at home

our fireplace has an unusual feature with a series of four tile steps off one side of the mantelpiece. At last I've finally found the perfect thing to put there... these wahine nesting dolls by Caroline Mitchell. I saw them hidden in the back of a display cabinet in a small, dinky antique shop in Botany and knew that they'd be just right for the steps. So here they are 'at home'

then there's these cute bird ornaments that I made for the kiwi christmas swap using fabric scraps, filling, vintage buttons and bells. They're looking so 'at home' on our tree that I'll probably have to make a couple more to replace the birds that refuse to leave home!

giveaway winners

were drawn by a random number generator.

post #27 Retrogirl "I love both the pattern books! So cute!" is the winner of the Pinnies and things pattern book

post #95 Nanbon "wonderful books" is the winner of the bootees pattern book

thanks to all of you who entered my giveaway draw. Cheers!

giveaway ends December 6

just a reminder that there's still time to enter as the giveaway ends at midnight on December 6 in North America (that's about 7pm in the evening of December 7 here in New Zealand.) I'll make the draws after that and then post the name of the winners straight away.

Good luck!

ps: oops, for the giveaway details check out my December 2 post. Sorry this clock is not part of the giveaway!

December giveaway

I'm taking part in the sewmamasew giveaway, which is held on 2 December 2009. I'm having 2 giveaways. The 1st giveaway is an Enid Gilchrist's "Pinnies 'n' Things" pattern book. This pre-loved vintage book has patterns to draft for over 70 different retro/vintage crafts and gifts. View the photos to see more...

The 2nd giveaway is for a pre-loved vintage Patons craft book featuring 32 different knitting designs for baby bootees. Here's photos of the front and back covers...

To enter both draws, post a comment with your email or blog details on my 2 December post. The giveaway contest runs from 2 - 6 December, with the winners being randomly drawn on 7 December and I'll ship as soon as the winners contact me so that the books hopefully arrive in time for christmas. I'll ship anywhere worldwide! Good luck!

dolman sleeve top

next up on the sewing list for Miss 13 is bwof 6-2009-109A. It's a fluid, extravagant top featuring dolman sleeves and a tapered in waist. She's chosen a busy, small floral viscose print while I've been sure that this would look great in a bold print. So I'm secretly thinking that I might have to make up this pattern for myself as well, as I've got just the right fabric in mind.

I'm teaching Miss 13 to do the pattern tracing (I hate tracing!) and her help is certainly making the bwof sewing process much easier. She's constantly reading the bwof magazines and sticking post its on all the patterns she likes - yikes, her sewing list is growing by the day. Looks like I'm going to be very busy!

birthday surprise

it was my birthday late last week and my children surprised me with a huge chalk mural in our backyard, filled with sweet messages plus lots and lots of hearts. They also put together their pocket money and bought me these 2 cookbooks. I like Richard Till's cooking style as well as his use of retro kiwi tea towels and cooking gear - his brand of conversational cooking reminds me a great deal of Galloping Gourmet chef, Graham Kerr, whose show used to air in the 1960s/1970s. Plus the christmas cookbook is a real treat. I'm always on the look out for yummy christmas recipes.

then my mother surprised me with a pair of beautiful, hand embroidered pillowcases that she'd made. For me there's nothing more special than heartfelt gifts. All in all , it was a day of lovely surprises!

bwof pants success

 here's Miss 13 dressed in her finished carrot pants and ready to head off to the Open Day for college. She looooves them! and I enjoyed sewing them. The pleats at the front yoke are a really interesting feature and the fabric we chose is perfect for showing this feature off. The pants drape beautifully and are made for movement. This pattern is well suited to a tall and leggy person (which Miss 13 is). I'll be posting a review of this pattern over at patternreview tomorrow. On the plus side, sewing under pressure has brought my 'missing in action' sewing enthusiasm back... hooray!!!!!!

ps: did you notice the tie dye tank top. Miss 13 made it yesterday at school. Very retro cool!

Photo removed for safety reasons due to cyber stalking!

bwof pants success

 here's Miss 13 dressed in her finished carrot pants and ready to head off to the Open Day for college. She looooves them! and I enjoyed sewing them. The pleats at the front yoke are a really interesting feature and the fabric we chose is perfect for showing this feature off. The pants drape beautifully and are made for movement. This pattern is well suited to a tall and leggy person (which Miss 13 is). I'll be posting a review of this pattern over at patternreview tomorrow. On the plus side, sewing under pressure has brought my 'missing in action' sewing enthusiasm back... hooray!!!!!!

ps: did you notice the tie dye tank top. Miss 13 made it yesterday at school. Very retro cool!

carrot pants

pressured by the urgency of making Miss 13 clothes that fit. I'm having another try at making bwof pants even though my first pair were a dismal failure - yep, a total wadder!

