tiny happy

To be honest, it seems wrong to be writing about anything here that is not related to the Christchurch earthquake that happened one week ago today. There are still people missing, and bodies are being discovered and identified gradually, day by day. Many people still have no electricity or water, while others are homeless. The victims of the earthquake came from all over the world- Chch was an international city. It's truly heartbreaking- every bit of it.

Sometimes though, a bit of crafting can be therapeutic. Arlo and I got up earlier than usual this morning, and found ourselves carving some more stamps at the kitchen table- like those I made last week. We used the stamps to decorate some kraft paper for wrapping presents, and a stack of plain labels which we turned into stickers (some are painted, some are stamped.) Shown above is a gift I made for my Mum- (it was her birthday yesterday)- a case sewn from cotton lawn, containing vintage crochet threads. 

Hope you are doing well, wherever you are.

This beautiful and personal artwork was made for me by Margie of Resurrection Fern. It arrived today, here at the bottom of the world, all the way from the top (Ontario, Canada.) Margie has carefully crocheted together pieces of Liberty lawn as well as small pieces of my own fabric. It's a big, but delicate missing pieces stone, and I can't believe I have one of my very own.

Thank you, dear Margie.

(ceramic swallow made by paula, rocket-flowers in the vege patch)

Thank you for your comments on my last post- you are the best.

Thanks to your support of my fundraising efforts on Wednesday, I was able to make a good donation to the earthquake relief fund. And thank you, too, for your messages of sympathy and support. They're much appreciated.

If there's anything good to come of the disaster that happened here on Tuesday, it must surely be a realisation that every day is precious, and we must make each day our very best day. Letting go of things that don't matter, being as kind and generous as we can, loving all of those around us. 

Thank you again, and I'll be back here on Monday.

Yesterday was a dark day for New Zealand. Just before 1 pm, the biggest city in our beautiful South Island was hit by yet another earthquake, but this time the damage was much worse than the quake suffered last September.

People were out and about in the central city as the spire crumbled from the cathedral, buildings buckled and folded, roads tore open and water began pouring out. As of writing, 75 people have been confirmed dead and 300 people are listed as being still missing. Rescue workers are desperately trying to get any possible survivors out from crumbled buildings.

Thank you for your messages of support and enquiries about how we are doing. Christchurch is about 5 hours' drive from our city, so we are all thankful to be safe. My friends and family who live in Christchurch are fine, as far as I know. It's all so shocking and sad and I wish there was more I could do to help. My father and uncle are travelling there this afternoon to help with the rescue effort. I've updated my etsy shop and will donate proceeds from any sales made today to the NZ Red Cross. If  you would like to make a donation to the relief fund, there is a list of options here. Dear people of Christchurch, if you're reading this, our thoughts and love are with you all the time, kia kaha. X

It's a grey Tuesday here, and I'm so thankful for the rain that's just started falling. The garden was getting dry and worn-out, with only the dandelions having a good time. They're so hardy. I took some from the compost-heap to use for inspiration for some ceramic-illustrations I've been working on this week. They are nearly the same as some I designed last year.

Have you heard the latest Radiohead album? I bought it nearly immediately after it was released the other day (I've been a loyal fan since 1995) and haven't been able to stop listening to it since. It's heart-breakingly beautiful, especially this song, my favourite, I think. That's where the title of this blog post comes from. (p.s. if you want to buy it too, you can download it for 6 pounds here at the official site.)

Here we have some flowers from the garden at the back of the house: geraniums, snapdragons and herbs that have flowered and nearly gone to seed. I do love this time of the year.

This past weekend saw me busy at the sewing machine, working on a project for a family wedding: the flowergirl dresses. They're very simple in design (as you can see) and made from a beautiful soft white cotton with very faint woven stripes. They'll all be lined in the softest cotton lawn and have sashes made from printed voile to match the wedding colours. I hope. 4 down, two to go…

I've always wanted to try making my own stamps, and the discovery of two brand-new erasers on my desk (combined with a desire to delay doing the housework) resulted in these rather humble efforts. I made two simple stamps from medium-sized rubber erasers (Staedtler brand) and some fine-tipped linocutting tools. So far, I've used the stamps and a black inkpad to make notecards, gift-tags, stickers and wrapping paper. 

They were fun to make- carving stamps would make a great rainy-day activity and you could make heaps of cards and wrapping paper to use throughout the year. We always seem to be running out of those things. Have you seen the amazing handmade stamps made by Gennine? She even shares a stamp-carving tutorial on her blog- here.

Have a relaxing weekend, friends.

I was out walking last night and took these photos along the way. They show parts of our neighbourhood. My favourite, slightly wild parts. Running through our suburb is a reserve, where people can walk or cycle, and while there has been a lot of planting and care of the land on either side of the cycleway, the summertime weeds are doing their best to envelop everything else. I know it will be a lot of work to clear them, but there's something kind of magical about honeysuckle, blackberries and clover growing en masse. 

There's a divisive debate raging in our city at the moment, because the authorities want to build a major linking highway through our community. It's a complicated and wide-ranging issue, but it seems to be the only solution they have to redirect traffic away from a wealthy and picturesque part of town. Along with writing letters and protesting, I have plans to take more photos of our colourful neighbourhood, in the meantime.

Something I'd like to do this year is 'make more' for little ones- babies and children alike. I've been making my reversible baby shoes now for nearly 6 years, can you believe it? I still like making them, especially when my friends and family have babies. But I'd like to stock up my shop with more things like those I make for my children and their friends. 

I put a few new things for little ones in my shop update today- some foraging satchels and plaid apple tshirts too. The skirt in the last photo above was made from a piece of fabric that I've been hoarding for what seems like forever. It's a drapey kind of vintage cotton, with blue anemones and printed cross-stitches. It feels great to finally take it off the shelf and give it a new life.

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I found this website today, via Frankie magazine-  Music Philosophy– your daily dose of music quotes. Here is my favourite: The Smiths.

A few scenes from the kitchen today:

– On the table, I've had lots of linen and threads laid out while working on some small embroideries of nature collections. These are to be sewn up to make childrens' foraging bags.

– I got some more of my hellebore cards printed for my shop. Lately, I've found myself looking forward to planting winter things such as hellebores… it must be something to do with this heatwave we're having.

– I painted a little tribute to my favourite kitchen implement and framed it for the kitchen windowsill. The ritual of making coffee and drinking it with others has turned out to be quite an important one in my adult life- so why not immortalise it? 🙂

In other news, I just found out that I've been shortlisted for the Handmade Olympics over at The Rikrak Studio blog, in the category #6. This came as a big honour and I'm still stunned, to be honest. Thank you very much to whoever nominated and/or voted for me. 

If you'd like to vote, you can do so here. Thank you kindly!