tiny happy

bloomsbury

Another book I've been dipping into lately:

'Charleston- a Bloomsbury house and garden' by Quentin Bell and Virginia Nicholson. I've always been interested in the textiles, furniture and artwork of this time period and Charleston, the former Sussex home of the painters Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant was at the heart of the Bloomsbury Group and much of their artistic and literary activity took place there. (c.1905-1955)

The pages on the Charleston garden are really amazing (see the above link for pictures) but I've been mostly obsessing over the wallpaper, furniture and curtains in this book.

I love that the handmade element was so important in this home: hand-painted tiles, screens and fireplaces, stencilled wallpaper and hand-embroidered cushions. I have to visit Charleston House when I go to England...

This morning was warm and sunny again, just perfect for doing some digging in the garden for old walnuts (Arlo and Keira) and sitting on the step with a little box of watercolour paints (me).

Some cards and tags, inspired by some curtains in the Bloomsbury book. A very amateur job, but more fun than doing the dishes...

tuesday

:: listening ::

to the neighbour's lawn-mower

tui in the harakeke/flax

:: working ::

:: drinking ::

::waiting::

for children to wake up

:: reading on the back step ::

hope you're having a warm afternoon...

marigold, buttercup, rose

I've been trying some embroidery since borrowing this book from the library.

It's a beautiful, inspiring book with very clear, detailed instructions and ideas. But let's just say, I'm not a natural, and need to keep a calm disposition while practicing the tiny stitches.

I would love to be able to work some of the beautiful botanical designs in this book- especially the leaves and branches. But until I get some skills, I've made a set of floral tote-bags using some vintage linen I'd been hoarding for a while- in a buttercup, marigold, and rose print, and put them into my shop this morning. They seem like the kind of bags you might take with you when meeting a ladylike friend for afternoon coffee, don't you think?

Now, back to my linen and embroidery threads...

feijoa love

It looks like I was a bit cryptic about the feijoas the other day (I was in a hurry and had extra children here, sorry.) If you don't know what they're about, here is an article (thanks, Alice) and this is what a feijoa tree looks like:

This is our neighbour's wee tree that spills through onto our side of the gate, which is nice. I read that feijoa trees are very common in NZ but because they are subtropical plants that still require some cold temperatures during winter, they don't produce fruit in many other countries. The plant originates from South America, and is a member of the guava family. It fruits in late autumn-early winter.

I remembered that Helen loves feijoas and after a bit of digging around in her old blog's archives I found this recipe here which I didn't get around to trying before the feijoa season finished last year. It looks yum so I might give it a go this weekend.

My Dad loves feijoas. We had three or four trees in our garden growing up that produced an amazing amount of large, juicy fruit. We would use a fruit dehydrator to make 'feijoa lollies' and fruit leather, and sometimes put them in crumbles and cakes. But last year Dad decided to make the most of his land's feijoa-growing potential to plant a whole orchard full- hopefully for export. The fruit should be ready to harvest in a couple of years or so.

This is a drink he makes from simply blending whole feijoas, skins and all (he freezes this pulp to last all year round!):

It's very thick and frothy and a little bit gritty, but if you like feijoa, this 'nectar drink' is pretty delicious.

In crafty news, I made Keira a little winter skirt yesterday. She put in an order for a new 'dancing skirt':

It's made from brown needlecord, with a pink vintage cotton border. I stitched the little ties onto the side after inserting elastic through the top, so I guess you could call it a 'mock-drawstring.' I thought the elastic would be more practical for pulling on and off. I used the same pattern I drew up for making these summer skirts. After I finished it I was looking for more skirt inspiration online when I found this twirly skirt tutorial. It's quite similar, but I like how it has more twirliness going on.

Hope you're having a great weekend!

this afternoon

juicy feijoa + spoon + afternoon sun + silence = bliss.

stormy weather

We woke up this morning to some proper stormy weather- thunder, wind and torrential rain. Tom lit the fire and all was cosy, until I realised I had to go out and make an early-morning trip to the supermarket for bread.

It rained so hard this morning, in fact, that Tom's school sent all their students home, due to flooding. It was nice to have him home for lunch, and I even got a bit of work finished for my etsy shop.

a little batch of children's scarves, like this one:

and some new baby shoes, from yesterday's embroidered linen... luckily there was just enough sun to wash and dry that before the storm started.

Hope you're having a warm and dry Wednesday...

button joy and some op-shopping

This button necklace came in the mail from Kate (thank you!), along with some other lovely treats- vintage fabric, braid and knitting patterns. Kate makes these necklaces from layers of vintage buttons woven together with a light coated wire, so that they sit flat and in shape. I love the colours in mine, and the plasticky rattle of it around my neck- yum.

