Puppet show

Can you see the mist lying in the valley and the hills rising behind? It was a stunning journey to the home ed. group on Tuesday. When I pulled over to take this photo I stepped out of the car and it was pure silence, stinging cold air thorugh the nose, and brilliant sunshine.



Isaac and his friends put on a puppet show, Isaac was the lead man with the Wallace and Grommet puppets but he stole the show in accidental ways, like his head popping up to give the audience a thumbs up and laying down his puppet and peeking under the curtain to get a view of how his puppets looked! It was so funny.





Backstage was a riot of fun and better than the show! Here is Fe right at the front and Isaac at the back:



I asked the boys to 'pose' next to the tree for a photo but they had a different idea of 'posing' than I did :)

Felting...

Felting is tricky, I have been guessing how to do it because I lack instructions but was too impatient to look them up. Guess I could have online but I wanted to do it at 8pm last night, right there and then you know, so I felted something in a multi coloured sort of explosion which I am not sure what to do with now... I don't think I actually rubbed enough for long enough because the layers of wool are not exactly a whole... there are whisps which look like they might snag off (which is not how a felted item ought to look). So I ended up blanket stitching around the edge and now it's a sort of table mat or giant coaster of some sort...



So then I realise I could layer the fleece into a sort of picture, and I did with layers of green ant the bottom, blue at the top, bits of yellow for a sun and flowers and a couple of purple splodges (butterflies?). I have just been stitching around the 'shapes' andit looks fairly decent. I am thinking about turning it into a wall hanging. The photo here is not so great, it looks more vibrant and less see-through in the flesh, but you get the idea.



But now it looks different from the photo as Don looked at it and said oh no what happened? I was perplexed, like er what do you think has happened to it? It looks all skewed to one side he replies trailing off knowing it means to look that way.....

What he meant was that it was not a perfect shape, rather it was in it's original felted organic shape and so it a momnet of doubt I snipped the edges off to look more uniform, only it was a big mistake, it now looked just plain mishap and Item That Will Never Be Shown as it must be obvious blunder project. So then to rectify my previous painstaiking work I used a fine yellow thread to stitch around the edges. But no longer is it a gift, it is pasted to my kitchen wall where at least I can enjoy my first proper felting experiment.

Here is Isaac hammering his foot away at the wheel (it's not threaded up so it's ok to hammer like that).



Isaac has just asked me why I did not put up here his 'better photo' of him using his hands to manipulate the foot pedal - so here is that pic too:



And here is one of Felix just for fun. I peeked at him feeding his animal friends a little animal biscuit. The orange Popple, the big dog, it's baby golden puppy just under the dogs leg (see it?) and the puppy in it's shed. He was doing that classic child thing 'a bite for you, and you and you and you and then one for me'

Christmas crafts

So I have been busy trying to craft as many gifts as I know how for my family this Christmas. So far I have knit mittens, socks and a baby hood, and have another pair of baby booties to go. I have made several wheat and lavender packs from lovely organic plusch material, two of which I made for children in the shape of bunny rabbits (the adult ones were boring rectangles!). I made knitting needles from hazel wood twigs (sharpen one end with a pencil sharpener, sand the whole thing very smooth and glue or wedge a bead to the other end). My sons and I have made dozens of beeswax candles, rolled from sheets and I have made a little pouch doll in a carry bed. I still have a duplicate of the little doll to make for another child. I have bath salts to make up, granola to make and jar and some chocolate truffles to melt, set, roll and box. It is all good though, I am typing this down as I remember and it doesn't seem like much, I will do it at night and during those little lulls of time during the day when the boys are busy without me. We have been making lots and lots of decorations for our windows, Isaac make a fantastic tissue paper fish that I will photograph when it is light tomorrow. Here are some other pictures:








And the nature shelf (which is now moved and a bit different but hey this is mostly it)


I am going to pick up a spinning wheel on Friday! Ohh I am excited! It belongs to the Spinners and Weavers guild and is a spare wheel they lend out to interested folk. The lady I pick it up from is going to give me a quick lesson to get me started and some fleece. The boys and I will meet Don for swimming and then whilst they swim I'll go for the wheel.

Our days are fantastically busy - or could be. For some reason - probably that celebratory feeling, everyone is more sociable and are having get togethers. I am striving for more calm but really we are all having a good time after so long spent without friends at our last address. Every day we have invitations and phone calls and there are things planned by other home educators that we could take up. Last week we were out every day and by Friday I had to pull over at the side of the road (we went out to get a tree) just for five minutes rest. This week I have refused some offers and we have had two home days to one day out. That is much better for me. I could stay at home much more but I have sociable little children!