From little things...big things Bloom. Making Peg Dolls - the book tour continues!

This post brings me such delight. Two years ago, maybe a little more, I recieved a comment on this blog which read something along the lines of "I have an idea. Please email me". The author of that comment was Margaret Bloom of we bloom here, her idea was a swap, a peg doll swap. In the months that followed I made a firm and treasured friend and my house slowly but surely became home to dozens of tiny peg dolls...

In the years since, our family collection of tiny peg dolls has grown beyond the walls of the little doll house they first populated. They now peek out of bookshelves, stand tall on windowsills and dance upon tables. I find them in baskets and tiny boxes, in pockets and bags... in the bathroom and in beds. They never fail to make me smile.

And then, one day Margaret told me she was writing a book. A book to be filled with the little people and sprites, gnomes and creatures that were filling her house too! Over what felt like an eternity she fed me with little morsels and pictures that made me croon. I can't remember a time I was so restless with anticipation.

From the very beginning my favourite was the Michaelmas dragon; I can't explain why but I LOVE it. For me there was no question, it was going to be the first doll I made when I had my hands on the book.

And then it arrived :) The book feels great in my hands. It is weighty and bursting with colour and cuteness! There are step by step instructions to make over 60 different dolls - dolls for every season, dolls for festivals, story telling and sheer sweetness. Patterns made to follow exactly or inspire new ideas. Doodle pages and painting tips, snippets of stories to make you want to read more. All things to make you smile.

I am so gratified to be part of Margaret's Making Peg Dolls blog tour (tho it is very likely I would have sulked and refused to answer emails if she had not invited me). I hope to do her creativity and cleverness credit with this little story crafted from a few wooden peg dolls, a bit of paint, felt, silk and just a little twist on the patterns in her book.

Tell me a story - The Paper Bag Princess

 by Robert Munsch & Michael Martchenko

Once there was a beautiful princess (Elizabeth). She lived in a castle and had expensive princess clothes. She was going to marry a prince named Ronald.

Unfortunately, a dragon smashed her castle, burnt all her clothes with his fiery breath, and carried off Prince Ronald.

Elizabeth decided to chase the dragon and get Ronald back. She looked everywhere for something to wear but the only thing she could find that was not burnt, was a paper bag. So she put on the paper bag and followed the dragon....

 

...Finally Elizabeth came to a cave with a large door that had a huge knocker on it. She took hold of the knocker and banged on the door. The dragon stuck his nose out of the door and said. 'Well a princess! I love to eat princesses.....'

Elizabeth is a resourceful and clever princess and the dragon is a bit of a flaunt - 'is it true, said Elizabeth, 'that you can burn up ten forests with your fiery breath?' 'Oh yes,' said the dragon....

At this point I must abandon my story telling because I don't want to ruin the middle or the ending! It was not my intention that you would read this post and immediately sucumb to the overwhelming desire to buy two books - just one! The Paper Bag Princess has a most fabulous and unconventional ending and can be found free and well loved on the shelves of your local library. Making Peg Dolls by Margaret Bloom on the other hand is so new it is nowhere near a library shelf and will be so well love by you and yours, you would never want to return it anyway!

You can get your very own copy from one of these places -

• Amazon
• The Book Depository
• Barnes & Noble
• Waldorf Books
• Powell's
• Booktopia

You can get more sneak peeks and treats by browsing the official blog tour -


February 4th:  The Crafty Crow
February 5th:  The Magic Onions
February 6th:  The Toymaker
February 7th:  Clean
February 8th:  Anna Branford
February 11th:  Red Bird Crafts
February 12th:  Art is a Way
February 13th:  Softearth's World
February 14th:  Chocolate Eyes
February 15th:  Rhythm and Rhyme
February 18th:  Wild Faerie Caps
February 19th:  Sacred Dirt
 

 

Almost time... turn your volume up and whistle along

At the end of the month you could have your very own copy! Want one? Have a little look here

reading and knitting along (tho not at the same time)

I've decided to join in the yarn along with Ginny and others inspired with needles and hooks over at Small Things.

My big girl declared she would like a cowl for her 'mother made' birthday gift (three weeks til she is legs 11), so a cowl she shall have.

A friend lent me the book, tis by David Gillespie a once fat, Australian Lawyer (who is still the latter I think) anyway he was quite keen on sugar. I quite like sugar too, especially maple syrup and quite revoltingly I love snickers bars... anyway tis no more, sugar is not good for me.

I wasn't feeling the love of my resolve yesterday when I was grumpy, had a headache and no matter what (non sugar) thing I put in my mouth there was just no satisfaction AND snickers were on sale at the supermarker for 81 cents each! All par for the course apparently - I'm in withdrawal.

