Bliss Beyond Naptime

Boxing Day Special

Hope everyone had a cheery Christmas day. Santa was extra sweet to me. Not to be all material girl but I asked him nicely him for a video camera device and he delivered. Crafting time dramatizations are being brewed! Yesterday we had our friends over for an epic tobaggon party. We are lucky enough to have the perfect sledding hill for this age bracket right behind the house, under the laundry line to be exact. It's a nice balance of safety first and...

... slightly scary! Perfect. Thrills and spills galore and yet no one got hurt. Yay - no lawsuits!

There were treats for the Waldorf and Bailey's inspired homeschooling mamas. Speaking of inspired; next year I'm thinking I'll have to make Bailey's from scratch using Daisy's creamy offerings. Can you imagine? We did make rum and eggnog straight from the udder and chicken coop for Christmas cocktails. That was pretty divine. I used the traditional recipe found at this website. Lots of creaming and folding involved so you can imagine how much that little extra effort paid off.

When the Bailey's wore off the fire kept us warm but luckily it was the perfect blend of balmy yet snowy. Though when I was milking Daisy right before the guests arrived it was raining snow. Or snowing rain. I can't decide. Either way, all that business stopped the minute the first guest arrived. It was like divine eggnog intervention.

So there were no chilly buns but there was vegetarian chili and leftover Santa Lucia buns for lunch. It was a grand old time. I think a new annual tradition has begun. Continued Happy Holiday-ing!

Have Yourself a Merry, Blurry Christmas

Guru Garb

This is my friend Howard who is a very gifted healer. We did a trade - a jacket for some healing work on a friend of mine. He practices a healing art called Sat Nam Rasayan that can be extended remotely or face to face. He's been practicing it now for 15 years and he now considers it a way of life . How it works is together you agree on a time and then at the time you lie down in svasana and relax; the healing through a contemplative, projective mind then begins. It's quiet amazing how pronounced the effect is. Craig and I would be watching a movie and all of sudden Craig will say, "oh, my arm's tingling.  I forgot Howard was going to work on me tonight" and then he'll flop off the couch like a fish on to his yoga mat and stays like that for an hour. Howard's kind of a low tech ludite type (for now, I'm trying to convince him, like I do to everyone else, to get a blog) so if you're interested in trying out his magic send me an email (listed there under the profile pic of me and Barney loving it up) and I'll flow you his phone number.

What a sport for letting me take all these photos of him for my sewing portfolio! I copied this jacket from one he was wearing when he was over one day. I commented on how much I liked the design and we decided that this would be the trade. This jacket was made out of melton wool and I made it extra roomy compared to the original so he can layer up more underneath. It was really fun project to work on. Men's clothing are so much bigger so I kind of felt like a Christmas elf because it looked so huge attached to the sewing machine. But what a sigh of relief when I saw that it fit. As Craig would say I probably would be 'out' on Project Runway for some fitting imperfections but he seemed pretty content with it.

Sat Kaur, if you're reading this, close your eyes now!

And speaking of comfy, I finished another piece for yet another barter with yet another Kundalini yogi teacher friend of mine. This one has been a long time a coming. We made a trade, way back, a handspun, knitted sweater for lazure painting Edie's room. She lent me a silk sweater of hers she loves wearing and I based the finished measurements on that. I probably should have rethunk that approach. A fine silk sweater that's 50 inches across is different than a bulky handspun sweater that's 50 inches across. I think it's fine though. For sure it's awful cozy! And again, we need lots of leg room for layers in these parts.

And there's the lovely lady in action painting our master bedroom when Kale was still coming into my belly. I love how when I look at this sweater I see the walls in the bedroom where I snuggle up with my little love. It's kind of a purple, lilac, periwinkle cornflower.

I couldn't resist. Had to get a chicken shot with the sweater on.  I used the Plain and Simple Neck Down Pullover pattern in case you're curious of such things. Now, off to get last minute gifts felted and sewn up! Oh yeah, and wish me luck. I just unwittingly ate a bowl full of pecans while proofing this post and so I'm hoping the Benedryl kicks in safe and sound and am thinking happy, non-panicky thoughts. Think I might have to give Howard (already called BC Nurses hotline - we're on a first name basis with all the nurses there now. I should be fine though.) a shout here right quick.

