A few weeks ago we stocked up on pretty pillow cases at our thrift store on 50% off everything day. Today we finally got around to re -purposing them into grocery bags.

We used 2 pillow cases per grocery bag.

First off use a seam ripper and take top of pillow case off or just cut it off.

Take this top piece you cut off and cut it in half. These will be your straps.

Pick out some pretty colored thread for your project!!

Fold strap pieces in half (with pattern on the in inside) and sew the ends together.

Now take the two pillow cases and turn the one you will be using for the lining inside out. Stuff that one inside the outer one.

Now either sew the two pillow cases together at the top or just fold it down as far as you like to show the liner on the outside of the bag and sew. Don’t forget to sew on your straps!

Presto–really big  and sturdy grocery bags!!

So easy-I even managed to make the blue one all by myself!!

We haven’t been too crafty around here-well Ginger and I haven’t been. Molly on the other hand decided to make a hat on Sunday so she sat down with a measuring tape and paper and pencil and started measuring her head in all different ways and then doubling some numbers and dividing some and even quadrupling some. Asking me what I thought and honestly I had no idea. It really didn’t make too much sense to me but she is touched in that creative,       “I can see things in 3D”, sort of way so I knew she didn’t really need help, just needed to say it all out loud. She was making the hat with several panels, hence all the math.  She used tissue paper to make sort of a pattern and then a quick trip to the fabric store with her money and coupon in hand. She remembered Lina had a hat shaped like the one she wanted to make and thought it might be a good idea to look at hers. That hat was made a little differently than she had patterned. About 30 minutes later she came upstairs wearing this!!! Complete with her first time using the  zig zag stitch for the  eyes. Well done!

As someone that barely sews-Can you tell how impressed I am????

And it fits perfectly! All that real math. She did not use a typical equation or traditional route to get her answers but obviously by the fit, her answers were correct. It’s moments like this that re-enforce my unschooling choices!

I have been spending lots of time reading unschoolers blogs and really wanting to learn more about unschooling. Although we have been unschoolers for a while I am feeling the need to learn more and the need for more support lately. Not because I doubt it but more because I want to embrace unschooling more fully. I feel as though I may have been just talking the talk so to speak. Like giving my kids freedom to make choices with their time, money etc… and then inserting my opinion or worse taking back the control. I am feeling the need for an unschooling boost. So I have been reading Swiss Army Wife,    An Unschooling Life,   Kelly Hogaboom,   The Expanding Life,  The Organic Sister,   Childs Play,  Radical Unschooling,    Joyfully Rejoicing, Organic Learning. Whew! That is a lot of reading!!

But I am so interested in learning all I can about unschooling. I have even been listening to a few podcasts.  So between reading, writing, listening to and discussing unschooling, I have really immersed my self in learning all I can about it. I seem to do that often.  For awhile I will eat, sleep and breath recipes and cooking or raw food or photography or running. I seem to devote all my time to my current passions and then when I feel I have mastered the subject or exhausted all there is to know about soup, or I lose interest and find something else to investigate, I move on.  Often times I come back to the things that interest me although sometimes not.  Sometimes I have learned all I need to on say, how to make my own laundry soap but not really interested in the chemical make up of it. Leave that to the scientists, the people that are interested.

I see my kids acting quite the same way. They fill their time getting their questions answered or their activity, level, or project mastered whether that takes an hour or several days.   Once their needs are met they feel satisfied to move on.  They are setting internal goals and following their own timetable. How appropriate! And how real.  As Molly demonstrated it often involves math and reading or science and history and all those school subjects that seem to continually creep back into our lives as a measure of competency.   Can’t it just be what it is. Can’t it just be Wow-Molly made a great hat without all the educational baggage that comes with it.( For Molly it was this way-she didn’t know she was “doing math” she was just figuring out how to make the hat fit her head.)

I say educational for lack of a better term, school curriculum? I am constantly learning and educating myself as is everyone else in the world every second of every day-yet it often goes unnoticed when it occurs outside of formal school. The term “self taught”  usually comes with a wow factor or a a sense  of  “can you believe he/she learned that on their own?”   Really??? We are all self taught when it comes down to it. Even those who went to school for umpteen years-you didn’t learn everything in school. Some stuff we learned on our own, by following directions, looking on the internet, watching other people and by doing it ourselves.  It is those that earn that self taught label that followed their passions far enough to be accomplished publicly or are making a living at something they loved enough to practice and perfect.

