in between time

days of drifting, children reading and making up songs, playing with Christmas presents, me, dreaming into new knitting books, catching up on stuff around the house, forgetting what day it is...wondering how on earth we will ever eat all the shortbread and chocolates we brought home from Christmas gatherings....doing nothing much...those in between summer days

k n i t t i n g
progress on the Vertebrae; very fond of  the twisted rib edging.

h a n d m a d e  g i f t s :

the night before Christmas Eve, I decided I couldn't let Christmas happen without at least one handmade gift.
These pencil rolls were so quick to whip up, possibly because I was a little slap dash and didn't do any measuring! The girls absolutely love them. I checked out a few tutorials online for ideas by googling "pencil roll tutorials". The pencils are Lyra Giants, our all time favourite pencils for drawing. There's an extra layer of flannelette in the middle to make them padded and the ties are wool "twisties".

o h

and here's the gingerbread shack we made for fun!

keep calm craft on

Yesterday my middle child had a "mental health" day off school, and she spent the afternoon starting a toy elephant. The elephant is a project often done in Steiner schools here in Australia to compliment the Ancient Indian epoch the children are immersed in.

We had such a blissful time, me finally getting around to fixing up my Steiner/Waldorf craft scrapbook and lending a helping hand and my girl patiently going through the steps of making an elephant.
I felt our afternoon working side by side was very special, and to me was a clear reminder of what parenting and creativity is all about for me. I didn't really get much "done", except a bit of pasting, but my girl was very pleased with the time with me, and her progress with her pink Elephant.

Lately I have heard a lot of conversations around motherhood and creativity, about "having it all",  living your creative dreams, earning a living from said creative dreams... In fact I've heard so much of this talk that I have started to feel unsettled, anxious even, questioning my choice to stay home with the children full time, questioning my own validity as a creative soul. Should I be doing more, working on big projects, earning more, making more....

And I've had a few thoughts:
For me, mothering is innately creative, probably due to the fact that children are innately creative. I am inspired by children and inspired to see them play, make things, hear them sing, marvel at their curiosity, marvel at how they grow and learn. I've also decided what I want most is to be around my children. I have a full time job. Mothering. There's not a lot of time (or energy!) for developing a career right now. And I'm okay with that.
I am also an intensely creative person. I knit ferociously, I obsess about colours, I sing, my kids sing, we make stuff. I guess we kinda bumble around in a bit of a creative mist.
Even though I may not be recognised as creatively "successful" by the outside world, an afternoon making things with my lovely daughter felt like a real moment. And validation that our small creative path in the domestic sphere is enough. It is special. That this is nourishing the world in a tiny precious unpredictable sort of way.
That's all I've got to say on the topic for now!
Hope you enjoy the snaps!

linking to
Nicole's Keep Calm Craft On

Mabel's Exercise Book Cover Tutorial!!

 

 

 You can cover any kind of exercise book, but the kind with hard covers work best.

Lay your book over the fabric you want. Cotton or linen works best.

 Leave a good size border around the book on all side and with your ruler draw a line for where to cut. We just use our eyes to judge how straight things are.

 Cut!

 Use your fingers to press an inner seam.

 Then fold over again, so the raw edge is hidden.

Pin and sew edges.

 Now do the same for the short edges. Fold over like before, pin and sew.

 Now, line up on the fabric and fold over the edges to make the envelop sides. 

Pin and sew!

 You now have a book cover! If you would like a piece of elastic to keep your book closed, just cut a length of elastic and sew it onto the very edge of the top and bottom of the back fold.

Add mushrooms, flowers or whatever else you can think of!! Hooray!!!

Now you have pretty exercise books for school!
And the best thing is, when you've used up your exercise book, you can take it out and put the cover on the new one!!
Have fun!

a little bit of sunshine...

