The Life, Designs & Crafts of Marie Haigh
Life is what happens while I am busy planning my next knitting design.
You read that right.
Elly saw me knitting a rug on Thursday (more on that later). She begged me to let her help. Always thrilled to have Elly take an interest in my crafts, I showed her how to make a knit stitch. Afterwards, she asked me for a ball of yarn and needles.
Elly patiently wrapped the yarn around the needles.
She told me that she was knitting me a scarf.
Squee!
I bought storage cubes from Just Cabinets last year.
It took 3 months of staining, sanding, and sealing before they were all finished and could be stacked up and formed into a pyramid.
I shouldn’t complain so much.
The effort was worth it because I got the exact wood grain I wanted for a fraction of the cost. The color matches all of our other dark furniture.
The storage space houses most of Elly’s books and games as well as a handful of our photo albums and coffee table books.
Besides, it didn’t take me years to construct like the great pyramids of Egypt. ha!
I love to quilt, but I hate to cut the fabric all up only to have to piece it all back together again. Plus, I have learned that I hate being relegated to my sewing room. I would rather be hanging out with my daughter, husband and dog.
So, when I ran across Dresden plates already pieced together, I bought them.
The fabrics are kitschy and fun.
Yet, the center fabric looked boring. So, I removed it.
From my stash, I found some fabric labeled “River Qui” on it. Though it doesn’t necessarily match the transportation theme of the Dresden plate, it is still fun.
While shopping with Elly and my sister-in-law in New York City, I found fabric in an unusual spot.
The bolts of fabric were beautiful and caught my eye immediately, but I didn’t think for a moment that one could buy the fabric by the yard. It had to be for custom tablecloths or curtains. Crate & Barrel is not a fabric store.
I was both wrong and right.
The fabric was for sale. I bought some orange and green fabric, unable to walk away from such bright, happy colors.
I was right in the sense that the fabric wasn’t sold by the yard. It was sold by the foot!
I bought 2 feet based upon the very helpful sales lady’s recommendation.
Her estimate was accurate; 2 feet was enough to recover two dining chairs.
At the arcade in the Coventry Mall , Elly loves to play skee ball.
Since she doesn’t have the arm strength to roll the ball all the way up the ramp, she stands on the ramp.
Then, she hurls the balls into the pockets.
She’s good. She always goes home with a few lollipops from all the tickets she has won.
Go on. Admit it. You’re jealous.
Well, maybe orange isn’t for everybody, but it’s definitely for me. I smile every time I walk through the dining room and see it sitting in the corner.
This was one of the colors I was going to use to paint stripes on my dining room wall, but we all remember how that ended. So, this table is my consolation.
It houses all of Elly’s crafts that are allowed upstairs. (The messier crafts like play-doh, paint and glitter are kept in the basement.) Oddly enough, pouring a quarter of a bottle of glue on a paper plate to make a tissue flower is not considered messy in my book.
Elly’s craft table is so bright and cheery now.
When Elly saw it finished, she gasped “It’s beautiful, mama.”
That’s my girl.
A few months ago, I had bought some fabric markers. A day earlier, Dan had caught Elly trying to color our couch. He had laid down the rule that one could only color on paper. So when I tried to encourage Elly to draw on an old T-shirt of hers with the fabric markers, she refused and spat the rule back at me.
After reading a few posts from the current Kids II (Kids Inspiration Design Series) hosted by Jessica of Me Sew Crazy blog, I was inspired to pull the fabric markers out again.
This time, I let Elly pick out the fabric from my scrap drawer. Pink.
She used several colors to draw squiggly lines. When finished, she informed me it was a witch’s house.
Then, I turned Elly’s drawing into a pillow.
Elly helped a little by pressing the on and off button of the sewing machine. The trick lies in convincing her to only press the on/off button. She desperately wants to press all the other buttons.
The best part is that Elly loves it!
She loves that we made it together.
She loves that her witch’s house is now soft and can be dragged all over the house.
