Fruit

Do you know what flower this is? I don't think I've ever seen (or noticed) it before. It looks so much like a pohutukawa, doesn't it? The clue is in the title; scroll down if you still don't know.

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Far enough?

It's a feijoa (Feijoa sellowiana)! If you're not from NZ or South America, find out more about it here. It's a delicious fruit that reminds me of the taste of a guava, perfect for stewing or having feijoa feasts (just eating too much of it in one sitting, like my boys like to do!).

Production line and a rant

I've been busy getting some felt bird kits ready for Kraftbomb tomorrow; ran out of light and only managed this photo today. This week has been crazy busy, but thankfully I have a lot of new mirrors and brooches to show for it.

I'm really looking forward to Kraftbomb tomorrow. No offence to all the other craft markets out there, but K'bomb is still the bomb. It really feels like home to me, and the market-goers there seem to understand what I do. I've had some interesting comments this month, most notably from a couple of ladies who told me that I destroy embroidery. Now you know I don't, and I know that too, but it's a shame they saw it that way. Just for the record, I really really love embroidered fabric, and respect the skilled (and not-so-very-skilled) women who created it. I am merely using it in a more modern and appropriate way so that we can enjoy it on a daily basis and not keep it in the moth balls in the linen cupboard. There, I said it. I feel much better now.

Meet Miss Greta

I haven't had a chance to write about Saturday's Crafternoon Tea Market yet, I've been too busy with Christmas trees and all. If you haven't heard about it yet, it's a brand-spanking new craft market in Kingsland. Only 2 months old, but it's got great potential: it's in a really awesome location and it has very talented vendors. One of these is Jenny from Softings Repurposed, who makes beautiful dolls with hand-painted faces and fantastic outfits. Since I've been too busy to make any dolls for ages now, I had to have Miss Greta, who flirted with me from across the room. Wouldn't you fall for this stylish lady too?

Early Christmas

Christmas arrived in the mailbox today, so I thought we might as well have it in the house too. I got my first Christmas ornament from the swap; it came from Emily from Christchurch. It's a lovely little hand-felted star, made from merino and silk, and looks great on our tree.

I put up our very realistic-looking (fake) Christmas tree, and left the boys to decorate it. They loved it, and kept singing things like 'It's not really Christmas yet, falalala-lalala'. Daniel took his job very seriously and wouldn't look up for any photos, and Joshua created an interesting little corner of decorations at the back of the tree. It's so easy to get stressed out with shopping and plans this time of the year, but these boys really put the perspective back for me today...

Pleased to meet you...

The Extra-Curricular launch last night was fun; I'm so glad I could go. I ate my fair share of cupcakes, caught up with a few of my crafty friends plus I managed to get numbers 2, 3 and 4 of 500; Kylie of Skipapple got number 1! I'm so honoured to be in the very first issue of what looks like the next big indie publication, and to be in such illustrious company as Melissa from Tiny Happy, the Kraftbomb ladies, Rachelle from Birdspoke, and so many more talented people. Well done Ellie; it's a gorgeous wee magazine and your hard work has really paid off. Just in case you can't get your own copy, I've got the PDF of my little article; you can read it here. But I strongly recommend getting one, there's a lot of very inspiring people in there...

ps: you can enlarge the page at the bottom if you want to read the article :)

Extracurricular magazine

Extra-curricular launch

I'm so excited to be going to the launch of a new independent magazine tomorrow night, put together by my friend Ellie Smith. It's a real labour of love, with Ellie doing most or all of the writing, photographing, designing, marketing and who knows what else is involved in such a big project. The magazine is called Extra-curricular, and is for and about creative people who do their projects in their spare time, like after work, when the kids are in bed, that sort of thing. Here's the gorgeous cover, featuring one of Ellie's woodland illustrations. And if you squint a bit and look in the second line, you might see the words 'ruby in the dust' too. Obviously I'm a bit biased, but I can't wait to get my hands on a copy tomorrow!

The launch is on at 7pm this Thurdsay at DOC, 352 K' Rd, Auckland; everybody's welcome!

I'm in Wellington and Australia!

Ok, I'm really in Auckland, you've got me. But my products have found their way into some lovely new places.

'Emma' is a gorgeous little shop in Berhampore, close to Island Bay in Wellington, where fashion designer Emma Wallace has her new workroom with a little shop selling some of her own pieces and some crafty treasures. Among these treasures you will find my brooches, mirrors, pouches and journals, yay! The address is 476 Adelaide Rd, Berhampore. I really like her clothes and I think my work will feel right at home there.

Muddkids is an Australian site selling organic baby wear and fair trade gifts, and now also my very sustainably-made journals. The ladies at Muddkids are very good at promoting their goods, and I've had a couple of write-ups so far, including this one today. Thanks Amy!

