A little corner of Maileg handmade happiness...

Oh Maileg! How I love you!

Maileg, designed by Danish artist Dorthe Mailil, uses such beautiful, soft-to-the-touch fabrics like washed linen and velour, I love their color pallete, and their textures and their fine detailing - whoever is manufacturing these marvels, great job! Ooh la la! So very nice!

So, quite recently the Maileg Ginger Family (size 1) arrived and have since moved into a happy corner of my bedroom, where I shelve my baby wraps and where my daughters have discovered them and are happily play play playing - but I've made it clear these are MY dolls and things and not to be interspersed (lost) around the house, lol.

Not sure if there will be house painting soon, though I fully intended to paint the 'floors' originally, now I'm thinking I may need to upgrade the wood shelves (floors) from simple pine to a nicer, harder wood. Probably sooner than later. But it's sure nice to see this 'dollhouse' taking shape in my funny little corner.

In case you are interested, the Ginger kids have vintage Ginny doll beds (Strombecker) that can stack into bunk beds if you prefer, and the Ginger parents have a nice old doll bed that fits them beautifully. The dark step back kitchen cabinet is an old Boyd's Bears one, and the dresser is also Strombecker.
All the bedding I sewed from my collection of fabrics and am quite pleased with the result so far.  Yay for Ebay and for vintage quality that lasts and lasts! I think Maileg is of the same category, these are timeless toys that will last and last, becoming family treasures.

I made some modifications on these dolls, because they were quite stiff and unable to pose how I had imagined. In fact, the pic of 'Dad' online showed him with a line of stitching at the knee but when he arrived his knees were solid and unbending, so I added a line of stitching to all of their knees, so that their legs would bend, and did the same to their elbows, even carefully opening some seams partly and removing some of the polyfiber fluff inside so the arms would not be quite so stiff... I used a tiny  ladder stitch to close the seams back up... I also removed and re-sewed back on all of their arms, except the mom doll, who for some reason was constructed differently and her arms move just fine, and did not need any modification at the shoulder, just the elbows.

I plan to post more pics soon, but for now, enjoy!
<3 p="">Autumn

Dyeing a little...

Venturing into some scary territory this morning - and dyed my first woolen baby wrap!
A wool and cotton blend, the Didymos Juno Pfau!

(before dyeing - stock photo)

Also known as the 'Christmas Pfau' because of it's (usually) forest green-and-white color scheme, ugh, I just could not love it, even though it's wrapping qualities are legend...and heck, it was supposed to be my woolie baby wrap for the winter...anyhow, after gathering supplies for a few weeks, it took the plunge today! Despite my nerves a'jangling, it went through the wash, then into steamy hot water on the stovetop, all teal-ly with acid dye and vinegar...and tried hard not to mess with it (I've read these things felt so easily!) then rinsed it and washed it in Eucalan on the gentlest cycle my machine can do - and, voila! Oh my teal-ly blue green goodness! A woolie Pfau I can looooove! Mmmmmmm. Yummy. 2 tone, because the white threads are wool and the acid dye only adhered to those threads...and the result? Still shimmery and gorgeous. And wearable! (I have olive skin. Forest green? Uh, no. Teal? Yessssssssssssssssssssssss!)

Hard to photograph, though...so I am showing it next to my Ocean (Aqua?) Pfau so you can see the difference in blues...

So, see? All the white chickens (okay, peacocks) all turned teal! No more white! I lurve it! 

If you'd like to know how to do this yourself, first read the great info on wool dyeing here and here.  Based on that info, I bought a giant 21 quart enameled canning pot from Amazon and 2 Jacquard acid dye 'pots' in teal from MisterArt.com along with a big 'splosh' of white vinegar that I already had in the pantry.  Finish with Eucalan wool wash and enjoy your new woolie! :)
Love,
Mamazakka

Fiberglass Cast Care and Do-it-yourself no-sew cast sleeve covers!

Ok, so I broke my wrist. Colles fracture. Mama of seven, ages 11 down to 6mos, with a broken wrist.  As if that wasn't difficult enough, the cast I have is made of fiberglass.  Roughly woven, extremely rough and prickly and fraying at the edges fiberglass.  What the heck?!
The doctor who cast my arm is an 'old pro' but maybe he never had to live in one of these casts - His only advice was to keep it dry, and okay, sure, that's a challenge in itself.  But, why did he not provide a covering? A sleeve of some kind? I looked online and found...nothing?!!! After it velcroed itself to my car seat material, pulled looping threads out of my skirt, and nearly shredded my baby's nicest outfit, and scraped his head, I'd had enough.  (Sure I'm grateful for it's wonderful lightweight state-of-the-art stiffness to allow me more freedom of movement while I heal, but seriously, what a turd.)

But isn't this a great cast now?! 'Lucky Break', get it? Hahahaha

So, here is my solution, and you can do it too!

