Sunny Spring Day

This is my Noah. My Noah is a happy little soul and today he is mostly happy about playdough and the pretend oven I have just made him from a cardboard box! Simple fun, eh?

Anything seems more possible on a day like this and at the risk of sounding very 1950s housewife, I did enjoy hanging out my two loads of washing in the sunshine this morning, because the sheets will smell of spring later when I cosy up in them and the colder evening, and because it is a moment of peace outside the house. I am looking forward to getting out there and planting some seeds soon too.


We try every year to have a bountiful harvest of vegetables, but over the last 8 years our endeavours have usually been curtailed by either pregnancy or a newborn! Our best ever crops were the year my first was born. We commandeered a 6 foot wide piece of neglected land in between our flat and the boundary fence. It was tiny, and quite shady, but well protected from the wind, and south facing, which meant the sun heated up the wall behind the veg too. I remember Jonny feeding me copious amounts of spinach with or in every meal on my return from hospital after an emergency c-section. I ended up quite anemic and so Jonny took it on as a mission to fill me up with as much iron as possible!

Here we are, 5 children in all, and this may be the year that our veg grows, well nourished, weeded, properly pricked out at the right time and totally uneglected.....perhaps? And if it does, all it will have to contend with is the occasional football, bike, den building venture, water fight....Ah well, it's mostly about the enjoyment anyway, and the idea that we can produce food for our family from such a small space, as well as have room for a play fort for the boys,


a studio for me and a sunny patio and fire place for evening sausage sizzles!

Well, Two sleeping babies and a floor to sweep, so I will leave you to enjoy the sun while it lasts. XX

Spring sunshine and the Creative Spirit

There is an unusual moment of peace in the Welch home, at least for a few minutes until the boys bundle in the door, flush faced and out of breath from their race to see who can be home first. Today they celebrated World Book Day by dressing up for school. The older two as Harry Potter (of course) and Eron as an Ankylosaurus, from his favourite lift the flap book of the moment, "Rumble, Roar, Dinosaur!"

It's taken all week to get the costumes ready, and a sizeable chunk of studio time has been diverted to kitting them out with robes and wands and papier mache armour plating. I truly do love being able to give my boys more fuel for their creative expression and imaginations. I'm so glad I can carve out time to do things like this. Just so you know I'm really NOT supermum though, I do also struggle to give up the time I would previously have had to create for the sake of creating. I remind myself in moments like this, that my family is the best free flow creation I have or ever will be part of, and I am so, so blessed to have boys that share my enthusiasm for making thing.

So, I thought I'd share some of the Welch family creations that have been going on over the past few weeks.....
St David's Day Daffodils, planted in the Autumn and surprisingly blooming just in time for judging on Tuesday. Ben was very pleased to win best bloom in his class!

A Crocheted Snuggle Bunny for my new nephew - my first venture into amigurami! The pattern for the bunny is here, and I just attached a simple blanket. He's just the right size for little hands to cuddle.

A rocket pencil holder Ben made at Beavers,


"Blib Blobs" made by Cadan - a work in progress. He's desperate to have a corner of my table at the school fair to sell them on, in aid of Children on the Edge.

We have been busy haven't we!

Well, I now have two or three boys perching anxiously at my shoulder, hoping to be the first to gain the computer for games, so I'll have to sign off, see you soon! XX