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Monday 4 August 2014

August Break Day 3 : Window - Lavender Bears

Hello, and welcome to Day 3 of my participation in Susannah Conway's project, The August Break.
Today's theme is Window.

This morning I was pootling about up in the Little People's playfort today (as you do) and this is what I spied through the fort window .... can you spot the smaller two tea-party guests ? No, the smaller two ....


Two very special guests arrived in the house today in the form of fur and stuffing in a box ...


The girls had been saving their pocket money for ages for these, and yesterday we went to the shop to make the big purchase! They got their own bags, receipts and everything - all Very Exciting :) However due to lack of room-tidying compliance they had to wait til today to do the fun part. Mean Mummy.

First the bears needed stuffing ....


Each bear came with a heart ....


.... and a pen with which to inscribe a message on the heart ....


... then lots of "Rub the bear on your ears so he can hear, on your nose so he can smell" etc etc and of course "Rub the heart on your heart so the bear knows he is loved" .... aaaaaah ....


.... now to put the heart in the bear. (OMG this was a bit like reverse childbirth. Gap far too small. Thing to go through gap far too big. Lots of huffing and child-friendly swearing. Got there in the end though.)


.... and then the introductions were made. Perfect Panda meet Georgina. Georgina, Perfect Panda.


.... what a lovely couple .... look like they have been married for years ....





.... bit of fun in the sun ....



.... and out on a date ....


After the excitement of the new teddies, and much tea-partying (with real squash and breadsticks, they were VERY excited :) Little Miss set her art things out and got all creative. She has these blowpen things that sort of spray out a misting of ink, and she uses them with various stencils.  Looky look, don't they create a great effect ?


When we were first got them years ago, as a Christmas present from a friend, I was aghast. Pens. With Ink. Liquidy ink. That you blow out everywhere. Seriously ? But you know what - they really are fun. And no mess. It doesn't go everywhere and it does wipe off really easily. Hurrah :)
Her picture was so lovely, and she described it so excitedly and with such enthusiasm that we quickly agreed that this picture was The One. The One we had been searching for, waiting for, longing for. The One that we feared might never come. The One that we would send off for a Blue Peter Badge :) We will be posting her letter tomorrow, so can you please keep your fingers crossed for her :) ♥


All that child related activity made me yearn for something to do for myself .... I'd been out along our road earlier and a neighbour was "trimming" his hedge with a gigantic chainsaw, and the hedge included a couple of lavender bushes which were also getting scalped. The lavender was lying in heaps on the pavement, so after asking, and getting a mildly amused look from him, I scooped the whole lot up and walked home with armfuls of delicious-smelling lavender :)


Only last night I had been reading Cathy's lovely blog The House With The Blue Door and had stumbled upon her post entitled Things I Make With Lavender. Go and read it. Go on, right now. It's a gorgeous post. In fact go and get some lavender, sit and breathe it in whilst reading Cathy's post. Mmmm, heavenly :) Clearly fate was telling me to do something with all that lovely lavender. I gathered some supplies ...


... ooooh look how they all match! Amazing coincidence (ahem)...


.... whilst I was busy with the hook, Little Man helped me sort out the wheat from the chaff, as it were. Long stems went in my square glass vase, leftover green bits to one side, and purpley bits in our sweetie bowl. No, we don't serve sweets IN it, it has sweets ON it. Worst thing I ever bought. Put grapes in it, and they just ask for sweets. Argh. Here is Little Man in action. Spot the loom bands. Yes, even 11 year old boys wear them. I think he carries it off really rather well :)


.... a wee while later (and a lot of fiddling about with stones for propping up and ribbon for prettifying) and ta-daaaa - a sweet little jar cosy for my lovely lush lavender :)


I ran out of time today but there is heaps left, so I'm going to make another one tomorrow for the neighbour that gave me the lavender - well - his wife more probably ...


As for Little Man, he, boy-who-has-loads-of-sensory-difficulties-and-hates-all-smells-and-does-lots-of-over-dramatic-throat-clutching-wretching-and-gagging, declared that he loves the smell of lavender and yes please Mum I would like a (covered in manly fabric) sachet of it to hang on my bed to help me sleep :) Aaaaah I cannot express to you how that has made my heart swell with joy, love and pride :)


Can you smell it ? Take a good deep sniff, go on, that's it .... mmmmmm ..... delicious .......


... and here it is in its little home on my desk :)

11 comments:

  1. Ohhhh... what a dear boy you have! And nice of you to think of a return gift for the lavender cutter's wife! I love what you crocheted for the cover. We're soon off camping.. no commenting for 10 days! LOL! ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  2. How sweet little ones bears, and all the little poses they did with them made me smile. Your lavender pot is lovely x

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  3. What a wonderful post of happiness and joy Jill!! I hope that you have a great week and I look forward to more adventures from Panda and Georgina! xx

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  4. Love all the creativity bursting from this post Jill. X

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  5. The bear pictures made me laugh out loud, they're great! I love the yarn colours, some of my favourites.

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  6. Those bears are a real delight, I loved how they were made up with heart and such. The lavender and cover were beautiful.

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  7. Thank you so much for commenting on and mentioning my post, Jill - soo exciting! :) This post of yours is very creative. The bears are very sweet and remind me of all the summer tea-parties and outdoor play that my three used to have when they were little - lovely days. I'm glad that you rescued the lavender clippings and were able to make beautiful things with them - love those yarn colours, and the fact that your son so likes his lavender bag. You definitely can't have too many of them!
    Cathy x

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  8. I laughed about the reverse childbirth, goodness that would be horrible. Haha. Their bears came out very cute. I like the photo with the remote control and the phone. Your lavender jar is beautiful! I love having lavender in my front yard. I bring it into the house all summer, but especially now through September, when it seems to be at its most fragrant.

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  9. So nice the bears.. my little miss dreamed of it too and I took her I'm a special store here where you can make your own bear.
    She chose the lamb and I took a little dancer dress to go with..
    She loves her little lamb...
    Another great thing to do with the kids.
    That colour!! Hmmm I like lavender.
    A beautiful idea.
    Miss.

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  10. Ah, lovely bears! Those photos made me laugh:). We have stacks of lavender - I ought to do more with it x
    www.thequietstitcher.com

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  11. What a fabulous post. I love lavender in all its forms and would have been asking your bemused neighbour for foraging rights on that bush. I love what you did with it too. Those bears are brilliant, so much better than just buying a made toy as the children have invested real time and effort into making them their own.

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Jillxxxxx