Remember our Family Textiles? Cushions completed!

We had colourful fun trying to create some new posh cushions for our sofa ... Here is Daisy's Tiger, painted and with pastel detail added ...

And Mary's Meerkat featuring a nice bold green outline. 

And Matty's Fox, also showing great colour mixing and shading too. 

You dont have to encourage me to be colourful, the top i was wearing in the photo this was drawn from is almost that bright pink. 

Then we all tried quilting for the first time, and I began to make the art into actual cushion covers using a fun table cloth I found second hand.

Mary sewing and keeping a nice tension on her running stitch ... She is now 7 years old and very fond of sewing ...

Matty May and Daisy can now all enjoy a new cushion when reading books on the sofa ...

My own cushion receives approval by Salt Ferret herself! so much so she stayed still long enough for a photograph!

Creative family time ...

Sew proud of these scissor-sisters!

They have really got the bug this time! Quite probably from me. It's been really exciting watching things develop and the dining room fill with creation!

These teddies are really impressive! 

Daisy also made a fantastic sock rabbit too. 

Hoola-hooping Mummy!

Daisy took this fun picture of me!

Monkey Business!

We got this lovely book, with monkeys to make and a funny rhyme to read, and I saved it for an after-dinner chill activity ...

There are bits and bobs to make three monkeys, with the book, and some things for them too ...

The instructions were easy to follow and our new friends began to take on their cheeky characters!

Bending the shaped pipe-cleaners creates the knees, elbows and little hands and feet!

Daisy chose this amazing orange monkey, and only needed a little bit of help ...

This is the best bit because we are nearly ready to play!

With pop out ties, the monkeys can dress up as in the fun rhyme too!

Or fly around with super-hero capes on!

Make some yourself, find out more here!

Today I made ...

A Movie ... And so did my girls!



Some of their birthday presents were the stars!

Union Jack!

Remember all that bonding over some cutting out?



It was time to do some sticking!



And we think it worked out very well!

Big collage Flag ...

A family project for the Olympic year ... we will use that magazine cut outs to make a fun union-jack flag!

Faces ....

So first I get out my camera to share my baby owls with you!



And then my real life babies ask me if they can be in the shot too!



And then Mary pipes up, 'Do me Mummy!' so there you have them all!

Collage ...

The girls and I have been collecting colours for a fun collage project!



We are working together and the colours are red white and blue!



Meanwhile, over at the pond, things are afoot - or is that a-tail?

We made a small wildlife pond ...

I went freecycling again, and I picked up a very sweet pre-moulded and pre-used pond. you can see but it has a cute little exit part for little things wanting to leave the water.



Also from the ponds owner came some lovely frog spawn from her main pond



So one woman and three girls set about digging a lovely hole for our new mini ecosystem ... Mary went off to trampoline after a bit, then she fell asleep on the sofa and woke up shaky! Poor baby ...




We smashed roots, hooked out stones and fed fat juicy worms to the chickens! Then we kept measuring the height until it was a perfect fit, even though the garden slopes!



And we filled the pond with rain water from the butts and out of the sandpit too, where we found lovely rotting leaf skeletons and wriggly blood worms too!


We are gently proud of ourselves!

tents!

I came down after a shower to find girls busy making a field of miniature tents, using k'nex to make the frames ...



and various things to fashion the canopy!



I longed to climb inside and relax on a pile of bolsters! Must have been last night's Charlie and Lola episode with the Bedouin tents and camels!



Then Mummy made two more bunnies ...

Sushi platters!

We made sushi platters at pottery, and this is Matty's - the Potter's name is on it too!



Mary had great fun making hers, and adding all the different glazes, using a brush...



Daisy incorporated the edge design demonstrated by the potter!


And as for me, my platter needs to be fired! But why not head over to The Raggy Rat Facebook Page, where i will be hosting a 'Pay It Forward' give-away tomorrow!

Eh? It's little E!

While Daisy has hit the ground running in her quest to learn to read, Matty can only read a few words, and one of her blocks was that we had not helped her get the sound E makes into her head ...

But I was feeling pushy, and also brave and experimental and went all out to prove to her that E says 'Eh', jumping in from Daisy who, although sweet isn't the best teacher in the world!


I pinned THIS little 'e' onto the curtain on Matty's side of the bedroom! She has got it! Combined use of an alphabet jigsaw, a drawing board and the works HEN, TENT and NEST and she was singing EH, EH, EHHHHHH, all the way up the stairs to bed!

First Birthday Cards of the year ...

Mary has spent a lot of time as a home educated pre-schooler watching, listening, cuddling up and sucking her thumb ... She will not be 4 until May this year, but has recently begun to want to form letters, and read books too!



There is no better motivator for writing than something you really want to write, and we always make and write in our handmade cards together ...



You are in control and can decorate your card inside and out!



Stickers are fun!



I worked on a few bigger sewing projects, then I added 'music' to the house, and played my violin ...! The kids were very kind and said it was nice, I played my friend Willy's song, The Carpenter of Sollas only not very well!

who is this?

shadow silhouettes on a sunny day ...



proof, that my twins are not identical, although I still get told that they must be!



can you guess who is who? hope you see the sun shining today XXXX