tiny happy

woodcut magnolia

Thank you for all your wonderful messages over the weekend r.e. our move to Norway. I feel so lucky and grateful to have your support and friendship while going through this big change. And it was exciting to discover some Norwegian bloggers/readers, too, from my last post. I do hope to continue blogging over there, if I can. We're leaving NZ on the first of January.

Above is part of the cover of an old book sent to me (along with some other lovely things) by Lex, in the North Island. The book is called 'The Dolls' Day for Yoshiko', by Momoko Ishii, illustrated by Gaynor Chapman. Why is it so hard to find online information about the authors and illustrators of vintage books? This one is from 1965. The illustrations look to be wood or lino cuts, mostly in black and white, but a few are in colour. They make me want to get out the lino-cutting tools. I love these magnolias especially:

Due to family sickness over the weekend, (won't go into details- they're yucky) I didn't get much time to do anything crafty. But I did make these wee zip-purses to put with other gifts for upcoming birthdays. These are a great way to use up favourite little pieces leftover from other things. The top one is from Liberty baby cord, and the other some vintage linen from Rhiannon.

I did some raw-edge applique on this one- another fun way to use up tiny pieces of fabric.

   

we're leaving home

There's something I haven't shared on this blog yet. Tom and I are planning a Big Adventure for our wee family. In the New Year, we're relocating from New Zealand, to Norway.

Tom accepted a job there a few months ago, so we've had a bit of time to gather together our warmest clothes and get used to the idea of leaving our dear family and friends behind for a while. I'm not sure how long we will stay there yet, I guess we'll see how it goes.

I'm a very home-oriented, slightly nationalistic person, so moving across the world, to a place where we'll know noone and have to learn a new language, is going to be a big challenge. But it's one I'm ready to take, and I'm looking forward to embracing all it has to offer for us. You might have been wondering why I was knitting hats, buying winter boots, and making lots of autumnal-looking things in spring. My mind has been in the Northern Hemisphere. I've been feeling a bit unsettled, busy (turns out that time passes quite quickly when you're planning something big), scared and excited at the same time.

And I've been reading lots of Scandinavian blogs. They're helping a lot.

on the washing line

My Mum made this quilt for Keira and brought it around yesterday- it got a great reception. Two small children rolling themselves up in it, making it into a tent, and jumping on it. She used a Kaffee Fassett zigzag-block design, and fabrics from his range too.

I love the border best of all- dark brown with big purple chrysanthemums- each one embellished with free-form quilting. Something about this quilt is very well suited to Keira's spirit and personality- and she informed me this morning that it helped her have 'no bad dreams about fish in her bed', which tend to be a recurring problem for her. I don't think any fish would dare to come near her bed, with a quilt of such spirit and colour.

Last night I got my gocco out of its box and made these wee washing line cards. I quite like our washing line, and thought it would make a good design for thank-you cards to send out with my packages.

   

a tree that grows hearts

I hardly ever make muffins anymore, but I did the other day, and plan to again soon. I suppose muffins are a thing of the 1990's now- do you remember how big they were back then? My Mum had at least 4 muffin cookbooks. But now it's all about cupcakes, brioche and friands. At least, in our local cafes it is. I made the ones above in paper cases because I hate cleaning the muffin trays. But they're definitely still muffins. Here's the recipe in case you feel like making some this week. They're so easy to make, and nice with a cup of tea.

Blackberry and chocolate muffins

2 cups flour, 4 tsp baking powder, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp salt

Sift these together in a mixing bowl. Add some chopped dark chocolate/chocolate chips. Then in a small saucepan melt 75g butter, add 3/4 cup milk, and beat in 1 egg. Add the milk mixture to the flour mixture, and stir until just mixed. Lastly, carefully stir through 1 cup of blackberries- fresh, tinned or frozen. Bake in muffin trays at 200 degrees Celsius for about 10-15 mins.

Tom and I were sorting out our cd collection last night- we have hundreds stacked in a cabinet but only listen to a few regularly. I rediscovered Homogenic which I bought when I was 18. I love all of Bjork's albums, but this might be my favourite. I love the idea of a 'tree that grows hearts' (Bachelorette). I think the best lyric on there is: I thought I could organise freedom, how very Scandinavian of me.

Here's my latest batch of baby shoes, I just listed in my shop. The black ones with pink flowers were made using old fabric I've been hoarding for a long time, and I used the last tiny scrap of that fabric on these. It's nice to give it a home, though, and the embroidery was starting to unravel so I re-did some of it. Ah, black and pink. You're so good together.

to fit any waist measurement

I finished this simple wrap skirt last night. I was thinking of making some new skirts for spring/summer, but couldn't find my trusty regular pattern. Also, I appear to be having some 'waist issues', in that nothing seems to seems to fit for long. Sometimes my clothes are too big, the next week they're too small. I don't know what that's about. Perhaps it's time to think about an exercise plan? Frankly I'd rather experiment with wrap-style clothing. Yes, that sounds much more like me.

This design was inspired by both a commerically-made skirt I own, in a similar style, and one that came in a bag of fabric scraps from Rhiannon when she moved house last year. She had half-sewn something a lot like this, and thought i might like to use the fabric for small things, so thank you for the idea, R.

To make this, I cut three panels of cotton fabric - 2 from patterned material (this green is a Japanese find from Spotlight) and one from dark brown. I think this would be equally good made from thicker fabric, such as denim, wool or pincord, if you're heading into winter. The shape of the panels was sort of tapered towards the top, but not much. Then I just sewed them together so that the brown can be worn as either the underneath panel, or the one on top, for contrast. i finished the hem with brown bias tape, and used the same tape for ties. Easy-peasy.

These are my new boots- they call for lots more skirts to be made, don't you think?

If you are thinking of making some of your Christmas gifts this year, you must visit the Sew Mama Sew blog for their month of handmade gift ideas and tutorials. Each day in November, they will feature a different theme- today's is aprons- with ideas and inspiration on that subject. I'm thinking i will make a few presents, and do a lot of shopping on etsy- sounds perfect.