Aw thanks for all the well wishes. i’m on a slow uphill but i’ll get there. You all are so lovely and sweet.

Another day was spent at the doctor’s office yesterday where most of the 3 hours was in waiting. i learned that Little A did not break his big toe but rather he fractured the proximal joint of his first metatarsal which does not affect his growth plate and will heal in time. This doesn’t explain why his big toe hurts and not the area fractured? We are recommended to see another Doctor and possibly have another xray. We’re in the system now and we’ll follow through. Thanks to the mamas and friends who inspire and encourage me to trust my child when he tells me that he has pain and that this is not his manipulation to be mommy coddled and to trust myself in my ability to help him heal. We will continue with our homeopathic remedies as well as make great efforts to stay positive and have as much fun and play as we can. In each of us our patience wears thin as one becomes restless not walking, another becomes tired of carrying and another tired of the complaining. I trust we will all be well and thriving in time.

Papa bear has been especially awesome these past few days while i’ve been unwell. i know it’s not an easy time to hang out with the little monkey who can’t walk, refuses to eat or nap and as a result easily melts. We anticipate some parenting challenges and changes in the next month as we read, research and seek inspiration to get through some emotional, control and food issues. Any AP and gentle discipline recommendations are welcome!

papa’s got a brand new scarf that is soft enough he’ll wear it. The addition of buttons was largely inspired by this one. i’ve been seeing so many beautiful knits on Flickr these past few days and the socks! i am loving the socks. i’m building up the nerve to take on a project that requires more than the straight knit scarf.

Quiet New Year’s Eve in my home. Well wishes back to you all. Cheers.

There were some merry moments and delicious foods to be enjoyed this past week but not without crabby moods and stomach flus all in turn. it hit me last and most severe and i’m only just surfacing now with a cup of miso soup. i’ll see you all in the New Year with a hopefully more healthy and positive perspective on things. Right now i just want to curl up and hide awhile longer.

We did it. The full advent. i had hoped for more wintery adventures but with a boy with a sore foot, who wants to go up the mountain for skating? We’ve kept busy with our projects and opened far too many gifts despite my intention to keep it simple. We’re off to the Sunshine Coast for a family gathering. See you in a few days. I’ll leave you with some tree love.

See more embroidery hoop fabric swatches here.

Wee Wonderfuls Winter Stichettes.

Kiki & Polly fawn mini print.

Martha’s mini stockings.

Piccobello laundry game.

ok so it all starts with the sheep and then the shearing but for me it all starts here at Birkeland Brothers where they work with this machine that is over 100 years old. It’s really quite amazing to watch. i wish i could have gotten closer to photograph the thin layers of wool rolling on to the roller but i had a toddler in 1 arm and a camera in the other (plus a backpack and Winter wear on) so here’s what i got;

Little A will be opening this book for Christmas. The story stimulates one’s mindfulness of where things come from and how they are made - Pelle’s new suit from the lamb’s wool which is sheared then carded, spun, dyed, woven and tailored. The illustrations are refreshingly simple and obviously there is so much more to the story but i don’t want to give it all away.

These are amazing days of gift receiving;

Last week. From Mi. i am so in love with her fabric covered buttons and she so thoughtfully filled my pincushion with wool because she knows i love it. The yellow fabric is a feed sack reproduction. The style is so familiar to me having seen and owned some of my mom’s original feed sacks from her farming days.

Wednesday. on my way out the door i found a lovely wrapped package on my doorstep from Haida Gwai. i wish i could show you the wrapping but Little A is quite in the trend of unwrapping and his patience with me and my camera is growing thin. Inside, all for me, a woolen cuff from Kiki. it’s beautiful. i love it. i’m wearing it as i type. The neck cozy is one of hers that i bought from the Maternal Creations show where we first met last month.

As much as he enjoys the opening of gifts Little A also loves to help with wrapping gifts. In fact it has become a game to play. i hide in one room while he finds something to wrap and then i’m called in to find a gift beautifully wrapped in tissue paper for me. Then it’s his turn and well, the game could go on for hours i’m sure. it was sweet to see his gift exchange with Little B the other day. Anna makes these awesome felt foods for kitchen play (who knew one could pan fry sushi rolls?). The grapes are perfect and the cracked eggshells - well those are just clever!

thought i’d throw in a shot of Little A’s hack job haircut by yours truly. He wanted “no hair” but this is as short as i go.

