yellow & black

It’s Waitangi Day here in New Zealand, and Mia has been invited to a friends birthday party. I made a gift – a large zip wallet intended to be a Pencil Case, but which could also be a purse. It’s a lot of fun making one-off gifts, it allows me to stretch my design skills and have a play. This time I made a shabby chic style flower in yellows and blacks with Vintage French lace, to compliment the sage green denim outer and black gingham inner. I do so love yellow, sage, and black together. Strangely this is pretty much the first piece of creating or sewing I have done this year – when I moved todays pictures into the little minx photo file I found the only Folder that existed in 2013 so far is for the blog. With Simon working when he can, and the kids on holidays until this week everything else was put aside for the bit. I am currently back in my work room, fabric piles up to my knees, as I cut and prepare for the Theives Alley Market on in Dunedin this Saturday in the Octagon – if you’re local it would be lovely to see you there.

On a separate note, I have just finished reading Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress - have you read it? What a beautiful book, filled with many layers that overlap yet never feel unresolved. The history behind China during the Cultural Revolution is so fascinating – I have always found it hard to imagine how people felt they had an important place in the world when the day to day struggle seems to be so prevalent, and there are so many others experiencing it. When you read a story such as this it would seem to answer with captured moments.