Autumn and spring at once: a dried sunflower head, the seeds pearly and hard as porcelain. And the first narcissus of the season which could be made from paper. Little delicate faces looking out.
Isn't it amazing that those sunflower seeds are so geometric, so mathematical? Plants are very mysterious, in my opinion.
Have you been listening to the new Fleet Foxes album, of late? It's intricate and beautiful- I think you'd like it. See you next week!
The HANDMADE symposium is happening this weekend in Wellington, so I've been getting organised for that over the last few days. I'm teaching a few classes, and (while I'm actually quite nervous about the teaching) I'm looking forward to meeting lots of crafty people and soaking all the handmade goodness and Wellington atmosphere. Aren't those spools of thread lovely? They were made by my friend K and just looking at them makes me want to get out my needles and linen. I'll be taking some of them with me on the weekend for use in my class. I had to tidy up my other thread box- it looked as though a small child or dog had been into it. But it was just me who had tangled everything up.
I found the old folksy rose painting at my local opshop and decided I needed to hang it above my bedside table. It inspired a set of rose-pins, like the ones I made a couple of years ago now– from wool felt gathered and folded. I was drinking tea with my mother and grandmother at the time, and they suggested the addition of some glass beads in the centre of each rose. It's funny how I never would have thought about adding anything to these, but I'm glad i listened to them. Half have beads and the other half have embroidered French knots in the centre of all the petals. Sometimes a little extra bling is okay.
Okay, so they're not really wild at all, but I do much prefer the thought of horses running free across a plain somewhere. I decided I had to make this dress when I found the vintage horse fabric in our local Recycling Centre. It's a drapey sage-green cotton, with horses galloping along under a cloudy sky. I didn't have enough of the fabric to make a bodice so I bought some fine linen in a similar green- it's not an exact match but I'm not too fussed. I used a New Look pattern- number 6457– which I was happy with, although I probably should have lined the bodice for comfort reasons, but it's nothing a slip underneath won't fix.
I do love making dresses, even if they end up overpopulating my wardrobe, somewhat.
Enjoy your Monday.
Three blue things arrived in the letterbox today.
A beautiful vintage fabric curtain, from Angela. It's the perfect size for my sewing-room window (how did you know?)
Some fresh Heidi and Clara yardage.
And a postcard made from one of Liivia's photos. Thank you all.
Happy weekend, lovely blog-readers.
Good afternoon. It's been a very long week here, but this afternoon the sun is shining through the living room window and all is okay with the world. My friend S brought this little jug of waxy-yellow wintersweet branches, aren't they delicate? Their scent is pretty divine, too.
I'm feeling inspired by this beautiful painting I found on Pinterest- it's by Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
And thank you to the beautiful Liivia for this post on her blog.
Hope you are well and the sun is finding her way through your window-panes today.
I sewed up this pair of winter hats from the Japanese book I wrote about last week. (The top photo above is from the book.) The kids love hats with earflaps though it's rarely cold enough here in our winters to necessitate them, unless we venture up a mountain to find snow. I used some dark grey wool fleece for A's hat, and a felted cardigan from a friend to make the pink one. I lined both hats in cotton jersey fabric.
I can't wait to make more things from that book- I have a dress pattern cut out so far in the hope that it will be made up soon.
I discovered these amazing quilts via Pinterest the other day- Ian Hundley Studio. I love the way they make you feel as though you're flying over fields and towns in an airplane.
Hope all is well where you are.
I found this vintage tablecloth in a nearby antique shop. It's drapey cotton, printed with little red roses. Keeping all the original hem-seams intact (which made it super-easy) I made K a new skirt to go with her red winter tights. Quite a handy garment to wear whilst watering the pot-plants, as it turns out.
I discovered this new song by Bon Iver today. It's beautiful.
Happy weekend to you!
We've been eating a lot of these lately, they're feijoas from my parents' orchard. They really are 'green gold' to us- the children can make their way through a bag of them in an afternoon, if I don't intervene. In all my years eating them with a spoon, I've never cooked with them. But this morning I tried making muffins with some that were past their best- and they were delicious. I'll definitely be doing that again. I used this recipe with about two cups of mashed feijoa pulp inside. The flavour of the fruit diminishes somewhat and becomes less acidic, while making the muffins like small moist cakes. I reckon they'd be great in the school lunchboxes, too.
On the weekend I received a box full of lovely old textiles from my friend Helen who lives in the North Island. Once my heart had stopped beating so loudly (there were some amazing pieces in there) I had a look through two British magazines she sent me: Needlewoman Needlecraft' magazine, from the mid 1950's. There are some hilarious things in these publications, starting with the politically-incorrect descriptions and fanciful outfits. There's also a pattern for a large wallhanging featuring appliques of Shakespeare's greatest tragic characters. I wonder if anyone finished that project back in the 50's?
I found two transfer sheets for floral embroideries and fell in love with those immediately. I transferred them to some antique linen I had and have used them simply as prints – reminiscent of colour-by-number books. The pouch above is part of my shop update today.
Hope your Wednesday is going well! See you tomorrow.
tiny happy 