London Mummy

Photo Shoot and skirt re-model

 

Livvy was invited recently to take part in a photo shoot for a teen modelling competition, now given that she is usually somewhat shy and not someone who tries to take the spotlight at all, I wasn't sure how the whole experience would go but hoped that she would find it fun.

On route to the shoot both her dad and I were giving her a pep talk, look up, smile, don't be nervous, don't worry about your braces, just be yourself etc etc etc.  Honestly, the poor girl must have felt bombarded :)

After having her hair and make up done - which was pretty strange for me as she doesn't normally wear any make up at all and long may that last I say, we all went into the studio and the shoot began.

It was so funny, our shy retiring daughter just switched it on from the word go and John and I could only look on and watch in total amazement with a "where on earth did that come from" expression on our faces!  She took direction from the photographer, who was absolutely lovely, brilliantly and seemed right at home in front of the camera.  I suppose we shouldn't have been surprised really as she is the same when she is acting, I guess it's the opportunity to be someone other than your perceived self but it was still a bit of a shock to see, all the same.

I personally think that is one of the most difficult things about parenthood, just learning to let go a bit, trusting their judgement and trying to remember that as much as we think we may know them, they are constantly evolving.

I'm so glad she enjoyed the whole experience and that we both got to see a completely different side to her :)

I was pretty chuffed too that she wanted to wear one of my creations, having gone through a stage when it wasn't so cool to do so :)

This was basically a thrifted box pleated skirt - way too bulky, but I absolutely loved the colour and richness of the print so I re-made into a simple wrap skirt by unpicking the box pleats, removing the waistband and zipper and reducing the number of panels.  I then just hemmed the sides, added a simple new waistband made from bias binding and a velcro closure - simple! 

 

Chris Gibbs - One of a kind

Spoke to my lovely brother in Toronto today and he has uploaded a couple of his comedy clips on You Tube, this is one of my favourites filmed at the Laugh Resort in Toronto:

We love you and miss the three of you lots Chris, really hope Livvy and I get to come out to Canada this Summer and watch you at some of the Fringe Festivals you're taking part in.

Apparently Chris has also been in an American/Canadian collaboration called Howie Do It with Howie Mandel so off to see if I can track down some clips of that for Livvy :)

Bushcraft in London for kids, well and grown-ups too

As always the summer holidays seem to be flying by at an alarming rate.  I've now got a couple of weeks away from my paid employment so trying to progress Livvy's room and have some fun with her too.

Yesterday we took part  in a Bushcraft event at the wonderful Gunnersbury Triangle Nature Reserve which was organized by the London Wildlife Trust.  The trust is the only charity working throughout the London area  to help London's wildlife.  As well as managing a whole range of nature reserves, the Trust campaigns to save green spaces from harmful development and provides information about wildlife and works with schools and local communities.

Image courtesy of  London Wildlife Trust

Being a huge fan of Bushcraft expert, Ray Mears I was really keen for Livvy to give this a go, particularly as I was  pretty keen myself  and judging by the high proportion of other adults there, I wasn't the only one :)

Our ranger for the event was a lovely Spanish guy called Enrique who was blessed with infinite patience.  He showed us a variety of natural tinder,  which can be easily harvested from the wild without causing damage to the natural environment.  With just a small bundle of silver birch bark, a firesteel and a knife, he very quickly impressed us - by running the blunt edge of his knife quickly along the fire steel an array of sparks appeared, reminding me somewhat of fireworks - "Wicked!" exclaimed the 11 year old boy sitting next to Livvy and from that point on he was absolutely riveted.  Apparently the silver birch bark contains an oil which makes it a great natural fire lighter, once it ignites the flames will last long enough for you to build up your fire.

Enrique also demonstrated how to create a portable ember using a cramp ball fungus or King Alfreds Cake, these are the fruiting bodies of a fungus which decays the dead wood of an ash tree.  The inside can be ignited by a spark from the firesteel and it then burns very slowly, somewhat like a briquette used in a bbq, it can then be used to light some tinder to get a fire started.  Apparently they make good hand warmers too, as the exterior is warm but not too hot to handle.

Another ingenious piece of kit was the fire piston which works on the principle that when the air within it  is suddenly compressed, the heat in the air in the cylinder is concentrated enough to ignite a small piece of tinder which has been inserted into the lower end of the piston - magical!

Anyway, after the demonstrations, it was our turn.  Enrique led us to another part of the reserve where there were several silver birch trees and showed us how to gently peel the bark - this doesn't harm the tree as silver birch naturally shed their bark. 

This was the point that we all realized just how easy he had made it look!  Several attempts with the knife and firesteel and I couldn't even produce any sparks - Livvy, who was using a pair of scissors in place of the knife, as you need to have a fair amount of strength to hold the very sharp knife very still, was producing some very impressive sparks .  Even when you have mastered creating the sparks you've then got to get them to land where you want - i.e. on your tinder!  It took some time but we all managed it in the end and the sense of achievement was absolutely wonderful, even though it had started to rain again at that point!

Needless to say, after the event we went straight to Blacks and purchased a firesteel, cannot wait to put this new found skill into practice on our next camping trip - I really really want to go here!

Long overdue

Well as you know my lovely brother and his equally lovely wife had a much longed for baby this summer, Beckett.  I have loved putting together a little gift package for them but am frankly finding a little difficult to stop.

It started with one of these:

and then I made these - so satisfying and easy to do - see my sewing tutorial link up on the left:

so of course I had to add this to continue the car theme:

Then I decided to whipup these, because I love this print:

and am now in the middle of a blanket and another onesie to match and wondering whether I might just add one of these for good measure:

Of course, the lovely Nicole deserves something for all her hard work so I'm thinking one of these from Mama Mio

but I have absolutely no idea what to buy/make for my brother - any suggestions?

I so wish I had kept some of this robot fabric:

Given that the film he starred in recently was called Run Robot Run it would have been most apt!

Summer's End

A flurry of activity around here has meant that I am somewhat behind on posting, catching up with emails, reading other blogs I enjoy and finishing off some half completed projects.

The school summer holiday is drawing to a close as Livvy prepares to go back to school tomorrow.  It feels as though summer is over before we have really experienced it thanks to the poor weather we have had, plus we didn't take our usual camping trip with friends down to Porthcurno in Cornwall and we have really missed that. 

Still, we did manage to pick a day of lovely weather for a little trip and picnic with friends to Richmond.  From home we can pretty much wend our way to Richmond on foot along the River Thames, passing alongside Kew Gardens and the lock with it's sweet little hut en route - hmm I see a clapboard fabric house coming soon ........

For some reason, there were loads of herons on the River:

I made everyone walk much further than I suspect they really wanted to so that we could visit my favourite little Fairtrade cafe in the park above the river.  It is actually called the Hollyhock, but we have re-named it the Treehouse cafe as it feels as though you are sitting high up in a treehouse looking down to the river below - there's Livvy pulling a funny face on the verandah!

After a lovely afternoon running around the park and climbing trees, we made our way home, back along the River, tired but happy.

I just wish every day could be like that.