tiny happy

The mission to breathe new life into unloved things continues unabated around here. A while ago I found a little bundle of embroidered napkins, each with a little sprig of flowers in the corner. The linen around the embroidery was mottled and stained, but they were much too nice to just leave at the rubbish tip. Thank you, mystery embroiderer! You have the most delicate little stitches.

I made some small needlecases and pins from them as part of my etsy shop update today.

The flowers in the first photo were a gift from Tom's Mum a couple of days ago. Aren't they beautiful? She even delivered them complete with the leafy green bottle.

Recently I came upon a little stash of vintage fabrics at the flea market that I completely fell in love with. After admiring them all for a while, I began making things from them. More of the wildflower cushion covers like those i made last year (but this time, backed in new linen), and pouches from the smaller pieces of printed linen.

I'm not sure why I love pieces of vintage fabrics like these so much, but I do. I like to think of them as wild things. They are often one-offs, loved by someone in the past and full of their stories. They evoke memories from childhood. A bit like wildflowers, they pop up now and again and are often only admired by some. You can never really say when you might come across them. 

And really, where else can you find those amazing colour-schemes?

Keira turns six today- i can hardly believe it. Yet, at the same time, it feels like she's always been here. She's more grown up these days- not looking back when I drop her at school, getting wobbly teeth, reading novels and not looking up until the last page. But she does still likes dressing up in dramatic outfits.

I finished the hat I started last week, in time for the birthday. One of K's long-term desires was to possess a hat with a pom-pom on the top. So that's what I had to make, of course. I used angora yarn, and sort of made up the pattern as I went along- I was aiming for a kind of beret/tam shape.

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I'm devastated to hear about the terrible earthquake affecting Japan in so many frightening ways. My heart goes out to all of you. The Red Cross looks like the best place right now to make donations.

It was my niece's birthday yesterday, and I had bought her a gift, but K and A were not too impressed when I described it to them. Keira explained that her cousin would much prefer a blank book with a nice cover that she could put her recipes in. So I made her an apron from some blue linen and a recycled tablecloth from the 1970s (I love those bright cheerful flowers) and a fabric-covered journal to match. (The pattern for the apron was made up as I went along, and to cover the book I used a method similar to this one.)

My sister tells me that E (newly 9 years old) has recently found a passion for baking and has been making cakes and crackers and biscuits and all sorts- patiently perfecting her favourite recipes. She's also quite a skilled farm-hand, carer of her three little sisters, gardener and fearless unicycle-rider. I'm proud of her.

p.s. We decided that we'd get her started on the recipe book- and wrote down one of our favourite things to make- afghans. (We had to give the recipe a test-run first, of course.)

Have a happy weekend!

Embroidery of the tiny variety is what I've been up to this week, making very small stitches on linen and wool felt. I made a few things for my shop update today, including some lockets with inset embroideries. I have new findings for these now- they have an embossed pattern on the front and are slightly smaller which means my stitches have become very small indeed. But I like working on a miniature scale.

The first photo above shows some plants that are going strong in the garden right now, in front of a lovely old 'motoring' map sent to me by my friend Caireen, featuring parts of Norway and Sweden. I love the gentle and dignified fonts and colours of old maps.

One of the best things about moving into a new house must be discovering what comes up in the garden each season. This summer I was most excited to learn that we had our very own peach tree, and when it was time to eat them (just last week) I discovered it was a red-fleshed peach tree. Their extremely unthoughtful common name is 'black-boy peach' and they are a pretty standard fruit tree to have in the garden here in NZ. (you can read more about them in this funny article here).

Anyway, it turns out that these particular peaches from our tree are not that delicious when eaten raw. Maybe they needed more rain over the year or some kind of fertiliser. But they are great for cooking- I made a big batch of peach chutney and did some baking with them and they were gorgeous like that.

Here is the recipe for a versatile sort of cake that I love making for afternoon tea or for a special lunch. It was a recipe that a friend of my mum's gave us when I was little, and i've been making it ever since. She called it 'Norwegian Apple Cake' but I don't remember seeing any cakes like this when I was living in Norway. It's a great recipe all the same.

The best features of this cake are a) I always have the ingredients in the cupboard- it's not fancy at all, but the fruit makes it special, b) you can use any sort of fruit- I've made it with apples, pears, berries and all kinds of stone fruit with great results and c) the mixture is big enough to make two tarts: one large and one small. So you can deliver one to a friend.

