Category Archives: crafting

Waking up to…

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Waking up to…
Lily quietly tidying house, making beds and making fruit salad for breakfast!!
(last night we had a talk about helping out, working together and chores as I was noticing she was playing helpless or whinging when asked to contribute)
An un expected gift in her response to the reminder yesterday!
I am always appreciative when she lifts her game and is motivated from herself to do extra tasks and notice she is always very self pleased and energized! She was proud about how spic and span the bus was and expressed when it’s tidy it feels peaceful and bigger and when it’s messy it feels like chaos. ( yep me too!)
Within five minutes of us all being up, Lily was noticing how quickly it gets messed up again after all her attentive work! Mutual gratitude went between us as she understood this process of home love.
Everyone needs to eat, everyone uses things, everyone makes a mess and everyone helps clean up!

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She then volunteered to cook us pancakes! Yay!!
The children had honey and Brie or blueberry jam and the bigs had savory, mmm

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The following is not edible…

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After eating ( and more cleaning up)
We got into wax play, as i had got it out to make her a little ta Lily wax note and heart decoration by her plate ( see above) We use stockmar knetwachs which you can find in most Steiner inspired shops or online. We found our latest batch at Southern Swan in Cygnet southern Tasmania for $2.30 per color.
We keep the colors in one plastic box and the makings in another. It’s beautiful to feel the wax soften in your hands and become something to admire. I like it as much as the smalls do! Sometimes we’ve left the wax land on the dash and have had a sad melted occasion!! Droopy trees and mermaids melting into the sea…

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And then out out out for some running and flying!
We are camped at Lagoons beach on the east coast. The sea is rumbling in with a clean right hand break, perfect tubes and offshore breeze… Why no surfers? Too cold?
I know all that because my first love story was with a gorgeous surfer in my teens…

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After more snacking, i am inspired with the anniversary of our bus purchase in 2005 approaching ( valentines day) I could make a fingerknit wreath as decoration! Lily gave me a lesson and away I went. You can find great finger knitting tutorials at Flax & Twine

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Well that was fun… What next?
Cedar goes to sleep, Lily plays on the trapeze so tired mama can put on a few more rows…

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Beautiful handspun, nature dyed alpaca from the Salamanca markets, soothing for my fingers and mind..
What else can the day hold I wonder?
Xx
What are you
Making, cooking, eating, planning, reading these days??

Ps I can’t seem to make all that text un italic??..

Waking up to…

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Early morning craftings
A little one joins in with big stitches
A big one guides (and bosses)
Together creating a new day of play and friendship
(and a lot of mama love and gladness)
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Cedar is making his first stitches on big weave hessian with tapestry wool and a big blunt needle, held on a little wooden embroidery hoop. Everything cost less than $10 from second hand shops except the needle! Kids up to about 12 like this pleasing art of free embroidery or drawing a picture first then stitching it. Actually even I still like this craft…
We sing
up up up I sew,
then down down down I go

To the up down stitching motion, so Cedar now has added up and down to his little vocabulary!

Waking up to…

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Lily is often seen whittling away at sticks with her little opinel knife
A safe mimic for Cedar is this cheap pink potato peeler! He happily spends hours peeling sticks. It’s kept in the cutlery drawer so he can get it at will.
Aside from sticks, peeling the edges of cardboard boxes amuses him…
He carefully strips the outer bark off sticks and presents them to me.
We extended the play/work this morning with a bit of sand paper to finish the wood.
Beautiful to observe his satisfaction and encouraging others to feel how smooth it is or convince them to sand the wood for him!!

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I feel pleased as a peacock when I find a happy safe solution to creative play!

Waking up to…

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Following the lead of lily’s crafty wakeups

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I think that felt picture is awesome!!

This morning I needed a little craft meditation

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Stem stitch, back stitch, over stitch, herringbone stitch, French knot, Chinese knot…
It’s an ambitious project I started while on retreat and it’s teaching me all these wonderful new techniques of embroidery.
I am being teased for being a granny but I am loving the peace and stillness the focus and beauty of the thousand little stitches.
After this sweet time
It evolved into a time of stressful traveling through the city, getting lost, grumping in tiredness and being overwhelmed by the sprawl.
I have become a bumpkin it’s true.
Connecting with dear friends from pre parenting days brought my smile back, ( and a touch of urban cool)
as did eating out at a fab Vietnamese eatery in northcote. Cheap and cheerful and tasty:)
We strolled down high st to the organic shop for supplies and I dove into the second hand shop, a chaotic jumble taller than me and sprawled into the vast and unreachable distance. I came out with minor shock after being accosted by a lone polka dot shoe and tripped up by a heart cake tin wearing a pink check house dress! Phew.
Thank goodness I didn’t take my purse in I think I would have been pick pocketed by the vintage jumpsuit with the sequins,,,
Feeling grateful for friends who laugh and kids who are self content and cuddly and patience from my partner and the diverse experiences I find along the way!