In Class 2,  the children are venturing out into the world a little more adventurously: climbing trees becomes an obsession, feeling the wind in their hair, the elements are experienced intensely. In the Steiner school s here in Australia, the fairy tales of Class 1 become longer, episodic journeys , often from the Celtic tradition, and these stories seem to expand like the rays of the sun.
In craft, the children pick up their sewing needles again, and stitch the sunburst stitch on colourful muslin. The stitches ray out, stitched from the middle out in a circle,  multi coloured and arranged so that each expanding circle of stitches sits just inside the previous row's stitches.
I really needed to concentrate making this article, yet felt so expanded by the colours starting to ray out in front of me. There are two sides, with a piece of muslin inside to thicken, in case you want to use it like an oven mitt or pot rest.
It opened my heart and delighted me, and now hangs in my kitchen waiting for it's first pot to sit under!
yippee!

heavens! i love this making frenzy!

yep!
2012 is off and firing with a making frenzy!
chicken 1 made this:

 

the head is needle felted, then the body sewn with calico and stuffed with pure wool.
The dress whipped up on the machine with velcro closings, and trimmings!
Four hours straight, I would say , without a break for lunch!
I can't express how deeply satisfying it was to see this earnest making!


 and chicken 2 made this:

she had found a neglected half finished horse head started by chicken 1 several years ago, and decided to finish it, adding felt ears, a mane, stuffing and joining with linen thread to a sturdy old child's broom handle. Hooray!

we have started a play mat using felted old husband jumpers (the jumpers were old, not the husband!)
stay tuned!!

Flooffy Cat Bloomers: Slightly Tutorialish

IN the tradition of making handmade gifts for all birthdays the Chicken's are invited to, I stayed up rather a bit late making a pair of Flooffy Cat Bloomers.
The first pair I ever made was about 7 years ago, when Chicken 1 played "Whiskers on Kittens" in a "My Favourite Things" play at Kinder. These are still squeezed into regularly around here, even though no-one is quite a size 4 anymore.
The slogan around our house at the moment: "Flooffy Cat Bloomers: everyone needs a pair!"
I took a few snaps so I could make this post a wee bit instructional.

1. If there isn't any Fake fur, or even, at a pinch, felted jumpers about, one needs only about 40cm of fake fur fabric. and some lining fabric. I used some cotton fabric I picked up years ago at an op shop.

2. I used this old pattern from Butterick, but the size only goes up to 3 years, so I kinda cut a very big seam allowance and made each piece longer, and it kinda worked!

3. Next, I cut out four pieces of fabric (2 in fur, 2 in lining):

4. I then sewed the right side of lining to fluffy side of fur, leaving the top (waistline) open, and then turned inside out. I then sewed around the edge with zig zag (love zig zag!), joining the top edges by zig zagging at the edges.

5. I then placed the fur side together and sewed up both rises (that is curvy edges).
Then I turned inside out, and matched the sewn edges together, and all of a sudden, they looked like shorts! (Wouldn't you know it, I got so excited I forgot to take a photo of this stage!).
The you turn inside out again, and sew up the crotch. (I like to sew down the seams of the crotch with a  wide zig zag.)

6. The sew down the top of bloomers about an inch, leaving a bit of a gap so you can slip in the elastic.
Thread elastic through with a nappy pin, and sew the two ends, then slip inside and sew over the hole.

7. The turn pants inside out, and sew elastic straight onto the inside of the leg opening, stretching the elastic a bit so it gathers to create the bloomer effect!
8. THE TAIL! Cut a long piece of fur, sew into a tube, turn inside out and sew onto the bum of bloomers!!

Fini!
Give to birthday child and watch the pussycats run off into the sunset tails a-bouncing...a great quiet moment of victory for handmade!

{work in progress}

Chicken No. 2 is turning 8 on Wednesday, so this mama is burning the midnight oil making gifts for the special occasion. Of course, at the top of my hill are plenty of wondrous gifts to purchase, but, no! I have taken the handmade pledge- I think I did this at birth, and must make all!!

So: a bean bag upon which to dream into the incredible books of the world!

the cardigan...

Odelette to the Sproutings

Oh Spring, you are being a touch coy, methinks. Yet,
the little sproutings sighted hither and thither reassure me
immensely!

the noble basil

the humble salads

 I have just discovered Elsie Marley's blog, and her kid's clothes week challenge.
Have managed to knit for one hour at least per day, trying to knit up Chicken 2's birthday Spring  tea leaves cardi.
Highlighting the fact that knitting is a s-l-o-w way to do things....but I love it.
After having been raised in a family of runners, in every sense of the word, I have, for the first time in my life, discovered the joys of slow.  The healing benefits of knitting, indeed.
Now to get this cardi finished in time!!!
oops

 

This is a divine pattern, and I am enjoying knitting the yoke so much! It always amazes me what nifty things one can do with some knits and some purls!

 

 And because the sun showed its face a little, and because my favourite  magazine arrived in the letterbox yesterday, I sat and knitted and "read" said mag in between little hand grabs...