tiny happy

Happy Christmas! Wishing you and your family a peaceful holiday time. See you in the New Year...

p.s. if you're in need of some entertainment, this is my favourite.

little gifts

The past week has been a bit of a blur of Christmas parties, kindergarten events and organising. But I've been enjoying making a few of the gifts on our list this year, because it has given me little bits of crafty calm in amongst the craziness of packing up our house. And, it allows me to delay the packing up of my craft room, and that can only be a good thing.

I made these two wee bags from the 'Simple Tote' pattern in Bend the Rules Sewing for some young family members. The hedgehog fabric is a Japanese cotton canvas that I love. And the apple tree is from a vintage linen placemat. These little bags are a great way to feature small, one-off pieces of fabric you might have. Plus, they're the perfect size for special treats...

I've always found it a challenge to come up with handmade gifts for men at Christmas time. This year I discovered the 'travel pouch' pattern in this book and knew it would be great for a few of the men on my list, so I made three. I used a lightweight corduroy for two of them, and this thick cotton with stitching detail on it in dark green. Manly enough, I hope. It didn't want to be photographed properly though!

I really like the design- how the ends of the pouch are folded together to create a 3D form. I think these would also be great for travel sewing cases. I guess making one of those will be next on my to-do list.

   

getting there

It's a relief to be slowly making my way through the list of things to do this month- thank you for tolerating my lazy blogging over the last couple of weeks! On the weekend K and I spent a messy afternoon baking Christmas cakes- a bit late, but never mind. I think about half of the mixture made it into the tin, and the rest was spread on K and throughout the kitchen.

This is a Christmas gift for Keira, as she is going through a pretty major ballet/dancing obsession right now. It all started when we found an old copy of Angelina Ballerina at the market, but has now progressed to the point where I must call her 'Angelina' and she refers to me as 'Miss Lily.' I'm trying to remain cool about the whole thing- you know, act as though I don't mind about her wearing the ballet outfit every single day, even over her swimsuit and sometimes to bed. 

She has a couple of 'dancing' outfits already- but I thought she would freak out over the poufiness and real 'ballet-ness' of this one. And I found the instructions for this awesomely simple design here, and was so impressed with the tutorial I made a few for other small, dancing family members while I was at it.

 

a crafty meet-up

I was lucky enough to meet up with my long-time blog friend Alison yesterday, during her visit to my town. I was a bit nervous at the start, but partway through my glass of sauvignon blanc I calmed down and we had a wonderful chat about emigrating, life in NZ, craft and blogging. Thank you for the gorgeous brooch, A.

a parcel from wellington

... arrived a few days ago, with this wonderful hoody for Keira:

brown, green, with some native NZ flax on the pocket.

Thanks for the great swap, Kat! It's perfect.

making winter clothes

A new jersey for Arlo.

Made from hand-dyed sweatshirting cotton, and recycled merino wool for the hood and bands. (sorry for the bad pictures- my camera's batteries died halfway-through.)

sweeping leaves

Household chores are much more fun in your ballet skirt.

quick fix

opshopped denim + crochet doily = a snowflake skirt.

 

remembering a holiday

submerged branch

fern + birkenstocks.

clothes as wall art

Vintage Liberty silk skirt, handmade by Tom's aunt when she was a student. I adore that honesty print.