I usually take the children to the library on a Friday morning. This morning I had the misfortune of coming across a sourpuss. I was browsing some magazines while holding the baby and watching the 2 girls, boy was elsewhere in the library. The baby was silent, as was the 2 year old. My 4 year old, who is a “handful” at the best of times was rearranging some chairs and playing a chattery game in her usual fashion.
A woman sitting nearby turned to a man also sitting nearby and said something to the effect of “People are so inconsiderate, I can’t believe they’re so rude!”
I looked at her in surprise, she was looking down and shaking her head. I realised she was referring to me. I looked at the man and shrugged and smiled, the smile was not returned.
For the rest of the time we were in that section of the library (about 5 minutes total!) she continued to shake her head and mutter.
I considered my options and chose to extend my browsing and ignore her just to force her to put up with us and show that I didn’t intend to be bullied. Before we left I made my daughter correct all the chairs she had moved out of place, this seemed to annoy the lady even more!
Apart from making me angry, this kind of encounter is very hurtful to me.
It’s not just her.
It’s the driver who races up close behind my van in an aggressive manner simply because a van full of children does not accelerate as quickly as their sporty little number. (Yes, this happened on the way home)
It’s the shop owner who looks me up and down disgustedly when I enter with children in tow.
It’s all the people who give me no support (including family) because they think I have too many children and don’t approve of my homeschooling them.
I work hard. I’m exhausted most of the time. I get depressed and feel isolated. None of this is easy for me. My husband and I can only rely on each other for help. It means so much when someone compliments me on my family, even a smile of approval on the street lifts my spirits.
OK, there’s my rant, thanks for reading.
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Old treasures
This cardigan was knitted by an elderly lady I used to care for in a nursing home. She was born with an intellectual disability and was deaf. She was abandoned by her parents at a young age and raised in a home run by some religious sisters. She always had a knitting project on the go and could follow any pattern. All of her knitting was given to friends or charity.
Look at that beautiful trim! God bless you Bernie, you are a treasure.
Having worked in aged and disability care I have seen so many souls languishing, living day to day and waiting to die. Many of these people have knowledge and skills that can’t be measured but are not given the opportunity to use. Lets not forget the value of each individual, whatever their stage of life.
Ayelet’s giveaway
Ayelet , a talented Etsy artist is having a giveaway on her blog – a gorgeous little fairy print. To enter you must draw, paint or make a fairy and tell her story. This is my entry into her competition.
This is Bridget the garden fairy. I used to see her sometimes very early in the morning or at dusk, nibbling on the rose petals. She would sip the dew from the petals first. Sometimes she wore a red tunic, but mostly it was this lovely green one with purple and pink striped stockings.
She no longer lives in my garden, she was sent to her namesake, a little girl called Bridget. She was lonely, as there were no other fairies of her type in my garden and she longed for a little girl to play with. I believe she is quite happy in her new home, but takes care to avoid the brothers, of which there are 4.
Playdough and going with the flow….
I woke early this morning and decided to make some playdough. My 4 year old has been “somewhat challenging” of late and I wanted to get her busy straight after breakfast. Sometimes, as a homeschooler, I forget to stop and smell the roses. I forget that I’m in charge and that learning occurs in all different ways.
Normally I expect the boy to start his bookwork by 9am for time efficiency. This morning he took an interest in the playdough, and although my brain nagged at me – “it’s past 9am!!” I left him to it. 
This led to a few learning discussions. He made a model of a heart, which provided an opportunity for revision of the heart’s functions. They made me countless “cupcakes” and “pancakes” and other delights.
They had to share in order to get along, this needs much reinforcement!
They learn to use kitchen tools which improves dexterity.
They learn to clean up after themselves when they’re finished.
If you’re a fellow homeschooler, or even if you’re not, I hope you can find time to “go with the flow” today and remember that learning does not have to come from a book.
Aaah, the beach.
Although I entirely despise the hot weather, I do love getting to the beach with my family. We are blessed that we live not too far from some beautiful and clean beaches (no bay swimming for us!) Yesterday afternoon we had a great time at the beach, I don’t know if the children are ever as happy as when they’re at the sea.
In my typical fashion, I forgot to take the camera, but found this gorgeous photo by Luka Skracic. We were swimming just to the left of the pier you can see here. I wonder if any Victorian readers recognise the location?
From flaw to feature.
