Weekend Handwork.. and music, and flowers, and bonnets

This weekend Chloe told me that all she wanted to do was sew. Oh how happy this makes me! I often think how wonderful it is that the girls and I have a lifetime of sewing, handwork, and crafting together. One of Chloe's favorite handwork activities is embroidery. I know that usually comes a bit later in the Waldorf curriculum, but seeing as how it is one of my favorite activities too, it's something she's done a lot of in the past year. She doesn't use a pattern, doesn't draw a sketch onto the fabric, she doesn't even question whether or not she can actually embroider the idea she has in her head. She just picks up the fabric, chooses her colors, and starts. And she seems to prefer to make her embroideries into pillows. (All hand sewing for now. Chessa joins in sometimes too, but on a much smaller scale, with her little 5 year old fingers.)

The smaller pillow is an embroidery she did last year, she just needed to stuff it and sew it up. The larger one is an embroidery she finished this weekend and then sewed and stuffed that one too.

Here they are tucked into bed with her and dolls this evening. Along with the first pillow she made last year. (The doll on the left is the first doll I made her 7 years ago. Quite worn, very well loved! Her name is Emerald. And then on the right is Emma, the doll I made her for her 9th birthday this summer.)

My activities for the weekend included some more work on the dolls, a little bit of knitting, and giving myself music lessons! We started with the pentatonic flute in first grade, and now two years later have unfortunately not gotten very far. But this year I got the Shepherd's Songbook by Elisabeth Lebret and we will see how it goes. Please wish me luck, I think I need it.

Do any of you have one of these pentatonic glockenspiels? It is wonderful. We got it a few years ago as a Christmas gift. Many nights before we gave it to the girls I would sit and play it. It is like fairy music!

And here is where our instruments and some of our special books live...

A pretty and yummy salad for dinner tonight...

and a little bunch of flowers the girls picked for me. I am supposed to let them dry and keep them on the windowsill by my bed in case I want to smell something nice!

And hooray, Jason just got home and the bonnet pattern came in the mail! Yes, I will certainly have to make another yellow bonnet someday, but I think we may have to start with something a little more autumn like. Maybe even lined with flannel?? Oh dear, this may have to wait a while... dolls, knitting, lesson planning... I think I need to go now..