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!

My Creative Space-What Logo?

This week I have been ridiculously busy.

Too much working and not nearly enough sewing.

You know those times when you cant think 'where do I start' because you've already go so many things/projects on the go you can't really remember where to pick up again?

This is one of those times.

My head space is simply bursting with the 'to be done' list.

There is the Christmas things, fixing/mending things, just because I want to things, the knitting things (which sadly I have not yet even completed one 'bowl) and of course the practice 'something that I could possibly one day wear thing'.

Not forgetting the 'working away from home thing' that is really hindering my chance of actually achieving completion of any of these 'things'.

I have however, had time for a bit of this...

I won't rant again, I promise, but I thought I'd show you all the result of the question I posed some time ago.

A pre-emptive apology for the dodgy photography here..

And after going through another bag of 'hand me downs' (oh thank you ever re-cycling circle of clothing ) I found some clothes that would fit my small girl but, they needed a bit of a change...

Ta da....

And finally, whilst working away from home has it's down side, I still get to leave the lounge room looking like this

for me to return to and attempt to pick up where I left off.

This is my new (all be it temporary away from home creative space, filled with the makings of Christmas gifts - which by the completion of the huge Christmas creations task I have set my self - will all be made from thrifted table cloths and other thrifted linens....it's a deceptively 'organised yet chaotic' workspace in progress.

Head over to Kirsty's to see who else has 'things' to show and tell this week.

Cheers.

My Creative Space - Knitted & Felted nest of bowls

My very clever friend Sam is not only a wonderfully kind, caring and compassionate woman but is also now my knitting teacher (that's her hands below showing me what to do).

You see I have sat back here in my land of Pippiwillow, needle felting, sewing with wool felt and more recently playing with and trying to befriend the sewing machine.

All the while watching, with ever greening eye all of you very clever knitters out there.

I have only ever attempted to knit a scarf and I needed my Mum to 'assist' me (which actually means to cast on, off and to sort out all of the dropped stitches-I love my Mum.)

I've always fancied the idea of being able to knit stuff, it seems relaxing, it's very transportable and I shouldn't really cause myself too many injuries with a knitting needle (as opposed to the dry felting needle-stabbing of my fingers type injury I normally sustain).

Sam has been knitting these.

After proudly coming over to play (chat) and to show me her almost completed project I decided I wanted in.

I wanted to learn too.

So, armed with a shopping list I went to the wool shop and purchased

1. The wrong sized double pointed 4 pack of knitting needles.

2. Not enough wool to complete the entire set.

However, I did remember to buy wool that is NOT for the washing machine - so that it would felt. (oh thank you other very clever friend who reminded me that the local school with the Steiner stream was having their school fete this past weekend - this is where I got to buy my wool from!)

Whilst I am away this week I have decided to try to finish my first of seven knitted bowls.

I will also try to start some of the other sewing projects that ought be done prior to the night before the big red fella comes down the chimney.....

Have a lovely week, & hop on over to Kirsty's to see who else has stuff to show and tell this week.

Cheers.