Any-kind-of-fruit tart

2 large eggs

150 grams white sugar

100 grams butter

150 mls milk

175 grams flour

3 tsps baking powder

enough sliced fruit to cover the surface fo the tart. (apples, pears, berries, stonefruit, feijoas, etc.)

Whisk the eggs and sugar until thick and creamy. Put butter and milk into a saucepan and stir until just boiling. Remove from heat. Sift flour and baking powder into the egg mixture, then pour in the milk mixture. Fold all the ingredients together until smooth. (I use an electric beater for just a minute.)

Pour into a flat-ish dish. I use one medium-sized pie dish, and one small one, lined with baking paper. Arrange the sliced fruit over the top. (You could also sprinkle over a little raw sugar or sliced almonds if you like.) Bake at 180 degrees celcius for 20-30 mins.

On the weekend we got to introduce the children to a new puppy belonging to their aunt and uncle, and they fell in love with her. Molly is 13 weeks old and full of energy and happiness. She especially likes swimming. We went walking with her on the beach, and, upon returning home, I started knitting this autumn hat for Keira. Sea-and-sand-colours, in lightweight angora yarn.

These fabric designs were inspired by a book I was re-reading over the summer, called Charleston: A Bloomsbury House and Garden by Quentin Bell and Virginia Nicholson. (I first blogged about it years ago and still look at it regularly!) I've also been doing furthur reading about the lives of writers Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West, and their relationship during the 1920s. Also over the holiday I read part of Sackville-West's gardening book that used to belong to Tom's grandmother. Inspired by her passion for plants and the garden at Sissinghurst, where she lived, I began making these sketches and watercolour paintings. The 'waves' design was a nod to Woolf and her novel of the same name, published in 1931.

My kind friend Karuna helped me again with preparing the artwork to send to Spoonflower for printing. I'm happy with the finished fabrics, and have a plan to make some cushion covers from them- I think the 'Vita' print with a red wool back would make a great cushion cover. There are some fat quarters in my shop as an experiment- each cut would be enough for a regular-sized cushion I reckon.

I do love reading about the Bloomsbury Group and, as much as I admire their painting, politics, Bohemian lifestyle and writing, I find myself staring at the photos of the textile designs, clothing and ceramics more intently whenever I'm lucky enough to find photos of the interiors of Charleston. You can see some of the rooms here. 

Enjoy your weekend, lovely readers.

I saw the pattern for this velvet skirt in a Burda magazine in the library- and I knew I had to make it for this coming autumn. I love velvet and always have, despite its slightly bogan connotations. It's just cosy and old-fashioned and friendly to me. The skirt was very easy to make- (although the panne velvet I used was a bit slippery to measure and sew.) The waistband was created by stretching a piece of decorative white elastic and sewing on to the top of the skirt directly, and I also added some vintage lace to the hem. Also in the magazine was a pattern for a drapey, gathered velvet dress so that just might be my next project. The magazine details (in case you're craving some velvet too) are Burda magazine (Germany), August 2009, "Very British" Special).

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And now, I wanted to make a few 'public service announcements' …

*Thank you very much for your response to my fabric designs yesterday- I'm kind of overwhelmed that all the fabric has sold out again. I've ordered lots more for next time, and tomorrow on the blog I'll show you my new designs.

*Thanks also for your votes in the Handmade Olympics last week! I was very honoured to get a silver medal with your help. 🙂

*If you are in Wellington next week, Ngaio School Fair on Sunday 13th March will be a really great one to attend, and they're donating 75% of their proceeds to the Chch earthquake relief fund. You can see more details in the comment section of yesterday's blog post if you're interested.

*My dear friend Anna-Louise has set up this fundraising site for NZers living abroad who are keen to raise some dollars for the same fund- Cakes for Christchurch.

* People all around NZ are donating their craftwares to Handmade for Christchurch, which lists the goods in a Trade Me shop for auction, with all the funds from sales going to the people trying to rebuild their lives.

It's raining and stormy, and here are some of the things keeping me busy today. A few new things for my shop (including some more 'heidi and clara' fabric pieces), and making biscuits. I always think about delivering baking to my neighbours, as a sort of unexpected (and maybe slightly awkward) afternoon tea surprise, and I think I really will do it this time.