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the house that giacometti and biedrzycki built

giacometti and biedrzycki art project

Last month my daughter studied the artist Alberto Giacometti. For her project, she chose to make a sculpture in the style of The Palace at 4 a.m.

Also during March, her school was learning about David Biedrzycki and reading the Ace Lacewing Bug Detective series. Although odd to some, it made perfect sense to me when she decided to fill her house with insects. We started calling them her Biedrzycki bugs.

giacometti and biedrzycki art project

Most of the materials are wood: bamboo skewers, dowels, beads, toothpicks and sticks. There’s also a bit of yarn, foil and clay. I’m not sure what the pink stuff is! I can tell you that one of the pink bugs is a bee and the other is a cocoon with a little green caterpillar sticking out. Also taking up residence is a walking stick and spider.

giacometti and biedrzycki art project

There’s a front and back door, a shelf for holding books, knitting and crochet (yes! she drew yarn, needles and hooks on the shelves!), a table and a painting hanging on the “wall.”

I’m constantly amazed by this girl of mine and can’t help but wonder where her interests will lead her in life.

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granny square scarf from yarn scraps

granny scarf

Too many of my projects are in progress. I really needed to finish something, so I did what any crazy crafter would do. I started something new.

Last week I grabbed some scrap yarn from my bin of miscellaneous ends and started making squares. I used up almost every bit of these colors with about one yard of white and a few inches of pink left over.

I don’t know what I’m going to do with a kid-sized scarf at the beginning of spring. It was 80 degrees today! My daughter tried it on, but hasn’t asked for it. Maybe I’ll tuck it away and see if she changes her mind in the Fall.

pattern: the motif is from Red Heart’s Copenhagen pillow designed by Yvonne Eijkenduijn of Yvestown. I added an extra round to make the squares bigger — basically repeating round three with a chain between the double crochet clusters.

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crochet flower hair ties

crochet flower hair ties

These are way overdue. I promised them to my daughter a long time ago. I even put the hair ties on my desk to remind myself to make them. I found them last week when I cleaned my office. Whoops.

I had made her pink and blue ones, but she needed red and white. Why? Husker colors, of course. She’ll be happy to see these when she gets home from school today.

The pattern is the Five Petal Pointy Flower from Crochet Adorned. Yarn is from my thrifted stash of cotton.

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homemade fish sticks

homemade fish stick recipe

A few weeks ago a friend told me Trader Joe’s has halibut fish sticks. I got excited because my daughter can’t have cod, and well, cod is pretty much the main ingredient in all stick -shaped fish. There must have been a run on them because I’ve checked a few times and can’t find any. TJ’s had some nice wild caught dover sole, though, so I decided to try my hand at sticks from scratch.

I checked out a few recipes online and and wound up doing my own thing. It seems like the trick to a good stick is dipping in flour first, then egg, then bread crumbs. I mixed some Old Bay in with the flour, used egg whites from a carton, and got all fancy with panko bread crumbs tossed with salt, white pepper and garlic powder.

They turned out very tasty and pretty healthy, too. I sprayed a little olive oil on the pan and over the breaded fish, baked them until the insides were 140 degrees and then put them under the broiler for a few minutes to brown the crumbs.

I have to admit that even though these are much better for you than the processed ones, I’m still interested in trying those halibut sticks!

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pattern: crochet troll doll dress

I’ve had this little troll for almost 20 years. She’s worn a Tae Kwon Do uniform for most of that time. I’m not sure exactly when my daughter decided the troll was hers. Isn’t it funny how kids kind of take over your things without you realizing it?

troll dress crochet pattern

The other night my daughter announced that she was naming the troll Isabel. Apparently, Isabel has grown tired of her Tae Kwon Do uniform and asked for a dress. Could I make one?

I thought there might be some other trolls out there who’d like a dress, so I’m sharing the pattern. It may seem big while you are making it, but remember it has to fit over those cute, chubby feet.

Pattern is written for the four-inch size troll doll.

