I wanna be dangerous

By K10

I wanted to make a catapault from The Dangerous Book For Boys that I got for my birthday, so I asked Mama if I could and she said, "Yes". I drew a plan, which I followed. Here's the end result:

I used chopsticks (which I got told off about), a bottle lid and copious quantities of wool.

How To Make Fabulous Felt

1. Tear up 100g of carded wool into strips. Then pull the wool out so it fluffs up.
2. Lay the wool so that the grain of your first layer (I did five layers) goes all up-and-down. Lay the next layer on side-to-side, the next up-and-down and the next side-to-side.
3. Now you are ready for one last layer of wool. We did fancy coloured wool.
4. Mix together three cups of boiling water and a squirt of detergent, pour this slowly over the wool and start to gently squeeze the wool. You will have to wear rubber gloves as it will be very hot!!!
5. Keep adding more water and keep squeezing until the fibres all matt together.
6. Turn the piece over and repeat the process on the back. The longer you work the wool, the tighter it binds together.
7. Rinse the piece of felt.

If you want to speed up the process, you can place your piece of felt in a pillowcase and put it in the washing machine. Just remember to use hot water and a wee bit of washing powder.

Porcu-pins

By J12


A porcupine would be the best animal to make as a pincushion, but I've done an elephant, a crocodile and a giraffe. They are all hand sewn from felt with various little bits and bobs as decorations....if you click on the pictures you'll be able to see the details.

I'd like to sell my crafty creations one day, but I'll need a few more pieces before I can open a shop! Here's my first market research endeavour: how much would YOU pay for a one-of-a-kind hand-made-with-love 12cm long croc? ;-)

Knit Away Knit

By K8

My first ever cloth I knit was a blue one and I kept dropping stitches, so it was a holey cloth. For my birthday I got lots of wool, so I thought I could make some cloths out of it. I tried one the other day, twenty stitches and twenty rows. But it wasn't a square, and I worked out you double what you cast on and then it will be a square.
So now I have written my first ever knitting pattern (that's it in the photo).
Last night I knit a whole cloth and K9 did too. He wanted to do some knitting, but he didn't know what to do so I said, "You could knit a cloth." We sat together knitting and Mama said we looked like two old grannies.

boys will be boys

K9 you are usually ALL BOY! For such a long time you've not really been interested in anything much apart from bats-and-balls and making money!! But recently you've been awfully productive - I just love the boy-doll you made yourself - I can understand how important it is to have a boy-doll and not a girl-doll when you're a boy! He's very handsome - and I hope he doesn't make too much noise when you're spying out in the bush.

Love,
Mama

fluffyFEET

Inspired by Mama knitting slippers for the little boys, I (J12) got my needles clacking for myself. My ones took much longer - not only because I'm a slower knitter - but also because my feet are soooo looooong! They may have taken a wee while, but they were actually one of the easiest thing I have knit. They are also my first felting project.

Mama said to say THANK YOU to *dodgums* for the wool!

Favourite Books Centre Stage

Coming up in three weeks is a church family camp...and on the Saturday night there's a concert. Last time we acted out the story of The Little Red Hen. This year it's Eric Carle's Very Hungry Caterpillar. We spent this afternoon making props with items we got at the recycling centre:



We'll see you on stage at 7:42....not giving away any more than that for now;-)

Moving House

Mama and Dadda have a track record of staying in a house for under a year....well they used to....they lived in eleven houses in ten years! But now we have been in this house for five years. We gave it a big tidy-up this week and moved furniture around and cleaned every nook and cranny. It looks really nice now.

