A weft yarn

Beaded Christmas decorations - given with love

School's out for summer. It was actually almost summer today. Almost. It is sooooo tempting, isn't it? Given what we are going through in Canberra at present but....mustn't grumble about the weather. Last week, we had the coldest night of carol singing out on Hawker oval. I'm not grumbling, in case you can't tell. I am just stating a fact. People were huddled under blankets, in woolly jumpers, in bushwalking style fleece jumpers, with beanies on, keen to jump up and play tug-of-war so that we could feel our limbs - that kind of thing. Cold. In Summer. Really cold, songs about snow made sense - cold. I'm a hot weather girl. I like a nice warm day, I love all things coastal, all things like oceans and rivers and pools in Dickson. I wait all year for these things to come and grace our short summer in Canberra, and then for some reason, detours happen and we're back in, well, if not winter, pretty damn close to it. OK. That's all. You get it.

School is out for summer. What's not to love? And my amazingly focussed 9-year-old, managed to make the guide leaders and the much loved Grade 4 teacher some glittery Christmas baubles to thank them for a great year. Tess has really thrived in Guides and in school this year. It is wonderful to end this topsy-turvy year with a feeling of rightness-with-the-world. There were times when we all felt scratched and torn from the year's briars and thickets. When I see what Tess has made and I think of the relationship between these women and my daughter, I am content.

As you know from here, we make the teachers a gift and keep one part of it as a memento of them. This year, Tess also decorated cardboard boxes to house the gifts. We had a pattern from a friend of mine who designed a little green and red Christmas box with poinsettias on top. We adapted it to use our own papers and add our own flourishes. You stamp and cut and glue and emboss with gold paint and then you get this... all the choices of colours, papers and ribbon are Tessy's. We ended up making three different boxes. One for the school teacher, and two for the guide leaders. I only photographed one. I plead busyness.

This is a gift for the Grade 4 teacher who is a maths whiz. And I mean whiz. Maths olympiad type maths whiz. A sane and calm and clear-sighted person who gently and persistently taught the children to excel in something that is not very popular. Maths. She is a plain and decent woman and I wouldn't be at all surprised if a frippery such as this was not her first place of cultural comfort. Perhaps the tartan ribbon and those uncompromising moors of Scotland will evoke her resilient and humble nature. I will certainly hang her decoration on my tree each year with pride.

 These decorations were completely handmade by the Tess. I did nothing.

These bells below, two of which were given to the Guides leaders, were 96% made by Tess. I did a tiny 4% of ribbon and sequin pinning (all statistics are faithfully represented by the 'guessing here' footnote). This distribution of the workload is quite a reversal for me. Usually the children start with me but peter out and I spend a few nights with a glass of wine and some beads finishing off the present.The tide has turned.

We are, with great sadness, saying goodbye to our Guide leaders. Tess is going up to the next level in the new year so not only did we make these, and some decorated boxes, but we also included some handmade chocolates and a Christmas mug from here. I have done a very, very modest amount of volunteer work during my children's life (secretary of the P&F for two years, and school canteen manager and canteen volunteer for three years). And my husband has too (scout leader and community garden convenor for about the same amount of time - thankfully at different periods though). I know how much time these ladies spend throughout the week; designing programs for the 4 terms of 10 weeks of 1 1/2 hour weekly activity session, sending and answering emails, attending weekend camps, filling in forms, going to training, shopping for supplies. It is an amazing amount of work to ask of women who work and raise families and volunteer to turn up, week after week after week to a small hall in Hawker, to guide young girls through life. I have such respect for them. Thank you, Guide leaders. We'll miss your warm smiles and quirky traditions and reassuring presence. Stay well. Love from Tess and Melissa.

 

Previous posts

Beaded Christmas decorations - teacher's presents (Nov 2011)

Christmas gift bags for my tapestry ladies

I am one of ten ladies who meet regularly throughout the year, for tapestry and needlework lessons. On the last lesson of the year, in December, we meet for lunch and then after lunch we go back to Helen's house for stitching and chatter. Last year, everyone exchanged small handmade gifts...gulp....except for me. There had been nothing said that I was aware of, it just seemed to happen somewhat spontaneously. So, I've been thinking over the last few months about a small token to make, that would be on about the scale of the gifts from last year.

