St George and the Dragon

Ended up with a quieter end to last week and weekend than originally planned as L came down with a mild temperature, sore throat and cough, so she spent a lot of time needing cuddles or sleeping. So I have spent a lot of time sitting on the sofa with her, reading stories, watching films and crafting while she sleeps, which means I have knitted her a pair of the workhorse mitts in some teal green wool I had left over and also managed some cross stitch. She is hopefully on the mend now, still a bit croaky and was rather tired by bedtime tonight. Any way yesterday we read Saint George and the Dragon and today we read two dragon stories from A Year Full of Stories, one from Britain and the other from Poland. The end of the Usborne book has a nice map and talks about were St George is patron saint of and some other nice info that we read through.

I had planned some bread making in dragon shapes and maybe painting or chalk pastels but the children decided to draw some pictures of the dragon, love the different facial expressions.

We've been doing lots of counting and L and one minded child seems to have really learnt all their numbers to 10, so today thought I would see what they could remember, so out came the crochet bowls, button pot and some number cards. They love sorting buttons into the bowls, so this is a fun activity for them and I am pleased to say they can recognise their numbers one to six and add the right number of buttons to the bowl. This is the  pattern for the rainbow nesting bowls

I then added some mirrors and coloured lollipop sticks, this is great way to introduce the idea of symmetry, reflection, half etc in a fun way, love the oh wow when I demonstrated how you could turn half a lollipop man into a whole man. They then had fun creating their own patterns.

In the garden the sunflower seeds we planted the other week are just peeking up above the soil, the peas are doing the same at the allotment and some of my Californian poppies that seeded themselves last year are now flowering. The children love these and have been watching how the buds develop, open and now seeing the seed cases form, at some point we will have a dried seeds that they can then plant.

L's fingerless mittens, she is really pleased with them, the colour looks really blue in the photos but it is a teal green in real life! Hoping we won't have much need to wear them until the Autumn! Joining Frontier Dreams for Crafting On

I came across an eggless carrot cake last week and L and I had to give it a go, it is really delicious and moist. It's great to find another dairy and egg free cake to add to my list, the recipe can be found on Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth blog  Carrot Crazy cake we didn't ice our cake as I find it a bit too rich. My photo of a little slice doesn't do it justice but had to show that it isn't a dense cake at all, which I sometimes find when trying eggless baking as you don't always get that light fluffiness that you get with eggs.

Easter

Hoping you all have had a a lovely Easter, we have, enjoyed the lovely weather and spent most of the time either in the garden or up the allotment. We have a lovely display of wallflowers and perennial erysimum in the garden at the moment and they smell lovely, they have seeded themselves and I am planning on digging up a couple of these plants and moving them to the allotment .              

The children have enjoyed an Easter egg hunt in the garden, actually more than one! L has got us to hide the eggs several times over as she loves hunting for them. They spent time decorating some wooden egg decorations.

 We made some hot cross buns, didn't glaze them which actually even if they don't look so nice they were nice to eat as you didn't end up with horrible sticky fingers, think next time I will add some more dried fruit to them.

Joining As Kat Knits for unravelled Wednesday . Now I have been working through my list of unfinished craft projects and feeling rather good, as I now have 4 left to do from the list and other than the cardi they are all longer term projects, so successful weekend and I have completed my tax return too!

1. second panel of knitted throw.
2. finish sewing L's blouse (fabric from stash)
3. grey wrist warmers, not sure if I like the pattern in the wool I am using from my stash, so might unravel them and start again!
4. have just started a white cardi for L again wool I already have.
5. patchwork quilt
6. dolls pyjamas that I had cut out of scraps of fabric
7. cat cross stitch that I started a while ago
8. a skirt, needs the zip put in and waistband finished, I got tot his stage last year and hoped I might loose a bit of weight, tone up, so didn't finish it!

 Made some pyjamas for L's doll, she is really pleased with them and for 2 nights in a row, got herself and her doll dressed ready for bed and asking for stories 45 minutes earlier than her normal bedtime, so she had an extra story.

Gave up on my original pattern for fingerless mittens, it was lovely eyelet daisy pattern but I just wasn't happy with the way it looked as I knitted it, unravelled it twice, not sure if it was my knitting or what but went for this pattern called workhorse mitts really pleased with them. Have sorted out some dark teal wool to make a small pair for L, which shouldn't take long to make.