Last week i received an email from a friend that read she had some extra cute fabric that she thought i might like and could she please have my mailing address. Wow! so cool and thoughtful to think of me. A few days later a box arrived with a cute little gnome card explaining that it was something other than fabric - a sweet bamboletta boy, Elliah. i am so in love! Little A was surprised too as he read my name and not his on the box. Thank you thank you! Christina and i had talked about a trade well over a year ago and then we both got busy with other things, she moved away to the island and all the while i’ve been oogling over her dolls and now and then pulling out the WIP i have intended to complete for Ben. I still have it! and i will finish it for him….perhaps closer to New Years than Christmas. We’re busy mamas but it all gets done eventually. Elliah is one stylish earthy dude and we love his belly button.

Lucky right? Indeed i am.

Baking date with friends. We arrived to Little B singing “milk in the batter, milk in the batter, we bake cake and nothings the matter”. It was destined to be a sweet treat kind of day.

Some of these had to make their way out of our home and over to the neighbors.

Thanks for all the well wishes. Little A is still not able to bear weight on his foot and just last evening he finally allowed me to examine. it seems to be painful with pressure applied to any area of the big toe (top or bottom), there’s no bruising and the swelling is minor (thanks to Arnica). A Naturopath also recommended Ruta which has an affect on bruised bones (good to know). i’m not sure how to diagnose a fracture and i’m considering an xray diagnosis….still unsure about this. Today was challenging and i was short tempered. He’s clingy and whiney and i’m bored of toddler play and running short of projects and juice to entertain the both of us. i’m not at all happy with how i’ve been dealing and feeling quite uninspired in my parenting.

In lighter, more positive moments, we both got into stabbing cloves into oranges this afternoon. Perhaps it was the walking/strolling venture to 4 different locations in search of whole cloves or perhaps it was the smell, sweet and delicious, that seemed to appease us. We were patient in those 20 or so minutes;

Another sweet moment was earlier this morning as we melted beeswax with which to hand dip candles. These are gifts for everyone at the cafe who makes our daily coffee and steamed milk. i had earlier hopes to join the staff party this evening but the day went awry and we stayed home. The candles are a rather funky and imperfect shape as we had only a short tin full of wax to dip from. The starting wick was a little long but they’ll burn and they will smell sweet;

Some other sweetness as our winter wonderland evolves;

Some of the best kinds of sweet - S’s pecan and maple caramel chocolates;

and truly sweet friends;

The end.

Mama’s workshop is busy and messy. i haven’t felt much like photographing in bad light or spending much time at the computer so i’ll be brief in updating.

The beach is cold, the cafe is cozy, home is a nest and we love the daily tokens left from the elves. The tree adorns popcorn strings and plenty more handmade colorful things. We’re proud.

Little A supermanned off the couch and hurt his foot last night - the big toe mound and arch. He doesn’t want me to check it out too much but it is slightly swollen. We used arnica immediately and traumeel later. He’s in no pain unless he stands or walks on it so we spent much of the day at home on our butts. We had a wee carpet picnic, felted more balls for acorns, did lots of puzzles and games, Auntie came for a visit and he went to bed at 5;30. i think he might need an xray to diagnose a fracture but then i wonder if anything can be done for the big toe mound and what is the point of putting him through the drama and trauma of xrays and doctors if they’re just going to send us home? i mostly feel confident in my instinct of nursing a child to good health with homeopathics, love and time but when do i seek medical intervention?

Good timing to receive this fun box full from my mom this afternoon. She sent the makings for wreaths along with the hot glue gun, a few tree ornaments and buttons cause she knows i love them. My mom rocks!

Aside from wreath making i’ll be making a few more pairs of these deer mitts. Little A needed mitts. We traced his hand, cut into my shrunken slightly felted wool sweater and compromised kitties for deer. The mismatched colors help with differentiating left and right. They’re a little rough with the seams left outside and the hasty stitching (i was working alongside toddler patience) but i like them. He thinks we should make some for all his friends and cousins. Nice thought. We’ll see how far the sweater goes.

not so brief?

Each new day the elves are bringing gifts and projects into our home. This is becoming a welcome ritual for the whole family. Little A wakes in a happy mood, anxious to see what the elves have brought for him, hops out of bed leaving me room to stretch out and take an extra few minutes to wake - oh these moments are pure bliss! i too am waking happy. The gifts all add to a growing story which all started with the boy gifted on day 1. It snowed here Dec 1st and so we added wool snow to our nature table for the boy to play in. A couple days later a tree arrived - the same day we decorated our own tree. Another day a girl arrived and some toadstools and throughout the month there will be other playthings to spark creative minds and stories. I’m enjoying this opportunity to spread out Christmas gifts but am also careful not to create great expectations. One day the elves left a playdough recipe, another day they left a simple cut out memory matching game and they told me they would be leaving popcorn kernels some day soon…

As we open each window on our calendar this month i am feeling time move fast. Our days are full and i often feel that i have so much more to do. Recently inspired by posts here and here i have decided to make efforts to slow down and be more present. So often i am reading stories while stuffing a doll or sewing a button. Mostly i find that to be a happy balance between what i want to do and what Little A wants to do but i want to make efforts to focus more on savoring the time and the current project rather than to multi task. This will be hard for me but i want to bring the energy a little more inward. Now would be a good time to begin a yoga practice once again but then again all times are good times for yoga. Little A has had me “playing yoga” with him some mornings. He’s so inspiring.

