“Never suppress a generous thought” – Camilla Kimball
I’ve been following Fleur Lyon on Instagram, formerly known as @thepeacefulposy, now @thefolkmaker, for about a year or so now. As I became familiar with her creativity and mothering I became more and more inspired to reach outside of the Instagram platform and have chat with her. You see, Fleur creates beauty, but beauty with deep purpose, and I knew there was more to discover about her. So I asked Fleur to share a bit about herself with me and what I learned filled my heart. Fleur is a mother of three and a natural creative. In the year that I’ve been following her she turned her creativity toward helping others through two different projects: Peaceful Posies and Little Squares of Strength. (Read on to the interview to find out what these are about and how you can get involved!). Hearing about Fleur’s background and her passion for helping others it all made sense to me. Fleur is quite humble in how she shares on Instagram, so her open conversation was a treat and quite illuminating. Thank you, Fleur, for sharing and for reminding us how kindness, generosity and creativity matter, and when done with great purpose can make an important difference in the lives of others.
Dear Fleur, can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
I’m a Mumma to 3 little girls, I make bespoke woollen posies in my little online shop. My posies are handcrafted with yarn and natural twigs that I collect from underneath the big gumtrees on our property. I am always creating, singing, playing with flowers, and daydreaming. I love working with natural and repurposed materials where possible. I used to make little hand-painted comfort dolls that I dressed in vintage florals and donated to children in orphanages. I am heading in the direction of my wool and materials being even more natural and homespun. I have dabbled a little in natural eco dyeing of wool and silk which I hope to do a lot more of, and I received a beautiful vintage spinning wheel for my birthday recently, so I am truly looking forward to starting to spin some of my own wool. I dream of some gorgeous woolly alpacas roaming on our property in the future. I also started a kindness project last year called the Little Squares of Strength Project which I will talk a little more about later.
What part of the world do you live in?
I live in an enchanting little village town in Western Australia called Balingup, full of beautiful rolling hills. Our family moved to the country about 2 years ago to escape the faster pace of city life, and to have a bigger space for the kids to roam free, where we could live a slower, more simple lifestyle. Here we embrace the wonders of nature, a more homemade life, a creative life, and a greater sense of community. While we build a little farmhouse on the top of a hill, we have been living in caravans for quite some time, and now a little shed (while we still sleep in a caravan). Although as a family of five, this has been rather challenging at times, this way of living in some ways has forced us to experience the simpler life, more time outdoors, and to be more grateful for small things.
How many children do you have and how would you describe them?
We have three little girls aged 2, 4 and 7. They are all quite different. Lilliana, our eldest is very creative and crafty, and she loves to sing, but she is also quite studious and factual, and loves her schoolwork and reading. Willow, our middle child is a little quieter and really loves cooking, imaginary play, and sensory play. Ivy, our littlest is bursting with energy, loves to perform, and loves nothing better than lying in the mud or playing in the dirt and sticks on our property. I love that they are all so different, but they all share a love of creativity and the outdoors.
Do you have a favourite quote or words you live by? Favourite books?
My favourite quote is “Do small things with great love.”
My favourite magazines to read are Frankie, Peppermint, Country Style, Taproot, Slow Living, and Womankind.
My favourite book is A Table in the Orchard by Michelle Crawford. I can relate incredibly to Michelle’s thoughts and dreams of their move away from the city to a simpler life. Her stories of homegrown, cooking, and countryside life fill my soul with warmth and inspiration and I could read Michelle’s beautiful words over and over again.
What are your core family values?
Gratitude and kindness.
How do you spend most of your days?
A typical weekday for me would go like this:
Before school – hectic times while I help our 2 older girls get ready for school while Ivy is craving attention too. I would say this would be the most challenging time of the day when the sibling rivalry and all of the chaos happens, and I need to remind myself to be patient, breath through it all, and try to make it fun.
After dropping Lilli and Willow off at school, Ivy and I sometimes stop off at the post office, and then we go for a walk around the streets close to home. This is when I take in the magnificent scenery that surrounds us – the rolling hills, the vineyards, the orchards, and at this time of year the beautiful leaves that are just starting to change into vibrant Autumn colours and fall from the trees. Ivy and I usually collect a few leaves and flowers on our morning walk, which I play around with later for a moment of calm, and use in my photographs of my posies that I make. Often when the girls see me playing and creating with leaves and flowers they like to do it too. They have also tried some natural solar dyeing. I love it when they see me creating and take an interest in it too.
After our walk Ivy has a play outside while I make myself a coffee I do some creating at the outside table. Between crocheting posies and cups of tea I push Ivy on the swings and chat to her while she plays.
