tiny happy

scrap-happy

Our little Flickr group scrap-happy projects is growing (slowly!) It's fun to see what people are doing with their wee scraps! There's a whole lot of new fabric flowers, purses, quilting projects, and even some key-rings made from little scraps.

Arlo's been staying with his grandparents for a couple of days so I've gotten some extra sewing done lately, including this little purse which uses up yet more scraps of my favourite fabrics:

I made it from some striped denim, left over from some boys' pants, and lined it with some reproduction pink and brown floral print. I intend to sew some velcro or a snap-fastener on so it's a bit more practical! And, umm, that was my first time trying blanket stitch. And yes, I know I need a lot more practice... I am quite embarassed by my lack of embroidery skills. I guess I'll be making many more of these to improve them!

And where did I get the idea from? Mollychicken, of course! Can you tell I intend to make my way through that entire tutorial list of hers?

They're super quick and easy to make (especially if you can blanket stitch...) have fun!

more fun with flowers

I've been making these little girl's hats for my (now in hibernation) market stall. I have such fun making these knitted flowers to go on the side of them. For some reason, these flower hats sell much faster than any others I've ever made. Here's Keira in hers, taken shortly before she threw it to the floor in disgust (hmm, perhaps not everyone likes them):

I like to think of them as 'flapper hats' because I think they look rather Great Gadsby-ish with the flower on the side of the head like that. I made Keira's from a soft angora/mohair blend in dark blue, with a dark green merino ribbed band and flower. To make the flowers, I use a combination of this pattern (five-petal with open centre) from Georgia at  On My Mind and some strange little thing all of my own, that changes everytime I make them. There are also three different flower patterns on a page here at Knitty which look fun, so I hope to try them soon. There are lots of crochet flower patterns around too which you could use for these hats, including this one which I love. Really must learn to crochet!

a few more Flapper Hats waiting for Keira's friends to visit...

Hope you had a great weekend.

but why?

Arlo will be three next month, and for the past six months or so his favourite conversation-starter has been 'but, why?' In this picture he is pointing to the swan plant near his sandpit and asking why the leaves have all been eaten by caterpillars.

I hear that almost all children go through this stage which gives me some comfort. And I do love the fact that he is so curious about the world around him and wants to share so much of it with me! But some days I'm sure I will lose my voice from the constant answering I do. And sometimes I don't know the answers! Yesterday he asked: 'Mama, what will we do about the darkness at night?' He's begun to be afraid of it, and thinks it's something I can 'sort out'! When I said we couldn't do anything about it, and he wouldn't always feel frightened by it, he replied with 'but, why?' Tom found this book at the library for him: 'Why?'  which Arlo enjoyed and it really seemed to quieten the 'whys' down a bit for a while. But then we took it back to the library and now the 'whys' are back in full force.

There are so many things about being a mother I just didn't consider before I had children, or indeed, before I had a toddler! Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed at what lies ahead, too. And like I have nothing to qualify for me for this huge, monumental task, guiding these little people into the world and helping them to feel happy and secure. But what more can I do but try to look forward to the next 'stage'? And do my best to help us all with it?!

This is my favourite poem about being a mother. It's by the NZ poet Jenny Bornholdt from her latest collection of poetry: 'Summer'.

Being a Poet

Yesterday I bought

a blender- blue- from

Briscoes, just like

Marion's. Today

we're dealing with the big

issues, like: How the World

Began and

Can We Have Fruit Loops

For Breakfast?

Friends ask

what I'm reading.

By the bed is Go, Dog, Go.

We looked at it this morning

just before our fight

over the nature of

Weetbix. But it's soggy

every morning, I hear myself say,

that's just what Weetbix does

that's just its way.

it turned out okay.

