tiny happy

Here are some old fabrics I found last week. At the top is a very old kimono silk in a narrow strip- I bought it from here (Wellington people- they are moving to Auckland after Christmas so you might want to visit before then.) I'm not sure what I'll do with it yet. I offered to make Keira a dress for summer and she said 'I'd rather have a pencil case made from it'- she's not really into dresses these days.

And the fabric above is an old barkcloth curtain with a print of native NZ flowers. I'm really fond of it!

I hope you had a lovely weekend.

Here we have a stack of Scandinavian-style woven hearts- some are tied with ribbon to the Christmas tree and others are strung into a garland with baker's twine.

They kept Keira and I busy after school today. We used old pages from a book, brown card and some wallpaper scraps. 

Next up (probably tomorrow after school): another stack to slip inside Christmas cards for her classmates. 

I only found this great tutorial after we'd finished making these, but might use it next time.

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Silver & Gold, a beautiful Christmas song by Sufjan Stevens.

The Christmas sweet-making has begun: first off we have the tried and true chocolate fudge (this recipe) and these favourite apricot truffles (from here.)

Not a Christmas seems to go by without a batch of these packaged up and gifted to teachers, etc. This year, they're for the other journalists in my office as a little token 'thankyou' before I shut down my computer and put away my office coffee cup for the last time in 2013 (this Friday.)

More ideas I hae for December sweetness:

homemade nutella

chocolate cream pie

homemade black licorice (!)

turkish delight

I love old things. Especially household items. Here are two of my most recent finds, mostly acquired for their labels, if I'm being perfectly honest. 

– an old Fanta bottle. It's made from really thick, heavy glass and I found it last night walking home along our road. Council workers had cut back a lot of overgrowth, and it was peeking out of some clay. 

– Naval sheets. Not sure what is 'naval' about them exactly, but they are soft brushed cotton sheets still in original packaging complete with paper label. 

*** unrelated but happy news: Felicia has announced the dates for the next Craft Sessions, to give people plenty of time to make arrangements. Looking forward to it already. ***

– Honey-scented South African flowers on the windowsill, for this amazing man. Also, a link to this beautiful song, with some sweet N.M dancing. 

– Colourful vintage fabrics that I sewed into pouches and bags over the weekend. I'm having a renewed interest in old prints. 

– Happy new week, dear readers.

A place for fairies and magic potions: a small shelf in our garden wall which is otherwise covered in ferns and ivy. We have some paua-shells holding tea light candles for now, tucked away and waiting for a summer's evening party.

It's the season for making Christmassy stuff. The kids and I decorated our tree the other day and I found a set of wool felt birds, sewn last year. Here's the pattern, in case you feel like making some.

Thank you to Jane who included an extract from my book in the latest issue of her online publication Sweet Living Magazine. You can see the issue here– my project is on page 46.

Hope your weekend is a relaxing one.

– here are some juicy feijoa pops, made for the kids as an afterschool treat (I used this iceblock mould from last summer, and a bottle of feijoa smoothie from the shop- easy as!)

– got some photos of my favourite things made into postcards. They're printed on matte, lightweight card and proving very handy to have around the house for impromptu snail mail greetings- (also in my shop in various assortments)

– have you ever visited my pinterest board for clothes- wearables? I'm liking it very much at present, although it is a constant challenge to resist 'wantiness' and just enjoy the designs.

– wishing you a warm and happy Thursday.

Thank you to Leslie for this beautiful housewarming pressie- it's a linen cushion cover in her 'grass seeds' print. I love the organic, natural feel of her work- it's very calming.

It makes me think of a day we spent at the river last summer: walking, swimming and watching the kids build 'dams' with river stones. That's when the first photo above was taken.

One of the best things about The Craft Sessions was the people and I was so pleased to finally meet Leslie from Maze and Vale in the flesh. We have been 'blog friends' for years, so it was pretty special to be able to have a glass of wine together. And for me to see her beautiful prints up close too. A while back I ordered a set of her sample fabrics and you can see just some of them in the first photo above. At first I thought I'd make a patchwork baby quilt, then I decided to team them up with complementing linen and make zipped cases from them. This one with big circles in soft pink and oatmeal ('Many Moons' design) is very pleasing when matched with the smaller dots, I think.

Leslie also kindly sent a housewarming gift, which I'll show you tomorrow.

Hmm- I've just spotted this beautiful 'organic geometric' print and am thinking it would make a wonderful summer dress…

In our kitchen we have a low wooden countertop built under one of the windows, which is the perfect place to display these cool pieces of furniture. Our dear friend and ex-neighbour Mike, who is a talented furniture designer/maker in Nelson, gifted us one of these mint-green plywood chairs as a goodbye present when we moved to Wellington. 

Of course I had to order another for our new kitchen, making the window-bench just the right place for the kids to draw their comics (most afternoons), or do homework (sometimes)… or help chop vegetables for dinner (not as often as I'd like.) 

This particular design of Mike's is flat-pack, and made of plywood. He smoothly finishes the pieces in a range of 'Crown Lynn' (retro-pale) colours- I've seen the sets in buttery yellow, cool blue and rosy pink, as well as green. You can see a set complete with matching table (great for picnics although I would be thrilled to have these in the dining room!) here.

Happy new week! See you tomorrow.