tiny happy

The small pieces i've been working on this week for today's shop update have been inspired by the colour in the garden- especially pink. The tangle of poppies in the vegetable garden have nearly finished flowering, and this papery-thin baby poppy was the only one left this morning.

I had a few small remnants of Nani Iro fabric left over from the top I made on the weekend and it was in the perfect shape for a pencil case. I used the sashiko-quilting idea on it as the cotton itself was too fine. So I applied running stitches along the fabric, with a piece of heavier wool material behind it. The result is a soft, padded kind of case. I could get used to embroidering those running stitches.

I saw some beautiful paintings of vegetables in the book 'In the Kitchen' by Yuko Yamamoto the other day. (I saw them here, at Hanna's blog.) They were so simple and evocative. They made me think of the two zucchini (courgette) plants in our front garden, which at the moment are growing so wildly they are creeping out of the gate and across the street. I have to keep cutting them back so passers-by don't trip on their tendrils and leaves. I couldn't resist doing a quick watercolour painting of them.

We've been grating the street-zucchini up and making simple little fritters for dinner quite often. I've also left bundles of them by the letterbox with a sign that says 'home-grown zucchini, please help yourself.' The children are very keen for people to take them away.

But my favourite thing to do with them is make chocolate-zucchini cake. I made one last night- using a recipe quite similar to this one (but with greek yoghurt instead of milk). It came out quite moist and sticky, yet light. Thank you zucchini…

We've had a series of very hot and beautiful summer days here, so we've been enjoying going on trips and swimming and hanging out on the beach. Two days ago, we went swimming in the sea at midnight, under the full moon. It was the best thing I've done all summer.

I finally got brave enough to cut into the piece of Nani Iro double-gauze I bought last year (from this Japanese etsy shop). I had been hoarding it and not able to decide on a project. But the sunshine prompted me to make something light and airy- I used Simplicity pattern #6239. It's a little on the, shall we say, 'tent-like' side, but fairly cool (temperature-wise) and nice to wear. And I think it would improve with a belt of some sort to give some shape.

This Nani Iro double-gauze is lovely to handle: it's soft yet kind of thick and I found it easy to sew. I truly adore the other designs too- you can see more and some project ideas at the website here.

This week I read the book Important Artifacts and Personal Property… by Leanne Shapton (published 2009). I found it to be the most enjoyable novel I've read in a long time- I think because of its unique format and style. I think it's a subtle, intriguing and romantic graphic novel.

The book is made up of many photographs of items that are relics of the relationship between a NYC couple, Lenore and Hal. It includes three (I think) Valentine's Day menus hand-drawn by Lenore herself, and I loved the style of these and of the cards and letters from her throughout the book. When I was finished reading it I found these textile designs by Leanne Shapton which furthur play on that idea of simple, hand-painted motifs.

I needed some new stationery so I made these simple cards inspired by Lenore's designs. I started with some old-fashioned index cards, the type with pinkish and light blue lines and used watercolour paints.

Arlo, who is now 6 and a half, has a keen interest in space and stars and planets. His favourite planet, he tells me, is Mars because it has icy lands at the top and bottom, and dried-up salt on its surface which means it might once have had oceans. I must admit that I don't really share his passion for all things astronomical but it is amazing to watch a child become so absorbed by a subject. The other day he presented me with this little painting of a slice of outer space, and later that night I turned it into an embroidery for his room. I used coloured threads on dark-navy linen. I really enjoyed making it for him.

Yesterday, my friend Anna visited with gifts, including this big bunch of lavender and bay leaves. I've hung them in the kitchen to dry and they smell so nice. Thank you, A.

It's been raining a lot here, for 12 hours. I love lying in bed and listening to the rain on the corrugated iron roof. And it's a good day for doing some drawing inside. I painted these white bread-and-butter plates. There's one with tansy, one with dandelion seeds and one with some imaginary wildflowers.

When I was cleaning out my sewing room the other day, I found a length of beautiful navy-blue linen in a box and remembered that I'd bought it a while ago to try sashiko quilting after being inspired by a library book. The book had been long returned, but I found some cream embroidery thread and some wool fabric with which to back the linen, and started stitching. At first I got frustrated, the lines of my stitches were wonky and I kept stopping to unpick them every row or so. But then I decided that I liked the slightly random effect of my uneven stitches, and just went with it. I like the way the stitches look hand-drawn and a bit organic. One day I would like to try the very neat and geometrical sashiko embroidery- there are lots of beautiful examples in this flickr group.

I turned my pieces of simple sashiko-quilting into two padded cases: one for pencils and a small one for coins, etc. I've included them in my first (small) shop update for the year. It's good to open my etsy shop again after a nice long break- I am starting to get some new ideas for it this year, and am feeling excited about the year ahead. Thank you for your support with my humble needlecase-fundraising. In addition, I will donate 15% of anything sold in my shop this week to the International Red Cross working in Haiti.

Unrelated: I am honoured to have been nominated for one of the Poppies– an award ceremony taking place at the lovely Poppytalk handmade blog. The category is for 'Favourite Handmade Crafter' so thank you!! If you feel like voting for me (or anyone else, of course) you can do so here. Thanks again for your support.

Reading about what is going on in Haiti at the moment is heartbreaking- and I haven't been able to get it out of my mind since I first heard of the earthquake and its devastating effects on the people there.

We have a local connection to this tragedy because a woman from our small town was in Haiti when the earthquake struck. Her Haitian husband and two of her three very young daughters died in the rubble. She and her baby are now safe, but I can't imagine what that must be like for her, and all the other people suffering such loss. 

There is financial support being gathered together in our community for her, and I thought I would put some things in my etsy shop as well to add to my small donation to the relief effort. So today I've listed three of these hand-embroidered needlecases- ferns, chamomile and a feather one. They could be great to give as gifts to crafty friends over this year. I'll donate all of the money from their sale to Oxfam's Haitian Earthquake Response Fund. Thank you!

Here are some more related links:

NPR America list of organisations that are working in Haiti

World Vision NZ

Unicef

International Red Cross

Direct Relief International

Everything feels so lush and green here at the moment- summer is in full swing- at least, in our little garden plot. When I saw this very old printed linen tablecloth at the recycling centre (I happened to find the 'matching' little old leafy plate, above, on the same trip) I decided to make it into a summer dress for Keira. I love the faded green and brown flowers and its drapey feel (truth be told, I think I love it more than she does. You know how it is sometimes.) The bodice is lined in greeny, botanical-print Liberty lawn and the armhole edges are finished with green lawn bias binding. I don't think I'll ever find a tablecloth big enough to make myself such a dress.

The house next door to ours has lots of beautiful heavy hydrangeas spilling over the front fence. I've been admiring them for a while now- some are pink, some are blue and some are creamy-green in colour.

They inspired me to make a headband to wear to a wedding we attended last weekend- for which I'd bought a new grey silk dress. I made my headband from a piece of black velvet ribbon, with a small bit of elastic to attach it into a circle. Then I sewed lots of little hydrangea petals on to it, cut from wool felt. A few days later I fulfilled Keira's request for her own version- except hers has white hydrangea petals sewn on to a green ribbon. Also useful for keeping unruly summer hair under control (both hers and mine..)