The way that I am pursuing my interests isn’t any different from the way my kids are living their lives-yet no one is looking at me funny. Giving my kids the freedom to learn all the time in their own way, whether it be all crazy, and mixed up front to back or back to front or for two weeks or two minutes is huge. Imagine the possibilities. Imagine if you could spend your time learning  what ever you wanted. In the way that best suits you-reading up on the subject, joining a group, watching movies about it, talking to others that have knowledge on the subject. Really immersing yourself in that topic. Well our kids are doing that every day. And not just in one area because as so often times it  happens that one thing leads to another. So many things are related to another and learning doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It happens in life. And in real life math is not separated from english from science from history. Only in school.

The little something for your dryer as promised in my Natural Laundry Soap post

Homemade natural Fabric Softener Pouch

I try to always credit recipes and ideas when I post them here and these fabric softener pouches  came from a book on SouleMama’s side bar which I checked out of our local library.  MAKE YOUR PLACE by Raleigh Briggs

Also-let it be known, that I HATE the smell of dryer sheets. When they waft out of the dryer vent and scent the whole neighborhood or  especially when you pass someone while out running and the lingering smell of Downey or Snugglie fills my nose!!! Really that should be outlawed. These pouches are in no way overwhelming or offensive.

The directions say you will need to make pouches out of tightly woven fabric. I have never sewed before so I thought this would be a great little first project for me!!

These really don’t need to be very big at all-maybe 4 x 3.

Fold  a rectangle of fabric in half and sew up the sides. Add a couple of spoonfuls of this mixture:

1/2 cup baking soda

1 T arrowroot powder

1 T rice flour or cornstarch

1-3 drops essential oils of your choice

Tie up the pouch tightly and pop it in the dryer with your clothes. Refill the pouch when the scent fades. I made a couple with different scents…Lemon-Eucalyptus and the other Lemon-Orange.

The scent from these pouches is very subtle, really just fresh smelling, soft laundry.

We  have been very busy around here!! We read Sun Bread by Elisa Kleven and used her recipe to make a little sun of our own! I love, love, love her books. The illustrations are beautiful.

We made tin can lanterns

We made fire starters by dipping pine cones into melted bees wax

And we made these beautiful bees wax lanterns to hold a small tea light, by repeatedly dipping a water balloon in melted bees wax.

And then there has been the baking…………….

And the eating of course!

We are almost ready but still have a few last minute things to prepare and gather. Looking forward to the next week full of celebrations with friends and family from both near and far. We’re almost there!! Almost………

Not only was it dark because we only had 9 hrs of day light today but we also said goodbye to our much loved Rudy dog this morning. RIP boy. There will never be another Rudy dog!

Tonight we are reading books by lantern and  sleeping in the living room by the fire. A little change of scenery for the darkest day of the year. Sniff, Sniff

This project from Family Fun takes a little bit of time so plan ahead!

T-shirts were buy one get one free the day I was at the store so instead of trying my luck at the thrift store I bought new shirts for this project. But they didn’t have white shirts in my kids sizes so I went with black and a sparkly blue fabric paint. I like the way it tuned out but you can use whatever color shirts or paint you choose.

You will need

black marker, paper,cardboard,  newspaper, cotton t shirt, tacky glue, sponge brush, fabric paint

1. Use a black marker to draw a thick lined snowflake template on the paper or download one at Family Fun

2. Place template over the cardboard and slip both inside shirt. You should be able to see the template through the shirt. Because we used a dark shirt we just used the glue tip and drew ours free hand using the template as a reference.

3. Using a thin line of tacky glue-about 1/4 inch wide-trace your snowflake design. Let it dry for 10 mins then fill in any gaps with additionl glue. Let the glue dry completely until it is transparent. We left ours overnight

4. Dip the sponge brush in the fabric paint and dab around the snowflake, completely covering the entire area. Use less paint towards the outer edge. Let the paint dry overnight.

5. Soak the tee in warm water for about 10 mins to soften the glue. Peel off the glue and let the shirt dry. Follow package directions to set the paint.

I swear to heaven above that these really do taste like Sour Patch Kids. Only they are a little more healthy!

I saw this recipe on local, Columbus blogger Rachel’s,  Hounds in the Kitchen. I knew right away that I would love this sweet and Oh, so sour concoction!! And boy was I right! I barely have any enamel left on my teeth after eating almost a whole bag of these sugary, sour goodies.

You will need to mix :

2 T of honey with 2 T of hot water in a bowl. To that add grated orange peel, 1/2 t cinnamon (more or less)  and 1 teaspoon (more or less)  vanilla extract.

Rinse a bag of cranberries and add to the bowl, mixing to coat.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment and pour a mix of 1 to 2 cups of powder sugar and granulated sugar.

With a slotted spoon, add cranberries to the sugar mix and coat well.  Let sit about 30 minutes or until sugar hardens. Store in a jar for 3 to 4 days. I didn’t use a slotted spoon so  mine are still drying since this morning. But that didn’t stop me from eating them all day!!!