Hazelnuts

Pinecone pincushion

2012-01-31T18:30:00.002+13:00

I was in an opshop yesterday and my eye fell on this curious thing

Looking closer I realised it was a pincushion so I picked it up, only to discover this on the bottom

It's made on a pinecone! The faded tag on it suggested it would make my work basket smell nice, so I suppose originally it would have had a lovely pine-scent as well. Of course I had to buy it for the princely sum of $1.When I got home I googled 'pinecone pincushion' and found some instructions for making them, as well as some other examples. I really like how the one on BubzRugz has some of the ummm... bract scales showing (I googled that too!).

Mine sits very nicely on its base, although in some ways it's a shame because I think I almost like the exposed cone contrasted with the fabric the most!

Comments hiccup

2012-01-30T21:48:00.001+13:00

I've just realised that unbeknownst to me, my commenting system Disqus had stopped working on my blog, or was only doing a half-assed job, and I wasn't being notified of comments! It was sending me a notification of the first comment per post and then nothing else, and I hadn't been checking the blog - I've just discovered a whole pile of lovely comments left in the last 2-3 weeks! I've replied as best I can but I don't know if Disqus sends out replies to people if I do it via the website - I usually reply by email and send one directly to the commenter so I know they get it. Hopefully it's fixed, although really I have no idea what was wrong or what I did to fix it but it looks ok now.

So if you left a comment and didn't get a reply please check back on the post! I can't seem to send replies by email retrospectively.

So annoyed.

Summer

2012-01-30T20:34:00.000+13:00

We had such craptastic weather over Christmas that the arrival of summer at long last doesn't seem quite real!

We (and half of Auckland) took advantage of the holiday today for Auckland Anniversary to head out to Muriwai Beach. First the beach at Maori Bay (next to Muriwai)

Then up onto the headland to see the Gannet colony there...

...and finished with an icecream - not photographed as I kept my iPhone well away from melty icecream!

Today Mat found a page out of a diary that Hazel must have started, abandoned and then discarded that says (translation to follow): Rily rily tierd!!! Today. In desprit ned of pony tile. Wishing it was yastoday. [Really really tired today! In desperate need of pony tail*. Wishing it was yesterday.] Where did she learn to sound like Bridget Jones?

*chewy little gummy My Little Pony snack. She is allowed to have one a day.

My Learn to Sew Book

2012-01-29T20:29:00.001+13:00

When I was 5, my grandmother sent me the My Learn to Sew Book* all the way from New Zealand for Christmas. It was great. I can't remember how many things (if any) I made but I know I read and re-read it until it was practically falling apart (probably setting a pattern for me and craft books that has lasted until this day).

It remains the standard to which I hold all other craft books - and why not, it has an impressive array of actually quite cool projects (for a 70s craft book):

The end papers

Pipe cleaner dolls and funky furniture. Work it pipe cleaner dolls, work it!

Cute little mouse - have a vague feeling I might have made this one

What a self-satisfied looking cat!

These hints are so very true and I love the illustrations

Hazel found the book when we were back at my parents place last Christmas, so it returned to New Zealand 35+ years later, and yesterday she asked if we could make something.

Not the clothing though, she said that it was too "old-fashioned", and I was forced to admit that the market for very short dirndle skirts and head scarves is a bit limited these days.

She wanted to make Baby Billy

And so we did! Except he's now a she and called Baby Rose

Oddly enough, for all the modern aesthetic we applied, mostly courtesy of the Wee Wonderfuls Book, Baby Rose looks startlingly like another product of the 70s, a Muppet! Specifically this one:

*My Learn To Sew Book by Janet Barber. Illustrated by Belinda Lyon. Hamlyn 1972. ISBN 0 600 35910 7

I have my cushions back

2012-01-27T12:06:00.001+13:00

AMQG cushion challenge prize, originally uploaded by Hazelnutgirl.

And guess what - the cathedral window one was first in the viewer's choice voting in the exhibition of all the AMQG pillows! And the circles one came second! I'm super-chuffed about that but also feel rather bad in a strange way, like just one would have been more than enough and I'm some sort of show-off or something. I live in fear of being thought a show-off to be honest, just like I hate being late or forgetting something. Is my Freudian slip showing? ;) Luckily Helen from The Little Craft Store came third with her cute owl so I had a fellow blogger to share the glory with. And there's no denying I do love my pillows and am very proud of them :) The Cathedral Window is going to Mum as her Christmas present - I had to give her a IOU on the day which she was very good about.

The prize was a wonderful box of goodies from Patchwork Passion - a bundle of gorgeous fat 1/8s (I think that's what they are), some lovely lovely ribbons, and the Modern Mix book by Jessica Levitt. I think I might be a convert to challenges :)

Spray basting

2012-01-15T14:41:00.000+13:00

I've finally gotten on to quilting my Batch of Brownies quilt. It's been such a long time because I decided that because of the stretchy linen it would have to be spray basted and then I discovered that the supposedly super-awesome 505 spray that everyone talks about isn't the easiest to find here - if you're lazy like me. Some quilt shops carry it sometimes, but not always, and the one online place I found it here wanted to charge some insane amount of postage, and another .co.nz site I found that looked amazingly cheap instead directed me to Fabric.com when I clicked on the 'buy now' button and the amazing price was in US dollars and before shipping - WTF is up with that? There is only so much time I will spend trying to track a product down though, so I kind of gave it up. ANYWAYS, I noticed some basting spray at Spotlight before Xmas and bought it, fully expecting my needle to clog up, or that it wouldn't stick or I'd die of fumes or something. Note to any quilt shop owners out there - there is a definite gap in the market in NZ for 505 Spray and Fix!

Having said that, the Spotlight stuff wasn't too bad! Spraying (on the kitchen floor) was fairly easy and it stuck things together well and the fumes weren't too awful and after an hour or so the quilt didn't smell at all. I haven't even noticed the needle getting sticky while sewing which is a huge bonus. However, by the end of the evening I found the soles of my feet were so sticky I had a coating of dust bunny and whatever else horrible was on the floor throughout the house that was very hard to get off, even in water with soap. Uh-oh. And then Mat started to complain about his feet, and then he started to complain about how sticky the kitchen floor was and then he asked if the glue was going to come out of the quilt! As I mopped the floor I assured him this stuff was meant to wash out and it would be fine - until I looked on the can and discovered that no, it's the 505 that promises that, NOT the Spotlight stuff. In fact, there is nothing mentioned at all about how to get it out of the quilt, or if it ever will. D'oh! Oh well, it may well wash out, and it certainly came off the floor much more easily than off my feet, so I'll see. In the meantime I'll appreciate how much easier it is to sew when spray basted!

A sheep following the flock

2012-01-13T14:14:00.000+13:00

Last week Angry Chicken had a review of the Sunki tunic and leggings pattern and I thought it was kind of appealing so ordered a copy for myself - which arrived today - which just made me realise how super-fast it was coming!

Anyways, I don't have much to say about the pattern yet except I won't be making the top in ikat since I don't actually like it much (am I allowed to admit that seeing as it's so in at the moment?), but I'm about to sit down with a cup of tea and read the instructions and expect to enjoy myself very much in the way I often enjoy reading recipe books because the dish always turns out perfectly in my imagination!

Are you a sheep when it comes to this kind of thing? Do you read a recommendation by a popular blogger and rush out and buy the item? Do you ever feel like maybe the review is positive because the person is reluctant to be rude about a product they've agreed to trial? The whole Go! Baby issue springs to mind with relentless positive reviews and only one balanced one. I freely admit I'm a sheep in the worst way, but I like to think I pick my reviewers (yes I know I'm totally delusional but let me retain some vestiges of dignity). Of course another way of thinking about it is that the rise of social networking in shopping is a hot topic and that people like to have personal recommendations before they buy or visit. I felt a little hoist by my own petard when I pulled this pattern out of mailbox this morning because yesterday an Instagram big-wig featured one of my photos in his 'best of the year' round up and I got about 15 new followers and a heap of likes and it was all very thrilling - until it stopped dead and my feed went back to normal. It was pretty much like when my mug cosy was featured on How About Orange. So I was being all cynical last night and mocking the whole process on Instagram to a degree and then in the mailbox was physical proof that I'm no better or worse than the next sheep.

Baaa.

I'll let you know how I go with the pattern (for real).

(the famous photo - raindrops on the washing line)

Bye Bye Holidays

2012-01-07T16:34:00.000+13:00

It's Saturday, it's cold and rainy, and my parents and brother and sister-in-law have departed to drive around the North Island in a camper van, and to New York, respectively and the house seems super-quiet, except for Hazel and her friend Chloe playing My Little Ponies in the living room. Thank goodness for other only children who are equally bored on rainy days!

In between the beach and now I had a little adventure up on Mt. Tongariro in the middle of the north island. The Tongariro Crossing is a famous day tramp up and over a volcano (when it's not erupting) and it's also where they filmed the Mordor sequences of Lord of the Rings (a little known fact about me is that I'm a huge LOTR nerd). Classed as "challenging" I think I'd personally say it should be classed "if you are unfit and have bad knees just stay home" but hey, I did it when I was 12 so why not at 43? Haaaaahahahahahaha! Ahem. So yeah, it's been 3 days and my upper thighs have finally unclamped enough to let me walk normally and I don't shriek with pain every time I stand up and start walking. At one point going down the 50 million stairs at the end I actually stopped and had to work very hard not to cry with the pain in my knees and sheer exhaustion, but oh boy the adrenaline when you finish! The weather was pretty crappy and we didn't even glimpse Ngaruhoe or the main peak of Tongariro, though I knew they were up there in the clouds - but we got some exceptionally atmospheric views of ragged clouds and a blasted landscape so I guess it's amazing in all weather.

I'm currently planning a few projects to get started on, who knows if I'll get any time to sew with summer holidays for another month!

In the meantime here's some Tongariro crossing photos (google it if you want fine-weather photos, it's pretty freaking spectacular):

Looking down over and across lava flows (can you see those itty bitty people on the trail down below?)

Across the floor of the Southern Crater

Descending from the Red Crater on Tongariro, the crater is on the right.

We couldn't see the red crater for cloud but even the rocks along the side were pretty cool

Emerald Lake at the bottom of that slope

Looking back to the Red Crater, you can see the trail going up the ridge towards the right, it skirts along the side of the crater.

Some guys taking a photo break - and being photogenic in turn.

Looking out over Lake Rotoaira to Lake Taupo in the distance. Taupo is a caldera formed by the largest volcanic explosion/erruption ever. And it will explode again at some point, some time. Wooo.

Water drops on tussock grass

SMS MBOM November and December

2012-01-01T08:00:00.000+13:00

Happy New Year! Here's to a happy and successful 2012 (and not too many times of putting 2011 by mistake on documents).

I finally got to the latest SMS MBOM blocks. November's was pretty easy all in all, I didn't have any problems with getting the 12.5" square out of the piece like I'd feared. I quite like it now that it's done, I wasn't sure if I would but as always I really like the fabrics I chose which probably influences my feelings considerably!

The December one was interesting because I haven't done any paper piecing before. It wasn't too difficult but I had issues with flipping over the fabric and paper without the fabric shifting as I tried to put it under the presser foot. I'm assuming that comes with experience!

Unfortunately with this one things didn't line up properly across that middle seam - if I had a slightly larger seam allowance they'd all match perfectly but I can't increase it because it would make the block more like 12" wide instead of the (very) scant 12.5" it is now. If I did it again I would cut the right-hand strips a little longer so I had more wiggle room. This seems to be an ongoing issue for me with these blocks, there just isn't the latitude in the pattern to allow for slight imperfections in cutting and variations in a seam allowance of even a few millimeters. I can't even square the thing up - not that this one needs it really but some of the others do!

Post-Christmas letdown

2011-12-31T14:01:00.001+13:00

Well not exactly a let-down (for me anyways, Hazel is another thing altogether!) just sort of a "well what now?" and a reluctance to start something new. I had a total disaster while we were away - I was making some more of the little felt gingerbread men for myself and got all the bits ready for finishing up at Taupo Bay, took stuffing along, scissors, embroidery floss and put them together in a plastic bag. Which looked like rubbish and someone threw it out without checking what was inside. I didn't get too upset when I realised what had happened when we got home and it was missing, but I had to go and be by myself for awhile in my room!

But good things happened too! There was sun...

...and sand castles...

...cafes...

...and walks on the beach.

And even though the weather crapped out towards the end we all had a lovely time

Wishing you (in advance) a very Merry Christmas!

2011-12-23T11:27:00.001+13:00

I'm off up north for a week to a lovely spot called Taupo Bay - there will be sun, sand, surf and lots of food and hopefully a book or two read. I'll be putting pictures up on Instagram and if I can manage, a photo or two here, but basically Hazelnuts is on holiday for a week! Have a very merry holiday yourself and if you are lucky enough to have snow send me some I'll send you some beach back.

