My Little Hen

Horses

We are pretty horse crazy around here. I was always horse crazy but by the age of 10 years old I was over the moon. In fact, my passionate horse crazy love as a girl lead me to write about and draw horses. This spark of creativity probably had a huge influence on my future career as a designer and writer.

I didn't own a horse but I sure tried to get one. My imagination was in overdrive for several years scheming to get a horse. I can remember it all. It's called working on a dream, something all kids should have.

If you know my 3 books Cooking Fun, Crafting Fun, and Homemade Fun, you'll recognise that I am nostaglic. Not that I want to live in the past but I find the past inspires me forward. I want to carry memories, traditions, ideas into the future or the present (as it may be).It's complicated.

How about you, did you have big dreams that compelled you towards adventures as a kid?

Birding

Felt bird project from Homemade Fun

This spring we've been birding on the weekends. Our birding consists of taking a walk in the woods or the park and spotting as many kinds of birds as we can. Because the trees are bare we can find the birds and observe their behavior quite easily.

Hawks, falcons, bluejays, cardinals, warblers, sparrows,and Robin redbreast (American Robin) are a few of the birds we have seen. I have been particularly lucky to have had several encounters with a few urban hawks. Show offs. Really, they are.

Another thing I noticed (obvious but gradual) is that the more I look for birds, the more I hear their various songs. 

This site from Cornell University is one of the best websites I have found concerning birds. Listening to the bird songs here is very helpful to my beginner ear. Check it out with your kids. Our cat gets a little nutty over the bird calls we play in the house.Very amusing!

 

 

easter eggs

Apartment Therapy included me in their round up of easter egg decorating.
It's always great when they link to my blog. Here's a link to my natural egg dyeing.

Popular easter posts from My Little Hen

More Egg Beauty

Egg Beauty

Easter Colors

Egg Carton Easter Baskets (guest post on Simple Kids)

Wash those hands

photo credit: hand in hand 

March came in like a lion. Stomach bugs for the whole family, the domino effect.

This post inspired me today- partly because it's about soap, great design, and good causes. Read more about this clean, clever idea here. Great photos too. 

Busy workday meal

I've been away so much doing other work, writing new books, keeping myself and my family moving ahead in life. I miss my blog but I have to confess I am one of the 99%. I work for a living. Now that my family is growing up a little more and I'm past the intensive childcare mode, we are breezing into teenage life and all the glories and angst that accompanies that era in a family.

I am often bone tired when I get home and can't always muster up the energy to cook a good meal. Being a believer in homemade, I don't like to buy frozen food that often. This morning, having a little extra time and all ingredients on hand, I made a standby Shepherds Pie recipe with a twist. I didn't have enough baking potatoes so I added the last lonely yam to the mix and got a delicious result. The color is also pretty. As I prepared this dish I started thinking about my grandmother, a farm girl, and her waste not want not attitude. In honor of farm women who worked so much harder than I ever will I plowed the potatoes with the fork and made tractor paths with the mashed potatoes.Creativity is a funny thing. It pops up in the most unexpected places.

Hooray, a home cooked meal will be ready for this evening.

some kids from the past

I read about this photographer  Charles W. Crushman on Design Mom. Looking through his archives I picked these images of children in everyday life to share.

I recall pushing this type of lawn mower for fun in my grandparents well manicured back yard. Humble folks and lawn proud. My grandfather called from his window for me to stop clipping the lawn. He cut a perfect lawn and there I was hacking it up... I didn't know this grandfather well, it is one of my strongest memories of him.

Love the dresses and the general hanging around here. Do kids get the chance to just hang around these days? Days are lived fast and furiously. It's very hard to slow down. I love this photo since it reminds me to encourage my family to take it a little slower day to day. Hang around and see what happens.

Beautiful light.

Love the bare feet. No parents in sight. Do kids get to roam like this anymore?

A rare shot of Black children. Beautiful. The boy on the right reminds me of my friend Blake whose Grandmother was part Cherokee. She has the very same lovely eyes.

I could go on. Thanks for visiting this ad free blog zone,

Games kids play

On my way to work this morning, I walked by children playing with chalk on the sidewalk outside their school. They were just playing, hopping, talking and enjoying the day.  Their teacher was nice enough to let me stop and take a few photos. Using my trusty iphone camera here's what I saw.

Summer Forever

G has been away in Maine enjoying summer life in a small harbor town with family. The cold waters of Maine are unlike any cool brook we know but the girls braved the water daily. The trick to this swimming is to find warm surface areas of water  for an extended length of time. These two became summer friends, both traveling alone (under supervision of course) to meet in this paradise. After 2 weeks this was their final summer jump.

They both slipped away to meet at the dock after a family dinner for one final summer friend conversation. Summer forever. I remember that feeling. Lovely and oh so important to have in ones collection of experiences.

Sewing Party

Photos from the sewing party this weekend. Six girls, ages 5-6. We worked on the tooth fairy pillow project and all sewers successfully completed their project (with help from me and super helper Nora,  who learned to sew as a girl in her Waldorf school).

Each girl was given a sewing kit with their name on it. Inside they had the basics; needles, threads, pins, buttons, scissors, and measuring tape (all from a craft store). The girls selected their fabric from Purl Soho's handy precut packet of wool felt, and each choose a color of thread. Picking the colors was a big deal so provide a range of felt if you ever do this at home.

The girls followed a pre-cut wax paper template that I drew and outlined their fabric with tailors chalk.  Perfection wasn't the aim but general accuracy with the given materials was encouraged. After the fabric was cut, the girls tried to cut a heart shape. Some girls wanted to use my heart template, others made their own. Once all fabric and the heart shapes were cut, we threaded needles and began to practice the up and down (running) stitch on scrap fabric. 

Then they were ready to sew.

  

This young sewer couldn't stop and made another pillow all on her own, even though her friends ran outside to play. Very impressive!

Whenever I work with younger kids I am always so surprised at the staying power of a sewing project. We spent over 2 hours on the project. Yes, this age group needs supervision every step of the way but their comments and wonder at making something themselves is worth the work. So sweet!

Spring weekends are for ...

Preparing hand sewing projects from Homemade Fun for my kids classes at Purl Soho. Tweet and facebook please, through Purl's website. The Purl folks are a very special group of crafters. Try their reasonably priced classes.

 
So, I'm working out the details of this little project. I'm thinking of putting a strip of masking tape along the edge to help the kids follow the line for stitching. With this cream colored felt a pencil line won't work. Any suggestions? 

 
We also made these Homemade Fun popovers for breakfast. I love seeing towel on the line. Summer is coming along!!

  Isn't this a beauty?

Of course, loving the lilacs...and this sweet embroidery  HouseWren Studios.