Somebody's having a birthday soon....

Somebody's having a birthday soon,

Somebody right here in this room;

Our Fairy is turning nine years old

shining with her heart of gold.

My youngest is getting older! On Friday she turns 9 and it seems not so very long ago she was only one! It's a funny feeling, having only older children. Where once we had lots of little ones and a baby, now the littles are adults and the last baby is fast heading that way. I cant say that I've enjoyed all of my mothering moments but I can say that it's all been worth it so far.

I do miss those baby 'moments' though - that yummy baby smell ...... small snuffles in the night ...... fat roly-poly baby legs ....... and the breastfeeding, especially breastfeeding!

But now this little one is almost nine and those baby days seem so long ago. Fortunately she still likes a Mummy snuggle in bed in the mornings and a big cuddle night.
But once again I'm reminded that life moves on..........

Evening magic

Aren't sunsets just so magical?

It can be a dreary, clouded day with nothing much going for it, and then just at dusk - such beauty! 

A brilliant explosion of colour and fantastic cloud formation are sometimes just whats needed to remind me that life is about more than just whats happening in my little patch. It makes me stop and admire the beauty so freely given and so vibrantly orchestrated and helps me reconnect to All That Is. 

This evening had one of those moments. 

Sewing days

I've managed to fit in some sewing this week! This doesn't happen every week but I've been really trying to  do something in the handwork/craft line each day .... even if it's only a few stitches of embroidery or a tiny stint on the sewing machine. 

This week I've made (with the help of my 18yo daughter) a summer dress for Fairy Girls birthday next week as well as cutting out another one more suitable for winter in purple corduroy. I had to do a bit of adjusting (which I dislike doing) but I'm sure it will fit. I'll show them both next week when she's wearing them! 

Theres been talk among my older children of having a market stall later this year, perhaps in Nov or Dec. Naturally that has inspired a burst of creativity among us all! Theres been loads of recycled envelopes traced, cut, folded and glued, many craft books perused and as mentioned before, some sewing actually achieved. 

Ta Dah!! The first batch of cute little zippered pouches! Theres obviously not really a theme happening here .......... no wait a minute, there is a theme only you cant see it -  the fabrics were all chosen from my stash depending on whether I had a zipper to match!! 

Theres a couple made from a linen tea towel from New Zealand; two from linen furnishing samples; 

  

these two made from a linen print off cut gifted by a friend - I really love these with the very bucolic scene of shepherds and sheep!  

And my favourite one from a doily/traycloth that I added some embroidery to, using the inspiration from this book. All of them are made from repurposed or scrap fabrics and even the zippers, although new, were from the op shop. 

All in all not too bad for an otherwise busy week! I hope your week has been as craftily prolific too! 

Happy Solstice

Tonight is the longest night of the year. 

Slowly, slowly, every day from now, the days will lengthen and my heart is glad. 

Winter Solstice is possibly my favourite day in the Wheel of the Year - the birth of the new Solar year. 

A new beginning - the return of the light, the rebirth of the Sun.

Oh yes, a wonderful night to celebrate and strengthen family bonds. 

Weekending

Our weekend was spent lazing around, eating some yummy cake and enjoying the outdoors.

It was also spent doing a little embroidery (more of which I'll show later); picnicking in the garden with leftover garlic bread and chocolate cake; some dirt biking over the new landscaped hills; and a surprise in the yard - the first two snowdrops and hazelnut catkins? blossoms? not sure what they are called but it is so good to see something doing some growing during this cold time of year.

Today we have rain, wind and mud - lots of mud - and cold. Oh well...... 

...and life moves on ...

We had another lovely visit from our oldest daughter and her partner this week. 

Our Golden Girl. Our Love Child, the first child of my heart. 

We were young and in love with life and each other, the Best Man and I. We rode big noisy motorbikes, went on many camping adventures and lived in a tiny 100 year old miners cottage with the kitchen sink in a lean-to outside the back door. We shared the lounge room with a Harley under repair and the outside dunny with several red back spiders! 

We hadn't a care in the world and lived accordingly ........... and then one day the line went blue. 

I was determined that I didn't want our child to be carted from wild party to biker booze up and luckily the Best Man agreed, so we left our tiny cottage and moved into a larger house nearer my parents. I completely immersed myself in baby books; natural health books; massage and peaceful parenting books.

It was a steep learning curve..........

We found a homebirth midwife and readied the nest.

I felt that I had prepared well for the birth but was very disappointed in myself - 32 hours of long hard labour, and I was so exhausted that I just wanted to sleep forever. 

