tiny happy

brighter

"Mama, why do you always use the grey and black threads?," asked someone recently. So I'm trying to remember the other colours in my embroidery supplies tin. This free-form embroidery was worked one evening after dinner, by the fire, while supervising maths homework. (Not really supervising, the children left me and my maths skills behind last year so rather they tolerate my interest in their homework.)

the edge of the sea, continued

Couldn't resist sharing some more vistas from our trip to the sea. These were breathlessly taken while hiking a precariously steep path, wondering to myself whether I really needed the camera and down jacket. The view at the top, and the childrens' delight at having trekked up there, was worth it. My favourite part: looking ahead to see the 'Famous Five' (4 kids + 1 faithful dog) striding along ahead of us.

hyperreal

It's the school holidays, and Tom and I got the chance to take a couple of days off work and head out of the city with some friends. We stayed in a cabin on a sheep station at the edge of the sea. These photos were taken at dusk, shortly after my friend Jess looked out of the window and said 'it's as though everything is in hyper-colour.'

bouquet gifts + painted ceramic

These flowers were brought back from the park by a group of nieces, tightly clutched between hot fingers and tied together with ivy vine. 

We had a pretty gorgeous time here over Easter, with so many cousins, aunts, uncles and friends in one house. Quite a bit of sighing (and washing) has happened since yesterday, when life returned to 'normal'. I illustrated these small coffee cups: they're vintage Crown Lynn white ceramic, illustrated with small sprigs (inspired by the gifted niece-bouquets) and slightly tinted with blue here and there.

I found this yesterday: '36 grandmothers from around the world, and the food they cook'. I think you'll like it.

golden days

Happy Easter, if you're celebrating this weekend.

Such a golden, lovely time of year here at the bottom of the world. We have candles, walnuts, roast vegetables and wine, and a table laid for 14, and that includes eight young ones! They have chocolate eggs and rabbits instead of the wine. 

Wishing you a happy time and warm days ahead.

another april

In the absence of any sunshine today I thought I'd have a look back through my blog at what I was doing two Aprils ago. Makes me wish I was sitting down making stuff, and eating passionfruit, instead of catching the bus in the rain.

Hope your April is going well so far. Did you see the blood moon last night?

- passionfruit from home

- wildflower pouch

- little wool coat

X X X X X X

autumnal kitchen

I went to the local vege market over the weekend and admired the piles of field mushrooms, root vegetables, feijoas, new-season apples and kiwifruit. And we were lucky enough to have three separate gatherings over the weekend- so all in all, I've probably eaten a bit too much. How lucky we are to live this life.

Among the various dishes I've been making for the family lately, soup has made a comeback. Today I made a lentil-vegetable soup (not so photogenic but warming and hearty), and a tomato soup- this old favourite blogged about a few years ago. Also, roasted beetroot (so thrilled to be able to harvest our own this autumn) and feijoa tart/pie. The tart was made from this recipe, which is a favourite around here because it produces enough for two tarts at a time: one for afternoon tea with friends (with blueberries + pears), and one for the lunchboxes the next day (feijoa and green apple).

What are you cooking or eating these days?

on a rainy day

Rain, mist, wind and cold this week. I've been working on a few projects of the warming kind. 

The second photo above shows the draught stoppers for our old sash windows I mentioned back here. I was inspired by the design in this Lotta book, and used a scratchy old wool blanket to make enough 'window snakes' for the whole house. Inside I put plain rice, bought in bulk. I thought about this for a long time before settling on rice. I was unsure about using a food source for a non-food purpose but at the same time I wanted to use a natural, biodegradable material (certainly not plastic pellets or similar.) I thought about sand, but worried it could be/get damp or sift out of any holes/seams. I'm still not completely sure about the rice (condensation...?) but I will cross my fingers. This d-i-y insulation is working a treat so far.

A while ago I came across a little-house-on-the-prairie style skirt that had been donated to the opshop from an old theatre. The seams had come apart but the heavy velveteen cotton in a dark sea-green was still beaut. So I made this oversized floor cushion for the kids. Cosy and comfortable!

This is a good rainy-day song by a Kiwi songwriter living in Paris. 

Enjoy your weekend.

stamps + ink

I'm looking forward to teaching the hand-carved stamps and printing class at Handmade again this year. You can read more about the event here. This will be my third year hosting this class, so I'm gathering together some new designs and resources ready for the students. Last weekend I carved a butterfly stamp (from some new black rubber material I found at a craft store- I bought extra for students) and then used it to print some cotton muslin fabric. I never get tired of the combination of ink + stamp + fabric.

found in a notebook

Inside an old book I found a collection of pressed leaves I remember collecting and carefully arranging with Keira a couple of years ago. We had forgotten all about them. Most are ferns and native shrub leaves, and they've retained their deep green and brown hues. 

We did some sketches of the leaves, and I used my ceramic ink to transfer the designs to some vintage tea cups. Imagine if it were possible to transfer the actual pressed leaves and flowers onto the cups? Maybe there is a way, but I don't know it.

But I did find this beautiful gem: Herbarium, pressed by Emily Dickinson circa 1839-46.