tiny happy

oranges

We had some oranges that had been waiting in the fruit bowl for a while, and this morning I used them to bake biscuits- the children have named them 'sun egg cookies'. They taste very spring-ish and smelled really good while they were cooking. And in the photo above they are sitting on my very favourite second-hand find: my 'tansy plate'. (Another piece by Rörstrand of Sweden.)

Here is how I made them:

100 grams softened butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
grated rind of one large orange (or more, if you like)
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup coconut

Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in egg and orange rind. Sift in flour and baking powder. Lastly stir in coconut, squeezing in some juice from the orange if necessary. Bake at 180 degrees celcius for about 10 mins.

I also made these: miniature needlecases from small pieces of appliqued/embroidered linen. I have a lot of these little pieces left over from my baby-shoe-making. Small embroidered bits that don't have a pair, or are too close to the edge of the fabric to be made into shoes. I'm pleased to have found a use for them.

sea-birds

The children and I went for a walk on the weekend near the harbour, and seabirds were swirling overhead, squawking and swooping. When I got home I cut into some nice dark grey-blue cotton I'd been saving for a while, and made up a few of these 'seabird skirts'. They have a double-elastic waist and cream linen sea-birds hand-appliqued around the hem. I'd forgotten how much i enjoy applique work, but next time I must remember to use my thimble. silly me- the fingers are suffering today.

ideas of home

ideas of home, originally uploaded by tiny happy.

We're going back to New Zealand in June. It's been planned for some months, but now it's really starting to feel like a reality.
I'm not sure what it will be like, returning back there, after spending a year and a half in Scandinavia. I'm curious. And looking forward to being with family and old friends again.
These are some images from my 'favourites' folder on Flickr that make me think of our next home. You can click through to find the credits.
It's snowing a lot today. And we had many fresh centimetres overnight. Hope you have a warm, relaxing weekend.

ferns today

I have quite a love for ferns, which I've probably mentioned lots of times already. I made a collage from junk mail found yesterday in the letterbox. I rather enjoy sitting down with the scissors and a glue stick. I've noticed this is a favourite activity at the kindergarten where I work also- there's something therapeutic about it.
I sewed another top from this book- using the same design (model C) partly because I liked the idea of having the pattern already traced out from last time. And partly because it's a handy top to put over the everyday long-sleeved wool ones I wear. The gorgeous fern-print fabric was kindly sent to me by Michele - she said she was fabric shopping and thought it looked like something I would use. She was right!

willow-branch

At the flower market in our town square last week, I saw a tin bucket filled with pussy willow branches for sale. I got a bit enthusiastic about them, and the spring sunshine and the slight snow meltage in our garden. So I've been embroidering pussy willow branches this week. A little coin purse and a linen tote for my shop update. And now, this morning, we have more snow. I hope i didn't jinx anything.

like lola's

Tom went to London recently for a weekend, and brought back a Charlie and Lola story book for Keira. She loves them. Especially Lola, who I think she fancies is rather like herself. In one of the stories, Lola is dressing up in many different costumes- in an alligator costume, a doctor's coat, a circus performer's dress- but then, and this is where little K always stops and gasps- as a Spanish dancing lady. I used some old black clothes of my own for this outfit- cut down of course. A long black skirt with a ruffled red ribbon. Two red rose hair pins. And a vintage crocheted doiley in red for the off-the-shoulder top. Olé!

new colours

My generous friend Karuna sent me a parcel of her hand-spun embroidery threads again- this time in beautiful brilliant pinks, purples and greens. And after doing little embroideries for some children's satchels, I'm ready to use them to embroider something colourful and different. I've even got a piece of leftover-from-the-weekend apple tart to help. Hope you have a nice morning too.

dress planning

So I couldn't resist making something from the second Japanese dress book (ISBN # 978-4-579-11226-5) I blogged about yesterday- just to 'try it out'. This is pattern C, (page shown first below) made in the same fabric as this dress with some vintage crochet trim around the neckline. In the book it's made from white cotton lawn- and I think I'd like to try a similar version next. It's such a comfortable top, and can be adjusted a bit, by lengthening or shortening the bias trim straps. The only thing i'd change is perhaps making the whole thing a little bit longer. This could be easily done by adding an extra inch to the bottom panel piece.

Just in case you're interested- here are some of the pages in the book (there are more on my flickr page). There are 26 designs altogether, and I'd say they're just as good as the first edition.

finds

I had some luck at the second-hand shop last week and brought home this beautiful embroidered tablecloth. It reminds me of the designs in this book. It's a nice drapey kind of grey linen, with brown, grey and red embroidery.
I always let Keira choose something small from there, and she chose a little pink box. When we got home I saw that she had tucked inside some old silk flowers from the 'free' box- so I've been making a few hair things with them.
Cornflower and poppy hair pins and a blue flower-crown (like this one) to send to my neice.

And this is another 'find' (in my letterbox): Stylish Dress book 2 (ISBN # 978-4-579-11226-5). I loved the first edition so much, when i saw that this one had been published, I knew I had to buy it. I was planning on showing some more pages, but my camera battery died. I'll do that tomorrow instead.

morning

Just a typical Wednesday morning in these parts. Much housework to do. But gathering pine branches to bring inside, instead. Also watching this lone bird, swooping overhead. A few new things added to my shop- this great vintage fabric was a git from Charlotte. An early morning batch of biscuits made using a cupful of muesli from the jar. And placed on my 'new' (old) dish from the second-hand shop- marked Rörstrand of Sweden. I'm not sure what this hape of dish is used for, but I love it anyway.