all in a day

the wee man making corn bread for breakfast

a very gentle butterfly rescue at breakfast

A few weeks ago a lovely blogging friend of mine asked me if I would help her repair the much loved doll she made for her daughter. It was a really fun project and I finished her off yesterday.

 In the parcel that she came in Nicole had enclosed lots of goodies for us including some wonderful wooden blanks. This morning I got them out and the kids had a wonderful time painting them.

only the colour pumpkin of course

Benny's dear little gnome

After all of that (and some play thrown in for good measure) we got dressed and headed off to the village tennis court to join in with the festival arts and crafts activity for kids.

 We had lots of fun and enjoyed our time there. On the way home we turned what could have been a very hot and thirsty, moany walk into a really wonderful adventure. There is lots of broken crockery and sea glass on the shore here so we pretended that we were adventurers finding 'evidence' of a lost civilization.

 We found so much 'evidence' that our bag was heavy from it and Benny's pockets were so full he had to walk home holding his shorts up to stop them from falling down.

 At home, while I was getting lunch the explorers washed and dried and sorted all the evidence

some evidence

 After lunch the kids relaxed and watched a dvd and I had some quiet time (aherm NOT doll making)

 well I just can't help it! This wee one will be in the shop shortly :-)

 Rested and revived the creativity continued...

 We made spelt, honey and cocoa cookies with a very wonderful hedgehog cutter that was arrived for Rebe today from a very sweet little fellow hedgehog lover.

 Towards evening Rebe said she had to make Mio (her special) some clothes. She has some very specific ideas about what sort of clothing. Basically he needs to look like he is going on a date at a posh restaurant...

Think we're doing well so far! I will post more about this exciting feline development when I understand it better myself ;-)

So wow, what a day! Sometimes our days are like this, so full, so creative. Sometimes they are not, but the joy of school holidays is being able to just roll with it.

my fabulous dress

made for me by Rebe (age 7)

 She made it by drawing around a dress of mine on some vintage fabric that's been in my stash for a while.

 I sewed up her seams on the machine. She had hand sewn them with bright blue thread and my doll making needle, but I don't think they would have stood up to lots of taking on and off, so I machined them and hemmed it for her. Then she set about putting on the finishing touches: a felt flower on the front and crazy rainbow tassels and loops of coloured thread along the bottom.

I worn it with pride and a wry grin into town today (I didn't get that many funny looks).
Thank you Rebe, you clever, sweet, kind thing :-)
We're off on holiday tomorrow for a couple of weeks to visit friends and family (and a tiny wee brand new baby) in the UK. So I'll see you when I get back well rested and filled with good food and memories.

a felt dog

While I was making the mouse house a few days ago, the kids sat at the table and sewed with me.

 The boys happily sewed lots of buttons onto pieces of felt.

 and Rebe made an un-birthday present for her friend

 wowzer!!! this girl is good!!

Rebe's felt dog

 She drew and cut out all the pieces. I machined them together for her, as they would take too long to hand sew and she wanted to take him to the party she was going to for her friend.

she's sewing him a ball

 She did everything else from the button joints to the embroidery and accessories.

 Clever, clever lady!!
And her next project....

a dress for me!
How cool!
 I think I'll start teaching her how to use the machine when we get back from our holiday! Goodness knows what she will sew next. The thing I love about her creativity most is her complete confidence and lack of fear. It took me YEARS to build up the courage to sew myself a dress, and here she is age 7, just deciding that is what she is going to do.
Love it :-)

take along mouse house

Rebe has been invited to a wee friend's birthday party tomorrow. We put our heads together and came up with a present she will hopefully like:

A take along mouse house :-)

it folds up and buttons with a little wooden button like a handbag

the mouse house and Katie's mouse

cooking in the kitchen

relaxing in the living room

running a nice hot bath

mouse bliss

tucked up in bed :-)

 I probably had way too much fun making this gift. I used lots of scraps of felt and fabric. The mouse herself is white felt stuffed with a little sheep's wool. I designed each room on paper then found the right pieces of fabric and machined them all together. The whole thing is backed on a firmer weave fabric to give it a bit of strength and durability.
I hope the birthday girl will get much joy and pleasure from it :-)

tutorial: a wee tie

Benny loves wearing ties. I started making them for him last summer (blog post here) and I promised then that I would make a tutorial.

I made Benny 2 new ties for his birthday tomorrow and took picture of the process, so here is the promised tutorial :-)

First make your template. If you have a tie at home, just draw around this. If it is a small child's tie then give yourself a 1/2 inch all around it for seam allowance and if it is an adult tie, just draw around it. 

 If you don't have a tie to draw around you can draw one out for yourself.
Draw a line 3 inches across. In the center of this line measure down 1.5 inches. Draw a straight line from the centre point to each edge. At the edge points measure 13 inches along, tapered in slightly so that you have a tie shape, like in the picture above.

 Cut around your tie. Double your fabric over right side in and then pin your template onto the wrong side of your fabric. draw and cut around this.

 remove template but leave pins in place

 starting at the top sew all the way around the outside of the tie (still on the wrong side)

 clip the edges

turn the tie right side out. I use a knitting needle to make sure that all of the edges are pushed out then iron to get the lovely pointed edges.

 about 4 inches down from the top, fold the tie fabric behind the tie like this.

 then fold the rest of that across the front of the tie leaving enough to tuck behind to make a neat pretend knot.

 before you sew up the back, you need about 14 inches of elastic. Insert one end of elastic about 1/2 inch into the tie and making sure the elastic is not twisted place the other end of the elastic into the other side of the tie. Pin into place

 Stitch along the top of the tie, firmly stitching the elastic into place,

 then stitch down all of the fabric folds.
And that's it, a wee boy's tie.

Happy sewing :-)

Saturday making

Rebe made a lemon cake, all by herself this morning...before 8am!

Benny got his first invitation to a party today, so we made the wee boy a felt space play-scape

the planets each have a pocket into which the rocket and the alien can land

the boys enjoyed it before we parceled it up and gave it to the Birthday boy

i made yeast spelt bread and lovely soup with spinach and fresh turmeric

started yesterday and finished today Rebe made herself a doll, she's not happy with the hair and wants to restyle it but she's very sweet!

2 smart Birthday ties for a certain wee man's 5th Birthday later in the week. I took pictures of the process this time so will make a tutorial for you soon.

the most heavenly pizza ever for dinner: spelt base, red pesto and a mixture of vegan and goats cheese, served with a big green salad oh my!

And don't worry the boys did make things too, mostly a massive big mess, no make that 2, no make that 3....  

:-) 

Happy Weekend to you all x