Playing with sticks

It's been yet another glorious day! We spent the first half of it preparing for and then having fun at a fundraising ploughman's lunch for Midi-Poddles play group. The kids had a riot and Midi even ate most of her ploughman's, including the spinach, which was a pleasant surprise. We decided to come home afterwards to play in the garden and we did. With sticks! (And a bit of string and an old sheet if you're being picky.)

We have some recently felled trees in the garden at the moment. We don't do a lot of felling generally but this was for a rather big project we have going on right now that I might post more about later, and given that we've planted over 150 trees on site since we moved here less than 2 years ago we're in credit. The trees currently down are a mixture of hazel, ash and hawthorn and I thought it woud be fun to use some of the wood. Firstly I cut six hazel rods to about 6', tied them at the top, spread the bases and tied on an old sheet to make a basic teepee playhouse for Midi for the summer.

Then while she and her dolls had a tea party in it and Mini sat in his chair chatting to the apple tree I attacked the ash cuttings. They seemed nice and bendy so I decided to have a go at weaving them and managed to knock out a pretty effective platter/basket thing in a matter of minutes.

I'm sure I could improve on it. With a longer piece for the outer ring it may be secure enough without the string, but the string looks quite nice too so maybe that could be wrapped all the way round. I was just impatient this time so only wrapped it as much as was needed to keep it secure. It was fun to do though, and it also works well as a stage for the lolly stick people we made yesterday:

 

Playing with woodblocks

I did some dying of t-shirts and baby-gros yesterday, with the intention of using them to do more freezer paper stencil prints. Unfortunately they then had to be washed and they are still damp so I'm having to be patient. They've turned out rather well though, so hopefully they'll be worth the wait.

We've been blessed with two sleepy children this evening so I decided to get out the wood blocks I picked up at the World Textile Day event I mentioned in my very first post and have a play.

 

The burp cloth was really just a handy piece of cotton to attack first as a trial run. The prints aren't wonderfully even but they're not too bad either, and again it does add to that 'hand-made' feel. As for the top, apart from the dodgy positioning of the prints around the neckline which I hope won't be that noticeable when it's worn, I really like the way the prints have transformed this plain and simple top into something rather yummy. I might have to do some printing on a top or two of mine now...

Stencilling!

Today's project (in my brief hour of free time while my Mum took Midi-Poddle to the park and Mini had a snooze) was to finally try out the freezer paper stencilling technique I've been reading about for ages. However, freezer paper costs several quid for a pack in this neck of the woods and due to needing to be careful with our pennies these days I decided to make my own instead. I used the bin bag/cartridge paper combination suggested at the end of this tutorial and used both the positive and negative versions of the stencil to decorates shirts for both kids. I'm really pleased with how well they turned out, and I was just about done when Midi came home, although the drying took a little while longer.

I wasn't quite as neat as I could have been but that doesn't bother me, it's given it that proper 'hand made' look. I was impressed with how crisp the edges could be though.

 

Midi has requested that I do her a sunflower next. Bring on the next free hour!

Chicken run

You know that chicken run I mentioned a few posts back? Here it is:

Dresses

We've had some glorious weather these last few days so have been spending rather a lot of time in the garden. The result? One very happy and gloriously filthy three year old daughter. As it happens, she's taken to wearing dresses much more recently and they're perfect attire for sunny days outside, so the time has come for me to make her some new summer dresses. Now I just have to find the time...

To encourage me, here are a few from last year:

 This one is my own pattern, but it's not exactly a complicated one. It's reversible too. I think I'll be making a few more of these this year.

 This one is made from a great free pattern from Oliver & S out of tea towels. You can get some amazing tea towels from some of the discount homewares stores if you keep your eyes peeled and they're so versatile. That hat she's wearing is made from tea towels as well.

She still fits this one, which I love. It's made using the free Itty Bitty dress pattern from Made by Rae. It's made from a second hand duvet cover I spotted in a charity shop that was just so bright and summery I couldn't resist it. This involved my first ever attempt at making my own piping, which worked, amazingly enough. There might be another one of these on the way before long too.

Now I just need a spare evening or two...

Painting again

A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to exhibit and hopefully sell some paintings at a one day event in London. I put a lot of work in to building up a new body of work for it, but in the event it didn't go as well as I'd hoped for a number of reasons. I think I burned out a bit then and haven't felt the draw to paint again since. Until this last week.

I found a new blog recently which lead me to the site of US artist Joel Henriques. Like me, he finds inspiration from the likes of Miro and Calder, so his work had immediate appeal, but one thing I really liked was the texture he creats in many of his works. It got my juices flowing again so I got out my paints and started layering up a canvas, just experimenting with the texture to see where I could take it.

Then we got a call from some old and very dear friends to let us know they were moving to one of their favourite places, several hours further away from us. It's a wonderful opportunity for them and I'm very happy for them, but we'll get to see them less which is a little sad. Still, happy times for them. Some five years ago they asked me if I'd do a painting for them for their kitchen after they rennovated it. I promised, and came up with a sketch for an image I really wanted to produce for them, but the revamp never happened and neither did the painting.

So last night I got to pull the two things together, finishing off the background texture to fit the image then painting it on. I really enjoyed it. It seems that getting out the paints again was a good thing. I hope our friends like their housewarming gift.

The pocket puppet

I had an idea the other day, for a combination toy that would have a number of uses. I was reading through some older posts at Made by Joel, a blog I stumbled across recently that has me inspired in all kinds of ways. He's a very talented chap that Joel is! Anyway, 18 months or so ago he made a very simple but effective doll for his kids and it reminded me that complex isn't always better in kids toys.

We're just hitting the holidays so we're heading out and about most days to keep us all entertained. With this in mind I knocked out a quick multi-purpose but very basic toy for Midi Poddle. It's a cuddly lion, a glove puppet and a bag for paper and pens all in one, but it only has six pieces and it took me about an hour.

Since making it I think I've figured out a way to make it (or one very similar) in less pieces and better. I think I'd like a flap over one of the pockets as the pens tend to drop out if it gets waved about too much and I went a bit wonky with the bottom trim on this one. However, Midi loves it and it's come out with us several times already, along with pens and paper so it's serving its purpose. I'll hopefully try a new improved version soon, and maybe even post a pattern if I think it's good enough. :)

In the mean time, here it is in action: