Small Things for Small Feet

It has been a while... but I have been very busy, making, sewing, mending, schooling, kinder-ing packing, moving, unpacking, tidying.

These are my newest and cutest sewn things to show they come in new born, 3-6 month and 6-12 month sizing.

 I have been experimenting with different fabrics and textures for a soft soled 'just starting to walk' shoe too. 

I have sold a few and have some orders for some to be made! Which is fantastic.

I hope to make and sell more.

Wardrobe Re-Worked!

I saw an advertisement from my local neighbourhood house for this "the Sustainable stylist Re-Work You Wardrobe" and I was compelled to go.

I went along to the 5 hour class with my back pack full of old clothes, clothes that I no longer wore but did not want to throw away. Clothes that I knew had the potential to become something else but also needed someone with more vision than me.

Kim Kneipp's class was a wonderful way to spend the day.

I met three really lovely women who were all of like mind when it came to their clothes - that is, we needed help with re-working them into something ace, something we would wear a lot and something we saw no point in adding to the masses of clothing that become landfill when no longer fashionable-fitting well-or longer our style.

We were all welcomed into Kim's studio, warmed by the burning fire and shared enthusiasm of each-others soon to be 'new' clothes'.

Last year I found this gorgeous pure wool pale green/grey winter coat at a market for $6!!!!!

It was too big, too short in the sleeve and had no shape - or rather it did not suit my shape.

I had moved up into the hills where it gets ridiculously cold I knew I could use a coat like this.

I required some 'help' and this is where Kim's class fitted in nicely to the mysterious ways of the world.

After much trying on , draping pinning, tucking, and wonderful tips and style help from Kim and the girls, I came away with these.

I still need to do a bit more work on them but I am so inspired to more to other items.

I absolutlely love the idea of shopping within my own wardrobe and re-working wat I already own.

Thanks Kim and thanks also to Claire, Louise and Sue.

I can't wait for the next sewing day.

See who else has things to show and tell today over here.

Cheers.

Breathe

Occasionally I am reminded about keeping 'it' simple, appreciating the moment. Breathe.

I am realising that all of the worries, stresses and anxieties that can overwhelm and cloud my spirit are given more of my power, my energy and my time than they are worthy of. Breathe.

I have found myself getting quite lost in these feelings of late - and frankly, I am just bloody tired of it. I do not like the shroud of fear, worry and angst that has settled over my world due to a situation I did not create and can not control. Breathe. Slowly-Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

I have given myself over more to these feelings than I have to my family, to my friends and to those that make my heart sing and soar - the very people who have always been around, available and ready to catch me when I was ready to let it all go. Breathe. Slowly-Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

My beautiful friend had her first baby last week - a delicious bundle of loveliness - 'Ella Rose'.

I went to visit them yesterday and I spent what felt like an age just having her resting on my legs sleeping and finding myself once again lost.

Mercifully lost in the wonder and the magnitude of the new born baby.

Lost in the stark reality and simplicity of life.

Lost in the beauty and perfection of new life.

Lost in the vision of my dear friends look of absolute love and devotion to her new baby illustrated throughout her body and face.

Lost in the new identity that my friend now has - Mother.

Amazing little reality check, really. Breathe. Slowly-Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

For the wonderful new human who now has the title of "fairy god-daughter", I have made these

from found fabric.

The top (embroidered) side of the shoe is cut from the edge of a table cloth and the back and sole from some printed pink corduroy discovered in 'the stash'.

I loved making these - it's been ages since my last sewing session (dear Father) and I am feeling energised and excited to start again.

My sister's 'bestie' also had a baby last week - a boy, so I will make another pair for him - 'Samuel'.

Feeling crappy is so insidious - I have felt like I am carrying a satchel of worry and broken-ness. At times it has felt too hard to be near other people for fear of weighing them down with my negative energy.

Breathe. Slowly-Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

Thankfully, mercifully, there are some amazing people out there who inspire, love, support, care, encourage and share with you. Lift you, help you to remember 'you'.

There are also baby shaped bundles of pure bliss, child sized bundles too - that look up to you with outstretched arms and call you 'Mummy'.

There are the great strong arms, broad shoulders and the gentle soul of a man so beautiful thinking about him can make me weep with the knowing that he is mine and I am his.

There are some simply wonderful people out there and I am so very grateful.

To the super fun, clever, warm and welcoming women in town who create loveliness and inspire me - I thank you.

To the family who loves me - I thank you.

To the friends from 'home' - I thank you - and I miss you!

Breathe. Slowly-Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

To the crappy shitty energy and those who wouldst revel in ugly ugly behaviour - you can sod off!

