Craft Project - Simple Baby Doll

I shouldn't be posting because it's midnight and I still have about five hours of things I want to do :(

BUT... There's a few things I want to post :)



We made these sweet dolls today from "Toymaking with Children" by Freya Jaffke. We had a really fun playdate in the morning with M and H and she lent me the book. I made the one on the left and Yoav made the one on the right. I'm going to make one for each of my two soon-to-be-born nephews :) We used the organic muslin from Dharma Trading that we hand-dyed with plant dyes. I cut the fabric to 16.5" square, did a double hem around the edges and then we just stuffed wool in the center, tied a string around the head and made knots for the hands. Sounds easy and it was for Yoav, but I think I spent a good half an hour tying my knots so they'd be perfect. They're *not* perfect, but it's not for lack of trying ;)

I had been thinking about making my SILs quilts or blankets or baby clothes or baby towels or ... Finally now with this book in my hand, I'm going to make each of them a few random homemade things - a little baby care package of sorts. So each will include:
* Little Turtle Knits pilot cap with wool yarn
* Saartje's baby booties with wool yarn (pattern is on the right under "Free Patterns")
* Organic Ribbon Blanket
* Simple baby doll that we made today
* Purl Bee fabric ball (which I'll make with organic fabrics)
I'm excited about these - all quick projects that I enjoy. I'm really wanting to make Yoav a twin quilt and at the same time was thinking about giving myself a forced sewing hiatus to focus on food, but if I limit my sewing, I think/hope that'll give me enough time to keep nourishing food on the table.

And a few cute things:
* Yesterday Elie wiped himself after a poop completely by himself - he used a few pieces of toilet paper, checked for spots each time until the toilet paper came out clean. Quite impressive. He's only three years (and counting) ahead of Yoav on that one.
* Yesterday I was reading a book and Elie came over, took it out of my hands, went off to do something, came back with a wooden airplane, gave me the airplane and sat down with the book in his lap to "read".
* Today when we were in the sewing room, Elie pulled a pin out of the doll we were making (I used pins to hold down where I ironed the edges for hemming) and then moved his lips around as if he had something in his mouth - I didn't notice it, but saw Yoav look at Elie with a concerned expression - his eyes focused on Elie's mouth, trying to look in. He didn't say anything, either because he wasn't sure, or maybe there wasn't time before I said something, but I could tell he was worried that Elie had a pin in his mouth. I love seeing Yoav's instinct to protect Elie.

Elie has had a sudden leap in his talking (thankfully, because I was starting to get worried). Today he said "raining" and "pee pee". Silly me had to hear the word "raining" while we were looking out at the rain about ten times before I got it - good thing that Elie is persistent! He's also saying some two-word sentences - like "Bo down." (Bo is come in Hebrew, so he's mixing some Hebrew and English).

Oh and I forgot to mention that we got a two-year pass for homeschooling here. We had to fill out an application with our philosophy, goals, schedule, and some other things and then a woman came yesterday for an interview. I guess just to be sure we aren't abusing our child. She said we got the two-year instead of one-year pass because we're homeschooling for ideological reasons - I think they trust more that way that we're prepared as parents for homeschooling versus if we just pulled a child out of school for some reason. Not sure exactly, but I'm glad I don't have to do anything for two more years.