Clothed Tomtes

2011-12-19T19:58:00.000+13:00

Phew, I've got the two Christmas present Tomtes clothed and decent! They've turned out better than I'd hoped, though they do tend towards the pin-headed. I used the pattern in Scandinavian Stitches as a starter and then made some changes so they were more similar to the Maileg Pixies I love so much. I'm not one for promoting the "knock-off", which is a term and a business that I really have no time for, but I'm going to be a total hypocrite here and say that I was more than a little influenced by the lovely outfits you see on the Maileg pixies (as well as their ears, though mine are a work in progress I think!) and the proportions of the bodies. I would absolutely buy some of those though, if I had the chance to see them in person, the more I look at the pictures of them the more you can see the effort and class that went into them, I don't mind paying for that!

I figured out the patterns for their tops but the pants came from a pair in the Wee Wonderfuls book. The girl is in French General and the boy is in cotton jersey and pants are a Lecien fabric (I think). My mum knitted the scarf and was also a huge help putting the bodies together - stuffing, attaching arms etc. Their pear shapes made dressing them a little difficult but it's kind of adorable, especially in the boy.

If I were to do them again I think I'd make them a little less pear-shaped, the heads a bit wider, and integrate the ears rather than sewing them on as an after-thought. I'd make the arms a little less long and the mittens rounder. I wouldn't change the clothes though, they're perfect and I'm really chuffed with myself for figuring out how to make the tops like that, and the fabrics are perfect. My two will be wearing the same outfits for sure; but imagine, I could do them a new set of clothes for each Christmas!

Second zippy pouch

2011-12-17T14:15:00.000+13:00

This one is for Hazel's lovely teacher Ms. Nicholson

It's essentially a pencil case to put the Smiggle pens in, but I decided to put a bit of effort in because she really has been rather fabulous this year and anyone who can deal with that many kids on a daily basis needs all the affirmation I can give! Even if the fact she loves Smiggle (purple is her colour) drives the Smiggle-frenzy to fever pitch in the class at times! Her favourite colour is red, and hey it's mine too! (we share a similar taste in shoes) so I made up this bag using the 'Perfect Zip Bags' pattern by Elizabeth Hartman - I just checked for the link and the pdf pattern is out of stock... The pattern itself is super-easy to follow and this time the zip insertion worked nicely:

I'm not a 100% sure about the dart placement though, it seems a bit strange - the bag isn't hugely rounded, nor will it sit flat on a surface (it's propped up in the photo above) so it's a bit of 'neither one thing nor another'. I'd love to make one of the bags for me though, either the flat ones or the boxed bottom ones I think next time. However, there's no denying that it's a cutie, darts or not!

A mousie pouch

2011-12-16T13:08:00.000+13:00

The other night at the AMQG challenge unveiling Helen asked me if I had any other Christmas sewing on and I said no, just a couple little zippy pouches. I suppose that wasn't quite honest because this is a bit more than a plain old zippy pouch in the end - and I'm very pleased with it even if zipper was a bit of a disaster because I tried to get all fancy with it.

It's for Hazel's bestie Brooke and I'll put in a chocolate Santa and a couple chocolate coins to round it off. The pattern is from Scandinavian Stitches.

Half-way there!

2011-12-13T18:08:00.002+13:00

The tomtes are done but not clothed - still, they're rather appealing sitting in a row like that all nudie-nudie. Hazel has appropriated two already and is lugging them around the house.

Me on Instagram

2011-12-09T17:09:00.001+13:00

One of the groups I regularly participate in on Instagram asked us to make up one of these little images to put up, I thought it was kind of neat and wanted to share it here.

Still beavering away on the Tomtes, I found some perfect knit fabric remnant today to make little sweaters for the boys. Will be so cute!

A cautionary tale for Tomtes

2011-12-05T08:00:00.000+13:00

The caption for this image on Instagram was "Christmas Elf [Tomte] legs - particularly nice dipped in chocolate and served with seasonal berries" Ellie over at Petalplum asked, most reasonably given the time of year, how they were going to run around and help Santa? I replied that they'd do fine in their little wheelchairs. Then I posted this photo of arms:

If Santa fails to make it to your house this year I do apologise...

What's next?

2011-12-04T08:00:00.000+13:00

Mat told me I should take a break from sewing after the pillow marathon but all I can say is "Tomtes ahoy!"

Red wool felt for the caps, with a range of fabrics from French General and (I think) Lecien. Can't wait to get started, but I need to make a few pattern alterations first. I hadn't realised how pretty the French General fabics were, they're much more appealing in real life than they are in pictures.

We had our local Santa Parade yesterday, and our tree is up, so I'm starting to get into the mood; although the fact that Hazel has decided that 'Feliz Navidad' and 'I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus' by the Jackson Five are her favourite Xmas songs tempers that a little!

Stringing it out

2011-12-03T08:00:00.000+13:00

How many posts can you get out of two pillows that you didn't photograph comprehensively before you took them off for a challenge? Three! Here are the two together.

I find it amazing how they have essentially the same fabrics (the spotty one has a couple extra) but completely different techniques and backing fabrics almost completely removes that similarity to the point where I don't know they go particularly well together. I don't mean that in a negative way or anything, I love them individually but not together so much. I think it's the very formal style of the Cathedral window with the freestyle look of the circles.

The modern quilting thing is funny isn't it - often I see it defined through fabric choices and negative space, as well as old patterns reinterpreted in the light of the first two criteria. So the Cathedral window pillow certainly qualifies for all three of those points - but what about the circle pillow? I think another side of the movement is heavily influenced by the use of linen and 'natural' fabrics, and a sort of Japanese/zakka aesthetic as personified by Rashida Coleman-Hales' work over at I Love Linen and my circle pillow definitely falls within that zone of influence. Are there any other genres of the Modern Quilting movement that you can think of?

Second AMQG pillow

2011-12-02T08:00:00.000+13:00

For this pillow I really wanted to use linen and circles. I decided to applique the circles on and then quilt/embroider them both to hold them down and to look pretty! To be honest this pillow took me a lot longer than the Cathedral Window pillow, which was all done by machine. Luckily I had an old needlepoint frame to use with the quilting, but the size determined the height of the pillow - it's essentially a regular bed pillow but narrower top to bottom and slightly longer so it didn't look so...beddy.

I forgot to take closeups of the embroidery after I put the pillow together but I put teaser photos up on Instagram a few days ago

The worst part of putting it together was putting in piping and then an invisible zip along one edge. What a freaking nightmare! I had to resew things So. Many. Times. I thought I was going to go mental. The invisible zip foot wouldn't work on the piped side and my regular zipper foot sucks at the best of times, but with top and bottom being quilt sandwiches, plus the piping fabric and the general bulk of it all, it really didn't want to get close in to any edges! But hey, if you sew around something about 20 times eventually you get pretty close by small increments even if you die a little inside each time you have to resew a section or rip something out. :P

The back is plain with different-sized circles quilted all over it - why on earth did I not take photos of it? It looks great - I've noticed I often like the backs of my cushions as much as the fronts, I guess that's a good thing!

First AMQG challenge pillow

2011-12-01T08:00:00.000+13:00

Well phew, I can blog about this at long last! I suppose technically I should wait until the 13th when we can all see each other's pillows, but I honestly think I'll bust if I can't blog about something. I've been spending all my time on these two pillows and other than having Instagram photos to put up I haven't had much to discuss*. So. This is the first one and not surprisingly it's a Cathedral Window pillow - I'm quite sure I wasn't fooling anyone with that thing of acting like the grey version was a random choice unrelated to the challenge.

While I love the grey version a lot, I think the colour placement was better on this one, and I know technically it's superior.

Not all the points are as perfect as these by a long shot - I discovered that the points formed at the joins between blocks are lovely, while the ones formed by the centre of each block look slightly mitered. I tried so so so hard to not have that happen but it did anyways, so I suspect it's an artifact of the method (I used the tutorial and A La Mode). I don't think I'll do another one but if I did I'd try one of the methods where you sew the blocks initially instead of ironing them and see if that made a difference. As I mentioned with the previous cushion, I tried sewing the turn-overs in circles and it was much more successful than sewing around four sides of each colour. The points are reinforced and much smoother with no back-tacking. I also paid more attention to how much I was folding back so my circles are more circular! The other thing I figured out after the fact was that if you want a directional print to run straight up and down on the finished item, you need to cut it on the diagonal initially - my prints were cut on the grain and as you can are all on the diagonal when sewn up. Not sure what that would mean for keeping the fabrics straight while sewing though, you might get too much distortion to make it worthwhile.

I've just realised I forgot to take proper photos of the backs of both pillows, but I did have an Instagram one from when I had just put the invisible zip in and was super-duper proud of myself. Can you spot it? The back is quilted with widely-spaced straight lines, and the row of blocks about a 1/3 of the way across. The rule of thirds is my life!

Second pillow tomorrow!

*Well I could have blogged about how depressed I am at the NZ election results and the fact this lovely country seems to be moving away from an inclusive and caring community to the "f**k you I'm in this for myself" attitude so prevalent these days. I hate the meanness of spirit and mind that seems to be such an integral part of the right, and I hate that the world that Hazel is going to inherit is all about the individual, what they can get out of life and what it owes them, rather than the individual as part of the community and humanity as a whole. I'm more than pleased that the Greens did so well, but in practical terms I guess I question how effective that will be when Labour is at such a low point. Sigh. I need to go and cuddle a cat or a child I think.

Christmas is coming

2011-11-18T12:31:00.001+13:00

As every webpage and blog seems to want to remind me, Christmas is FIVE WEEKS AWAY. I'm always behind on this because as a transplanted Northern Hemispherer, Christmas in the middle of summer is plain weird and gives me none of the seasonal cues I would have had in Canada - like snow and cold. One of the biggest problems I have is that none of the traditional Christmas things make sense down here - rich heavy food, snow and winter-related symbolism, 90% of Christmas cards, wreaths, anything with red velvet. For those in the Northern Hemisphere, try to imagine having Xmas in July - can I interest you in some mulled wine, a roaring fire and snowflake imagery? No?

To that list I can also add most Xmas tutorials or winter issues of magazines not produced here or in Oz. However, I just took a quick look at the most recent Sweet Paul (winter 2011) and discovered that a non-traditional take on Xmas like he has lends itself very well to a summer Xmas here. So if you're reading this while reading jandals (or flipflops or thongs or whatever your lingo is) then have a look, you might be surprised.

Source: sweetpaulmag-digital.com via Hazelnuts on Pinterest

Linen

2011-11-10T11:57:00.000+13:00

I really love natural linen and I have no idea why - but I'm drawn to it again and again in its various shades. I particularly love it paired with cotton, either plain or print and most especially red! I don't like wearing it because it does that nasty wrinking thing that makes you look sloppy after 30 seconds, but in anything else it's my favourite and my best (to quote Lola).

This is the beginning of my second pillow for the challenge, and my first ever attempt at hand-basting. Now I know why I will never do this for a larger project, it takes forever! But linen, she's a difficult mistress and until I get some 505 spray I'm going to have to suck it up and do it this way. And there's no denying, the basting has a certain appeal! This linen is a darker shade, with an almost green tinge to it, which makes it hard to pair with things but I think it'll be better for the pillow than a more natural oatmeal.

As a complete contrast, how about this photo I put through various iPhone filters until it looks (to me anyways) almost baroque in its hues

Unfortunately I can't remember which apps I used - I think Snapseed and Super Retro...I need to write these things down! It's funny with Instagram, forcing you to use the square format is quite good as it challenges you to think about images in a different way. I had a hard time not changing the linen photo to that size!

What I've been doing

2011-11-07T12:57:00.000+13:00

You may have noticed that it's been a bit quiet around here. No, this is not because I've got a book deal, or because I'm pregnant or any of the usual bloggy reasons :) Just real life, window painting, visiting parents, school holidays, Instagram and my AMQG challenge. This challenge has gotten me all secretive and shifty-eyed, skulking the internets looking for inspiration while not letting on to my fellow members what I'm up to and most definitely not blogging about anything. I know this is wrong so I'm here to at least post a photo of the back of it. What? You thought I'd post the front and give it all away? You'll have to wait until the 1st December for that big reveal. The challenge is to produce a cushion using the green fabric and I'm quite pleased with my colour choices here, and even more so with the fact there is an invisible zip running up the side of those blocks. I've got another pillow in the works at the moment, in natural linen, so there may be another sneak peak to come.

Once that's done I'm onto the kitchen windows so posting may be sporadic for the next little while. I do hope you stick around though!

