Adapted Books

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Britton’s birthday is coming up and I have been pondering what to get him. He doesn’t talk, read, or entertain himself. He does like to watch music videos. Last year I made him a little book all about him going to the park–one of his favorite things to do. He loved that book and had me read it to him several times. I was thinking maybe I would buy him some books for his birthday.

Doing a little research about Autism and books I ran across this article about adapted books. It said “Adapted books is a general term for altering books to make them more accessible to children with disabilities. There are a variety of ways that children’s books can be adapted. For autistic children, and children with language delays, one way to adapt books is by adding pictures to match to each page.”

I found another article that tells more about how to make your own interactive adapted books.

I decided to buy board books and add pictures to them. I bought Goodnight Moon and Moo, Baa, LaLaLa. I also bought Vecro dots (I bought the clear, thin 3/8″ dots–but I think they are too small. So then I bought 3/4″ clear, thin fasteners. I thought the clear would be good since you could see the pictures underneath. Actually, they are really hard to see. But I wanted thin fasteners to fit in the book and the clear ones were all I could find. Perhaps Britton could learn to feel where to put the picture. That might be good, to use an additional sense.

I also bought a laminator — it is so fun!

I thought rounded corners would be fun so I bought a corner rounder punch. It works great on paper; not so great on laminated sheets. But I found if I put the laminated piece together with a piece of card stock in the punch it usually does a good job. Sometimes I have to trim the edges with scissors.

To make the matching pictures, I scanned the pages from the books and choose which pictures to use. Goodnight Moon was harder to do because there are so many things on each page and the pictures are really small. I printed the pictures on card stock and cut around each one. Then I placed them in the laminator pouch and laminated them.

After cutting around each laminated picture, I added Velcro to the back of each small picture and to the corresponding place on the page. For Goodnight Moon the small pictures cover up the picture in the book.

But for Moo, Baa, La La La, I decided to just add the picture somewhere on the page.

I decided that the pictures couldn’t really be stored inside the book. Plus, when reading the books, Britton will need to choose the picture to add to the page. So, I made storage sheets. I printed the pictures again on cardstock and laminated the sheets. Adding Velcro to the sheets made it easy to attach the pictures to the storage sheets. I even added words to the pictures for Moo, Baa, La La La.

Goodnight Moon board book and storage pages

I cut down envelopes to use to store the picture pages.

I would like to attach them to the book somehow. Maybe I’ll add a strip of Velcro to the envelop and the back of the book.

Since this is a personalized adapted book just for Britton I added his photo to the last page of Moo, Baa, LaLaLa:

Garden Update

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Sigh. My garden is being eaten. I don’t know what is munching on my tender little plants. I think gophers got the zucchini plant. It was chewed off at the base. And the beans! Something keeps chewing the leaves off the tops of the plants. I even bought more plants at the nursery, but alas, they, too, were too delicious looking and have also been chewed off. The garden box that is doing best is the one with the flowers. So, I bought more flowers and planted them among the vegetables in the other garden boxes. We’ll see what happens. And now it is hot! Over 90 degrees outside this week. My poor garden.

This is my best-looking garden box. It has tomatoes, snapdragons, zinnias, sunflowers, and corn. The tall sunflower just grew! I planted sunflowers last year in this box, and they tried to grow but were chopped in half before they flowered. I don’t really know why this sunflower grew all by itself this year. The flower was beautiful, but the leaves look like skeletons. Another dastardly bug at work. I love the shorter sunflowers. I didn’t know what they were for a long time and it was fun when they finally blossomed into beautiful flowers. (In way of explanation: I started the seeds and planted the tiny plants, but didn’t remember where I had planted the different flowers. That’s why I didn’t know these were sunflowers.)

Close-up of these beautiful sunflowers.

I think these are pumpkin plants. I planted zucchini here, too. One plant grew and gave us two zucchinis before it was cut down at the stalk. Sigh.

This is the middle box on the upper level. It has carrots and some flowers. Along the sides are beans desperately trying to grow before their leaves are eaten. I also planted the seedlings that Coco planted at her science camp. I have no idea what they are. It’s an “experiment”. (Hee hee)

This box has mostly tomato plants and some of the blossoms are ripening into tomatoes.

That is my garden to date. I keep hoping for green beans, but I think I might be losing to whatever little creature is eating them. It looks like I will get tomatoes, some pretty flowers, and pumpkins.

Betsy McCall

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When I was about seven years old, my sister and I were both sick with Chicken Pox.  I don’t think we were very sick, but we had to stay home and quickly got bored.  At this same time, I remember each of us playing with our own Betsy McCall doll.  I’m not sure if they were gifts to sick little girls, or if we just started to play with them when we were sick. 

