Monday, December 8, 2014

Little Hands Creating






He took his time as his hands moved the needle and thread back and forth through the felt. There were moments of pause, and then back to work. He worked slowly, but mindfully, focused on completing his handwork. Christmas music played in the background, and there was chatter as he worked side by side with his friend. I sat quietly, needles in my hand, knitting. I helped changed thread, but mostly just sat, watching and listening.

It is in moments like this, when we sit together creating, that my heart sings. Watching his little hands work, listening to the things he talks about, and just being together, sharing moments of creativity.

Being creative, crafting, making art, these are things we do every day, but there is something about this time of year, with the busy of the world around us, that calls us to connect a little deeper to our creative side. So we do, with festive crafts and handwork. And as we move through the season our home fills up with the goodness of creations by the littlest hands in our home.

45 comments:

  1. Wow! Great job little man... Art with my daughter is some of our most wonderful times together as well.

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    1. Thanks Yanic. I am always amazed at how much peace it brings us both.

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  2. What a cutie! He did such a great job- takes a lot of patience! We have been crafting A Lot lately too, very fun and keeps us sane during the cold winter months!

    www.hollandsreverie.blogspot.com

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    1. This one did. He took about 50 minutes to do this, and worked steadily on it, with a few breaks to stare out the window :)

      Enjoy your crafting. xo

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  3. That is so sweet! He did a great job embroidering the tree and I can imagine how much you enjoyed being creative together!

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    1. Thanks Anke. The time we spend creating together really is wonderful.

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  4. Умничка! Очень красивая работа!

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  5. Your last paragraph summed up my crafting feeling exactly Kim, such beautiful words.
    There is a lot of extra crafting in the works here too, I love it!

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    1. Thank you Tracey. This time of year is filled with so much crafting goodness. Enjoy!

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  6. Oh, well done, Reece! That looks awesome!

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    1. Thank you my friend, I will pass that one to him :)

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  8. I love this. Some of my favorite memories are doing crafts alongside my mom. There is nothing sweeter then sitting down with Ree and doing these same things.

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    1. Thanks Jen. I hope Reece carries these memories with him too.

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  9. Love it Kim! Tell Reece good job! We are enjoying Christmas music daily too. Now just to get over our lingering illness in time for Christmas...

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    1. Thanks Tiffany, I will. Oh no, I do hope you guys feel better soon. It is not fun being sick this time of year.

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  10. I have fond memories of my son doing the same thing. He loved all kinds of crafts and we would sit together and get into a silent rhythm :) Loved the photo and the remembrance :)

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    1. Thanks Karen. I am trying to soak up these moments, and savour them, it seems to be flying by much too fast.

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  11. what lovely embroidery Reece !!!

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  12. His stitches are very even. Tell him well done. Such a great skill. I have been teaching both girls needlework and it's so wonderful for their fine motor skills. Could you tell me a few other things you've had Reece try?

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    1. He spent a lot of time on this KC, about 50 minutes, and was very meticulous. It was interesting to watch.

      We do embroidery, hand sewing, wet felting, weaving and finger knitting...I come up with projects that incorporate these activities and then on handwork day, which is Monday, we spend a good chunk of the afternoon doing it.

      This year I have been trying to do a few longer projects, things we have on the go. He is working on finger knitting a skipping rope right now, and last month each Monday we did a step in the processing of wool. We carded it, then dyed it, then used it for wet felting some stars, and then thread the stars to make a garland.

      He has a basket of yarn at the ready, it holds a variety of yarn, with sticks for God's eyes, and his finger knitting. He can grab something from there at any time to work on, and we often take time in the afternoon to work on something from the basket...he will finger knit or weave a God's eye and I will sit beside him knitting. Love those moments.

      Hope that helps. If you want more ideas, shoot me an email, I love coming up with things for us to do, and would be happy to share more with you.

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    1. Thank you. He is pretty proud of it, and it happy to seeing as the back drop for our nature table :)

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    1. Thank you, he is pretty pleased with it :)

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  15. Great work Reece! I love your Christmas tree. xo

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  16. They are special moments aren't they. Happy to hear they continue as your boys get older :)

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  17. Well done! Didn't he make a star on burlap last year? His stitches keep getting better and better.

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    1. Thanks. Yes, we do embroidery regularly in our "school" days. He has done stars, birds, flowers, etc. He loves it, and I love displaying them :)

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  18. Oh he's done a beautiful job - we've done a little sewing onto butter muslin and felt looks like it would be a great next step!

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    1. Thanks Carie, he really enjoys his handwork time. We have always used burlap, this was the first time with felt and it work very well. I think it would be a great next step. Enjoy!

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  19. Well done, Reece! The tree you stitched is gorgeous! I think your penpals are going to want to follow your lead on this! :)

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    1. Thanks Shel. Can't wait to see the creations from Grace and Emma :)

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  20. so lovely! i adore the way you captured and shared this sweet moment in your day. you are such an inspiring mother.

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    1. Awe, thank you Jenny, so kind of you to say. Honestly though, just like every other mama, trying to do my best every day, and soak up the goodness that being a mother is.

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  21. He did such a good job with it, beautiful. We love the crafting this time of year too, and then it's so wonderful when each Christmas you get to pull out precious makes of Christmas past.

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    1. Oh yes, Sally, pulling them out each year is so much fun. This year he is finally looking at things from last year and saying "I remember making this." Love it!

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