Welcome to our blog.
..... We craft
..... We garden
..... We explore
..... Nature inspired
Three children *** Two dogs *** Two parents *** Country loving *** Cottage dwelling in the South-West of the UK. That's us!
We've been blogging since January 2010.
"God has an inordinate fondness for stars and beetles."
- J B S Haldane
Getting into the Winter mode
Yesterday was the first day that we woke up to a really heavy frost. Always so pretty. There was even a few flakes of snow in the air. There is nothing like a drop of temperature to encourage me to reach for some of my favourite Winter comforts. To warm the soul, as well as the body.
Step one – Gingerbread (recipe) not only tastes warming, but the kitchen is filled with the wonderful scent. The children love coming home to it. I couldn’t resist decorating the gingerbread with a little edible gold glitter. Making it that touch more special for the after school crew.
Step 2 – put a warming winter stew in the slow oven to cook for a few hours. Colourful and tasty dish ready to serve up once every one was home. Youngest even had seconds.
Step 3 – Winter coats. Time to dig out the winter coat I started to make last year. I’d forgotten I’d cut out a skirt from the surplus fabric. It’s cashmere and feels wonderful to work with. I’m hoping it will be a delight to wear too. The coat is half finished and the skirt will only take a couple of hours to sew up.
New coats for all the children. The days have gone when the coats could just be handed down to a younger sibling.
Adding time in the morning too, for hat and glove searching/matching/decision-making.
Step 4: Chimney swept and first fire of the season in the log burner. Dogs are negotiating with each other over the best spot in front of the flames.
Step 5: Big Duvets – all the duvets on the beds have been swapped for higher togs. Although now the problem is getting the children up in the morning.
Slipped a bit of needlefelting in over the weekend. Following on from my Herdwick sheep sucess, I thought it would be fun to make a sheep’s brooch. I’m unsure about the finished product. The head turned out as expected. The problem came when I pinned it on. It looks like I’ve torn the head off a toy and pinned it to my coat. Once the thought was there, it was difficult to shake off.
My husband suggested adding front paws, to make it look like it was bursting through the coat. I’m not sure he’s taking this seriously.
Back to the drawing board on this one. Might need to make a body for the head. While I munch on a bit more gingerbread.
Are you getting into Winter mode?
Herdwick sheep needle felting
I can really understand the concept of craft therapy. The idea of taking feelings and turning them into something tangible. Using your hands, to manipulate a craft material, is a way to change the mood. The hand’s touch feeds up to the brain and back again, turning feelings into communication, which needs no words. Allowing the moment to be lived in.
Last night, I was cross. I don’t often get cross, but when I do, the feeling rumbles on. Instinctively, I knew that once I’d done everything I could to sort out the problem, I needed to make something. The repetitive action of crocheting, knitting or concentrating on tiny stitches, calms me. A form of meditation, that settles my breathing and stills my mind. Last night my choice was needle felting. Amazing how quickly my head cleared and I could think clearly again.
I used the bits of fleece that we picked up on our walking holiday in the Lake District this summer. We walked on hillsides scattered with Herdwick sheep. After washing and combing it, the fleece is surprisingly springy. I’m used to felting merino or Jacobs which felts beautifully. With the Herdwick fleece, the body and head felted fine, but I found the legs difficult to thin down. They kept on springing back. I could have wrapped pipecleaners with it, or I wonder if wet felting might be a route. Maybe something to try next time.
I’m pleased with the face. Herdwicks have a teddy bear face. Makes you want to go up and hug them. Although of course, that would be a Herdwick’s cue to head for it’s beloved hills.
The best part is that I turned my rumbling disquiet into something I love. Crafting at its best.
The sheep that roars.
Roar!
Linking up with Sara’s Craft Schooling Sunday
How to trace and transfer an image
We’ve started making Christmas cards. Youngest wanted to draw a dachshund wearing a Christmas hat. First few attempts frustrated him, so he asked if I’d print one out for him. No. Try tracing and transferring it.
This was new to him. I explained that when I was his age, we didn’t have printers or scanners. This was one way we could copy an image. A look of amazement from him. A moment of feeling old for me.
Sigh.
Time to pull out the tracing paper.
I chose an image from one of my favourite children’s books. I showed him how to use white tack to temporarily fix a piece of tracing paper over the image. Using a soft pencil, we traced around the image. Adding all the lines that we wanted to transfer.
Then, turning the tracing paper over, so the pencil marks are face down, we positioned the image on a card. I showed him how to go over the lines again with the pencil, until all the lines were darker. I explained that only the lines, he had traced from the book, would be transferred.
And then the magic part. Carefully removing the tracing paper and the white tack, he could see the image was transferred to the card.
Just for fun, we coloured the image in, using watercolour pencils and glitter. We changed the shorts into trousers, seeing as it’s too cold. Brr.
Of course, now we have the image, he can use the image again and again*. By flipping it over, he can trace the boy so he’s looking the other way.
Now he knows how to do this, I’m pretty sure I’m off the hook when it comes to scanning an image. He’s already copied another image. Not a daschund, but I’m sure that will be next.
*Obviously he will not try and pass the image off as his own. Just using it for family Christmas cards.
