Far away and yet so close…
Currently I'm sitting in my best friends home in Brussels.. Hope to upload some pictures to share them here. Also hoping to find some swell linen fabrics and other goodies.
For now, enjoy your day.
Monika
Pretending to be Six
We had a pretend birthday party on the weekend because the actual Birthday will be away from our Canadian friends and family in the distant country of Switzerland.
We had fun
We had cake
We opened presents
Now we are packing our bags and will be on the plane in about 7 days.
Harey Business
Not for easter, so not way behind schedule, yet so pleased to having gotten this done together with Huxley.
Project notes:
Bunny hutch from the dollar store (sorry, but that big "M" craft store was selling these for almost $5, I got this one for $1). The bunnies and the hare are by Schleich (although some of ours might not be available anymore.
Needle felted lettuce, mega carrot (with a little bit of wet felting to make it less hairy) and water bowl – made by me.
Needle felted straw hutch insert and grassland including a little pond made by Huxley.
I used a very large about 3" thick piece of upholstery foam to needle felt on. I sat right besides Huxley and instructed him very closely on how to wield the dangerous tool.
There is a constant struggle in my life of finding time to make projects with Huxley. After spending the morning at the studio (from 7 am until 10:50 am), picking him up at kindergarten, driving home, making a full lunch (which tends to be our main meal of the day, sitting down with daddy), then doing the dishes, having a snooze for 10 minutes (I get up at 5 am), while Huxley has his quiet time for about an hour, I am then ridden with guilt if I don't do my housewife duties for the whole afternoon. I need to try to set one afternoon a week aside at least where we just do something. The above project took about half an hour to make. So it is definitely doable.
Hop, hop, hop…..
A little bit of diversion
This stairwell has been my life for the past weeks (well, kind of). We had our amazing friend and Huxley's godfather visiting for three weeks to work on our house. The plan was to finish all the casings in the master bedroom, hang the door (hey, there is a strange notion, a door to the master bedroom.. (grin/blush/grin) and some other odds and ends. On a whim, we decided to also take out that hideous carpet in the hall. The carpet in the "Then" picture was at it's best, ever, as the picture was taken before we even moved in and before all the upstairs and rest of house demolition and renovation was done. Its state was truly disgusting just before it came out… and out it came, with some the carpet being held down by about 200 staples on one (!!!) stair. I think Michel spend at least a whole day just removing the staples alone.
He then dismantled most of the stairs, sanded every single bit down to the original oak, and believe me, if it would be possible to capture that exact colour, we would have left it, but the moment you add something to the wood, it darkens. Which is where the magic of our treatment comes in. Pickling, a technique I had read and heard about a lot in the past. Our house is about 1200 square feet, spread over 3 floors, with an awning in the back and a covered porch in the front. We face east and west. On the west-side, we are also right across the street of a magnificent old school, three stories high. This all means that the downstairs is very dark. Although I do like dark and aged wood in principle, our entry hall was just oppressive and dingy.
About a year ago, we bought some furniture from that "Swedish for common sense"-place in their light wood colour called "Blonde". The kitchen was repainted in a high-gloss, solid white paint, and a blonde floor laid (just el-cheapo vinyl tiles, as we are still planning to do a more substantive re-vamp in a few years time. All the appliances got replaced in white (great thanks to DH's parents who scored both a fridge and stove for about $250 used at a local auction).
It has also been over the past few years that I have totally, completely and with all my soul fallen in love with living spaces that are all in white and light colours. The interesting part being various textures. White is also easy to clean, you can really scrub it, or repaint it if needed. So this is what we are going to do with our house. If I remember correctly, the first book that sent me into a daydream was the book Pure Style by Jane Cumberbatch; some time later I walked into a home of a parent from Huxley's old school and it was done up in that exact style… I felt that I had finally found a part of me. I have also since picked up a few other books, Pure Style Living, Cool Colors for Modern Living and Thrifty Chic – great inspirations.
It might be strange that as an artist, I don't have seem to have my own decorating style. However, DH is a graphic designer and has very strong opinions. This Pure Style was the first time that we actually agreed on something. I don't yet know how far we will carry it, but it's well under way with the stairwell. Currently DH is sanding and stripping down the door casings into the kitchen, as well as the kitchen door. We have also decided to pickle the top kitchen cupboards (instead of painting them in the gloss white we intended). Now we need to start looking into flooring options for the entry hall. If you have any ideas and links, I would love to know about them.
Oh, and yes… I am working on dolls too, but they have had to be put away for a bit with the renovations happening. But please do not fret, you will be the first to meet them when they are ready to go to new homes…
Olive Sparrow Child: Odillon
Odillon was the first doll that I made for my son for Christmas a couple of years ago. I dyed the hair to match Huxley's golden-blond hair. Odillon was sewn entirely by hand, following an pattern provided by a parent from the Allan Howard Waldorf School. Huxley didn't immediately take to Odillon, actually, he did not much care for him at all (not even with my interest in babying the doll). I did receive a request however, to sew Odilon a "doggy costume", just like the one Huxley had worn for Halloween that year. Once Odillon had this outfit, Huxley happily trudged him about for a bit, but still, no deep connection. I even tried to whisper to the doll, and then have Huxley listen to what he repeated, but all to no avail. Odillon was placed on a shelf, in clear view and more or less remained there.
Then a few months ago, as I was busy working on the dolls for the TWS fair, Odilon captured Huxley's heart. I will likely never fully know what triggered it, but Odillon is now part of the games we play.
How fun is this, wearing a doggy outfit, sitting on a cowboy hat with a ceramic plate, a fabric sunny-side-up egg on a playmobil box, with Morley the cat trying to get in on the action.
Sometime in 2009, I decided that if I maybe make another doll for Huxley, he will take to it, maybe there was something "wrong" with Odillon. Also, I just absolutely love Waldorf Dolls and wanted to make more of them for my own self-serving needs of making more "babies"… So I started a doll, but mid-way through it, I decided that if I focus instead of on making Olive Sparrow children for sale, I can express my need for creating them, yet will not need to feel disappointed if Huxley may not take to the other doll. So instead of creating one doll for him, I now create for myself and as an end-result for others.
There was a huge learning curve involved in getting from the first two dolls (the same year as I made one for Huxley, I also made one for my niece L.) to the current Olive Sparrow Children. Many people have been so kind in helping me find supplies and figuring out instructions. This has been some time in coming, but I would like to officially thank (in no particular order):
Gudrun from Gunikat-Waldorfpuppen
Iris from Rosenrot-Blumenkinder
(Ganz Herzlichen Dank and Euch alle! Wow, so super wie Ihr mir alle geholfen habt!)
Although I know how to operate many a machine, tool or material with my hands, this typepad blog thingy remains a deep mystery. Alas, I do promise that I WILL figure out how to add all my doll-maker connections into a sidebar.