There's always Instagram photos though...

SMS MBOM October

2011-10-24T16:06:00.001+13:00

An interesting block to do because it's skewed when you cut it down, but as the pattern indicates, rather wasteful of background fabric. It was doubly wasteful when I discovered that I seem to have sewn my seams just under 1/4" so the big block of white was too small and I had to recut a longer one. Even then it's not perfect because the bottom left corner of the dark grey fabric is cut off. I'm just surprised I was that much off with my seams, but it's a new 1/4" foot and perhaps I've not adjusted it properly. Anyways, it 90% worked and with any luck the bit I had to replace will be used up in a future block; and once it's sewn into something the corner would have looked cut-off anyways.

Here they all are (so far) together - they're starting to look like something!

Stuffed animal sleeping bags

2011-10-23T14:27:00.002+13:00

I've had the Flossie Teacakes stuffed animal sleeping bags Pinned for quite awhile but finally got on to making them after Cat gave me the gorgeous Heather Ross Far Far Away fabric as a gift. The pattern comes in three sizes - Daddy Bear (Teddy), Mummy Bear (Foofoo) and Baby Bear (Snooks). I don't know if Teddy is really a daddy bear (its sex varies from day to day to be honest) but the bag fits beautifully.

I'd like to make a longer one to accommodate Puppy, as he fits nicely in the largest width-wise but is too long - the beauty of the pattern is that it's easily altered to accommodate a range of animals of different sizes and shapes.

I bought the pink fabric from Stitchbird because I really felt that they had to be set. Not because I like buying fabric, oh no. All the rest of the fabrics came from my stash so I feel vaguely virtuous about the whole exercise. Vaguely. Though if I have to get a fourth version to make Puppy's bag...

Just simple straight line quilting but you could get fancy if you wanted - they'd be a great project to try out free-motion machine quilting.

Hazelnuts on Holiday

2011-10-14T17:09:00.001+13:00

I'm enjoying our trip down south, documenting it all on Instagram of course! You can follow along if you're on Instagram (link to the right there) or if you aren't an addict you can try websites like Inkstagram or Webstagram to view photos.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Cathedral Window pillow

2011-10-13T10:24:00.000+13:00

I finally finished the Cathedral Window pillow! I'm really pleased with how it turned out too. The points aren't perfect and I had to do quite a bit of tacking them down in the middles so it would lie flat, but yeah, not bad for a beginner! It's bold and bright (though the grey in this first picture has gone a bit blue, the second one is more accurate) and is one heck of a solid pillow! Tina will have to make sure there are no pillow fights with it or there might be a trip to A&E.

Next time I do one I'll sew the edges down by going in continuous circles and passing through the centres, which will make sure things are all sitting nice and flat and the weak points at those points will be reinforced without the need for that extra stitching. This one I did by sewing the four sides of each colour, and I didn't think it gave the nicest results.

I used this great tutorial over at A La Mode. The second part to it is here.

A blog holiday

2011-10-08T10:41:00.000+13:00

It seems I inadvertently took a blog holiday! I didn't mean to and sadly I haven't really even been on a holiday - I've been doing a lot of this:

(the green isn't as neon as that in RL!) I'm on the final stretch in the living room, and the spare room is all finished!

I've been doing a bit of sewing in between coats but nothing major and nothing finished! We're heading off on a family holiday on Monday so my sewing machine is going for a tune up and hopefully I can get lots of stuff finished when we get back! I'm sad I'm missing the Kid's Clothes Week Challenge though, I love that! Spring is suddenly upon us and wardrobe needs have changed radically so I'm desperate to make myself a few things and also some for Hazel. It'll be so nice not having this painting hanging over my head anymore when we get back, I won't know what to do with myself!

Instagram fun

2011-09-25T18:07:00.000+13:00

Although I had a slight hiccup with the new upgrade, I've been enjoying Instagram enormously, particularly playing with filters and using other apps to produce images that don't remotely resemble the original! On some levels that bothers me because I do like pictures to look like reality, but I can't deny the appeal of the filter.

I'm always interested to hear about other people's forays into photography with the iPhone so I thought I'd just put up a couple of mine of a Magnolia tree at the top of the drive down to Hazel's school and just show you how I did what I did - nothing particularly complicated and I haven't managed to come to grips with putting an image through numerous filters on various apps.

Clockwise from top left: SOOC; edited for contrast and saturation in PS (Photoshop) Express; Cropped and edited with X-Pro II filter in Instagram; same photo but using the Gotham filter (sadly gone since last upgrade, I'm pretty ticked off about that, hope they bring it back!).

Clockwise from top left: SOOC; edited in PS Express for exposure, contrast, saturation and focus - all to get it looking like it did to the eye at the time; run through the app Snapseed (can't remember if I did two filters or just grunge at 400). I came across Snapseed a couple days ago via a contact on Instagram and am really liking it. The filters are interesting and the basic photoediting tools are probably better than PS Express's, plus you can crop to various dimensions easily, so I suspect I'll be using it a lot.

That winning feeling

2011-09-24T21:09:00.003+12:00

You'd think all I did was enter giveaways these days because dammit I won another one! I suspect this is my luck for the rest of the year, or maybe the next two, but I'm pretty pleased anyways. The giveaway was at The House of Marmalade, a blog about corsetry that I've been reading for quite awhile now and which I find endlessly fascinating - despite not owning one! Corsets really are rather gorgeous objects. Anyways! The giveaway I won was from Dragonfly Fabrics in the UK and was a Colette pattern and 3m of ribbon. Woohoo! And then of course they had a sale on summer fabrics and hey, it's going to be summer here at some point so I showed Hazel a few things and bought what she wanted (like that's any guarantee of success, but I live in hope). There's a voile (top) a cotton with blue flowers that she fell in love with immediately (interesting crisp weight with a bit of a wrinkly texture, I'll have to think carefully about what to make with it) and two lovely knits. I've always wanted to try a Colette pattern but have been a bit unsure about the examples I've seen (the skirts always seem too short to be honest). I went with the Chantilly dress because I thought it would suit a curvy figure the best without being too retro. And the whole package came wrapped up in the most gorgeous ribbon, pretty much as nice as the spotty raspberry ribbon that was the prize. And as usual I'm amazed how fast stuff comes from the UK - I think this took 3 days? I guess that's the benefit of lots of planes travelling back and forth between here and the motherland.

I'm posting this during the All Blacks vs. France rugby game - am I the only person in New Zealand not watching? I'm sure I'm not but they may try and deport me anyways because I admitted it (plus I talk like a furriner).

Cathedral Window pillow WIP

2011-09-22T11:54:00.001+12:00

I've been having great fun figuring out how to do cathedral window blocks so I can make a pillow for a friend who needs more fun cushions on her couch. It's definitely a learning curve, although the process itself isn't hard, it just has about a million steps. I've discovered that it's the points that make or break it, so I'll have to be more careful with those mitres next time I try it - which I think I will. I'm using this tutorial at House of a la Mode.

A question for experienced quilters about templates - I've been using a thin cardboard one to form the blocks, it's just a big 15" square that you use with an iron to mitre corners and fold over the edges evenly. The cardboard hasn't really held its shape all that well with the heat of the iron, and I think it's partially the reason why my corners weren't perfectly mitred. What would you recommend instead? Can you iron template plastic?

SMS MBOM September

2011-09-19T16:01:00.002+12:00

Ack, it's been a bit quiet around here lately! I think I'm suffering a bit from having so many things to do I don't know where to start and consequently don't do anything - my instinctive reaction to stress and not exactly the best way to cope with it! So instead of painting the rooms I've painted a side table and instead of tackling larger sewing projects I've done another Sew Mama Sew MBOM block and some stuffed animal sleeping bags (photos when finished). And no, none are indicative of starting small and working my along that way - they're all avoidance behaviour! As is Pinterest, Instagram and the internet in general...

Source: ravelry.com via Hazelnuts on Pinterest

This was a super-challenging block for me as I've never done triangles before and the instructions were a bit vague when it came to piecing the angles together. After a few false starts and unripped seams I got there! Though oddly, the top and bottom strips are too small - I'm sure I cut them right, but something happened somewhere so I'll have to cut longer strips and do that bit over.

And all three blocks so far

I'm generally not a huge fan of quilts with random blocks (I'd be hopeless in many bees for this reason), but so far I think I'll like it, and I guess given that there will only be 12 blocks in it I'll duplicate a few of my favourites to make it a good size. I like the scrappy wonky block the best but who knows what blocks are to come! If we're going to be covering a variety of techniques then I'm guessing there will be a circle and some curves (eek! might have to investigate this Curve Master foot), some stacking and cutting...a dresden plate or something like that? What do you think is still to come?

My next big adventure

2011-09-11T11:45:00.001+12:00

Half way through a cathedral window block, originally uploaded by Hazelnutgirl.

I'm starting on a cathedral window pillow for a friend. Precision ironing takes time but it's quite satisfying!

Organic baby

2011-09-08T14:12:00.002+12:00

I've finally finished up the quilt for baby Oliver

The fabrics are all by Mona Luna and come from Stitchbird - I also completely copied her quilt with the same fabrics. Why mess with perfection?

This is the first time I've sewn with organic cottons and they were very nice. The texture is more like sheeting, which means they don't quite behave like regular quilting cottons being a bit crisper and more densely-woven.

I made a huge mistake when I pre-washed them though and did my usual routine of "treat 'em mean" by putting them through a hot wash and the dryer, and then a hot iron. Well it turns out that when it comes to Mona Luna's organics treating them mean doesn't keep 'em keen, it makes them shrink a bit and fade along creases! Ahhh! As Lyndy found out for me subsequently, they recommend a cold wash - so let me be a terrible warning for you all. It didn't ruin them exactly, but the bears look a bit faded in places and I couldn't quite squeeze out 7 squares from each metric FQ one some so there is more duplication than I'd have liked.

I used a wool batting for the first time and while I like the loftiness and warmth it has, it doesn't have the drape I'm used to with cotton and, combined with the crisper cotton fabrics, is quite stiff. But that might be the batting itself, perhaps if I went for something more expensive than Spotlight's version it might be nicer?

I do love it and the crazy brightness though, and I couldn't resist getting a bit extra of the Swedish Forest one with all the animals for me. Not sure what I'll do with it though! And Lyndy, you should try and get in some of the Woodland Party print to go with the others, it's gorgeous!

My Web

2011-09-07T21:10:00.000+12:00

I just updated Firefox and it had this fun little quizzy thing when it restarted that promised to 'visualise my web' and what the hell, I don't have much else to do tonight! If you click on this link to it you can see what each symbol represents, but they're pretty self-explanatory I'd say

Two things they got wrong: I am not in the U.S.A (Statue of Liberty) and I have no idea why they thought I was (perhaps in their little world they think the whole world wishes they were?) and I'm most definitely not the life of the party (party blower). But otherwise, yeah not bad!

Ooops

2011-09-06T13:39:00.002+12:00

I seem to have forgotten to blog recently! No real reason other than having a guest over the weekend (who was using my computer in the spare room) and generally just not having things to blog about. I've been working on a quilt for a friend's new baby, but there hasn't been a huge amount of craftiness going on recently. But hey, this isn't just a crafty blog, even if it seems to be, so how about some pretty photos?

When our guest arrived on Friday morning I took him out for a walk along the harbour edge to stave off jetlag, and we found a whole bunch of kina shells (sea urchins) that someone had collected and eaten and the spines had all fallen off subsequently. Personally I wouldn't eat them, they look like snot, but the outsides, well they're just gorgeous

And the insides of the shells are pretty cool too

Hopefully regular programming will resume soon, although there is the small matter of two rooms to be painted...

My new sewing box

2011-08-29T13:40:00.003+12:00

My sewing box situation was rather dire up until a few weeks ago, a couple of old biscuit tins and a cardboard box for my spools of thread to replace my old larger box that had finally given up the ghost. I never had what I wanted with me and it was a pain carrying two boxes around with things spilling out of them and everything all jumbled. I've always wanted one of those lovely wooden expanding sewing boxes, some of them stand on long legs so that everything is just where you want it. But they're rare and expensive and probably more suited to delicate ladies doing embroideries in their sitting rooms than being carried back and forth between the spare room and the kitchen table! The ones available from sewing shops are useless and hideously over-priced. So one day when I was in a big hardware store (Mitre10 Mega for those Antipodeans) I had a brainwave and went looking at tool boxes. Something big with lots of compartments was what I was after. And what did I find? Cherry red, expandable and pretty much perfect for $30, I present to you:

I love that the lids lift up so I can have all the frequently-needed stuff right there

And it expands out for all the other less frequently used things

I have great plans to make up cute dividers etc., which will probably come to naught, but it works well as it is. The only drawbacks are that my pincushions are too big to fit in the top trays and that the trays in general are fairly shallow, so no big objects. But I can make a new pincushion (oh the hardship!) and put the bulky objects somewhere else.

