tiny happy

I've had fun this week playing with some old linens that wanted to be made into new things for my weekly shop update. Some of these linen pieces were given to me and some I found at the local recycling centre. All of them were damaged and had done their dash as tablecloths but of course i couldn't bear throwing all that amazing embroidery work away. My latest love is adding to existing embroidery, which I did on the bluebird case you can see above.

I hope you're having a good week so far. It's a cold, grey and misty view from my living room window today. Thank goodness for coffee-dates with friends and puffer jackets.

It's starting to get properly frosty here in the mornings now. K has been asking for a scarf for a while, and I must admit I was feeling slightly reluctant about knitting one, because of her tendency to lose them shortly after their departure from the needles. But then I came across an idea on Pinterest- this one. It's from this post on the blog Katie Did Journal (which happens to be a wonderful read, packed full of gorgeousness) and involves cutting a whole lot of yarn to the scarf's desired length, then machine-stitching it at intervals to hold it all together. I used some soft green alpaca yarn and navy and white sewing thread. The small girl is happy with it and so am I! Score.

I adore this pair of cookbooks, 'Ladies a Plate', by Alexa Johnston. You can learn more about the books and sign up for recipe-emails at the website. The title is taken from an old-fashioned New Zealand custom of women bringing plates of baking to social events such as dances and meetings. I heard a great story from a Danish friend of mine from the days that she was a new immigrant in NZ. She received an invitation to a party with 'Ladies, please bring a plate' inscribed at the bottom. It wasn't until she arrived at the event that she realised that the plate needed to be holding some food. 

Alexa Johnston's books are beautifully designed and written. There are recipes for many traditional baked goods that I remember my Nana making for us, such as yo-yos, raspberry slice, eclairs, lamingtons, afghans, and miracles. Each recipe is illustrated with traditional china and embroidered linens. And lots of references to the original community cookbooks in which they were found. 

Over the weekend I made the 'Fudge Cake' (lovingly referred to as the 'People's Fudgecake') and was thrilled to see it was the same recipe as the one in my hand-written book. It's the recipe I've been making since childhood. You can find it here on my blog. I left it uniced, so it was slightly less sweet. Thank you, Ladies a Plate, for the inspiration.

(this last photo is by Louana of nzgreenbuttons)

I've been using a few of my own fabrics to make some things for friends, family, and my little shop. It's a bit of a thrill to use your own fabric, actually. It's fun. The 'Climbing Trees' print seems to be just the right scale for baby slippers, and a bag to hold A's current lego project. 

It's equally thrilling to send yards of the fabric out to people who have ideas for it- and so I thought I'd set up a flickr group for people to post their finished projects using the prints I've designed. You can find and join the group here. Thanks! I'd love to check out what you're making.

The last photo above shows some beautiful crocheted pieces of black 'Vita' made by Louana and sewn to a red wool cushion. The hair-tie was made by Jo of Dusty Plum using a piece of the 'Clara' print and she kindly sent me a pair for my own hair. 

Hope your weekend is a lovely one. See you on Monday.

Small stitches that filled in any gaps of time I had this week. That's the good thing about embroidery, it happens one stitch at a time. Take care, see you tomorrow. 

A beautiful winters' day here today. Feels more like spring, really. I made some things from vintage linen for my shop update today. The willow branch linen was a gift from Louana, thank you!

I wrote a little about knitting yesterday. I've decided to knit this, and have ordered the quince yarn for it. I thought I'd better start with something small. More likely to have success, I feel. There are so many beautiful knitting sites out there, it makes me a little bit crazy when I start browsing through them. Like I could sink into my computer screen and never come out again. 

I finished this blue dress for Keira over the weekend. The pattern was found in this book and the design is #B. I used a soft blue wool-blend fabric, so hopefully it will be cosy with tights and boots this winter. I embroidered the yoke of the dress in white thread- with some simple branch-like stitches which wind from the front around to the back yoke. Keira's favourite thing about the dress is it's roomy side pockets, which are currently being used to store marigold seeds. There's something so clean and comforting about that sky-blue colour, I think.

In other news- I've been thinking a lot about knitting lately, and am trying to decide which design to choose from Quince and Co. All the patterns are so beautiful- the yarns aren't bad, either. I am thinking about this one, or maybe this. 

The sun came out over the weekend, which was surprisingly uplifting and even inspired a trip to the beach to soak in it. Even though it's been a strangely warm winter so far, it's been dark and rainy most of the time. We saw people having a midwinter swim yesterday. Brave things.

The children brought inside this miniature bouquet of daisies from the front lawn. I've been thinking about embroidered surface design lately, the idea that stitches could be used in the same way a stamp block or print might be. I cross-stitched a pattern onto a piece of old linen in blue, yellow and white. Inspired by the fistful of daisies and the sun that came out for a day. Happy new week!

I carved these very tiny and simple stamps the other day, while the children were having their music lessons. I used regular rubber erasers cut in half, and the finest lino-cutting tool I could find in my craft cupboard. (I've made them in the past too- here and here.) The main reason for making them so small was because I wanted to try stamping in white ink, and I only had a miniature inkpad. Anyway, a fun diversion nevertheless and I love the way the white ink looks on coloured paper (that fabulous vintage scrap-book was a gift from Louana) and of course, brown paper, for wrapping gifts.

Wishing you a very happy weekend.

I can't remember if the jasmine vine normally flowers on the winter solstice, but I'm pretty sure it shouldn't. In any case, I picked some for the kitchen table today. The leaves are so glossy and green. Come to think of it, there are many plants in the garden that seem to be having some seasonal confusion. I wonder, is it the same in the northern hemisphere?

The flowers inspired a few embroidered items for my shop update today.

This week I fell in love with this album by British electronic artist James Blake. It's beautiful and makes me want to get my own bedroom-recording-studio.