no more sewing room

after 6 wonderful years of having a sewing room at home, it's time for me to relinquish it to upcoming house renovations. We're planning an internal rejig so that our family has more living space. With this in mind, I've been busy sorting through the fabric and pattern stash again and delivering a few more bags of fabric/pattern goodies to my local Hospice shop. The good news is that they tell me that the fabric and patterns are selling fast.


So where's my sewing room going to be now???? well I was thinking something like this might be ok? It's a mopod (portable studio built on a trailer axle) designed to be towed by a car or 4WD which is handy. I'm viewing one tomorrow - hope it's suitable...

a little less stash

the Fabric-a-brac sale went well - with the best bit of news being that I came away with a little less stash (1 huge stripey carry bag less!)and I didn't buy a thing (and there was lots & lots of fabric loveliness to be had).

I met some of my favourite kiwi sewing & crafting bloggers as well as readers who visit my little corner of blogland. Great to meet you all!

Thanks to Vanessa and the Fabric-a-brac team for a really great event!

fabric-a-brac auckland almost here

this Saturday morning, I'll be at the Auckland Fabric-a-brac event in Freemans Bay shamelessly selling off my huge stash of patterns, fabrics and other sewing & craft related goodies. Here's a peek at some of the things going to market. Come by and say hi, I'd love to meet you...

favourite place

it will be a while before I can get to my favourite place, so for now I'll post some pics and pretend I'm there... where's your favourite place???

organza scarf

I won this red scarf in the Telesa Trilogy Gratitude celebration held by Lani Wendt Young (author) over at her blog http://sleeplessinsamoa.blogspot.com. It's handblocked organza with tradtional Samoan elei patterns. I love daring, bold red accessories - this is going to get a lot of use - thanks Lani!

water everywhere

Mr13 came home from cadet camp yesterday, had a shower and managed to flood our bathroom. To make things worse, the water went through the floor & came out through the light fittings in the sewing room & bathroom downstairs. The best bit of news is that my vintage/retro dolls and 99% of my fabric escaped getting wet.

travel organiser part 1

When our family travel overseas I'm always the one who plans and organises the whole trip. I'm also the one who holds onto all our passports and travel documents. To make my job a lot easier with our upcoming Sydney trip in the spring, a travel organiser is exactly what I need to keep all the travel stuff together and easy to find. I've had a look around on the internet but haven't seen anything that suits, so I thought I'd have a go making my own.

The materials I've chosen are: 60cm remnant of 120cm wide printed drill, 1 metre of red striped bias binding, 1 metre of green striped bias binding, pellon stabiliser, 50cm of 15mm black elastic.

While I work on a pattern for this, there's a list of things that I want to include in the design:

*pockets for 5 passports

*pen holder

*credit card pocket

*arrival/departure forms

*boarding passes

*accommodation vouchers

*car rental documents

I've purposely excluded a zippered pocket as I won't be keeping money in this organiser.

fabric, fabric & more fabric

The last time I did a major de-stash was back in March 2009. This week I've been sorting through the mountain of fabric which I sheepishly refer to as my 'stash' (I mean seriously, as I checked shelves and opened drawers, I kept discovering fabric, fabric & more fabric). Some of it I don't even remember buying. It's all got to be measured, priced & packed into enormous stripey carry bags ready for next months Fabric-a-brac here in Auckland. Whatever is left over will be donated to the Panmure Hospice shop.

At the end of this process, I'll be able to say hooray (again) the stash is rationalised again!!!!!!

sydney in spring

I love Sydney. I love the sights, sounds and smells of the city. I'm looking forward to being in Sydney during the spring with my 2 daughters. It's a surprise trip for our older daughter who is turning sweet 16 in a couple of months. So I'm imagining that we'll be doing lots and lots of shopping. Let the countdown begin!

frost

a quick trip to the beach in the middle of winter is probably not the ideal holiday for most. On our first morning, the bach windows were fogged up with condensation and outside it was frosty. Our daughters and I went for daily walks on the beach and raced back for much needed hot cocoa drinks.

tattoo inked girl

I'm a fan of Alexander Henry's tattoo inspired fabrics and the Tattoo Inked Girl (pictured above) is my favourite. I bought 3 yards of this fabric a while back and I don't have a clue what to make with it. I checked out etsy for inspiration and most crafters are making bags with it. Not sure if that's what I want to do. Any ideas?

