little. We went with about what is shown in the picture to use the leftover off-white yarn scrap I had. Use a tape/ruler to cut the strands of yarn to desired length.
   
   A short-cut I use for my crochet/knitting projects is: Use a small board book (or piece of cardboard) and wind the yarn round and round as many times as the thickness/strands desired. Then, cut at one edge, through all the strands of yard wound around. This leaves us with a bunch of uniform-sized bits of yarn. Take one of these yarn pieces out and make a pile of the others; tie the single piece of yarn around the middle of the pile of the rest of the yarn bits. And there you have it - a nice tassel.
   
   Simply add beads and whatnot to make it fancier and attach it to the end of the hanging decoration.
   
6. Hang it up where it catches the eye and the wind.
   
   
   
   

Rome was not built in a day. While not as grand as Rome itself, it is a rather large project which Ana completed over a few days, making progress and saving her work appropriately for another day as the mood dictated.

Just watching her show it proudly to her Nana and Pattee was beautiful for me. When I was six, I did not do anything half as gorgeous as this, even with my mom being a craftswoman.

Of course, if one were to put it under a microscope, one could remark that the stitches are not uniform, the beads are a bit haphazard and such. But, that's immaterial to me. In fact, such idiosyncrasies increase the charm for me, especially when made by the small hands of a six year old, voluntarily and joyfully.

We also did butterfly hanging decorations (to be strung up) much like the fish here, and are working on Autumn leaves and Xmas themed ones. Whenever Ana gets a chance to finish them I hope to share pictures of the finished work.

Kids Craft: Tie-Dye using natural dyes

Inspired by all the natural dyes she has been using for tie-dyeing at school, Ana was itching to do more over the weekend.

I used black bean water in school for the beautiful light purple, Mama.
Oh, and I am working with Marigold for the yellow dye...

What else can I use at home, Mama?
she asked, adding,
I really want to do my own tie-dye project now.

Hmmm... what else... I thought sipping my sweetened hibiscus tea. The lovely rich burgundy red hibiscus tea. Made with dried hibiscus flowers that I buy in bulk from a Mexican market.

The unassuming yet gorgeous Hibiscus flowers which were all over the garden when I was growing up. The flowers mostly used as a hair cleanser. Shikakai and Hibiscus flowers/leaves were all I had for my hair wash when I was very young. No fancy bottled shampoos - they came into my life during my teens.

Dried Hibiscus Flowers
+ Hot Water
+ Rubber Bands
+ 12" Square Muslin Cloth
= One Cool Lunch Napkin

Not the rich burgundy napkin as the tea naturally but a pleasant dusty rose. Soaked for about 20 minutes - the limit of Ana's patience that day. Hung on the clothesline for about 15 minutes under the blazing sun till mostly dry. Raw edges sewed up in 5 minutes.

I've done quite a bit of tie-dyeing on and off (Who hasn't, really? At least from my generation...), but not with natural dyes. We hope to be exploring more natural dyes as we go along...

Octopus, Blue Flower and Pumpkins

Last year, it was a ghost and a hand-me-down giraffe costume. It was simple. No fuss.

And dress up is a fun activity, not necessarily restricted to one day in a year. Especially since the Dad in the house is unbelievably sportive, no fuss, no pretensions, not much vanity to inhibit the spirit of things...

Anyway, Ana wanted to design her own costume this year. After considering a pickle and Shaggy (yes, she likes Scooby-Doo, thanks to her dad), she settled on being a flower. A blue flower. Like bluebells. Maybe more teal blue than purplish blue. With petals standing up on the head, not around the face. Maybe not bell-shaped petals per se. Leaves around the neck. Body is the stem.

As she started describing it, we talked some more, and I sketched a possible outfit.

And, since Og naturally tunes into Ana's enthusiasm and interests, he began throwing out suggestions as well. First, he wanted to be a crane - the machine, not the bird. Then, a zebra. Finally, after talking it over with his dad, he decided to be an Octopus. A blue octopus.



Here's some sewing notes on making the costumes



Keeping up the tradition of carving pumpkins, D, the resident carver-extraordinaire, listened to each of the kids' ideas and worked his magic. The two smaller pumpkins from our home-garden were for the adults in the house to design and carve. Mine is just a hint of a kitty in the pumpkin. And D's is a small yet fairly menacing pumpkin-head.



We used two larger pumpkins from the Pumpkin Patch for the kids. Og needed some leading questions, naturally. Do you want circle nose or triangle nose? Square eyes or circle eyes? How many teeth? and so on... which he answered with the confidence and precision only a 2 year old commands :)

Ana designed her pumpkin to be a fairy house. It was quite complicated as in her drawing below. After talking it over with her dad, she made some adjustments in her design and together they came up with an executable plan.



The kids enjoyed scooping out the innards, so, I pretended to be busy elsewhere.



Oggie helped separate and collect the seeds from the pulp, which got roasted in the oven to become a nutrition-packed snack:

1. Rinse and soak the raw pumpkin seeds in enough water with a tablespoon of soy sauce stirred in, for an hour or even up to overnight (can skip this - I just do it to get the seeds salty enough rather than sprinkling salt afterwards)
2. Roast in the oven at 275 °F for about 45mins to an hour
3. Heat some Smart Butter Omega™ Light with some brown sugar - a tablespoon each per half cup of pumpkin seeds (more if preferred); add the roasted and slightly-cooled pumpkin seeds, stir till sugar caramelizes a bit
4. Sprinkle some ground nutmeg, cinnamon, paprika, black or cayenne pepper, or any favorite blend of spices

I just got over a stomach flu, and Ana just recovered today from similar symptoms... overindulging in candy is not really an issue as we don't. Over-indulging in roasted pumpkin seeds? For sure!