Spoonflower swatches: Girls and Dinosaurs, and Cheater quilts

A few spoonflower posts coming up...

I made this collection of prints of girls with dinosaurs sometime a year or two ago, when my girls were really into dinosaurs. Somehow I never got around to sharing them here - or using the prints in a quilt as I intended. I still really enjoy them, so maybe they'll come back around.

I also printed a few versions of my flower garden cheater print.

I have since edited the colors of the multi-color print to match some of my fiesta and house colors. I still really really really really love these. I was disappointed when I realized I couldn't make a twin blanket without a giant seam in the middle, and so I gave up. But maybe I'll have to make a throw for myself, eh? Dang, why am I not doing that right now? [wandering off...]

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

"It's been a long journey from the Fourth Century Bishop of Myra, St. Nicholas, who showed his devotion to God in extraordinary kindness and generosity to those in need, to America's jolly Santa Claus, whose largesse often supplies luxuries to the affluent. However, if you peel back the accretions, he is still Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, whose caring surprises continue to model true giving and faithfulness." - from the Origin of Santa at the St. Nicholas Center

I hope you all have a lovely St. Nicholas Day! Learning about St. Nicholas is a beautiful way to delve into this season with a spirit of giving, and take a step back from the tensions and commercials that can overwhelm us this time of year.

We started the morning with just a few small treats in our shoes - a candy cane for St. Nicholas' staff, gold coins to remind us of his generosity, and a few small stickers just for fun. We read this story of St. Nicholas over breakfast (which was half chocolate coins, I'm afraid), and this afternoon we'll make cookies.

My intentions of making this day one of meaningful charity have fallen through yet again, and I marvel at those like St. Nicholas, for whom charity was a daily activity. Alas, the girls and I will make Christmas cards and cookies to give away, so that we can at least think of others throughout the day.

from the Life of St. Nicholas, at the council of Nicaea

Last year, I shared a picture of the story of St. Nicholas and the dowries from the St. Nicholas center, but this year I'm enjoying reading the stories about St. Nicholas at the council of Nicaea and the role he played in defending the doctrine of the Trinity. One retelling is here: Bishop Nicholas loses his cool.

Theology nerds will enjoy this silly song to the tune of "Supercalafragalisticexpialadocius" about the doctrines formulated at the council:

 [chorus] Superchristological and Homoousiosis Even though the sound of them is something quite atrociousYou can always count on them to anathemize your GnosisSuperchristological and Homoousiosis

One Prosopon, two Ousia are in one Hypostasis.
At Chalcedon this formula gave our faith its basis.
You can argue that you don't know what this means,
But don't you go and try to say there’s a "Physis" in between!

Go the St. Nicholas center to see the full song and the definitions of all the greek words.  And be sure to browse the stories, activities, and recipes. The makers of the St. Nicholas Center have filled it with buckets of information, stories and links. Enjoy!

The Volcano Saved the Valley from the Sharp Teeth

L crawled into our bed one morning and said, "Daddy, today I want to do something exciting that we've never done before." And shouldn't we all?

John quickly came up with the idea to build a volcano. Ideas like this come quickly to daddies who don't mind messes.

We built our volcano around a glass with baking soda in it. I also put in food dye; and yes, my children were wearing Sunday dresses (although not for long); and no, I wouldn't do the food dye again, but thanks for asking. Also it made the lava pink.

Then we piled up big rocks, little rocks, dirt, beans, more beans, split peas, more dirt. until we finally made a mound that reached the top of the glass. It was a small glass, and I was genuinely surprised how much stuff it took to build this little volcano. Keep in mind the dirt is about to be mud, so don't use any beans you hope to eat later.



 


Then the girls arranged their dinosaurs and played for awhile. This was funny, and I made a darling video of them: arranging the dinosaurs; explaining how the sharp teeth were coming into the valley; then Mommy made it rain in the volcano (vinegar), and it erupted! and the sharp teeth ran away from the great valley; hooray! Do it again!

Only the video didn't take. Boo. So you'll just have to imagine little girls delighted by pink lava, and sharp teeth running for their lives.

I put quite a lot of baking soda in our glass, so each time it fizzled out I would just throw in a bit more vinegar and it would go again. I think it erupted about 7 times. Afterward, the girls played in the muddy pink mess for a long time before moving to the bath. It was really sort of awesome and dazzling in a-hey, let's build a volcano-kind of way.

Two Patterns: Dog and Stegosaurus

You were warned about the Dog, but the Stegosaurus is here too!

My girls love dogs.  And dinosaurs.  Did you know there are 13 Land Before Time movies?

13!

And yes, we've seen them all. Although, I may have slept through a couple.

I fully expect J to open this Stegosaurus at Christmas and immediately say, "Now I need a Long Neck, a Cera, a Ducky, and a Flier!" And L will ask for several more dogs in a variety of shapes and colors. Yes, I'm prepared.

But for now, one pattern at a time.  Or, ahem, two.  

I don't expect these to replace Pink Dog, but I'm hoping they'll join the pack.  


A few notes about these patterns:
My goal was to make the cuddly, so you may notice a few differences.  They're made of fleece and furry blankets, and they're half filled with poly beads to make them more flexible - so they don't stand up perfectly for photos.  I made the dogs in two sizes, just enlarge the pattern a bit more because - of course - we need a mommy dog and a baby dog.  Also the dogs have a million variations - button/embroidery eyes, various ears, tail up or down, spots - ooh, and an easy, no sew collar.

