tiny happy

camellia skirt

 

 

The camellia craze continues around here- the trees outside are still producing many, many flowers which are dropping all over the road and garden and making me slightly crazy. I made a skirt in their honour, from some camellia-print vintage fabric I found at the second-hand shop a while ago. It's got some wool content in it I think, and is soft and a bit drapey. The fabric was formerly a maternity dress from the mid 80's - it had a kind of 'bib' section made from bright plaid cotton and the same plaid was used to trim the puffy shoulders and sleeves and extra ruffles all over the dress. (Needless to say, I didn't feel too bad about cutting it up.) And this skirt I've made is really one of the simplest things possible to sew- it's just two squares, plus square pockets. Just like this I made a few years ago now. Yet quite handy to have in winter, to wear with tights and cardigans. I realised afterwards that I'd just made myself a skirt to match these ones. Oh well.

spring awaits

 

 

 

It was a good weekend. Everything is warming up and coming alive.

till your breath is found

 

 

 

I worked some small embroideries on natural linen yesterday evening- one was inspired by those bold and beautiful camellias growing outside the front door. It's pretty hard to properly capture their flamboyance though- I'll have to keep trying.

I sewed some of the embroideries into pincushions to give to friends- backing the linen with Liberty lawn and filling them with stuffing and a bit of brown rice in the base for weight. And some vintage ric-rac for around the edges, just because.

The title of this post comes from the new Sufjan Stevens EP entitled All the Delighted People. Yet it also relates to embroidery which I find so calming- stitching till one's breath is found. I downloaded the EP this morning after hearing a review of it on National Radio, and am enjoying it very much already. If you go here, you can get it delivered to your computer for only US $5. And it is so worth it. 

Wishing you a happy weekend, friends.

 

making hot chocolate

 

 

 

I had fun this week making some cushion/pillow covers from vintage linen fabrics I'd been hoarding. I love the way they look all stacked up- so colourful. They're part of my shop update today.

The oldest child has also contracted the chicken pox... two weeks later so he's spending some time at home with me. This morning we made hot chocolate from a recipe I've made quite a few times this winter. It's called 'Castillian Hot Chocolate' and I found it in my copy of Vegetarian Epicure 2 by Anna Thomas (published 1978). It originates from Northern Spain and is almost like chocolate pudding. I found the recipe published online here but I adjusted it slightly by adding a fair bit less raw sugar, a bit more cocoa, and less cornflour. Letting it simmer on a low heat and whisking it for a while seems to make it even glossier and more delicious. Arlo calls it 'chocolate soup'.

from the garden

 

 

I spent a bit of time in the garden over the weekend, digging and pruning and planting.

When I came inside in the evening, I made these garden-inspired coffee cups. I found some spring-green ceramic ink and it was too hard to resist using it.

I think my favourite thing about early spring is the smell of the garden: the flowers waking up, the bulbs unfurling. (And the freshly cut grass of the next door garden too.)

the challenging rectangle

 

 

There's a small but wide window above our bed for which I'd hoped to buy a roman blind. I looked all over town and couldn't find a ready-made blind to fit. But then I remembered that last year, my self-sufficient sister decked out her entire house in blinds that she had made herself. When I asked her about it, she waved her hand casually and said it was easy- 'anyone could do it.' Turns out it wasn't so easy for me. I bought some warm curtain fabric to fit the window. I got all the little rings, strings and a book about blind-making. But how to put them all together was beyond me.

Then I got this great book from the library, and realised I could make a simpler window covering that was just a rectangle of fabric with hooks, that could be looped up during the day and unlooped at night. For some reason, it ended up being one of the trickiest thing I've sewn in years, and I have no idea why, except to say that I'm seriously lacking skill when it comes to making practical things. (I'd rather sew a lined chiffon dress than a curtain, for example.) I thought I'd measured and cut the fabric carefully, but the finished result was rather lop-sided and wonky. And the fabric I chose to line the blind was more drapey than the other layer, and kept shifting and moving while I was sewing them together, which resulted in many unpickings and swear words. Hopefully, no one will ever look too closely at it and I'll just pretend this was already in the house when we moved in. 

a green dress

 

 

I sewed a new green dress, to brighten up the end of winter-time. And it really has, because it's a warm and comfy one to wear with the old merino top, cardigan, tights and boots combo. I used a medium-weight cotton denim fabric with a little stretch in it. It was a lucky $2 find from the the op-shop a while ago. The dress is version A from the commercial pattern New Look #6803. The best thing about the design is the big side-pockets which are fast becoming a dress-requirement for me. Plus, it was pretty easy to make.

Also included in the pattern were directions to make a fabric obi-style belt, which I did from a piece of vintage grey wool fabric. The dress is rather boxy and loose, so the belt gives it a bit more shape. I'm thinking this dress would pattern will come in handy when sewing lighter-weight summer dresses too. Although I must admit, summer still feels a long way away.

Hope you have a great weekend, blog-friends.

spring-divining

 

 

A bit of serious spring-divining is going on here, I think that's how i can best explain all the flowers I'm documenting on the blog. The amazing furry ones in the top picture are a kind of flannel flower from a friend's garden. They originate from Australia, I think. And the jasmine is from our garden. For my shop update this week, I made a small collection of pleated bags from my old, favourite pattern. I used recycled linen for all of them, except the cotton ticking. The bag in the front is made from old British Sanderson-printed linen. (I secretly long to furnish my house throughout in Sanderson linen.)

violets

 

Tom's Mum brought me these tiny violets from her garden on the weekend. For something so small, the scent of a violet is amazing! I love them.

hearts and crosses

 

 

A new top was made (well, bought) for K one day when she was home from school last week. I got her to make a design that we could print onto the front, and she drew some hearts, hugs and kisses. As five year old girls are liable to do. I traced the drawing onto freezer paper, cut it out into a stencil and mixed up fabric inks, trying to match the colours on her drawing. (I think I first learned of this technique from this blog post by the clever angry chicken, back in 2006.) 

Et voila, a new top to wear to school.

x, x, x, o, o, o.