Kauri Teachers Blog Too!

As many of you already know, I love making things, particularly involving fibre (a.k.a. fabric and wool). One of my goals for this year is to expand my skill set in this area by taking up as many learning opportunities as I can. When I saw rekindle  was advertising a class on using natural dyes, I knew I was interested. Over the course of the class, we experimented with the different dyes, both on their own and mixed with each other. Of all the colours, my favourite was the colour made with avocado stones, which is, rather surprisingly, a lovely, soft pink. We also wrote out the recipes for each of the dyes, as well as some others we didn't have in front of us. It was really interesting to learn about Ari, the teacher's, philosophy around dying. To find the plant matter to make the dyes, she forages what has been left on the ground, leaving the living matter for the plant to continue to use. I am often in awe of nature, but I found it particularly interesting that only...

My husband Brad and I are huge dog lovers. Ever since we have been together, we have owned a dog (usually 2 or 3)! I truly think Brad is a 'dog whisperer' because any dog (no matter how shy, grumpy or scared) will end up loving him just like that. When we lived in Kansas, we adopted a St Bernard (Chester) from a wonderful organisation called Big Dogs, Huge Paws. They are a rescue place for large dog breeds that have been abused and/or neglected. Our dog Chester was one of the best dogs we've ever had. Unfortunately because of his abuse as a puppy, he suffered from severe seizures. He would have a seizure almost daily and it was one of the hardest and saddest things to witness. He was on medication which helped (he would have had more if not on meds), but he still suffered immensely from his former life. When Chester would have a fit, we would lie beside him and show comfort by stroking and talking to him. Our other dogs at the time (Harley and Brody) would come and sit by C...

Before 2019 I was in the habit of jogging every day before school. I was fit and felt great. It took discipline to get up and put my running shoes on on cold, damp, dark mornings. I was proud of this habit. Then came the start of 2019 when I had lots of problems with my back. This meant I could no longer jog, as the jarring from running caused too much pain. Instead I would walk. However, getting up and getting going was not something I did well that year. My walks were shorter and didn’t get my heart rate going like jogging did. I didn’t feel so good. Over the holidays I upped my walking, literally. I started walking up hill. I started to puff more, which was what I wanted to do. Having Grant’s brother, who was with us for the holidays, walk with me each day was a good motivation for establishing a new habit. For four weeks now I have headed off for a 45 min walk as soon as I get up. I am feeling much better and not so puffy. Now the challenge is to keep this healthy habit going whe...

When school finished last year, I started getting organised for Christmas. I wanted to have new placemats for our table as the family was coming to our house for Christmas dinner. I went to my favourite website, Pinterest, and found instructions on how to make some cool mats using a ragging technique. Several hours later I had 10 double sided placemats that I really loved. My finished placemats. Next time I went onto Pinterest, ideas for rag quilting were on my feed. I loved the look of these quilts and did some research. I read articles and viewed videos. A rag quilt sample, not mine. I had always wanted to make a quilt for our bed and this method looked like a great way to start. Feeling motivated, I tested out two different variations that I discovered when researching. Investigating which variation to use. I decided that I wanted to sandwich flannel fabric inside my quilt squares rather than dacron, as it gave a better ragging effect and would make a light...