Miss 13 is tall (she's still growing) and has a short torso and long legs, so ready-to-wear pants are often too short. If she goes for the length then most rtw pants sit way too high above her waist. After yet another unsuccessful shopping trip, ending with both of us feeling cross (plus my paitence being worn thin!), I've agreed to sew for her.

inspired by MC Hammer's pants (any one remember those?), she's chosen bwof 08-2009-123 'futurism' pants. This pattern states "Carrot trousers/pants are back – in a more modern version. Still ankle-length and cut wide at the hips, ours sport a wide yoke and inverted box pleats. This style was designed exclusively for tall sizes!" My first impression is that the pants have a really nice streamlined style. I like the fact that the pleats come off the waist yoke rather than directly from the waist. She's chosen a black poly-wool crepe and wants to wear them this Friday. So I'll be pulling a late nighter to get them done.
There's nothing quite like a bit of 'pressure sewing' to get back into the swing of things...

crown lynn rejects

my favourite crown lynn vases are all rejects because of hairline cracks and crazing, which makes them perfect for everyday use and display. If they were perfect, I'd be worrying about them getting damaged too much to enjoy them. I've still no inspiration to sew so I'm keeping myself busy with cleaning, gardening, baking and even polishing the silver for the christmas table. I've also signed up for the kiwi christmas ornament swap and am working on a couple of ideas which I'll keep under wraps until I decide on the right one. I'll post photos as soon as I'm done.

performer

with only 4 weeks of school left to go before the summer holidays, Mr 10 has been doing a lot of performing. Here he is with his school's Pasifika group, about to do a Cook Island dance. He's a bundle of nerves but looking forward to dancing. This child of mine never stops dancing. His legs are forever shuffling and moving around in time to the music. Luckily he was able to stay still long enough to have a photo taken with his little sister...

performer

with only 4 weeks of school left to go before the summer holidays, Mr 10 has been doing a lot of performing. Here he is with his school's Pasifika group, about to do a Cook Island dance. He's a bundle of nerves but looking forward to dancing. This child of mine never stops dancing. His legs are forever shuffling and moving around in time to the music. Luckily he was able to stay still long enough to have a photo taken with his little sister...

more comic relief

youtube is a great place to find lots of funny ads... how about this one from Pacific Blue.

lavender

when we bought our house a while back, we inherited a totally overgrown backyard full of fruit trees and shrubs. The elderly owner was an avid gardener and in her last years the garden had completely gotten away on her. Hidden under all the weeds were some great plants including this beautiful lavender, which delivers abundant flower crops every year. Apart from the fact that lavender smells and looks nice, it's also a natural moth and pest repellant.

I've been a little slow packing away the winter woollen blankets (it's late Spring now) and finally got to putting them away today in storage. With the blankets I put in some simple dried lavender sachets that I'd made this morning. An easy 'green' project consisting of 2 squares of fabric (20cm x 20cm) sewn together with a loop of ribbon for a hanger and filled with dried lavender. I dried my lavenders in bunches, hung upside down in the garden shed. Over time the lavender sachets scent may soften. When that happens I use a couple of drops of lavender oil to help refresh them.

picnic food

my mother introduced me to the idea of steamed pork buns as a picnic food. These have become my familys most favourite picnic food, although of course, you can make and eat them anytime. I use this recipe as my basis. I'm forever improvising when I make these. Here's a few tips of what I've tried so far:

* try using mince (any kind) or try diced/chopped chicken etc instead of pork or maybe leave the meat out altogether and go with lots of veg.
* add veges. I like to add grated carrot or shredded cabbag or mixed veges or spinach etc. You get the idea! The options are endless and it's also a great way to have children eat their veges.
* I often leave the rice wine out of my filling mixture.
* you can adjust the soy sauce/oyster sauce measurements until you're happy with the taste, colour and texture of your filling.

My mother's best hint is to have the pinched tops at the bottom when they're being steamed as they become all glossy and rounded when they're cooked.

Enjoy!

sewing commission

to help break my continued sewing drought, a friend has commissioned me to make a royalty gown for her vintage Cissy (similar to the 1st photo). I'm using vintage McCalls 2255 as the basis for the gown and a vintage medium weight brocade with lots of lurex thread. It's proving successful as I'm actually feeling motivated about sewing again. However personal sewing might still be sometime away. Thanks to all of you who took the time to share tips and advice about breaking a sewing dry spell.

90 years young

just a quick post to say that we celebrated my Gran's 90th birthday yesterday. It was a lovely day of sunshine, family and lots of laughs (plus some tears as well)...

more retro

for Miss 13 a cute sheepskin stool for her dresser. At last she'll be able to look in the mirror without kneeling on the carpet...

for the family, a picnic hamper complete with the duraware, thermo cups, cutlery and tomato sauce bottle. The tartan, wool picnic rug is hanging on the line drying...

for me, a copy of a painting by Caroline Burnett. Love the Parisian feel. I'd like to think that it was painted by a Parisian art student however chances are, it would most likely have been painted in an 'art' factory in China or Mexico. Whatever it's origins, I love it!

morning baking

today's baking is yummy, chunky sultana scones, hot out of the oven and ready to eat. I used an adapted recipe based on the old Edmonds cookbook, although in my rush to get them into the oven, I forgot to brush milk on the tops. Still yummy though! here's the recipe:

