tiny happy

stash enhancing

I'm always looking for ways to 'use what i have' in the fabric department, and feel quite satisfied about being able to make things using exactly what is in my craft room, rather than having to make a trip to the store. But for some reason, I don't seem to have much self-control when it comes to buying new fabric... but luckily I don't think I'm alone there! Here are some new additions to my fabric shelves this week:

quilting-weight cottons

linen

little embroidereds

linen/cotton from Japan

And here is a way I'm making space on my fabric shelves: recycled wool jackets for my market stall...

 

These are to fit a girl approx. 2-3 years or older. To make these, I cut up old merino and cashmere jerseys that had holes or marks- and used the good pieces of two to make each jacket. The edges are finished in home-made bias tape from vintage cotton and there are ties inside and out. The best thing about them is, I think I have finally worked out how to apply bias tape without crying and/or throwing the garment to the other side of the room in disgust. hooray!

curtainy-clothes

It was about this time last year that I was complaining about my horribly cold hands, and I've decided I must have circulation problems, because the chill-blains have returned again this year. Last year, my mum made me these lovely fingerless mitts, but stupidly i lost one of them on my travels. But look what she finished for me yesterday:

Thank you, Mum- I love them- so warm and cosy with cables, and made from handspun yarn the colour of the sea. i like to think of the creamy yarn as being sea-foam, edging the gloves. She used an Interweave Knits pattern, but I can't seem to find which magazine they were from now. I'll update this when i've checked with her.

And in an effort to branch out from the same winter skirt and pants I've been wearing too often, I made another from some thick green cotton/linen, and pieces of a vintage barkcloth curtain for the pockets and bottom panel. The skirt does up with a side zip.

It's just a basic do-it-yourself pattern created by tracing around another skirt that i liked the shape of- which doesn't always work out- but I'm happy with the fit of this one. The best thing is, this skirt fits fine over my winter wool pants, which is a look that not everyone appreciates, but I'm loving right now. (It's cold.) When I take Arlo to kindy, I can sense the 'there's the crazy lady who wears all her clothes at once' look I'm getting from some of the parents and maybe also the children, but I don't mind too much. I think all my winter skirts have been made from curtains, but perhaps it's the influence of watching The Sound Of Music too often as a child. I always thought those kids looked the coolest when they were wearing their curtain outfits. 

blue sky afternoon

Although though the air is chilly, our afternoon sky is such a brilliant blue today, that even Keira commented on it. 'It's gorrr-jus, mama!'

I must have had this colour on my mind lately- I've been cutting up old jumpers to make warm vests and jackets for my market stall. Most of them seem to be blue. This is a little over-vest in a newborn size:

(Sorry about the photos- once again I've left it too late in the afternoon for good 'picture-taking' light!) To make this top, I used a really ugly jersey that was made from beautiful soft cashmere. I cut the vest so that I kept the ribbed hem part, and used some of the collar to make the neck and arm bands. I think it should be a very warm, but lightweight layer over a merino bodysuit or similar. I remember favouring these sorts of tops for my babies when they were new, to reduce bulkiness on those tiny arms. Easier to get into carseats, too...

And of course, I had to add some little dog appliques.

Here are some others in varying sizes... i think making these could be addictive.

recycling wool and paper

A wee while ago, Caireen and I decided to do a swap of a few crafty things, and last week her amazing package arrived from Scotland. I had previously mentioned to her that i had family connections on my Mum's side to the Orkney Islands, situated off the north coast of Scotland. Caireen so thoughtfully made up an information package about the Islands for me- with maps, brochures and articles- and now i know i must go there soon!

She also included embroidery yarns in the most beautiful colours, vintage fabric and knitting patterns, and embroidery kit and Country Living magazine (that made me long for a beautiful British garden), as well as these little characters:

A sweet patchwork elephant, sewn from recycled suiting fabric (you can read more about them on Caireen's blog here) and a scotty dog made from recycled wool tweed (complete with clothing label!) made by Caireen's friend Suzanne. They were eagerly adopted into A and K's toy family.

I was also lucky enough to receive some packets of beautiful 'green cards' - sets of notecards and envelopes, all made from recycled magazine paper and envelopes to match. I adore these and have already sent out quite a few- 'reinstating the written word'...

 

You can see more of these (and I think buy them?) on her blog. I love how each card is unique, and has an envelope to match it:

Thank you, Caireen for your generous and thoughtful parcel! I hope to drink coffee with you in the cafe beside Loch Lomond one day in the future...

All that lovely recycled goodness inspired me to do some of my own over the weekend, which i'll post more about tomorrow- but here are two things I made from one old, woollen jumper last week.

A vest for Arlo:

and some armwarmers for me- (a necessity on these icy mornings.)

but is it wasted?

I've had lots on my to-do list this morning: emails, tidying, calling people, putting away the mountain of clean washing on the couch, etc, yawn...

But what have i spent the most time doing? Looking at the internet. (K and A have been happily drawing on the floor near me, which is quite unusual, so their busy-ness encouraged me to keep clicking away- bad, I know...)