I've been playing around with a design for a jacket like this for a little while now. I know just how I want it to look, but have trouble producing it exactly, mostly because of my lack of bias-binding skills. I made this last night for Keira from some fine grey anti-pill polar fleece, and a piece of vintage floral cotton for the binding. I sort of morphed two patterns then shifted bits around a little to get this result- one pattern was New Look #6333 and the other a drawing from this book. It was really easy to make (ah, the joy of non-fraying, non-creasing polar fleece!), except for the bias binding. Although this is the second jacket like this I've made, and it was a bit easier to get the binding to sit properly, so maybe it just takes practice and patience?! Two things I'm not good at.

natural leanings

I've met children who are natural water babies from birth, or others who are amazing climbers and brave adventurers, and other children who crave social interaction at all times and learn to speak well at an early age. I don't know if it is fair to say that there are such distinct areas of a child's learning or even if 'talents' exist naturally or are encouraged by well-meaning parents- perhaps a bit of both? But if Keira has such a natural leaning, it is towards music. She is crazy about listening to music and dancing! Whenever there is music playing she instantly goes into a kind of trance and nods her head, and sways her body in time. She has a wide repertoire of dance moves for a fourteen-month-old. She can press 'play' on the stereo herself, then trembles with excitement while she waits for the music to start. She can only say a few recognisable words, and has absolutely no interest in walking. But strangely, she can 'sing' tunes with fairly good intonation. Her favourites at the moment are 'Postman Pat' (why?) and 'Old McDonald.'

Soon after she was born our friends Kirsty and Sophus gave us a copy of a Putumayo album called Sing Along with Putumayo and we had it in the car stereo non-stop for about six months! (At least, I played it in there, whenever I drove with the children in the back.) It's a really good album, especially if you like folk music (the first song is by Arlo Guthrie!) The songs are 'children's songs' without being cute-sy, irritating or babyish. I loved them all! And the children loved them too, especially the scat-big-band version of 'Old McDonald had a farm' and the beautiful 'Michael Row your boat ashore' by Eric Bibb. But then we misplaced for a long time until... yesterday, when I found it hidden in another cd case I hadn't opened in a long time. When Keira heard the music again, she became so excited she started shaking, and then dancing in quite a crazy fashion. Here's a picture of her pure joy:

If you have a similar little danceaholic, or even if you don't, I recommend this album!

p.s. as you can see, thanks to chocolate pudding and normal toddler eating behaviour, Arlo's new hoodie didn't stay 'new' for long!

swappy goodness

I've been going on a lot lately about swaps. But there's one more to show you!

My friend Rhiannon, creator of fabulous Toast clothing made Arlo this sweet new hooded sweatshirt. It couldn't have come at a better time, because he needs new winter clothes now it's getting colder and it fits him perfectly! He was most excited to find it waiting on the kitchen table this morning when he woke up.

It's made from soft warm grey fleece with black corduroy front pockets, and the pockets are lined with the fleece on the wrong side, so they're extra Toasty! And the hood is lined with some great hand-printed green cotton. Cute huh?

And I was lucky enough to score this fabulous winter skirt, made from greeny-brown cotton drill, with vintage barkcloth pockets and ties. It's a wraparound style, with the opening at the back. I love it so much!(not-so-great photo courtesy of Arlo, letting you know what we've been hanging out nappies all morning, due to the rain over the past few days!)

 

Thank you- we love them!

Hope your Wednesday is sunny and warm, everyone.

such a bag lady

I'm lucky enough to be doing a swap with a friend I've made on Flickr- cosymakes. She knitted four beautiful green hats to choose from, (it was hard to choose- I loved them all!) and I've finally finished my half of the deal- three bags for her to choose from.

It was so much fun- the only criteria was that she could carry it easily over her shoulder. I also wanted to make them from 100% 'found' or recycled materials as I know that's her passion. (Check out her wonderful knits- they're almost all recycled!)

So the green and brown bag is on its way to Vancouver next week! I used some brown printed corduroy found at the Sunday morning market for the lining, and part of an old linen (I think) curtain for the outside, printed with leaves and big green flowers. I used my own standard pattern and fastened it with a manuka wood button. There are more pictures of them over at my Flickr page.

Speaking of Flickr, it's really inspired me to try some new bag designs, because I do love making them so much, but I need some fresh ideas! Look how cute this patchwork zip-up tote bag is! It's so cheerful. And this embroidered rocketplane satchel and these super-cute tote bags ... ahh! I need to get off the internet and DO something during the babies' sleep time!!

sewing with silk

I've discovered that the fabric flowers I was making last week can be made more like 'real' flowers if silk or fine polyester is used instead of the cotton. Here is a peony-type flower I tried from fine pink polyester fabric, and green lining fabric for the 'leaves'. The lightness of the material is good for curling into petals, and the effect is a bit more like one of those flowers you sometimes find on old ladies' hats.

