Welcome back to Kathy of Backwoods Mama Sewing Camps! Please read on to learn more and leave a comment to be entered to win a spot in the Indian Summer Sew Camp. 

Kathy Stowell is a home schooling mama of two who wishes to inspire others to embrace handmade and simple living. She is passionate about slowing down childhood by crafting a peaceful, bliss-filled home allowing time and room for children to unfold into their authentic, happy and quirky selves.

Meg: How does where you live influence your style and creativity? Explain to us a little more about the "backwoods" in the title of your e-course.

Kathy: My family and I made the move from the big city to a small rural mountain town six years ago. Thus my style is part country bumpkin, part downtown, part Gaia Rainbow Tree Hugger but always handmade or second hand. My mother teases me that from a distance I look like Paris Hilton out in the garden but I think that's due to my love of many colorful layers. And lap dogs in handbags.

The 'Backwoods' in Backwoods Mama is a nod to the desire in many of us to embrace a simpler time when most household items were made from scratch. So even without the immediate need to be self-sufficient the feeling of being able to tap into this instinct and create a tangible outcome such as a piece of clothing is empowering and a wonderful example to our children of the thoughtfulness and warm intentions behind handmade. Not to mention a fun challenge too! 

Meg: What hand sewn item of clothing do you wear the most, and why?

In terms of hours per wear I definitely wear my leggings most. From September 1st to May 31st if I'm without a layer hugging my legs I feel like I'm pretty much standing outside naked! And in terms of putting in on, then taking it off, then putting it back on several times a day, I wear my utility smock the most. I have three of these in rotation; one for spinning, one for sewing and one for milking. They are all decorated in their own unique flavor of backwoods-style debris.

Meg: Tell us about your Sew Camp! What can folks expect when they sign up?

Sew Camp is an opportunity to tackle quick, easy to whip up layering essentials for the backwoods frame of mind mama. These camps  offer perfect layering pieces to play in the garden in or to make a quick run into town for building supplies. There are currently two camps to choose from: Spring or Indian Summer. These e-courses are intended for the advanced beginner sewer (one who is familiar with how to make her sewing machine go and stop) with the need for practical yet stylish staples that will have you waving your made from scratch flag all the live long day.

With purchase of the course, you will receive the patterns in a pdf downloadable format, a password and link to a private blog where instructions, complete with photos and videos, to piece your Green Acres staples together. There is  also a flickr page to share your finished pieces with other backwoods mamas. As well, you are invited to contact me via email at any time with any questions if you get stumped. My backwoods door is always open to you!

Kathy is giving away three spots in the Indian Summer Sew Camp. Winners will be drawn at random and announced on Tuesday, November 1st. Good luck, and thank you, Kathy!

The winners have been drawn; congratulations to Milena, Dana and Sandy!

Playing with ice.

Mixing colors (with eye droppers and pouring) on the light panel.

Making warm softdough. We also made flubber the other week. I would love to find a natural source of clay for further "sculpting" play.

Stained glass with contact paper and tissue paper.

Doll play.

Sensorial table with insta-snow, styrofoam balls, and other containers for mixing and pouring. 

I really enjoyed taking the time to document and share some of the fun things we do around here in the afternoons, and I'm grateful that, as a community, we've created a library of ideas via the Things We Do After Nap flickr gallery. I'll continue to add photos to the pool, and I hope you do too.

Warm wishes for a festive weekend!

On one of my more recent finds at Discount School Supply was this pack of watercolor leaves. They aren't watercolor paper. I'd say that they are made of the same stuff as coffee filters. I've done something similar with the coffee filters and they work great. 

I pulled out some spray bottles, small dishes with brushes, and the bingo bottles, along with red, yellow, and green liquid watercolors. The plastic sensory bin and a laminated cotton fabric "splat mat" helped contain any wayward spray. Finn is usually amenable to keeping his mess in the designated area, although many children would experience more freedom of play (read: spraying colored water everywhere!) if this activity was done outside. 

Then we started spraying, brushing, and dabbing ... watching the paints creep together and the colors mix. We dried the leaves on newsprint on another table, then hung them behind our dining room table. 

Some of you have asked where I get my ideas for these projects. While some of them (painting the sky) just came out of my head, most days I rely on the huge wealth of ideas online to put together a project. Here are some of my favorite places to look:

Play At Home Mom - Reggio-inspired play exploration.

Teacher Tom - Lots of tinkering and child-led activities.

Filth Wizardry - So many ideas, I don't know where to begin.

The Artful Parent - Inspirational art projects, many ideas for babies on up.

The Crafty Crow - Compiles crafty goodness from around the web.

Childhood 101 Playopedia - Another list of good ideas sorted by age and type of activity.

There are so many more, so please share your favorite placed to find ideas in the comments!

Supplies:

Colored sand (a Scrap Exchange find), various containers, a plastic storage bin, and a piece of laminated cotton fabric on the floor for easy clean-up. 

Super simple, super engaging for the 2.5 year-old.

Meanwhile ...

Sitting babies and drums are a match made in heaven! I'm thinking of having these photos printed off and sending copies to Lachlan's cardiologist and the life-saving good people at Duke's pediatric cardiac ICU. 

"Heart Baby Has Suprisingly Good Beat,"  I would write on the back.

Hardy-har-har. 

Notes from a Dragon Mom. 

This speaks to all of us, not just those who have children with serious illnesses. 

"Parenting, I’ve come to understand, is about loving my child today. Now. In fact, for any parent, anywhere, that’s all there is."

They're bumpy! They're smooth! Shells, urchins, sand dollars ... they all make superb sensory exploration baskets for babies and toddlers. I keep a basket of shells on our nature shelf and pull it out often for Lachlan. Lately, I've also been encouraging Finn to incorporate them into his creative play - suggesting their usefulness as tea cups and boats, for example.