Thank you, Jessica, for inspiring me to pull the fabric markers back out.
The start line is on the far end of the couch.
Then comes the leaping dive.
Daddy catches!
All ready to do it over again.
The key to organizing toys or frankly anything that is starting to take over your house is to purge.
The rocking chair in Elly’s room that hasn’t been used in at least 2 years – moved to the basement.
The stuffed animals that Elly never plays with – stored in jumbo plastic bags and moved to the attic.
The baby toys Elly has outgrown – also moved to the attic.
The store bought blankets that were no longer needed because Elly has been gifted so many beautiful handmade blankets – donated.
Then, armed with a hodgepodge of old tins, mesh bags, baskets, buckets and plastic organizing bins, I start sorting. End result looks something like this.
I know many people like their containers to match, but I prefer the hodgepodge. First, it’s cheaper because you get to use what you already have. Second, it doesn’t require a labeling machine. Each toy gets its own unique home.
Tins are perhaps my favorite container to store toys and craft supplies in. I decided a long time ago that my life is too short to spend several minutes everyday to painstakingly inserting crayons or any toy or craft for that matter back into the cardboard boxes they are sold in. It is so much easier to just grab a handful of like items and dump. Pop a lid on and you’re done. It’s my kind of cleaning up.
The huge popcorn tins are perfect for storing legos. I’m sure I could organize all of Elly’s toys if I had a collection of these popcorn tins, but alas I don’t. Perhaps it is for the best, since Elly recently learned that rapping the tin with drum sticks makes a magnificently loud sound.
Baskets are great for corralling block collections. The size of the basket had to be upgraded after Elly got a set of foam blocks for her birthday, but the system still works. Baskets are also great for storing stuff that is too big to go anywhere else.
When Elly received a toy with itty bitty parts for Christmas, I balked and seriously thought about hiding them from her until I found this stackable container. Elly likes playing with the container almost as much as she likes playing with the toys inside.
Storing a variety of puzzle pieces in a large bucket is not for the OCD person, but I prefer it to the traditional method of returning the puzzle pieces to their original box. With this method, Elly can put the puzzles away. My trick to being able to distinguish the pieces apart is to draw a crude picture on the back.
Although Alex and Doug magnetic dolls are packaged in a wooden tray, I do not keep them stored that way because the wooden tray lacks a lid. Instead the dolls and all their clothes live in a plastic bin. These bins were designed to hold scrapbooking supplies, but they are awesome for kid’s toys. Check out the handle! Elly can tote her dolls from room to room. Plus they are transparent which is a necessity when your kid is too young to read labels.
Mind you this organizational system probably won’t last long. It seems that every few months Elly grows up on me, changes her mind about her favorite toys and then her room is in need of an overhaul.
It is true that at clean up time there is first a sorting process so toys can go back in their rightful container, but that little bit of extra effort means that Elly can always find the toy she is looking for. Plus I don’t seem to mind the massive amount of toys that Elly has accumulated so long as they stay corralled in pretty containers. It’s a win win. Elly keeps her toys. I get peace and harmony.
On a side note, the wooden tray from the magnetic dolls now sits in the drawer in my kitchen island and organizes all my small cooking utensils.
Last year, I bought my first Christmas gift in January. Not only have I done the same this year, but I have also started making stuff for Christmas.
Any guesses?
It’s an advent calendar that Elly can use. Made out of a metal Santa tray, bottle caps, magnets, stickers and a whole lot of E6000 glue, it’s virtually indestructible. Though I won’t hold my breath. Elly has been known to prove me wrong. In her defense though, we have ruined more toys than she has. Who knew that Barbie dolls broke if you stepped on them?
Our old felt Santa advent calendar had his candy cane removed, sucked on, and thrown on the ground. Any attempt to replace the candy cane with another object so that it could be moved from pocket to pocket was thwarted by Elly.
It is my hope that this year we can count down the days to Christmas together.
The Life, Designs & Crafts of Marie Haigh 