 

Here's a qick giveaway: Today until the 16th - click the links below to grab these patterns and make some last minute Christmas gifts!  I've changed file hosts, so I'm hoping not to have bandwidth issues. (fingers crossed) (Updated: Dec. 17th - the giveaway has now ended. Thanks for all your enthusiasm!) After the 16th, you can still find the patterns in shop.

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

This is the first year we've celebrated St. Nicholas Day, so we're having fun learning and making new traditions. In a little bit, the girls will wake up and find their shoes filled with a few small treats, including St. Nicholas staff (candy cane) and gold coins (chocolate) to remind them of how he gave to the three girls in the story.

Yesterday, we made cookies, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite pre-Christmas traditions.  This was the first time I made shaped cookies with the kids, and they thought it was so cool (just like play dough!).

And later, we'll spend the day making gifts for family and friends (Martha has a great list of gifts kids can make). We decided to make gift making on St. Nicholas day part of our family tradition partly because we want our children to be people who see the needs of others, like St. Nicholas did. It is all too easy to be self-involved (believe me, I know), but compassion begins with looking at the people around you, instead of yourself.  And I want to be compassionate. Our gifts won't be world changing for anyone this year, but hopefully they will help my girls and I look outward. Perhaps it will grow into something more significant.

Ultimately, I want this day to become a day of compassion for our family. Which is hard sometimes during the holidays as you recount your life, your goals, your wish lists.  I want to teach my kids compassion, but I think I'm hungering for it, too.

How do you teach your kids about giving at Christmas?

St. Nicholas and the Dowries

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And be sure to check out the St. Nicholas Center!  You could easily lose an afternoon there. Which I did. So here are a few of my favorite links to help you out:

• the story of St. Nicholas and the Dowries - explains the custom of the shoes
• How St. Nicholas became Santa Claus 
• ideas on How to Celebrate.
• several online picture books for kids
• traditional recipes from various countries
• and, of course, St. Nicholas craft projects 

Shoe Covers

Another last minute detail for my kid's last minute costumes: shoe covers!  If you've got fleece and elastic in your stash this is way better than buying fancy shoes.  I looked at the tutorials here and here, and then added details for my kids shoes.   

 These are supposed to be cowboy boots, although I never quite got the shape right.  You can't tell here, but I the tops are angled like boots with a little fleece tab sewn over the outside edge.  You know what I mean?  And then I top stitched a little embroidery design.  They're a little funny looking though. 

These were a little more straightforward. Pink shoe covers that I top stitched some fleece dinosaur toenails onto. These were easier, plus a much bigger hit.  I think short shoe covers work better.

Costume Round-Up

Halloween is approaching and I'm too busy to dream up fancy costumes this year.  My mom and I hit the goodwill and found a few fun pieces, and I'll just accessorize.  More about those later.

I wanted to give you a quick round up of my dress up tutorials:

Dress Up Crowns (A variety of easy to sew shapes for princesses, superheroes, fairy queens, and greek gods - you get the idea)

Cat Ears (Use the pattern to make ears for any kind of animal as long as you can draw the ears: dog, bunny, elephant, perhaps?)

Tree Costume (Includes a basic tunic shape that could be lots of things with the right details: an indian dress, a flower stem... Kind of like how a sweat suit can turn into almost any costume.)

And here are some of my favorite ideas from around the web (before I went to goodwill):

This little Zilla Costume from Momincdaily looks time consuming - but it includes a fire-y sippy cup cozy to make the little dragon look like he's breathing fire when he drinks - aah!  J loves dragons and dinosaurs (and her sippy cup), so I'd love to make her a little girly version.

photo from momincdaily

A Daisy Costume from the ever lovely to look at Purl Bee - this was L's favorite idea, before I wimped out on sewing.

photo from Purl Bee

Maybe next year?

Rarr - the Creative Process (and another give away!)

Whew, two new patterns within a week?  Crazy right?

I've been giving myself a number of projects to do for my book each month, and when I finish, then I can do any other sewing for the rest of the month. It's a great motivator, and I'm getting so much more done than I ever realized I could.  So below, I want to share two things: a bit about my creative process, and a giveaway (300 400 downloads - first come, first serve) of my new Dino pattern.

Creative Process

1.  Sketch out pattern.  Think, "this is perfect.  I'll go ahead and cut out enough to make 4 dinosaurs in crazy cute fabrics!" Assemble two and realize there are all kinds of flaws (won't stand, skinny arms, puckering).  Oops.

2.  Adjust pattern.  Cut out just one, but optimistically use the cute fabric again.  It's better, but still needs work (still skinny arms, still puckering, still won't stand up).  Give this prototype to the kids: they love misfits.

3.  Draft version 3.  Send it to husband to print at work.  In the meantime, browse Abby's Elements of Soft Toy Design series at While She Naps.  (If you want to try drafting your own patterns, you should definitely check this out!)

4.  Slap head.  See great idea on While She Naps, and decide to try something different.  Forget version 3, enter Dinosaur 4.1.  Huge improvement, very excited, but needs a little more work (stands up! nice arms, no puckering - whoa those legs are huge). Give Dino 4.1 to the kids.

5.  Dinosaur 4.2 complete (with eyes).  Put Dinos and pattern in the shop, smile a lot, and begin give away:  click here to download! 
UPDATE:thanks everyone!  We gave away 421 patterns.  Enjoy, and be sure to let me know how it works for you!