signs of spring...

my friends beautiful drive way

first rhubarb

St Patrick's Day craft at Buddies Homeschool

all dressed to support daddy and the RNLI at the parade

amazing sun reflections on the kitchen wall

hello flowers

basking in the sunshine

muddy knees

'the shorts'

It feels like spring here, aside from changeable weather, there are so many signs of spring. There has been lots of outdoor play, I have enjoyed watching the buds and flowers emerge on the trees on my daily walk, St Patricks day always marks spring for me too. But the real sign of spring must be that I have washed 'the shorts', the ones he will put on in a few weeks and not take off again until the end of autumn!!
I am so happy the sun is returning, the equinox is tomorrow and energies are rising.
What signs of spring are meaningful for you?

spring fever...

It's that time of year again when you can feel the sap rising and everywhere you look there are jobs to be done. I was starting to feel really fed up with the state of the house, especially having been sick for a few days again last week. The jobs have been piling up but I just haven't had the energy to do anything about it. But over the weekend spring fever hit and I rolled up my sleeves and started. The house is now clean(ish) but more excitingly I have a work room or dare I call it a studio!!!

 Since we moved to this house the kids have had their own playroom downstairs, but of late it just wasn't worth having anymore. I would tidy it, they would go in there and get everything back out again and then walk away leaving it in such a mess that there was no room to play in it anymore and  it would stay like that until I tidied it up again.
No more, I said to myself.
So on Saturday the kids and I moved the toys. Now Rebe and Benny have a corner of their room with age appropriate toys and books for them and Joa has the same in his room... and I moved all of my sewing and knitting things into the room downstairs...

 I now have a lovely, spacious bedroom and after 5 hours up to my elbows in yarn and fabric on Sunday I also have a work room,  with a sorted yarn stash...

 and a sorted fabric stash...

 I'm so excited about this space and have spent a few lovely hours in it the last few days finishing up this custom doll,

 and an extra set of knitted items I was requested to do.

 And now I feel good, the house is organised and a bit clean and the sun has been streaming through the windows.
Another job I ticked off my list this week was for everyone to have a hair cut...

 and the light, oh the golden spring light that is so beautiful after dinner that we just have to go out and enjoy it...

Has spring fever hit you?

easter break

We've really enjoyed our Easter break, it's been very full of special moments and we made lots of special memories.

 morning crafting, Rebe's egg box hen puppet

 Rebe's pen friend came to visit us with her mama, firm friends from the second they saw each other

 enjoying the spring sunshine and ice cream at the village's wee cafe

  Rebe's tenderness and care of Benny touches me deeply all the time. Today I found that she had mended his tights for him

 more friends who visited us today armed with lots of cake, laughter and chatter

 kite flying on the beach

 early morning knitting (check out the bed head)

 a ladybird loving boy finding this year's first ladybird

feeling the sand under his feet and the water on his legs

so much Easter fun can be pretty tiring :-)

a day without time

Last night I read this:

Imagine the world devoid of human life, inhabited only by plants and animals. would it still have a sense of past and future? Could we still speak of time in any meaningful way? The questions "What is the time?"  or "What's the date today?" - if anyone were to ask it- would be quite meaningless. The oak tree or the eagle would be bemused by such a questions. "What time?" they would ask. "Well, of course it's now. The time is now. What else is there?" 

From Eckhart Tolle, the Power of Now

It struck me how imprisoning time is. I constantly, almost unconsciously, look at the clock. I structure our day around it, eat around it, sleep around it. And the truth is: human time is a myth, we created it, completely. And it can rule our lives. 

So today I decided we would do without it.

I took the clock down from the wall and turned off my radio alarm clock and I made a conscious effort not to look at the time on my phone or computer all day. And without the time; those 12 hours, those 60 minutes, those 60 seconds, today we had all the time in the world and it was glorious.

A day without time:

 we had time to make spelt bread with enough dough left over to make mini pizza's for lunch

Joa claims his was especially good :-)

there was time for knitting outdoors in the spring sunshine

there was time to gaze at the soft clouds in the high blue sky

there was time for chalk drawing on the drive way

there was time to tidy the children's book shelf

there was time for enjoying and slowly cooking dinner

there was time for lounging

there was time for tidying the garden (although I did have help mowing the lawn)

and there was time for 3 loads of washing (which then I took my time to put away)

I still, as I sit here, don't know what time it is. The kids are in bed, Joa sleeping after a bump to the head and Rebe and Benny tucked up together listening to a story on cd. I think there is still a little time in the evening for the easter bunny to hide the tiny chocolate eggs, time for a bit of knitting and time for a bath.

It was lovely, this day without time. You should try it :-)

flower fairies

Today the sun came out and shone down tempting flowers to open their buds and with them emerged these two sweet little flower fairies here under rainbows.

They are a pair of 11 inch custom order dolls that I finished working on last night. I really loved making them, they were such fun!

Each wee doll is made in the traditional waldorf style, with hand embroidered blue eyes and a wee mouth and their cheeks are blushed with a little red wax.

This doll is for a little girl whose favourite colour is purple and she is named after a flower (can you guess which one?). Her dress is made of cotton and has a net lining. Underneath which she is wearing a pair of white broad anglais bloomers. She has a purple cotton cardi with a matching lily hat. 

 I loved making up the patterns for the hats and I am so pleased with how they came out.

 Their wings are made of a double layer of contrasting wool felt and they have loops of ribbons so they can be slipped on and off. I love how the ribbons look with an extra length hanging from the back of the wings.

 Her sister doll is inspired by the mama's favourite flower: the blue hydrangea and I was so thrilled to find the perfect fabric for her dress. It is a little longer than her sisters dress to get the full effect of the print.

 Under her dress she has light blue cotton bloomers.

 Such sweet little sisters!

I hope they bring much joy, pleasure and magic to the sisters they are going off to join in real life :-)

***my camera is still not behaving itself and won't hold any charge, even with a new battery it won't do it, I'm hoping a new USB cable will do the trick or it will have to go to the shop to be repaired, so although I am managing to snap a few shots of dolls (so that they can go into the shop) I am not getting to carry it around as usual to capture moments of our lives here...I am hoping the matter will soon be resolved as I have so much to show you and tell you about***