The View From Here

It's hard to go out side and play when your world is looking like this.

I dont want to be in the garden today.

I want to be in bed with a great book, snoozing, all warm and toasty and relaxed.

The reality is that I am very much awake, inside and house bound with two small people and one large man and a wet Labrador named 'Graeme'.

We are not visiting the Daylesford show as planned.

We are not planting new things in the vege patch.

We are not going for the family walk or bike ride as we had thought..

The small people are not carrying out their favourite "I'm bored activity" - which is to paint my garden shed - however they choose.

We are inside.

Trapped by the relentless onslaught of heavy 'Im here for the week - so perish any thought of drying your washing, being outside, feeling the sun on your face.. kind of rain

We are inside.

Watching a window leak.

Watching to two small people swing from polar opposites of behaviour - friendly, happy, confident co-operative play one minute to rolling on the floor, a tangled mess of leg and arm spaghetti punctuated by squeals and yelling 'give it back' /'that's mine' /"MUMMY-DADDY".

I have got to read some of my favourite blogs - between refereeing the small people.

I have got to 'window shop-online' for some Christmas things.

I want my daydream to become reality - just for a while.

Perhaps until the rain stops.

How do you deal with this kind of rain when you have small people inside? I'd love some ideas.

Cheers

P

My (Damaged and Serviced) Creative Space

I haven't been doing much sewing (the machine kind) of late.

Poor Basil (the machine), each and every time I would put my foot to the pedal he would emit a sound akin to an 'old school' steam engine busting it's chops to get up a hill " I think I can, I think I can, I think I can and then one day - he couldn't.

Neither forward or back would Basil go.

So after some consultation with some local ladies in the know I took him off to the fixer-uperer of the sewing machine kind.

And now he is back!

He runs smoothly, emitting only the sound that a sewing machine should make (this is so entirely foreign to me as Basil has sounded so poorly for so long I forgot what a sewing machine should sound like).

So, with a new one of these I can now see what I am doing .

And a new one of these...(check out the damage to the plate that 'someone' has caused)

I have been severely reprimanded by the sewing machine fixer-uperer's and advised not to push or pull when sewing.

Hmmmmmm could be something in that 'pearl of wisdom'.

Head over to Kirsty's to see who else has stuff to show and tell today.

Happy sewing to you.

Cheers

Some Kinda Wonderful

Sometimes the world smiles at you, the planets align and all is ace.

Sometimes the planets are definitely not aligned and the world around me turns to mud, which is a substance I find very hard to swim in let alone wave my arm high in the air whilst simultaneously shouting "help".

During one of my brief visits to my home last week I had some time to do a bit of blog reading - I got to reading this one and thought I'd leave a comment - not to 'win' a/the prize but, because I wanted to share my small girl's funny habit that makes me smile.

The small girl's funny habit obviously appealed to the powers that be as this week I have received this package of goodness in the mail box.

Not only did Jodie send me this ace T-shirt by 'ARK' but she also and oh so generously included these patterns!

I love the idea behind the T-shirts and am really thrilled to be wearing one. And I do promise to undertake Acts of Random Kindness as often as I can.

I also promise to slow down, stop being so grown up and wrapped up in my world of 'lists of things to do' to enable me to see the beauty behind the things my small girl says and does.

So thanks a million Jodie and ARK for sharing the good humour and good vibes.

Please take a minute a have a look at the ARK website to see the great stuff they make and have for sale. Whilst you're surfing...go to Jodie's blog or shop and see what super clever aceness she has dreamed up and made for us to see and buy.

Cheers.

No Dodo's

My small girl started Kinder this year, and is loving it.

Which was quite a relief as I had envisaged weeks of unsettled-ness, and masses of anxiety for all of us at drop off time....Nope, the only tears were mine on the first day at drop off time.

Kinder is a learning curve for us all.

We are completely new to the area and it seemed (then) that most of the other Mums/Dads knew each other well and were happily milling about chatting and quietly spying on their kids through the artwork peppered windows.

Whilst my daughter had found several new friends to chat to about entirely important 4 yr. old stuff, I stood there all on my own..with my sun glasses on , tears rolling down my face and listening to the other parents arrange to meet down the road for coffee...I drove home all sad wondering how long it would take me to make some friends too.

Not long!

This is a great town with such a strong sense of community, we have been welcomed entirely.

I no longer feel sad or lonely or friend-less at drop off time. Or any other time for that matter and I have learnt things about me during this process too.

So, I kept that Kinder' /community spirit in mind when the kinder teacher asked if I would make some teaching aids for the kinder I said "sure".

I was given this book,

Which, is a 'counting up to ten book'.

Each number has a picture of a specific species of an endangered animal.

For example, there are nine dolphins. - So I made nine Dolphins from felt.

On the last page of the book (as the title suggests) there is no picture, as there are now no Dodo's on the planet.

I was asked to make the required amount of animals for each number.

The teaching idea being that when counting with the class the teacher would stick each animal up onto a felt board.

I loved this little project on two levels.

1. I was helping the Kinder and enjoyed the process of making these felt animals.

2. The teacher was able to gently impart a really important message to the kids about our planet and its animals, our environment and the effect we people are having on them.

Go see who else has been playing show and tell in their creative spaces today over at Kirsty's.

Have a great day.

Cheers

Rafi and his new family's - Creative Space.

The small boy's birthday is just around the corner and for him I have repaired his beloved Rafi, I have also made a family of Giraffe's for 'Rafi' to hang out with down on the plains....

Rafi looked like this after 2 1/2 yrs of 'love' from a small boy.