Years ago, I attended a paper crafts workshop at the Canberra Craft and Quilt show and we made a small bag out of a white envelope. We then stamped it, attached a paper topper and punched two little holes, through which we threaded a ribbon. It was all very origami, simple and yet each bag could have slightly individual touches.

A couple of days before our tapestry Christmas party, Tess helped me with the prototypes and the assembly line production.

We filled them with chocolates and thankfully it wasn't a super hot day so there was no chance of them melting in the drive over to Helen's house.

It was a lovely day and I felt sorry to say goodbye to them all, until next February. We take a reasonably long break over summer. I hope they will all be well through the Christmas period.

A paper doll house - More summer holiday activities

My youngest has taken to trawling through the children's craft collective, Crafty crow, to find activities that she'd like to do. Somehow she stumbled upon a paper doll house. At first she downloaded some freebies, printed them out, made them, had a ball and then told me about it. No need to involve me. It seems we're completely computer literate. A couple of days later she dragged me in to the computer room and asked could she purchase this thing? And did she have enough money in her bank account if she counted her pocket money and leftover Christmas money?

She had arrived at Etsy and found the complete version of a paper doll house, dolls, furniture, landscaping trees and garden bits and pieces. Wow. I checked her bank balances and "yes" she could afford it, so I did the financial thing for her and minutes later we had this all printed out on nice white card.


It took two days to complete, in between swimming lessons at dickson pool, visiting friends, making morning teas, playing with our ducklings, guinea pigs and cat.

I was impressed with her stick-to-it-ness and the fact that she did 90% by herself. She only asked for help when she was getting confused or frustrated or it was very, very fine cutting. She's the kind of crafter who doesn't fuss. She just gets on with it. She works quickly. The taking two days thing is really just 'cause there's lots to do in summer.

And here it is.

And here is the top bedroom, complete with rugs, record player, teddy bear on the bed. On the plans, the room next to the bedroom is labelled a "craft room". The house has four rooms: kitchen, lounge, bedroom, and a craft room. Perfect!

And ignoring the fact that these are grouped in front of the kitchen, see what you get in your craft room?
 
Oh and there's pie in the oven! My daughter and her best friend sat in front of this little house and played with the dolls for quite awhile. She's never shown an interest in doll's houses before. I think it was the making it that created all the magic. Perhaps I should make something this summer!

Easter crafting project

For the Easter crafting project with children, I came across an old copy of Better Homes and Gardens with some cute paper Easter craft projects. After showing them to the littlest one, she chose to make gift bags of easter eggs. We drew up the list - school teacher, guides leaders, piano teacher, craft teacher, best friend. We have a really fabulous local paper craft store at Cockington Green - well we love it - Wrapped in Paper. So we headed off for paper and ribbons and cellophane bags.

If I had my new lightbox that I covet this would have been a bit easier, but it wasn't so hard to trace the bunnies onto the paper, and as it was "made by child" it should have a funky cutting look, not a magazine pristine quality. I still want the lightbox though.

It was a team effort and we settled fairly early into role statements and production line mode. I loved how she concentrated on her cutting. We did a little prototype to check out the process as part of the task demarcation. I'm glad we did. I hadn't really absorbed the size of these things. I'm not even sure if I looked at the measurements and even if I did I didn't convert them into a size. I just let 8 x 27cm slip right past. I had bought enormous bags and I somehow thought we'd use up heaps of our fundraiser chocolates but when we saw the prototype I realised that I needed smaller cellophane bags. In the end, I think its a really lovely size. Not to big and overwhelming, just a kind of "thoughtful gesture" size. Good for my psyche which doesn't want to be all teachers pet but does kind of want to acknowledge what a lovely job these people do in helping raise my children.

So here they are. We actually made 9 of them and we were q-u-i-t-e good about not eating too many eggs as we worked.

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