Well…I’m still on the little progress road. Â I’m so engrossed in getting the charity quilts caught up that I’ve hardly touch a sewing machine. Â I’d love to take a break from the quilting machine but at this point I don’t want to break the momentum. Â I’ve spent all my morning and evening time trying to get them done. Â I’ve been getting one done a day. Â Often I load it in the morning, get it tacked down and a bobbin’s worth of thread into it then I go down to get ready for the childcare kids. Â Then as soon as they leave I’m back upstairs to finish it and get a backing put together for the next day’s quilt. Â It’s a go-go-go operation and I’m heading towards the home stretch.
If you read the blog regularly, you read yesterday’s post and saw that I did get my mystery fabric. Â Yep, I’m going to do the mystery no matter how many UFOs I have started.
I did get a few neutral string blocks sewn. Â These are for Pfeffernuse. Â That quilt can be found in the String Fling book. I already have the hour glass blocks done so now it’s time for the string blocks.
After the blocks were finished I put them on the kitchen island hoping at some point I’d get some time during nap time to pull the papers off the back. Â It turns out one of the little girls from childcare ended up helping me tear off the papers. Â She was so cute doing it with me. Â We chatted away as we worked on them.
Sometimes I get so frustrated with the push that is put on children and child care providers. Â We are suppose to make sure we provide all these activities for kids that provide fine motor activities along with math and literacy activities. Â A lot is expected. Â Previously when I did child care I about killed myself to provide the themed activities that were expected. Â This time around with childcare. Â I take more “natural” day to day activities and turn them into learning activities…like this. Â Tearing papers off these blocks is an awesome fine motor activities.
I’ll see you back here on next Wednesday.
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So far I’ve had a productive week. I did the final handwork on a baby quilt, took a appliqued church banner and t-shirt quilt to my quilter, and have now started an appliqued tree skirt. I started with a list of 44 projects in August to be finished by Thanksgiving and I now have 12 left…hurray!
Love the fine motor skills …….
I love that the kids are involved in helping with the quilting, and those moments of chatting and working together are all positive events. You are a wonderful care provider and the stories with the kids just makes me smile. I think the next time I’m in Osage to visit my mom I will have to check out the Needle store and spend less time in Debbies Quilt shop, ha! I have to get some of the apple bread made that you showed last week, looks perfect for the cold weather we are getting in TN. Have a great day Jo and keep the blog stories coming.
There is so much research out there that the absolute best thing we can do for kids is to let them play. Free play. Not designed play, not supervised play, not organized to a ne’er do well play, just straight up play. Letting them help on tasks like this is play to a kid – they are helping and playing at doing an adult tasks. Kids’ brains are wired to learn through doing and play, plain and simple. The natural approach you’re taking is far better for them than cramming words and letters into their head in an organized fashion. I just wish I could have sent my kids to be watched by you!
I agree-spontaneous, natural, stress-free ways of interacting with children are the most beneficial. I finished the 144 main blocks for the Garden Party king sized, have 14 9 patches done and can’t wait for a 3 day weekend. I have also started the great sewing room clean up/purge/organizationfest. . .I also have to get my mystery fabrics picked! Oh! Yeah! I got 3 Easy Street blocks made. That into a top is the goal before Black Friday.
I loved seeing the little girl helping you pull the papers off your blocks. What a great opportunity for chatting and tuning those fine motor skills. I think you supply a lovely home environment for your daycare children: lots of different activities, many of those ‘natural’ (walking, dress up, role play etc), creative opportunities and so on. Above all they are obviously happy and having lots of love and care. Hope you are going to give us a ‘Show and Tell’ set of photos of all the charity quilts you are so busily quilting on your machine.