fabric-a-brac auckland

Fabric-a-brac is coming to Auckland - that's loads of fabric goodness for all. You can find out more about it at http://fabricabrac.wordpress.com/auckland/. I've booked a table - so drop by, say hi, I'd love to meet you!

winter sun

After a dark & damp start this morning, we were rewarded with a beautifully sunny day. Even the industrial areas in Onehunga look almost pretty.

black hard plastic

this English black pedigree doll (another Trademe find) is the latest to join my collection of vintage dolls. She's 16 inches tall and is still dressed in her original outfit and shoes. I am intrigued by her face and I wonder what her story is?

vintage poodles

Yesterday Mr B and I were making a trip across town and came upon a really great antiques and collectibles store in Mt Roskill. Every nook and cranny of the shop is filled with all sorts of treasures. I found these two 1950s Japanese poodle ornaments for the china cabinet. I'm looking forward to going there again soon - plenty more finds to be had.

more 1950s hard plastic

Recently I posted here about how it was an enjoyable pastime in the 1950s  for home sewers and crafters to make doll clothes from the many knitting and sewing patterns available. This is very true of the 1950s NZ hard plastic doll that I blogged about here (she's the doll on the right in the photo above). I finally got her repaired (she had multiple seam splits to her head and body and a crack on her behind, no lashes, no lip paint and definitely bad hair). She's all fixed now thanks to the good folk at the Auckland Doll Hospital.

She came with her own wardrobe made up of her original bridal outfit (needs a napisan clean), an original Pedigree cotton dress and the four handmade dresses shown in both photos. My favourite is the blue floral dress in a knit fabric which is exquisitely sewn with real tiny pockets and ribbon ties - a lot of love in every stitch! 

The blonde doll on the left of the photo is a recent Trademe find. She had been abandoned at the first Auckland Doll Hospital in K Rd, then she went on to a new home where she mostly lived in storage for 35 years and now here where she's at home on Miss 5s bed.

birds at the bach

Fantail



Eastern Rosella

We spent a very relaxing long Queens birthday weekend at our bach. There are always plenty of birds around. Our usual hungry visitors are the gulls, sparrows and mynahs. For the first time we had a fantail flitting about nearby looking for insects with a very cheerful chirrup and in the pine trees on our fence line a very brightly coloured eastern rosella. Most amazing of all was a native hawk soaring high in the sky above the bach.

vintage black plastic

Mandy Lou (England), Chatty Cathy (standing), Mandy Lou (NZ) 

Onsie - front view

 

Onsie - back view

During a recent sewing room tidy up, I rediscovered these 1950s vintage black plastic Pedigree dolls (pictured above with Chatty Cathy). Since they came to live with me (must be about 3-4 years) I haven't sewn them any new clothing.

In the Fifties, it would have been a favourite pastime for mothers, aunts and grandmothers to make doll clothes from the many knitting and sewing patterns available. This is very true of the 1950s NZ hard plastic doll that I bought a few years back. The doll was in a bad state with a ragged wig, cracks to her head and face whilst her body was in good shape. It was sold complete with some lovely handmade clothing ranging from dainty 1950s florals right through to 1960s retro brights. It was obvious that someone had put a lot of love, time and effort to making the clothes.

So in keeping with that tradition, first off the sewing machine is my version of the onesie (pictured above).  Then next up, I'm making them both a typical 1950s styled school dress with the peter pan collar and gathered skirt and some extra dresses in a bright yellow or red.

TEAL retro travel posters





TEAL (Tasman Empire Airways Limited) retro travel posters depict a time when air travel was a luxurious treat. Flying in the luxury solent flying boats was glamourous with passengers dressed in their Sunday best - women dressed in furs and hats, men snappily dressed in suits and ties. Today it's a very different story. Now the only remaining Solent IV in the world is located at MOTAT. I got the chance to have a look inside some years ago. The presentation was elegant travel with silver service, table linen and a chef that cooked to order.

The TEAL travel posters are really something. The posters designed by Arthur Thompson are my favourites. I love his use of bright contrasting colours and unusual abstract style. Eyecatching and very memorable!

At my primary school we had these posters on the walls. I'd imagine travelling on a Solent on the "Coral route". By the end of the school year, the posters were tatty and ended up in the rubbish bin. Wish I'd kept one.

mothers day

What comes from the heart, goes to the heart!