I'm a happy (and semi-organised) camper.

Sew Mama Sew BOM

2011-08-26T10:49:00.000+12:00

I finally caved and started following along with the Sew Mama Sew 'Modern Block of the Month'. I wasn't going to but August's block looked so interesting I had to try! So I did July's first just to do it all right and proper-like :)

That was easy, but August - well that was a challenge! The cutting of the strips was fine, but assembling them was a lot harder than I'd expected from a technical standpoint, not so much the 'artistic' one. I had a bunch of pieced strips that were somewhat shorter than the others because of the combinations of the first lot of strips I'd chosen (randomly cut and different widths), and that made piecing a bit hard. If I were to do it again I'd definitely try and make sure the strips were roughly equal in length. Anyways, I was unsure whether it was going to pull together and look like a block instead of a random assortment of unevenly sewn bits until I'd squared it up and suddenly bing! And it looks even better with the borders:

I'm quite excited about how they look together already!

Looking forward to next month's!

ETA: Fabrics are: Amy Butler Full Moon Polka in Slate, Simon + Kabuki Juicy Blossoms Bubbles in Pewter, Dena Designs Taza Geo in Neutral and Kona Snow

My life on Instagram - August

2011-08-25T09:34:00.001+12:00

Instagram August, originally uploaded by Hazelnutgirl.

Things have been pretty hectic around here - the living room and spare room are plastered and ready for paint, but we won't start that for a week or so so I have a chance to take a deep breath for a bit! My parents are here for a short visit before taking off for Christchurch and Australia for a month and a bit, and I have a yukky cold that is making me feel like someone's attacked my sinuses with a stiff brush. I'm off to try a bit of sewing though, perhaps that will distract me from feelings of dying and martyrdom!

Knitting for the Comfort Doll Project

2011-08-17T09:25:00.002+12:00

A few years ago my friend Donna set up a charity with a friend called the Comfort Doll Project. "A Comfort Doll is a small knit doll that Icross uses instead of packing foam when they send HIV medicines to African clinics. Once the meds are unpacked, the dolls are given to the local children, many of whom are HIV positive and/or AIDS orphans" I noticed on her Facebook page that they are looking for more dolls to send to Malawi in November. Now I don't knit or crochet but I know lots of you do, so I thought I'd post up this picture of a happy recipient and let you know about this worthy cause! Knitting and crochet patterns can be found on the Comfort Doll Project blog. They ask that the yarn for the skin be medium through dark brown to black.

Tulle pompoms

2011-08-16T12:08:00.003+12:00

I forgot to take photos of quite a few things I did for Hazel's party, like the jelly in old fancy teacups (which rather unexpectedly was a HUGE hit) and the only photos I took of the other thing I made, the tulle pompoms is just a crop from a larger photo taken on a grey, rainy day with a flash.

They were fairly easy to make, though I really wished I hadn't bought the cheapest tulle on offer because it's stiff and scratchy, makes them stick to each other like velcro and is not nice to handle! I had a bit of softer stuff and the pompoms it made were much nicer and fluffier, as well as being easier to make. I really had a hard time getting them to stay fluffy though, and ended up cutting two snips to the middle on each side after I'd tied them up so they wouldn't just fold back up flat. Even then you can see the string tied around the middle. If I did them again I'd use monofillament, but I couldn't find mine with everything packed up so string it was. And hey, once you add streamers and bubbles who's looking?

For anyone who's interested, the original tutorial for them can be found here.

I am a frontierswoman

2011-08-14T17:17:00.004+12:00

I made butter over the weekend! I've always wanted to try, and when Hazel did it at school and came home from school with the 'recipe' I had to give it a go. I put a cup of cream into an old mayo jar and shook for a surprisingly brief period of time until I thought perhaps it was butter. But it didn't look quite right, so I kept going even though the shaking seemed a bit ineffective and more like slopping a mass from side to side, and then suddenly there was buttermilk and this glorious yellow butter! I mean really, how do you get yellow butter from white cream? Magic. A little pinch of salt et voila! I doubt it's economical but it's a heck of a lot of fun.

Apologies to my Instagram peeps who are probably thinking "not the butter again!"

I'm a winner!

2011-08-09T08:00:00.001+12:00

Several weeks ago I entered a giveaway for some Kona solids over at Rachel's lovely blog Stitched in Colour, sponsored by Etsy shop Whipstitch . She asked how we decide what colors to use in our projects - I did it from my iPhone and it kindly corrected a mispelled "door" to "dodo", so what I told Rachel was something along the lines that I always walk the fabric over to the windows to get the natural light, and since that's usually next to the dodo it always makes me feel like people think I'm about to make a run for it. I had to laugh about it with Mat after I realised what had happened, though me being me, it was a bit embarrassing to have a hideous typo right there in public. Anyways, I won that giveaway, chose my Kona fabrics at Whipstitch (and a few extra bits - so much for not buying fabric this year!)

The Kona Snow and the Kate Spain orange flowers will be used in my vintage sheet quilt(s), the pale blue and pink square dots are Sherbert Pips and will go into the Far Far Away quilt I need to make up for Hazel, the red has a purpose (hush hush) and the others...well they just are and will get used in something I'm sure!

Thanks Rachel and Whipstitch!

Tissue paper pompoms

2011-08-08T13:37:00.004+12:00

Tissue paper pompoms, originally uploaded by Hazelnutgirl.

I finally tried the famous Martha Stewart tissue paper pom-poms for Hazel's party and they're surprisingly easy! If you're looking for something that makes people ooo and ahhh and pay you lots of compliments for very little effort, these are your answer. I used 10 sheets of tissue and ended up having to cut the curves for the petals a few layers at at time because otherwise the edges had a rather chewed look from the scissors struggling with the thickness. I thought the pointed ends were most effective, but the round ones were cute and possibly more suited to a kid's party?

The party went very well, despite an extremely violent southerly change that swept through Auckland about half an hour before the party started. I haven't seen it rain that hard here for ages, and our street flooded across the sidewalks and up onto lawns despite having the drains redone a couple years ago. It was exciting!

I bought the cake btw, before anyone offers me compliments on it! I also ordered macarons from the same shop because I've always been curious about them - and now I actually do understand why people go a bit mental for them.

I was quite fond of the goodie bags too. They were meant to be closed at the top, but the stickers I bought to go in were too big so the tops had to stay up, which in the end made them look a bit prettier I think. All the invitations and tags and stickers were made up with a set I bought at mygraphico, I'm a bit of a convert to buying a clipart file and doing it yourself now! I'd seen these exact same images used on invitations from a site that specialises in customised invitations and I was going to use those until they wanted to charge me upwards of US$40 to mail 10 invitations, envelopes and thank you cards, which was more than it cost to buy them. The mygraphico file was $5 (and it's on sale now of course!)

My life on Instagram

2011-08-04T17:26:00.003+12:00

Recent Instagram photos, originally uploaded by Hazelnutgirl.

1. Untitled, 2. Winter violets, 3. Local watering hole, 4. Low Tea, 5. Lucy, 6. Living room DIY chaos, 7. Party supplies, 8. Hazel's family tree homework, 9. Magnolia buds, 10. Swimming lessons, 11. Fairy wands, 12. Just opening for the day

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

I told you Instagram would be the only way you'd know I was alive this week! I'm done with wallpaper stripping but have to head straight into Hazel's party preparations! I can't wait for Monday when the plastering starts and the only thing I can do for a week is sew at the kitchen table!

AMQG Challenge

2011-07-31T17:15:00.004+12:00

AMQG pillow challenge fabric, originally uploaded by Hazelnutgirl.

The first challenge for the Auckland Modern Quilt Guild members has been set - a cushion - and I'm really excited! It's my first challenge so I don't know exactly how open to be about what I'm thinking of doing or not - are people all secret-squirrel about their intentions or generally open? I'd love to share how I'm going (I almost typed journey there but that would have been more than a little pretentious, I can't believe the word even entered my mind! And that I'm sharing it with you!), but I'm competitive enough not to want to get pipped at the post because I shared too much. Not that I really think that would happen to be perfectly honest, maybe I'd just like for it to be a surprise?

Anyways, this is the fabric we have, I don't know who the designer is or anything, it's not on my bit of selvedge. We have a fat eighth and we have to use at least half of it, so can enter two pillows if we like. I have some of my fabrics already and at least one pattern in mind - and it's not due until the 1st December, so I have heaps of time. Perhaps I won't even leave it till the last minute!

It's going to be so interesting to see what people come up with, there is such a diversity of people in our group; we vary widely in age, experience and taste. I know at least one person who was focusing on many of the same FQ as I was when I grabbed some after our meeting, but I bet even that doesn't mean our cushions will be at all alike!

It's a Plus finished

2011-07-28T10:29:00.002+12:00

Finally finished up my It's a Plus cushion cover, the front has been languishing while I tried to find the time to do the back. The quilting was simple but time-consuming because the plusses were so small, I went around the inside of them and around the inside edges of the negative linen spaces. The original pattern in 'I Love Patchwork' had a length of ribbon sewn in so I did the same with some I'd recently bought at the Daiso shop on Queen Street. I don't think it's the best quality as it's frayed a bit, but then why I thought it would be for $3/m I don't know! I made sure I photographed the good end so you can all admire how well the piecing was going before it suddenly wasn't.

I love the back very, very much! I got the idea from seeing the back of the front quilting, and it turned out really well. I replicated the pattern grid by drawing it on the fabric with water-soluble pens and then marked out the pattern again by cross-hatching the appropriate squares.

I quilted the same way I did the front. It's really hard to get a decent picture of it because it's so subtle, but I particularly enjoy the puzzle-like look it has and the small intersections between the plusses. They remind me of roads.

The great wallpaper panic

2011-07-22T22:14:00.002+12:00

So it turns out that the wallpaper in both rooms has to be gone by the day after Hazel's party, which is about two weeks away, and the skirting boards need to have the stain taken off as well. I'm heartily sick of this already and the spare room wallpaper is only half done. Wild, flailing-of-arms panic! I haven't sewn anything for ages either, I'm beginning to get twitchy. Stripping wallpaper is a great way to get to know your house's dirty little secrets, like the cracks that have literally been papered over! I found where the old door used to be in the spare room, and a rather distressing patch of mould just off to the right of the photo up there. Yeesh. And the old wallpaper that had only been peeled off in patches, and the remains papered over. Now there was some really classy prep-work!

What I have been doing instead of sewing for relaxation is playing with Instagram, so if anyone is on there I'm hazelnuts. I can't figure out how to post a photo via Instagram though, perhaps it has to be done through Flickr and I keep forgetting to turn that setting on. I seem to have more photos of Lucy than anything else, though I cleverly managed to fit in my slippers and quilt here:

And I got all arty with this shot:

It seems kinda fun, but I need more peeps in my neighbourhood!

Instagram photos might be the only way you know I'm alive for the next week or so...

My get out of jail card

2011-07-19T11:15:00.003+12:00

The next time I get in trouble for something, be it as minor as not hanging out the wash, or slightly larger like not doing my taxes on time, I will simply say "well I'm sure I'm very sorry but did you know I sewed a bathing suit?" and the person will apologise profusely and leave me alone.

I used the pattern in Ottobre 3/2009 and amazingly, Hazel was size 116 for all the measurements, instead of just height and a smaller size for everything else. The pattern's not perfect, if I do it again I'll curve the front legs a bit higher and make the bum less high-cut and more covering. I had to put in a bit more of a waist, I guess she's not as straight up and down as she used to be! I added the ruffle because her old suit had one and she thought that was the best part of it. The fabric came from Global Fabrics and I'd love to have a bathing suit made from it too, but that would be a bit naff. I ended up making the stripes run horizontally, despite the fact the bows are now sideways (am hoping it's not that obvious) because the stripes were too wide for such a small item, it's obviously scaled for adults.

It was surprisingly easy to make - I'd been imagining the fabric snagging or running or stretching, but it was lovely to work with and very tolerant of seams being unripped or changed. It's fully lined which makes it a fairly robust garment! The only problem I'm having is with the seams on the straps, when Hazel tried it on the double needle stitching broke and unraveled. I've had the problem a lot on very stretchy things like the bottom of leggings, or tshirts, and I don't know how to stop it. I use wooly nylon in the bobbin, I alter the tension, everything I can think of short of getting a cover stitch machine! Suggestions gratefully received. I'll zigzag and hope that works, though it's been just as prone to breking in the past too. I was particularly nervous of doing the leg elastic but it turned out fine. This video was very useful, although I couldn't get the fabric to roll over the edge like he does, I think the two layers were too thick. The legs look a bit wavy but when it's on they're fine - possibly a skosh too tight but she's not complaining so I'm not going to point it out!

