Crestwood Day School

Handicraft Focus: Photography

Ms. Nikki's class finished up a unit on photography. After discussing elements that make an interesting photograph, the girls experimented with these elements to take their own photographs.  

At the end of their photography unit, they were thrilled to take a field trip to Bryan Johnson's studio. Mr. Bryan taught them about photo-journalism, introduced them to some of his favorite photographers, and told the girls his story of how he came to love photography. The girls looked at photographs he had taken and each picked their favorite one. They shared which elements made the photograph they chose one of their favorites. They also got to learn about the different types of cameras Mr. Bryan uses. 

Mr. Bryan showing the girls how to recognize which photographs were taken with certain types of cameras.

 Riley shares why this photograph is her favorite.

These are some of the pictures the girls took during the photography unit (click to enlarge).

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.

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!

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!

Felt Pouches

Every morning at school we carve out just a few minutes for "Share Time."  I thought I'd have a share time on here as well, showing one of the projects the girls are finishing this week.  I mentioned a week or so ago about how we might make some "Hankie Holders."  The project instructions can  be found here.  With runny noses and coughs making their way into our classroom, I thought this would be a perfect fall craft for us to work on!  

 

All you need is some felt (I love Purl's collection of felt, found here) - you could use fabric as well, but the felt is so nice because you don't  have to worry about frayed edges.  I just cut all the edges with my pinking shears and then folded it in half (and I made our measurements slightly bigger than what Martha said).   The girls sewed the sides together using embroidery floss with the simple running stitch. 

 

Then, using a different colored felt, they wrote their initial and embroidered over it using a backstitch.  We cut it out in the shape of a heart and used craft glue to glue it on.  Easy peasy!

Stuff it with a small pack of tissues (or a beautiful handkerchief) and you're set for the flu and cold season in style.  I remember my grandmother used to keep one tucked under her watch or bracelet, but I think this is a much cuter (and cleanlier) way of holding them. 
The possibilities of this project are endless...some embroidered flowers or fancy monogrammed initial would be lovely - and they'd make wonderful gifts! 

Mother's Day Gifts

Mother's Day always presents a dilemma for a teacher- what are you going to have the kids make to give to their mothers?  When I used to have a class of 20, my options were limited, especially since I usually waited until the week before to get started.  But now that I only have 5 students, I have more options and time to make something for their moms.  Last year, we made bookmarks with pressed flowers.  I wanted to stay with the bookmark theme and found this great idea from Soulemama(this is one of the crafts that will be coming out in her new book, but you can download the instructions for just this project here). 

Basically, I had the kids draw a picture of themselves and write their name on a piece of linen, using a disappearing marker from the craft store.  Then, I just used the backstitch to embroider over their drawing- I stuck with just one color, since it's faster and I like the look of it.  Then I cut the fabric to size (8" x 4") and set it aside.  Then I chose a fabric for the backside and cut it to size (8" x 4"), and also cut a piece of interfacing the same size. 

Next, I ironed the interfacing to the wrong side of the back fabric.  The interfacing makes the fabric sturdier and not so floppy.  So then, I put the right sides together, sewed them together leaving a hole in the top to turn them inside out.  Insert a ribbon folded in half, sew up the opening, and you're done! 

 

I love this idea because now it's something their moms will have forever, with their child's drawing, like Henry's above- he wanted to draw himself holding a sword, which I thought was great!  Where else can you get that kind of gift? 

Handmade gifts are the best. 

Quilt Frames

This school year, I wanted the kids to give their families something handmade, and I decided to take the idea from the quilt frame I made (using Posie's instructions from her new book).  Instead of using a photograph, I had the kids draw a portrait of their family.  I put it on fabric using iron-on transfer paper.  Then they added some detail with embroidery (they've been learning some basic stitches at school- straight stitch, backstitch, split stitch, and satin stitch).  After that, I framed it with fabric and added two loops on the back to hang it.  And voila!  Many hours of sewing later, here's what we ended up with:

 


 (apparantly they taste good)





 

I'm so happy with how they came out!