SULTANA SCONES

3 cups plain flour
6 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
3/4 - 1 cup sultanas (varies according to taste)
75g butter
1 - 1 1/2 cups milk (try buttermilk for a fluffier scone)
extra milk
extra flour

Method

Sift dry ingredients into a bowl.
Cut butter in until it looks like breadcrumbs.
Add milk and mix quickly to form a soft dough.
Knead a few times. Don't overwork dough or you'll have tough scones.
Line baking tray with non-stick baking paper.
Press scone dough quickly onto this until about 2-3cm thick.
Cut into 9 - 12 even sized pieces depending on how large you want your scones to be. (I like chunky sizes so I cut 9). Leave about 1.5 -2cm space between the scones.
Brush tops with milk.
Bake at 220 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy!

nostalgia

as promised, here's the first of our spring/early summer roses displayed in the swan vase. Beautiful aren't they? and the scent of roses in the kitchen hmmmm hmmm (just lovely!)

and then there's the vintage china cabinet (all the way from a Napier salvage yard) that the swan sits on. Inside the cabinet are some of my most favourite china (yes, I'm a fan of blue willow and blue/white china) and everything gets used often. I'm not keen on keeping things just for 'special' occassions. After all every day is special, isn't it?

mid century suite

with my sewing inspiration at a stand still, I've had the time to devote to other things, such as, finding the ultimate mid century lounge suite for our house. This is it! an all original 3 piece 'Don' lounge suite from 1964 in truly timewarp condition. The fabric is a textured earthy-toned boucle with a silver weave that sparkles in the evening light. I'd love to say that I'll be busy making new cushions for the suite, but somehow I can't see myself getting started any time soon. Any hints to help me break my sewing drought would be much appreciated. Cheers!

still no inspiration

still no sign of my sewing inspiration. The pressure is on for it's return! I need a party frock as my gran turns 90 at the end of this month and is having an afternoon high tea. Which means dressing up and I don't even own a dress that fits properly! so I'm searching the horizon in the hopes of finding it...

the no sewing update

I'd hoped to show something sewing related this week but there's nothing - not a single iota of sewing. So this post is the 'no sewing' update. Even though I'm in desperate need of clothes having lost 16.6kg (that's about 36lbs) & I've got patterns and fabric ready to go,  I just don't have a single scrap of inspiration/motivation to get sewing. So for now I'm doing other things like having afternoon naps and doing some long overdue reading. Hopefully it comes back soon!

crown lynn swans

the Crown Lynn swan vase is an iconic piece of NZ kiwiana history. It was in almost every New Zealand home in the 1950s -60s. However in the early 1970s it's popularity was at an all time low, so it was phased out. Now it's a highly sought after collectible (hard to find pristine) that looks beautiful when filled with huge fresh flower blooms. Dear hubby, surprised me with these CL swan vases and the little Gobbles / Humell swan as an early birthday present. He knows I've been wanting one for ages. I'm looking forward to our garden roses blooming so that I can fill them with flowers.

not much sewing or crafting at the moment. I've been busy with children home for the school holidays and helping collect items for the Samoa Tsunami relief aid. Hopefully next week I'll have something 'sewing' related to talk about.

holiday op shop

a holiday for me isn't complete without checking out the local second hand/thrift/op shops. Top of my list was Mrs Jones , in Warkworth. It proved to be a fantastic store full of antique, retro and kiwiana items to look at and buy. There's even a whole wall of crown lynn crockery, just the thing for finding that elusive piece to complete a collection.

at the Warkworth hospice shop, I stocked up on retro bedsheets, vintage/retro sewing books & patterns and a neat ballet print by Carlotta Edwards.

we also visited Matakana which is a surprisingly funky, trendy village with a very popular Saturday farmers market. Definitely worth a visit if you're into food, arts and crafts.

then leaving Matakana, the public toilets caught my eye. What an incredibly striking visual work of art!

back from the beach

a beach holiday in September always seems a bit dicey - especially with unpredictable weather. It was a real mixture of rain and sun. Lots of long walks on the beach collecting shells, building sandcastles and generally enjoying nature. Mr 10 was the only brave one amongst us to swim in the sea brrr! Our first morning started off with a pod of dolphins cruising up and down the bay feeding, which was an amazing sight.

Miss 13 celebrated her birthday with 13 blazing chocolate cupcakes and lots of presents. As I watched her blow her candles out, I was a little teary thinking about how quickly the 13 years has gone. She is our 1st 'miracle' baby, after years of waiting & hoping, failed treatments & disappointments.

being without the internet, phone and tv was relaxing to start with. Then on Wednesday I turned the radio on to hear of the local tsunami warnings and that Samoa had been devastated by an earthquake and tsunami. My mother, sisters, brother in law and nieces were holidaying in one of the worst affected areas so it was a very anxious time waiting for news, thankfully they're all safe. Sadly many have lost so much...

ps: the sewing machine went on holiday but never did any sewing although I did rethink my wardrobe concept. I'll save that for the next blog post.