tiny happy

Well here we are in our new house. We're mostly all settled in now, but still getting used to small things like, where the light switches are, and the different sounds we can hear at night. Our house is a wooden one- a classic 1940's NZ style with lots of big windows. The children have been drawing pictures in the condensation on them each morning and then later during the day I find faint outlines of faces and names.

While unpacking boxes and cleaning, I discovered the Baltimore, Maryland band Beach House and have been playing their songs on repeat- especially this one. So good. 

It's (mostly) lovely and peaceful up here on the hill, and we have big tree-ferns growing against our bedroom windows. I'm pretty happy about that.

Hope you are enjoying your midsummer or winter- wherever it is you live!

Thank you for your kind words on my last post! I'm looking forward to sharing our new place here on  my blog.

Here are a few favourite corners of our house over the past year. I always find it a bit sad to shift- I know we'll all miss this place. It's right in the middle of a busy community, was built in 1910 and has so much character.

I'll be away from the internet until early next week. Hope you have a great weekend!

This is the last week we will spend in our little town-house because on the weekend we are moving. Tom and I have bought our first home. It's been a long process, (searching and saving) but an interesting one and we are looking forward to having our own garden where we can grow things (flowers and fruit trees and vegetables…) and a little extra room for the children. And trees outside the windows. My favourite part.

Starting from this weekend, I will take a small holiday from my etsy shop, and so today I am having a sale in there. 25% off everything- (the prices have not been adjusted- I will send your refund through paypal.) The sale will last until Friday, then I will close up the shop. Thank you for your ongoing support!

Now I'd better get back to the dull task of packing and cleaning- and of course a little bit of looking through old house and garden magazines, too. 

Three things that are making this winter very sweet for me:

Sitting on the sofa late at night embroidering, a stick of wintersweet in a glass, and lime marmalade on toast. I do declare them winter essentials.

What are your essentials right now?

Keira went to the birthday party of one of her best friends on the weekend. When I asked what she'd like to give her friend as a gift she replied 'a very pretty dress that she can wear to a tea party.' So I let her choose some fabric from my shelf and I sewed up this dress for Florence.

The fabric is a vintage rayon, and I used the same pattern as this one (Butterick #3351). I hope she'll have lots of fun dancing and tea-partying in it. 

I took the photo of the rainbow out of my studio window while sewing the dress. A thin stripe of colour in the grey.

This is a free-form embroidery I finished this week- it's called 'growth'.

I've been thinking lots lately about water and the ocean.

Have a great weekend.

It's so cold today, and raining on and off. Spring-like pink colours are very cheering though. Tom bought me the pink-tinged lilies on the weekend when they were tightly closed pods. Now they've opened and are filling the house with their scent.

I made the purse, along with some other pink things, as part of my shop update today. When I was looking through some old cards and fabrics I found a small vintage silk mat that had been embroidered in China. I think it was sent to me a few years ago by Caireen. It seemed too nice to be packed away so I sewed it into this little circular pouch- lined in cotton lawn. I think it would be nice for storing jewellery or other treasures. Asian embroidery always amazes me- I was talking to a Chinese woman at the craft fair a few weeks ago who told me her grandmother used to embroider like this to support her family. She would stitch leaves and roses and insects on clothing and tableware. It's such fine and delicate work.

Arlo turned seven on the weekend, and had a great time celebrating with his friends and family members. I'm still finding it hard to believe I have a child who is so old- definitely not a little one anymore. I went a bit sentimental and looked through all his baby photos. He was very tolerant but did roll his eyes a little after a while. I can't resist those round-headed, smiley baby photos of his though.

He asked me to make him a scarf for his birthday- it's been getting really cold in the mornings here on our walks to school. So I made him a chocolate-brown one. The outside layer is very warm and thick wool fabric that I cut from a discarded jacket previously belonging to my grandmother. She likes it how I recycle old clothes and gives me her cast-offs. I had to sew different lengths of this wool together to get the right size so it has a bit of a patchworked look. And then I lined the scarf with a soft vintage wool in brown and orange plaid. Warm and cosy for wintertime.

When I was in Wellington last weekend, I joined some lovely fellow crafters for sushi and after that we ate icecream at Kaffee Eis (on Courtenay Place). I chose a scoop of green apple gelato, and it was so good I have been thinking about green apples ever since.

In summertime perhaps I'll try making some gelato or sorbet with them, but today it's grey and overcast and definitely a baking day. I've made a green apple cake from a recipe I found in my scrapbook, jotted down years ago and with no notes about where or when I first found it. I used fresh Granny Smith apples, grated whole with their skins on. I hope the kids will enjoy eating this when they come home from school.

I've typed my recipe below, in case you'd like to make an apple cake this weekend too.

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green apple cake

125 gm butter, 2 apples (I used granny smiths), 1 cup sugar, 1 free-range egg.

1 1/2 cups plain flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp allspice

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius. Melt the butter, then mix in the sugar, egg, and apples (grated, complete with their skins). Beat well then fold in the sifted dry ingredients. Line a cake tin with baking paper, and spread the mixture inside. Combine topping ingredients then sprinkle over the cake. Bake for around 30-40 mins until cooked.

topping:

1 1/5 Tb butter, melted, 1/2 cup rolled oats, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon

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I wanted to make a warm winter dress for K to wear to school so I pulled an old vintage pattern from my shelf, (Style # 3718) and cut out this pinafore dress from some grey cotton corduroy. I remember wearing dresses just like this when I was starting school- (maybe even made from the same pattern considering it's from 1982, after all)- in particular, one from stiff burgundy-coloured corduroy that I would wear over a soft, flowery shirt. My Mum probably made this shirt, too. 

I made a bit of a mess of this dress- first of all it was much too big so I sort of just hacked away at the front and back and straps until it fitted K and the lining doesn't really match the outer properly. I will have another go at a winter dress before too long though.

I let the small girl of the house choose the buttons so her pinafore has vintage red buttons and a flowery lining. Perfect for playing outside whatever the weather.