like mother like daughter

 A few weeks ago Rebe starting learning the tin whistle at school. I made her a felt embroidered case to keep her whistle in. Her class mates liked it and Rebe offered to make one for a class mate...

 (sorry about the bad picture) but it is beautiful, so detailed and she stitched the child's initials along the top.

 the following day she came home with this list, everyone in her class wants her to make them a tin whistle case. Like mother, like daughter :-)

 me and the wee man, just because

 Benny's hair cut, he sneaked off while I was helping Rebe with her home work and cut his own hair. He loves it :-)

'bawin'
Joa is really enjoying drawing at the moment, he's filling in the detail here of a wee person I drew.

sunday bliss

 On Sundays the children go to their dad's house. Often I try to work during this time, but as I approach the end of my custom doll list I find I have more time to do other things.

 I had found time to finish this doll yesterday so I decided to take the day off today, to relax and mess about.

 I found myself out in the garden in glorious spring sunshine (eventually) this morning and thought that I would add some more weaving to the willow/bean/pea den. It was such fun, I really enjoyed weaving the branches in and out of each other, the sun on my back and the sound of bird song and laughter from people walking to the woods in my ears.

 It was playing really, not work

 I am pleased with how it has turned out, no I am very pleased with out it looks and feels

 so pleased that I spent an hour sipping tea and reading in it when I was finished.

Another delightful thing about Sundays is that I can cook and eat very mindfully, not having to keep jumping up and getting something for one of the kids.

 colourful chard grown in the green house that I chopped up with some spinach (also from the green house) and wild garlic from the woods to make into a quiche

Sunday Bliss!

Shikamo Babu

When I was 18 I went to Tanzania for 8 months to work as a teacher, teaching English to primary school children in the foot hills of Kilimanjaro. It was the most amazing year of my life, I can't put into words how special and important it was. The project I worked for was the Village Education Project (Kilimanjaro). It is a small NGO that works on a grassroots level and has made enormous achievements and improvements within the villages and schools it works with. It is continuing to grow and develop and it is doing real, tangible good. Please pop over to their website and look at some of the amazing work they do. (Village Education Project Kilimanjaro)  and of course there is a way to make a donation to them on that page too.

Katy and Dilly are the co-ordinators of the project. 

They were the most wonderful friends to me while I was in Tanzania, I spent a lot of time with them and loved their company. I have seen them a few times since my gap year project, in the UK and in Tanzania also, but it has been about 12 years since I have seen Dilly and 7 since seeing Katy last. Imagine how thrilled I was when they said they were coming to visit me here for a week. 

It was just like old times, only better! They arrived very late from the ferry last Saturday, so we had a lovely lazy Sunday strolling in the woods,

having coffee in the owl cafe, catching up and playing.

 There were lots of people they wanted to visit, so during the day while we were doing the school run, homework etc they took themselves off and we met again in the evenings to eat together, play with the kids and then to sit together over wine catching up on a decade of life and stories.

On their last evening with us the kids and I decided to have a Birthday party to show Dilly how we celebrate birthday's here.

 Rebe and Benny gave Katy and Dilly presents they had made,

 we played pass the parcel

 and pin the tail on the donkey

 we had birthday cake with candles and singing, jelly and ice cream

 and we finished the party with a particularly rowdy game of blind man's buff.
 At bedtime Dilly told the kids stories. He told them a wonderfully comic tale of himself as a naughty little 7 year old boy, and another evening he told them about mwewe (vulture) and kuku (hen) in kiswahili and then translated it into English.

 My heart is so full of love and respect and awe of these 2 wonderful people, I feel so lucky and privileged that they came all the way here to stay with us. I hope we will be able to meet them next year at the final gap year reunion and there is also a tiny seed of a dream of taking the kids to visit them in Tanzania...

some moments from the may bank holiday

the bank holiday was a good mix of at home time, visiting friends and wandering around the village

 Rebe is really keen to be in the kitchen, on her own, cooking and baking. She made these cookies all by herself (a love heart for me, a dogger for Joa and of course an armadillo for Benny). She also cooked breakfast for the boys a few times, eggs and porridge.

 I finished off another doll, this one is an exchange for some beautiful handmade soap from this shop. I can't wait to try it :-)

 there was some pleine eire painting

 Rebe has for some time been drawn to cursive handwriting and for the past few days I have been teaching her

 wild garlic- bread...yummy!

 lettuce in the green house ready to eat

 a game born out of boredom and inspired by Mrs Tiggywinkle

 and Dame Washalot (or Mr Washalot Benny prefers)

 some of us didn't quite get the game but enjoyed the getting wet

 2 cutlass mum the pirate chief, by Benny

lots of eggs by Joa

With all the business I was wiped out on Monday so took it easy, the kids stayed in pj''s all day, they watched some movies and I relaxed and read.

Hope you had a good bank holiday too :-)

holding space

Oh what fun I have had making this little family of dolls.

On Tuesday, when the post office opens again after the bank holiday the dark haired doll will be on her way to Shetland and the other two will be setting off for Tasmania. The dolls were commissioned from me by a long time reader of this blog. The 2 sister dolls are for her children. I worked from pictures from her own blog to help me capture the essence, likes and spirit of the girls. The dark haired doll is a gift for her mother, made in the image of 'mam' as a little girl.

I had so much fun working from vintage pictures, trying to match the look and feel of the doll to the era in which 'mam' grew up. 

 Her forest green wool coat, was a delightful challenge and I hope 'mam' will recognize her own, childhood coat in it.

This evening I finished knitting for another little boy doll who has been on my list and now I have 4 more dolls ahead of me that I have promised to make.
I stopped taking orders in October last year and this evening I counted how many dolls I made. There were 40 on the list, not counting the 2 doll house families and others that I made for sale in the shop and for gifts. That is a lot of dolls, and a lot of hours crafting.
Because of my family situation, and because of the fact that I need to give my complete attention to doll making when I am doing so, I only work in the evenings when the children are in bed. This means that for nearly a whole year, apart from a few evenings off for tiredness or illness I have worked on Waldorf dolls, every evening for nearly a year.
As I mentioned I stopped taking orders in October, I wasn't sure why, but as I was working through the list I  didn't have an inclination to take on any more. For the last month or so I have felt more and more strongly that I am going to stop. Perhaps for just a while, perhaps for longer, perhaps I will only make dolls for exchange or gift in the future. I don't know, but I do know that I need to hold some space for myself.
I'm excited by the prospect of having my evenings free for myself. There are lots of things I want to make and do for myself. I have yarn to knit myself some sweaters and leg warmers, I have fabric to sew skirts with. I have yoga I would like to do, books to read and films to watch. I have a garden calling to me to spend time in and perhaps a few dinner parties to give.
So, I am taking a break, holding space and enjoying the last few dolls on my list.
I thank everyone for their support and encouragement in my doll making venture and who knows what will come of the space I am holding (I may even just start doll making again lol).

today

morning sunlight

duck eggs for breakfast

playing in the garden after lunch

tin whistle practice

quiche: wild garlic, spinach, feta, cherry tomatoes, yum

custom doll finished