Felt flowers

2011-07-17T08:00:00.006+12:00

I've been having a great time making these flower brooches recently. I was inspired by a flower on Pinterest. It has a more realistic centre with stamens and that, but I like the buttons. I seem to be in a bit of a rut with the aqua with red dots fabric though, I just couldn't find anything that seemed to suit the red better last night, though I feel sure there should have been something.

They're super-quick to make and a great way to use up scraps of felted sweaters etc. The red one is made from regular commercial wool felt though.

Anyways, the red one went off to Hazel's teacher on Friday because it was her birthday as well as the last day of class before the 2 weeks holidays. I think Hazel and Ms. Nicholson both need it! Ms. Nicholson is a lady after my own heart, her favourite colour is red and she has a fine taste in shoes and boots - we actually have the same pair of red shoes (which freaks Hazel out no end).

I'm going to have to find the camera user manual and find out how to shoot photos in RAW, I'm so sick of the reds blowing out and I gather that can help. I don't think it helped that it was raining when I took these first thing this morning. Of course, shooting in RAW won't prevent the camera focusing on the deck rather than the flowers...

I'm about to start stripping wallpaper in the spare room (where I have my computer) and the living room, so things may get a bit quiet around here for a few days while I battle with the paper tiger and the dif and the incredible mess it generates. We'll leave the walls bare and rough-plastered for awhile, enjoying the French Provincial Farmhouse aesthetic until my parents have been and gone, and then will have everything plastered and then we'll paint. Can't wait! We had a very brisk program of house renovation before Hazel was born, but her room was the last thing we did - not coincidentally!

Speaking of which, her birthday is fast approaching too, so hopefully I can get in a couple posts about what I'm going to do. My grandiose plans are very rapidly being whittled down to reasonable proportions, which is bad for blogging but good for my mental well-being!

More vintage sheet goodness

2011-07-16T08:00:00.011+12:00

I think holding the vintage sheet giveaway had the desired karmic effect as the next day my lovely bundle of vintage sheet FQ from Jenna (she also has an Etsy shop Jenna's Attic, selling vintage sheets) arrived in my mailbox and I didn't even have to mug the Postie. They're really different to the NZ sheets that I generally see - much lighter and more delicate. I don't think it's just the ones I chose as these seem pretty representative of what's available on Etsy for example. I would never have thought of Kiwis in the 70s as being more bold and adventurous than the Americans, but they must have been - unless all the bold bright sheets are around now because they didn't get used as much! Ooo, now there's an anthropology Master's or part of a PhD - Social Identity in the 1970s as Reflected in New Zealand and American Bedding. Someone needs to take that title and run with it - just pay me for the idea in vintage sheets...

These patterns are going to provide a good contrast in the quilt(s) to the more intense colours I already have. I was thinking that if I couldn't find the exact sheets I needed (I'm a bit short on greens) I could always supplement with some of the vintage-inspired Dream On line, if it's still available. Or is that cheating?

Auckland Modern Quilt Guild July Meeting

2011-07-15T17:27:00.004+12:00

The next AMQG meeting is scheduled for 27th July, so if you're interested in coming along here's your head's up! It's 7-9pm at Patchwork Passion out in Onehunga (355 Onehunga Mall). I'll be coming in from West Auckland so if anyone is on my way there I'd be happy to give you a lift. You can let Robyn know you're coming by leaving a comment on the guild website, emailing her at patchworkpassion@xtra.co.nz or calling the shop.

Vintage sheet winners

2011-07-15T11:55:00.002+12:00

I know it's standard to say that I wish you all could have won but it's really true! I loved the things you all wanted to make, and the suggestions I raided your grandparents' closets made me laugh, and generally it really sucks to have to only choose two. But it has to be done, so the first winner is:

And that's Quilary who said "I think I'd be making quite a few cushions, with a matching solid for the backs. Very pretty! Thanks for the chance. :)"

Then I took her out of the running and the second winner is:

Who is Faery Sarah! She said "me likey! reminds me of sheets I had as a kid :-) I'd make softies out of them!" And the bonuses of Sarah winning is that she was first and thus saved me counting down the comments (28 was a stretch I tell you) and actually lives in the same neighbourhood as me which saves on postage. And it also goes to show that being first to comment doesn't rule you out of giveaways that use a random number generator. I was first commentor on a giveaway a couple years ago and won, so I'm a firm believer in it being a lucky number!

Congrats ladies and an email will be on its way to you asap. And thanks to everyone else who took the time to enter and say such nice things about my taste in sheets :)

Vintage sheet giveaway

2011-07-12T12:15:00.002+12:00

I've been thinking a lot about vintage sheets lately, especially since I did a swap with Jenna over at Jenna Designs (I forgot to take photos of what I sent but she took some when they arrived!) and her parcel hasn't shown up yet - the Postie just went past 5 minutes ago without leaving a package AGAIN - curse you Postie! Anyways, while I haunt the mailbox I thought I could probably send some vintage love my reader's way so couple of you can haunt your mailboxes too! It's such fun.

So up for grabs are two bundles of 5 FQ each, leave a comment below if you're interested - international entries welcome of course. One comment per person and I suggest you don't Tweet, blog or Facebook about it to increase your chances ;) You can tell me something interesting in your comment, maybe what you're going to do with them - or you can just say hi. Either way, make sure I have some way of contacting you - if I have to spend too much time hunting you down I'll just draw another name. I'll use a random number generator to choose two lucky peeps on Friday afternoon, NZ time (which would be Thursday night sometime for those North Americans among us). If you are having problems commenting with Disqus then shoot me an email and I'll add you to the list.

A bit of Friday funny

2011-07-08T11:14:00.000+12:00

Apropos of absolutely nothing other than it made me smile and it's Friday

We used to put the original on to get Hazel to go to sleep when she was a baby. Worked a treat!

Favicons

2011-07-06T11:37:00.002+12:00

I added a favicon to my blog - the little image that shows up to the left of my URL in the toolbar. What do you think? Does it actually look like a hazelnut at that size? I'm wondering if I need to get rid of the shadow...

ETA: I got rid of the shadow - but I don't know if it makes it better or not! Or maybe it doesn't really matter, I just like that it's there.

Put a bird on it!

2011-07-05T08:20:00.000+12:00

Random miscellany:

...I recently bought a duvet cover set that I'd been hankering after for awhile - when it was 50% off!

Yay. It's called the 'Alice' but when I see it the first thing that pops into my head is this video:

I still like birds on things, but inevitably the phrase "put a bird on it!" pops into my mind first :)

...I'd like to do a shout out to Belinda at Candy Cane Kids, for her great customer service and two lovely tops. Hazel picked both of them, neither are pink, and she loves and wears both of them. Score!

...and maybe it's just jealousy talking here, but is anyone else getting really sick of the massive coverage of this Go! Baby cutter? I don't even think they're available here, and would cost a bomb if they did, so I'm at the eye-rolling stage when yet another post pops up in my reader for a product I don't have ready access to. They've obviously got a crack marketing team who have targeted a goodly number of the bloggers I regularly read. I appreciate it would be a very tempting offer to recieve, but so many people extolling its virtues at the same time makes it seem more than a little spammy.

A sewing version of Ravelry - part two

2011-07-04T20:02:00.002+12:00

Ages ago I did a post about a website that looked like it was going to be a sewing version of Ravelry - and oddly it's one of my more popular posts via Google, despite the fact that the site never seemed to get off the ground! I guess us sewers are pretty desperate to emulate Ravelry :) Anyways, a couple days ago Allison left a comment there alerting me to a new site called Seamed Up, which is aiming to fill that gap. There is also My Sewing Circle, which has been around for a year or so. I'm not as good at updating my projects as I should be, but you can find me there by clicking the button over to the right in the sidebar.

So there you go - two sites that actually do work and that you can use to store your patterns and fabrics, read reviews, put your projects up and admire others'. There are also forums to share ideas and ask questions. It's up to us to make them work!

Plusses of quilting*

2011-07-04T14:06:00.003+12:00

It's a Plus cushion cover, back of quilting, originally uploaded by Hazelnutgirl.

I've just quilted the plus cushion cover and am very taken with the back of the piece! I half wish I'd kept the bobbin colour the same throughout, but the dark wasn't working with the lighter colours I switched to part way through. I'm tempted to do something like this on plain fabric...very tempted! It'd be a butt-load of lines to draw though (innate laziness battling artistic urges)

*I doubt I can keep this whole plus thing up for long, but will milk it as much as I can!

Privilege, art and asshattery

2011-06-30T21:43:00.000+12:00

Warning, rant ahead!

I was going to do a nice post tonight with a couple of shout-outs and a picture or something but I've got something on my mind and I think I need to talk about that instead. Unbeknownst to me until today, there has been some sort of hate-in going on Heather Ross. Were you aware of it? The first I knew was on her blog today, which led me to True Up (which I also read but must have missed that post), and then, and I really wish I hadn't, on to the offending blog posts. I'm not going to link to them because I don't want it to up their numbers, you can get there through True Up! I think Kim at True Up said it really well, and I'm not going to rehash the whole argument, but if you have a few minutes and feel like reading up on it a little, then I'd love to hear your thoughts. My thoughts are this:

I'm obviously white and privileged because I'd never noticed most fabrics with people in them show white people. This bothers me and I'm really pleased that I've had my eyes opened to it. Not that I ever really buy fabrics with people in them, but obviously it's really important to other people to find themselves represented there and fair enough.
Why do they think that telling Heather Ross how to draw her pictures is in any way ok or even vaguely reasonable or sane, or that it's ok to call for a boycott of her products until she starts including other skin tones than white?
Would they demand that other famous artists change the way they create art so that it suits them a bit better? Makes them feel more comfortable? Is prettier? Has more blue in it? Would they tell a black and white photographer to use colour because it's more realistic?
Does having a privileged (as in, not a disadvantaged minority), white childhood mean that it's not acceptable to talk about or depict it? Isn't that also racism? Am I expected to disown my childhood?
Should we expect people to alter the past to fit in better with that is considered acceptable today? Does that mean we should stop looking at art created by people in the past? What about books?

I think that this topic, the one of inclusivity, should absolutely be talked about - and when I started reading the original posts I was actually feeling quite positive about it. But by the end of them, and the comments, I was so angry I had to walk away from the computer. Not because of the inclusivity issue, but because of #2 above, the general self-absorption of some of those commenters, and the always present fact that the internet is full of rude, nasty and angry people. Suggesting that someone shouldn't represent their childhood, or some version of it, because it doesn't resemble yours and you, personally, don't relate to it? I mean really? You said that in public? And thought it was a good thing? I mean, god forbid that people should take this issue to the people who really need to address it, that is the manufacturers who buy or commission the fabric lines from the artists, or to, I don't know, society as a whole? Why make Heather Ross responsible for the fucked up state of race relations around the world? And I think the thing that really made my brain hurt the most, was the fact that people have actually emailed her and told her she should be altering her designs and her style and that she's doing it wrong. I just...I mean...I...I'm not getting my head around the effrontery. Not that she's like, perfect or anything, but isn't the normal thing to just not buy the stuff? Or go and design your own fabric at Spoonflower? You know, put your money where your mouth is? And then, when the person you're lobbing great lumps of turd at gets mad at you, and leaves a grumpy comment or two, why would you then say things like "well, she's not nearly as nice and full of light and happiness as her drawings suggest!" No, she's not - she's a real person, with feelings and a brain. Do these people not realise how unpleasant they're being? I'm assuming they actually think they're being constructive, or helpful or something. And then there's the academics in there, being clever and snide, laughing at all the plebs and using big words. It's not a good look, and as an academic I bloody resent how it tars the rest of us with the same brush.

Sorry, I've gone all ranty here, but jeez I'm really mad at all those rude people. When I rule the world rude, self-absorbed people better watch out. And bad drivers...

Yeah, so how was your day? Before I got all mad and ranty I started making Hazel some togs! It might be a success or a huge disaster. Only time will tell. I'm very nervous though!

It's a Plus

2011-06-25T17:16:00.004+12:00

I've started working on another cushion cover, using a pattern adapted from the Lap Quilt in 'I Heart Patchwork' by Rashida Coleman-Hale, one of my favourite books. Though having said that, this is my first actual project from it! I love looking through it and dreaming :) And you know what? Dream projects always turn out perfectly in my mind, and enhance my life and make me much cooler and happier. Is it any wonder I have a bit of a thing for craft books?

