tiny happy

tree-themed

This set of beautiful postcards arrived in the mail today, from Claire in Canada. We did a little swap: postcards for a children's book. These are printed from Claire's originial watercolours, which I have admired for a long time, and this weekend I plan to frame them for A and K's room.

Claire also has some beautiful jewellery, prints and handmade bags in her needlebook shop.

I've been working on a batch of baby shoes today- and here are a pair I made using this Japanese fabric and some dark brown corduroy for the sole.

I love that fabric such a lot, and I have to admit it was really hard to cut into it.  But I have to remind myself that there's much more enjoyment in seeing the fabric made into something functional. Don't you think?

it's grey outside

... but I've got a string of felted birds:

These little loves were made by my friend Akemi, who I met through our local craft market. She has a beautiful stall next door to mine selling little things gathered from her trips back home to Japan like jewellery and zakka, some of her hand-made ceramic work, and needle-felted accessories and toys. These birds were needle-felted by her, and are hung on a piece of yarn with smaller coloured pom-poms above and below them. I can't decide where to keep them in the house- I must have moved them around at least 10 times, but now I think they're happy here looking out the glass door in the kitchen.

It's getting much darker in the late afternoon, now, and dried leaves are scattered over the courtyard outside. To celebrate the change of season, I made new cushion covers for the sofa in the lounge. I'm quite happy with their new look:

It was satisfying to use up some small pieces of brown linen and corduroy, as well as some chunky wooden and clay buttons.

Oh, and I cut into that autumnal fabric to make this one. I couldn't resist it.

the doll lampshade

This little plastic doll came home with Keira one day from the Recycling Centre, and I haven't yet gotten around to giving her a wash and a new outfit. The handknitted dress she is currently wearing appears to have been knit onto her, I may have to use scissors to remove her from its clutches. Splotches of green paint are caked into the wool. Her entire body is rigid and non-bendy and she has staring eyes made from blue glass. She almost reminds me of a doll from my childhood, but I remember my mother saying she was disappointed that neither I nor my sister had much interest in dolls when we were small. I do remember a vague feeling of obligation towards dolls; as though I should like them because I was a girl, and that's what girls did. But they just seemed like a lot of 'work' to me- changing them, 'feeding' them, pushing them around in a pram.

This is the kind of doll that would make a perfect lampshade, as it happens.

Over the weekend, Tom and I attended a party at a tumbledown but once-glorious mansion on a hill in town. It was a dress-up party, and some friends were so well-disguised it took a while to work out who was who. The rooms were completely dark except for small red lamps in the corner of each one, and one room had a bathtub in the middle, filled with red rose petals and small candles.

Above the bath was a lampshade made entirely from the heads of old plastic dolls, halved to expose their eye sockets at the back, with the eyes removed. The effect, as the light shone out from the eye sockets like nail-holes through a barn wall, was eerie, but I liked it. The idea of sawing one's dolls' heads in half lengthwise and wiring them together was thrilling to me. I stood there for a long time and tried to imagine the children who had played with the dolls and what they had named them. What their dresses might have been like before being removed for surgery. What had happened to the plastic bodies left over. 

I was joined in the room by another guest who told me he once made a doll-head-lamp before, aided by his small daughter. He said it had been quite difficult to saw through some of the plastic dolls, depending on when they had been made, and their design. His daughter is now 16 and plans on studying forensic science at university.

to any reader

I found this amazing book today: A child's garden of verses by Robert Louis Stevenson and illustrated, in stitchery by Virginia Tiffany in 1969.

I think I've seen this featured before on pixiegenne, (am I right, Meg?) but in real life the illustrations are pretty amazing. All embroidered and paper + fabric (different textures such as linen, hessian, cord and cotton) collage! Very sweet. And inside the front cover is written:

To Any Reader:

As from the house your mother sees

You playing round the garden trees,

So you may see, if you may look

Through the windows of this book,

Another child, far, far away,

And in another garden play.

Here are some more pages:

The world is so full of a number of things,

I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings.

A few things I've been enjoying looking at online this weekend:

Two new etsy shops of crafters I admire:

Swallowfield - beautiful collages on wood made in Maine,

and white paint and ribbons - pincushions, toys and sweet totes- check out the fairytale wolves!

And, tags on walls of cities I am yet to visit: Pictures of walls. I spent ages looking through these- be warned! (link via Kimberley)

shiny and red

More acquisitions from the weekend include these pretty earrings from Kimberley's jewellery label 'Sparrow and Tui.'

This photo really doesn't do them justice- they are made up of pretty glass cubes and remind me of those little red throat lozenges we had as children. I only got my ears pierced a couple of months ago, so am very excited about being able to wear these. You can see some more of K's jewellery here.