But we had a perfect blue eyed strawberry blonde baby girl. 

Even then it didn't go according to plan. Although I went through all the motions that I thought constituted a 'good' mum - breastfeeding, healthy food, natural remedies - I just couldn't really come to terms with my new role and suffered through more than two years of undiagnosed post natal depression. The Golden Girl was the sweetest angel, loved by all and was beautifully nurtured by her Oma (my mum)  during those times when I really couldn't cope. 

Eventually I found my way out of the fog and almost 4 years later we were blessed with another small soul to love. But those first years with my blonde babe stand out with bittersweet memories.......  

And now its her turn..... she is expecting a Love Child. With a smile on her face and love shining in her eyes she shyly told us "We are going to have a baby"!  

Oh My!! 

And her announcement brought back so many memories for me. Memories of her as a tiny new born; as a shy 5 year old; a sweet young lady of 14. Memories also of my thoughts, desires and expectations during those very early years. 

It made me think about how we go into this parenting business with our eyes shut! We have ideas and plans and they may go the way we expect them to or they may not and thats ok. But none of us really know the feeling of responsibility or the depth of this feeling, and how its not just there for this new baby but there for good. For ever! When we become parents to this new (to us) soul, thats it - it's life long. All the joys, frustrations, highs and lows are there waiting to unfold over the course of your journey together and that journey doesn't end at any particular age. Oh no it goes on.... and it's not a bad thing. It's just such a deep deep feeling and not really comprehended in that giddy time of excitement when you first spread The News! 

My Golden Girl will have a much easier time than I did. She already has some idea of how life goes with babies in the house - she was 16 when our seventh bundle joined us. She will be a great mum - practical, level headed and calm. 

I will encourage her to truly, mindfully enjoy this first child of her womb - to really embrace every spit covered moment and not let anything or anyone steal her joy. Only once will she have that time alone with just that one new born babe  - any others she will be sharing herself around just that little bit more. 

I will also encourage her to follow her feelings, her inner wisdom and not get so bogged down trying to do what Great Aunt Millie or the neighbour thinks she should be doing. 

I will be there for her because her News has brought back all those bittersweet memories and I wish for her to only have the sweet ones ............

I love you, my beautiful Golden Girl xx

Sunny days - oh yes!

Not a great deal has happened here although I seem to have been very busy - yet not gotten anything in particular done! It's been one of those catch up weeks and I am only just beginning to feel 'caught up'. 

The days have been really really beautiful, for which I'm very grateful - the sun has rejuvenating effects on me it seems!!

We spent yesterday outside soaking up the sunshine. Fairy Girl cleaned out all the grass clippings from the little stream and then found tiny leaf boats to race down the water. In spring there will be buttercups growing along the edges - so pretty.

I wandered around admiring the blue skies and naked plum tree's! I am dreaming of spring already (and we haven't even celebrated Winter Solstice yet!)

Nice healthy greens for dinner - fresh organic broccoli from the Farmers Market.

Chop 1 or 2 broccoli florets (isn't that a great word - florets) into smaller chunks, add a tablespoon or so of coconut oil, a crushed garlic clove or two,  a teaspoon of curry powder or what ever spice takes your fancy, some salt and pepper and a dash of tamari. Now comes the good bit - use your hand and smoosh it all together until the broccoli is well coated and looking a bit limp and crushed.

Oh this is so delicious. You could add other bits too ....... we've added capsicum which is nice.
I hope you give this a try as it really is a great way to have some raw food when theres not much in the way of salad greens around but plenty of brassicas!

What a start to the week!

Oh dear, I hadn't meant to be gone this long but we have been sick. Not just a little cold and sniffle type of sick but we all, all seven of us, had a tummy bug. And you know what that means...... well we have not had fun! Especially the Best Man and I who sleep in the loft and trudged up and down stairs to the calls of "Mum, I need you!" And yes, in our house that means Mum or Dad - because whichever one happens to feign sleep the longest, gets to stay put!! Thats the rules!  And since I took care of most of the night time 'needs' for the first 18 or so years I think it's quite fair that I am better at pretending to be asleep in the past five! Ahem, enough of that!

 When I awoke this morning and peeked out of my tiny loft window this lovely sight greeted me. Not surprising really - the wind howled last night, and blew all sorts of loose bits and pieces around the yard and paddock. It was so cold in the night that we were expecting some snow nearby and weren't disappointed. And no, the horses are not ours - they live next door and add a nice touch to the scene!