So, here is the cushion cover so far:

The quilt pattern was adapted from a doll's quilt over at Soto Softies, and since that's about the size I was after I thought it would make an excellent cover. I didn't have a huge number of suitable blues in my stash so was constrained by that but I think they go together quite well on the whole. I figured the basic block size should be 1.75" (sorry about the imperial and metric together, my metric brain can't help but think of inches like this!) to yield a piece of about 20" square, sorted out which fabrics would be which squares (nearly blew my mind on that alone) and got cutting. That was fine and I had beautiful little stacks of squares and rectangles and I started sewing them into strips and then put the first 10 strips together and they matched and looked really good! And that's when things started to go wrong...

Suddenly the squares weren't matching up, things were up to 5mm short in places and I couldn't figure out why! Then I realised that, gasp!, I'd managed to include some poly/cotton fabrics in my assortment and they'd shrunk with the hot iron! They were both fabrics from ages ago and I had no idea what they were made of - well to be honest it never crossed my mind to wonder! I thought I'd ironed everything on hot before I cut, but obviously not hot enough. So I ironed and steamed those fabrics really hard and recut the pieces. But I think they were still shrinking or something, because by the end things were so out of whack that I was having to restitch seams narrower and fiddle around to get most of the squares to match but not all of them. If you look at the closest rows you can see things not matching up, and when I look at the piece as a whole, I can see it gradually expanding in width as I went.

I really REALLY should have stopped when I first had a mismatch and figured out what was going on - or started sewing in from the other side and worked it out in the middle - but no, I had to press on. And what I really really REALLY should have done is stopped and removed the polycottons (the navy blue with white spots and the dark navy plain) and found replacements. But that would have meant going out and buying something and I was proud this was all from my stash and I was lazy and feeling cheap, and I wanted to do this NOW, so I didn't. Lesson learned. This isn't the first time I've had issues with cheap polycottons and jeez you'd think I'd learn wouldn't you? But no, every time a sucker! I need to purge my stash of any remaining substandard fabrics because I obviously can't be trusted to not use them. Anyways, after much swearing, unripping, resewing, unripping, and swearing, things mostly match up and won't be too noticeable when it's squared up with a border around the outside. I hope! I'm not redoing it at anyrate :P

And lest anyone feel that I'm being too hard on myself, I honestly do consider self-criticism an essential part of my crafting process. If I can't reflect on how I could have done it better then how can I hope to improve? It's the same in academia - if you can't take criticism on your work and use it constructively, no matter how crap it makes you feel at the time, then you won't improve. So please don't tell me not to be critical of my work or think that I don't like what I've done - I do! I wouldn't show you anything I wasn't at least moderately proud of :)

There's a city out there...

2011-06-20T13:30:00.002+12:00

...somewhere behind the steadily pouring rain they said was just going to be "showers".

The only good thing about rain in Auckland is that it generally comes straight down so all you need is an umbrella. And gumboots.

Quilted pillow in reds

2011-06-18T15:00:00.004+12:00

...or 'In Which I Learn That Perfectly Straight Is Much Harder Than Wonky'

I'm gradually trying to replace the grey-patterned pillows on our couch with lighter and more interesting covers. For my second one I decided to have a go with white and a pop of colour, and went with red scraps I have left over from my red quilt. I used the Picket Fence tutorial over at Made On Maple to get me started

Source: madeonmaple.blogspot.com via Hazelnuts on Pinterest

with some inspiration from Oh Fransson's Chopped Vegetables pattern.

Source: ohfransson.bigcartel.com via Hazelnuts on Pinterest

So the wonky thing - both the inspirations are wonky, but I thought I'd rather go with the more traditional stacked coin look and cut everything nice and straight. The thing with that though, is if your linen fabric (the white) is stretchier than the coloured cottons, then it won't come out perfectly straight no matter how hard you try. So you end up with something that is neither wonky nor completely straight! The pillow is close enough really and only I'll know to look at it, but a good lesson to learn :) The linen does have a lovely sheen to it though, which doesn't come through in the photos.

I was really pleased to be able to use some of my 'In the Neighbourhood' houses fabric from Ruby in the Dust - I didn't get it in time to use in my red quilt. My other favourite in here is the Kei Honeycomb dots, there's something perfect about that fabric! I've almost used it all up, but luckily the FQ I won at the Modern Quilt Guild is virtually the same, so I'm not totally out of red with big fat white spots (thank goodness, it's my all-time favourite design).

Family reactions: Mat refuses to commit to any particular colour scheme in the living room, but has said he thinks there's enough red (the curtains are quite a heavy red and the rug is a red Persian one) so I think my next pillow will be blue. When she saw me holding the cushion after photographing it, Hazel paused in a stream of chatter about ponies or something like that to say "that's good work you know" and went back to chattering. That's one thing good thing they don't generally tell you about having kids - they make you laugh!

Modern Quilting

2011-06-15T10:19:00.000+12:00

I went to the first meeting of the Auckland Modern Quilt Guild last night and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I'm really excited to be part of it and am looking forward to more meetings, challenges, classes etc. It was great seeing everyone's quilts and just talking about quilting in general - something I don't get to do very often in person! I even got a prize for having the most photos up on the site - a lovely FQ of red with white spots. Perfect! I highly recommend joining up if you haven't already.

And because a post needs a photo, here's one of a camellia that Mat bought to replace the large ones by the front door we cut down before we painted. I think it's called Yuletide, or something Christmassy anyways.

I took it at the same time I was photographing the Batch of Brownies quilt, the colours must have lodged in my brain :)

Next cab off the rank

2011-06-14T09:55:00.006+12:00

Here's the most recent quilt top, it's the Batch of Brownies pattern from Elizabeth Hartman's The Practical Guide to Patchwork, which I got for Christmas. Another present I got for Christmas was a gift certificate from my friend Sarah, for a fabric shop in Edmonton. Although it wasn't a quilting shop per se, they did have a fairly extensive selection of basic prints and solids and I knew I had all this linen at home and so the two presents combined very well! It's an awful picture because it's an overcast and dreary day today.

The thing about choosing fabrics from a non-quilting shop is that you're rather constrained in your choices, and no picking fabrics from one line or anything like that! I didn't care for the fabrics used in the book (I just really really don't get that whole camouflage and deer print thing, it was too like home decor of a friend's house when I was a kid!) but I loved the linen she used for sashing so decided to go with more primary colours. As soon as I started sewing it I suspected it was going to be a heck of a lot brighter than I'd intended! And so it was. I really can't make up my mind about it it - on one hand I like it a lot, but on the other hand it's the kind of quilt I admire on other people's blogs but wouldn't really want myself. The orange is a smidge too orange, and the pink is verging on garish Barbie pink. My favourite print of the lot is the yellow, with overlapping circles. But still, overall it's not bad. Hazel likes it anyways! I added sashing top and bottom, which isn't in the pattern, but it's a still little too short for her bed. I did wonder about trying to slot in another row, but since all I have left of the fabrics is small scraps it would take a lot of cutting and fiddly stuff. Doable but probably not worth it! It just won't tuck in at the end of the bed is all.

It's definitely the most technically proficient quilt I've done so far, and I'm really proud of that. It was the first time I've sewed up blocks and then cut and resewed them to get different arrangements. The blocks lined up and everything stayed pretty straight, which is more than I can say for my red quilt! Oddly though, I had trouble with the red blocks, if anything was out it was always those. I don't know what it was - the weave of the fabrics, maybe they shrunk a bit with ironing?

The next step is to figure out backing and quilting. I'm a bit nervous about using linen for the backing because I can see it puckering and stretching something wicked, but perhaps if I sprayed it with starch and then used spray adhesive instead of pinning everything together? Might be worth a try anyways.

Loved the pattern though, super-easy to follow and substitute other fabrics in. I think that's one of its major strengths, aside from the nice patterns! I got a Kafe Fasset book out of the library yesterday and I think it would be nigh-on impossible to do most of those patterns in anything else but the specified fabrics. Certainly not worth the bother of figuring it out when you have books like Elizabeth's instead.

Ponies!

2011-06-12T12:48:00.003+12:00

The Foal and my Son in Spain - Distorted Proportions, originally uploaded by Batikart.

In truly stereotypical fashion, Hazel has become obsessed with horses - or ponies as she usually calls them. She would die to have one and regards anyone who does as extremely lucky. And she tells me that almost daily, inbetween pretending to be a pony who is lost and needs a new owner (me). Or sometimes she's a working pony who needs to pull things around behind her. Or a racing pony who gallops around maniacally and demands that you hold the reins.

She's not the only pony-obsessed little girl I know, the other day I overheard a conversation between two of her classmates, T and E.

E: ...and we could save up all our pocket money and buy a pony!
T: Oh E, that would take us years and years to do and we'd be all grown up.
E: Yeah [in a disappointed voice]... I knew someone who saved up and then she bought a pony and she was almost nine years old.

I wanted to hug them.

Autumn colours

2011-06-10T12:40:00.000+12:00

It has to be said that in general Auckland doesn't do autumn colours very well, and this year has been particularly bad since it was the warmest May on record and June seems to be heading that way too. However, our two blueberries came up trumps this year, perhaps they actually like warm, humid, drizzly and overcast weather!

It's particularly foul out at the moment, so I'll just stare at these pictures and remember the lovely foggy morning yesterday when I took these. Hazel's school put down a hāngi for lunch today, hope the rain doesn't affect it too much. I wondered if they'd even get it lit this morning to be honest, but they were meant to be doing it at 5am so may have beat the rain. The smoke certainly smelled lovely this morning when we arrived! I'm pretty of jealous of the kids actually, it's such good food! Or kai I should say :)

The red quilt finished!

2011-06-09T10:58:00.001+12:00

With the Modern Quilt Guild having its first meeting next week I suddenly felt the need to actually have something to take along! So I hauled the red quilt top and backing out of the pile of intended projects and actually put the thing together. I really do work best to deadlines :)

I started quilting along either side of the seam lines of the blocks (it turns out this block pattern is called a rail fence btw), intending to do the same with the strips inside the blocks, but my enthusiasm for quilting ran out and I did long diagonal lines across the the quilt instead. I'm not entirely sure if that's close enough though - any thoughts from the more experienced quilters among you?

You can see the quilting a bit better on the back

I'm still working on getting the back to sit as flat as the front. I did all the taping and pinning as per instructions but still ended up with some puckering which really annoys the perfectionist in me! But it's not so bad that I'm going to redo it. I'm wondering if spray basting might be the road for me?

The binding is scrappy, which I quite like, and I think I'm as happy with the simplicity of the back as I am with the riot of red on the front - it's truly reversible!

I have my other quilt top all done too, just need to think about the backing and quilting. My machine will only do straight lines, which is a bit limiting, but to be honest I found that meandering free quilting rather daunting when I tried, and I'm still not entirely sure I like it all that much, so perhaps I either send stuff out to get done more fancy-like, or stick with my lines! Anyways, that's another post :)

Hi, my name is Jacqui...

2011-06-02T21:22:00.001+12:00

...and often my daughter won't wear the clothes I make her. It's my crafting shame and not one often talked about in blogland it seems. In blogland all children are enraptured by their mothers' creations, love wearing them, demand more and wear them endlessly. And after gorgeous photos are taken of the item in question, everyone goes off and has organic snacks while playing educational games or communes with nature and some pinecones and then everyone is home-schooled. I wish I lived in blogland...

But no, I live here and there is refusal, sugar, school, Barbies, arguments and tv. And also quite a lot of smooching and cuddles :)

This reflection was brought on by my production of three pairs of really kick-ass leggings that were roundly rejected and one pair was literally flung across the room with the comment "these are the worst pants in the world!" Yeah, we're working on a few anger-management issues in our house at the moment, added to which she's a stubborn and head-strong little so-and-so and has very decided views on what she is willing to wear. I'm actually holding out hope for the leggings as it's progressively getting colder and and even Hazel can't continue to try and dress like it's summer for much longer; but until the moment when rationality kicks in and her legs get cold, those leggings are O. U. T. baby.

But the item that she rejected that really kills me, like actually breaks my heart, was the Zigzag Dress from last year:

I initially bought the Nani Iro fabric for me on my pilgrimage* to Purl Soho, and adored it, but the only time she wore it was for these photos. I can't let it go even though I know it'll never get worn!

So tell me lovely people - what have YOU sewn that hasn't been a success and that still bothers you? Leave a story or a picture or a link to it in the comments and we can all commiserate, pat you on the back and admire the item. Join me in my pity-fest tonight! The more the merrier!

To aid my recovery from the leggings debacle I've been sewing up a quilt! And you know what? She wants it on her bed. If you can't get them one way, sneak around the back and attack them from another direction.

*I'm not joking, it totally was!

I'm alive!