I've had a bit of a break from op-shopping for a while- spurred on by what seemed to be a temporary drought of vintage fabric and other stuff, (i may have played a part in this) and an urgent desire to make use of the things that were in my already-crammed craft room.

But last week I had some really nice finds that I couldn't really just leave there...

a very rare find- some hand-embroidered linen pieces- some is quite stained and ripped so I don't feel too bad about cutting into it...

some Australian-themed prints on linen

and this hand-knitted fair isle hat which I've given a good wash and am trying to decide whether I will wear or not this winter. The ear-flaps (a friend's 2-year-old daughter calls them 'blinkies'- how sweet is that?) are double-layered and I think the yarn was handspun and dyed. I feel that it may sit on the border between nice and ugly, you know? But I'll probably wear it anyway.

the washing line

A while ago, Janet from Muppinstuff wrote this post about her washing line. She also keeps a really great blog about washing-related matters here at Mrs Washalot. Doing the washing and hanging it out on the line is one of my favourite domestic duties. Actually, it is the only one I like doing. Most others I resist until I really have to do them. (If i didn't have a washing machine, and had to wash clothes the old-fashioned way, I might feel differently.)

I suppose it's something to do with being outside first thing in the morning, either by myself, or with the children playing with their trains and trucks underfoot. And the smell of wet fabric. And the birds singing and insects buzzing and the neighbour's cat hanging around, watching.

I like to hang the clothes on the washing line in order of who wears what, and hopefully that's not too wierd. It feels like an aesthetic decision even though we can't see our washing line from the house, it's tucked around the back, in a corner. There's something about a line-up of small boy's clothing though, or a row of Tom's work shirts, that I like. As if the empty clothes can conjure up the person.

I used to help Mum out with the washing, but I'm not sure I enjoyed it so much as a child. There was a lot to do- I was the eldest of five children, so the amount of clothing and nappies and towels and bedding and then Dad's farm gear meant she would do more than one load a day. She had one clothesline near the house, and then another long piece of rope tied between two trees in the orchard, as a back-up measure. One of my earliest memories is of her with a big plastic washing basket in the grass by that line.

Anna, a friend of ours, wrote this article about young parents when she was working for the lovely Staple Magazine (sadly no longer published.) A polaroid camera was sent around the country for each interviewee to use to take pictures of their family which were then published with the writing. Tom photographed me in front of the washing line in our first little house- it was up on a hill behind, with wild grass and dandelions underfoot because it was too steep to mow. I spent a lot of time up there when Arlo was new, just hanging around the washing line.

   

boy's stuff

I rediscovered an old favourite today: this album by Nigel Kennedy and the Kroke Band. Have you heard it? My mum introduced me to it- she has been a diehard Nigel Kennedy fan since he put out his first album, I believe. I love his classical albums- he plays with such vigour and intensity- but this one might be my favourite. He joins the Polish trio Kroke to create really beautiful, lush folk music. As soon as I pressed play, the children instinctively danced maniacally around the house. Lovely.

Arlo's pants wore out at the knee this week (!) so I made him this new pair. I used thick brown corduroy, and light tweedy wool for the pockets. I'm trying out this pockets-on-the-front thing, and it has the seal of approval from the small boy- he's been walking around with his hands in them since he tried them on, so I'd like to make more like these for winter.

And of course he needed a pocket on the back too.

He also requested a scarf like Keira's. He helped me choose the different bits and pieces of fabric: some cotton, some needlecord, and navy flannel on the back.

I also sewed on a velcro patch like hers, for staying power. But he had one design idea for his scarf:

A train pocket. A necessity, you know.

Have a great weekend!

loop-d-loop

A few people asked me how I was liking Loop-d-loop by Teva Durham. The answer is: I love it. I saw our library's copy one night at a friend's house and knew I had to look for it myself next time I was there.

This is my favourite design in the book- the 'lace leaf pullover':

and i would also love to knit this for keira:

but if i were a better knitter i would make this 'paisley carpetbag':

or this beautiful, hippy-with-a-mathematical-flavour cardigan:

I really think this is the kind of book from which I would knit almost all of the garments and happily wear each one for years, without being swayed only by the fact that the models in here are outrageously good-looking. In other words, while the photography and aesthetic of the book is gorgeous, the patterns are really original, beautiful, wearable. (in all honesty, though, I probably wouldn't wear some of the neck-pieces, but I love the idea of Elizabethan style brought into the present.)

Now, I must finish off all the little bits of knitting I have started on pairs of needles all over the house... (yes, I am a bit crazy.)