Here's Mama and Dadda's bedroom....


with the chair Mama recovered:


Here's one girls' room....


and the other one:


And all the boys are in together (the girls would be too except that there's only one set of bunks so they get split up)


Once someone said it was sad that we would never get to have our own room and Mama said that she doesn't expect us to do anything she doesn't do. She shares with Dadda and we get to share with our siblings;-)

camping out

today was the First Day of Rain

and so we celebrated by doing one of our favourite winter activites: making huts




Mama sewed and sewed and sewed T2's quilt for her birthday and we made huts all over the house. We even had lunch in one under the dining room table. If we are all quiet for Grandpa tonight we will be allowed to sleep in one tomorrow! K9 knows this is bribery!!

sweetie-pie surprise

This morning you came to me and said, "Mama could you take a photo of this for tomorrow's blog? This is the best apron I've ever made and I really like it".
Sweetie, I loved how you were so proud of your effort, your smile stretched across your face as you pointed out the special features, the double pocket, the small handsewn stitches. And so I thought I'd surprise you and sneak in a post for you....today!
Love ya lots darling....and I'm sure ER will love this first birthday present from you. She'll be able to wear it when you teach her how to make salads or spaghetti!

SAD enough to make you CRY!

ow! ow!
What's happening to me?
I'm bleeding.
Someone has poked a long, skinny, shiny, sharp spear into me.
Oh dear.
Have you ever had this kind of hurt?
No?
Well, I guess you're not a pincushion then!

I'm a pincushion made by K8. She gave me a sad face, because I don't like getting pricks.

Tea Party

Special biscuits and muffins we made that were not ready in time for lunch called out to be eaten at an AFTERNOON TEA PARTY. Mama even set the table with a tea set from her childhood and the remainders of a painted-by-K8 porcelain one. L6's flowers-for-Mama decorated the table.



K9 had made T2 a very special skirt to wear. He sewed it by hand.

no party poopers here

yesterday it was PJ party...today it's blog party...we've never been to one of them before!

we love to party and play and potter and ponder and play-dough and pick (veges from our garden) and paint and picnic...come join us....we're going to party all week.....we'll have our party and while we're sleeping you can come and see what we did "tomorrow" (coz we're ahead of most of you, you know!)

Needle Natter

(K8's thoughts today)
Last year Mama learnt to knit and I wanted to aswell. For ages I busied myself with plaiting wool (Dadda got a bit annoyed at times with all the plaits that somehow dropped around the house). Then I taught myself to crochet chains. That was much quicker than plaiting! Finally, after I had really tried for a few weeks with bamboo skewers, Mama put her needles down and helped me with mine. Once I got going it was so easy! Now I can use circulars too.
I got the PERFECT birthday present this year. It was a basket to keep all my knitting things in - and it was full of wool and new needles and a knit-a-teddy-bear-kit. Well, none of that was actually *new* because we are doing homemade or recycled gifts this year - but it was all more than I could have hoped for!

Now that I can knit and crochet and embroider, I really want to learn to sew - using the machine!! I'm going to make gift bags out of Christmas material so we reduce our waste at Christmas-time. Mama says that will be a good thing to start with and she's got lots of material for me to practise on.
While I wait to learn, I've got a BEAUTIFUL sewing book out of the library. It is just right for anyone who is just learning to sew by hand. I love the illustrations and would like to make some of the projects too.

Child's Play

Today it rained (which is fantastic news for the garden)...and so we couldn't sit outside to read. We each got a little something to do...and then instead of starting Pinnochio, we listened to music from 1685-1740, because Mama wanted to do embroidery (see her quilt on the coffee table?)!




J12 is handsewing little animal pin cushions, K8 knitting a bag on circular needles, T2 is "cooking", M4 is making a boat out of the mancala game, L6 doing the same with mobilo, K9 is building a castle and ends up designing a canon which even works, and J11 is establishing a town for the Playmobil men.


After an hour of Bach, Vivaldi and Purcell, we jumped into the 21st century and listened to Hillsong.

I'd rather be fishing

After a recent weekend sailing at Lake Rotoiti with friends, a lot of the outdoor games and Lego constructions around here have revolved around sailboats.

K8 made a fishing boat - do you see the polarfleece fishing net with fish in it? The fisherman is wrapped up in his towel asleep at the front of the boat. Just in case he gets in trouble, there are two oars and even a motor for real emergencies.

A Stitch in Time.....

K8 making repairs to a stroller we picked up off the side of the road a few years ago....She loves her dolls, almost as much as the real-life baby we have!