A little update on our reducing our waste, it is going ok but slowly, M and I love our shampoo bars, I tried a conditioner one but that isn't enough for my hair so at the moment still using a bottled one, need to research that more at some point. I do use coconut oil as an intense condition so often as my hair is very dry and frizzy, the boys are still working though their bottles of shampoo and then will see what they make of the shampoo bars. I am pleased with how the eco egg is washing but if clothes are heavily stained then I am using powder but for everyday washing it does fine and removes smells and normal stains, just not ingrained dirt! Now I am happy when I wash up using a dishcloth and have used lots of odd bits of cotton yarn to make some new ones, my husband prefers a brush, he has been trialling the eco force brush with a replaceable head and is very pleased with it, the bristles seem to have lasted a long time. So looks like a permanent replacement, we have toothbrushes that are very similar so instead of replacing the whole brush you just replace the bristle part.

Update On Finishing Projects

So after writing my list yesterday and thinking that I only had 4 unfinished projects to complete, that's not quite true, realised there were another 4 projects in the cupboard, oops

1. second panel of knitted throw.
2. finish sewing L's blouse (fabric from stash)
3. grey wrist warmers, not sure if I like the pattern in the wool I am using from my stash, so might unravel them and start again!
4. have just started a white cardi for L again wool I already have.
5. patchwork quilt
6. dolls pyjamas that I had cut out of scraps of fabric
7. cat cross stitch that I started a while ago
8. a skirt, needs the zip put in and waistband finished, I got tot his stage last year and hoped I might loose a bit of weight, tone up, so didn't finish it!

But have today finished L's blouse, pleased with it, it's from the spring edition of Ottobre magazine, looking at it now, I should of made the yoke a double layer so hiding all the seems, did this with the last top I made from this magazine but didn't think about this time. 

Met up with a friend and her son yesterday and we all had a lovely walk around the woods, lots of bluebells out and plenty of butterflies.

Spotted a lovely peacock butterfly sunning itself on some brambles, there were a few blue butterflies flitting around too but not staying still long enough for a photo. I talked to the children about though they might not like the nettles, the peacock butterflies do as they lay their eggs on the underside of the nettle leaves.

Linking up with Frontier Dreams

Finishing Projects

Last week was a busy week, catching up with friends who are now on Easter holidays, O had his follow up appointment with the consultant after his emergency op last month, he is really pleased with his recovery and has been discharged from hospital care, which is brilliant news.

In the meantime the girls have been busy planting lots of seeds, a tray of sunflowers and beans, then we have direct sowed lots of peas, and scattered a mixture of seeds round the flower beds at home. We ended up with Californian poppies, cornflowers, love in the mist, zinnias and red poppies, the Californian poppies usually do really well and we get a lovely display most years. They usually seed themselves really well but this year only seem to have had only a couple of plants come up this year, so time for some new seeds and fingers crossed we get a lovely display again this year.

We've had a go at some wet felting, they all enjoyed the process, think it needed a bit more working than we did but they enjoyed the process and are pleased with the results, so that is the most important thing.

My girls have enjoyed making patterns with the glass beads and L made paths for her fairies to walk along.

Now I have been determined to try and finish some of my craft projects before I start something new and use up some of my wool and fabric stash, not sure exactly how well I am doing! So finished the birthday cardi in hayfield  blossom, simple pattern but pretty soft wool.  Loved the way the pattern knitted up, there was bit of juggling to get the pattern to match up at the front, just my personal preference, don't mind the sleeves being different but just felt the pattern across the front needed to be in the same place! Now bought some lovely purple wool in the same range to make L a cardi, oops, so much for not buying more wool!

And another birthday gift finished and in the post, just hope it arrives safely, always get nervous when sending something you have worked hard on through the post!

I am now halfway through the second panel of my throw, it's a lot of cable work on each row, so slower going than the first panel.
So projects to finish are

1. second panel of knitted throw.
2. finish sewing L's blouse (fabric from stash)
3. grey wrist warmers, not sure if I like the pattern in the wool I am using from my stash, so might unravel them and start again!
4. have just started a white cardi for L again wool I already have.

Which doesn't sound too bad but sorting through various fabric, I have sorted out enough purple fabric to make L a winter coat, made one 2 years ago that she loves, so same pattern just bigger size, found some white wool to make myself a cardi and some stretch jersey to run up some leggings! So knowing me I will probably start at least another project before I finish the above but least they are all from my stash of craft materials!

I am halfway through reading Honeycomb Kids, just read the chapter on Getting Dirty and the benefits of gardening, so adding to the list I made about what children learnt from gardening with me, the book talks about the benefits of healthy pesticide free food, vitamin d from being outside, reducing our carbon footprint, the skills children learn through growing food, to name a few. Have just been passed a copy of Connect with Nature, looks a beautiful book, having a quick flick through, I think a lot of the stuff we already do but you never know on a closer look might fond something new. The photos are beautiful and think it will be nice for me to sit and look at, especially for those times when you need a positive inspiration moment. Have also treated myself to copy of Alchemy of Herbs, it looks great, really informative, each chapter covers one herb and talks you through the different uses, health benefits and some recipes, looking forward to trying some of them out.

