Memory game using recycled bottle tops

This is a very simple way to recycle your bottle tops – so simple that I won’t go into too much detail with the instructions. I used plastic white bottle tops from milk cartons – any will do, as long as they are neutral colour to avoid confusion if your little one is learning their colours. So here’s what you do:

Kanga skirt with stretchy yoga waistband tutorial

What you will need:

A kanga – Kangas are a piece of African cloth, 150cm wide by 100cm, but any woven cotton fabric will work just the same. 

60 Second Bubble Mix

This bubble mix recipe was given to me when my baby was small, so I don’t know where it originated from.

FWS Sewing Workshops – Day 1, Wrap Skirt

Last month I was lucky enough to host two more sewing workshops for the mamas from the Kesho Leo childrens village run by  Food Water Shelter (FWS) in Arusha, Tanzania. The day before the first class, I went fabric shopping to choose the fabrics we would work with. I selected three vitenge, and ended up donating an extra one as well – the chicken one.

Kangas in Action in Tanzania

On my most recent trip to Arusha, Tanzania, I was determined to photograph more of the everyday scenes, especially the way mamas carry their babies on their backs (my favourite way of carrying my toddler).

Fabric Shopping in Arusha, Tanzania

You may have noticed since I returned from my travels that I have a lot of fabric now for sale.. well in case you were wondering, this is where it all came from. 

A thank you to from Tanzania to some crafty Renmark ladies

After I returned from Tanzania from my last trip in 2011, a lovely Renmark woman donated some craft supplies for my next craft workshops on my next trip. Inside the big bag of crafty goodies was some crochet cotton, with which I thought I would easily learn to crochet and then pass the skills on.. but it didn’t work out that way.

A visit to Cradle of Love Baby Home, Arusha, Tanzania

While I was in Arusha, Tanzania last month I had the privilege of visiting the Cradle of Love Baby Home. This is the only orphanage in Arusha which takes in babies, they currently care for around fifty babies and toddlers from newborn up to three years old. The babies are there for a number of reasons, sometimes the mother may have died, or the babies may have been found abandoned, or the families just can not care for them. Some orphans are up for adoption, some will be returned to their families, and others will be transferred to a nearby orphanage which cares for children up to 18 years, the SOS Childrens Village.

One Day In Nairobi with a toddler

 

 

I recently had to spend a couple of days in Nairobiwith my one and a half year old son on route to Tanzania. Not really because I wanted to, Nairobi does not have a reputation as being one of the safest cities in the world (it also goes by the name Nairobbery, and for a reason), but things just worked out that way. 

I am back.. and it’s time to slow down

I have been back in Australia for almost a week now after being away for the month of April, and have lots of things I want to write about. Things like travelling alone with a toddler, the beautiful African fabrics I found, and the sewing workshops I held in Tanzania. I’m not sure where to start! I think I might go through my photos, and start from the start.. expect lots of very random posts over the next couple of weeks! 

On another note, I have decided to slow down my sewing for a while, and use the time to return to studying. My madeit shop will still be open though, and I’ll also be selling fabrics on craftumi. I’m not stopping sewing altogether – I’ll still need my creative outlet so there will be some new things popping up on my facebook page and in my store occasionally.