birdsandtrees

Gee's Bend, Alabama

This year at school, the girls and I have been learning about Gee's Bend, Alabama. Gee's Bend (renamed Boykin) is a small community in the Black Belt of Alabama.  It started when hundreds of slaves were brought down from North Carolina by the Pettway Family (You can read about the history of the town here.)  The town is in (and has been in) one of the poorest counties in Alabama. 

The women started making quilts from what they had - work clothes, sheets, etc.  And people started to notice them and recognize that their quilts are works of art. (Sidenote: Pottery Barn even has a line of bedding inspired by the quilts of Gee's Bend...and an interesting article about that here).  Their quilts have now hung in museums across the country.

What's incredible to me is that they had never seen any type of artwork in their life...which in my mind, makes them true artists.

Here are some of their quilts:

Many of these, like this next one, are "Housetop" patterns.  They came up with this pattern when they laid down in bed and looked at the ceiling in their shack.  I'm going to use this pattern to make my next quilt, all from fabrics and old sheets, pillowcases, and clothes that I already have. 

We watched a documentary about Gee's Bend at school, and one quilt that stuck out to me is one that a woman made after her husband passed away.  She used all his old clothes to make the quilt, so that when she missed him, she could wrap herself up in him.  Here it is:

So yesterday, our little school made the trek down to Gee's Bend.  The girls were so excited.  We made a small quilt (inspired by their quilts) to give to them, as well as a Gee's Bend Alphabet Book that we had them all sign.  Each of their quilts tell a story, so ours told the story of our school - each flower representing the girls. 

I wasn't sure what to expect - none of us had ever been there before.  But it ended up being a perfect day, meeting these sweet women we had come to know and love. 

This is Ruth Kennedy, my favorite person of the whole day.  I really wanted to take her home with me.  She quilted the potholders that Selah (above) bought. We were all able to buy one of their small works of art.  I'm so glad I have something to remind me of these wonderful women, their quilts, and this day.

For your Valentine...

(image found via)

I've been bookmarking lots of Valentine projects and ideas since last year.  I thought I'd share some of my favorites!  After all, we did buy a house whose former owner did Valentine's Day like no one else!  And in the move, I somehow lost my wax paper hearts.  So I knew I needed to step up my game.  

Let's start with some downloadable ones (the first is an oldie but a goodie, and one of my personal faves) :

    "Je t'aime" cards from Black Apple

A collection of valentines from jones design company

Adorable fruit stickers from twig & thistle

Another great download from twig & thistle

(I'm doing this one for the kids at school this year - they also have this option for a white bag)

And here are some other sweet links for ideas:

- you know Martha has you covered.  Check out these ideas: paper heart wrappings (pic above), doily envelopes, and lots of other crafts to get you inspired

- a handmade fabric card and envelope project

- a simple and quick valentine card idea for kids...here's another example of the same idea

- felt headbands and bracelets

- my friend Marla sent me this link for a heart garland...so cute!

- it doesn't get much easier than this!

- and last...if only I really had my act together, I could recreate something like this for our Valentine's party! 

A book was harmed in the making of this project...

One of the first projects I wanted to make this year was a book wreath.  I saw the tutorial on the jones design company blog (which has some other wonderful projects and tutorials to peruse).  

Now let me just make a disclaimer: I am a huge lover of books.  I have an addiction to books.  So when I'm thinking about destroying a book, it's not a great feeling.  BUT - there are some BAD books out there.  I call them twaddle.  And I don't mind getting rid of those.  I someday dream of the day where we live in a twaddle free world. Sigh... 

So I looked through all my books and found one that I've never read or will ever read.  I think I got it at a garage sale because it was old and looked cool.  And the color of the pages was perfect for the look I wanted.  Once you've picked your book, all you need is a hot glue gun (I ended using 3 or 4 long sticks of glue), a styrofoam wreath form (I found a 12" at Michael's), and a movie or TV show to watch while you mindlessly roll pages and glue.   

