tiny happy

I made up this project bag using a piece of dark grey linen that I started embroidering while when I was in Australia last month, based on some plants we collected on a walk. I was trying to demonstrate how embroidering with white on a darker coloured linen can be quite freeing, because the usual decisions about colour don't apply.

And besides, I like the 'blackboard' look of white on charcoal. 

So this piece is a sort of sampler of different ferns, seedpods and flowers I drew in my sketchbook.

I've put a few new things in my etsy shop. I've been meaning to do this for a while now- a little stack of finished items slowly grew until today I could stock it up again. I've missed making things for my shop, being in contact with customers, wrapping items in brown paper and posting them, but perhaps I needed to have a break from it for a while.

I hope you have a lovely weekend ahead.

These are pages from a library book that is living on my bedside table right now: Seasonal Baking by Fiona Cairns. I couldn't resist sharing some of the photos as I think they're beautiful. 

The book includes recipes for all sorts of cakes and is divided into seasonal sections. The styling is pretty special and of course, the recipes look good too (I mean, that's a mango pavlova up there, after all.) The author made the royal wedding cake, so I'm thinking she is a British cake star. 

I must admit, reading books about cakes before going to sleep is rather a guilty pleasure- once upon a time I would have rolled my eyes mightily about such an idea.

This pillow was one of the first things I made when we moved into the new house- mostly because I was so excited about the fabric, and wanted to use it straight away. The hand-printed linen was included in my goodie-bag (yes, I know- totally spoiled) from The Craft Sessions. The design is 'kangaroo paw', depicting a classic Australian plant, from Ink and Spindle. It really is a very beautiful, heavy textile, and I keep dreaming about having bedroom curtains sewn from it- imagine that. 

I teamed it with blue herringbone linen, navy ticking for the back and cotton tape to fasten around a feather pillow inside. 

And speaking of TCS, there is a new blog post up with lots of in-progress class pictures, including some of my embroidery. You can see them here.

I've been doing little bits of embroidery- just for an hour or so in the weekday evenings. It's relaxing.

This piece is coloured flowers on striped linen, inspired by a bouquet gift.

I wanted to share these photos today- neither of them were taken by me, but they feature the starry sky baby quilt, from pg 26 in my book. The top photo was taken by my friend Arti Badiani, and features her divine daughter Mala. I gave Mala the original starry quilt from my book shortly before she entered the world- so it was lovely to see this picture of her playing on it.

The second photo was sent by a reader, Anna Dawson, who made the quilt and has another top made up, ready to be quilted and bound. I love seeing finished projects from the book.

If you haven't seen the pattern, the idea with the starry sky baby quilt is that you use recycled shirts in blue and red (or any colour of course- but most of the men's shirts I found to recycle were those colours) to make the sawtooth star blocks. I've always loved sewing with men's shirts for their subdued colours, quality and softness. Turning something unused into something much nicer. (And if you don't have any around the house, it's pretty easy to find them second-hand.)

Happy Friday, lovely readers. 

A while back, I had some concerns about the baby shoe pattern in my book. I worked with the editors at Stash Books to revise the pattern. It's now easier and faster to make a pair of these little slippers. Thank you for your feedback on the project and I hope you will share your finished project images in the Sweet and Simple Handmade flickr group.

So, you can find the corrections to this design here at C&T's errata page. I feel like it's worth saying, these slippers are not the easiest things in the world to make. They can be a bit tricky and involve a bit of brain-work. But the more pairs you make, the easier they get. I promise.

If you feel like giving these a go, or any of the other patterns in the book, for that matter- (everything else is much simpler to make) – you can find Sweet and Simple Handmade in my etsy shop, felt shop (NZ) or at Stash Books.

It's the weekend! I'm looking forward to a bit of cake-making and herb-planting. Hope you have a good one.

 The kids' school is holding a 'night market' tomorrow as their annual fundraiser- I agreed to add some handmade things to a friend's craft stall. I had grand plans of all sorts of stuff: embroidered pins, felt flowers and library bags. But they weren't to be, sadly.

This is my (smaller) box of finished things- I've made some sets of lavender sachets, from hand-printed linen and silk, with Liberty lawn backing. I managed to get some South Island dried lavender from my local chemist- very pleased about that.

And I also made packs of Christmassy gift tags. Some are made from pine illustrations, and some are bird-themed. The children, however, are excitedly planning the food stalls they will visit with their pocket money.

For the first time in her life, Keira has her own bedroom in this new house. I made her some new curtains from fabric she chose- (I did the old 'which do you like the best out of these five?' kind of choice-giving as she was looking longingly at shiny silver polyester fabric when we first arrived at the fabric shop.)

So, pale stripes it was (phew), and her room has a glass door to a courtyard with lavender growing, so the colours all go quite nicely, though that was coincidental.

Thank you to Cyndi of mermaids and moss. She kindly sent two prints of her beautiful original paintings. They've been squirrelled away into K's room so my goal is to find frames for them this week. 

I really like the print above, it's Her Walk Along the Lake. And Cyndi also sent a print of this butterfly girl. 

a) wild-growing (scentless) sweet peas gathered on a walk to the top of a hill, overlooking the city. There are many wildflowers up there at the moment.

b) a new cushion cover i sewed from an old piece of hand-embroidered wool fabric (origin), with a linen border and striped backing. the cushion inside is a feather one that used to reside on my grandparents' couch, but it needed a new cover.

c) our internet is fixed- hooray!

I'm feeling sorry for my poor, neglected blog as the internet-free-life continues around here at our new house. We are now trying to sign up with a different broadband company, in the hope they are speedier at reconnecting us. 

Here are a few more photos from the lovely old house we now call home. It's worth the 95.5-step climb to the front door. There's a lot of retro wallpaper, big wooden doors and sash windows. Also, a climbing clematis paniculata that I'm quite pleased to see each morning from the kitchen windows while making coffee.

It's reassuring to know the house has withstood more than 100 years of Wellington weather- I remind myself of this when the windows and doors rattle a bit in the wind. It's a good house for weather-watching.

I've been making a few new furnishings and some bits and pieces for our upcoming school fair, so I will get blogging again very soon with some crafty stuff.

I hope you are having a good week! 

I came across this image at work today. Glorious Natasha, and her owner.