Underthings

The sales lady at the yarn shop asked me what I planned to do with the the Vail. How she laughed when I told her it was for knitting doll panties!

A New Direction

Life takes us on so many twists and turns... sometimes it's hard to keep up. Do you ever feel that just when you've got things down pat that things just begin to veer again? Well, I feel my life is veering right now. And I must say that I'm excited to see what's up ahead. My little shop, for one, has undergone some changes. I suppose many of you have already noticed that. And perhaps others are saying 'shop?'.

I love making dolls. I love watching them come to life. There's a special moment for me that's different for every doll. Sometimes it' when I embroider the face, sometimes when I make their wig... but it's that special moment when I really see the doll. This is who you are! Oh! It sounds silly, I guess, but I love that.
And I love making peg dolls and itty bitty toys. I love the challenge of trying to dress their little wooden figure and bringing the seasons into my work. But, to be honest, I got burned out bad and the inspiration well was completely dry. I've already talked really briefly about this but I didn't really know even myself where I wanted to really go. Give up pegs and little toys? Do both? Just a couple of dolls til my inspiration comes back? Well, I guess we never know for sure where things will lead us and what will work out and what will flop. But for right now, in this moment in time I wholeheartedly pursing Waldorf doll making and the pegs will have to go on the back burner, at least for now. I tried to keep them open for made to order but the dolls take so much of my time and any trickling orders I got were just a distraction. Right now there is a handful of ready to ship toys in there, and, of course, my patterns. I think I may do a few pegs now and then when the inspiration strikes, or perhaps some of my most popular items when they're seasonally appropriate, and I'd like to continue designing new toy patterns.

But between homeschooling (first grade in just over a month!) and just trying to keep a household running, I just can't afford to spread myself too thin. So far my dolls are doing really well and I feel like this is going to be such a financial help to our family. I don't like to talk about things like this here, but truth be told, we struggle so hard. If things continue this way with my dolls, though, for once I think we can take a breath and maybe break even.

What a lot to put on these sweet faces. But I truly feel this is a moving forward point for us. And speaking of moving forward....

We're planning to move soon. This is hard and good for me. For one, we live beside my parents and the girls and I are going to miss them like crazy. We're planning to move no more than 30 minutes away, but right now we see them every day and spend much time with them. And this means I'll be selling my sheep... hoping we can find somewhere I can keep my rabbits and chickens.... but we'll see, I guess.

New directions can be so hard, so unsure. but 'moving forward' is my new mantra and truly, I'm ready for what's next.

Meltdown Monday Giveaway

Comments for this giveaway are now closed.

Happy Monday, everyone! Let's kick this week off right with a fresh giveaway from one our readers, Ronnie. Ronnie doesn't have a shop anywhere but blogs over at Homemade Happy and she wanted to share one of her very sweet projects with you. Let's get to know her first.

Hi, and welcome to Meltdown Monday!
Hello I am Ronnie Mama to three wonderful children and wife to my amazingly patient good man. I love all kinds of crafts - to be honest its what keeps me sane some days. I am also an Early Childhood Teacher but on maternity leave at the moment. Our days are filled with activities that the children love to join in with be it dusting the house, baking, working in the garden or best of all crafts!

What inspires your creations?
My main inspiration is my children. Weather I am working on the essentials such as knitting vests or hats or planning some fun playthings, its almost always for them. I work with natural materials to create toys that will hopefully bring about hours of imaginative play and I try not to take it personally when something I have made misses the mark and sits untouched for weeks (it has happened).

How do you balance 'making' with mothering?
Its been a bit of a juggle the past two years as I undertook some postgraduate studies but thankfully that is now finished. Lake many Mamas I do most of my creating in the precious evening hours once the children are in bed. I am not so good at finding the time to sit down and work on my handwork during the daytime with the children buzzing around as there always seems to be a more pressing task but it is something that I am trying to work on and the children do enjoy watching the evolving item.

Today Ronnie is offering this sweet little bonnet to one winner.
I made my first bonnet only 6 months ago for my sweet baby girl. Even though she is my third I was a bit nervous about having a baby in summertime and worried about protecting her from the harsh Australian sun. The bonnet was a success and would get so many lovely comments as we were out and about as well as being a very functional item. I will definitely be making more for subsequent summers. The giveaway is for one reversible bonnet sized 6 - 12 months, pictured on my petite 6 month old


OK, so to enter leave me a comment. You can let me know how your Monday is going or, better yet, tell me how you beat the dreadful Meltdown Monday or just say hi.