(Edited to say: I'm fine now - it was just scary being able to avoid the nuts for 20 years and then accidently eating granola with it in it. Took two Benadryl and oh. my. That stuff is lethal! I almost fell asleep in mid-sentance talking to Edie later on. Am I just super sensitive or is that stuff sketchy?)

This Moment - Rainbow Smile

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~Amanda Soule

Play Gestation

I'm making Kale his first Waldorf doll for his Christmas present this year. This little guy loves babies so I know he's ready for his own special little dolly. I'm using the instructions in this book for the medium-sized 'jointed baby' just because he's still pretty little himself and he is especially drawn to real life babies. He gets that from his dad who's especially goes gaga for goo goo.

And the technology behind making the limbs movable I find especially cool. You sew an embroidery thread through the body of the doll and attach the arms and legs to each other with the string. It's really sweet and wonderfully life like how they kind of reach out to you like they need their nappies changed. I'm especially looking forward to spinning up some hair from my friend's herd of alpacas and llamas fleece I scored way back . I can't wait to see his face when he opens this up on Christmas morning. It's sure to be a hit. Edie was about this age when I made her her first one and she was pretty smitten;

If the look on her face here is any indication! Clara is still throughly loved around here. Though she's cool with whatever pops out on Christmas day , little Clara's secretly hoping for a baby brother!

Santa Lucia Day

Happy Santa Lucia Day to all of you who celebrate such things. This is turning into a fun family tradition since trying it out last year. It's a Swedish custom that on Santa Lucia Day the eldest daughter makes these saffron and raisen buns and serves them to the rest of the family breakfast in bed style. The tradition was kick started from our Waldorf Kindergarten curriculum book that has the funniest typo in the Santa Lucia section; "the shapes and names of these breakfast bums can differ from one county in Sweden to another." Edie almost choked on her bum when I read that one to her!

Next year she may be able to carry the tray to the bed herself so I can lounge in bed all Hugh Heifer style with her dad and brother. I felted that crown for her fourth birthday and needle felted some candles to stuff in there last night while listening to my latest audible book download. She wasn't backing the idea of stuffing and then lighting real candles for some reason. Edie wins the family Darwin award this year!

I made some smoothie to smooth out the carb overload and sang my own rendition of this song while we munched away. Luckily there are many words that rhyme with light and bright so I just mixed up the verses around a bit; 'coming to our bed with light, giving us such a fright - Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia'. Kind of like a Waldorf-inspired rap star. Craig was beat boxing in between bum bites.

This Moment - Wheeeeee-k End!

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~Amanda Soule

Good Wreath, Charlie Brown

The second week of advent is the light of plants and so Craig wielded his mighty axe to a tree we found up the mountain behind our house and there it lies, subdued, on our porch since then. Meanwhile, we really needed to get that spring time welcome sign down already and get a little festive with the materials at hand. Out on the front deck we have ample foilage...

... and inside we have a really cute two year old holding a circular device I created with wire wrapped in tissue paper and then secured with a bulky yarn (and metallic pink thread thrown in for good measure). This was leftover from the autumn-themed mobile I hung up above the kitchen table for the kids' birthday week. Worked perfect as a wreath base.

I asked Edie to dive into the roving box and fish out all the colours that match the ones on their toy rainbow. Luckily, I had on hand a little bit of every colour. Two ounces of each were all I needed. Bummer though the only green we had was the exact same colour as the tree. We then made balls from the roving and if you ever want me to do  mini tutorial on a quick and easy way to do this (it involves throwing the lightly needle felted balls into a hot washing machine) just give me a jingle bell.

And then I secured the boughs to the the base with more wire and sewed the balls to the wire to try to cover them up some. Edie was really helpful at this part. She's got a great needle threading eye (and finger?) after working on her doll all this last year. As you can see, Edie was straining a little bit to hold up the wreath for the camera muttering "too. heavy. Mama." I told her this was the Phys Ed part of homeschool.