Here's a close-up of the wreath.  You can see that it's basically just layers and layers of folded and rolled up book pages.  Now that I've done one, I know that next time I will choose a book that is a bit longer so that I have the problem of too many pages, instead of not enough.  My wreath could have definitely used more layers.  But I ran out of pages!  I'm happy with it, though.  And you better believe I'll be making more!  Just think how cute it'd be on your front door for a book shower or book club party. 

One project down, and more to come!  This blogging thing isn't so hard, I guess...

Tree and things

 This past weekend we went with some friends to a tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree.  The weather was perfect - cloudy and chilly.  Add a hay ride and some hot chocolate, and we were good to go!  Although they had fresh cut Frasier firs at the farm, we all decided to go with one of the varieties they grew at the farm - the Leyland Cypress.  It is gorgeous!  I coudn't wait to come home, turn on my Christmas mix, and start decorating.  Hanging ornaments on the tree is a big deal in my family, and it's engrained in me to hang slowly, thinking and talking about each ornament that you hang. 

For the past few years, I've been trying to make new ornaments to add to the tree.  Last year, I made some paper globes (tutorial here) out of Christmas cards we received (especially with the ones that had beautiful papers), and I'm definitely going to continue to make some of those each year. 

I'm looking for some ideas to make for this year's ornament, so if you have any to share, please let me know!  In the meantime, I'll be waiting, curled up in a chair next to the fireplace, taking in our tree! 

Happy St. Nicolas Day!

Since we include the Christian calendar as an important part of our school year, today we read about St. Nicolas.  St. Nicolas would secretly leave gold or presents for the poor and needy, sometimes in their shoes or stockings.  I knew I wanted to leave a little something for the kids.  So while I was reading the story, Dawn (the other teacher at our school) left these little treats in their baskets to find! 

I've seen these Candy Cane Mice on Martha for a long time and thought this was the perfect opportunity to finally make them.  They were simple to make and the kids loved them!  

Next Monday is St. Lucia Day - we'll be making these for the kids to wear.  I'll be sure to share some pictures of them! 

Currently loving...

- Nigella's Blueberry Cornmeal Muffins, found in her new cookbook.  I've already made them twice and will definitely be making them again. 

- This AWESOME idea for kids at Thanksgiving time...I'm making it for our Thanksgiving party at school tomorrow.  I can't wait to see how it comes out!

- This beautiful Thanksgiving paper chain (via Twig & Thistle).  We had the kids fill them out at school today.  They should make a lovely decoration in the classroom, or in any place for that matter. 

- Advent Calendars - I want to make one for our house someday.  In a lot of the ones I see online, you can't fit much in the box (other than a peppermint candy or extra small trinket)...so when I saw this Advent Calendar, I was really inspired.  I love the fabric cones! 

- fort & field's Etsy shop.  So much goodness in one place. 

___________________________________________

James and I are headed to St.Louis for Thanksgiving tomorrow, so I'll be back here next week. 

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone! 

In the kitchen...

I know I said I'd share photos of the classroom, but it desparately needs cleaning and that takes some time! So I promise the photos are coming...just not quite yet!  I thought, in the meantime, I'd share what's going on in our baking and cooking world.  Because we've had some really good things going on. 

Like....

1.  I made this chocolate cake this past weekend for my friend's baby shower.  It's Beatty's Chocolate Cake, and the icing is the dark chocolate icing from the America's Test Kitchen Cookbook.  It was delicious - if you need a chocolate cake recipe, definitely try this one out!  Because I made the cake I was able to use my sweet little cake bunting that I got from this store on ebay.  I bought the kit (which is cheaper than buying them already made)...I see me making many more of these in the future!

2.  Butternut Squash Soup: I've made four batches of this soup in the past month and I'm still not tired of it!  Next time I make it, I'm going to put some in bags and freeze them.  With some homemade croutons and a dollop of sour cream, life tastes pretty darn good.

3.  James just recently made roast chicken with vegetables.  He put some of those leftover homemade croutons (from our soup) at the bottom of the roasting pan, and all the juices of the chicken ran into them.  SO good.  We loosely follow this recipe for what to stuff the chicken with, and then we just use whatever vegetables are in season.   

4.  Caramel Popcorn with Vanilla and Cinnamon: I don't remember how I found this recipe, but I've made it three times now, and it's really good.  I make plain popcorn, then mix in this mixture of brown sugar, maple syrup (the real stuff), vanilla and cinnamon.  Then you bake it in the oven for 15 minutes.  Next time I make it I'm going to add some cashews to the mix.  It's a great snack for a special treat in the fall. 

Up next in the kitchen this fall: Pumpkin Bread, Pumpkin Cupcakes for school next week, some curry recipes, Shepherd's Pie, Steak and Guinness Pie, and Beef Bourgignon.  Ooh and maybe a Winter Panzanella. 

Awesome Blossom

I'm not sure what it is (maybe the change in weather?), but I lately I've had the yearning to make something.  I haven't used my sewing machine in months, it feels like.  Today I went down to the basement and spent hours just sewing, gluing, and crafting.  It felt so good.  There is something about the sound of the sewing machine...the sound of progress and creativity.  I love it.

A month or so ago, I bought a new craft book - I Love Patchwork by Rashida Coleman-Hale.  In the book there are 21 projects that use a patchwork of  fabrics - always a linen mixed with other prints.  I love the look of linen and it's inspired me to get out my stash and get crackin!  

I decided to make one of the easier projects from the book - the "Blossom Pincushion."  I'm a firm believer that having cute tools or supplies makes a process even more fun (Example: Having a beautiful kitchen towel makes washing dishes much more enjoyable).  So I thought the pincushion would be just the right thing to keep my craft momentum going.  Why wouldn't I want to sew if I could put my pins and needles in this cute pincushion?!

  All you need for the project is a flower-shaped paint dish (what you would normally use for water color or some sort of painting), polyfill (or some type of stuffing), and 6 fabric scraps (I used one linen and 5 random scraps I had lying around). 

The short version of directions is this: after you cut out a circle from each scrap, you put a little ball of filling in it, then bundle the fabric all around it and hot glue it down into the dish.   The book of course has all the directions and lots of other beautiful projects.  

This was just the project I needed.  Now onto the next!

Valentine's Love

Eek! I can't believe this is my first post of the month.  The weeks are flying by.  We had our Valentine's Poetry Party today at school (here's my post from last year's), so all things Valentine-y have been on my brain lately.  I'm seeing hearts everywhere (including my favorite pin in the photo above)! There have been so many Valentine's crafts, links, and recipes on the blogs lately, so I thought I'd share some of my favorites with you.  And after Sunday, I'll hopefully share what I am making for some friends (I don't want to give that away just yet). 

So in no particular order, here are my favorite Valentine's links:

- The Long Thread is my "go-to" for Valentine's crafts...her links and ideas will keep you going for awhile

- these hearts are so sweet - I'm thinking of making some as Christmas ornaments too!

- these embroidery projects are ones I've bookmarked for a long time...love 'em

- Twig & Thistle has two great printables that I love....this one and this one 

- and a really cute fabric card and envelope tutorial

Easy Ornament

Each school year, I've wanted to do an ornament with our class picture.  This year's ornament couldn't be easier, so I thought I'd share it with you, in case you need an ornament to mark the year for your child or family.  I got the idea from Martha, who's got tons and tons of ideas for homemade ornaments.  I've tried to add a homemade ornament to our tree every year (like these two years ago), especially since I don't have a lot of ornaments to begin with.  I think I'm going to make some of these bird ornaments for the tree as well (since birds and trees are my thing).  Need to get on that... 

Anyway, to make this one, all you need is a cookie cutter, some ribbon, and a picture. I tied the ribbon on the top of the cookie cutter, with a knot to keep it tight and then another knot at the top to hang it.   I printed the photo on some matte photo paper (but any heavy weight paper will do). I then centered the cookie cutter on top of it and traced around it.  Next, I cut it out and then used craft glue to glue it to the cookie cutter.  It's as easy as that!  So easy and simple.  Which is my kind of project these days!