I still make a lot of mistakes when sewing, mostly through lack of focus or simply experimenting. The great thing is when you discover that not every mistake is a disaster and the unpicker does not neccessarily have to be your constant companion. Such a handy tool, but gee I HATE UNPICKING!!
I need some more bibs for very vomity baby and thought I could use some fabric leftovers and make it up as I go along. All went well until I attached the binding and found it was way too thick and looked funny.
I spent ages making that binding in the first place, so the thought of replacing did not appeal. So, I ran a zig zag stitch around the inside of the straight stitch and voila! It anchored the inside of the binding down and balanced out the look.
Now I just need to figure out how to use my new snaps press and I can make a bunch more š
This and that.
When the warm weather comes around my husband gets all excited about juggling because he can do it outdoors in the sun where there’s plenty of space. He has used a few different types of balls, then I found this tute. He made some and used them yesterday – he thought they were fantastic.
The Natural Kids team are doing a promo showing pictures of member’s hands at work. This is my picture, a small person was able to sneak her little hand in too.
From dress to shorts…
Another recycling project for me. This rather unattractive girl’s denim dress into……
A nifty pair of girl’s summer shorts. The pocket lining is also from a recycled girl’s shirt. I’m loving this free fabric thing!
PEG DOLL TUTORIAL
To make your own peg dolls you will need:* Wooden pegs, unpainted, unvarnished (available from craft stores)
* Acrylic paints (I used Jo Sonjas)
* Wood varnish (I used a satin coating)
* 12 inch (30cm) chenille sticks, various colours
* Yarn or wool felt for clothing.
* Pigma pens (optional)
* Craft glue
The first step is to paint your pegs, as you can see I mixed up a variety of pinks, browns and whites for the skin colour. Wait until the first coat is completely dry before painting again. Once again, allow to dry.
Now paint the legs, from the centre slit down to the tips. Allow each coat to dry before doing the next. You can make the legs spotty, stripey, plain, whatever you like. Then paint the tips with a darker colour for the shoes (I used black). Paint on hair in different styles. You can paint on the face if you have a fine paintbrush, but I drew mine on with Pigma pens. A word of warning – the varnish seems to smear the pen, so avoid varnishing the face, or leave to dry for 48 hours first (I don’t like to wait!)
When completely dry, coat the pegs with varnish and stand to dry. Coat again. You can use either a matt, satin or gloss varnish depending on the effect you want. Allow to completely dry.
Push a chenille stick to the top of the split in the peg. It should have fairly equal amounts on each side, but you can trim them later so don’t worry too much.
Taking the chenille stick from the front, wrap it around the body of the doll twice, winding up towards the head. The last wrap should go around the back of the head and stick out at a 90 degree angle to the doll. You can see I’ve also bent the other stick at an angle so it doesn’t get caught in the first wrapping.
Now take the chenille stick from the back and wind in the opposite direction, around the body twice again, and around the back of the neck as before. Trim the arms if they are not equal or readjust your winding.
Put a small dob of craft glue at the back, just underneath where the arms cross. This is not essential, but helps to hold them in place.
Now for the clothing. To make a knitted dress: Cast on 12 stitches (4 ply) on size 4 needles. Garter stitch (you can do stockinette stitch if you prefer) until the dress is the length you want, I think one of mine was 10 rows for a short dress, 15 for a longer one. Cast off. Wrap the dress around the doll, letting the arms stick through. Sew up at the back.
For a wool felt dress: Cut a piece of wool felt 2.5 inches x 3 inches. Holding this up to the doll, mark where you want the arms to come through. Make holes on the marked places with a seam ripper or metal skewer. Pull the arms through, wrap dress around and sew up at the back. There are lots of little embellishments you can do to make really pretty little dresses.
Another idea is to wrap the arms with embroidery floss, I might do that next time.
Now, I think every pretty girl needs a place to rest her head, watch this space for the next installment!
P.S. I would appreciate any suggestions for improvements for this tute, or any errors. Thanks!
Peg dolls!
I’ll be posting the tutorial seperately seeing as it’s photo heavy. But first, an introduction starring the Peg Doll Girls!
Meet Jane, an all round nice girl, everybody’s friend.
This is Krishna, she loves spending time with her friends and is an adventurous cook.
Say hi to Jo, the funloving and adventurous one of the group.
This is Carmel, she’s a little bossy but a big softie underneath it all.
Last but not least is Anna the fashionista. Her favourite pastime is, yep, you guessed it – shopping!Stay tuned for the tute on how to make your own peg dolls!