An Irony

I spoke the other day of the books I had ordered to celebrate the seasons and festivals of the year. So far I have received three of them, with a couple more on the way.
The three I have so far are:

All Year Round by Ann Druitt, Christine Fynes-Clinton, and Marije Rowling.
Festivals, Family and Food by Diana Carey and Judy Large
and
The Children's Year by Stephanie Cooper, Christine Fynes-Clinton and Marije Rowling

You can imagine my surprise and amusement (and indeed a little homesickness to boot) when I discovered that all three were written in England, and although not all the authors are English, they all live there.

The festivals commemorated are the familiar ones from my childhood, many of the songs ones I sang as a little girl. The games and foods, activities and rhymes are familiar faces I have not seen in a good many years, and I wondered if indeed I had forgotten my own heritage when it came to the seasonal celebrations.

Indeed not, a few have managed to stay within my heart and home. Christmas crackers adorn my Christmas table, and I never forget the feasts upon Guy Fawkes, Mayday and Boxing Day... I just never get to celebrate them because there are little to no resources for me to do the familiar thing.

What a blessing these books are... they have reconnected me with ideas and traditions from my own youth and heritage, WITH formulas and recipes to aid in the making and carrying out of those same traditions.

These books are ideal for the Anglophile as well as the British persons overseas. Full of crafty ideas and recipes that I am sure you will recognise some of them as being the ones you admired on other peoples blogs, or the recipe or rhyme you liked the look of... I know I did!

In the end though, I think I found some of what I was missing... a little taste of home (and I do not mean the very excellent cookery magazine!).

The Homemade Toy Fair is Up!

Run on over to Alice's place A Number of Things and check out the Homemade Toy Fair.
You are sure to be inspired and get creative!

Homemade Toys

While my husband worked on the yard work this weekend, I was busy inside with my sewing machine, and some fabric I had left lying around.
And I made this:


Our very own doorway theatre only, not from Magic Cabin!
You can also see the puppets in action... No, I did not make the rabbit. My parents sent that one to me from England.
The other one, (which my husband tells me bears an unfortunate resemblance to Boy George), I made for M'Lady.
I had the intention of taking my time making it, but someone decided she could not sleep without the darned thing, so I stayed up really late making this puppet, and rushed it too much! Oh well, maybe next time.
AS to the puppet theatre, well, it is merely rectangles. ALL of it. Sewn into tubes to make it reversible so Rebel might have a less pink side to use ;) There are dowels placed through it at the top to hold it, and 1/2 way up to keep it straight. It hangs in the doorway readily whenever needed, or folds up in a VERY small bundle to be placed away in a corner when not needed!

Spiderman watch out!

You're a Spider!
It seems like you have eyes in the back of your head sometimes, and
you have an uncanny knack for creeping people out with that ability. You really
enjoy eating wraps, though you like them even more if you made them yourself. You
work tirelessly so that you can eat, but are good at getting rid of annoyances for
other people. There's always just a little more drama than necessary when you're
around. Oh, what tangled webs you weave!

Take the Animal Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

HT: A Lee in the Woods.

Making the Toys

It seems odd that this would come up now... after all, I am involved in a foray into the Waldorfian world... which includes toymaking. But there we are, all scared to death over these recalls from toy manufacturers with toys made in China, and everyone worrying... and quite frankly I am fed up of it all.
So far I have not appreciated the quality of toys from China. The have a tendency to lose paint and parts like nobody's business.
And I told my husband the other day, that I'd had enough. One or two toys, of GOOD quality, is more than sufficient, I said. Our kids can have some of those.
Then I saw this post by Alice Cantrell. And I notice that she is holding a handmade toy fair at her blog too.
Put the word out... Christmas gift ideas are on their way!

Meanwhile, my kids are occupied in making Alice's spoon saints. In our case, they are puppets, but the same rules apply ;)