Recently I listened to a podcast about the history of sewing patterns and the McCalls company was mentioned.  I wondered if my little Betsy McCall was connected, so I did a little research.

According to Linda Edwards (in her article Betsy McCall Dolls (rubylane.com), Nov. 30. 2020), “In 1870 James McCall founded a company to publish and sell dress patterns. In 1873, looking for a way to advertise his pattern line, he founded The Queen magazine (renamed McCall’s Magazine—The Queen of Fashion in 1897 – later simply McCall’s). The magazine included editorials, advice, fiction . . . by such notables as Willa Cather, Jessie Willcox Smith, Barbara Hale, Norman Jacobsen, Ray Bradbury, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Eleanor Roosevelt, John Steinbeck, and Kurt Vonnegut, just to name a few.”

As early as 1904 McCalls included a paper doll in their magazine.  The paper dolls were a marketing strategy, thinking that mothers would be more inclined to purchase the magazine if they had a nice giveaway toy for their daughters.  Over 50 years the magazine included several paper doll designs. 

From Paper doll:This Is Betsy McCall — Google Arts & Culture

 “Betsy, a sweet girl of seven or eight years of age, became a feature of the monthly magazine, much as magazines of the turn of the century had offered Dolly Dingle and other paper dolls. The paper doll’s run in the magazine continued into the 1990s, making her one of the longer running paper dolls in periodicals.”

The Betsy McCall paper doll made her debut appearance in the May 1951 issue. She was drawn by artist Kay Morrissey.

Betsy McCall was intended as a way to induce mothers and children to become involved in the world of fashion and sewing by engaging in play with paper dolls. I remember playing with lots of paper dolls as a child.  My mom did sew and made many of our clothes, but I don’t know if she bought McCalls magazine.

 Again from rubylane.com:  “The first Betsy McCall paper doll was featured on the magazine’s cover and had an editorial layout in the issue to introduce this new character to the world. Accompanying text on the paper doll page told the readers that “Betsy is five, going on 6, and she lives in a little white house with a porch and a yard to play in. Her mother and daddy and Nosy her puppy, live in the white house too. Nosy is six months old. Betsy and Nosy and Betsy’s friends play together all the time. And every month from now on they’ll come to play with you too.”

In the mid 1950’s I was just the right age to enjoy Betsy both as a paper doll and as the playable doll. 

In 1952 The Ideal Toy Corporation was granted a license to make what would be the first of numerous 3-dimensional Betsy McCall Dolls.  In 1957 the American Character Doll Company obtained a license to produce Betsy McCall dolls. From 1957 to 1963 American Character offered a hard plastic 8″ doll.  This is the size doll I had.  She had a hard plastic body and was jointed at the knees, hips, waist, shoulders.  She had sleepy eyes that would close and a very cute face.  She came in a tiny little box.  Quoting rubylane.com: “Often referred to as “Tiny Betsy” by modern collectors, the earliest of the 8″ American Character dolls came in white boxes with little starburst flowers and gold lettering. Extra clothing was available for the 8″ dolls with some designs remaining from year to year and others going in and out of the line. A variety of cases could be purchased for the doll’s wardrobe.”   I remember the little box and the doll, but I don’t remember lots of changes of clothes–I assume we had some.

We played with our dolls a lot!  In fact, my little doll’s body split apart below the waist and wore tape “underwear” holding her together.

I wish I still had my precious little doll, but sadly, she is long gone and just a fond memory now.

Sources:  Betsy McCall Dolls (rubylane.com);  Paper doll:This Is Betsy McCall — Google Arts & Culture

Block Printing

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A few years ago I bought a book called Print Pattern Sew by Jen Hewitt.

She teaches block printing on fabric and encourages her students to use the fabric to make clothing. I decided that this was something I definitely wanted to try. But you know how it is, life goes on and is busy. And the years have gone by without following through on my intentions to learn to block print.

I like to watch Craftsy videos while walking on the treadmill and recently rewatched Jen’s Craftsy class on block printing (TWICE). I was captivated again! Then after I had a bit of a discouraging day, I decided to cheer myself up by ordering all the supplies for block printing. (It wasn’t as expensive as I thought it would be — or else I really want to try it and didn’t mind the expense. Who knows?)

I decided to make the simple apron Jen showed us how to make in the Craftsy class. It only takes one yard of fabric. I think I can print that much. While I was waiting for the supplies to arrive, I planned my printing design. Since I’m making an apron, I thought a design of oranges and lemons would be very appropriate. I know she suggests you start with a simple design, but I couldn’t help myself. I knew what I wanted on my apron!

