holidays...

 

We had a lovely holiday break at our bach. Apart from 24 hours of non-stop rain, we enjoyed the best of Coromandel weather, kayaking in the bay and celebrating the arrival of 2014 with a bonfire and fireworks. The holidays are over now and it's back to work. I miss the feel of the salt water beneath my feet and the sand tickling my toes...

Good Morning 2014

Happy New Year everyone. Hope 2014 is a great year for you all!

Happy Holidays

 

Happy Holidays everyone.

Have a safe and happy Christmas.

See you all in 2014

Cornwall Park

 

 

Last Saturday, while Miss 6 was attending a birthday party at the Cornwall Park kiosk, I kept myself busy with camera in hand, checking out the park itself. The park is centered on a dormant volcanic cone called One Tree Hill which has many geological & historical features. It once had a Maori pa (fortification) built on the cone. 

 

It was a beautifully sunny day and there were plenty of photo opportunities...

new workroom

 

I haven't been around for a while as I've been busy setting up a workroom for Miss 17 & myself. We found local premises with a very reasonable rent (5 minutes walk from home) and have been moving in. Here's some preliminary pictures of what our main workroom space looks like. The pattern & fabric cutting table was sourced from a garment manufacturer liquidation. We had to enlist Mr B, Sydney and Sonny to carry it up 2 flights of stairs and then they put the table together for us.

 

Our upstairs workroom has a main room (which you can see in the photos) and then 4 rooms off it. We're still moving all our sewing stuff in (there's literally many metres of fabric plus habydashery to transport). I'll post more photos when we're fully set up.

 

Happy weekend folks!

 

thank you

 

 Auckland's first pre-Christmas Fabricabrac sale yesterday was quieter than previous events - still we managed to sell quite a bit. It was the first time that our Retrovision store did a market. My previous attendances at Fabricabrac had been focused on reducing my personal stash. This time Miss 17 and I were selling retro and vintage textiles sourced through our estate clearances. We had a large pile of table linen & napery (beautifully embroidered with the odd stain or mark) that speedily reduced in record time.

 

Thanks to the Auckland Fabricabrac team for putting on a good event. Big thanks to all the wonderful customers we had.

 

Happy weekend!

bata bullets

That's right, the iconic 70s Bata bullets are back by popular demand from hipsters and the nostalgic alike. I'm a nostalgic type so yesterday I took our children shopping for Bata Bullets and bought them a pair each (Miss 17 chose grey/white while Mr 14 went with black/white) plus I bought a blue/white pair for myself. Sadly Miss 6 missed out as the smallest is size 2 (which is way too big for her!)

If you're after a pair, you'll find all you need to know at Bring Back Bata Bullets Facebook.

"Bata Bullets. They take a lot of beating."

a childs point of view

 

 Miss 6's class had to work individually on healthy living posters. Everyone except Miss 6 created posters about healthy eating. You'll see from the picture that Miss 6 had a totally different health issue in mind. I had a quiet chuckle to myself when this poster came home...

the graduate & other stuff

Copyright: 2011 Taylor McDonald



Miss 17 graduated from College yesterday. She received class prizes for: Fashion Technology, Graphic Design, Drama and Academic Honors. Next year she's off to Fashion Tech to pursue her dream of being a fashion designer. All very exciting stuff.

 

I'd love to say that I got plenty of sewing done - but I didn't sew a stitch. My life hasn't been very quiet lately... Miss 6 had ballet rehearsals galore and then 3 ballet concerts last weekend, Retrovision has been busy, attended an engagement party, went to 2013 Cult Couture show, Mr 14s musical evening where he played a drum solo and health clinic appointments as well as a whole lot of other stuff too boring to list.

 

Enjoy your week folks. I'm off to catch a breather before the next surge of busy life arrives.

mad men myself

 

A quiet afternoon spent sewing and doing laundry. Taking a break I checked out this cool Mad Men Yourself site. The above picture is the result. It was a fun place to take a break!

 

Frocktober dress

 

It's Frocktober - a great excuse to make and wear pretty frocks (dresses) all in the name of a great cause. I've been so busy with life in general that I've only just realized that it's Frocktober and that there's 13 days left in October to sew up my Frocktober dress. 1970s Style 3321 is my pattern of choice. I've chosen this style for 2 reasons: a) it's a relatively straight forward pattern (no difficult or complicated issues to deal with) and b) I can wear it again to the Auckland Retro Fair in early November. I've been through the fabric stash and found 2 possibilities. Decisions, decisions!

 

Anway Mr B's shirt will have to wait a bit while I get the Frocktober dress underway. A little bit of selfish sewing always soothes my sewing soul.

psst...

 

Just thought I'd share the news that Miss 17 will be in the NZ Herald Viva At Home (next week 23 October 2013 issue) where she'll be talking about her 5 favourite things. This is her first personal experience with media & she's excited by the prospect of sharing her point of view with everyone.

