Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Domestic Divas

I know a few of them - the ladies who do it all and make it look easy (my grandmother is one of them) - gardening, canning, immaculate housekeeping.... I'm not one of them but I enjoy the crafting/creative side of domesticity. I've been thinking lately about that creative drive in so many women - especially young mothers. Why do we get involved in so many projects when there is already so much to do just to keep the house running?

I found an interesting answer in my current favorite book: The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule. (check out her great blog: SouleMama)She asserts that our creative spirits are awakened when we are around young children and the purity of their rich creative energy. This idea resonated with me and I have been devouring her book and ideas for fostering in our children creativity and interest in the natural world.

When I pulled out the boxes of baby toys before Baby J was born I remember how disappointed I was as I looked inside. I thought to myself, no wonder babies get bored with this stuff, it all looks the same. In the end, it is all just brightly colored plastic - blah. (we do have a few things for Baby J to play with other than plastic :)

The book is great and I've been trying a few of her ideas - today we went on a walk looking for things representing the autumn season (a bit tricky in SoCal). We brought home some leaves, berries, and flower petals. FYI- The Crafty Crow is another great site for kid craft projects.

As for my projects, I am involved in a Virtual Quilting Bee organized by a friend of a friend. Twelve of us (I personally know only 4 of the ladies) swap 1 12 inch quilt block each month. The design and fabric is picked by the leader for that month. Sept was the first go at it. Here are pics of the finished products - everyone got the same fabric but could make up their own design (mine is the bottom right of the last picture):

3 comments:

Dave and Loralee said...

k-that quilt thing-so do you make 12 of your own block, then send them to each person? what do you make with them? that sounds like so much fun! and I'm totally going to check out that book!

Stephanie said...

No - everyone makes one square and sends it back to the month's leader. So each month you make 1 block and send it away and during your month 11 blocks get sent to you (made to your specifications - you can be as specific or loose as you want when it's your month - you send everyone at least 1 fat quarter's worth of fabric and the rest is up to you).

Lempskies said...

Cute quilt blocks! I want to make a quilt for our bed, but am a little worried about starting & not finishing such a large project. What a great idea to share the work & get such a variety of styles.