Whew! We got this bad boy up just in time for Christmas.

Hullo daaaaaarling

 

I've made a few alterations to the bird decoration. Let's call it evolution.

I was distractedly cutting material for the new birds and then I found more scraps to use so I cut those out. And then there were the scraps in the cupboard I hadn't opened for ages, so I cut out some more...

I now have 50 of these birds.

50 one-of-a-kind, handmade birds.

If they don't sell, I'm going to make a short film about one woman's decent into bird decoration induced insanity. It will be called "A film starring me".

Bye bye birdie

 

I'm making Christmas decorations, lots and lots of Christmas decorations at the moment. This bird is one of several hundred million* one-of-a kind, entirely individual, handmade decorations that I have made over the past few days. I plan on selling them at the Victorian Heritage weekend this year.

Jules is my man-on-the-ground when it comes to pricing, and he tells me they'll sell for only $5.00. FIVE BUCKS! I was hoping for ten...

Just look at these eyes... don't they speak to you? Specifically, don't they say "$5 is not enough. You want me. You WANT me. Hand that nice lady $10"?

 

 

*Artistic license.

Commissions rock

 

I've had a run on commissions this month and they are all for lovely people and lovely babies. Yay!

The material above is for a dress for a brand new precious little tot. Her mum is a friend of mine from high school and I'm just so pleased to be making this dress for her daughter.

The denim is stuff from my stash, and the yellow cotton with the unusual tree print is Japanese and total gorgeousness. The pattern I'm sort of, kind of, a little bit using is from the 1920s. I suspect I'm making it hard for myself, but if it turns out how I imagine it in my head, it'll rock.

Keep your fingers crossed for me....

A suitable craft project for an invalid.

Upcycling an old Karen Walker tshirt into a cushion cover, also making use of that denim you got as a bargain from the op shop.

1. Cut out the denim roughly the size of the cushion. Cut the tee however you like. Take everything to your mother to have her cut it all again, but this time more cushion-shaped and with straight edges.

2. Ask your dad for a hammer. Navigate around the massive gaping drain he has recently dug in the back yard to fetch the hammer from the shed. Thank god you didn't fall in the drain and dirty your last pair of clean(ish) pajamas.

3. Count the number of snap button thingies you have. Divide this number by the number of sides of the cushion. Curse your expensive-yet-clearly-inadequate girls' school education and work it out on a calculator.

4. Sit the piece of tshirt on top of the denim and make wild stabs at where the snap button thingies should go. Snip the fabric, grab the hammer, and damage the tiles around your parents' fireplace by hammering in the first button. Quickly scan imagination and come up with story about a small earthquake. That happened while they were overseas. Before they had the tiles installed around the fire. Oh shit.

5. Take everything outside very quickly while your mother is putting the chickens away in the coop for the evening, and before she can see what you have done. Preferably move everything in front of your toddler who immediately wants to help because hammering stuff is What He Lives For.

6. Negotiate hammering in the 600 other bloody snap button thingies with a 23 month old maniac holding the hammer. Kiss the ground when you get to the end and have lived. Turn to your child and check that he has also lived. Congratulate yourself on avoiding an awkward conversation with his father.

7. Take a break to watch game shows on telly.

8. Muster enthusiasm to finish project. Tell yourself that you'll whip up the rest of the cushion after the child goes to bed.

9. Feign extreme pain/breakdown/minor amputation/mental retardation in effort to convince your mother to finish project for you. Suddenly remember that this technique has not worked on her in 31 years when she is starts to ridicule you.

10. Take all parts of the unfinished project home with you and swear that you will finish it. Soon. Consider taking cunning photo of the front of the cushion to make it look like it is finished so that you can blog about it. Fail spectacularly and blog about it anyway.

Every cloud and all that.

I've not been very well these past few days. It's been a great chance to lie down and catch up on sleep. That, and I've finally done a bit more on this.

Remy's gone to stay at the farm with my parents. I've only had two texts so far. The first asked when in god's good name would the child have his daytime nap because my mother needed a break; and the second asked when the hell he would wake up because the puppy was bored and needed Remy to entertain him.

So, yes, I think I can conclude that all's well at the farm.

I'm working on getting better and will report back to y'all on what else has been happening in the van Rose household.

Oh Christmas Tree

I'm taking part in this Christmas ornament swap. Because going back to work* after 18 months at home with a kid who still wakes in the night was not enough to fill in my days.