This is the design I came up with

repeated all across the width of the fabric and down the length. It’s a simple straight repeat pattern but will require alternating blocks. Also, it requires three blocks: one for the orange slice, one for the lemon, and one for the branch and leaves.

I bought fabric yesterday and it is currently in the dryer. All the supplies are supposed to arrive today. I AM SO EXCITED!

UPDATE June, 2023

I had so much fun block printing the fabric. It wasn’t perfect. I made some mistakes in placement of the blocks. BUT IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!

And I ended up with a pretty cute apron.

Sewing update May 27, 2023

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Who doesn’t love new pajamas? Looking through my collection of patterns, I found one that I liked: Kwik Sew 4144. (I haven’t bought patterns in ages so I think this pattern might be discontinued.)

I really like wearing nightgowns and I thought I could lengthen the top to become a nightgown. But pj tops and pants/shorts are fun too. I wanted something really comfy so I decided to make the pattern in 100% cotton knit. Believe it or not, 100% cotton knit is hard to find at the local JoAnn’s. All the knits have lycra–not what I wanted. Finally I found a cute pink 100% cotton knit with white polar bears. It was in the children’s knit section.

The pattern also has a robe. We have two families coming to visit next week and I’m sure I’ll be up making breakfast before I have a chance to get dressed. All I have are a couple of fuzzy warm robes and thought I could use a light cotton robe for summer. I ordered some really pretty cotton fabric from Blackbird Fabrics in Canada. Are you sensing a theme–100% cotton? The fabric is lovely, and I think the robe turned out really well. I think the sleeves might be a little too long, but after I wear it a few times I’ll know for sure and can easily hem them shorter if necessary.

So this has been my sewing lately. I also bought a rayon fabric from Blackbird to make a blouse. That will be my next sewing project (maybe–unless I get distracted by something else.)

There is a Thief in my Garden!

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Years ago I had a garden on the side of the house. Lovely tomatoes were growing there. Then one day I looked out the window onto the patio and saw a squirrel sitting on the ledge. Beside him was a perfectly good, red and ripe tomato. It wasn’t bad enough that he had stolen my tomato, but he had carried it all the way from the side garden to the back patio. And then, he whistled so that I would see what he had done! Rude!

Now, I have strawberries growing in the planter box among the daffodils on the back patio.

The strawberries are just becoming red and delicious. But, alas, I have another garden thief. I don’t know for sure, because I haven’t seen the thief, but I’m betting it is a squirrel. He left me evidence of his thievery and the remains of his snack.

He actually had a feast, I think. More evidence:

I guess I don’t mind sharing, (too much). I picked the rest of the ripe strawberries for me to enjoy at lunch.

Oh No!

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I can’t believe I’ve missed my goal of writing for the blog once a month! I have no excuse . . . except that I have been very busy. I took an eight-week fitting class that was intense! When that class ended, all the kids, spouses and grandkids came for our first ever Family Reunion. So it’s been wild and crazy. I will tell you all about my class and about the reunion. But for today I’m just going to do a quick post about a little friend I see each morning in the shower. (Heh heh.)

This is a photo of my friend. He hangs out on the shower wall. Can you see him? Each morning this smiling little creature greets me. Below is a traced photo to help you see my little shower buddy.

Can you see him now? Pretty cute, little parrot, huh?

Recently, I noticed another friend. This one is a little more difficult to see.

Can you guess what animal it is?

Here’s a traced photo for you.

Hmmm. I see it better without the blue line. But to me it is a lioness. She doesn’t smile as much as the parrot.

Imagination is a wonderful thing!

Covid-19

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After staying home and being hermits for nearly three years and then wearing a mask for several months when I went out, I finally had had enough and stopped wearing the mask. I still don’t really go out much. Dave does all the shopping and errands. Wearing a mask at Church felt like a barrier between me and everyone else. So I was anxious to be able to participate again without the mask barrier.

Well, last week Dave got really sick. You know he isn’t feeling well when you walk out to the family room and find him huddled under a blanket with his hoodie up over his head. He was coughing up a lung, sneezing, had a runny nose, and aches all over. He did actually spend a couple of nights sleeping in the study or a spare bedroom. But, alas, he is a very sharing person and a couple of days ago I felt achy and sneezy, too. I don’t have a cough and not bad sneezes. The whole-body aches are pretty bad, though. But nothing some ibuprofen can’t handle.

This morning both of my girls suggested that I take a Covid test. I told them it was probably just a bad cold, but they have both had Covid and insisted. So I took the test.

