Saturday, May 30, 2009

Dressed up and field trip

Is it Halloween already??

No.... it's Biography Day for the 5th and 6th graders. :)

For Social Studies this month, the kids have to pick someone in history to do their research, write a report, and give an oral presentation in character.

So last Thursday was the day for their presentations, and they had to dress in character for the whole day. Sweetie Pie was Jane Addams, one of the first women to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Pam's (my friend) kids were Laura Ingalls Wilder and Lawrence of Arabia. Technically, Lawrence of Arabia is a movie in 1960s, but it's based on the life of T.E. Lawrence.

Don't they look so cute in characters?






Then on Thursday this week was field trip day to Riley's Farm in Oak Glen. It's a working apple orchard and living history farm where visitors get to experience 18th century America History. This trip was the best educational field trip that I've attended as a chaperone. Take a look....



When we arrived, we were immediately greeted by this British soldier or "Red Coat". The groups were organized into townships. Sweetie Pie's class was the "Concord".











Then they marched onto the Heritage Homestead and were given instructions by the Red Coats.


I didn't get a picture of Master Riley (the owner of the farm), but Master Riley himself welcomed the groups, told them about the rules, where to find the restrooms, and entertained us with his flute.




While the students were still gathered on the field, a demonstration of how loud the muskets sounded.












... and what will happen should any one misbehave... they will be put into stockade for punishment.









Throughout the day, they were shown what life was like during the colonial days....






...... type of games that children played with....











..... weaving....











.... were shown how to march, load, fire, re-load a musket quickly....









of course, the muskets were just only sticks...













... black-smith....











... a mock trial to show how unfair the court system was under the British ruling ....




Unfortunately, my camera battery died after this. :(


Also, hands-on demonstrations of butter churning, writing with ink and quill, biscuit making.


For lunch, we were given the "ration" of dried beef, corn bread, cheese, apple, and lemonade. However, the adults were able to place their lunch at the "homestead". I ordered their chicken pot pie.... yummy!


The best part of the day was at the end. The groups were divided into Brits and Americans. They did a re-enactment of the battle of the colonials defending their homestead with muskets. Overall, the whole thing was well organized and well done. Every character we encountered stay in characters, spoke the Queens' English, and the costumes dead on.




Of course, I couldn't leave there without their 5lbs. apple pie! YUMMMMMYYY!!


Thursday, May 21, 2009

Swaps received!

Hello,

Sorry for my MIA since last week. We had a lot of fun over Mother's Day weekend at the Colorado river (more on that later) and arrived home last Monday night as planned. However, it's busy busy and has been difficult for me to get back into routines here on the home front.... guessed my brain and body still on vacation modes. lol


There were two packages waiting for me when we arrived home. The first one came from Indiana. My Doll Quilt Swap partner, Solidia, made this wonderful quilt. I had listed this quilt as a favorite, and Solidia used it as an inspiration to make this little quilt for me. Isn't it awesome? I love it! It's so me... scrappy, bright, and happy quilt. Thank you, Solidia!

And look what else she sent.... dots and Dachshunds fabrics! How cute is that doxies in sweaters fabric?!! I envisioned it will be a bag some day.....Thank you, Solidia, I love my goodies and doll quilt!





This is what I made and sent to my secret partner, Karen. Click here to see her post.


It was extremely fun to be involved in this swap, and I would do it again in a heart beat.... though I'm a bit late with posting this time.... sorry.



The other package came from Tammy, my partner for the Annie Swap. Here is Annie all the way from Florida.....CUTE!! Thank you, Tammy, for the lovely scented candles also.


I ended up with two finished Annies... the one on the right went to Tammy....

...the one on the left went to my DQS partner's mom.

Yep, the Annies enjoyed being out in the sunshine and liked climbing tree.
Well, that's it for tonight.... lots more to come. Have a good night!

Friday, May 8, 2009

Links and Happy Mother's Day!


The doxies woke me up so early this morning to go outside, and now I can't go back to sleep.... thought I pop in and write a quick post while I have a quiet moment.


Thank you for all the lovely compliments on the Hunter's Star doll quilt. Here's the link to show you how to draft the pattern. There are actually 3 parts to this Simply Quilts episode.... be sure to watch part 2 , and part 3 also as there are other methods to making this pattern. I had fun "watching" Simply Quilts again.


We are heading out this weekend for our annual trip to the river for a little bit of R&R.... will be back next week.

Have a great Mother's Day weekend!


Friday, May 1, 2009

WOO HOO!!

I am done with both of my swap projects! I was a bit stressed on Wednesday that I might not make the deadlines.... well, I missed the Annie Swap by one day, but I did notified my partner that her Annie will be heading out first thing this morning. Here's a peek....



It was fun making Annie! So much fun that I finished two Annies! I will show both Annies once I know that my partner has received hers.


The other swap that's due today is the Doll Quilt Swap. Here's my completed quilt.... labeled, washed, and pressed!


The quilt measured approx. 17 1/2" X 17 1/2". The block pattern is called Hunter's Star or Indian Star. I couldn't find a pattern so I drafted the block at 3" and paper pieced the blocks. I learned how to draft this pattern on Simply Quilts from way back when the show was still on. If you want to know how to do this, do a search on HGTV..... Or drop me a comment, and I'll try to look it up for you.


For fun, I thought I give rounded corners a trial, and you know what... I really like it.


Right now, this is my favorite little quilt so far. Maybe that is because it has my favorite color combination, or maybe it's the stars, or maybe I've been wanting to do this pattern ever since I saw it on Simply Quilts. I want to make a full size quilt of this pattern for myself someday.


Anyway, I hope my partner will like this quilt. On the questionaire, she listed orange as not one of her favorite color, but I love orange! .... especially... orange and blue! I did tried my best to use very little orange, but somehow, a lot more snuck in than planned. ;>