Then it’s some quiet play inside, lunch, and watching playschool on the TV while I get a few household chores done if I can, and photographing my posies, and then it’s nap time for Ivy. During Ivy’s nap I try to catch up on anything else that needs doing. Housework is not really my forte! I’d much rather be creating, but I do try! Then it’s time to pick up the girls from school, followed by playing outside until Daddy gets home, or sometimes a little screen time, then dinner/bath/homework and the bedtime routine.
There are of course other days when Ivy and I go to playgroup or to the fruit and vege shop together, or the park.
What is your favourite thing to do as a family?
My most favourite thing is when we are outside our little shed, the girls are playing under the trees making cubbies, playing in the sand, or swinging on the tyre swing, I am crafting, and my husband Nigel is pottering away in the garden. We also love going out for picnics and exploring together. And the girls love to help their Daddy in the vege garden.
What are you passionate about?
I am passionate about love, peace, flowers & leaves, being creative, trying new things creatively, music, singing, homegrown, homemade, and nature. I am passionate about styling, and making our living space a warm, cosy, inviting home, wherever we are. I am also passionate about empowering and supporting minority groups of women. I am passionate about raising our three girls as healthy, independent, strong, gentle, free-spirited, loving, kind, creative human beings. And I am passionate about keeping a loving, supportive, equal relationship with my husband Nigel, continuing to honour each other’s strengths and weaknesses, continuing to work as a team to raise our children and complete everyday tasks, and continuing to build our dreams together, doing everything with love.
What inspires you?
So many things! Nature, the moon, flowers, live music, our children, rolling hills, the ocean, the forest, simple things, homegrown fresh produce, colours, other creative souls (especially through Instagram), vintage, and the 60’s/70’s “barefoot and flowers in your hair hippie” era.
I loved your hashtag #slowfloralstyle, why did you start it? What is it about?
I love playing with flowers and leaves. Often when I am having a tough day or just caught up in the busyness of life, I find myself using flowers (and tea) to slow myself down, even if just for a moment or two, and my mind feels instantly calmer. Sometimes it’s by creating flower mandalas, or sometimes simply picking some garden flowers and making a little bouquet. I have noticed through Instagram that a few people find playing around with flowers peaceful, and I think it’s especially important as a mother to create little moments of self-care throughout your days. So #slowfloralstyle is about finding little pockets of floral calm in your day. And I just love scrolling through this gallery every week, so many beautiful images!
Last year you undertook an amazing project Little Squares of Strength, can you tell me about it?
I started the #littlesquaresofstrength project last year as a way to bring women crafters from all walks of life, all over the world, together as a community, to send love and kindness to other women who needed a bit of encouragement and support sent their way. It was about each person crafting one small square, that would come together with many other squares to form an incredible blanket of strength and love.
My background is in women’s studies, women’s health, and working with very marginalised groups of women, and for many years I have taken a strong interest in supporting and empowering women. Now that I have had children I love coordinating the #littlesquaresofstrength project alongside my online posy business, as something that gives back, and makes a difference to the lives of those women who are unwell or having a tough time. In addition to the #littlesquaresofstrength project, I also have a hashtag #posiesforpeace which I use for my handcrafted posies. For every posy I sell, I donate $2 to various organisations that help to make the world a more peaceful place. Last month this money went to safesteps.org.au – helping to keep women and children safe from domestic violence in Australia. This month the money is being donated to destinyrescue.org ~ rescuing children out of sexual slavery and exploitation. My plan is to continue donating to a different charity each month.
Last year, the #littlesquaresofstrength project was about sending blankets of love to women who were having a tough journey. This year, the project is about mother + child blankets. People can nominate a little one who is having a tough time, and collaborative blankets will be sent to children and their mamas. This year I have a team of volunteer stitchers who are helping me out with the joining of squares into blankets. The guidelines for making and sending squares are all on my website. You can knit, crochet, weave, sew, stitch, or embroider a 16cm x 16cm square, and send it in to be part of a #littlesquaresofstrength blanket. You can be as unique as you like with how you make your squares, and even the most simple and basic squares are wonderful in the blankets! Just imagine wrapping yourself in a blanket that is made up of squares handmade by women all over the world, infused with so much love. This is what the #littlesquaresofstrength project is all about.
What are your dreams for motherhood?
My dreams for motherhood are to create an environment where our girls feel that they can express themselves freely, creatively or otherwise. To have a relationship with them in which they feel that they can be open and communicate easily. To raise them in an environment that encourages them to dream, to be imaginative, to feel that they are supported in whichever direction they choose to take in life, to show kindness and empathy towards others, and to have a healthy self-esteem and self-confidence. To teach our girls that partnerships should feel equal and supportive. To fill their lives with music. Music from all genres and cultures, all over the world. And to make life fun!
Thank you, Fleur!
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