I wondered if I should even attempt to stick a needle into the felty thread bare coat of Rafi let alone try to attach something to it. I wondered if it would all be too much for him causing Rafi haemorrhage is fluffy innards at a significantly faster rate than he already was.

I considered making Rafi a 'new suit' to wear, I had even planned on ensuring the small boy was part of the process of 'dressing' Rafi in the new suit so as not to cause him any undue anxiety for his 'old Rafi'.

Using the off cuts from the new 'Rafi family' I made some patches for Rafi and blanket stitched them on to him - starting with the great gaping hole in his neck.

And now he looks like this

(Legs to be patched soon)

And these are his herd members, his new family.

These new Giraffe's may soon have some needle felted patches - I'm well over blanket stitching for now.

Should you be requiring some felt of glorious thickness - safe in the knowledge that it wont pull apart when worked with, is hand dyed and made from 100% pure wool then I urge you to go visit Trudi's shop 'Me and Ewe' - You will be so pleased you did.

For more lovely words and lovely things to look at, go see who else is playing Kirsty's game of show and tell today.

Have a great day.

Cheers.

Rafi -repairs update

It has arrived!

The beeep beep beeeeeep of the postman's motorbike heralded the arrival of a parcel at Pippiwillow HQ last week.

After much agonising over which colour to choose to re-create 'Rafi' - I had to choose two.

The beautiful hand dyed wool felt that Trudi at Me & Ewe makes and sells is just so lovely, I really couldn't choose just one colour so, I chose two. I am quite proud that I could stop at two...for now.

These are the colours that I have chosen.

A gorgeous camel-esque colour and a rusty colour. I may dry/needle felt the spots on or I may not. I will have to see how they look once they 'come to life'.

So, now as the weather is cooler and the night comes earlier I feel my creative 'mojo' (?'sewjo') starting to bubble beneath the surface.

As I now have two colours for Rafi - I will make a family of them and give the small boy a great surprise - he really misses his Rafi.

Does anyone else become more 'in the mood' to sew and create when the weather turns? What do you create? Are you of the sewing machine persuasion? or perhaps a knitter?

I end up with so many projects on the go I often have half finished creations and bigger plans for more before I've finished the first one.

Cheers.

Giraffe - V's small boy

He used to be a long lean tree munching machine. Meandering and traversing the Savannah with few predators to take up the precious thinking space in his head. The only thoughts (possibly) being "where's my next tree" and "don't bend your neck down for too long".

But, then he came to my house. Or, more specifically to my small boy.

He was a hand made first birthday gift from my Sister to my small boy.

Who loved him so much, he now has a broken neck.

Whilst I do think this new pose gives 'Rafi' a permanently quizzical and interested look. The small boy believes that 'Rafi's' head is feeling poorly and needs some medicine.

"Poor Rafi" (poor me) - me thinks, Rafi can't be repaired and will have to be re-made - at night when the small boy is sleeping lest he see the horror of his beloved 'Rafi' be taken apart.

After I acquire some lovely new hand dyed wool felt from Trudi's oh so lovely new Etsy shop 'Me and Ewe' (please go there and you'll see why I love felt) I will be ready to begin.

I may even make a family of 'Rafi's' - industrial strength Rafi's at that (and this time they may even have some 'Giraffe like patterns/colouring' upon their lovely coats and some serious leg reinforcements to avoid the 'splaying leg pose' - which I note, is quite a normal thing for a Giraffe to do - just not all the time).

Cheers.

Still Here - Just somewhere else

We have moved house recently.

I didn't have the time before we got here (with the working away from home, packing a house that we were still renovating, kid wrangling, the Mr needing to stay at the old place to finish it whilst the small people and I settled into and unpacked our stuff into the new one) to really contemplate the connections that I had developed with my local community, my neighbours and their kids, the parks (Oh how I loved the ability to escape - on foot with the kids to a park when the 'crazy hour' descended upon us).

I am the 'new kid in school' now in my new community.

The new kid who really wants to make some friends.

The new kid who now understands the enormity of what and whom she/they all left behind when seeking a lifestyle and environment that feels better.

Whilst I am so grateful for the relationships I developed at the old place, I am even more so for the fledgling relationships that are forming within my new one.

Blogging has enabled me to 'speak' to people who live in my new area - prior to me getting here. I asked some bloggers who lived here about the area, did they move here, did they grow up here, what are the schools, the kindergartens, child care, play areas etc like. All of these conversations took place via email and all because I started to blog, to read and comment on other blogs.

A few weeks after getting here I received an email from this woman asking "are you here yet? When can we have a cuppa"?

We arranged a time and she arrived with a basketful of home grown goodness.

These are just a wee sample of the supremely excellent biodynamic garlic that Beck grows - It is without doubt the best garlic I've ever had the pleasure of cooking with and eating!

The gift of such goodness was awesome enough but the thought and the generosity and the gesture of reaching out to an almost stranger made my belly flip and humbles me still.

I was invited to come along to a craft group! - which I will most definitely do whenever the work thing does not prevent me from going.

This is not my usual 'style' of blogging - I am usually - mostly about the crafty stuff with a bit of waffle thrown in but, given the wonderful support and offers of friendship that have come my way through blogging I felt I would like to say a massive face splitting smiling 'Thank-You' to both Beck and Kate.

On a crafty note - I am still learning how to knit some 'bowls' (I am gifted in the art of undoing knitting, dropping stitches and also adding stitches when I shouldn't have) and I have been planning a world of felted creatures who are yet to take form...

Soon, soon I will find my stash (under the mountain of still not unpacked boxes) and create a new beginning.

Cheers