And this little fellow- who Keira calls 'Green Hat.' I had my eye on him during the craft show, and when he was the only one of Helen's dolls left (they sold out quickly!) I knew I had to buy him, then and there. We love him and he's a wonderful addition to A and K's handmade toy collection.

The sun is shining today, but there's a certain chill in the air that can only mean one thing: summer is over. I'm planning a collection of new handbags with an autumnal theme- and while op-shopping yesterday I found this old cotton fabric, which I think will be perfect:

Have a great weekend, friends.

 

brown birds

Here are a couple more of my scores from the weekend. This little owl pin was cut from black perspex and if my photo was better you could see that there are little feather details too.

I thought it would be a perfect badge for Tom to wear to work- he's an English teacher- and it was beautifully made by the girls at Papertin.

I got these 'bogan stickers' from their table, too, for my friend Matt who I was teasing only last week about his slight bogan tendencies. (you can go here for more information). He tolerated my teasing with good humour and last night gave me a little run-down on what all the symbols mean. Fascinating stuff!

I've spent the morning working on some overdue orders, including these pants for a four-year-old boy:

I loved that his mother wanted the bird fabric for his pants, as usually I'm asked for back pockets made from truck or car fabric. She also requested the cuffs at the bottom though, so they could be turned down as he grows, and I spent far too long getting those 'just right.' I hope they like them.

crochet dress

I did a swap with Dairne of Baibin knitwear on the weekend, and I'm quite sure I got the better end of the deal. Keira loves her new dress.

The bodice was crocheted in a shell stitch with cotton yarn, and then this gorgeous vintage fabric skirt gathered and hand-sewn to the crochet. I fully intend to dress K in it as often as possible, until it doesn't fit anymore, which will mean she'll have to wear pants and a merino top under it throughout winter. Thank you Dairne! Your crochet skills are formidable.

I haven't done any work since returning from Wellington. I really can't motivate myself to get back into sewing things for my stall, which I'm doing on Saturday, so I should really get to work otherwise I'll be sitting behind an empty table at the market!

The other day, though, I found these at the op-shop:

So I've been making them up, and threading them onto elastic for a quick and easy little gift- great for small (and big) girls' birthdays.

 

 

monday, a day of rest

I'm hoping to take a few days' break from doing any sewing. Instead I might actually try reading a book or doing some dishes in the evening, something like that. Last week's hard work paid off though. Craft 2.0 was amazing- I had a really fun day, and loved meeting many new and old crafty friends. Sadly I didn't take my camera to Wellington, so you'll have to trust me when I say it was a very stylish and inspiring craft fair. Big thanks to Martha and Sue for organising the event, and the beautiful NewDowse Gallery for hosting it.

Here's Keira giving her new scrabbit a kiss. (Thanks, Rachelle!) I made quite a few purchases and swap-deals at the fair, and will spread them out over the week so you can see the kind of goodness I found hard to resist. New Wellington-based artists I discovered included Sam Broad, Ramari Textiles, and cloud of birds- all very beautiful work.

Mum and I flew home late last night after an airport delay, so today has been a relaxing, quiet one spent with a wee friend of A and K's. We had a picnic in the park, and the three of them wanted to walk all the way, holding hands. It took us quite a long time to get there.

 

nearly ready

Thank you for the birthday wishes for Keira. We had a great day, and pictured is Keira's favourite part of it- the chocolate cake with many candles. She was talking about it all day- it was kind of mean to make her wait till just before bedtime, really.

And this is what I've been getting ready for today- the much-anticipated Craft 2.0 show on tomorrow at the The New Dowse Gallery in Lower Hutt. If you live in the Wellington area, please come and say hello!

Here are a few of the things I'll be taking with me, along with an array of baby shoes not pictured because they're still in 'various stages of development.' Ahem.

Some recycled-fabric baby bibs:

some cloth-nappy-friendly baby pants- this is my 'nautical range':

autumnal-inspired gingham-apple t-shirts:

and some grown-up's bags.

I'm looking forward to seeing some siblings, some friends, (some for the first time 'in real life'), having a child-free weekend with my Mum, and being in the big smoke for a couple of days. Hope you have a great weekend too.

birthday girl

It's Keira's second birthday today. I have a suspicion that this date is a more meaningful one for me than her, but she seems to enjoying it nevertheless.

Here she is with Arlo a few minutes after she was born.

And this was taken this morning (it's now dark when we get up- eek!) while she opened her presents. She's really into opening presents.

For Keira, today has been filled with: cake, rain, cousins, a polka-dot tea-set, friends, some tears, and talking on the phone. Hope you're having a nice day too.