 

Miss 17 is at the last of her school days. In exactly 10 days she will no longer be a 'school student'. An exciting time for her while I'm left kind of dazed wondering where all the time has gone. It's been a very busy year for her with lots of ups and downs. She didn't place in these competitions however she learnt a great deal about herself, her design aesthetic and being true to her creative self. Having seen how she's handled herself over the last year I'm confident that she has what it takes to succeed in the fickle fashion industry.

 

She's off to NZ Fashion Tech next year for a gap year or two of technical study before deciding what to do next. I'm proud of my little bird that's stretching her wings in the world. I'll post a link to the article when it goes online.

 

Thanks for sharing my proud mummy moment.

Crown Lynn black

 

an early birthday present to myself is this lovely Crown Lynn #553 Black Boat Vase. It has a hairline crack on the back. This doesn't bother me. I love imperfect pieces. I'm just happy to find this as I've been wanting some black Crown Lynn items for a while. They are much harder to find than the white. Miss 17 has her eye on this and tells me that when she leaves home, this vase is going with her. Hmm, I'm not so sure that that's going to happen!

sew coincidental

Recently while sourcing stock for Retrovision, I came across a retro sewing box. Having a quick look inside, I thought of all the sewing love that the owner must have felt. It was filled with everything that any sewer would need. Feeling sentimental and nostalgic I bought it. Then when I was getting it out of the car, I got a closer look at the handwritten name on the top.

It reads "Norma's sewing box." That's sew coincidental!

sewing for my bloke

Mr B hasn't been very lucky when it comes to my sewing output. The only item I ever made for him was a long sleeve shirt way back in January 1989. That's almost 25 years ago!

He recently cleaned out his wardrobe (he's a shirt & jeans kind of bloke) and I realized that it was time to end the sewing drought and tackle some menswear sewing. On the list are: well fitted shirts (both short & long sleeves), a smart jacket for semi casual wear and straight slim cut trousers.

Where to go to for inspiration? definitely not the local menswear stores. I mean I don't see my bloke wanting to wear tiny floral print shirts or loud, screaming graphic prints and stripes/plaid/checks are boring... so on the weekend I made a trip out to Designer Textiles and found some really great shirt fabric. I deliberately stayed away from stripes, plaid and checks (there was plenty of those to choose from ) - instead opting for a grey-blue soft cotton.

I'm using Burda 7045 which was featured in an episode of The Great British Sewing Bee. Apparently according to the pattern reviews I've read - even with all its fiddly bits, this shirt can be made in about 4 hours. As you all know, I'm all for a quick sew. Wish me luck as I break my menswear sewing drought.

retro caravan dreaming...

1972 Anglo Capri 15-6 caravan

1964 Vauxhall Velox



I've been dreaming of a retro caravan being towed by a vintage car. On my wish-list is a 1960s-1970s retro caravan (like the Anglo Capri above) being towed by a 1960s car (like the Vauxhall Velox above). I dream a lot about finding a reasonably, sound retro caravan that still has it's original interior and upholstery and getting it restored & roadworthy with a solid, dependable vintage car to tow it.

A couple of weeks ago, I met someone who had fulfilled her dream of acquiring a retro caravan. She found her caravan in Gisborne. Hers is a full on do-up project that the previous owner had given up on. The caravan had sat in a carport for about 4 years before he decided to sell it. Hearing her caravan story rekindled my retro caravan dreams.

Mr B is getting enthused by the idea - he has all the contacts to get the structural work done. I'm more than capable of sourcing all the retro goodness for the interior. Where are we going to park it he asks? hmmm, I'm not too sure about that yet. Guess, I'd better start dreaming about the practical stuff too...

stitch or ditch?

the driving force behind the latest de-stash is the departure of the Mopod which I've been using as a sewing space since our house renovations last year. My sewing space is shrinking dramatically into storage containers. The Mopod is leaving so that our backyard is ready for the installation of a temporary swimming pool for the summer.

My method for de-stashing this time is: Stitch or ditch?????

Is it working? sort of... I've got 3 fabric piles on the go:  STITCH? DITCH? & I CAN'T MAKE UP MY MIND!

5th blog anniversary

I've only just remembered that this blog is 5 years old - thanks for taking the time to visit here and read, follow, link, leave comments and email me. I really appreciate it!

pink October 2013

 

October is breast cancer awareness month. Due to censorship, many NZ women won't see this video about real breast cancer symptoms. Please share this video with the special women in your lives. 

auckland fabric-a-brac november 2013

 

remember how for the last couple of years I've been de-stashing at the Auckland Fabric-a-brac events? Well I did ok earlier this year at the March event. Yet I still find myself swamped with fabric. So I've booked a table and will be at the November event, again shamelessly selling off the stash of fabrics and other sewing & craft related goodies. Come by, say hi, I'd love to meet you...