2011-05-24T11:41:00.000+12:00

Hmmm...I see from the autofill that I've used that title before, except it was probably more to do with not blogging for awhile than because I was ill.

So according to the doctor I wasn't even deathly ill, which is such a disappointment because I felt so crappy surely I deserve to be congratulated for surviving? But no, apparently they don't really worry about fevers in adults unless your neck gets stiff or you're blindingly ill with it. A 40 degree fever in a kid is serious, in an adult it's more of a "harden up" situation. I may have a "slight" bacterial infection in my lungs, for which I now have antibiotics. Mostly the problem seems to stem from the fact my lungs have decided to behave like I have asthma, even though I don't. It's called reverse airway something or other. I've got an inhaler for that. So no magic cure and I won't be feeling better by dinner. And if the infection is viral then it's purely up to me to deal with the little bastards and I'll be reaming myself out with antibiotics for no good reason.

Speaking of antibiotics, I heard a thing on the radio the other night about how they're becoming increasingly ineffective and soon we'll be in the 'post-antiobiotic age' - or maybe already are. When they start listing off all the rather nasty things that are resistant it scares the pants off me. When I think of the times I've had antibiotics and they've worked brilliantly and that that might stop... Damn. So make sure you finish your full courses of antibiotics when you've got them or I'll personally come and hunt you down when I get something that's resistant.

Ok, off to cough up a lung.

My sick bed

2011-05-23T12:03:00.002+12:00

The view from my bed where I have been confined for the last two days with a high fever and the sensation that someone is sitting on my chest. I'm not sick enough to sleep all day and well enough to get bored. Does anyone know how to tell the difference between a viral chest infection and a bacterial one that's worth taking to the doctor?

ETA: I'm feeling somewhat improved now, my temp has dropped down below 38 and my lungs are working better. I made a doctor's appointment for tomorrow morning, which is probably why I'm feeling better :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

House before and after

2011-05-21T13:39:00.002+12:00

We had the house painted a couple months ago and I actually remembered to take some before and after photos!

The house hadn't been painted in ages and it really really showed! I think the previous coat was put on badly too, with only one coat in places and I bet they used cheap paint to boot. Luckily our painter Les takes great pride in doing a good job and was very much into proper preparation so while it cost us a bit more than it would have if we'd done it 8 or 9 years ago (when, naturally, we didn't have the money!) we've got a paint job that will last for ages if we maintain it.

The front was seriously unappealing - with huge big camellias on either side of the steps (why did we plant such big ones?), really cheap and dodgy steps that were incredibly slippery in the winter, a trellis sort of thing between the two pillars on the right, and the remains of an old and rusted alarm box to the left of the window on the right. The house was shifted onto the section in the 80s as a spec job I think, so has lost the original front steps, fireplace and chimney (sadly). You can see some interior shots here.

Need I say how pleased I am with it now? The steps are still too narrow and ugly, but they blend in with the porch and the whole thing looks smart and more upmarket. Mat and Les were a bit uncertain about painting the deck and stairs but I had this image in my mind and it ended up looking even better than I'd hoped. Les mixed in non-slip stuff with the paint on the steps we don't need to fear slipping down them to get the mail!

The hardest part of the job was finding colours that went with the rather odd reddish-brown of the roof tiles. The red on the window sills really made the whole scheme though, when it went on the whole house just sang. Someone told us that different coloured sills are 'out' now, but I don't really care, it just wouldn't have looked the same without them! In the garden we're going to get some smaller camellias to replace the big ones, and the garden will fill in a bit along the bottom too, it looks a bit scrappy at the moment!

What I do in my spare time

2011-05-19T22:14:00.002+12:00

My Smurf village, originally uploaded by Hazelnutgirl.

I often wonder what other bloggers are doing when they don't post for awhile - they usually say "life" but I wonder... Me? Well I play Smurfs on my iPhone. No really, I do. I I love my little Smurfs and I've spent an inordinate amount of time arranging my village to look like something I'd like to live in. At the moment I'm working on stone paths but I'm not entirely happy with how they look with my stone walls - something will have to give!

So now you know - when I don't sew or post anything for a few days life hasn't gotten in the way, Smurfs have! If you want to see it bigger (and why wouldn't you?) you'll have to click through to Flickr and view it at the original size.

Why do I feel like I've just admitted something I shouldn't have? Will this come back to haunt me in 10 years time when I apply for a job?

Seam allowance guide review

2011-05-16T20:09:00.001+12:00

I finally got to give the seam allowance guide a trial when I was cutting out the items for KCWC - which I feel I've failed at a bit and definitely haven't managed as much as I'd have liked. I have a pinafore 75% done, but never got to the dress or to the leggings I wanted to do. Oh well! (and no, I don't really feel like I failed and I'm off to do a bit of handsewing on the pinny while watching one of the new Sherlock Holmes eps on DVD. Have you seen these? Highly recommend if not! I was pretty skeptical when I go the opportunity to see them at Xmas in Canada but I was sold very quickly!)

So I tried the guide with scissors and with the rotary cutter and it worked pretty well. End of review. Hah! No, it was good but didn't quite have the wow factor I'd half hoped for. Which is totally unfair to the product of course, because it wasn't advertised as promising to increase the wow factor in my life!

The seam allowances it produced were nice and fairly even, although I found that starting off at the edges could be a bit hit-and-miss because the guide doesn't line up with anything for almost one blade-length. I ended up making a small mark to line up with at the start which helped. You can also only go one direction around the pattern piece, which I'm not used to as I tend to cut whichever way is easiest to reach. I had to move myself around the cutting mat which got a bit tricky in places! It was even harder starting off at the first edge with the rotary cutter, but I actually found it easier to be accurate with it, as the scissors tend to skew a bit as you close them and things just looked a bit rougher. The rotary blade seemed to really lend itself to that kind of cutting with a nice smooth action. I found I had to close one eye to reduce the depth perception so I could keep the guide lined up over the pattern edge as it's sitting up a lot higher with a 45mm wheel than it is with a pair of scissors. I probably looked like some sad one-eyed pirate wanna-be while cutting!

I'd say that yes it probably saved me a fair bit of time not having to add on the seam allowances but it wouldn't be as accurate as cutting around a pattern with them added. I definitely wouldn't use it for anything that required super-accuracy (like quilting) or with lots of ins-and-outs and fussy little nips and tucks. It's best saved for simple shapes. It also has limitations on how much of a seam allowance you can add, I think just under 3cm is the maximum. It's not like you have to add more than that very often though. Ummm...oh and the only cutting in one direction thing - but that's more a personal preference for me, I like to ~~swing~~ cut both ways! On the plus side I'm so pleased it'll work with the rotary cutter and hence knits! That is an unexpected bonus for sure.

Bottom line? Considering how inexpensive they are they probably do deserve a place in your sewing kit, especially if you sew frequently from Ottobre, Burda or the Japanese books.

KCWC - there has been progress!

2011-05-14T13:35:00.001+12:00

And it's my birthday! But that's incidental to this post :) I have been working away on the KCWC stuff, but only got the buttons sewed on this tunic this morning. It's from the Ottobre 1/2010 issue and size 110cm (but 116cm in length - glad I finally came to terms with Ottobre sizing and don't fight that discrepancy between width and length!). I might need to shift the buttons left a bit though, it's ever so slightly tight across the chest.

I was really pleased with the puppy applique, I've never done it before and it went beautifully. I fused the fabric down first, and then went around the edges with zigzag with a tear away stabiliser underneath. As usual the pinks have blown out in the photo, it's just a really deep fuschia, not neon! Styling by Hazel, she also chose all the mismatched buttons and was also quite firm that the puppy had to be pink, not blue as in the image for the pattern. The embroidered eye reflections were my addition as it looked a little creepy and soulless otherwise, and also the line for the muzzle - which isn't quite in the right place but I don't think I can be bothered changing it to make it angle down a bit more.

She seems pretty keen on it so far, which is making my heart happy. So is the birthday cake I just took out of the oven (yum, sultana cake, the Craig family traditional birthday cake) and the new radio/iPhone/CD player Mat and Hazel got me for the kitchen so I can listen to National Radio properly! My old radio was...old, and couldn't keep stations tuned in properly and would fuzz out if someone stood in a particular part of the kitchen or walked past. And now I can listen to all my music on my iPhone, and podcasts for when there's nothing decent on the radio - like on Saturday afternoons.

KCWC Day 1

2011-05-10T16:20:00.003+12:00

KCWC Day 1, originally uploaded by Hazelnutgirl

I was hoping to have all this pattern tracing and cutting out done by today but have more than spent my allocated hour on it! I'm not adding on the seam allowances which saves a lot of time, but makes me awfully nervous! I'm hoping to get some cutting out done tonight.

I committed the cardinal sin of totally forgetting to prewash the fabrics and only discovered it when I went to grab one to start cutting out. Cue hurried wash and bunging through the drier and a hot iron and they're all good to go. Thank goodness for modern technology sometimes!

I have to say that this is the bit of sewing that I really don't like, it's boring and fiddly and unfortunately totally necessary! I dislike cutting out even more, but again, kind of necessary. It seems to take me an inordinate amount of time, and I don't think it's just that trick that time has where it telescopes out for less desirable tasks! I think I'm too focused on being exact when I don't need to be quite so anal about it. Or maybe I'm just slow. Either way I hate it! ~~Onwards and upwards though.~~ Dad says I should say "Excelsior!" instead - go and read the poem and tell me if he's right.

KCWC - the plan

2011-05-08T13:06:00.000+12:00

I'm excited about Elsie Marley's Kid's Clothes Week Challenge which starts tomorrow! Well tomorrow for me, which is a day ahead of most people which sounds all fine and dandy because I feel like I'm getting a legal head-start, but then I have to finish a day earlier which is a drag. Perhaps I could have the best of both worlds and start tomorrow on my Monday and finish next Monday because it's everyone's Sunday?

Anyways, this is the plan (all chosen by Hazel):

Puppy tunic (Perkier than a Terrier)

Pattern from Ottobre 1/2010 and in a light jean fabric. I'd like to make a tshirt to go with it too, Ottobre have a very cute puppy picture you can download for free and print out on transfer paper. But I have to say I love the blue stripes of the tshirt and splashes of yellow in the skirt in the pattern picture. Hazel's very keen on this top. Very - she's all about the puppies at the moment and would die to have one. Unfortunately for her we already have a cat and I'm not a dog person.

Dress

Pattern from Dressy Little Girl -From one piece dress to coat (Onnanoko no oshare fuku) by Araki Yuki, ISBN 4529045269 / 9784529045261 and the fabric is a light cotton. I'm fairly confident about her wearing this one too, she mostly just wears dresses at the moment.

Pinafore

The pattern is from Innocent and lovely girls' wear by Mano Akiko, ISBN 457911194X and the fabric is linen. She says she'll wear it but we'll see! I suspect when she sees it made up she won't be keen but it's worth a try!

The two Japanese patterns will be a great time to test out the seam allowance guides that came in the mail this week. I was delighted to discover that they stick on to the middle of a rotary cutter too, so I'm going to test using it both ways.

Tissue fitting

2011-05-05T14:15:00.004+12:00

In amongst other things, such as (endless and always interrupted) window prep, lecturing, trying to remember to get Hazel to school now that we're back after the holidays, tidying the house for a party we're having this weekend and enduring a whole, WHOLE, evening of talking to our life insurance broker (he's a nice guy but honestly!), I've been doing some tissue fitting on a couple patterns.

The first one is a shirt-dress made from the orange fabric on the left

I'm using Simplicity 2923, which I bought ages ago so it's nice to finally be using it! I'm making the view top right, and aside from a basic FBA (full bust adjustment) to the princess seams that's all the alterations I've had to do, although based on a review of it I may change those waist pleats to darts, we'll see.

The other pattern I'm working on is Vogue 1194

This one is a bit trickier as along with a FBA on a bodice that has heaps of pleats and no darts, I need to drop the waist several cm. I don't know why I have this issue with Vogue, the same thing cropped up on another pattern too. In this case the empire waist is about half way up my boobs! I don't think I'm particularly long in the upper body but obviously I am compared to whatever they base their measurements on. I'm going to do a practice dress in a rather loud pink and purple spotted/striped knit I bought awhile ago. Not sure why exactly but it's coming into its own now!

When I went to the various websites to find the links to the patterns I came across this dress that is gorgeous but I'm not sure about many patterns altogether! Of course, that's part of the charm too.

I also found this Vintage Vogue that I've had my eye on for awhile, but I'm not sure if it would suit someone with boobs and hips. I love that jacket though!

I noticed that Spotlight has some more nice prints in, these were labled as being for 'retro' dresses. I was very very tempted by one that looked a bit like dandelions but then realised they were polycotton, heavy on the poly. Makes for a nice price but not such a nice feel. But still, kind of tempting!

