tiny happy

this and that

This is a Petoskey stone necklace that I was sent by Jen in Arizona to mark the opening of her etsy shop. I think it's beautiful- and I was interested to read about its history as a special fossilized coral found in Michigan. Thank you, Jen!

Some other things I've been meaning to blog about:

- I've been enjoying Shari's 'week of paths' and visiting many different paths around the world.

- I'm excited that soon some of my baby shoes will be available for purchase at the lovely Reform School, in Los Angeles.

- I was honoured to have a mention in this: the latest World Sweet World magazine- in an article written by Kimberlee about New Zealand craft bloggers. The fabulous illustration below was also done by K.

This is a great issue, definitely worth a look if you see it in your local bookshop (currently only available in NZ and from the WSW website.)  You can learn about sustainable, handmade coffins, sewing a hoodie from t-shirts, making a solar oven and baking bread.

stolen from the library

On my weekend visit to the library, I spotted this little mauve hydrangea flower growing behind a tree, so I stole it. I felt guilty, but it was rather hidden behind there, and it seemed to be wilting a bit. But by the time I had walked home, it was completely dead. So I did some small drawings of it, to preserve its memory.

And then decided to print a new set of note and postcards from that drawing with my gocco machine. Nothing like a bit of late-night printing on the weekend.

The drawing is printed in brown ink, and the block of colour at the bottom varies from card to card. I mixed up some different inks to achieve the purple and pink that I wanted, and then layered these both onto the screen, so that the end result is rather mottled.
Hope you had a relaxing weekend!

growing hearts

This is a piece of embroidery I've been working on for quite a long time, 'A tree that grows hearts', inspired by the song 'Bacherolette' by Bjork. You can see the music video here. It's chain-stitched on oatmeal linen, and measures about 15" square.

I love the lyrics Bjork writes- especially in this one, where she is so many wonderful things: i'm a fountain of blood, i'm a path of cinders, i'm a whisper in water, i'm a tree that grows hearts.  

But it's also inspired by those old diagrams in botanical/science books, the tall scraggly pine trees that keep you company while driving through Norway, and the thought that one's heart could learn to grow and soften towards a new place or idea.

gathered in the morning dew

a garden-portrait/mandala, made by Keira and I early this morning, on our front doorstep.

Thank you for your birthday wishes! It's with a warm heart I enter this next year in my life. And cold hands, because it's my first autumnal birthday.

This season has the best accessories, don't you think?

twenty-eight...

28 seems awfully grown-up... but that's how old I am today. I've had a lovely birthday so far, with champagne, chocolate, pancakes, and quite a few birthday cards made by Arlo and Keira. I was amazed by this one from Keira:

... which shows our family dancing with balloons around a computer. Hmmm.
And as a birthday present to myself, I've had a bit of a break from making baby shoes this week, so I did just a small shop update today. But I couldn't resist making two more dolls, so they're in there too. I thought they looked like a 'Henry' and 'Maggie'.
Happy Wednesday!

to be held by the hand

On the weekend, Arlo was invited to the birthday party of two small girls from his class. I didn't think about their presents until the last minute, at which point I decided to make them each a cloth doll. So it was another (very) late night but I had such fun making them.

I made both dolls entirely from my scrap-fabric basket: with some soft cotton for their bodies and legs, wool felt for hair and bits of lace, denim and wool fabric for their outfits. I embroidered their faces and tried to match their hair colour and clothing with their recipients' style. Well, sort of.

Their clothes are removeable in the hope that Arlo's friends will enjoy dressing and undressing them, and maybe make some new outfits themselves sometime. Even if it's just wrapping them in different pieces of fabric, which is Keira's trick for dressing her dolls.

heart-shaped

Encouraged by the Marimekko dress I made last week, (and perhaps because I was too lazy to trace another pattern from the book) I sewed another for myself from the same design, but this time from some black cotton with colourful leaves that I found at Ikea. (!) I liked the slightly gothic/art nouveau feel to the print. Or maybe I'm imagining that. But anyway. I'm happy to have another layering-dress. You can find details about the pattern in this post.

nature-inspired

 
just some little embroideries i made this week.
happy weekend to you!

small apple pies

Take one stormy day + 3 yr old girl with apron + bag of local apples + this post by angry chicken about hand pies, and you have some little pies for afternoon tea. Plus a batch for the freezer, so Tom and Arlo can take them to school to eat at lunchtime on future cold, stormy days.

Recipe:
For the pastry I used this recipe, again from angry chicken. And to make the filling, I chopped 5 apples into small cubes, added 3 Tb brown sugar, 1/4 cup of flour, a handful of sultanas and 2tsps of cinnamon.

corners of our home

threaded leaves, collected by the small ones,

a new sofa-cushion, sewn from a piece of Oleana knitted wool,

a new (old) tea-towel sent by my friend Louana. Now I have two of these retro beauties.

a little stack of finished items for today's shop update. i had another amazing second-hand-shop find: this botanical wool-embroidered fabric. Feeling grateful for that.