tiny happy

Here's a little bit of spring floral for your Tuesday morning. 

I love these tiny little bulbs that come up in the garden every September. I don't know what they're called. (Maybe you do?)

Inspired by all this floral activity going on outside, I've been doing some embroidery work. I sent a parcel of completed project bags to Loop, London a couple of weeks ago. My goal is to have some more to send by Christmas. 

And, at the end of this week I'll be heading to Melbourne to take part in this beautiful event, for the third time. I am a very lucky woman.

This year there'll be a small display/stall of items made by the teachers. I've made a few things, including these needlecases you see above, made from my stash of linen offcuts. I'll be teaching two different classes: one called 'embroidery from the natural world' (read more about it here) and another, similar but more structured class.

Good morning! Thank you for your thoughtful comments on my last post. And for understanding.

I thought you might like to see some projects that Tom and I have been working on, with the help of some builders and our mate Dan.

The project has been going on for most of the winter, and involved removing a wall between our kitchen and dining room (thank you, clever builders.) Then we painted the new double-room in a creamy colour called 'Sandfly Point.' (Thank you, Dan.)

Among other things, Tom has been getting in touch with his d-i-y side and building shelves and cupboards and laying tiles. I love the little recycled floor-board shelf he made for (what turns out to be my rather extensive) collection of green and blue vintage coffee cups. We love making coffee around here, especially for a big group, so that I have an excuse for amassing so many green cups.

Renovation-wise, I haven't been that helpful, really. But I did make some new curtains (you can see them in the middle photo above), from some very beautiful linen bought from here, a lucky find one day walking home from work. 

We also did some work in another part of the house, to build a mezzanine for children to sleep on with their friends, and some storage cupboards. I'll show you that when it's all finished.

Happy Fathers Day to all the dads and grandads, if you celebrate it where you are. We brought Tom breakfast, and kid-made cards, coffee and newspaper in bed. A treat he never gets tired of.

It's nice to be back in the blogging spirit. I'm not sure what happened over the past month – I suddenly couldn't bring myself to find the camera, think of what to write, or even log in here at my site. 

With so many horrendous and heartbreaking things happening every day on earth, I found this blog (and if I'm honest, most blogs that deal with the minutiae of a comfortable life) nothing more than an examplar of how unjust the world is.

In addition, I struggle to see what I might have to add to any conversation about any thing in particular. 

But that's not the point of this online project; if I can call my blog that. It's only a place to collect small and peaceful moments. Just a scrapbook that anyone can look at. 

My above comments are not meant as a criticism of anyone, but merely an attempt to describe my absence from this space.

Thank you, though, for your interest and kind emails and messages. I'm really happy you like checking in here from time to time.

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It doesn't feel much warmer outside, but seedlings are pushing up through the soil in the vege patch and a few bulbs are flowering. I hope you are enjoying the change of season (or not), where ever you are on earth.

I've got some more finished and in-progress projects to show you very soon. In the photo above you can see one that I finished over winter, with an optimistic summer-heart: a silk top to wear to work, with tiny blue and white stripes. I used this pattern, which has become such a favourite.

And music is something that I've been thinking about a lot these days. My current spring listening treasures are: 

– Dirty Projectors, Bitte Orca

– The new Phoenix Foundation album, Give Up Your Dreams

– Frazey Ford, Obadiah

– This crazy-beautiful new Joanna Newsom song: Sapokanikan

It's nearly the end of winter, at least, there are signs all around. The clematis vine on our fence is in flower, and the days are stretching out a little longer. The new light is very welcome.

For some reason, I haven't been feeling inspired to write here, or indeed, to even pull my camera out of its drawer and document the things I've always loved sharing on here. 

Hopefully, it's just a seasonal thing, and I'll find the spark again very soon.

Thank you for your interest in my work, and for visiting. I hope this finds you well and happy,

X M

 Yes, another botanical photo plus embroidery-in-progress! It's all I seem to have these days, I'm afraid.  

Can you believe that beautiful white rose braved the hail and almost-snow to bloom, all alone, on an otherwise very bare plant? I had to bring it inside before the wind got it.

The all-over embroidery patterns on linen have been constructed into a new set of project bags to send to Loop London (I sent some last year – you can read more about them here.)

This particular pattern features crosses and white berries. Snowberries?

X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x

I'm sorry, dear blog, for the neglect. I've been away from home (i.e. in an office) a lot these days but today was spent home with an unwell child, so I took the opportunity to take some photos. We also did some crafty things, made lemon and honey drinks, watched cartoons and listened to an audio-book of Roald Dahl's The wonderful story of Henry Sugar. I seem to have missed that one as a child – what a great story!

The big bunch of daphne is from my favourite shop in Newtown, Next Stop Earth. I do have a daphne plant in a pot, but I worry that cutting it will set it back indefinitely. I feel quite lucky that it has flowers at all, given all the wind and cold of late.

And the free-form embroidery was done in white thread on a beautiful dark pink linen. Similar to the colour of the darkest bits of a daphne flower.

Hope you have a relaxing weekend ahead.

A few weeks ago I posted photos of some quirky and somewhat strange craft projects from The Book of Creative Crafts (1978). But in the book there are also some projects I really like – so I am posting those here today.

What do you think? Would you make any of these?

– duvet cover from large patchwork hexagons, in different fabric prints but all one colour. I think this would make a great bedspread for children – they could choose a colour and help pick out fabrics. I think it would also look great made from retro floral sheets.

– a felt flower necklace constructed a bit like a daisy chain, I think the flower centres are small yellow buttons, and then the whole necklace is fastened with a buttonhole that loops over one flower centre. You can click the photo for a better look. 

– candles with pressed herbs and wildflowers. So pretty, though also seems like a lot of effort.

– my personal favourite, a chunky macrame hammock. How difficult do you think this would be? Because it would be perfect for the tropical plant laden conservatory that I'm always drinking cocktails and reading magazines in ; )

– All-over berry embroidery, in progress

– Some supplies: silk from The Fabric Store (I'm thinking about making a dress from it) and dark yellow alpaca 4 ply yarn (drops) that I'm thinking deeply about. Grey and yellow striped fingerless gloves? A tiny baby's spring cardigan? What would you make?

– Morning tea, soon to be made. I'm planning a green apple cake from this recipe.

I finished the little baby vest (first blogged about here) to donate to the neonatal unit of our local hospital. It was a comfort-knit for me, in those quiet hours after the day's tasks were done. And I like thinking about the baby who might wear it one day.

I hope you're having a lovely weekend so far. The sun is shining here – hooray.

PS I'm enjoying watching this show at the moment. Have you seen it?

Hand knits have been a big feature of my winter so far – both in making and wearing. Travelling to work requires hats, mittens and scarves and knitting is relaxing after a long day in the office. So all in all, it's the perfect winter activity.

The hat on top is my most recent finished project – I made it from some very beautiful yarn called 'Silver Lining' by Skeinz that I bought at the Social Wool Fair in Wellington last month. Silvery Lining is a soft, springy and warm yarn. I'll definitely be investing in some more.

I was so happy with the Jul pattern last time that i decided to make it again in a thicker yarn (and with a pompom) – for more stormy days. And there have been plenty of those lately. 

I thought you might like to see my new stack of second-hand books. These were acquired at the Downtown City Mission book fair last weekend. The novels were chosen by Tom, the others by me. I found a beautiful old children's book of Bach piano sheet music (for the young pianist in the house), a favourite old cookbook that Mum used to have and a book I loved as a child: Jim and the beanstalk, by Raymond Briggs. My kids are probably too old for it now but I'm not.