Op-shop sunday

A vintage crossed stiched on linen thingy (they have a fancy name but I forgot what it is...)

with my initials!

For keeping sewing bits and bobs together.

In my case for keeping mini stitching projects together in my handbag so i can quietly craft in my car should Claud fall asleep en-route anywhere (currently op-shopped dolly clothing repairs, and an attempt to make a mini, doll house sized knitted tea cosy out of an old woolly jumper, which is not going very well).

Found in a random shop in Dunedin I noticed when looking for Modern Miss (famous in NZ retro clothes place) which I never found. It was was full of wonderful wonderful stuff (think cast-off ballet costumes and vintage haberdashery), and dirt cheap.

I forgot the name of it, but it's on Dowling St, just up and over the road from the Brett McDowell gallery, 3 flights up near the mental health foundation place, in case your ever in Duners.

Linking up with all the other clever recyclers at Sophie Isobels

My Creative Space

More bunting (I know, I know!!!)

Of the proper (sewn up) Great British bunting variety.

I can justify more bunting in many ways.

1. The canvas-y fabric in a neat little red, white and blue pile cost only 20c at the local school fete white elephant stall.

2. I saw a great tutorial on making 'proper' bunting here on this lovely, crafty blog.

3.It's the next logical bunting step after paper bunting of various types, simple cut fabric bunting and doiliy bunting.

4. This.

                A very useful, recently inherited tunnel house. Bit grey and manky looking. Needs bunting.
                           Especially for when we have Claudine's 2 nd birthday midsummer garden party.
                                                        It's going to have a Brit. theme!

                                                        Sharing my creative space here

                                           

Blossom

Herald of warmer things to come, welcome!

Gosh I LOVE Japonica.

It's really cheering me up today, a zombie after Claud woke 7 times last night, and miserable about Englands troubles.

Apparently the name is a incorrect though, its actually a flowering quince.

We dress the mantelpiece in winter; and in the North of England, once upon a time, we did in Spring (May).

It does of course make one think of Sakura, the paler, later season cherry blossom.

It puts me in mind of it anyway, and after op-shopping a beautiful Japanese box frame, I finally put scissors to an expensive bit of stashed Japanese washi paper and made this.

And with the left over bits, more peg fridge magnets, and snazzed-up pencils

I still have a 2" by 5" piece, any suggestions?

With the husbands collection of Japanese pottery I have Ikebana-ed the blossom all over the house!

We don't even have a Japonica, but generous, Japonica over-endowed neighbours

Have just impulse purchased this needlecase in a fit of blossom-mania

Ahh, I feel much better x

Celebrating

Yesterday was my birthday, and concurrently my 5th wedding anniversary. Amongst all the birthday busyness I spent a small part of the day trying to remember a little of all the 38 previous birthdays, perhaps because I'm now only a year off the big one, and ended up diging out the last 10+ years of diaries to refresh my birthday memories.

Incidentally, how is it that my diaries have got smaller and smaller when incrementally I have more and more to do, and less braincells to remember it all?

 I do remember long-to-your toes party dresses being fashionable a la Hollie Hobbie at those earlier birthdays, along with Cindy doll outfits and butterfly buns. Drinking my body weight in booze was popular at some of the middle ones, which might explain the poverty of birthday recall. I vividly remember Fiji on my 30th, sunbathing on a tiny spec of an island thinking I'd never felt so relaxed, and of course in 2006 I was in Rarotonga getting wedded. On the less exotic side apparently I ran 18 kms on my birthday in 2001, went to Alton Towers in 1998 and studied all day long for an exam in 2007.

Though I'd love to jet off somewhere exotic as always, even going to a restaurant for birthday lunch was requiring of more energy than I really wanted to expend on my birthday, when I have the licence to do what-ever the hell I like, in theory anyway. Thanks to the getting-lovelier-every-year hubby I had a great time opening gifts in bed and eating chocolate for breakfast, socialising and scoffing at lunch with friends and dinner with the extended family, but secretly all I could think about was sleep! Sleep, beautiful, sleep. Soft, warm, comfy sleep. Long, deep sleepy sleep. Sigh.

I decided that next year I could stay home and sleep if I want, and to hell with the social niceties. Except the hubbys keen on my idea of a big holiday to match the BIG birthday next year. YIPEE! 

We already have New England, Tahiti, or Tasmania on the possibilities list. HURRAY! All I need to do is make sure we book a quiet place, with a giant feather mattress and complementary earplugs, just in case!

These days these sort of things make my birthday/anniversary very happy, if not permenantly memorable!

My faves; still attached to their roots

The transition from one week late present still in the plastic carrier bag from the shop it was bought in, to this beautifully presented number over 5 years has been miraculous, well done hubby you x

J'aime les Macarons soft as pillows...zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Ah, yes and...

My op-shop gift to the hubby!

You can't beat a board game by the fireside of a winter when you get to our age aye?!

Oh, and of course little Miss Sleep Stealer herself