I've started which, frankly, IS A FREAKING MIRACLE, but that's about all. I made one piece (only 29 more pieces to go... did I mention that I designed the most time consuming ornament EVER?) and had to open a bottle of wine**.

Blimey. I'm such an eeyore somedays. So, for those of you who are still reading after my grizzling, here's the silver lining - I can expect some precious, handmade ornaments for my Christmas tree this year. Yay to that.

*Yes, I have a new, full-time job. I've been meaning to write about it but, for one reason or another, I haven't. It's also one of those jobs where it's best not to talk to the interweb about it. Most excitingly, it means that Jules is now a full-time dad/house husband. It's like I've landed in feminist heaven. He even has my tea ready for me at 6. Still working on him greeting me at the door with my pipe and slippers. I'm going to make that a stretch goal in his performance review this year. Am I still blathering on about this? It appears I am.

**Jules, if you're reading this, please keep calm. I went for the moderately priced stuff i the cellar.

Selvedge

 

My mum gets Selvedge, a fabulous magazines for us creative, fabric-loving types. There's no way I could possibly afford it - without a subscription, they're 20 quid a pop. Excuse my back-of-an-envelope maths, but I calculate that with the New Zealand dollar the way it is at the moment, that's about 20 kazillion bazillion dollars each. Maybe you know of a cheaper way to get them?

Just check out the covers - pure art in themselves. I want!

 

 

Break in transmission

Um, I can't get my camera to work. Damn! I have photos of the bunny rabbits WITH heads on. Hopefully it'll be fully functional tomorrow.

It was another booming day in the shop. God I'm having such fun there. I am a little worried that I will come out of four weeks of full-time work with NO money though... I want to buy everything in the shop myself. Every single thing. Actually, funny story, a woman was in the shop looking for a gift for a newborn and I was showing her different options. After about 5 minutes of showing her absolutely every single thing (she was hard to please), she looked at me and said 'you're very excited about this'. Hahahaha! Yes, I am very excited by super cute teeny tiny baby things. Thanks for noticing. Now buy something very expensive and really make my day.

Talking of exciting things, follow this link to see my darling partner Jules on telly this morning. He's the one in the black t-shirt printed with what could be mistaken for green breasts, but what is actually two wine glasses.

Warning: Dismemberment may offend more sensitive readers

 

I'm taking total advantage of my grandparents this week while they visit. Grandad has been on gardening duties (photos to follow because the work he has done has to be seen to be believed - this man doesn't just have green fingers; he has MAGIC fingers), and Nana has been on sewing detail.

Aaaaaaages ago, I picked up two lots of pure wool fabric from one of the local op shops but, true to form, had no idea what I was going to do with them. Then I found a cute, cute, cute patten for a toy rabbit. Never having made a toy, I was pleased when I got most of the way through two of them by myself, but I stumbled when it came to stuffing them and putting them together.

Nana is a wizz at this sort of thing so, hopefully, these poor little dismembered rabbits will be whole rabbits in no time at all.

 

Blue roses and the 1940s

Even if I do say so myself, this dress totally ROCKS.

The design is based on a vintage pattern given to me by my grandmother, that I think is from the 1940s. The pattern that is, not my grandma.

It's made to fit a baby somewhere between 6 months and 12 months. The dress is entirely lined, so no precious baby skin will come into contact with nasty old seams. The blue roses are from a blouse my Aunty Karen cut out sometime ago and never got around to finishing, and the rest of the fabrics are new pure cottons (including the lining which is lawn, sweet sweet lawn).

 

 

It's in The Frog Prince right now and retails for $120.

Steam is my style

 

I'm continually surprised and delighted by just how friendly and generous the people in this town are.

Yesterday morning I popped into Steam, by far the best little cafe in town, and brazenly hit up the owner for some coffee bean sacks so that I can make some cushions. To my astonishment, she not only gave me two sacks but she called Remy cute and raved about how darling Jules is.

I could get used to this kind of treatment!

 

A little something to keep the craftiness alive

Obviously moving island and then moving house twice is not conducive to craftiness so I thought that I'd whip out something I prepared earlier.

Ta dah!



A couple of winters ago, I started to teach myself crewel embroidery. This is the first in a series of nine panels that I've provisionally called Garden of Eden. What with being a raving atheist and all, it's a strange subject matter but I can live with the contradiction.