Here are some of my favourite finds today, if you have time to play on the internet:

Wee Wonderfuls' Oscar's room (+ beautiful new baby sister!)

bloesem kids - lovely interiors and clothes

beautiful wooden rings

ruins (found via Megan)

and Megan's little bride

And if you're in need of some laughter, like I was this morning, you can't really go past these guys:

think about it, think think about it (because we all have issues...)

for picnics

Winter is really settling in here this week, but in our letterbox we received something to encourage us to make the most of the sunny days we do have most weeks- this patchwork picnic rug. It was made by the sweet Amisha, who is currently travelling in Asia. She pieced it from different red and orange prints on a cream background, with a thick grey cotton on the back for durability.

It's big enough for all of us plus friends, and has already been put to use twice- we love it. I like how the fabrics are so distinctly Amisha-ish- i think of her warm personality whenever i see it.

She also sent this beautiful length of fabric. Thank you, and safe travelling, A.

Last night I finished working on this batch of corduroy and denim kid's pants for my market stall and etsy shop. I loved the look of them hanging on the washing line together while I was (trying) to take pictures but they didn't last long because it started to rain... again...

Wishing you warmth where you are!

new clothes

Thank you for the birthday wishes for Arlo yesterday! He loved it when I read them out to him. Today is his 'real' birthday, so we got him some new clothes, and a Diesel 10 toy for his train set. Of course, that was much more exciting than the clothes.

I made him a new pair of winter pants from thick wide-wale corduroy with pockets from the Japanese 'Little Red Riding Goat' fabric I bought last week.

Should be nice and warm for winter- and luckily, he seems to like the wolf-and-goat print as much as I do.

I also printed him a pine-tree t-shirt- white onto a navy top:

Here's a picture of him blowing his candles out on his (carrot!) cake at age 1. He hasn't changed that much, has he?

the train party

It's Arlo's 4th birthday tomorrow, and yesterday we had a 'train party' for him. We're lucky enough to have a model railway in our town which includes a train museum and a few tracks with small trains that children and adults can ride on. The tracks wind past a park, the modeller's pond, a couple of 'stations' and through a tunnel. We had afternoon tea with some family and friends there, in the afternoon sun. Thank you for coming, everyone, and making it such a special day for Arlo.

Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of the children riding the trains, but I did get a picture of the work of art that was....

The Train Cake:

This was my idea, but Tom did most of the work. He's so good at the details like icing the cake (harder than I thought!), and cutting the pieces into something which actually resembled a train. I took the easy way out and bought plain sponge cakes, and made up a couple of batches of icing. We used oreo cookies for the wheels, and crushed a couple to look like 'coal' in the tender. The other cars had logs (kit-kat bars) and milk bottle sweets in them. We made tracks from straps of black licorice. I covered the board with waxed paper, but underneath placed blue fabric, with a smaller piece of green fabric on top to look like the 'Island of Sodor.' (yes, we have one of those Thomas the Tank Engine-obsessed boys. Still...)

Although it's by far the most elaborate cake we've made yet, it has nothing on the cakes shown here. Some of those are quite outrageous, but it's a good resource for getting ideas. Also, this site was helpful for party ideas.

Because that cake was purely 'for looks' we also made a carrot cake for the grown-ups to eat. There's one piece left, so that will be nice for morning tea today. Thanks, Kirsty, for the inspiration, and others for your tips on freezing carrot cake after my last post- good to know they freeze and keep well.

I realised I've made this every year for Arlo's birthday, and the recipe in my hand-written book is looking well-used- it's covered in oil and bits of dried mixture- but it is a great one, so here it is:

Carrot Cake

4 free-range eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable/olive oil

juice of one lemon

2 cups plain flour

1 cup wholemeal flour

2 tsps cinnamon, 1 tsp allspice

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup crushed pineapple (optional)

3 cups grated carrots

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or sultanas

Beat the eggs, sugar and oil with an electric beater or by hand until thick and creamy. Fold in all the other ingredients carefully, and mix. Pour into a waxed paper-lined tin (makes quite a big cake- I use a round spring-form tin) and bake at 180 degrees Celcius for around one hour. Ice with cream-cheese icing when cool.

Cream-cheese icing

1 pottle of plain cream cheese (I used a 250g container)

1 cup icing sugar

juice and rind of one orange (or lemon, or a few drops of vanilla extract)

Soften cream cheese, then blend all the ingredients together, in a food processor or by hand.

birthday season

There seem to be a lot of birthdays around this time of year. Yesterday was the birthday of a good friend, who we visited and were lucky enough to share her most delicious carrot cake with cream cheese icing. I'm now trying to think of a way to have some of this cake in the house at all times. Freezing large quantities, perhaps? It might be my new favourite food.

Yesterday also included coffee in our closest cafe,

and endless fun: running around the best tree in the park near our house...

I just sit nearby and watch. Apparently, two small children have a lot of energy for this sort of thing.

We have another borthday to celebrate today- my niece Phoebe's 2nd. I made her a little blue teddy, and a top to match. Just because.

just one apple

I rediscovered this amazing children's book this week, originally found at an op-shop last year. It's called 'Just One Apple' by the German children's writer Janosch, published 1965:

I was drawn to it because of the bright colours and painterly style, but when I read it to the children, I fell in love with the quirky story, too. A man called Walter desperately wants to grow one apple on his little tree. He does, and the fruit grows bigger and bigger until it causes him much sorrow.

I love the naive style of the work and vivid brushstrokes used. Here are a couple more pages:

This morning I finished this little set for Tom's Mum to send to her friends in the States who had a new baby recently- a little dancing skirt and some poppy-embroidered shoes:

I loved this little poppy seed-pod, so had to stitch it onto the skirt...