Sew proud

In addition to the standard core classes, Aidan also has an "encore" class each marking period - music, art, technology and FACS. His encore class this marking period is FACS, which is Family And Consumer Science; in other words, home economics. The main focus of this nine week session is learning the basics of sewing, and using those basic skills to make a pillow. I think making a pillow is a very smart idea, a gender neutral project that is useful.

Each student had to bring in fabric of their choice along with a coordinating color (or colors) of felt and a spool of thread. We had a fun time in Jo-Ann Fabric looking at aisle after aisle of fabric before he settled on a pirate/treasure map print.

Aidan has really enjoyed learning to use a sewing machine and I am proud to say that he had absolutely no problem with learning to sew. He has watched enough episodes of Project Runway with me to know that men absolutely do sew. Almost every day he came home with a story about what he learned, how he had to redo part of the pillow and how the project was progressing.

Yesterday he came home with the finished pillow:

 

Aidan did a great job on the pillow and he is [rightfully] very proud of it. Don't ask me why a pirate treasure map pillow has a duck applique on it because I don't know...quack marks the spot? It seems that each student had to make an applique out of felt and there were templates or stencils available from which to choose, and he chose a duck. And why not a duck?

Pumpkin tats

One of the many aspects of village life that we like is how many people decorate for holidays and Halloween is at the top of that holiday list. On my morning walks, I see orange lights, giant cobwebs with spiders, ghosts, tombstones, zombie hands emerging from the ground, and jack o'lanterns. Numerous jack o'lanterns.

We like jack o'lanterns but we don't like carving them, and haven't in several years. We don't like the mess, they never come out quite like we envision, and there is always the opportunity for someone to get injured. And by "someone", I mean me; my palm is still healing from an unfortunate mandolin accident about a month ago. Let's just say I have major trust issues right now with sharp kitchen tools.

So when James spotted these pumpkin "transfers", we knew we had our answer to pumpkin decorating:

 

Transfers, schmansfers - even the directions state "apply with water just like a temporary tattoo."

After dinner last night, James and I got to work on the two pumpkins we bought earlier in the day (Aidan was too busy playing his allotted computer time to help with something as silly as pumpkin decorating). The transfers are incredibly easy to apply, even on uneven pumpkin surfaces, and stand out well against the orange. We had enough transfers to do two different faces on each pumpkin for a Jekyll and Hyde effect.

Pumpkins, sides A:

Pumpkins sides B:

Although we can't light them and enjoy the flickering jack o'lanterns at night, we are still very pleased with the results and will take this pumpkin decoration route again. Thank you, Martha!