tiny happy

a quiet monday

 

 

Thank you for all your good wishes for the craft fair on the weekend that I attended- it was a fantastic show and a lot of fun. I met lots of lovely blog readers at my stall- so thank you locals who came and said hello! 

And of course, I did some great shopping and swapping- including the above art print for Arlo and Keira's room from Sweet William, a little linen bunny for my baby niece from Helen, and a gorgeous bag made by Emma. There were so many stalls packed with beautiful goods, smiling craft enthusiasts and even a travelling photobooth (Helen and I had our pictures taken together.)

I'm feeling very calm today, like a balloon with its air taken out. I don't feel like doing anything but listening to this song, staying warm inside making soup, reading and knitting. Hope you're enjoying your Monday too.

at twilight

 

 

 

I don't have much to say today, so I thought I'd share these pictures that I took last weekend. We want walking along the beach at twilight and K couldn't help but dance near the shore. Looking at these pictures makes me smile- and hope that she never loses this kind of expression and confidence that she has.

Have a great weekend, my friends.

caramel square

Here are a few more things I've made for my table at Craft 2.0 this weekend- a little collection of 'woodlander brooches', featuring a rabbit, wildflowers, weeds and a feather.  And some hydrangea headbands too from velvet ribbon and wool felt petals.

When we were having a particularly cold and grey day earlier this week I made a batch of caramel oat slice for afternoon tea, using this recipe. It is outrageously delicious and sweet, but must be cut into very small squares to avoid a sugar overdose. Believe me, I speak from experience.

dressing gown

 

 

This is a dressing gown that I began making about a year and a half ago, but lost. It went missing during one of our house-moves around that time and I feared I had sent it to an op-shop in its ghostly, half-finished condition. But then I found it again the other day, and quickly finished it. And now I can lounge around in my dressing gown, knitting and drinking coffee. If only there weren't so many other things to do!

It's a kimono-style drapey dressing gown made from double-gauze cotton. Not the ideal gown for this time of year, I must admit, and I couldn't steel myself to try it on for the blog (sorry). Anyway, you don't want to see my pasty and blue-tinged skin right now- there must be a decent dusting of snow on our mountaintops today. I used a great vintage pattern from 1979, 'Style' 2656. The ladies on the pattern cover look rather glam, don't they? Even though they're wearing floor-length sleepwear. Oh, to be from the 1970's.

bright star

 

A few months ago I saw the film Bright Star, based on the last three years in the life of the poet John Keats. The film was directed by Jane Campion, who is my favourite film director (I especially love An Angel at my Table and The Piano) and the whole film is lush and poetic, with beautiful cinematography. I didn't feel a deep connection to the main characters in the film (unlike in the Piano or An Angel) but I did enjoy the whole look and feel of the film very much. 

One favourite scene is this one, in which Fanny Brawne and her little sister lie in a room filled with butterflies. And another scene I liked was one in which she wore a brass key on a black ribbon around her neck and transferred it to Keats' neck when he entered the room. 

I found a small collection of antiqued brass and silver keys recently online, and made a set of 'bright star necklaces' for my stall coming up this weekend. They're very simple, just a solid little key threaded onto hand-plaited, antique perle cotton and tied in a bow at the neck.

long weekend

 

We're having a long weekend holiday for Queen's Birthday, and its been raining nearly non-stop. Perfect weather for drinking wine with family and friends, watching a movie, knitting a green scarf.

I've also been doing a bit of work for next weekend's show, including this little stack of embroidered linen and wool needlecases.

Hope you had a great weekend too.

dress-up wings

 

(first photo by steve visneau)

I designed these dress-up wings for the 'small project' section of small magazine, summer 2010 edition. This free magazine went live today- you can read it here. I was pretty excited to be asked to submit a project, as i've loved this magazine for a long time. There are always many pages of lovely photographs, ideas, artwork and general eye-candy.

These wings were first made for Keira as part of a dress-up costume. She wanted to 'be an insect' one day, so I made these and she fluttered around the house in her leotard and tights (her 'insect-body', of course.) I used an old, worn linen table cloth to make hers, but you could experiment with different fabrics for different looks. (Arlo asked for black bat-wings.) You can make your own pair of wings by following the directions and downloading the pattern here. 

Have a happy weekend- see you again on Monday...

cross-stitch

 

What do you do when you have a hundred things you really should be doing? Start a cross-stitch project, of course. Actually, it's not as silly as it sounds, because I found that making the little stitches in black thread on counted linen was rather soothing last night. I probably should go and do some of those other things now, though.

I was inspired to try some cross-stitch in black thread after finding this site with a good selection of old-fashioned blackwork patterns, like vines and leaves and roses. It will be a nice project to have sitting around for when I have a few spare moments here and there. One day, I'd love to try a really complicated blackwork pattern - something like this one, maybe. It's the opposite of the kind of embroidery I usually do- it's geometrical, traditional and precise..

I made the small cases you can see above for my etsy shop update today. I used some vintage embroidered linen that I found, strangely enough, at our local Recycling Centre. Parts of the linen was old and damaged but I couldn't just leave it there. Those cross-stitches now have a new lease on life.

purple and pink

 

 

The quest to keep warm has begun here in earnest with all the winter wool clothing and blankets dragged out of cupboards and from shelves. I sewed Keira a new sweater: purple wool with pink stripes. I cut it from one of my old jumpers. She does love those colours, pink and purple.

Hope you are warm and cosy wherever in the world you might be.