Wednesday 29 July 2015

Evan's Quilt



Last winter, I had in mind to sew a quilt in time to welcome our new baby, but sadly, our little Evan passed away when I had just barely begun working on it. A friend of mine had gone through her beautiful fabric stash and had selected a bag of  material that she thought I might like to use for it. I was about to return it to her when I changed my mind and decided to go ahead with the project. My "welcoming baby quilt" then became my "memory of baby quilt". A lot of tears and a lot of love have gone into this sewing (healing) project and though it cannot be used to comfort my little boy, it does now comfort me (somewhat).







Saturday 25 July 2015

Bringing Spirit Into Matter (and homeschooling)



I'm back from Bringing Spirit Into Matter summer workshops at the Rudolf Steiner Centre in Toronto and feeling very inspired and energized to start a new homeschooling year (hoping to start lessons again once our summer camps have ended mid-August). My friend Jan and I attended a workshop designed especially for homeschoolers. Our teacher (Marg Beard) was wonderful! She helped us to better understand Waldorf pedagogy, child and human development, identify our needs and our children's needs (and find ways to meet them), work on our homeschool rhythm and goals and she shared many ideas and tools to help us better organize our home environment and teach our children. We even learned some great new songs and games to try out with our kids! Wow! I'm amazed at how much I've learned and how much useful help I've received in one week! I also attended a Eurythmy class and silk and yarn dyeing workshop, both equally inspiring. I came home with a suitcase full of colourful silks and rainbow yarn and feel confident to keep working and experimenting with plant dyes at home, on my own or with the children. As a homeschooler, I felt very welcome at the Steiner Centre. I met many amazing Waldorf teachers and early childhood educators as well as other homeschoolers from all over the world. Everyone was happy to share their experience, exchange ideas and teaching material with others. It was interesting to be in the classrooms of the beautiful Toronto Waldorf School for our workshops and Jan and I were lucky to be able to stay on site at Hesperus (watch the video, it's interesting!).


beautifully lazured walls everywhere...



and stained glass...


the farm, hard to believe we are in Toronto!

plant dyeing workshop, so nice to do outside!






I also brought home some interesting books...



Saturday 11 July 2015

Leaving for Toronto - Départ pour Toronto



rhubarb pie/tarte à la rhubarbe

wild irises/iris sauvages

lupines/lupins




I'm preparing to leave for Toronto this weekend to attend summer art and education workshops at the Toronto Rudolf Steiner Centre. It should be an interesting week and I'm sure that I'll have lots to share here when I get back.

Je me prépare à quitter les Iles pour assister aux ateliers d'été portant sur l'art et l'éducation au Centre Rudolf Steiner de Toronto. Ce sera sans doute une semaine très riche et j'aurai probablement beaucoup de choses à partager ici à mon retour.

Have a good week!
Bonne semaine!





Tuesday 7 July 2015

Keep Calm Craft On: Basket of Fruit and Summer Skirt

Joining Nicole at Frontier Dreams for Keep Calm Craft On…

I recently finished preparing this basket of knitted play fruit for the children at our Waldorf-inspired summer camp. Sadly, my girls will not be attending this year (too old!). I adapted (knit in the round instead of flat) some patterns from Susie Johns  Knitted Fruit book. For the strawberries, apple and pear, I used patterns from Linda Dawkins. My Ravelry notes can be found here.



Over the weekend I sewed myself a new summer skirt using a skirt that I already own and love as a model (no pattern!). The fabric is lovely Anna Maria Horner




Happy crafting on!