Fabric Op-Shop Finds

This weeks finds are all about gorgeous blues, grays and browns.  

Beautiful soft-to-the-skin woolen jumpers, all washed up and ready to be made into children's pixie hats.  Luscious angora, cashmere, lambswool and merino - some of them never worn, some hand knitted too which makes them extra special in my eyes.

Wool felt, denim, tweed and tartan destined for pirate coats. I have taken a break from making pirate coats since Christmas as they are quite intensive, however after a bunch of recent requests and some inspiration from these lovely new fabrics I might make just a few more :)

Lisa x

Linking up with The Op Shop Showoff,  The Nifty Thrifty at A Living Space, Coastal Charm, Magpie Monday and Sirthiftalot.
(If you have also found some lovely winter fabrics and would like to use my pixie hat pattern or pirate coat pattern you can find them in my pattern shop).

Wool Felt Bead Tutorial

This little necklace was one of the handmade goodies I made for our little girl's birthday.  She loves it so much.  Often we hear a wee voice.. "lellow, owange, gween..." proudly reciting her colours.  I call that a win! For me there is nothing nicer than my little girl loving something I have made with my own hands, just for her :)

A few people have asked how I made it - so I have put together an easy tutorial so you can make your own too.

All you need is some wool roving, fine elastic, soap and a needle.  Simple.

Start with a small amount of wool roving (washed, carded wool)

Gently open the fibres up a little

Place it on your hand

gently wet it just a little by dripping some water onto it with your other hand

Squeeze a small amount of liquid soap in the middle.  

(I use eco-store dishwash which is kind to my skin and the environment :)

Start scrunching the middle bit a little with the fingers of your other hand

Gently scrunch the edges as well, gently, gently, gently forming a ball

Add a little more water, start rolling gently.  Continue rolling until the ball shrinks, adding more pressure as it gets smaller and firmer.  Rinse from time to time to remove the excess soap

Voila - your felted wool bead!  

Once you have your desired number of beads, string them onto fine elastic with a needle.

Present it to you child and wait for the smiles :) xx

Botanical Op-Shop Finds

My op-shop finds this week have a botanical theme.  A necklace of threaded seeds, dyed in natural hues of red, green and purple.  Our bling-loving little girl is besotted...

Beautiful botanical embroidered napkins in soft linen.  Almost too nice to use, but we will use them as our everyday napkins because we all need a little something beautiful in our day :)

My favourites are the pansy and poppy...

xx

Linking up with the lovely Max from Blackbird Has Spoken.

Baking - Oat and Orange Scones

Our baking today was oat and orange scones which we ate for our afternoon tea.  We halved the recipe, substituted currants for cranberries to make six large delicious scones.  Yum.   We have been trying lots of delicious things from the lovely 101 cook books site, well worth a visit if you haven't already.

Poppet is getting quite skilled at patting the dough into a round, although she does like to sneak a few of the cranberries whilst on the job.  I put a few extra into the mixture at the beginning for just this reason :)

I am loving this new ritual of afternoon baking with our little girl.  She simply loves this time, and it seems to add a certain calmness and sense of achievement to my day too.

x

Autumn Rainy Day

Rainy days in our tree-house are so special.  Thunderously heavy falls combine with muted sounds of rain dampened by the trees.  Not to mention that heavenly fragrance of wet forest - so incredible.

Our lovely rainy weekend consisted of banana cake, rain watching, laundry folding, thunderstorms, a rain walk and an impromptu teddy bears picnic.

I love rainy days like this.  Nothing in particular that needs to be done, just pottering around doing everyday things at a leisurely pace.  Just the three of us having a home day together.

xx

16/52

A portrait of our little girl, once a week, every week in 2013

An enthusiastic squeeze of bubble bath supercharged with the shower head creates a happy bath time sea of foam.

Joining in with Jodi and the 52 Project.
My favourite from last week was this one :)













.

Quilt

My friend Deb made this absolutely adorable quilt for our little girl - and I love it so, so much.

You see, I had many bags of her baby clothes which I just couldn't bear to throw out, yet it seemed a little pointless to have them stored in the garage.  A small dilemma, until I came up with the idea of making a quilt from them.

I had planned make this myself, but when the time came, I just couldn't bear to take to any of the outfits with a pair of scissors, so I enlisted the help of one of my quilting heros.  Someone who makes quilts with such love, care and undeniable heart.  Deb.

Each and every square has a memory for us.  

The outfit she came home from the hospital in,  her first strawberry, her immunisations, her first cuddles with grandparents...

Our little girl was ecstatic when she found it in my suitcase.  