What you will need:

1. Very Sharp Scissors
2. Ace bandage and/OR medical tape (the rip-able kind) (you will need both if you choose Ace bandage)
3. Knit leggings (I used a white pair for a base color) and/or
4. Footless Tights in the color/pattern of your choice or knee-high socks in a cool pattern

Step 1: Wrap your cast in an ace bandage or medical tape (the rip-able kind)
Cover the end of the Ace bandage with medical tape to secure - don't use the metal clips.

Step 2: Cover your wrapped cast in a soft sleeve.
I used a pair of girls seamless knit leggings size large* (12-14yrs 92% polyester and 8% spandex) from Target, 'lined' in fleece (which means it is fuzzy on the inside, not that it's two layers) My objective was to lightly 'pad' the cast, because accidently bumping my baby's head with my hard cast has made him cry. I don't care if it is thick looking - it's nicer. I lucked out that these are seamless, but maybe seamless is the new trend and easy to find? Well, whatever the reason, it makes my 'fancy' cast that much more fabulous, in my opinion.

Step 3: Finesse it! Show your style! ;)
I found white girls footless tights, also from Target, also size large (12-14yrs) with 3 sparkly butterflies on each leg. I debated getting leopard print or rainbow stripes, but ultimately, I want this to look like a cast. A nice, pretty cast.
A little snip snip and voila! A cast I (we) can live with.  For four more weeks.
This one is plain and purty.  Perfect for a little girl - or me!

This one is rock star awesome.  A tattoo sleeve! Oh yeah.  Loving it. Apparently I need a wardrobe of cast covers - Mmm hmmm! :D

Some notes of importance:
*Wrap your fiberglass cast in tape or ace bandage first or else you will snag the heck out of whatever you try to pull on over it. (good thing the legs of the tights come in pairs!). My cast is a bit fat because I chose to wrap first with the ace bandage. Wrapping first with tape would be slimmer but seems likely I will need to unwrap it for some unforeseen reason, and I want to be able to do that easily...

*Pull the legging/tights over the cast till the woven ankle edge exactly covers the end of the cast, NOT over the edge to touch your skin.  You do not want a elastic band restricting blood flow to your hand.  Trust me. Even if it feels ok, it will restrict just enough blood flow that your arm will start to swell and you will panic and start thinking about cutting off your cast yourself.  In a panic of sudden claustrophobia.  Or maybe that's just me. :) After an hour with my arm over my head after moving the elastic edges off my skin and up onto the cast's edge I felt better, but that was not a fun ride. I found this link to help me thru the panic. :)

*Cut the leggings/tights after you pull them on your cast with very sharp scissors. Make your determination of where to cut slowly and carefully. The material will (hopefully) not fray, poly knits are great like that, but you don't want to cut too much off right away.  You can always cut off more, but you can't add back what you've removed - like I wish my thumb hole was not quite so big, but, like I said earlier, these come in pairs, so if you need to start over, you can! I'm saving my spare for when this one gets dirty - which I'm sure it probably will.

*If you were covering a little kid's size cast, you could get a smaller size, but I needed these at least this large, even though they are s-t-r-e-t-c-hy, they felt barely big enough to pull over my cast.  I could have shopped the adult size leggings but then I'd have the pay the adult prices...and maybe also I'd have to sew it slimmer (nooo! I only have one hand! No-sew please!) If you need a cast cover for an adult leg cast, you will definitely need adult sized leggings and/or tights.

Hope you or your loved one heals up fast and that this has been a helpful post for you!
All the best,
Love,
Mamazakka

Digging out..Part 1

Simplicity Parenting.  Great book.  About how less is more.

It's giving me LOTs to think about while I dig us out of the consumerist mass I have spent the last 10 years (and most of our dollars) loading into our house, quite on top of us.

Don't get me wrong, I still love 'things', and I still want the 'BEST' things for my kids, but I am on a curatorial cleanse, and I won't stop till I've figured out the which, what, and why of it all.   And simplify.

I think THIS is why the boys Lego was driving me so insane: there's so much, there's too much of it in the house, AND they want MORE.  We have been outdoors a bunch lately, and that has helped 'cure' the monomaniacal-ness of it all, plus I've been simplifying the kids' rooms, so that's helped too...but I've been realizing, really with the help of this book that too much of a good thing is really really crippling, to creativity, to peace of mind, to living the life you intended to live with your kids.

Too much of a good thing can be suffocating.  Mega piles of Mega Blox?  Massive piles of clothing? Monstrous stacks of books, too many for our shelves? More play-kitchen foods than the play-kitchen can hold? Stacking bins filled with the overlow? Yeah, it's too much.  I'm embarrassed.  I am grateful for all we have, but I am guilty of over spending.  In my search for wonderful playthings, I have bought, traded, and created more than our little house can hold, and more than we can afford.  I have spent whole days, weeks, probably months trying to get everything 'organized' and put away, but I have to admit there is more stuff than we have space for.  And with 6 kids, space is precious.  Time spent with the kids is precious.  Not time spent sorting stuff.

I've already given loads to the Salvation Army, I'm selling on ebay, I've got listings going on craigslist, and I've decided to offer up some good free-bees here, if you're interested.

