Back in my office days Friday afternoon was always, always time for champagne and chips. Not a combination I’d recommend - but drinking champagne Just Because I never had an argument with. Today my felt flower brooch from Melissa is giving me a little bit of that sought-after friday feeling. It improves my home-based-mother outfit one hundred per cent.
I love, love Carly’s hearts print in red. And blue too. And the elephants. And the quality of fabric is lovely too, textured and natural. More here.
I feel tired. But the up side is there is some strength in the sun, we have a new vegie patch and a dear henhouse ready to welcome the boarders back from my mum and dad’s. The ladies have been paying their way by laying well up there, so hopefully the move won’t put them off. The henhouse is made by my dad mostly from packing pallets from my brother’s warehouse. Rats not welcome.
I’m sure I’m not the first to observe that most of those lovely Japanese pattern books we love so much are like giant jigsaw pieces. So long as you work to the same size, most of the pieces are interchangeable. Fancy a v-neck on that? Like to add a sleeve?
Or a ruffle? Or perhaps a sweet little collar.
Needless to say this approach to sewing your own clothes serves mainly to highlight the importance of design. But not being someone who likes to always stick to the rules (using restraint devices in moving vehicles is an exception), I have had much joy and also much sorrow using this apporach.
(Pics from the latest addition to my collection Happy Homemade Vol. 1, which lives up to the ‘happy’ and the ‘homemade’ in its title and, I’m hoping, also Vol. 2.)
before
Actually there wasn’t much for my new staple gun to do on this job, it was mostly sewing. Recently I re-covered an old divan we inherited with the house. It turned from a faded old thing impregnated with dust, to quite a comfy piece of furniture. So I got high on my success and bought these teak chairs on ebay. Ben did the pick up on Saturday and by Sunday afternoon they were reupholstered. The fabric is Lotta Jansdotter (1996, according to the selvedge) that I was lucky enough to win. I only had two yards, so I used some plain linen cotton underneath the cushions and on the back, and there was just enough Lotta for the rest. (I never get tired of the Lotta puns, sorry.)
Some details of the new place, because the big picture is too scary. See here for the full disaster.
This video is perfection and makes me happy, and that is a tall order at this moment.
Real estate. Need I say more?
Milla’s first painting. It was all about the splatter for her. This was taken a few days ago when things still looked quite civilised. Now it’s a different story. Discovered my first pile of mouse poo today. No doubt there will be plenty more before we’re moved.
Thanks, Fiona, what a prawn cracker cutie you have. If anyone would like a hat, please email me: gina at good gracie dot com. I have a few in stock that I haven’t managed to photograph yet. My miniature model has had a cold and four teeth coming through, so she’s not exactly looking or feeling her best. Certainly not worth her $20,000 a day fee.
I’m gradually getting past my fear of sewing with knits, mainly because they are quite forgiving of my habit of sewing a new outfit in the minutes before we’re due to go out somewhere. This is a kind of super long tank top. I’m hoping nobody actually points and laughs when I wear it out of the house because I quite like it.
And this bag I also made right before going out. Because I rashly put my ‘handbag’ collection in storage during the Great Decluttering, thinking that surely I could stick to the same one for a few weeks. And no, I can’t. This is just a simple shoulder bag with a zip pocket on the front made using thrifted wool and zip and a small piece of beautiful Pippijoe hemp cotton fabric, which is lovely and thick and soft.
As a rule I don’t make softies. My few attempts have been generally sad, sorry and or floppy. I leave them to the experts who are brilliant, and clever and genius. But sometimes a softie attempt is called for and this one was a gift for a non-mobile-owning friend so she knows that I would beep her if I could. Happy birthday, Karen. XXX
