tiny happy

sliding

We have a new rule: no playing under the eaves of the house.

pinned

A bit of the wall behind my desk: an old piece of fabric from this designer; a castle-and-dragon drawing by Arlo; a 'hiding place' embroidery; a wood-block print from Japan. Lots of wonderful inspiration wires here.

drops

I had an obsession with snowdrops this week when working on pieces for my etsy shop. Mostly inspired, I think, by this book belonging to the children.
Thank you for your kind words yesterday!

quiet

For some reason I'm feeling rather quiet these days, on the blog-front, anyway. As though I'm running out of things to say. I've also got some work at a school lined up each day for the next while, and am wondering how I'll be able to fit in my usual daily blogging routine.

I've decided to make this a picture-only blog for a couple of weeks, and see how that goes. Sort of in a similar style to what we're doing over at habit. Thank you for reading and supporting my blog over the last year. It's nice to have this little space- and i don't want to give it up yet...

monday morning

A few images from the weekend- i made a pear and almond tart for dinner with a friend, and still have some pears left to make another one this week. And a bird-collage for the children's bedroom. Made from scraps of paper and fabric.
Also, we got a lot of fresh snow, but the birds clung to the trees and sang songs anyway. Hope you had a nice weekend. x

flower-crown

 

It's definitely too early around here to see any blossoms on branches. So I thought, while we were waiting, the kids and I could make these little flower-fairy-style accessories. They're just silk flowers glued to hair pins. Blossoms and hydrangea petals. Keira has been asking for a fairy-crown for a while now, so I made this one from a piece of wide cotton ribbon with a short length of elastic joining up the two ends. More fake flowers and leaves glued all over. If I'd had more patience, I was going to try and make the flowers from felt. But, I didn't have any patience.

Another big inspiration at the moment is the 1920's book 'Flower Fairies by the Wayside' by Cecily Mary Barker, which was sent to us a while ago by Charlotte. The illustrations are beautiful and the poems are actually really informative. Keira has even memorised one of the poems- 'Ribwort Plantain' (the illustration on the cover), which starts like this: 'Hullo, snaily-o, how's the world with you?'...

favourite yellows

Two favourite yellow things in our house, for Erin's colour week. There is something invigorating about yellow in the dead of winter. There's lots more yellow-love here. <3

bookish

 

I had a small clean-out of my overflowing wardrobe and found a brown wool cardigan that I never seem to wear anymore. A couple of snips with my sewing scissors and a bit of measuring, and Arlo had a new vest to wear over his long-sleeved tops. He chose some Liberty lawn in a blue foresty print, so I appliqued a patch of that on the front.

We just finished reading him 'Matilda' by Roald Dahl. Arlo has so far spent the day wearing this rather bookish-looking vest, and flicking through the pictures, reliving his favourite moments. The very best bit, according to him, is when Bogtrotter is forced to eat a gigantic chocolate cake at assembly by Mrs Trunchbull, the Headmistress. Good old Roald Dahl.

And I finished a couple of new needlebooks, lockets and other pieces for my etsy shop today. I officially need to buy new thread.

blue ink

It's school holidays this week- and this was a fun project to keep the two little ones in our house busy for a short while. I let them paint directly onto plain t-shirts with blue fabric ink and paint brushes. But first they had to do a 'plan' on a piece of paper. There's something slightly thrilling about purposefully painting on one's clothes, they found.

white beads

Thank you for all the kind words about Keira's bird dress, and well-wishes for her too. She is feeling much better now, and is even outside building a snow cave as I type. So, thank you.

A friend sent me an email the other day, with some words by the Dalai Lama at the end. I thought they were a good reminder about living- and they inspired me a lot. So I thought I'd post them here for safekeeping. Happy Monday!

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When you realise you've made a mistake, take immeadiate steps to correct it.
Spend some time alone every day.
Live a good, honourable life.
Then when you get older and think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.
Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.
Learn the rules, so you know how to break them properly.
Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.
Be gentle with the Earth.
Remember the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

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