So stay tuned!  I'm going to go look for some good offerings for this site, maybe 1 per day.
Don't let my lovely clutter become clutter for YOUR home, though!  Tell me why you 'need' the free-bee and it'll go to the answer I like best.  Or to the first.  I don't know.  But let's see what I can find.

In need of a Lego Intervention: Confessions of a consumerist Mama

My boys, age 6.5 and 9.75 are Lego ADDICTS.  Nothing pleases them more than Lego, especially new Lego - they 'jones' for Lego all day long.  They take it to school hidden in pockets, they talk Lego with every friend, they have Lego playdates, Lego birthday parties, they 'build' as soon as their eyes open in the morning, and again as soon as they walk in the door from school or gymnastics, and they do not ever want to stop building.  Ever. Getting the mess cleaned up before bed is our family's biggest hassle, and inevitably leads to yelling.  Yelling at Lego addicts to put down the bricks seems about the only way to pierce through the Lego haze that clouds their brains.  It is not the bedtime routine I had hoped for, to say the least.

And it's my fault.  I am their dealer.  I got them hooked, it's my fault there are Legos underfoot all over our house, and it's my fault (ok, my husband's fault too, he has brought Lego into our house as well, and is a card carrying 'Lego Club Member' for the 'deals' at our mall's Lego store).  Many beautiful and expensive Lego sets later, there is a lot of the stuff in our house.  So I have tried to help contain the chaos with bins.  I have bought bins that stack and bins that slide, and shelves, and more bins, bins small, bins tall, and one that sorts bits all on it's own.  And boxes.  And boxes just for the instruction booklets. (As if we will be building those sets again, as if we could ever find every specialized piece at the same time.)  Plus shelves, and more shelves to display the brittle completed sets.   I have bought 'rare' pieces off eBay for them.  I have bought discontinued sets for small fortunes.  I have used Lego as bribe, reward, and punishment. It's all they want, it's alI they do. I am sick and tired of Lego.

I am tired of being mad about the Lego, that I bought, that they adore.  I'm tired of being angry that they are playing extra messily again.  I do not like to see constructions of weaponry, rolling/flying tanks with guns and swiveling turrets, no matter how original and 'cool' they are.  (Ppfew ppfew pppfffffeeeeew! go the little boys mouthing shooting noises).  Whatever happened to poor Thomas the Tank engine and those beautiful elaborately winding track mazes my boys used to build?  

I know, they are growing up, and Thomas and trains seem juvenile to them now, BUT.

If I dare post a pic of the boys' room, you would see it's not just Lego, I have also bought Playmobil and Shleich and Knex and gosh, everything and too much of it all.  All to try and engage them, interest them, 'make them happy'.  But they're not happy, not for long.  Let me add, we have so much, not because we can afford it, but because I have spent every penny I could.  An innocent lost in the woods of major marketing firms and promotional campaigns. Yup. Sure. I'd love to blame someone else - it's all their fault! Nah, I know, I did it to us. 

The sad, sorry state of the train table.

But then I had a BIG REALIZATION the other day.

Our kids' fingers are HUNGRY.  Their brains are bored.  (And the toy companies know this.)

If kids build Lego all day, it's because they want to create, to build, to MAKE something COOL and revel in the completed thing that only exists because they made it so.  And Lego has been provided to them.  It was an 'easy' and 'safe' consumerist solution for filling their obvious need.  (Safer than say, sending them out with an axe into the woods, as if we had woods around to send them out into.)

So I bought Lego.  It made them happy?  I can buy more!  And they want more?  Ok I'll buy more.  And more?  Something is unfulfilled in them, some need that is not being met because they never stop wanting MORE. 

Ah-HA!

If I understand they have an unmet need, if I understand that my sons' fingers are hungry, then I can teach them to braid, knit, crochet, weave, cut, sew, carve, paint, sculpt, mix, plant, sow, harvest, OH MY GOSH!!! All these things they have not yet or hardly ever done! The possibilities! 

Maybe the solution for a Lego addiction isn't something I can purchase online or in a store!  

Yesterday I gave DS9.75 a block of Ivory soap and a paring knife and he sat, over a wastebasket, and carved his first carving. A fish.  he made a very small fish and a very big mound of soap flakes.  He was so happy and absorbed.  

Today, he wants to do it again.  

My children need me to be more mindful.  I need me to be more mindful.  I need to intervene.  I cannot be their Lego dealer anymore, I need to be their smart, capable, mindful Mother who teaches them skills and abilities beyond snapping and unsnapping little plastic bricks together.  

I resolve to keep their fingers busy.  I resolve to stop buying Lego.

(Oh, that hurt.  Christmas is coming.  I was going to buy them some of the monster sets.  Am I addicted too to the 'quick fix' consumerism provides?  I know I am.  Oh help me.)

I resolve not to buy one more organizational 'tool' or bin, but to use what we already have and put all the Lego in the attic for a 'cold turkey' detox.  It's going to hurt, but hopefully not too bad, if I can provide enough interesting other things to do...

I'm open for ideas, people!

I feel the glimmer of a happier horizon.