plans to reality

There's been a lot of making going on so far these school holidays!

We watched a fabulous documentary called 'Being Elmo', about Kevin Clash who is Elmo's, you know, very close friend. He was devoted to puppetry from a young age and eventually went to work with his hero Jim Henson.

Charlie and Jasper were inspired to make their own puppets. Charlie's fox was 99.9% made by himself. I helped him unpick something at one point and he said to me "don't do too much!" so I made sure to step back and let him go!

While Jasper needed a bit more help, I prodded him to just give it a try and he gained more confidence. As I write, one octopus leg has just fallen off, so he's learning more about patience and hand sewing technique right now, heheh.

It's exciting watching them now at an age when they have accomplished basic skills and can now use them to make their visions come to life.

Hmm, what with all this facilitation of boy-creativity, there hasn't been a lot of room for my own. I did make some shorts for Jasper though. To my scaled-up Oliver + S Sketchbook Shorts pattern, in hemp & organic cotton left over from my Poppy Tunic, with a bit of topstitching interest.

Oh yes and here's another little puppet Jasper made before the more ambitious ones began. It's a dragon called Alistair:

Those little sticks to work his arms are sparklers! I'm not too sure about the toxicity of handling those a lot. Hmm.

One week of school holidays down, one to go. Then I will have three boys at school!

- Jane x