tiny happy

heavenly weekend

I had the best weekend - a child-free day on Saturday (thank you c + d!) and morning walk with Tom because I boycotted my usual market stall- oh, the freedom! And in the evening, we got a babysitter and went out to listen to live music- The Little Bushman- they had a beautiful, vibrant sound. In the afternoon I was out of town on some errands and spied an antique store that I'd never visited before, and came across the most incredible display of antique toys (old teddies, dolls in handmade clothes, wooden trains and russian dolls) china (lots of vintage Crown Lynn), racks of interesting old clothes, and then... to one side, the best collection of fabric and embroidered linen I have EVER seen. Trying to keep my freak-out to a minimum, I looked around for someone to exclaim to, noone seemed interested though. there were only a couple of old men inspecting rusty lawnmowers. I found the pieces above, and couldn't resist them (especially when I saw some had stains and holes), so they are sure to become new baby shoes in the future. It's very exciting to find such a great supply of old fabric and linen, and I am already planning my next visit there.

There was also time on the weekend for a little bit of crafting: some new bags for the shop...

and some new winter clothes for Keira. A long-sleeved grey top, made from some nice thick stretch cotton I found recently, and a pinafore dress, inspired by a sketch in this little book.

I used some fairly thick cotton/linen in a sage green colour, which makes it quite a sturdy little thing. It can be worn either way around, and I'm hoping it will be useful for wearing over pants or tights. The pocket placement might need a re-think though.

little coat

Our friends Anna and Suzie found this sweet little coat for Keira that fits just perfectly. I would show you her in it, but she fights against putting it on, although then once it is on she refuses to take it off. You know how it is with two year olds.

It's made from beautiful soft wool, with suede trim and wooden buttons. I love the label- 'Junior House.' Sometimes I wish I was a mother living in the 50s, pushing a big 4-wheeled stroller, with a baby sitting inside wearing a coat like this and a woollen bonnet. Underneath would be a smocked viyella dress with a zip up the back, and textured wool tights and cream t-bar sandles. Actually, I have all those things, perhaps I'll make Keira live out my fantasy while the weather is still cold enough.

Today we've been making cards to send to people- for Arlo there is nothing more exciting than making a card, writing a message, buying a stamp and then popping it into the postbox. He and K made some using potato prints I cut for them:

and I made some by hand-stitching small pieces of fabric prints I love onto blank card:

Quite a good way to use up leftover bits of fabric... and old potatoes for that matter!

indoor picnic

That slightly depressing, last cold month of winter is upon us and I've been finding it difficult to manage and organise my workload, correspondence, community commitments and housework... not to mention being a patient and *present* mama, partner and friend... this is my way of saying I'm sorry if I owe you an email or phone call and it seems as though it's been a while! I promise i am getting on to it... perhaps this weekend will bring some calm time i can use to catch up.

I can sense the children are growing tired of being cooped inside so today, even though it was raining a little in the morning, we had a long brisk walk outside and then an 'indoor school and picnic' (Arlo's idea) which was entertaining for me to watch.

The 'students' had to sing a short song and count to five in Maori, then they were allowed a piece of apple and some cereal, lovingly hand-fed, bit by bit.

I replenished my etsy shop with some new baby shoes and wrap cardigans (I love making these...)

So I think I might take the afternoon off, and have coffee with my neighbour and take my time making dinner. But, what to make?

pinecones and swans

My experimenting with the new gocco machine has been put on hold while I try and come up with a design to use for my first print. I love to look at old fabric and children's books for ideas, and thought you might find these inspiring too...

vintage barkcloth with pink pine tree print

old linen tablecloth

colour plates in an old book of fairy tales

I hope to have something gocco-ed to show soon. Otherwise I might just sew up that fabric- I feel more comfortable doing that!

a good friday

A stack of finished cardigans and vests for the market stall tomorrow:

Rain, gumboots, and new hedgehog pants for Keira...

To be worn while popping bubbles in the rain.

Happy weekend to you!

other people's shopping lists

Thank you for your kind words about Arlo's shopping list- actually i was a little hesitant about sharing another habit of mine- I like to stop and read any stray shopping lists I might find at the supermarket. If you keep your eyes peeled you'd be surprised by how many are left behind. But then Ruth left a comment about a whole website full of found shopping lists, so if you are a bit nosey like me, i insist you take a look here. I found these strangely compelling to look through... I think this one with the prices was one of my favourites... I wonder what 'gooey butter' is? I can also report back that a lot of people like to buy french fries and meat.

In crafty news, I listed a few more bags in my etsy shop, including this rosy one:

and one made from some fabric i found a long time ago:

... winter trees with seagulls.

It's a beautiful winter's day here today, cold but with a brilliant blue sky over us, and I've just spent half an hour sitting outside with my coffee- one child is at kindergarten, another asleep. Small breaks like that during the day are like treasure, aren't they?

