Monet's Garden

Japanese Bridge, Monet's Garden, Giverny

Elmo was fortunate to work in Paris for a few months last year. Poor Elmo: all those pastries, art, FOOD, weekend trips around Europe, and did I mention FOOD? Of course, I was supremely jealous of all the eating, so I joined him towards the end of his stay. 

One of the absolute highlights was visiting Claude Monet's house and garden at Giverny. It was wonderful to see Monet's studio and personal art collection (also his amazing kitchen and cookware). And while the garden was lovely in the overcast morning, when the sun finally emerged in the afternoon, it was absolutely stunning. 

 

Monet's garden at Giverny

Snowberry

 

I have become rather obsessed about making wall hangings, it's the perfect way to show off beautiful printed fabrics. 

Here's one I made a while ago featuring the lovely Lumimarja print designed by Erja Hirvi from Marimekko (which we bought back in 2012, yikes). This comes in many colourways but we chose the grey/yellow/white version.

Any excuse to use the staple gun really =)

squawk!

OK, so I'm not sure what penguins sound like.

Turns out that when you become an aunty, it's essential to expand your repertoire of animal sounds beyond Mooooo, Meow and (my favourite) Raaaaaaarr!

Here, it's same same but different. Still making stuff and having fun. Last year, we tied the knot and travelled a bit. This year, we're gonna keep it local and visit all our interstate buddies - watch out guys! I'm also enjoying reading many new sewist blogs - very inspiring.


Anyway, this is a penguin from a finger puppet collection for little M, all the way in Germany. Welcome M (squawk), Happy Easter!

Echino Framed

Inspired by some fabric wall hangings at Kiitos, we armed ourselves with a staple gun and stretched canvas frame to make this for my bro's housewarming/Christmas pressie.

This Echino Bird print was a gift from Dr P and J a few years ago from Duckcloth - I think they may have envisioned a skirt version too; however, I think it also makes a great print to admire on a nice new wall in a nice new house. An extremely satisfying project indeed, we felt quite proud of our handiwork!

There are plenty of tutes floating around if you're keen (the tute on the Marimekko blog is a good start).  I decided to fold the edges over for a neater finish, but beware the added bulkiness when dealing with the corners. To help reduce the bulk from the extra fabric, I trimmed a small triangle from each corner before stapling the fold in place, but I'm still working towards a better solution for this.

We also grabbed some D rings and simply added one to each side (you could also use eye screws). Attach some wire to hang up your finished masterpiece =p - there are also plenty of tutes on how to tie a wire knot. 

A great way to destash fabric - especially those that you can't bear to cut into, and you get to admire your lovely prints everyday.  Hope bro, s and little miss c enjoy it!

Nani Iro Spotty Spring Scarf

Mostly, we try to be sensible and not splurge too much. But I confess, there are some things that I don't think twice about:
1) Gigs - anyone else excited about the pairing of Joe Pernice of Pernice Brothers and Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub?
2) Fabrics. Too much is never enough.

(Un)fortunately, Elmo is an excellent enabler, so we recently splurged on Marimekko lovelies at Kiitos (more on this later) and a bit of this Nani Iro Pon Pocho print from Patchwork on Central Park, (closing soon to make way for a second Scarlet Jones, make sure you drop in and snap up some lovelies for yourself!). 

This bright and happy fabric is lovely and soft, perfect for a spring scarf. I simply cut along the grain, and hemmed in on all sides. The lady in the shop also suggested that I could leave some edges frayed which I will try on a second version.

But first, this is on its way to Ms E who is now mum of two - congrats eky and mr a, and welcome little s.k.h =)

winter crafting

now that it's the coldest coldest weather (toe-freezing overnight temperatures of 3.2 and 2.3 deg on the weekend*), i'm making summery tops and dresses.

it's a bit upside down: my friend c is sensibly knitting a cardi and she wonders why i wait until summer to knit chunky wool scarves. c suggested wearing layers of all sorts underneath my new tops (you could wear a singlet! no, a skivvy!). i wonder if i could bribe c to make me a cardi to wear =p

but doncha think this print calls out for a spring/picnicy/bbq type top?

 

this is another DS quilt collection fabric from spotty, with the wiksten tova top pattern. i adjusted the seams on the side and sleeves, but other than that, it's a good fit!

grabbed a lovely brushed cotton bargain yesterday, so might make a tova dress version while i've got a bit of time between deadlines (sorry c!)

*secretly enjoying the palindromic temps!

Ch-ch-changes

happy post-winter-solstice winter! or happy new financial year!?

we recently moved from a small city apartment to a small house further out. reality check: all our romantic notions of growing vegies in the backyard were swiftly replaced with new hobbies of lawnmowing and saving plants from bugs unknown. yup.

we do love our new neighbourhood though, especially now that we've stopped feeling like we're living in a b and b that just happens to have all of our stuff in it!

work grows apace: busy busy busy but good. during a brief breather, i've managed to do a bit of crafting.  here's a wiksten tank, made with an art deco style DS collection fabric. loving the orange and navy combo.

And, whilst on my craft spree in japan last october, i picked up these gorgeous polygon beads from idola in kyoto, a little shop adjacent to the avril yarn shop. idola has the winning tag line: Smile buttons & Dragon beads. i couldn't pick only one so grabbed one of each colour, score!