Exhale and let go.......

And now go see who else has stuff to show and tell over here

Cheers.

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

Christmasy Goodness

This year I've been completely inspired by all of you bloggers out there are super handy with the sewing machine and more so by those who pledged to not buy clothing but rather make it themselves and where possible, to make it with previously loved clothing or fabric.

Whilst I am certainly nowhere near the skill level required to be making something that I can wear, I thought I would apply the philosophy behind the pledge to the Christmas presents I intended to give.

I have felt for a while now that I had become almost clinical about Christmas gift buying.

I would ask a family member, friend etc what they would like, or I surreptitiously figured out what I thought they could be needing and I'd get it for them.

No problem there really, but, I felt I was missing the 'spirit' bit.

I decided that this year I would be giving 'bags of home made goodness'.

So, I went to many thrift shops and found 'stuff'.

Old table cloths, bed sheets, strange pieces of strapping, doilies, cotton thread, curtains...the works *.

I thought I'd try my hand at chutney making.

A lot of tears were shed owing to the mountain of onions that were chopped, so much so I resorted to wearing my daughters swimming goggles to get the job done with my fingers intact.

A squillion hours of measuring, cutting, sewing (& unpicking!) a wee bit of swearing, chopping, 'mortar and pestling', simmering, and jar sterilising later....

And Here you have...

'Bags of home made goodness'.

Inside each Home Made bag there will be an Apron, an Oven Mitt, Three jars of Chutney (a jar of Apple & Mango for curry, a jar of spicy tomato and a jar of timid tomato) and a bottle of Worm wee (for the garden's consumption - I must remember put that on the label!)

So there it is, my Christmas bags of home made goodness.

The sewing is far from perfect, in fact each sewn item has it's own special 'nuance'!

But I am really happy with them all.

There's a bit less landfill now (hopefully) and I feel like I am 'giving'.

And that makes me feel ace.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, stay safe.

Cheers.

* All fabrics were washed once they arrived at Pippiwillow

My Creative Space - Love Stuff

Love.

The word alone can summon all manner of emotion which can translate into many forms of physical expression.

The butterflies in your belly because you're 'in love', the heart wrenching ache when your 'Love' is unrequited and a quiet warm knowing of 'I am loved'. There are many kinds of love.

My friend is soon to marry the man that she loves.

She love love loves him and wants everyone to know, and wants her 'people' whom she/they hold closest to witness the formalising of this love by the guy in the suit.

My friend wants me to sing for them.......

However, she has left the choice of song up to me. Not the easiest task really as there are just so many.

So dear bloggers I am asking you -

"What is your choice of love song?"

I am seeking ideas, the song can be whatever you like, whatever makes you think 'love'.

At my wedding, our friend sang for us 'First Day of My Life' by Bright Eyes. (Please indulge yourself, click on the link and spend three minutes smiling and feeling your heart bubble about in your chest - you'll smile I promise).

Ours was not your usual 'wedding type song'.. But that was our choice we loved and still love it.

I seek song ideas of all styles, types, genres - At best I will have a guitarist to accompany me, at worst I will be A cappella.

So please please please help me and let me know what you have in your "love song cupboard'.

I really need some help with this.

Cheers & I hope your day is full of LOVE

Scoot on over to Kirtsy's today to see who else has things to show and tell today.

A Productive Weekend

The 'renovation to do list' is being heartily undertaken over here at ours.

We have three months in which to cross off an ever increasing list of 'things to do' prior to us moving out and on to a whole new place.

For five years I have thought about paving a pathway to our side gate and I have now been collecting bricks from deconstructed houses for two.

These 6 days off have been very productive for both the Mr and I, with both of us feeling that we have achieved and that our energy expenditure and fluctuating stress and problem solving (or not solving) levels have been justified.

Quite a while ago I 'built' this house - see below.

I 'paved' a pathway to lead this wee family into their house.

Although I was/am not an expert I figured I could the real thing (paving) a go.

"Why not" I thought, "it is just a different medium".....

• Sixty five besquillion bricks all moved and put into place
• An uncountable number of all over body jiving "eeeeek get that bloody red back spider off my hand/arm/boot/pant leg type dances"
• The shovelling and stirring of cement and sand, the endless sweeping - back sweeping-side sweeping of said sand/cement mixture (yes, all you folks in the know, I cheated and swept it into the cracks!)
• one broken broom and
• an unbelievably sore back later....

Bloggers, friends, countrywomen.....I had a dream ... and I have achieved

THIS - all by MYSELF...YAY!