On a childminding planning front, I have put together some of the spring activities into a more structured plan this month. Sometimes, I just have lots of ideas bouncing round in my head, sometimes I just list ideas and other times, I like to write up a more structured plan like the ones below, the second plan is just my ideas fitted into the eyfs, which might be helpful to some people. It really varies on what and/or how many children I have, how busy I am etc, as to how or what I do, it's just what works well for me at that moment in time.

Joining Frontier Dreams for Crafting On and as Kat Knits for Unravelled wednesdays

Colour Theory and Gardening

We have been enjoying the warmer, dryer weather and getting outside lots, seedlings are doing well and today we have planted loads of french bean seeds and a mixture of flower seeds, some more sweetpeas, then morning glory, nemesia, snap dragons and nicotina.

 Have been thinking lots about the different conversations we have while gardening and the amount the children learn from them, as well as it being an enjoyable relaxing activity. There is so much science that just occurs without any effort, we cover a variety of life cycles of plants and insects, how seeds develop, parts of a plant, the jobs they do, pollination, how they interact, how earth worms, bees, slow worms and frogs are good for the garden. Nutrition, the impact of farming on the environment, soil erosion, composting. The time spent observing the plants developing, the various wildlife, listening to the birds and crickets and learning to be still and watch. Observing the weather, the change in the sky, seasons and what it means. As well as the health benefits from the exercise while gardening, the positive mental benefits, co-ordination - small motor skills while planting seeds, planting on seeds, gross motor from using tools. I'm sure there is loads more but that is what has come to mind now.

In September 2014 we acquired an additional bit to our allotment, which was fairly over grown and four compost bins made out of old pallets, the bins were full of rotted carpets, weeds and rubbish, it was a lot of work clearing it and then trying to decide what to do with it all.

We decided that we could go for mainly fruit, we have some very dwarf fruit trees apple, pear, cherry, then blueberry bushes, jostaberry, red and white currant bushes and a thornless blackberry. We added in a couple of lavender bushes, some wallflowers and lupins along the front edge, to help attract bees and other helpful insects, so two and a half years later it now looks like this, we've spent the last week weeding and mulching it all and if a may so myself it is looking very good.

Strawberry's are doing well and their new bed is nearly ready for them, front tubs are sweetcorn, planted last week, so a little bit early to see any signs yet.

Cucumbers are potted on and are doing well.

Broccoli and brussel sprouts are doing very well, we've planted some more broccoli seeds today.

On a school childminding front we have been looking at the colour wheel, primary colours, secondary colours, complementary, warm and cool colours and then creating a day and night picture using cool colours for night and warm for day, will hopefully finish them of this week but we have all enjoyed creating these.

M has been attending an anime drawing course, the teacher is wonderful, very enthusiastic, this week they were looking at movement. Over the weeks, they have created a character and a short story piece for their character. Now they are spending time getting to know their character, facial expressions, movements etc.

Mothering Sunday

We spent Sunday morning at the allotment, the weather was lovely, if a bit windy, managed to weed the gooseberry patch, raspberry beds and add a new layer of mulch to them. We have partly weeded round the fruit trees and added some mulch to that area too, will finish of the rest another day. L loves to rake, so she happily raked the mulch all over the beds for us, then enjoyed transporting a small amount balanced on her rake to different patches around the fruit trees. She wanted to know why we were doing this, so explained that adding a layer of mulch kept the weeds down, so we didn't have to spend so long weeding, it helps the soil keep moist when the weather gets hot but also protects the plants in the cold, also as it breaks down it feeds the soil so the soil stays healthy and therefore the plants healthy as well. I'm sure there are more reasons but thought this was enough for her to think about for now. She was fascinated with this and was busy chatting away to herself and telling the plants why she was putting the mulch around them.

I disturbed an ants nest and we spent some time watching them,  L sat their and said to them " I am sorry ants Mummy didn't know you had a home there, I am sure you can find somewhere safer to build your home, the vegetable patch isn't the best place" when we came home I found out some more information to show the ants eggs, their tunnels etc.

Started the unicorn embroidery last night and really enjoying it, makes a change from all the cross stitch I have done recently. This is present for a friend's daughter, the kit came from Hawthorn Handmade, the fabric is lovely and it came beautifully boxed too all wrapped in pink tissue, which means when I come to wrap it all up I already have all the materials I need to wrap it beautifully. Happy days.

Linked up with Frontier Dreams for crafting on