Don't have much to say this week, really, so here are a few pictures. (Windows?)
-1- These are cards I had printed (to send to friends and some for my shop) from this photo, taken one cold autumnal day on the south coast.
-2- The coriander has gone to seed. In November!
-3- A glimpse of a just-finished project.
-4- Creamy wild roses I found growing by the bus stop.
I made friends with ceramicist/illustrator Japneet Kaur a while ago on Instagram and she kindly sent me a gift which arrived all the way from Toronto this morning.
A little bowl with illustration of a bird's-nest-hair-and-eggs which I intend to use to serve chocolates at every available opportunity.
And a creamy smooth pottery pendant with a knitting illustration.
Japneet makes beautifully detailed ceramic bowls, cups, and jewellery, as well as works on paper. The ceramics have the mark of their maker all over them, not just because they are intricately illustrated, but also in their 'imperfect'-yet-perfect shape and form.
You can have a look at her work here on her site Story of a Seed, including some of her past pendants and prints.
+ + = = + + = = + + = = + + = = + + = =
– Here's a marine-inspired Friday song for you: When the sea calls me home.
– I bought some little paper lanterns for the kitchen window (you can see them in the first photo above). I never grow tired of strings of lights…
– This is a new favourite dinner at our house. It's especially good for children, I think, because you can grate (even more) extra vegetables in to the sauce without them noticing. And is quite quick and easy to make/reheat.
– Even though it's (supposedly) almost summer here, I love looking at this image. Giant garter stitch, anyone?
++ I made a small drawstring bag with an embroidered 'R' for the little girl of one of my oldest friends who is now the mum of two rather beautiful children. R turned one, so I made her some knitted characters and put them inside the bag. I remember that Arlo was really into putting things into things, then taking them out again, at that age.
++ I've also been working on some all-over embroideries of the free-form variety. In the photo above you can see a rather colourful one I finished yesterday: pink poppies on vibrant blue.
++ Have you been enjoying any new music lately? I have this unbearably beautiful album on repeat these days. I also listen to Carrie and Lowell a lot and am thrilled to have tickets to see Sufjan Stevens in concert at the NZ Arts Festival next year.
++ Are you a Nani Iro fan? I came across this in-person interview with designer Naomi Ito herself that you might like.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
This week I got a chance to finish off some projects that had lingering on my worktable for a while. It's a great feeling to finish things. I need to remember that, before starting new things…
1) I made a very simple gift for a friend who has had a busy time of it lately: a pillowcase from a long-hoarded, precious piece of Nani Iro double gauze. To remind her to lie down and flick through magazines more often.
2) This is a little collection of small things I made for my etsy shop. Everything (including linings, etc, though not zips) has been recycled from another thing. The crocheted lace, in particular, is really old.
3) Some hand-stitched anemone clusters. Just because.
I had some precious lemons picked from my parents' orchard (can't seem to grow them in our garden here) and, in my quest to use them in something delicious, made a batch of lemon curd – a jar for us and one for a friend.
Then we had visitors for afternoon tea, so I made a cake using the finished lemon curd. Well, it was more of a loaf. But very lemony and perfect with a cup of tea.
+ + + + + + + + +
SUNDAY AFTERNOON LEMONY LOAF
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup caster sugar
100 grams butter, melted
3/4 – 1 cup milk
1-2 lemons + 1 extra spoonful of caster sugar
1/2 cup lemon curd – you can buy this ready-made or make your own using this recipe (makes 2 jars)
+ + + + + + + + +
Line a loaf tin with waxed paper and preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
Sift and stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Beat the eggs and sugar in a separate bowl till creamy. Grate the zest from the lemons and beat in.
Lightly stir together these two mixtures, along with the melted butter, and enough of the milk to make a light, smooth batter.
Tip half of the batter into the loaf tin. Spoon the lemon curd over, then tip in the other half of the batter on top. Bake for about 15-20 mins, or until golden brown.
Squeeze the juice from the lemons and stir together with the extra spoonful of caster sugar. Pour this syrup over the hot loaf when it comes out of the oven.
+ + + + + + + + + + + +
Hello! I hope you are having a nice weekend so far.
I don't have much to share here, really. Just some daisies in a jar. And ferns to accompany them.
I'm working on a big-ish project that involves lots of embroidery, and above you can see a little bit of it. Some white sprigs stitched onto dark linen.
A few good things I've found around the traps lately:
– The Lonely Death of George Bell is an amazing piece of journalism. NYT writer N.R Kleinfield investigated what happened when an elderly person died alone, and followed the many ripples it caused. Sad, but completely engrossing and important work, I think.
– The programme for the NZ Arts Festival (early next year) is out and I'm having fun planning what to see/hear.
– A friend and I went to see Gifted, at Circa Theatre. Janet Frame is one of my favourite authors, and this play mythologised her quite a bit. But the performances were beautiful.
– I found the book A Good Yarn at the library. And now (probably over-ambitiously) I want to make the 'narwhal blanket' – and have seen it's published for free online, in case you want to, too.
– This dress. I am going to try and make something similar to wear this summer. Again, perhaps a bit ambitious…!
I found some forget-me-nots while pulling out weeds in the vegetable garden, so they became my latest all-over embroidered pattern.
Hope you've had a lovely long weekend, if you're in NZ and had Labour day off work.
This is a new favourite song of mine.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
I finished a project this week that has been waiting a long time for some attention. Searching through my blog archives, I see it was actually begun in 2012. (The niece for whom it was intended received something else for her birthday!)
I guess I was pretty confident about my running stitch enthusiasm, because in that post I mentioned I would like to make a full-size quilt in the same way. Probably just as well I never got started on that.
I've taken the doll-quilt sized project and made it into a cushion for the sofa. It's backed in grey wool fabric. The front is made from the last piece of Heidi I printed onto cotton voile. I layered that with some wool batting, and more cotton, and used these beautiful threads to work lines of running stitches. I wouldn't call them sashiko, as they are intentionally imperfect. Some might say wonky. That's the way I like them.
I found the blue beads on etsy – this Belgian crafter made them. I love their weight and imperfect shape.
We have two rhubarb plants in the garden at the moment, and they've really taken off in the last month or so. That's how i knew it was time to make some dessert, using this recipe: rhubarb and strawberry shortcake. It's been a favourite of ours for a few years now. Something about the tart rhubarb, matched with the sweet strawberries. Then the rich buttery shortcake. And even better, eating the leftover cake for breakfast with coffee.
The magnolia stem was a gift from a visiting friend. The scent is divine, and that pink! The petals look like they're made from the finest hand-painted porcelain.
Here are the treasures I brought home from this fabulous little fair on the weekend. I hadn't really planned on buying anything but then I couldn't resist. What a surprise..
The fabrics include soft grey wool – I was thinking it would be lovely to embroider on, or maybe make a coat for K next winter?
I also found a long length of drapey denim that I have set aside for a winter dress. And some striped cotton which is always useful for lining things.
There was a stall of beautiful vintage buttons – I could have looked at them all day. Some were tiny and made of bone, and there were also cards of buttons made from mother-of-pearl, metal, horn and wood. Some were round and wooden, like beads, but hand-painted with bright flowers.
I chose one card (so restrained!) of flat wooden buttons. They're topped with what looks like swirling white shell, but the label says '1970's buttons, wood + acrylic'. I mostly bought them because they remind me of iced biscuits.
The stall belonged to Ruth Meier, who also just happens to have a button exhibition on at the Dowse Gallery right now – I can't wait to check it out.
tiny happy 