Materials
sport or dk weight yarn (yarn was from my stash and is 12 wpi)
size F/5 (3.75 mm) crochet hook
small button
needle and thread for sewing button
tapestry needle for weaving ends

gauge: 4 stitches per inch

ch: chain
hdc: half double crochet
hdcDecrease: half double crochet decrease
sl st: slip stitch

half double crochet decrease: yarn over, hook through stitch, yarn over, pull through stitch, yarn over again, hook through next stitch, yarn over, pull through stitch, yarn over one more time, pull through all five loops

  • ch 32, join with sl st in back loop* of first chain to make a circle
  • ch 2, skip next stitch, hdc around in back loops* of chain, join in the round with a sl st in the top chain – 32 stitches
  • ch 2, skip next stitch, [hdc 6, hdcDecrease] around, join in the round with a sl st in the top chain – 28 stitches
  • ch 2, skip next stitch, [hdc 5, hdcDecrease] around, join in the round with a sl st in the top chain – 24 stitches
  • ch 2, skip next stitch, [hdc 4, hdcDecrease] around, join in the round with a sl st in the top chain, break yarn – 20 stitches
  • find the front six stitches of the dress, join yarn, chain 2, hdc next five stitches, turn work
  • ch 2, hdc next five stitches, do not break yarn
  • sew on the button and put the dress on the troll

troll dress crochet pattern

The next step depends on how tightly you chain and the size of your button. Chain 20 stitches or however many you need to make the strap go from one side, around the back of the neck, to the front and around the button. Break yarn and use the tapestry needle to thread the end a few stitches back to make the button loop.

Weave in ends.

*Go into the bumps on the back of the chain, not the stitches on the front of the chain.

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finished: noro cowl

noro stockinette cowl

It’s been forever since I talked about this cowl. In fact, it took entirely too long to complete. That’s because my daughter fell in love with fleece and decided wool makes her itchy. (Interestingly enough, she still likes her wool hat and mittens.)

I wasn’t sure whether or not I should keep knitting or rip it out, so it sat in the UFO pile for awhile. Then one day I decided to try it on myself. It fits! It’s snug, but definitely not too small. So I finished it up.

Of course now that I’m thinking of keeping it for myself, she mentioned that she’d wear it if I lined it with fleece. I don’t know. I kind of like finally being finished with this project.

What do you think?

project notes: cowl beginning, noro mittens, noro kitty hat

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valentine’s day notepad cards

valentine card notepads

It’s another year of handmade Valentine’s Day cards. I’m still trying to keep things simple and fun for my daughter. We have less to make this year (only 22!), which is good because it was a struggle to get through all of the (34!) pencil cards last year.

I enlisted some help from technology for these. She wrote her Valentine’s Day message once, I scanned it, printed out a bunch of little versions, and glued them to the back of these cute heart-shaped notepads. I told her that she could decorate them anyway she liked and she chose to just color in the hearts. That was fine with me. We knocked these out Sunday morning and have plenty of time for her to make a few special cards for friends and family.

notes: I found the notepads at Target in the seasonal aisle. Here are cards from past years:

Are you making Valentines this year? Share in the comments!

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review: superheroines isabella, lulu and tille

I’ve been volunteering in my daughter’s school library for over 4 months now. My job is to help the kids pick out books. Not to choose topics, but to help them locate different subjects and authors and to use a shelf marker when browsing so books stay in order.

I usually start with, “What are you interested in reading today? We have lots of books on [insert holiday] and [insert season].” There are usually a few takers on those subjects. Also popular are the usual suspects — Curious George, Scooby Doo, Clifford, Maisy — and the occasional requests for animals and fish. However, the overwhelming answer for boys is football and superheroes. For girls, it’s princesses and fairy tales.

