Stitches So Far

Thus far, everyone has been progressing well with the sewing endeavour, alhamdulillah.  Managing to choose appropriate books for all interests  has helped as well. So after picking up two  library books entitled, Made by Me by Jane Bull and The Workshop Book of Knitting by Ursula von Wartbug, the children were off to experiment with some stitchery.  Both books got outstanding reviews on Amazon, by the way.

Made by Me is a stitch-by- stitch guide to knitting, sewing, and embroidery.  Maashaa Allah, the girls and I absolutely love it!  The book contains a child and mother friendly stitch directory to all the stitches used in the book which is well illustrated.  All the projects seems easy to do and don’t require any special materials which is always a plus in my book. So far, the older girls made some cupcake pin cushions and a pocket locket using the book as a guide.  They also attempted some embroidery which they made into a pillow. 

Out of all the knitting books I checked out for Yahya(10), for some reason, he seemed to gravitate to an old book (The Workshop Book of Knitting 1973)  which includes black and white photos and illustrations instead of color.   The patterns and stitches in the book are a little more advanced, but the projects actually leave lots of wiggle room for creativity.

The slideshow contains shots of a few of the completed projects that we have been working on this week,  maashaa Allah.  Insha Allah, more to come. 

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Fiber Arts Friday

Yarn Art

Yarn was the focus today as the girls dabbled in yarn art paintings, masha Allah.   This is a very unique yet messy approach to painting where yarn  instead of paint brushes is used to apply the paint.  Here are the instructions if you are brave enough to attempt this technique at home.

Not only have the girls been creating with yarn, but my son has also been advancing with his knitting projects, masha Allah.  The most recent projects  include scarves knitted with size 19 knitting needles. 

Size 19 knitting needles

I think it only took him about 4-5 hrs. to complete this scarf as the knitting goes so much more quickly with these humongous  needles, alhamdulillah.

On a final fiber arts note, I just wanted to share some pictures of urban knitting.  Check out this knitted bus. Have you seen this out and about where you live?

Fused Glass

Several weeks ago, my husband and son had the opportunity to attend a fused glass workshop at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.  At the workshop, they first created a design and then cut the desired pieces of glass.  After they arranged the glass, the glass was fired in a kiln at an extremely high temperature where the pieces melted together to form a single piece of glass artwork.  .

Insha Allah, these pieces can be hung on a chain to wear as a necklace.  They can also be worn as earrings or placed on a refrigerator as a magnet.

Art Gallery

A clothesline and tape work great for displaying the children’s artwork in the kitchen/schoolroom!   I believe that when we display their beautiful artwork that it makes them feel loved and encourages their imagination and creativity.

On a Cold Saturday Morning

The temperature  has dropped dramatically in the last few days, so that means we are spending more time indoors on projects.   After completing a few structured homework activities, we explored more math/art connections.

Amazing Paper Ornaments

Making these stretchy paper ornaments introduced the children to a branch of geometry called topology.  Topology is the study of surfaces. Once again,   this particular project called for measuring, cutting, and folding skills just like the folding cubes we made the day before, masha Allah. 

Basically, we cut out squares and circles which were five inches across and folded them in half diagonally twice.  Then we cut from right to left alternating sides making sure not to cut through any folds.  Next, we unfolded the paper ornaments, stretched them out, and tied a piece of string through a whole in the tops to hang from the ceiling. 

 

 

 Following the paper ornament project, I discovering a wonderful art website chalked full of ideas. From that site, we clicked on a link to creating Jackson Pollock style paintings online.   When we tried to print off the artwork, we discovered that we had business card paper the printer which produced an instant puzzle, masha Allah.

Pollock Puzzle

From that blooper, we then created collages at an online collage maker, saved it to a Microsoft Word document, cropped the picture,  and made more art puzzles for the girls.

Collage puzzle

 I guess it is true that there are no mistakes when it comes to art.

Integrating Math and Art

At least two of my girls have a strong visual learning style, therefore; I have made a conscious effort to find art projects for them that are cross curriculum oriented.  I noticed that my son has greatly improved in his math skills since he has advanced in his knitting ability.  Being able to knit demands an understanding of  patterns, addition, division, multiplication, symmetry, measurement and other math concepts.   A fellow knitter, we met at the charity knitting shop who is also an university professor, even confessed that she thinks that learning to knit sooner in life might  have made her better at math and Allah knows best.

Blot Art Symmetry Painting

For this reason, this morning we explored the concept of symmetry through creating blot paintings.  It was a very simple activity, yet understanding the concept of symmetry is essential for mastering mathematics . 

We just poured a small amount of paint in the middle of a piece of paper, folded it in half, and pressed down in the center of the paper to spread out the paint.

 

I have also been browsing through the book, MathART Projects and Activities to get ideas for integrating art into math.  The concepts include geometry, numbers and computation, measurement, patterns, statistics, and fractions.  This book is geared toward 3rd to 6th graders.  So, for the younger children, MathArts may be a better option, insha Allah, from which to pull ideas.

The Very Easy Child’s Sweater

All of the children and I trekked over to From the Heart Stitchers today to donate the sweater and scarf which my son had finished up over the weekend.  Admittedly, I didn’t think it was as easy as the project name, Very Easy Child’s Sweater, claimed it to be.  Then again, what do I know, I am just a novice.  I had to take him back to the shop on Saturday to get some assistance with the neck, but after that, alhamdulillah, we figured the rest out on our own.  They have now requested him to knit a couple more of them. 

This time I made sure he picked up an ample amount of projects to keep  him busy for longer than a weekend. 

 

 

When Chemistry and Earth Science Meet Art and Texture

While using materials that are readily found around our house and this lesson plan from Kinderart.com,  the girls discovered a relationship between science and art.  While using watercolors and salt, we discussed that  salt is a mineral made up of  inorganic elements named sodium and chloride and is found in the earth as well as in the oceans, seas, and lakes.  They were also fascinated by the chemical reaction that took place after sprinkling the salt on the wet watercolors, masha Allah.  

Texture painting

Week 1 Side by Side Saturdays

This Saturday kicked off the first art session at the Visual Arts Center in artsy uptown area of Richmond where my three eldest daughters opted to make a portrait collage and fabric birds.  

Muslimah collage

It was my five-year old daughter’s first experience with the workshop as she just turned five last month and now meets the age requirement, masha Allah.  I think that  she enjoyed the time alone with me more than the actual collage making.   We were both ectastic to find images of covered Muslimahs (female Muslims) in National Geographic magazines which we could cut out and arrange into a  collage together.

Fabric birds

My father-in-law accompanied my eldest daughters (8 and 7) to a fabric bird making class where they learned to hand sew for the first time.   I was pleased that they were exposed to this skill in the workshop as sewing is an important skill to learn and master, insha Allah.

Yarn Dolls

Yarn Doll

I was feeling a little adventurous as a result of making the corn husk dolls over the weekend, so we decided to try yarn dolls too. There were a little easier, masha Allah. It also helped that my 8 yr. old daughter picked up on it quickly and helped her sisters with theirs. She is actually much better at these artsy things than me, alhamdulillah. They ended up making a whole family after catching on to how to make them. 

Yarn doll family