"Oooh was tis?  Waz tis?  Mummy?  Oooh... ladybird, oooh... teddy bear"  Giggle.  Another giggle.... POCKET!  Squeal!  Flowa, more flowas...  Giggle.... (and then the best compliment you can get..)   MINE! Mine Mummy.  Mine!

She spent ages poring over every little detail when she went to bed, and has discovered that she can store her dummy in one of the pockets :)  Seriously - she is in love.

Thanks so so so much for making this for us Deb - we all love it so much.

xx

A Coat for Annie

Last weekend I met many lovely, kind, generous and talented women.  One of them was Deb.

The idea of meeting someone in person after sharing in their life via blogging is an unusual experience, but Deb was exactly how I imagined her. Sweet, caring and so funny!

Prior to the weekend we arranged a little swap between us.  My end was to make this very special coat to keep her daughter deliciously warm and snugly during the cold Christchurch winter.  Annie is a little ray of sunshine, so I wanted to make her something happy and cosy.

Raspberry wool was adorned with bumble bees, ladybirds, dandelions (of course!), daisies and some other little botanical curiosities. With an added pixie hood, I think her little coat fits my idea of happy.

A wee "Care Bear" came together from the left-over pieces of raspberry wool.  She is the perfect size for little hands to carry around and small enough for Annie to slip into a pocket and take with her...

I so enjoyed creating this coat just for Annie, and I hope she loves it as much as I do :)

I'm itching to share with you the incredible piece Deb made specially for our little girl... pics coming soon.

xx

15/52

A portrait of our little girl, once a week, every week in 2013

Poppet:  Her beloved new blue cup, purchased from the delightful Forest Folk shop.  Each noodle strand delicately placed inside and individually slurped up.  A slow albeit amusing dinner...

Joining in with the 52 project.

My favourite from last week was Noah.

xx

Toadstool House

I'm so proud of my first Toadstool House!  

Staying true to my Big Little philosphy, every little detail of my playhouse has been made from recycled and vintage materials and I'm so happy with how beautifully it turned out.  (Modest huh!)  

You can see my original design sketches and inspiration here.  I also added a few extra things like a handle to carry it around with and some Woodland Pixies to live inside :)

I used a recycled cream wool blanket to make the lovely tactile stem, with an old corduroy shirt for the toadstool cap.   Spots were felt off-cuts hand stitched on with lots of tiny little stitches and patience. 

Shirt, trousers and socks are the clothes of choice for Woodland Pixies, and they were fashioned from scraps of coloured felt.  I'm told they like to do their laundry each Tuesday...

A dear friend gifted me a bag of wool oddments - perfect for hand embroidering the little wildflowers in the garden, and of course my signature critter - this time a butterfly!  The wee window features a teeny tiny curtain, previously a blouse, with some vintage lace for trim.

Pixie's sofa inspired by a very cute one I found in a vintage sewing pattern for a tree-stump house.

Open close, open close - yes the front door is fully functional and constructed from a textured autumnal wool blanket. I carefully handmade the bias binding for the doorframe too.  A gifted vintage button with lovely rose detailing provided the perfect door handle.

I simply LOVED making this little Toadstool Playhouse and there is a little person I know who is itching to get her hands on it... she had to wait until after I took the pics just in case something went missing :)   Uh-Hmm.

Now I just need to decide - would I like to make more of these little cuties?

xx

Kereru

With her lustrous blue, purple and green wings, she makes her presence known as she flaps loudly in.
Spring, she loves the Kowhai tree, in summer the Cabbage tree but today she has our luscious red guava berries on her menu.

She is lovely to watch, fat and plump and enjoying herself.

14/52

A portrait of our little girl, once a week, every week in 2013

Poppet:  Snapped at the top of the stairs with an open jar of marmite.  

This carefully rationed jar saw us through the "marmite drought", after the Christchurch earthquake damaged the factory.  Thankfully it is finally now back on the supermarket shelves :)

Joining in with Jodi and the 52 Project.

My favourite pic from last week is here

xx

Easter at Our Place

Easter rituals at our place involve our Easter Egg Tree and keeping an eye on cheeky Lindt bunnies known to disappear if you don't watch them carefully :)

I bought these beautiful hand painted eggs many years ago, and delight in taking them out of their special wrap each year.  They remind me of my travels and of lovely people.

My folks joined us this year, helping us complete a bunch of things on our to-do list.  Lots of wood-work (more about that soon), fixing, gardening, water blasting, making, hanging...  thanks Mum and Dad for all your help, it sure feels good to have so many things ticked off.

We also managed pajamas till morning tea, an outing to our beach, wild strawberry picking and a couple of roast dinners.  Yum :)

xx