This Winter weather has been pretty unbelievable. We actually spent a good part of the day in but it was also a cool, brisk and sunny day to be out. We had fun playing with J (he doesn’t like to be photographed).

The family ventured to Bright Nights this evening for a train ride through Stanley Park. Little A and i were ridiculously giddy to have popcorn and ride the train. Oh there were tacky elements indeed but we sucked it up and enjoyed. The petting zoo was weird though - poor animals subjected to the viewing and petting of thousands of strangers is definitely not my thing. My favorite - the stilt walking wizard.

Oh and finally - the draw!

Little A didn’t really get what we were doing but the bits of pink paper in the basket were intriguing enough. i’m sure he’ll want to play the game again sometime. The number of comments is a bit overwhelming and i now have so many new blogs to check out and peruse over the holidays or more likely after the holidays. Little A’s picks are Lina and Elle. 1 new name and 1 familiar. Please contact me with your mailing addresses. How coincidental is it that Elle’s name is so similar to mine and not only that but when i checked out her more recent posts what did i see as i scrolled down? a little red caboose. How crazy is that? Crazy i think.

Many of you have asked about my wool felt supplier. i mostly have been buying from a shop in Bellingham that is not set up with an online shop yet so i thought i would share some other findings. In Canada i have purchased beautiful colors and felt from Natalie at Bear Dance Crafts in Kaslo, BC and from Maple Splendor. Other sources from sites in the US which i admire but have not purchased from are A Child’s Dream and Magic Cabin. Purl has also shown some beautiful looking felts on line in the past but i don’t see any on their site just now. i find it tricky to buy felt online. i’m particular about the colors that i use and prefer to see them in real life to have a more accurate idea of how i would combine colors and so i pick up felt sheets here and there as i find them. Anyone in the know of sources for plant dyed 100% wool felt please share!

Hi! i suspected there were a few more viewers and readers than those who comment regularly but i wasn’t sure of just how many. It’s nice to see and i’m trying not to feel shy. Little A and i will be drawing 2 random names for crown gifts in the next day or 2 so feel free to add your name until then.

No laughing at our sparse and little tree because i am falling in love with it and all of it’s homemade goodness. 1 strand of lights isn’t quite enough but there was only 1 strand of white lights left in the shop and i am not one to run around during the holidays to get it “just right. The cranberries are so pretty- my favorite part. i hope they last. If not we may add popcorn amongst other things later. We’ll probably add popcorn anyhow because papa came home with a popper and how much fun will that be?

oh lucky friends…Little A has been busy with making his gifts for you. Only 4 of you will be blessed as the project held only so much of his interest and attention. i guess he’s a little young for such careful rolling but he thought of each person he would gift to as he rolled. Such great intention and pride.

It snowed all morning and afternoon - the hugest flakes to catch on your tongue. It was beautiful! and tomorrow will be slushy and icy because typical of Vancouver, it is raining. Happy to have indulged and enjoyed while it lasted and we look forward to more soon - hopefully very soon. Also, very soon, we will be decorating our tree - a cut tree! i bought a cut tree! i can hardy believe myself. Alistair can hardly believe me either. i guess i got caught up in a moment…out sledding around the neighborhood in the snow we stumbled upon a lot with trees for sale and they smelled so good and looked so pretty covered in white and they were the perfect small size for our small space. i’ve never bought a cut tree before. i’ve really got to get over it because i want so badly to enjoy the decorating. i’ve also never strung cranberries for a tree. Will these really last? Anyone? Are they meant for outdoor trees only? They sure are pretty. and tasty.

first snow angels (little A dressed himself today - makes me laugh);

and the gift giving! It’s about time i gifted one of these away. Though they are traditionally Waldorf style Birthday crowns they have become a huge part of our dress up and imaginative play for any day. In our home we have the baking crown, the building crown and the crown just for going out. They are made of 100% soft wool felt, lined with a blended felt of 80% wool and there is a fabric covered elastic at the back to fit various head sizes. The duck crown has a slight button imperfection so i will be sending an extra button along with it;

If you’re interested in receiving one of these gifts please leave your comment and Little A and i will draw names in a few days. Other crowns may be found here.