The newest shell-stravaganza is thanks to a glue gun and a few magnets. We have a new magnetized chalkboard, which I made from sheet metal painted with chalkboard spray paint. I found the weathered blue trim on our property, cut it to size, and nailed everything directly to the wall. Quite a simple project as projects go. I also magnetized some rocks, corks, and popsicle sticks while I was at it. Finn seemed especially taken with the corks.

We found our urchins here. Lachlan can't get enough of their bumpy radness.

Remember to add your photos to the Things We Do After Nap Flickr pool!

Painting the Sky

Supplies

• set of acrylic mirrors attached with double-sided tape to table
• foam paint (you could also use homemade whipped cream for kids who like tasting)
• brushes, sponges and scrapers
• water bucket and washcloth
  
• a blue sky with puffy white clouds

We recently read Eric Carl's Little Cloud and thought that this project would be a good follow-up to that experience. Of everything that I've set up for Finn these past few weeks, this project got the most play time. It started off as a typical painting project - using brushes and sponges, then moved on to a water-and-paint mixing experience, then a purely sensorial exploration of the feeling of the foam on his hands, then some creative play with brushes and blue hands, and ended during clean up when Finn discovered that a spray of water could push both paint and painting accessories off of the table and onto the ground. It was fascinating to watch his play evolve! He emerged feeling very peaceful and upbeat.

The mirrors were the biggest investment for this project, but they have been so worth it - you can do so much with these, from using them with building blocks to add another dimension to self portraits to bending light in science experiments.

An extension of this project, especially this time of year, would be to set up the mirrors underneath a tree canopy so that you could paint the trees, providing yellow and red foam paint. 

If Lachlan were a bit older and able to eat dairy, I would whip up some cream without any sugar and give him his own mirror-and-cloud sensorial experience. As he's only *almost!* eight months old, however, he just enjoyed looking on and playing outside with sticks and large rocks. 

I've made a Flickr group for Things We Do After Nap! Check it out here, and add your ideas to the pool!

I've been trying to take a few pictures of the activities we've been doing when Finn wakes up from his nap. Open-ended art, sensorial activities - invitations to explore and experiment, if you will. Join me next week for Things We Do After Nap, a sharing of fun things to do with little ones in your home. Starring Finn and his trusty side-kick, Lachlan-The-Happy-Ham. 

I hope you will consider sharing the things you do after nap on your own blog, Flickr, or in the comments! This is a very open-ended invitation, and feel free to post daily or just once. I'll be doing a round-up post at the end of the week, linking to all of the Things You Do After Nap. Hopefully we'll have a nice bit of inspiration for rainy days.

I don't believe I've mentioned to you that my parenting role has shifted these last few months. Instead of equally sharing daily responsibility for the boys with Patrick, I am now with them all day, six days a week. Patrick is preparing for his prelims in mid-December, and needs to work on that full-time. (He's getting his Ph.D in history at Duke.) This lifestyle shift has become even more drastic this past month, as my parents have also been on an extended vacation. It's the second shift, and my time with the boys ends each day only to find me awake far too late, trying to keep the business humming. 

For some time there, I had it all wrong. My head was filled with work obligations, to-do lists, and future sewing exploits while I was with the boys. I was anxiously twiddling my thumbs in anticipation of naptime, trying to get "things done" while watching them (always a bad idea) and working myself into a ball of stress with inner dialogues of "I-should-be-" and "I-need-to-."

Why must I contantly be striving to accomplish more, to "make up for lost time", to "just get over this hump and then I can relax?" I know I'm not alone with these feelings. So many of us, especially parents, are working so hard, striving to get to that mythical period of rest, plenty, and stress-free living, that we totally forget about today.

You would think that it would be easy for me to appreciate all of the beauty in every moment, given that I can always fall back on the "at-least-we-aren't-in-the-hospital" mantra. But really, it took a few weeks of constant inner badgering and unsustainable fatigue for me to check my to-do list at the door.

The moment I chucked my to-do list, a weight lifted from my shoulders and I was able to enjoy my boys again. The most deleterious side effect of my to-do list  was that it made me feel like parenting full-time was a chore - something of a burden because it kept me from being productive. I was overcome with guilt (aren't I, the former teacher and parenting blogger, supposed to adore every minute I spend with my own children?) ;) and I decided that it was neither me nor my boys that was causing this malaise. It was the darn to-do list.

So goodbye, responding to emails. Goodbye, long list of house projects. Goodbye, worry over producing new pattern designs. Goodbye, attending Quilt Market. Etc., etc. 

Phew! It felt so good. 

The next step was deciding that I was going to have fun with my boys. If I was going to spend all day with them and not have any time for personal creative pursuits, I was going to try to do something fun and interesting with them - to share what I love with them.

That's when I pulled out the hand-me-down baby backpack and the Ergo carrier, and we got out of dodge. (To a nature preserve two miles from our home, mind you, but man, after a week of (successful!) potty learning on Finn's part, it felt like a real adventure!) I figured that Finn could wander as much as he wanted and I would carry him back in the Ergo if he got tired.

We walked about a mile. It was awesome. Solo parenting can hurt your back. But it's a good kind of sore.

So chuck your to-do list. And enjoy life as-is! 

Meet Patience, the Praying Mantis. 

If you've seen her hunt a fly, you'll know why we named her that. 

She cocks her head around to look at you. What a curious little creature. We're enjoying her company immensely. I mean, really - what other house guest eats house flies and moths? 

Our oatmeal jar got a quick repurpose as a makeshift terrarium, and now Patience feels at home enough to lay an egg sack, which we will happily release in our garden this spring. We feel fortunate to get to know the creatures who will be our garden sentinels.