Autumn begins

Well, I thought it was going to be a normal day of hanging out in the morning and then friends round for the afternoon, but things became so much more.  We started off by Evan making the beginnings of an Octonauts calendar (before I even got out of bed actually), he is eager to work on it more, but we decided to go climbing before our friends came round, so we headed off, and after a few chores on the way we got there.  We were lucky enough to be joined by a couple of other home ed families, just by chance, and they had a good time.  I bumped into a friend from my NCT days with her children, and her son, about 8 years old struck up a lovely friendship with Autumn.  Autumn, got pretty hot, and stripped off pretty quickly down to her "Monday" pants.  Evan stopped climbing and decided to draw a picture of Autumn on the cheese.  This picture was taken by Evan so that he could use it to draw from .  I helped him to look at the shapes her body was making and after he struggled a bit, and got quite upset I helped him sketch the key triangle shapes.  I love that this project was entirely self-directed, and simply facilitated by the fact that I often bring drawing and painting materials out with us everywhere, and he simply went into my bag (probably searching for biscuits or chocolate) only to discover paper and pencils instead!

I simply adore this photo that Evan took, showing Autumn's spirit, strength and joy altogether.  Someone commented on how she looked powerful, and I had to agree.  I am so incredibly proud of Autumn, and the power and strength she has, not just physically, but emotionally and mentally.  I enjoy her company so immensely, and I love that she shares these wonderful things with those around her.

Evan was particularly proud that he was using some of the more difficult holds in this photo, and asked for this photo to be taken.

On returning home our friends came over and as we had planned to do some work on our new Seasonal table we worked on it together by doing some flat wet felting of some Autumnal leaves.  The process is particularly child friendly as it involves some really fun things as well as not needing any sort of perfection.  At the end of the day Evan said his favourite thing of the day was throwing the leaves on the table (which was the last process in the felt making).  I've not taken photos of the whole thing, but here is the process:

1)  Tease out bits of desired wool

2)  Lay down on a square of bubble wrap slightly overlapping, Vertically down, ensuring no wool is too thick or clumped together.  Do this about double the size of your desired piece of felt.

3) Repeat the process with the same colour of wool but this time with the wool fibres horizontally positioned.

4)  Place on small bits of wool teased out in the formation of the pattern or picture you desire.

5)  Spray the wool with a water spray with a small amount of liquid soap, or dissolved solid soap in it.

6) Slightly wiggle the wool fibres with the tips of your fingers saying "tickle tickle" or "wiggle, wiggle" or "little little" or anything similar which encourages a small massaging motion to begin to bring the fibres together.

7)  When it is starting to shrink slightly cover it with another square of bubble wrap.

8)  Roll up the bubble wrap and secure in place with a few elastic bands along its length.

9)  Do a variety of rolling, squeezing, rubbing and whacking with your bubble wrap roll (BWR).

10)  After a good 5-10 minutes of fun activity with your BWR, remove the bands and unroll.

11)  Check the felt has 'come together' and beginning to feel solid. (if it hasn't reroll and repeat  #9 for a few minutes)

12)  Once done, plunge into cold water and rinse soap off.

13) Squeeze a bit of the water off, and now for the best bit....

14)  Screw the felt up in a ball and chuck it (hard) onto the table.

15)  REPEAT #14 as many times as you feel like... if holes begin to appear, massage that and surrounding wool with a bit of wet soap.

16) Rinse, dry then enjoy - you can cut it up, sew on it, sew it onto stuff, whatever you like.

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After a few weeks of tricky situations when spending time with friends in either our or their homes I have decided that Evan and his friend need to be with us or outside during their play.  This led to a very great need to let off steam, so after the felting and a bit of rambunctious play upstairs under our supervision we decided to go to Graves park for a run about and explore in the woods.  I love that this fantastic place is on our doorstep.  The new excitement was the hay bale which had mysteriously been deposited in the stream.  The best bit today was the clay at the root of a fallen tree which is very clay-y. Thankfully welly boots were the order of the day, and such play was totally brilliant and so much fun. The stream just next to it meant that the clagged up boots could be cleaned before returning home.  Not before a clay ball or two could be made, a clay screen on the Gup (AKA the roots of the tree), and lots of trampling in the clay and splashing in the stream.  We searched for some lovely Autumnal leaves to add to our newly installed Season table at home.

Walking up the hill after our lovely time out - I love these moments of freedom the kids enjoy, and the chats I overhear them having about their surroundings and often exchanging ideas about nature.

We finished the day off by doing a little Autumn painting, Evan's was demonstrating a very windy day when all the leaves flew off. Evan put some more acorns on the table and his newly felted leaf. I have included a beautiful piece of embroidery that my friend made for me a couple of years ago, which is very treasured and totally typifies what this season table is about.  I have also included a screenprinted piece of fabric that I made during my teaching degree, which I have always loved.  I look forward to us adding more to this over the years.  

To complete this very crafty day, Pat came home from work and assisted Evan making a painted wooden door for a new game idea he has. What a day!!!!