child labour

Firstly let me apologise about my postings here on the blog. It seems of late all I post about is Buddies and making dolls. Well that is really because all I'm doing is thinking about buddies and making dolls. Of course there has been other loveliness going on, but I seem to be out of touch or practice with my camera and although for the last few days I have tried to have it at hand, none of the pictures I wanted to take to capture the moment came out. Oh well, so if you can bare another dolly related post read on...

I have been really busy trying to complete all of my custom order dollies with plenty of time to spare for shipping. Joa, thankfully, is getting into a good sleep rhythm now so that I am getting a predictable hour or so after lunch to work. It's actually been quite lovely, the heating on, music playing softly or just quiet and the kids working happily along side me.

Benny loves sticking pins into everything, including his own clothes. I hear him occasionally saying 'oof me brave', and I know he pricked himself.
Rebe has gotten really good at sewing. She spends much of her quiet time before bed sewing now.



Although I think I might sack her soon if the quality of her work continues to deteriorate and she keeps cutting corners:Benny has his own little making pot that he keeps on the window sill of my room. He has lots of scraps and pieces of ribbon and the odd button he likes in it, and of course some wool roving.

When Joa isn't asleep I can do the odd bit of cutting out with him on my back, but mostly he would rather get down and fiddle with everything and then we move on, back downstairs to where he is free to fiddle.

This is Rebe's latest project:
This is the pattern sheet, it also has written on it what exactly she needed to make this. She spent a couple of nights sewing and this is the finished toy:


It's great isn't it? She's only 6 and she's designing and sewing her own toys. I love it and I love the quiet time we spend together working peacefully with our hands (well apart from the oof me brave) :-)


Of course I do allow the odd snack and tea break. Benny is still on 'eating mode', after his month or so of being sick and needs lots and lots of snacks.

I also wanted to share this sweet poster with you:Our neighbours, a few doors up, lost one of their new kittens the day before yesterday. Oh my, the kids were so worried. They went out for ages looking for it, dressed in their high-vis vests. They 'almost' found it, but I think the mummy of the house was worried it was getting dark and sent them home again. This morning Rebe made this poster and was going to put it up along the road when there was a knock at the door and our neighbour was there with the kitten who had been found. We were so glad and my heart was very full of love and pride for my sweet children :-)