For additional entries;
(leave a separate comment for each entry, if you don't, they count as one)
Tweet this (include @thiscosylife in your tweet)
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I will randomly pick a winner on Sunday July 22nd and announce here, on my blog. (Please, make sure I have a way to contact you!) This giveaway is open worldwide.

PS: If anyone is interested in participating in a Monday Meltdown giveaway, here on my blog, contact me here. Whether an item from your Etsy shop or just a little something you would like to give away to brighten someone's Monday, it's all good!


Winner has been drawn and contacted. Congratulations to Elisa!

Celia

Her name is Celia. She is a very sweet girl... shy but curious. She loves books! Especially animal stories.

She's an only child but never finds herself lonely, as she's surrounded by many dolly friends and teddies. And, of course, there's all the wonderfully fascinating characters she meets in her books.

She and her toys spend many an afternoon with a picnic of tea and cake or maybe lemon cookies out on the lawn. But if it's raining you'll never fail to find them all snuggled up inside as Cilly reads them story after story. She keeps them pretty captivated as she does all the voices!

Celia was supposed to be a completely different doll. I had this doll all planned out in my head (and will get to her so I'll keep mum for now) and kept trying to fit Celia into this mold... but she had other plans. Really I should have had her finished days and days ago but stubborn me just kept trying to make her something she's not. I really couldn't get on with her at all until I totally gave up the idea of her being this doll and took the time to find out who she was. And honestly it was plain as day and I knew it right away. Stubborn!

As it turns out Celia is a very soft and dreamy girl. Favoring roses and pastels, taking the time to day dream and tend to her babies.

It sounds silly, doesn't it? A doll with a personality and 'mind' of her own. Perhaps.... but when you think of the energy, not just physical, but all of your energies, and the love that goes into making something handmade, you can kind of begin to see how such a thing begins to take on a life of it's own. How it can have it's own story and name.

I'm really in love with little Celia! We all are, though, I do think River is most taken with Celia's little dolly.

Celia is in the shop, for those interested, and you can find all of the details there.

Signs of Summer

~A quintessential summer day. Join in if you like and share what summer is to you.~





Easy peasy, lemon squeezy, cream cheese and blackberry danish. Or, yet another way to eat up all the black berries. I went out early yesterday morning (but not that early) and picked enough berries to fill up the puff pastries I'd bought for something else. I was very sad to see they're already on their way out. Dry in the hot, hot sun and being devoured by scores of june bugs. I think I'll try to con my nephews into going picking with me once more to get our freezer full.

To make;
Thaw out store bought puff pastries in the fridge overnight.
Mix cream cheese a bit of brown sugar (you're gonna have to guess and taste). Mix your berries with a a bit of white sugar to coat (don't you love how very specific I am?)
Butter a cookie sheet and lay one pastry on it. To make the 'woven' top you'll need to slice each side evenly, about a half inch each slice.
Spoon cream cheese mixture over the middle and cover with berries. And begin to criss cross the top like I've shown in photo two.

It's heavenly and you'll want to make both pastry doughs. Now get out there and pick before all the blackberries are gone!

Growing Pains

My Zoe has gone through a period of growth, lately, that began very roughly. I began noticing a surge of resistance in her a couple of months ago. At a younger age she was very prone to throwing all out screaming and kicking tantrums at the drop of a hat and, though, she seemed to have outgrown it some time ago, we began seeing more and more of this turbulent behavior again. This was very hard on all of us and my husband and I struggled to understand what was causing this seeming regression. I kept wanting to believe it must be a period of growth she was working out and would run it's course.
With a sigh of relief I can surely say that's exactly what it was. She came out of it and is once again my happy girl, but with a new maturity that wasn't there before. I'm finding she is more eager to pitch in and help out when it's time to clean up a mess. More and more she's wanting to conquer things she wasn't ready for before... helping out in the kitchen more, taking care of her own hygiene, tidying her own bed in the morning. She wants to do more and is no longer happy to sit back and let everyone else do. Things she's only watched her older sister do in the past she's now ready to try her hand and what pride beams from her when she really does it!

Change and growth can be so hard for a child to get through, much like new teeth popping into a baby's mouth. But when they reach the other side it's truly amazing to see this new side of them. What a blessing to be able to witness it!

Inspired?

Helping.....

Growing...

Making....

It's summer and we're into so much right now. I had meant to come back here and share much of it with all of you. But as it turns out summer is inspiring me in ways that cannot be expressed through words and my usual outlets. I am here, we are well, and, hopefully, because I am missing sharing here, I will be back soon with more. But for tonight anyway, I'm off to knit for a doll and look up a pickle recipe.