tiny happy

from praha

 

 

 

I received some beautiful things in a parcel from Ellen in Prague. I've never been to the Czech Republic, but would love to go one day. These amazing old buttons seem to be made of shell, wood, and perhaps bone/horn and really evoke a feeling of a different time and place, I think. Ellen so kindly sent us child-sized baking equipment- (can't wait to make some mushroom-shaped gingerbread for Christmas) as well as pieces of gorgeous old fabric for me. And a big square of hand-made lace. When I unfolded it, it was like stepping in to an old Eastern European house- I could imagine it carefully draped over the back of  a sofa, perhaps or a hall table. Thank you again, Ellen.

I only did a small shop update today. It's definitely been one of those weeks, so far- when there are piles of tangled threads swept into corners all over the house, extra children running around, stacks of dishes and washing waiting to be folded and put away. I did enjoy sitting quietly amongst the chaos and making that embroidered pin though.

gone to seed

 

 

 

I was doing some weeding in our vegetable patch yesterday evening, and noticed that most of the mizuna I planted for salad leaves last month have gone to flower. Their bright yellow petals look so beautiful against the grey corrugated fence behind. So much more glamorous than your average salad vegetable, I think. Embroidery onto grey linen followed.

chocolate chip

 

 

Here are a few scenes from my weekend, including low-lying cloud on the hills behind our house and a new little succulent garden I planted in an empty spot behind our house. A poppy is growing there- I can't wait to see its face.

I was in the supermarket on Saturday when I saw an old man, dressed in (I think) dusty road worker's gear, in the baking section. I was looking for dried fruit, and he was carefully studying the boxes of instant cake mixtures. At last he selected a packet of chocolate cake mix and shuffled over to the checkout with it. I surprised myself by being overwhelmed with the desire to bake him a chocolate cake. But when I went to ask him for his address, he had gone.

When I got home I made some of these cookies instead.

like coco's

 

 

 

Last week, my friend Kirsty and I went to see the French film Coco Avant Chanel and I completely fell in love with it- the 'look and feel' of it mostly. And all the clothes! I thought it was truly beautiful. In a couple of fleeting scenes, I saw Coco using a housewife needlecase- a bit like these but bigger, folding up more like a book. Her housewife (in the film, at least), looked as though it was made from a piece of grey wool suiting fabric, and had two big pockets and another piece of wool for her pins and needles. (Yes, I really paid attention to all the sewing details.)

Even though I'm doing pretty well for needlebooks, I couldn't resist making my own Coco-inspired housewife. I used a piece of recycled grey wool, lined it in a grey Japanese-print cotton, and added a few pockets for threads, a thimble, small tape measure, etc. Also some black velvet ribbon for holding my scissors and random bits of paper with inspiring pictures/patterns.

I also, rather fancifully, embroidered her name on the front of the case. Just because I don't want to forget the spirit of her when I'm sewing.

bohemian-style

 

 

It all started this week when I found a beautiful old Eastern European scarf in a drawer- it was given to me by a Norwegian friend last year and I think she bought it in Hungary. I really love that colourful folkloric style (I also have a few bits and pieces from a craft market in Krakow like painted birds and little ceramic eggs and a set of Russian dolls) and so I decided to make things for my etsy shop update this week all inspired by this theme. Well, most of the items are, anyway. Black and red and lots of colourful embroidered flowers.

from michigan

 

 

 

After blogging about the artwork of Gwen Frostic here a while ago, I had a kind offer from Martha. She said she was going to visit the Gwen Frostic printing press soon and would i like her to buy me anything from there? Of course I had to take her up on that, and 'ordered' a set of printed notecards. They arrived on the weekend: each one carefully selected by Martha herself. They're small, with slightly torn edges, printed in pale natural inks. Aren't they beautiful? I especially like the willow and ferns. Thank you, Martha. And I know they're going to inspire lots of small embroideries.

for a party

 

 

 

It was my grandmother's 81st birthday on the weekend, and I had the job of making the cake for her party. I used my favourite chocolate cake recipe (from this NZ cookbook) and added a layer of cherry guava jam to the middle of the the baked cake. And some violets from the garden for decoration. I do so love to make cakes.

While I was rummaging around the kitchen for the cake tin, I found an old linen tablecloth that was given to me by my great-uncle (the one who gave me these linens a while ago) - and, because I knew he'd be at the birthday celebration, I made it into a party skirt for Keira. It's very old and soft- almost threadbare- but was wide enough for lots of twirling room in such a small skirt. It came from Italy originally and has some embroidered olives on it. And as it turns out, it's great for dancing with cousins and a doll on the lawn.

colette

 

 

I've been slowly working on this dress over the last couple of weeks - it's a Colette design called 'Chantilly' (I got my pattern from here) and I thought it would be a good challenge for my dressmaking skills, not having ever sewn with chiffon or silk before.

The fabric I used was a kind of chiffon/crepe and the dress is fully lined in cream rayon/silk (I almost love the lining more than the outer- it's drapey and heavy.) It's possible that this design is not the best for my body type, namely my lack of any real bust. Sigh. I thought the drapey front part might disguise this sad fact, but it doesn't, really. My plan is to make another version of this pattern but perhaps in black, and use the smallest pattern size for the bodice. I'm thinking of this first try as a happy experiment.

Well, I was right about it being a challenge (I didn't enjoy working with such a disobediant fabric) but I'm now a convert to Colette patterns and am feeling motivated to try my hand at making more vintage-inspired clothing. It was satisfying to work on a garment slowly- just a couple of steps each evening- and I feel as though I learned a lot from the pattern. Each step was explained clearly and logically, and I love the way each piece/panel is detailed and fitted.

Hope you have a happy weekend.

wednesday

 

 

I woke up this morning to a bright and clear Wednesday and, for some unknown reason, the first thing I thought about was pikelets. So I made them for breakfast and the children took the rest in their school lunchboxes. I blogged about them last year and included a recipe here, in case you feel like making them too.

Pictured above are some pieces I made for my etsy shop update this week. I really enjoyed making the magnolia brooch- I felt inspired to embroider one after seeing the lovely illustrations in an old book of mine: Trees of England and Northern Europe. But we have the same creamy magnolias here at the bottom of the world, too.

pine needles

 

I love everything about pine needles, but especially their smell. This is a little embroidery I stitched last night inspired by a pine tree I photographed at the beach a while ago. It will be sewn up into another foraging satchel for a custom order. And now i'm wondering what else I could add pine needles to.