Collections: Buckles

If you've been here for a while, you might know that I'm quite partial to a bit of op shopping. Which is where I find most of my craft supplies and collect all sorts of odds and ends along the way. I thought I might do a few posts about my collections, just for fun.

Today's collection is buckles. I wish I knew more about these, all I can say for sure is that the tiny blue one is made of glass, the huge black one is painted wood and the others from some type of plastic, possibly cellulose acetate (like the top left green buckle and that blue one on the right; they have a flecked, iridescent effect). I'd say they're from the 40's, I can just imagine the women dressing up their simple war-time outfits with these snazzy accessories.

Ovals

It's been a very busy week for me, and I finally have something to show for it. I got some new journals bound, made a new batch of brooches and mirrors and sewed maaaany little zip pouches. Here are the brooches:

and, ta-da! Some ovals...

These are new for me, and dare I say it, the world? You saw them here first. When my camera batteries are charged, I'll list a couple on Toggle, the rest you'll have to come and get from me tomorrow at the last Devonport market for the year (for me at least).

I've also got a Felt shop now (hoping a NZ version of Etsy will be more successful for me...); you can buy the felt birds there. Gotta go, have a great weekend!

Inspiration

When I first started collecting embroidery I used to leave all the applique pieces in the pile, thinking they weren't good enough. For some reason I thought they were machine embroidered, but when I started loking at them more carefully, I realised that the tiny stitches were actually done by hand. Now that they've proven themselves 'worthy', they've become a source of inspiration.

I wanted to create some attractive small brooch cards that I can mount my embroidered brooches on, and after Lucky Penny last week I had a brain wave. Why not create a frame like some of the applique cloths often have, and use some nice fresh colours that work well with the fabrics I use. Why not? Because it could have taken me 2 weeks to figure out how, so I enlisted the help of my friend Nonnie who executed my idea beautifully. Now I'm just about ready for a big mirror and brooch making day on Friday...

Lined cane-handled bag Tutorial

Quite some time ago I made myself a new bag and it was so easy to make (yet confusing to figure out how to), that I thought I'd share the process. So I've finally had enough time (plus a good reason) to make one, and you can follow along and make your own. Here's the new one, a nappy bag for my friend Shannon, who is too busy getting ready for her new baby this week to read blogs, I hope :)

You can follow the tutorial here, of if you can't be bothered adding the lining, just follow these easy steps on Little Birdie Secrets.

Cane Handle Bag Tut

Stars

Yesterday the boys and I enjoyed a spot of baking (my idea) and toilet training (Joshua's). The first one went very well; that's all I'll say on that subject.

These cookies are really good and so easy to make, they're my new favourite basic bikkie. I found the recipe in an advertising feature in an old Donna Hay mag:

Brown Sugar Cookies

Process 125g chopped cold butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 1/2 cups plain flour in a food processor until it looks like dry breadcrumbs. Add one egg and process until mixture just comes together. Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead gently. Wrap and refrigerate for 1/2 hour, roll out to 3mm thick and cut shapes. Decorate if you wish (I used Smarties). Bake at 180C for 8-10 mins or until golden. Makes approx 40.

Now for something completely different; I guess we could call it an ad break: I took some new journals to my friends over at endemic last week, and they're now up for sale. You can find them here.

Real treasure

On my op shop travels in the last few weeks I've managed to find some pretty amazing things and tonight's show and tell involves two of these.

This embroidered cushion cover was done in cotton on rough linen, and is so beautiful. Maybe it's the intensity of the colour, but I just couldn't get a shot that does it justice. It's deep red and very detailed for something done on such a large scale. I wonder where it was made, and how long ago. It looks very Eastern-European to me; in that lovely bohemian folk art style they do so well. I'm looking for a cushion to fit so it can find a home on our couch.

My second find was accidental like most good things; I almost missed it in the pile of books in the corner of a shop. It's called 'Marko lives in Yugoslavia' by Anna Riwin-Brick and Astrid Lindgren. It was the name Astrid Lindgren on the cover that grabbed my attention. (I hope my boys like reading her books out loud to each other one day, just like my sisters and I did...) Anyway, it's such a fun little story about a boy and his brother, and their search for their little pig and all the exciting things that can happen in one day in Macedonia in the early sixties. The photos are really special; they feel so natural and unposed, and you get the impression that the people in them were really just going about their normal day when the photographer happened to walk by.

There were a heap of other titles in the same series (Children Everywhere) printed on the back and so I decided that this would be the start of a great collection. I've already managed to get the second one on Trade Me, called 'Kuma is a Maori Girl' (by Dennis Hodgson and Pat Lawson) and I'm equally impressed. Kuma lives in Auckland, and goes to visit her family in Rotorua and discovers the more traditional Maori way of life they have down there.

These books must be quite collectible; in my Google search on the first one I found a book dealer selling it for US$80 (!) and Kuma is also normally quite expensive on Trade Me. But you know I'd never spend that much, hey ;)