Moving on. The cowl is called Botanical, a freebie by Megan Goodacre and because I hardly ever follow instructions, even tho I hardly know what I am doing, the yarn is 'Scrumptious' 70% angora 30% silk from kollage yarns...because it is deliciously soft, not itchy and was on sale for $10!

Violet Trading

Anna Branford writes stories for children; she also writes bloggy snippets for grown ups ~ I like both very much.

At the end of June, Anna announced that she had received a gold(ish) star for her book writing efforts. The gold(ish) star is actually quite bronze and it is in fact a sticker in the shape of a circle but who am I to rain on her parade?

I am a fan of these particular bronze stickers, perhaps I might even be a collector. Only a few books get one each year. They are given out by The Children’s Book Council of Australia to identify the short-listed books for the Australian children’s book of the year award.

Anna got one…well Violet Mackerel got one for her brilliant plot as told by Anna.

I left a comment after the post asking Anna what it might take to get myself a signed copy of Violet Mackerel’s Brilliant Plot; Anna suggested a trade. Ah “what a most fabulous idea” I replied, then I asked her “What is your heart's desire?”

Anna desired a gnome, a wintery icicle gnome, like this one.

Too easy – the trade was a done deal.

Not too long after we got a parcel with not one but two books! (Both signed yay!)

My big girl started reading Violet Mackerel's Brilliant Plot the next morning on the school bus and finished it with a grin on the drive home that afternoon. She read Violet Mackerel’s Remarkable Recovery curled up on the lounge later that afternoon; humming and singing as she turned the pages. She finished it and declared “mum you just have to read it!”

So I did; I snuck off to bed early with the last of the connoisseur ice cream (which is so good it has its own face book page!), a spoon and two little books about a girl named Violet.

Violet is delightful, as are all the characters that fill in the spaces to make the stories. Her mother is a knitter ~ obviously making her a good woman with creative bones. Even though I had a good idea early on of how her brilliant plot might end up it was a wonderful ride getting there; especially the theory of finding small things and sparkly bits. Violets Remarkable Recovery hit a real soft spot for me; I loved it. I delighted in Anna’s narrative and found myself smiling often; especially at the end. I do love a feel good tale.

Go out and get yourself a copy of each, even if you don’t have a little person to read it to ~ they will look quite pretty on the shelf when you are done too.

Ps… there is a third Violet book, Violet Mackerel’s Natural Habitat ready for release next month (October 2011) and she's written one about Neville and Sophie too.

Wednesday Craft Group ~ Lady Spring

Look who's here it's Lady Spring

Lady Spring, Lady Spring.

Look who's here it's Lady Spring

Lady Spring is here.

Come and dance said Lady Spring

Lady Spring, Lady Spring.

Come and dance said Lady Spring

We're off to dance and sing.

by Vicky Kearney                                           

I have wanted to make one of these sweet little fleece standing dolls for such a long time. I bought the book Making Magical Fairy-tale Puppets last year sometime but just never seemed to get round to it.

Then Penny just went ahead and made one, two, three for herself and brought this one along to show us.

We were all suitably impressed with her cleverness and decided next craft group we were all going to have a go at making one too (she promised to offer guidance, tho instisted it would be the blind leading the blind).

They are so simple (well apart from getting the head right which is a bit fiddly) no sewing required. Everyone got at least one finished in the couple of hours, even with wee ones wiggling on hips and knees. I may have cheated a bit, my Lady Spring doubles as Snow White in the off season....

The one with the yellow dress, was a blending of talents ~ Vicky, our Steiner playgroup leader is having a birthday this weekend ...she now has a Lady Spring, to dance and sing.

It is not too late to join in my pincishion swap ~ I seriously considered sticking a few pins into Lady Spring to illustrate the point but then thought better of it, some things should just not be made into pincushions.

 

Hello Baby... Goodbye Jenni

Today The Age newspaper published an obituary for Jennifer Overend; Jenni was a children's author and poet, she died on July 16 from breast cancer.

Jenni's book Hello Baby is possibly the most read book I own. I have lent it to so many friends and every homebirthing family with older children that I have journeyed with, I have read it to my own children countless times, read it to myself in quite moments when I just happened to spy it near, I love it. It is honest and real, simple and beautiful. I get lost in the howling of the wind the roaring fire, the  family and the midwife. Illustrations by Julie Vivas are round and welcoming, soft but bold and beautiful...they too are real; a baby's head birthed between its mothers thighs, a placenta ~ healthy and teaming with blood filled veins but drawn so carefully it looks like the tree of life.

