tiny happy

a beach bed

On New Year's Eve last year, Tom's Mum made the kids makeshift beds on the beach by her house and we listened to the water lapping and bonfire crackling and guitars softly strummed by people along the beach. It was such a beautiful evening and the children still talk about that time they stayed up till midnight in their beach beds. (In truth I think they went to sleep for a little bit but they insist they didn't.)

We're travelling to the South Island to spend the holiday with family and friends so I'll be away from this space for 2 or 3 weeks. Thank you for visiting my blog in this year. I really love having this space.

I hope you have a very happy and relaxing Christmas and New Year time and see you in 2015.

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in circles

I found a little time for some homely activities over the past few days, including making a few presents and baking. Inspired by our German teenager and her Dad who is visiting at the moment, I tried some Christmas biscuits from their part of the world, and luckily the finished product gained their seal of approval: chewy, almondy Zimtsterne. But as you can see they're not 'sterne' (stars) at all, but rather small circles (I couldn't find my set of cookie cutters, typical! Had to use the lid of a plastic container instead.)

To make them, I used this recipe (translated with their help - let me know if you want the English version) but found I had to cook them for longer and at a higher temperature than stated. I also halved the amount of sugar and used the contents of one vanilla pod for a nice strong flavour. They are my new favourite biscuit. Especially with strong black coffee.

Because we're going away for the holiday period and (I hope) it will be much sunnier than Wellington I made up a summery top to wear. It's the Scout Tee again, this time with the sleeve modification (you can read more about this here) and now the sleeves are about elbow-length. I used a fine cotton lawn: cream with mauve/gray circles. I really love this pattern and the way it fits. I'm always thinking of different versions I could make next.

mid-december

It's always a fairly intense time of year, December, and this one has been no different, what with end of year parties, meetings, work and school events and more. I love it though -- the weather is gradually seeming warmer and lighter and everyone is happy about their upcoming holidays.

I haven't made much time for homemade Christmas presents, I'm afraid. The teachers were given bottles of wine this year! Though, I must admit that if i was a primary teacher, I would pour myself a large glass of red this evening.

I've made some things for my nieces and newphew (also, excitedly, there's a new one on the way) including clothes and the velveteen rabbits shown above. I made a couple extra for my etsy shop.

In my family, we mostly focus on the children at Christmas though I'm hoping to make some edible gifts. Top of the list this year are these peanut butter + date balls, and Nicola's salted caramel chocolates.

Over the course of the year, I've also been tucking away special secondhand items I think certain people would like, including this beautiful wool blanket, embroidered cloth and a set of white linen napkins.

How are your Christmas preparations going?

green with ferns

Here's something I made nearly ten years ago. My friend Felicia asked me to write about it for her series 'I Made This' over on The Craft Sessions blog- you can read it here.

Wishing you a very happy and relaxing weekend. I've been making some Christmas presents. WIll show you next week. X

window dressing

New curtains have been on the 'to-make' list for a while and this weekend I finally managed to complete a set for the living room. There are the most amazing big old windows in here; curved, heavy wooden sash-style (our house was built in 1912 I think) and they look out over our suburb and across to the sea.

I'd been putting off the job, mostly because of the scale of it and not knowing which fabric, curved curtain tracks to choose, etc. In the end I found a huge bolt of botanical-print cotton fabric that looks like a bit like linen and suits the wallpaper, etc. I lined the curtains in cream cotton (if you know old Wellington houses and our weather you might be recommending I add wool blankets to the lining in winter.)

Tom helped me plan, measure, cut, press and pin the seemingly countless fabric panels we needed for these. I really thought the job would never end. I'm so glad he helped me. 

He even matched up the botanical pattern on each fabric panel by pressing and hand-stitching the pieces in place before I machine-stitched them together. We had to look up an old curtain-making guidebook for that inside knowledge.

bee in your bonnet

There have been some pressing things to do lately, but I did manage to stake out some time at the work table to make some gifts. I have quite a few new babies in my circle, so I've been dying to get 'making' for them. My idea is a little handmade set: baby shoes, something knitted and a bonnet. Old-fashioned.

But so far all I've made are these two bonnets but they are lovely and soft and I'm so pleased with them. The one on the left is made from dark grey merino wool and lined in thick floral cotton. The other is navy linen with striped jersey cotton inside.

The pattern is from my own book ('modern bonnet') and I think it might be my favourite design in there. It's certainly the simplest and fastest to construct, and bonnets can be made from any type of fabric (to create baby sunhats or winter wool ones), as long as you use something soft for the lining. You can see my baby niece Noa, who is not a baby anymore, modelling one in the page above.

Feel like listening to a new song? I'm loving Ane Brun's Do you remember at the moment, in case you don't know it already.