Baboushka

Baboushkas in progress. L to R: K's, mine, C's

The darkness of these photos just goes to show that our Oregon skies are gray, gray and then some more gray this time of year. I tried to wait it out to see if I would get a ray of sunshine to chase but, alas, Father sun never did come out to play and I just grew too impatient.

Have you ever heard of the story of Baboushka? It's a traditional Russian folktale and a favorite in our house. Everyone in the village is talking about the new star in the sky, but Baboushka, as always, is busy keeping her house spotless and bright. She hesitantly offers hospitality to three strangers who are following the star in search of a new baby king. When they have continued on their way Baboushka finally sees her missed opportunity and follows in their footsteps. But she has left it too late and, so some say, she continues her quest to this day.

My girls enjoy the simple version of this tale found in this book (pictured above). I particularly like the nice reminder to live in the moment, pay attention to the important things in life and to let the day to day things (like cleaning) take a back seat. I wanted to make a visual reminder of this lesson we learned through Baboushka (maybe I'll even hang mine in the car or somewhere else I will always see it). I found the pattern in this book and one cold morning the girls and I sat by the fire picking out our wool felt and thread colors. Then we each sewed up our own doll as I read the story again.

I originally planned on making these as Christmas tree ornaments but the girls had other plans for them. That actually explains why I don't have any photos of their finished dolls - the disappeared with them! As we sewed them up my mind started racing with variations to the pattern. I foresee my girls having giant Baboushka doll pillows in the future.But shhhh! Don't tell them.

On a side note, I just can't say enough good things about wool felt and it's role in teaching smaller children to sew. We have been using it for years (as you know I like to stick with natural materials), but it took me teaching C how to sew, to really show me just how invaluable wool felt really is. I think C might need some in every color for her birthday.

p.s -Don't forget to enter for your chance to win some beautiful patterns from Little Lamby Knits here.

Also, there are only 10 days left to vote for Frontier Dreams in the top 25 Creative Moms!

Baboushka