Merry Christmas

25th December, 2008

A wish for the world....

            for peace, laughter & humility.

And a wish for you all also....

          

    I wish that you will find joy in the daily tasks that you undertake, 

    I wish that you will find magic in the simple pleasures of the world,

    I wish that you find complete contentment in the nurturing of your children,

   And I wish that your home is filled with light & laughter.

A very simple Christmas treat for you....

Cast on 16 stiches

Knit a square

Cast off

Fold in half

Stitch sides together leaving room to loosely stuff with wool. 

Stitch sides closed.

Pull top to base with a simple stitch.
Use wool to create a simple comb, beak, feet ~ mine are all different.

Attach several wool strands to fan from the bottom to create a tail for a rooster.

Make as many as you like. 

(Note: this is my adaptation of a traditional pattern used by Steiner kindergartens.

To stick with Steiner philosophy the wool is locally grown organic & plant dyed. However. We do what we can & I would say that recycled wool from other projects is equally as good to use).

Merry Christmas Wonderful Friends

A very Merry Christmas to you indeed.

x

Jules

pockets

22nd December, 2008

Because I work best under pressure.

Because he deserves a little hand made lovin'.

Because I can only focus on one thing at a time.

Because we have had the worst evening in history.

Because working with my hands brings me comfort.

Because even nudey boys need pockets.

A little felt satchel for storing all his treasures in 

when life is too busy for clothes.

 

the twelve

21st December, 2008

In the spirit of Christmas, twelve things I'm loving today....

playing with my tablet just for fun 

& putting together a little gift for friends new & far 

Witnessing the bond of life long friendships forming.

The abundance of new residents in our garden

(they are ladybugs - I neeeeeeed macro people)

those baby blues

& ol' blue eyes himself singing the sweetest seasonal tunes

the magical gifts from our mother earth

finally finding my tribe

the dodgiest mama haircut to date

~ it's making me giggle daily

the look, feel & smell of grain before feed times

that for this moment in time he looked at the camera

(apparently children of photographers find their toes, bare walls, 

cloudless skies far more interesting than their mama's cameras)

that we now count the minutes  

until our Sweet P is home for the holidays

x

angel spirits

15th December, 2008

There is much talk of the angels & spirits in our home. 

12 silk angels made with such love & laughter are hung in celebration each evening as we light the Christmas candle. One angel for each day as we acknowledge the 12 days of Christmas.

So as I was instructed to drape & then tie I gleefully knew why......

an angel appeared before my eyes

he laughed & ran to the garden

singing & dancing & wishing

he blessed the flowers then called to the heavens

& giggled & giggled & giggled

to create

31st October, 2008

A quiet corner for our little one to create within....

 

papa's drum serves as a table for supplies & inspiration

lavender fresh from the garden 

a gorgeous thrifted pottery vase 

smell so, feel so, draw so delightful stockmar beeswax crayons

& I'm reminded by the lovely soule mama that to have a creative home you need to create a space within which to create. 

So I pulled out my dusty easel, propped it up by little M's & had a wonderful time remembering what it felt like to use paints & pens & 

a blank canvas.

and look what I made :)

inspired by this loveliness & this memory  

(sorry for the dodgy photo's, I'm not so good with stationary subjects!)

a beetroot mishap

23rd October, 2008

The sun is shining it's warmth all through our home this week. Warming our bones & brightening the dusty corners. It lifts our moods & inspires us to create, to do & to imagine.

Priority number one on our family list is to redesign our sleeping routine after reading Elizabth Pantley's wonderful book. (More on that process to follow). 

Which of course is an excellent opportunity to also redesign our sleeping room. 

I wanted to create a cocoon effect. A place of calm & welcoming. The heavenly colours of soft blues & pinks to encourage a gentle drift into dream land. 

So I began to gather supplies in my mind....

Then a quilt cover, over & over I went, around & around. We are trying so very hard to not purchase new unless there is not an alternative. Especially items like cotton which are so costly to grow.

Then I remembered. An old quilt cover in the cupboard. Unbleached cotton from many moons ago. All but forgotton. Perfect.

I hung it on the line & filled a spray bottle with beetroot juice ~

"Nudey Painting" little M called it. 

'Avoiding pink stains all over our clothes'  I thought.

What a fun way to spend the afternoon. How joyful for him to create the art under which he would sleep. And all natural, all recycled. Perfect.

Then after it had dried in the sun for two days. I washed it.

And do you know what... not one single pink beetroot blemish was left on that entire cover. What did I do wrong? Every time I've ever splashed beetroot onto anything it stains. 

What went wrong?

painting, dreaming, dancing

8th February, 2006

I love these photos my sweet P took. I was in another world. Painting, dreaming, dancing. I had head phones on & had no idea he was even there. Sneaky monkey.

Check out the bump. I was about 22 weeks pregnant....