Hiking!

The weather was so unseasonably warm that we went hiking in the Rouge today.  Here she is pointing out the white blazes on the trees.

Next Step in the Quilt

I stitched the quilted top together tonight.  The glue was working very well, but the quilted coat in the book shows stitching lines.  And, I'm suspicious the glue won't last forever.  So, I just ran over all the glued seams with a zigzag stitch.

I'll put a back on it tomorrow.

The Rag Coat

This week we used "The Rag Coat" as our "rowing" book.

She also started back to her gymnastics class this week.

I purchased three maps last week: Canada, U.S. and the World.  We spent time creating a compass rose and we marked placed I had lived, where Grandma Betts lived, and where the book we are reading this week was set.  It is important to do all map work in a tutu skirt and purple jacket.

Then, I pulled out my Grandmother's quilts.  They are probably over one hundred years old and are hand-stitched.  She looked at them and declared them warm, which they are.

Later that day I got out my dulcimer.  While I strummed, she danced.  Then she played on the strings.  She was more interested in dancing then playing though. :)

Then, it was on to directing! and teaching! and singing!

She works on writing her lowercase letters and numbers daily.  We do one page (back and front) of numbers and two of lowercase letters.  I got her little ergonomic grips for her pencil, but she prefers to just hold the pencil.

We continue our morning read and cuddle time.  It's nice and when it finally ends, I will miss it.  

On Thursday, we went to a quilting shop and looked at quilts and bought a little bit of fabric.

Then when we got home, while making dinner, we made butter.  We noted the picture of the butter churn in the book and I explained that they would have used it to make butter.  She was intrigued, so I bought some whipping cream and we made butter.

We had sausage, homemade cornbread, salad with homemade blueberry-pecan salad dressing and homemade butter.  It was a nice dinner.

On Friday morning, we cut the fabric up into pieces.  Mom preferred regular shapes, but Rachel went for freeform. 

Then, we laid them out as a quilt (for her doll).

Then, using fabric glue, I glued the pieces together.  I'll have to do the stitching on the sewing machine, but the glue enabled Rachel to see immediate results.

Of course, the silly straw enriched the whole experience!