I don't really like sewing with silk and other slippery fabrics. I feel nervous, then almost always make mistakes, and then it's so much harder to unpick. I've had an old piece of lily-printed silk for years- I remember buying it in my first year of university at a market on Cuba Street, Wellington. It's a vintage Hoffman design. I love it so much, and wanted to make it into something, so finally cut a bit off and made this bag. (Hmm, you can see our neighbour's construction work in this picture!) It's for a belated birthday present for a friend. It's just a simple sling-style bag, lined with a sage-green cotton. I saw some gorgeous bags like this on the internet (can't remember where), but made from vintage kimono fabric. They were beautiful, but I'll have to practice my silk-sewing-skills so I can try making some more!

we heart freezer paper, like everyone else

Last night my friends Lissy, Amelia and I met to do a little freezer paper-stencilling. I first read about it at Angry Chicken where Amy had made her daughter the sweetest little t-shirt here and others to follow, and couldn't wait to try it out.

I know, I know, we're a few weeks behind the world-wide blog trend, but we had issues finding freezer paper, and organising a time for it, you see. We joked that here in NZ we're usually 6-12 months behind most northern-hemisphere trends, so we're not doing too badly. Amelia and Lissy produced some amazing, intricate cutting-out skills (the thing about this craft that involves the most patience and skill, really.) Lissy printed a t-shirt with an image of a couple on an old-fashioned bike, and Amelia decorated some plain calico bags with art-nouveau style designs.

This was the t-shirt I made for Keira, the process was so much fun and satisfying, like I imagine paper-tolle and cross-stitch to be.

And this was another one I did which didn't turn out as well due to a bit of water on the paintbrush I used, I think. You can see the dove's head is a bit smudged.

What I'm not showing you is a top I printed for myself that was a DISASTER. Good to know, though, if you're thinking about trying these: DON'T water down the paint (at least, don't if you're using 'Fas' fabric ink, I'm not sure about other brands.) I didn't squeeze out the sponge I used to apply the paint properly, and the water in it caused the ink to seep under the stencil. Also, we used an extra piece of freezer paper under the stencil (between the front and back of the t-shirt) to stop the ink seeping to the back, and this was a good idea. We found it easier to use a tiny pair of manicure scissors, rather than an exacto knife, to cut out our designs.

You can check out the f-p stencil group on flickr which has so many great pictures of people's designs, plus links to tutorials and helpful advice.

And now I just have to try and restrain myself from pulling every plain item of clothing out of our drawers to stencil!

finished and ready to go...

After an evening sitting by the heater and listening to Jens Lekman songs, I finally finished these little baby sets, which I'm going to post off today as part of a swap with a friend. She's going to give them as presents to Canadian friends expecting babies. Because the gender of these babies is yet to be determined, I made them as neutral as I could, which I always find difficult to do. It seems as though most of my recycled, patterned fabrics are flowery and 'girly' so this time I opted for these green fern fabrics, and blue polka-dots... I hope they like them!

 

The t-shirt and vest are pre-purchased ones that I hand-dyed, then appliqued patches onto. The green shoes use part of a brown cardigan, a green knit top and some different fern fabric on the inside. And the polka-dot shoes are lined with soft wool flannel and I used some Civil War reproduction fabric with little blue cats on it passed down to me by my Mum (a good part of my cotton fabric comes from her- thanks Mum!) The sets are all ready to send off in the recycled-pages-bags made for me by Rhiannon from some old children's annuals. Since starting my stall, I've been coercing Tom into helping me make my paper bags from an old, falling-apart Richard Scarry book but all the pages have been used up now so these bags from Rhiannon were such a good gift (and save some time on Friday nights!)

If you like Jens Lekman as much as I do, you'll be excited to see a photo of him on a NZ beach that looks a lot like Abel Tasman (which is very near my hometown) at his blog here! And yes, I know i'm a geek.

Have a happy weekend.