for the soul

Thank you so much for joining me here in my new space. I have pottered and pondered plucking little snippets of myself and adding them to my bower. A little haven that reflects me at this stage of my life adventure. I would love for you to become and follower and join me.

It is a space where I gather moments of my world. Thoughts, images and words. The ones I want to remember. The ones I want my babes to delve into when they are all grown up and pull out each one, unfold it carefully and admire it's beauty....and remember.

I will fill it with the things that feed my soul.

Steph x

Images taken whilst "feeding my soul" at a local antique centre. Leaf tea and scones with fig jam and double cream not photographed ;)

a new toy

 
 
 
There was a time not that many sleeps ago that I thought that all wool was created equal. Gaudy balls of raspy fibres lining the fluorescent lit aisles of Big W.  Knit one, purl one, knit one, purl one...drop a stitch...poke concentration tongue out harder in a last ditch effort to save said stitch....pitch the whole lurid creation at the floor and stomp off huffily. Deflated, with nerves all prickly and raw. Scraggy, coarse yarn repelling all touch.

My former self would no doubt be intimidated by the girl I have become. Time and a whole lot of practice, tedious knitting and re-knitting, and casting the net far and wide in search of answers to my often simple minded questions has finally made the penny drop. The code is no longer fuzzy nor does it send my synapses into paralysis. The gentle, rhythmic motion now relaxes my day weary body and nourishes my soul. I have become a knitter.

I believe that all new growth after much toil should be rewarded and so a gleaming new swift and ball winder have become my very own. Those twisty skeins of yarn I so long admired yet was too scared to ask what they were and how could I possibly get them onto needles can now with an effervescent turn of the handle become perfect balls. It is also a family affair that elicits much laughter!
Pale blue pima cotton transformed ready for Mumma's needles. A wee summer vest for my blue girl I daresay. Knit one, purl one, knit one.......
Joining this wonderful community today.
Steph x

52

 

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week."



Bijou: This bunny hops off to kindy next year. I'm so excited for her but in quiet times my heart aches.
Remy: The setting sun cast a golden glow across the room. The abstract shadows were irresistable to this little man.

Always inspired by this Mumma.

Steph x

52

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week."

 



Bijou: All wispy haired and banana smoothie drinking....I adore this little lady.
Remy: Dropping pegs over the side of the washing trolley and watching where they land...for ages!

Joining in with this lovely soul  today.

Steph  x

P.S. Thanks for all your "blog moving" tips.....change is imminent my friends! Weeeeeee!

Me

 

Flicking through an old photo album this morning I barely recognised the person who appeared before me. The string bikini clad snippet of a thing with too much sun on her shoulders and not enough cloth on her body, the dark haired girl with woven wool wrapped tightly about her throat grinning madly under the Eiffel Tower, the carefree lass toasting nothing in particular with a long flute of champers....and manicured nails.

 

That stiletto heeled girl has long walked off into the sunset. The wardrobe is far less full, the crinkles around the eyes have deepened and my belly now bears the scar of two heartbreakingly long and arduous labours. But time has given me clarity...and peace.

 

When I reached the pages filled with my man and my babies I felt at home. This chapter of my life however influenced by my past existence is my greatest work. I have changed; I have grown and am so immensely proud of inner battles I've fought...and won. There is still work to be done.

 

My home is my everything now and those that fill it are my world. I have wholeheartedly embraced  this role and have thrown myself into it's daily, often mundane tasks. I cook from scratch, I sew, I make do. I breastfeed and cloth nappy my smallest, I thrift, I renovate, I don't vacuum as much as I should. I knit, I grow vegetables, I still have too much sugar in my tea, I make mud pies with my babies, I smile often. I am happy.

 

Steph x



Flower Press

We live a pretty slow existence here, my babes and I. Gentle barefoot wanders in leafy places stopping to pick this, smell that. The kitchen bench is constantly littered with remnants of these times outdoors. I treasure her keen eye and quiet stance when some reptilian soul crosses out path. I adore how she really knows  plants; how they work, the names of the parts, what they are for. I smile at how he stuffs each one ever so delicately in his mouth.

But blooms dry up, petals fade and seeds that were once locked safely inside strew the floor. Ah, to stop time in this ongoing life cycle of growth. To be able to cradle the beauty of a flower forever. A snapshot of each of it's magnificent stages of development.

If only my babes would fit in the flower press.

Steph x



52

"A portrait of my children once a  week, every week in 2012"



Bijou: Our regular trip to the museum never fails to capture her interest. She drinks in all that this wondrous planet has to teach her.
Remy: Bonds wondersuit, vintage blankets, cups of tea in bed. Ah Sunday!

Joining in with this lovely soul this week.

Steph x

A New Lease on Life

Hand stitched linens; doilies and what nots. Bits and bobs of another time. I am ever inspired by their beauty, their intricacies, the firework bursts of colour.

I tuck them away in secret places only to pull them out on occasion to fold and refold, stack and sort...and generally drink in their deliciousness. I while away time pondering their former homes and how it was that they came to be part of mine.

Some are used for their intended purpose. The damask napkins mop my babes' chins, the sunny yellow pillowslip brightens my bed.

Some however, are re-invented into something new. A hand embroidered supper cloth has a new lease on life as a delicate singlet for a cherished friend's smallest. A slightly more A-line version of this one with the addition of a whimsical ruffle.

In many years will it too be found in a secret place and loved all over again. I hope so.

Inspired as always by these lovelies.

Steph x

Her Other Space

Her desire to create is insatiable. Pens and paper are always in arms reach. Deep in the midst of imaginative play she pauses; I can almost see her synapses firing. And in an instant she is all snipping scissors, swirling colours and concentration tongue poking. She is creating.

We are eager to hand over such tools and let our kiddies plunge head first into this making world. Open slather we say and leave the paper shards that carpet our floor til the after bed time tidy up. This mess explodes like a confetti party popper but with a flick of a broom it is tamed. Paint on the other hand...

But heartened by words of famous educational theorist, Lev Vgotsky " What a child can do in cooperation today, he can do alone tomorrow." I began cultivating  another space for my girl. A painting space she could delve into independently.

A few pots of colour, a paint palette for mixing, some brushes and an old jam jar for water. A basket of paper and tiny pegs, a plaited rope hooked on wonky nails. Then the gentle yet constant reminders of what painters do, how they care for their tools, how they clean up their studio after they have finished. The modelling of each step of the process, the praise for success; repeated many times.

She now puts on her art smock, retrieves her own water and returns it to the sink when she's done, hangs her paintings up to dry, and wipes the table clean with a damp cloth. Bless. Blobs of paint still make there way underfoot, wispy hair dangles in stained water and many a page is snatched by the wind. But how far we've come.

Armed with knowledge, support and the appropriate tools, I really believe our babies will rise to almost any challenge.

Steph x