We travel to Tasmania on the morrow, my heart goes out ahead of me to all the people, the land and the creatures affected by the tragic bush fires these last days.
I wonder how it will be for us…

Well it’s late now. Goodnight.

Waking up to…

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i have become quite attatched to these animals

the hens and Mr Pantaloons are so amusing

as anyone who has spent time with hens knows

in that slightly daft and theatrical way which they behave

he really is very beautiful, a storybook rooster

with a fantastic crow

and he takes good care of his ladies

i’ve been playing farmgirl these last months

and it is sweet simple tasks which brighten the morning

and encourage one to get up early before it is hot

animals who love to see you every day consistantly boost one’s self esteem

{even if deep down i know it’s the one with the bucket they love….}

i have gained more confidence with these goat girls and can milk with a

great Heidi-esque splash now

i still cannot yodel, surely there must be a you tube tutorial on it…

must look that up

they are mischievous and daring

cheeky and personable

just like a story one girl turned around and started to nibble my hat

really! goats don’t really eat hats do they??


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and then later i morph from farm mama into crafting mama

i had some lessons on setting up a table loom in WA

i never did post the photos… another day yet again

{do you wonder about behind the scenes and all i don’t share?

some of it is simply beautiful and disappears in the motion of the days of wonder

and some of it is the most ugly parts of my life which i hold tight to me in fear of what you or i might think or they are simply too raw to reveal on this medium}

anyway weaving.

lily received a great loom from aunty J for her birthday,

instructions in German where too complex

but yesterday i did it! {thanks mama}

success and away we went

the three of us a weaving team, the rhythm of our tasks helping something wondrous and special come together

for papa {shhhhh}


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Lily’s February sweater

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Well, I finally finished Lily’s February girl sweater!

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hooray! my most complex and challenging knitting project so far.

I learnt so much with this project, practically and internally

so much required from me

including patience

persistance

invention

commitment

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persistance

imagination

bravery

overcoming tedium

presence

attention

there are alot of p words aren’t there?

one last one…

pride!

beautiful aint it!

IMG_4683it’s the February pattern from Elizabeth Zimmerman’s book, The Knitter’s Almanac

adapted to big girl size with lots of trial and error! remember this...

an excellent, amusing guide to knitting projects throughout a year.

you can see my ravelry notes for the February girl Sweater/cardigan here…

Are you still knitting this late in the year if you are in the southern hemisphere?

and what are you starting to warm yourself in the coming months if you are in the north?

happy clicketty clacking

R

Paper pentagon star lantern

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A traveling craft lesson
Some coming in time
Some quiet respite from windy seaside
Some beautiful adornment
For our housebus
A wish fulfilled

I’ve wanted to make one of these pentagon star lanterns for a long time.
Today it came about easily
Already we had been making little paper stars
So our hands where warmed and the star theme moved us.
Most lanterns I’ve seen are made with watercolor paper
We improvised with what we had
As we often do for these spontaneous craftings
(when we get home we will paint thick watercolor paper and make some for candles)
Today it was
One colored side origami papers
A rough pentagon template
Scissors and glue
An Online tutorial
Children sharing scissors and paper hooray!
Cedar chopped minuscule pieces which went everywhere, then he was happy to sweep it all up, hooray again!
It was a bit awkward gluing the last pentagons in place.
Easier next time for sure.
Lily hung the delicate lantern over a down light and even though it was not yet dusk we enjoyed the colorful cheering glow during our evening meal.
These small moments of creation and togetherness hearten me immensely.
This lantern shining spurred the first talks of the coming advent and queries of would we make our advent candles again? And where is the candle windmill? And where is baby Jesus? Can we fill star lanterns with advent biscuits to give our friends…
It was beautiful to realize how the ritual of advent has become a part of our family life and memories and is anticipated by L.
Blessings on our home and hands
Blessings upon yours too
Have you made these lanterns before?
Are you going to now?
Do you celebrate advent?
Did your family of origin have traditions for advent?
May each of our beautiful inner lights shine brightly
X