Yup. This is what a positive Covid test looks like. (We tested Dave, too, and he is also positive. I think I can blame him for my illness.) I talked with my doctor and since the symptoms are mild and the fever is very low, she said I can just stay home, drink lots of water and rest and get well. Good advice.

Also, a good excuse to be a couch potato. In fact, this afternoon we enjoyed watching the movie “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”.

Sewing Essentials Class (and Daffodils)

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These are my daffodils growing beside the back patio. They’re getting thick. Perhaps next fall I can dig them up and separate the clumps and spread them out a little. We’ve had lots of rain this year and it’s been pretty chilly, so it is nice to see that Spring is on the way.

I’m taking the Fitting Essentials course online from Alexandra Morgan of In-House Patterns and In-House Patterns Studio. It is an amazing course. I took it last year as a distraction before my surgery. It was hard! I was never really pleased with the garment I ended up with, and have actually never worn it, although it still hangs in my closet.

When I saw the announcement for the class (it is only offered once a year), I decided that if it didn’t cost too much, I would take it again, hoping to understand better this year. So, I randomly decided on a cost I was willing to pay and waited for the email to returning students with sign up information. Wouldn’t you know? The alumni price was well within the budget I had decided on. I signed up right away.

Part of the class is an online community. I am no good at social media. Last year the whole community participation was overwhelming for me. There are just so many comments to read and to try to reply was just more time commitment than I had. Watching the course videos and doing the work and participating in the Live Question and Answer tutorials took enough time. This year I have decided to pretty much skip the community. If I do run into questions, I may post them to the community. But otherwise I’m using my time to study and do the work. I am diligently watching the videos and taking notes and typing them up to add to my class binder. I was pleased to see that Alexandra is turning off the chat during the Live Sessions this year. She sets it to public at the beginning and at the end. But she knows how distracting it can be and wants us to pay attention while she is teaching.

This is the end of Week 2 and the Step 1, 2, and 3 course videos have been released. I am happy to say that I am completely up to date with my work so far.

Sewing Pattern Organization

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I sometimes listen to podcasts at night when I’m having trouble falling asleep. Lots of times I listen to ones I’ve listened to before because then I do fall asleep. The other night I was listening to a podcast episode from November 2017. It was a Love to Sew podcast episode called “How Big is Your Pattern Stash?” I think I fell asleep, but before I did, I decided I would read the episode transcript the next morning. I was really interested in their tips for organizing sewing patterns.

I used to be a member of Seamwork, an online sewing community. As a member you can choose a “free” (for the membership fee) pattern each month. There are also sew-a-long classes, articles, techniques and tips. I really did enjoy being a member of Seamwork. But as a result of my membership, I ended up with a lot of digital PDF patterns. Most of them I have never sewn. And because they are digital PDFs there are no pattern envelopes with a picture to remind me what I have. I needed a way to organize them with pictures to show me what each pattern was designed to make.

Helen, of Love To Sew, uses Trello to organize her patterns. Here is the image in the podcast notes:

I could see right away that Trello was the answer to my pattern dilemma.

Other than these lovely pattern pictures, what is Trello? According to their website “Trello is the visual tool that empowers your team to manage any type of project, workflow, or task tracking. Add files, checklists, or even automation: Customize it all for how your team works best. Just sign up, create a board, and you’re off!” A visual tool is just what I needed. I watched some YouTube videos on how to use Trello and read Helen’s blog “How to Organize Your Patterns Using Trello“. And then I just dove in and set up my own Pattern Collection Board:

Each column is a different type of garment: tops, dresses, outerwear, pants, skirts, etc. Each pattern is on a separate “card”. The cards can have attachments and descriptions. You can add labels and then be able to filter for the pattern cards you want to see. For example, I’ve labeled the cards by designer and woven or knit.

For the project management part of Trello, you can set up another board that shows what you want to do, what you are working on now, and finished projects. Really, you can organize it any way you want to meet your own needs. I set up a board called Sewing Projects. The rows are labeled “Patterns I want to Sew”, “Patterns I’m Sewing Now”, and “Finished Garments”.

As my work progresses, I can move the cards from one column to the next. I usually don’t work on more than one project at a time, so I don’t really need to keep track, but it will be fun. You can even add checklists to the cards. For the Butterick blouse that I am working on I added some checklists.

I’ve finished altering the pattern and sewing a muslin to check the fit and make final alterations to the pattern. Those steps are checked off. I still need to order the fabric (so hard to decide what will be the best choice), and then sew the blouse, take pictures and write notes.

I’m really excited to try using Trello to organize my patterns in a way that I can actually see what I have. It will be fun to track my progress and plan new sewing projects.