"After her death, Jenni's family were able to read her ponderings on life and death for the first time and her words were her final gifts of written wisdoms. One of her final poems reads:

If I noticed the warmth of the sun through the window

Or felt the cold of wattle blossom against my lips

Or kissed my husband, feeling the skin of his back under my hand

Or noticed the way the late sun glistened on the grass

Or the way new leaves sprouted from the stumps left by last summer's wildfire

Or heard how the blackbird's sweet voice filled the bottom of the garden

Would I then feel I was ready?

Ready to leave this world because I had drunk wholeheartedly of her richness

Loved her open mouthed

Drank deeply

Wept tears of unknown joy

Could I pass through that door blithely, knowing it was done? Completed?

I cannot tell, will not know, til that portal beckons me …

And even then …

Maybe not …

I am so sad that such a wise woman is gone.

The full obituary by Sunny Overend is here; it is worth reading, she was a wonderful woman

Mirror...a book full of intricate art

Yesterday we took the girls to the Ipswich Art Gallery to see Jeannie Baker's beautiful collages from her children’s book “Mirror”.

Jennie is an author and artist; her vibrant works tend to have few words but the detail in her collages is amazing. I tried to get up close and take pictures from different angles so you could get a taste of it's stunning beauty.

Mirror is a visual story that both contrasts and reveals the parallels in the everyday life of a boy in the city of Sydney and a boy in a remote Berber village in Morocco. The intricately-detailed collages on display present similarities (and differences) between the two cultures. While I loved her collages I didn't actually love the book... I thought I would, but there you go.

 

 

 

Most of her other books were there too so I read/looked at the lot. Many have a depressing 'we are destroying the world' inner message (which I really get, and we are, but I just didn't like the feel of them). I did quite like Belonging and Home in the Sky which broke the mould a bit.

 

The exhibition was accompanied by art-making activities and a reading corner so the girls, their dad, aunt and I absorbed ourselves in piles of textured paper, ribbons, pencils and sticky tape... The wee girl and I curled up and looked together at the pictures in her other books too.

The collection is making its way round bits of Australia; so if there is one near you maybe go have a look.

Birthday cakes and balloons

I LOVE cake, it is one of my very favourite things to eat... and there is just something so very good about butter icing (and I don't like butter..well not in its raw form but whip it with sugar, bake it, toast it, saute' in it). And I love making birthday cakes; I fill them full of love and can't wait to share them with family and friends.

This year I made extra cakes, little felt party cakes in lieu of lolly bags... two years olds don't need lolly bags.

They were fun to make (a little stressful because I left it to the last few days but worth it). I will do a little tutorial sometime... maybe in spring, after the school fair.

The wee girl got some lovely gifts... these are a few of my favourites (all from me... My mother made her the most delightful knitted turtle I will take a picture soon and show you).

The little Alice in Wonderland was made by Cynthia who blogs The Fairies' Nest and sells her stunning creations through her etsy shop. The swiss cheese, felted mice and painted silk play scape were made by Lori of Beneath the Rowan Tree I snaffled it as soon as she posted it on her blog; she has a beautiful etsy shop too. The little owl fabric in the background is a cotton and linen satchel made by a talented friend Helen, her brand name is Asher and I think she will have an online shop soon. Harriet you'll drive me wild! is another of my favourite Mem Fox books (I'm sure we had a copy but for all the looking I did on the too crowded bookshelves I could not find it).

She had a lovely day. Thank you all for your happy words and wishes.

Where is the green sheep?

Well this one, and the accompaning story, is in California. Celebrating with a wee Bloom who has just made his first full lap of the sun.

I love *Mem Fox, well I don't actually know her but I love her books (most of them; there are a couple of dodgy ones...Night noises comes to mind). My wee girl enjoyed this book so much when she was about one...not talking but raising both her hands, palms up, and looking at me quizzically each time I asked the question "where is the green sheep". As she got older she would grab the book and turn the pages madly to find him - squealing with delight when she did.

 

Now that she is very nearly two the enthusiasm has not waned...she is learning colours and opposites, nouns and a bit of all round cuteness.

Happy birthday baby Bloom ...and to your mamma who loved you long before you were born. xx

If you fancy making a sheep, a rainbow of sheep or just a little white sheep visit Linda's etsy shop mamma4earth for this pattern... you might just find yourself buying a few extra patterns...alpaca, lion, goose, hedgehog....(I did) And if you can't knit, Linda will knit one for you!

*Mem Fox is probably Australia’s most highly regarded picture-book author. Her first book, Possum Magic, is the best selling children’s book ever in Australia, with sales of over three and a half million cpoies. Mem has written over thirty picture books for children and five non-fiction books for adults, including the best-selling Reading Magic, aimed at parents of very young children.I can highly recommend Reading Magic...my copy is missing, borrowed and not returned (they obviously thought highly of it too).