of shakespeare, grandmothers, & odd tinkers

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there is nothing in all the world as glorious as shakespeare.

more than all of my obsessions & collections combined, am i swoony for the bard. yes, even over coffee. gasp!

i really ought to have this print properly framed. & i only just noticed the window reflections in the glass; well photographed, me!

i no longer own as many copies of his works as i once did. many years ago a certain manlyman convinced me that i did not need eleventy billion boxes of books (we moved quite a bit), so i culled my collections.

the above is my favorite. it was my grandmother's, from when she attended usc (university southern california). it was also the one i used through high school, so contains notes in both our hands.

this map of shakespeare's britain came with the aforementioned book. actually, i doubt it came with it, but it was inside when she passed the book to me. i wish i'd taken better care of the map; it is now in such a sad state. i suppose i should have it seen to, before it falls apart completely.

my grandmother gave me the wee sonnet book as well. in fact, the four in the first photo, & the one below this also came from her.

there are more books, & other items of a shakespearean nature stored in the garage. one thing i want to dig out is the darling of my collection. it's a page from an old magazine, that shows hamlet's soliloquy, as well as the same written in beat. in beatnik? anyway, it's quite fabulous, & yes, it also came from my grandmother. two peas in a pod, we were.

this is my newest. it was my mother's. i was able to bring home a large box of her books on our recent visit. not near as many as i had wanted, but i am not pouting. much.

i did not check thehobbit's room, to see what he has squirreled away. i know he has a few things. oh! i forgot to take a photo of the brass rubbing of shakespeare's bust i did a bunch of years ago. you shall have to use your imagination for that one. don't forget to make it a bit fuzzy & out of focus, so it matches these photos.

recently my darling tinker went on holiday in england, & visited the globe. whatever! was my reaction as well. i was thrilled to learn that she'd brought me a prezzie from there. can you guess what she lovingly bestowed upon me?

a wee trinket? no. a box of soil dug from the grounds? no, again. a book? a poster? a whimsy? no, no, & still no.

i shan't keep you in suspense one moment longer.

my very own globe theatre kitchen towel. i love my odd tinker, i do.

~peace.

edited to add :: you must watch this show (it is in six parts).

toddler sewing basket - cable ties

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the other day i mentioned cable (or zip) ties. now some of you might be thinking um kat? cable ties in a toddler's sewing basket? i know! here is what happened:

in many toddler activities i had noticed the presence of pipe cleaners. the sweet tots string things upon them, weave them onto other things, & poke them through still other things. the last was my worry.

elfling does enjoy poking. he also enjoys quickly finding more mischievous uses for things. sure, poking a long fuzzy thing, with a sharp pokey bit at either end, into a colander/strainer/etc is great fun for a few seconds. but why do that when there are eyes/brothers/etc within poking distance? exactly.

recently manlyman asked me to buy him a pack of cable ties, only the ones i bought were the wrong size, so i tossed them into the studio, & promptly forgot about them. a few days later i saw them & had an epiphany - cable ties in place of pipe cleaners! oh the cleverness of me.

here you can see the cable ties woven into the acorn thingamajig.

& here they are poked into the acorn thing. a colander does work, much better in fact, but i was too lazy to get ours.

here you can see using a cable tie to strengthen a stack of spools & wheels.

& more of the same.

here the spools & wheels are strung onto the tie, & other ties are poked into the wooden bits.

we lucked out in that the bag in which the cable ties came is a resealable one. another activity!

it took elfling nearly as long to put each tie into the bag, as it took to play with everything. i am going to enjoy this while it lasts, as i am sure he'll eventually realize he can shove in many at a time.

so that is the why & how of it. weaving, poking, stringing; it's all a first step in mastering the skills needed to sew. sans bloody brothers & missing eyeballs.

~peace.

sewing basket - the felt stringer

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as i promised when last we chatted, here is more about one of the items in elfling's sewing basket - the felt stringer. yes, i could possibly have chosen a better name for this, but i spent all of my creative energy in cutting eleventy billion wee felt squares instead.

elfling loves playing with this. it's simple really; you slip the button through the slit in the felt square, & slide it to the button at the other end of the ribbon; then repeat with the remaining squares. rather, the toddler does. or you. i am not judging.

i am told this gives them practice buttoning, & that you can control the activity by asking them to string only one color, or alternate colors, & the like. my observation? it does. better though, is that this activity also keeps my darling elfling still & quiet. le sigh.

the others who made this used a shorter ribbon than i. quite possibly i perhaps maybe did not read all the way through, or pay close enough attention to the photos, but whatever the reason, i made a freakylong ribbon. apparently it does not matter what length, because elfling does not seem to mind.

i used wool felt for this project. i strongly recommend you NOT use regular felt, as it gives. you are making a slit in the center of your small squares, which if pulled too hard, could rip the square apart. also, the slits will definitely stretch, so the button would then slip through the space too easily. i know wool is pricey, but you don't need that much for this activity. still, if the cost is a deal-breaker, if you cannot find wool felt in your area, or if wool is an allergen issue, opt for eco felt over regular. i know you can buy squares of it at the larger fabric & craft stores. eco felt is much stronger than regular.

here is the how-to:

length of ribbon 

wool or eco felt 

sharp scissors

needle & strong thread (i used embroidery floss)

two medium or large buttons (they need not match)

* fold the end of the ribbon over, & over once more, then press with your iron. only joking, i did not iron it. stitch across the fold, then stitch the button in place. you want your button to be affixed  firmly, so it will stay put with much toddler play. do the same at the other end of the ribbon, with the other button. 

* cut eleventy billion 2-inch squares of felt. snip a slit in the center of each. measure the slit against your button. you'll want the button to ease through with only the barest of resistance. 

* show your wee one how to use it, & go enjoy a quiet cuppa.

~peace.

notes of note ::

in case you wanted to know the measurements of the felt stringer i made:

ribbon - just over feet

buttons - 3/4 of an inch across

felt - 2x2 inches

slit - a hair over 3/4 of an inch (see button measurement)

# of squares - 34

inches to centimeters converter

toddler sewing basket

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if you follow me on pinterest you will know that i have a toddler homeschool board. on it i pin activities that i think elfling will like. not all have been the huge success i had hoped they would be (example), but others have been. the toddler sewing kit is one such success. here are the beginnings of ours.

the stringing kit long ago lost its favor, but reclaimed it by being added to the sewing basket. fickle toddler. we still store this set in the pouch i had sewn for it, to help keep the basket organized.

yarn & a blunt yarn needle for sewing practice. i have wrapped the yarn (there are actually two shorter lengths on this) around a spool. it helps eliminate a tangled mess, & elfling thinks it is fun to wrap & unwrap.

the others used mesh in an embroidery hoop for practice. he tried it, but no matter how taut i made the mesh, there was too much give, & he would become frustrated. i should say here that elfling is not what you'd call the most patient of toddlers. i am sure that most wee ones would do well with the mesh-in-hoop version. happily, i had this metal tray? decoration? basket? (i honestly do not know its original purpose) acorn in the studio which works perfectly.

also in the basket: a nylon zipper, a bag of cable ties (aka zip ties), & a felt stringer. more on the last two another day.

if you have any other ideas for the toddler sewing basket, i would love to hear about them. you know. in the comment section. which this blog has. nudge, nudge.