I ran outside today to gather some herbs and greens for a pot of vegetable and barley soup - tiny self sprouted kale seedlings, perpetual spinach, borage, sage, rosemary and thyme (couldn't find any parsley!). We really needed something nourishing and warm.  A fresh green smoothie would have been healthier but on this cold winters day soup sounded much better - and was very yummy! Ummm, you didn't notice the unwashed knife covered in potato and carrot, did you? 

And here's a little something that warms my heart on such a chilly day. I set up a little scene for Fairy Girl late on Sunday night, ready for our lesson on Monday ....... which still hasn't happened.  No matter, it's been a delight to look at these last few days. The little boy and girl were made following this tutorial from Myrtle and Eunice and while I didn't do as much detail on their clothes, I think they turned out rather sweet. 

These three mysterious gnomes living among the crystals look like they are stirring a walnut cauldron with a large wooden ladle. In fact they do have a hand carved wooden spoon carved by our Miss Elli who is 13. She received some carving tools for christmas and has made a couple of rather nice spoons including this teeny one - just what a gnome needs!

The scene was/is going to be following loosely along the lines of Ancient Hearths' Land of Numeria journey although I will ad lib quite a lot due to Fairy Girl being in 2nd grade and just needing to catch up on the four processes. Also I don't have the fantastic array of wooden figures that she has - although I hope to remedy that ......... I am sure that if I gift one of my older children with a bandsaw and such they could come up with some great little toys! Tricky Mama!! 

So the beginning of my week has been hectic, chilly and mildly creative. How about yours?     

Thoughts on Sunday

Today on this misty, moisty day,  I am - 

...... grateful for the rain and gusting winds that encouraged me to stay indoors. 

........happy with the mending that I achieved and the dent I made in my mending pile ;o)

....... enjoying having my eldest daughter visiting for the whole weekend! 

........ loving all the rumpus that comes with having six children confined indoors for the day - games, laughter, cross words and all! 

........ hoping for a sunny day tomorrow .......!!!

Itty Bitty Gnomes

A family of gnomes have come to stay in our home! They showed up earlier this week just in time for a lesson on the four processes and were loved immediately. Fairy Girl was entranced and even the older children thought they were pretty groovy!  

Firstly the Four Process Gnomes showed us how they work hard bringing jewels for King Equals to run the kingdom efficiently.

Then the King and his helpers hung around while they had their portrait 'painted'.......

And finally they all went for a stroll outside under Grandfather Pine and posed quite happily for a photo shoot and a rummage through the pine needles!

I made these by loosely following this tutorial although I didn't paint them but gave them a felt coat glued on with a hot glue gun. I also made Times and Divide girl gnomes like Melisa from A Little Flower Garden. I wasn't sure how the girl gnomes would go but Fairy Girl was most impressed that there were some girls too! 

That was my crafty endeavour for this week, as well as some knitting on my very first sock! It has taken a very long time to get to the heel and I am having a darn hard time getting around it to the rest of the foot. Maybe I will show you all one day.........! 

Have a great weekend! 

I wish I could wish for more time....

....... I really do. I would wish for uninterrupted time, not much, just an hour each day. Or better yet one whole day per week! Can you imagine? A whole day - the mind boggles! What to do with all that time? I wonder if I really would be all that productive if I didn't have the pressure to get things done in a certain (very small space) of time.  But really, this has me thinking of how I would use that elusive day per week. 

Would I sleep in? Maybe. Probably not if I knew it was only one day but definitely if it was a day each week! I'd make a nice breakfast and savour it all alone and read the weekend newspaper (even if it was from the previous weekend!) And then I would take a long look at my folder of Things To Make One Day, and find several new ideas to add to The List in my head (for the next day on my own).  

And then after all that quiet time I would find an interesting book or magazine and a nice sunny spot outside, or inside if the weather is dreary, and spend the rest of the time wasting it!!!  Well, I suppose it's not really wasting it but the reason I want more Time is so that I can get more of those things done that are not absolutely necessary. Like sewing and sketching, writing and ....ahem...reading! 

I am not liable to know for a few years yet what I would actually do with all that free time so I'm thinking that for the time being (no pun intended!) I am better off fitting in small bits here and there and no doubt getting more done!  

The reason for this reflection is that I pulled out a pile of fabrics and vintage patterns that I've accumulated from all that op shopping I do (ah but thats another post) and looked through them with the younger girls. And that was all we had time for .......... food needed preparing and lessons needed doing and life moved on.  

I love being Mum to many but sometimes, just sometimes, I really wish for a little more time.........!