Vintage Drink Coasters

This year for Mothers Day I decided to make some Drink Coasters as gifts. They were quite fun to make, basically just squares with a little quilting detail. It did give me a chance to indulge my obsession with Vintage Sanderson fabrics, and, what is bound to become my next obsession, checked fabrics. A wee handmade flower card, and two very happy gift receivers. I do love to stop all the things on the to-do list to indulge in a dash of trolling through my fabrics and creating something new.

We have a bitter cold here – a bit of a shock after the mild Autumn we have had so far. There is even a little snow threatening in the air, the clouds are looking very moody and gray. The fire is already going, it may be a weekend for hunkering down, something I don’t mind doing at all. I hope you are all keeping warm and cosy where you are. Have a happy weekend x

Feeling Yuck

Everyone has been feeling Yuck. Reuben and Mia have been at home for the last three days coughing and hacking, sniffing and moaning, and now that they are back at school I am feeling unwell. Not much has been acheived over the last few days except for movie watching, a little playing, a small amount of baking, and lots of reading, so I thought I would show you a few newish items around our home from the Op Shop. Before we all got sick I had a particularily lucky shop, and came home with a lime green Vintage tin, some gorgeous rubber stamps with nature motifs on them, a beautiful glass vase, and Perfume from Provence by Winifred Forstucue (The Hounourable Lady Fortuscue once you open the cover) from 1946 with illustrations by E.H.Shepard. The mirror on the Mantel was an Op Shop find in Motueka, on the back is written Lake Mathison. This find inspired me to make the decision to collect these types of mirrors with landscape scenes, but once I got home I realised the $5 price tag in Moteuka was not to be repeated anywhere else.

To Mum

When I was 6 my Mother and I hopped on a plane to a vast adventure in England, and then Germany. My memories of this time are vivid, though very much seen through a childs eyes. Mum and Janma took us to so many special places, leaving me with a truly romantic feel of 1970′s Europe and the UK. One memory that lasts almost more than any other was gifted to me, by coincidental accident, by Mum in Germany. My first copy of Winnie-the Pooh, which she read to me on our travels, bringing about a lifelong love of A.A.Milne and the characters he created. I recently read the books to Reuben, something that had us giggling like little children nightly, and left him re-reading the book to himself once I had finished it, and I smile at how the memory now travels on. I still have my original copy, and the inscription inside reads “Brought in Germany 76. Only English book we could find in Bonn”. Thanks for so many amazing memories Mum – Happy Mothers Day xx

P.S After finding an old newspaper article in my copy of Winnie-the-Pooh which featured pictures of the real Winnie and some of his friends, I spent a bit of time on the internet. They are located at the New York Public Library – this picture made my heart leap x

Autumnal

Autumn truly has it’s grasp on us here in the Deep South, and everywhere you look the colours have a rustiness or glow about them. It’s cold, but it sure is pretty. Around our home the quilt has made it’s way back onto the bed, a few straggly bits of firewood left over from last year have been chopped and relocated to the back door, and the trees around us have finally given up denying the season and are turning the most beautiful shades of russet and gold. Even the Tote Bag I made for my shop today seems to be filled with these colours. Such a beautiful time of year, nature really is a wonder.

Wednesday

For most Wednesday is the middle of the week, but for me it’s the start of three entire days that are, hopefully, given over purely to creating and working on little minx. I get a bit excited when I wake up on Wednesday morning, with my first thoughts being “what am I going to do today”. We have a biting Southerly visiting, so it’s been cold and dreary with the wind rattling around the house. The heaters have been on, along with an extra pair of socks, and I have had the chance to dive into some saved precious pieces of Vintage fabric to make some gifts, and three new Zip Wallets for my shop. I do love Wednesday.

Oyster Gifts & Gallery

In the mail today, an order for Oyster Gifts and Gallery at 252 Jackson Street, Petone. They stock an absolutly gorgeous range of gifts, homewares, and kiwiana, so, once again, I am in very good company. I’m particularily in love with these Tui Jugs, the Greenstone Spiral earrings by Nick Feint, and these ultra-cool wooden Mini Buildings… I may just need to get myself a mini Te Papa for the Mantel.

Home – Queens Gardens Court

The part of Dunedin I love the most, architecturally, is Queens Gardens with it’s amazing selection of historic buildings from Victorian through to Art Deco. My absolute favourite is a builidng now called Queens Gardens Court. Designed by Nathaniel Young Armstrong Wales and completed in 1886 for the National Insurance Company, this is listed as Category 1 with the New Zealand Historic Places, and it’s not hard to see why.

Postcards

The Op Shop I frequent the most has piles and piles of magazines – it’s amazing how old some of them are, and the thought that until recently they have been sitting in someone’s home. I brought some National Geographics from the 1970′s home, and decided to make some Postcards with some of the pictures. When someone buys something from little minx I always like to include a thank you note, and so thought this could be a good solution until I eventually print some of my own. Some of the pictures and headings in these magazines are priceless – including my current favourite “Consider the Sponge”. I cut some pictures out, glued them onto cardboard, and then, once they were dry, machine stitched a line of colour around the edge. I printed the name of each article and the month and year released onto the back of the card, and voila, Postcards from vintage magazines! I’ve already sent off two, I think this may become a new routine for me. Not to mention it ticks the biggest box - re-using with the chance of appreciating something all over again.

We Will Remember Them

Anzac Day Dawn Service Parade, the Cenotaph, Queens Gardens, Dunedin.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them

We will remember them.

In the Mail

School holidays are over, the kids are happily back at school, and I am now head down over my sewing machine working at getting my shop, and my stockists, ready for Mother’s Day. Every now and then I treat myself to something little from one of my favourite crafty webshops when I have made a sale or two, and thought I would show you a few small things that have popped through my mailbox in the last month or so. Firstly, a beautiful off-white and Sage coloured Thistle Bowl from Mudbird NZ now adorning the windowsill in my workroom. Next, some sweet Swallow earrings from One Trick Pony, a favourite with Mia. Today’s arrival, the current issue of Extra Curricular (issue 8), with a little bit of little minx in the Felt advert. Lastly – a new Tote Bag for my shop, made from a vintage Sanderson fabric bought on Trade Me. I do love to hear that NZ Post motorbike stop at my gate!