tiny happy

I've been doing a bit of fabric printing using my own stamps over the past couple of days. I've made cushion covers, a tablecloth, wrapping paper and lavender sachets. I also printed a piece of cream silk with some yellow ink to make a simple dot pattern. I had an 'aha' moment when sharpening pencils for the kids, and I realised that I could use the eraser on the end of the pencil to make small dots. Didn't even have to carve it- hooray!

The stamped items are to show as samples this weekend for one of my classes at the HANDMADE convention here in Wellington. I'm quite excited to be teaching two classes- in one of them we will be making lockets with inset embroideries, and in the other we'll be carving stamps and printing all sorts of surfaces. I have ordered some different coloured inks from Japan. Should be fun!

It's a long weekend here, so I'll be back on Tuesday. Have a great one yourself! 

– rainbows in the spare bedroom (window-crystals + layers of wool and flannel bedding)

– last days of the cream orchids (the green denby teaset was an amazing second-hand shop find last week- my grandparents used to have the same set)

– biscuits all ready for the kids' afternoon tea today (made using this favourite old recipe but with walnuts from my parents' tree and chopped up dark chocolate)

What are you happy about today? 

No, I'm not going to write about sewing buttonholes, because I don't enjoy those very much. Rather, I was remembering today about how sometimes, little sprays of flowers pinned to a shirt or dress are called 'buttonholes'. It seems quite old-fashioned and lovely. At the tropical wedding I went to last month, we all had buttonholes made from frangipani and gardenia flowers. Here is a little anemone buttonhole (brooch) I made using some very small stitches, grey linen and a metal frame pin in which to put the work. It's part of my shop update today. Imagine having real-life anemones (miniature ones I suppose) pinned to your cardigan! That would be a good conversation-starter.

I found the book Russian Textiles: Printed Cloth for the Bazaars of Central Asia at the library, and even though it's due back, I don't want to return it! I think I'll need to order my own copy. It's beautiful, and features lots of rich prints in vivid colours, as you can see in these page snapshots above. 

The book is also a very interesting read- and includes some of the photos and stories that I linked to here. What an amazing history that part of the world has.

A weekend trip to a wild south coast beach inspired a bit of white embroidery on some old blue linen- like the white tips of the waves out at sea. The stiches themselves were based on that kind of white, coral-like seaweed/lichen that I forgot to photograph. The kids clamboured over the rocks and found caves to shelter in, and I suspect they wouldn't have minded if we'd left them there for the day.

I found a handful of gingko leaves on the road outside our house last week. They were covered in road dust and marked from gravel and feet but I took them in anyway. I've not seen a gingko tree anywhere close by so maybe they were blown along from another part of town. In any case, they made a good sketching and stitching subject. I'd like to embroider more leaves, so I might do that this weekend.

I hope you have a relaxing one. Here are two cover songs for you- one is a folksy, earthy version of a Kate Bush song, and the other is a reggae cover of Karma Police. Interesting new discoveries of mine! See you next week, friends.

I made some new coats for today's shop update– in various sizes. I had cut these out a while ago and they were just sitting on my desk, so I'm pleased to see them sewn up now. Of course I had to use my new wools found on the weekend- a grey houdstooth check and some turquoise felted wool that is so soft it could be fleece. It was nice to sew with, too.

And I found this last photo on my camera, it was taken at the botanical gardens in Rarotonga, and I loved this flower which was a bit like a cross between a rhododendron and a hibiscus, but with lots of negative space. I wish there had been labels on the plants- there were so many amazing ones. 

I have a little knitting project on the go, (some slippers with pompoms on the toes) but I am a woefully slow knitter, and my 'storage place' for my knitting happens to be under the couch. Each time I go to retrieve my needles, there's something tangled or some missing stitches … you know how it goes. I finally got around to making a little case for my knitting, and I made another for tomorrow's shop update too. I used vintage fabric (interfaced for sturdiness) and long metal vintage zippers, to complete the old-fashioned feel and ensure they're long enough for the knitting needles.

To make my case, I used some fabric from my most-favourite-ever skirt that has finally reached the end of its working life, and probably did long before I stopped wearing it. It was black velveteen with coloured flowers and big pockets on the front- a strangely pleasing garment that I bought secondhand years ago and my family probably longed for me to return to the opshop. It brings me some comfort though to see that fabric living in on the form of a knitting case. 

Enjoy your Tuesday! See you again tomorrow.

The fabric sale- Fabricabrac– that I wrote about on Friday was really great- there were so many lovely fabric finds on offer. My class went okay too- thank you to everyone who came along! I must remember to speak more slowly though… I think I'd finished speaking after ten minutes but I still had half an hour to go. Luckily the audience was pretty kind and forgiving.

You can see above the fabrics I bought on Saturday morning- I was actually rather restrained (I thought) and I could have done a lot more damage. But I told myself to only get a few things that I really knew I would use, and that is what I did.

My favourite find was a linen tablemat from the 1970s, and I sewed it up into a storage pouch today. I love those oranges and browns together, and they're so evocative of a time, I think.

I also found a beautiful vintage apron at Rosemary McLeod's stall, some linen and a buttery soft wool in sea-green. Treasures!

I made the tote bag above from some of my current favourite vintage fabrics. The botanical print was kindly sent by Cori in Portland, Oregon and the brown wool was from Rachelle. The handles are made from recycled leather in chocolate-brown. I made the bag as a sample for tonight's class I'm giving at Fabricabrac in Newtown, Wellington. You can read more about it here or here. There will be coffee and tea, as well as wine. Pretty tempting, huh. If you're a Wellington local, I'd love to see you there!

And you can see that I have the fabrics picked out for another bag which I hope to make before the class this evening, if I get time, that is. The print on top is a gorgeous silky fabric that I found at Asia Gallery a while back. It was originally a table runner, I think.

Some happy things: we had these for dinner a few nights ago, along with some sprouts, feta and hummus- so good!

You can find some great links to free Japanese sewing patterns here.

Here are some amazing handmade dolls. Skills.

Have a relaxing weekend! I'll see you again next week.