I have to share this beautiful fabric that arrived in the post- a surprise gift from Vanessa who lives in Auckland. She ordered a wrap-cardy for her daughter, and sent this beautiful length of vintage fabric to say thank you:

I love it such a lot, I'm currently trying to decide where to hang it. She wrote that it used to be a curtain in the home of her husband's mother in Southland. I love the texture, and the way the design has a hand-printed effect. The leaves could almost be drawn in felt-tip pen:

Green, red, black and mustard-yellow. So good.

eight things

I was tagged by the lovely Kate to share eight things about me- you can read her eight things (and see some gorgeous socks-in-progress) here. Because I've done a couple of these memes already, (here is the last time) I thought I'd make it 'eight things about my week' instead. Feel free to join if, if you'd like...

1. Yesterday Keira and I sat on the grass by the river and watched a bunch of seagulls hanging about, and I swear a small group of them were playing 'soccer' with a chestnut. They were passing it with their beaks to each other. Later on we witnessed them having a 'meeting' - one gull was standing on a tree stump and twenty other standing in rows facing it. They really seemed to be discussing something, and then the Head Seagull gave a loud squawk and they all flew away.

2. This morning Keira spent half an hour intensely dancing to the The White Stripes. They're her current favourite band to dance to, and I can't say I blame her.

3. Lately I've been spending too much time online, and eating too much chocolate. They're both so hard to cut down on.

4. I stole this twig of wintersweet yesterday from a neighbour's tree which leans onto the street. I think it's nicest thing about winter. One day, if/when we have our own house, I hope to plant lots of it.

5. My parents are currently travelling in Europe for 6 weeks, and I am the only grandchild left in town to look after my grandmother, who is in a rest home. A and K aren't great about spending more than half an hour or so in her overheated room there, and i know she would like to talk to me for longer when we visit. I am feeling quite a lot of guilt about that at the moment.

6. I hope to watch this film sometime this week. I hope I don't return it in 8 days, unwatched. That's been happening a lot lately.

 

7. I don't like cooking. I used to, but now I hate thinking about what to make, do I have all the ingredients, will the kids eat it... blah....

Tonight we're going to have vegetable soup.

8. Arlo has been helping me write the shopping lists lately. I tell him what we need to buy and he draws the items. Later, when he's not watching, I quickly label the drawings. Just in case.

a crinkly top

Thank you for all your wonderful gocco encouragement yesterday. I am feeling much better about opening the box and getting started. Maybe this weekend, when Tom can help me (okay, so maybe I am still a bit nervous.) He is really good at working out How Things Work and, while I had hoped he might get into using it for his own artwork, he will probably most enjoy taking my work and working out how to print it onto fabric and paper.

This is a crinkly top I made over the weekend from some stretchy wool fabric I've had for a while. I didn't mean for it to turn out so crinkly, but the fabric fascinated me, and I wanted to play around with it. Before I washed it, it was smooth and stretchy and I thought it would make a good thermal-type singlet for winter. To make the top, I simply traced around my favourite winter vest, allowing an extra 'front' piece for the crossover style. It was white, so I dyed the fabric (after sewing) a coffee colour, and when I took it from the dye-pot, its texture had changed a lot:

The dye didn't take very well, but I'm quite happy with the light caramel colour.

Now I might use the remainder of the fabric to make children's pants, or perhaps another top for a friend.

back to school

It's Monday again and I'm feeling positive about the week ahead- a new term, a fresh start and all that. Tom went back to school early this morning and Arlo has been carrying his kindergarten bag around all day so far, checking that all is in order for his afternoon class- he's missed his friends and teachers.

I finished a small batch of baby shoes to put in my etsy shop... (yes, it WAS hard to cut into that green embroidered linen, but it was torn so i didn't feel too bad.)

I caught up with some orders and other things over the break, but still have a way to go. Somehow, the prospect of walking to the park or sitting down for morning coffee with Tom and friends was more appealing most days. And now I have a brand new distraction. After a lot of dreaming of and longing for a new print-gocco, I finally ordered one from Japan.

To be perfectly honest with you, I'm a bit nervous about getting started, so this box has been waiting patiently for me on my desk for a few days now. I'll let you know how it goes.

little log cabin

I couldn't resist this little logcabin/doll's house when I saw it on sale in our local toy shop, from the French company, Voila Toys. It's just a simple little wooden house with removeable sides, ready to be filled with some handmade furniture and furnishings (I'm thinking quilts and sheets for the 'beds' and little mats for the floor.) At last, a place for our small collection of Steiner dolls- and Lego and Duplo people. Tom's aunt gave us the sweet handcrafted dolls, but it was troubling Arlo that they didn't have faces. He drew his own on them with a felt pen.

This is the children's first doll's house, and I can't believe it took me so long to get them one because they love it. We don't have any 'accessories' for it yet- but for now they seem to be content with using acorn 'hats' as soup-bowls, the smallest wooden blocks in their toybox for tables and bench-chairs, and matchboxes and scraps of fabric for beds. Arlo's placed a pipi shell in one corner for the dog's bed, and drawn his own art for the walls.

I'm planning on getting some of the furniture that can be bought along with the house- but at the moment I'm quite liking this 'use what you have' mentality of Arlo's, and which I remember so clearly from my own childhood. He even went off into the frosty garden this morning to find some 'breakfast' for his little dolls- to serve in the acorn bowls, of course...

And that intense play has been fun to watch from my sewing table- I managed to get a new stack of wrap-cardies finished yesterday:

and some bags, too...

Happy weekend to you!