tiny happy

Pictured above are some small corners of our little house. We're enjoying all that autumn has to offer: lots of rain and then that golden light, acorns and walnuts, time inside for drawing and reading. Cycling through dried leaves at the park. Fresh flowers, figs and preserving pears. (Thank you, Pearl, for the jars!)

I spent the weekend completely immersed in the world of this novel, and didn't want to leave it when I finished the book. I love it when that happens.

Hope you had a restful time too.

My Mum went to Wellington recently, and brought me back some gorgeous new linen by Japanese design company Echino. I love these new prints, (and their previous styles, too) and couldn't resist making a winter bag with some of it. This will be useful for carrying around all my daily stuff, and is pretty simple in design, to show off the great fabric. I paired it with a vintage brown wool for extra sturdiness on the base of the bag, and recycled leather handles. There was a long piece of linen left so I made a matching case for my sunglasses and lip balm and other stuff that I always lose in my bag. Very handy.

I also made another bag-purse set from a different Echino print that is part of my shop update today. And now, I have to get organised because Tom and I are off to Wellington tonight to attend the Wilco concert. Yes, pretty excited about that.

PS have you seen the Echino ceramic designs? Beautiful.

This is a new design I've been working on lately- the long-eared rabbit. It's one of those things I was thinking about for a long time before he materialised. Maybe from back when I did this embroidery last year. In any case, I knew I wanted to make an old-fashioned bunny with extra-long ears. I was watching my nieces with their soft toys last week, and noticed that their favourite ones to carry around with them were the softest and squishiest- as if they were just half-stuffed.

Inspired by them (and this book of course) I decided to use blue velveteen for the body and a brushed flannel cotton for the inside of the ears. And the face is just simply embroidered on in cream thread. But I do think he needs a scarf for winter, as it's getting colder and darker here by the day, so that's my next project.

When I was staying out at my parents' place last week, I found Mum's copy of this book- Simple Knits for Cherished Babies by Erika Knight. I remembered those golden months when I was pregnant for the first time, and knitted every single pattern in that book for Arlo, in cream merino, I think. (Yes, I had a fair bit of time on my hands.) I chose my favourite pattern from that book, the 'garter stitch wrap top' and knitted it up last week in soft grey merino yarn for my friend's new baby. I also bought Lola a little stripy red and cream top to go underneath it. I like red and grey together- hope she does too.

You can see many more interpretations of this pattern here on Ravelry.

Have a great weekend- see you on Monday.

I found these pictures in a second-hand shop in town, intending to use the chunky glass frame for a print I bought on Etsy. But when I'd cleaned the glass at home, I realised how cool the original photos inside were. They're individual photographs of alpine plants, carefully positioned on a piece of black paper inside the frame. They are really faded with golden-tones and printed '1982' on the back of each photo. So they're going back in the frame (or maybe individual frames?) to be admired for longer.

Some pink anemones I picked on the weekend are nearly ready for the compost heap, but first I captured them with my camera and then my needle and thread. The linen version was made up into a make-up case. Or a case for anything really- I have one that I keep my art supplies in. It's part of my shop update today.

Those anemones really are quite gorgeous, aren't they? I'll be sad when I stop seeing them on my walks around town.

I've made a few avian-inspired things this week: brooches with embroidered birds and a feather locket. The brooches/pins were made by working tiny applique stitches onto layers of wool felt. The embroidered linen was kindly sent to me by Beryl, and was originally used as table linen, but the fabric was very worn and discoloured so I felt okay about cutting into it and rescuing the sweet embroideries.

The children found the discarded bird's nest on a walk the other day
and we've placed it in our garden. I love the way that moss and leaf
matter as well as random bits of litter are woven tightly together. The
base of the nest has feathers and what looks like lint from a dryer. Those birds are amazing textile artists.

Feeling light today. The cafe work has finished for me and I'm feeling grateful to have time and motivation for my creative work. The school holidays have also finished, and the children were happy to go back to school. Got lots of washing, shopping and small jobs done in preparation. And there's a windy but golden day outside.

I was given the old straw sewing box by a friend who was sorting out some of her childhood things. It's huge and perfect for embroidery threads. A few months ago, I was given a bag of vintage embroidery silk by a kind blog reader- it used to belong to her grandmother who was an amazing embroiderer. So over the weekend I carefully wound some of the silks onto pieces of recycled card. I started with the pinks. I hope i can do them justice.