I found it interesting that girls never ask for books about superheroes, especially since I grew up watching Super Friends, so I asked my daughter about it. “Mom, I want to read about girls.” Fair enough. Most superheroes are guys. In fact, I could only find one Wonder Woman book in the entire Easy Reader superhero section at Barnes and Noble.

books for girls

So I set out to see if I could find some superheroine books. It wasn’t easy, but I found a few great stories that my daughter and I really enjoyed. These girls and women are pretty amazing, even without capes. Ok, so one has wings and one sewed herself racing clothes, but you know what I mean. (All book links go to amazon.com)

My Name Is Not Isabella: Just How Big Can a Little Girl Dream?: My daughter really liked how Isabella imagined herself as great women in history: Sally Ride, Annie Oakley, Rosa Parks, Marie Curie and Elizabeth Blackwell. I like that she was learning about women who changed the world without needing a super power. There’s a similar book for boys, My Name Is Not Alexander, which is on our to-read list.

Ladybug Girl: I thought that this was going to be a superhero book, but it’s more about creative and imaginative play. When her mom and dad are too busy to play and her brother says she’s too little, Lulu becomes LadyBug Girl and invents her own fun. (She does save some ants in distress.) I still liked it and so did my daughter. We’ll definitely be checking out the other books in the series.

Tillie the Terrible Swede: How One Woman, a Sewing Needle, and a Bicycle Changed History This by far was my daughter’s favorite book of the three. It’s the story of Tillie Anderson who came to America from Sweden and worked as a seamstress before becoming an avid bicyclist. After realizing that her long skirts were getting in her way, she used her sewing skills to make a “shocking” pants outfit more suited to riding. Today she’s considered the world champion of women’s racing.

What are your favorite superheroine books? Share in the comments!

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angry bird

angry bird plush

I’ve never played Angry Birds. My husband and daughter have, though. It’s not my first choice in children’s video games, but once my daughter was exposed to mean pigs stealing eggs, there was no going back.

Instead of constantly being the Debbie Downer who doesn’t have the game on my phone, I asked Santa if he would bring us the Angry Birds card game. We haven’t played yet, but it’s made by UNO, so I’m hoping it will be a fun alternative.

Once I learned there was an Angry Bird plush pattern, I knew I had to make one to go along with the game. So far, the bird has been a big hit. I’ll let you know about the game once we get a chance to play.

pattern: Obsessively Stitching has patterns for all of the characters. (I had no idea there were so many different birds in this game!)

stash: Red and white fleece are leftovers from other projects. Black and orange fabrics are actually craft felt, which worked better than I expected.

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review: books for young artists

We’ve been doing a lot of reading lately and the main subject has been art. Since it’s too soon to write about my holiday projects, I thought I’d share some of the books we’ve been enjoying. (All book links go to amazon.com)

Matisse the King of Color

Matisse the King of Color: This was a spur of the moment choice from a display at the library. I didn’t expect my daughter to devour the pages with such interest. It’s the story of Matisse’s friendship with his nurse Monique, who later becomes a nun and inspires him to create the Chapelle du Rosaire. The book is illustrated in his bold, colorful style. It’s also part of a series of books about artists written by Laurence Anholt. We will definitely be checking out others in the collection.

Me, Frida

Me, Frida: My daughter first learned about Frida Kahlo from an online resource at school called PebbleGo and was excited when I brought this home. The book focuses on Kahlo’s time in San Francisco with Diego Rivera, in which she became more sure of herself, her artistic style and her talent. It doesn’t mention how her health problems influenced her art, although my daughter already knew about that from PebbleGo.

Through Georgia's Eyes

Through Georgia’s Eyes: My daughter also learned about Georgia O’Keeffe from PebbleGo. This short book fits in a lot of history, starting with O’Keeffe’s artistic aspirations as a child all the way up through her life at Ghost Ranch. I really like how this book emphasizes her determination to earn a living as a painter despite being told that only boys became artists. A girl wishing to be one was “scandalous!”

When Pigasso Met Mootisse

When Pigasso Met Mootisse: This book was a recommendation from the school librarian, who knows how much my daughter loves art. The story is loosely based on the real-life relationship between Matisse and Picasso and does a good job comparing and contrasting their styles. Plus, it will make you laugh out loud. Seriously!

Do you have any favorite art books for kids? Post your links in the comments!