So, pretty easy peasy! Next up on our Christmas to do list; put up the tree and our halls will be completely decked with boughs, though no holly.

Author Fonzarelli

I just came across just about the cutest, funnest, most compelling little kid's book I ever laid eyes on. It's jam packed with three exciting stories based loosely on true life adventures and are complete with very happy endings. Edie drew up the pictures for the stories and then dictated them to me. I did take some liberty as Chief Editor with word choice and sentence structure but the author was pretty laid back about such things. Edie also designed the cover by choosing the colour, drawing and font colours and then I pushed the "publish" button and Blurb shipped back the book super lickity split.

 

I have to say I'm really blown away by some of these story lines. They're really short but so much happens within just a few pages and then at the end of the book all the major themes kind of cinch back together into a sweet tidy little experience. Ack! I'm so proud of her!

And I have to say she seems pretty proud of herself too. And so she should be. If you're interested I can swing you a signed copy. It's just an "X" though.

And speaking of recorded for prosperity, I went ahead and published While Tangerine Dreams 2007 (I did 2006 a while back). So fun because this is the year that Edie was Kale's age now and since their birthdays are so close together (he was actually due on her birthday. We can't help ourselves on Valentine Days. Or I guess we do.) we can see how she was at this exact age; not that we're comparing or anything. Whoa, I think I typed that before.

And look! How handy dandy; I can see the exact date I first shared a skein of yarn I spun to the world at large. Again, I get these published through Blog 2 Print and have been happy too with their service and quality of printing. I recommend signing up for their newsletter if there isn't a current promotion happening right now. I just notice they offer 20% off discount codes every once an while so that's a nice saver. So if you have ever considered doing this I highly recommend it. I figure it would be a nice keepsake for the kids to have. That and their placentas that are still in the freezer.

Cargos Where Craig Goes

Hey, hey, who's officially forty.... something today? Only my soulmate, that's who! For his special day I made him his own birthday bunting seen pictured above his head there, gave him the whole afternoon from 1 to 4:30 to do absolutely anything he wants (within reason of course) and whipped him up a pair of slacks. The post title isn't an ode to the fact we only have one vehicle in the family and when Craig has to go out of town for work he takes it with him rendering me stuck on six acres in the woods with two kids and now a cow - oh, no, no, no. Cargos where Craig goes because this is honestly the only thing that comes between this man's Calvins and the rest of the world. Or at least his long johns. It's really hard to imagine his silloute without some poofy pockets jutting out at the side. Now that I think about it I guess I could have made him some jodphurs.

I used Burda pattern 7918 though it was a bit intimidating when I got home from the fabric store and read on the pattern envelope that it was rated ultra-advanced. Good thing I like to challenge myself with each project. I try to learn something with each *whoops* or as I like to call them *design feature*. But it pretty much came together like a breeze.

Okay, mildly embarassing confession time; sometimes when I'm trying to quickly sew something that's on a deadline,  I imagine I'm on Project Runway and we only have six hours left to complete an entire outfit but I only have my pants left to do. But then one or both of the kids start whining or crying or a lovely concotion of both and I think Heidi Klum should offer a real reality show that the world has not seen the likes of before: Project Runway for Mommies. How about Project Mumway? The designers have to have at least two kids under the age of six in the room with them at all times (except for maybe a nap length grace) that they must cook for and feed and not ignore excessively too much whilst they complete their challenge. Oh yeah, I'm in training for that one.

And, ta-da! Introducting Craig's new design feature; a flapless fly. You know you want one! I don't know how this could have happened. I ended up with two extra pattern pieces but I think they belonged in the pocket region but I'm stumped on that one because all four pockets seem intact.

I was thinking of starting a new feature on the blog entitled "You'll Wear it and You'll Like it". Due to the lack of zipper coverage and some tight sensations around the groin area, Craig's not totally backing this one. I'm telling him to wear it for a few days and the coruroy will loosen up some and to show the world his white zipper with pride. At least he'll be more likely to be aware if his fly is left open. See? I meant it to be like that!