Last of the summer roses

2011-04-28T20:35:00.002+12:00

Last of the summer roses, originally uploaded by Hazelnutgirl.

Autumn is definitely here and the weather has been utterly foul since Easter Monday. These roses are the last from the garden I think, and are pretty chewed up around the edges and water-stained. But they look lovely on the bathroom window sill in the morning light and I almost feel like there might sometimes be a section of my place that looks like some of the pictures of entire homes I see on style blogs! I know I'll never have a pristine house with clear surfaces and no dust bunnies, but I do like to pretend to myself occasionally that it might happen, even if it's only in the bathroom ;)

Auckland Modern Quilt Guild

2011-04-27T21:47:00.000+12:00

The Auckland Modern Quilt Guild has just started up - in Auckland natch. But I don't think that actually precludes the rest of NZ, given that the Patchwork Passion newsletter that announced it says "This is an on-line group that does meet occasionally in person too". Being so technologically savvy (sitting on the couch with my iPhone that is) I signed up so fast I think I was the third member, although there are the four now! I'm hoping this will give me a bit more of a shove to finish the red quilt and get started on the other...four I have fabric for. Jeez, that sounds pathetic when I actually type it out. I'm clearly very good at starting, less good at the completing!

So yeah - join and make me feel less like an eager beaver with completion issues.

Letting off steam

2011-04-26T11:15:00.003+12:00

Via Noodlehead I came across Stitched in Color's great post about things we'd never say out loud but secretly think. Go have a look and revel in the honesty of the post and the comments and add your own. It's totally cathartic. See if you can spot your bloggie friends' comments ;)

I said this:

I actually quite like Sherbert Pips although it's just one line of many - but extremely well marketed. Which brings me to one peeve - big bloggers who obviously get sent fabrics to promote things but who don't own up, or who promote things without being open about it. I'm going to stop reading them I think.

Stones with crochet around them. Really don't get it. Really don't. Who needs more crap gathering dust?

Blogs that have an insanely perky and chatty tone and who post every day. Although shame on me for reading them I suppose!

Giveaways that require you to tweet, blog or Facebook about it for an entry. If it was for something really major then yeah ok maybe, but for a potholder or something like that? Get over yourself, it's not worth it and an act of blatant self-promotion.

Oh, and commenters who ask you to visit their blog. It's so crass.

And finally, bloggers who think it's ok to knock off Anthropologie or some other big company, and are proud of it like they're so clever, but get all huffy if someone copies something from an indie designer. I believe the term for that is hypocritical.

Thanks for the chance to let off steam! And I agree about the Single Girl quilt, although one thing blogging and reading blogs has taught me is that not everything appeals to everyone, and I'm not actually the arbiter of style on the interwebs.

And I should have added that I don't really like hexies, they look terribly old-fashioned and bitsy to me, although occasionally I see a project I quite like. I also don't care for crocheted granny blankets, generally they look awfully naff, although again, there's always someone who comes up with one I like, generally for the colours.

How about a non-crafty one that came up on Facebook yesterday - the stupid and really REALLY offensive debate about whether you have to be religious to be moral. I'm an atheist and you know what? I'm moral and I do the right thing because it's the right thing, not because I believe in heaven or hell. There. I said it. And wow, I discussed religion on my blog! Go me! I might bring in politics next ;)

ETA: oh man I can't stop going back and reading comments and I have about a billion more things I need to add to this post! Bad grammar...abbreviated RSS feeds...awful stuff in swaps...why does everyone love Jay McCarrol's fabrics? I feel depressed and anxious when I look at them en-mass...mug rugs are just coasters with a fancy name...no no, must stop!

But all this whiney negativity aside, I really do think that one of the most valuable lessons I've learned is that who cares if I don't like Jay McCarroll fabrics, he sure as hell doesn't and neither should you if you do. I used to think everyone should share my tastes and dislikes and be vaguely offended and embarrassed for people who didn't, or who put up quilts that I find dreadful and appalling. Then it occurred to me that they actually LIKE them, they're proud of them and who the hell am I to say otherwise? I'm sure that people swing by my blog and it's just really not their cup of tea and they leave without a backward glance. I mean, they're obviously freaks but finally understanding that not everyone shares the same taste and sensibilities is actually enormously liberating and I've learned to just walk away from the stuff I don't like and not obsess about the fact it exists in the world.

Seam allowance guide

2011-04-25T20:43:00.003+12:00

I've been hanging out for these Seam Allowance Guides to become available and finally got to place my order yesterday. It will be very interesting to see how it goes but oh! if they remove the need to add that stupid seam allowance to patterns I'll be a very happy camper. I'm also curious to know if they could be used with a rotary cutter, as I use that an awful lot for knits. Will report back soon I hope!

Back!

2011-04-24T20:39:00.002+12:00

Phew, we're back. It was a fun trip but it's nice to be home, with the cat collected from the cattery and my own kitchen to cook in. We stayed at the Waitomo Caves Hotel for a couple of nights and went on a couple of cave tours on Saturday. The hotel was quite the experience - faded grandeur would about sum it up, it's in dire need of some major TLC inside.

It was built in two stages, which is fairly obvious from the photo - the bit on the right where we stayed was built in the early 1900s and the bit on the left in the 20s. We were in the older 'Victorian' section, on the second floor. Hazel's room was under that octagonal tower on top and ours is the window far right.

The hotel is reputedly haunted but whatever, don't believe in that stuff. Well so I thought until Mat was chatting to a tour guide at the caves while we waiting to be picked up for the Ruakuri Cave tour and she asked which room we were in, and when he said 5 she was all "ooo, that's one of the haunted ones you know" and reeled off a few other room numbers in addition. So what I discovered is that believing in ghosts is sort of like being pregnant (you either are or you aren't, no such thing as a little bit pregnant) - you either believe or you don't. And the fact that I got even a little bit skittish that night must mean that despite being all analytical and matter-of-fact and scientific about life, I probably do believe in ghosts. Just a little bit. Teeny bit really. And of course nothing untoward happened at all.

ETA: I had a bit of a google about the hotel and the whole haunting thing sounds more than a little vague and certainly room 5 isn't ever mentioned. I think I got pwned!

I tried take a couple photos in the Ruakuri cave but since we'd forgotten the big camera and I was using the iPhone it was a bit of a washout. People taking photos in caves with flashes became the bane of my life though, I mean really WTF people? What kind of photo are you going to get with your tiddly little point and shoot flash anyways? Or without a tripod? So you get a camera full of craptastic photos and I'm wandering around half-blinded by random flashes in the dark. Far better to just ban the damn things and make people buy postcards in the gift shop - they'll end up with better photos and the company will make more money. And I wouldn't be so irritated (the main point). The worst bit was coming out of the Glowworm cave after a magical 15 minutes or so of silence in the boat, just us and the river and the glowworms, and as we came to the entrance of the cave in the twilight, all silent and magical, the guide said "ok people, you can take photos now if you want" and the boat exploded in a frenzy of flashes. Fer god's sake...can't we just enjoy the moment? (grumpy old lady muttering). Check out the links for some decent photos of the caves and some videos!

I did get a nice photo of the Ruakuri stream earlier in the day though, this was taken at 1/30 second, which says a lot about photography in the NZ bush

Maunga

2011-04-21T12:59:00.001+12:00

View of Tongariro, Ngaruahoe and Ruapehu from brother and sister-in-laws' station. Beautiful but bracing air! Gumboots, dogs, sheep (and sheep poo), cattle and stags on the roar. Definitely not the city!

I posted the image using the email function on Blogger but the text in the email didn't come through. So Blogpress is easier to use but at least I got a photo up without WiFi!

Hazelnuts on holiday

2011-04-20T08:14:00.001+12:00

I've been trying to do a post from the road but BlogPress won't post the photos unless I'm on WiFi which actually makes it just a little bit useless for its intended purpose >:( Has anyone else experienced this? Anyways, more posts if and when I find a WiFi in small town NZ. I know they're here somewhere, just not at the in-laws.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Creative Process

2011-04-16T08:00:00.004+12:00

I think this applies equally to academia, which I would argue is just as much a creative process as art. Certainly, this graph perfectly describes the way my PhD progressed - though I did get there despite the internet (and Hazel)!

Source: ffffound.com via Hazelnuts on Pinterest

Blockhouse Bay Beach

2011-04-15T16:02:00.000+12:00

On Sunday my friend Janet organised some of our mum's group to meet up at Blockhouse Bay beach for an impromptu picnic. As is so often the case with our group, things that come up suddenly and that are not particularly organised, are often the most fun! The kids had a great time out on the mudflats before the tide came in, found lots of treasures (that's a log in the photo, not Nessie!), and Hazel really really didn't want to leave at the end of the day.

It's a real little gem of a beach and we'll most definitely be heading back sometime soon!

Kid's Clothes Week Challenge

2011-04-15T09:27:00.001+12:00

Yay, Elsie Marley is hosting her fabulous bi-annual Kid's Clothes Week Challenge again! Go and grab your button and join in. If you haven't done it before it's a heck of a lot of fun!

Baby Binky Bunny

2011-04-14T10:23:00.004+12:00

I'm pretty sure that when I give this to Hazel I'll be compelled to say "Congratulations Miss Hazel, it's a Bunny!"

It's such a super-cute pattern, and is available as a pdf from mmmcraft's Etsy shop and you can also see it on the blog here. It took two days all up, so pretty fast for me!

I really love the binky too. Given I was in a bit of a rush I wasn't able to over-think the whole fabric selection bit and that probably means I'm much more satisfied with it in the end! It's just two layers of fabric sewn right sides together, turned right side out and then finished with edge stitching and embroidery thread ties. The backing is a pale blue linen.

The bunny is also made from linen, with wool felt and a bit of Heather Bailey jelly beans in pink (or something like that, don't think it's available anymore).

The nose is padded satin stitch and the eyes are stem stitch. The only thing I'd change would be the mouth, it looks a little put out about something. I should probably change it to a smile. I might also attach the ears together as suggested in the pattern, I think it looks a bit cuter. I changed the mouth to a smile and stitched the ears together and am now thoroughly happy with every aspect of it. :)

Can't make the tail any cuter though!

I'm alive!

2011-04-13T21:02:00.003+12:00

Contrary to what some of you may have thought (hi Mum!) the reason I haven't posted recently isn't because I have been run over by a bus or buried under a mound of bias-cut knit fabric. No, real life just got in the way. Real life in the form of house painters, sanding windows and filling cracks, teaching, helping at school, avoiding housework, and a Baby Binky Bunny. Ok, so the last one isn't exactly real life, but it pretty much sums up my crafting philosophy of too many things on the go at once doesn't stop me from taking on something at a whim that needs to be done right now. I saw the bunnies on Pinterest, remembered that I'd thought I should make one one day, decided that Hazel NEEDED one for Easter, realised that we'll be away for the week leading up to Easter, so it obviously needed to be made straight away. It was also much easier to do that than worry that my hips and bum will look big in the skirt. I'll take some photos of the bunny and its binky tomorrow.

You should also go and have a look at the Little Craft Store's new online store - just as nice as their lovely little shop in Pt. Chev. Hey look at that, I hadn't noticed that it's an animated gif until I pasted it in - someone's got themselves a clever web designer! (p.s. I don't do ads on my blog so all the links and buttons I have are there because I want to share them, not because I'm paid to do so)

Ruffle skirt part one

2011-04-06T15:53:00.004+12:00

Jersey knit bias, originally uploaded by Hazelnutgirl.

When you make a ruffle skirt, the first thing you do is cut lots and lots of bias strips. Lots. Then you measure and figure out, cut a few more, then sort through them and realise you need to cut 4 more strips. Then you wander off to have a cup of tea and straighten out your back, and decide to think about those four strips when you don't feel like a hunched-over old lady.

This week I am going to...

2011-04-03T16:45:00.001+12:00

...make a ruffled skirt. I bought Hazel one at the Gap at Xmas and I love it waaay more than she does! Unfortunately it's too small for me so I'm going to have to make one for myself. These are two similar ones I've found over on Pinterest.

Source: brunchatsaks.blogspot.com via Hazelnuts on Pinterest

Source: talbots.com via Hazelnuts on Pinterest

Hazel's is more like the first one, but I like the top and length of the second. Wish me luck!

Ashtray ideas

2011-04-01T16:26:00.001+13:00

Retro blue ceramic and wire ashtray, originally uploaded by Hazelnutgirl.

Oh I'm a bad blogger! I totally forgot my promise to send a little something to the person whose suggestion for what to do with the ashtray caught my imagination. Seriously, it was very hard because you are all so imaginative! In the end I had to go with Anne S's idea of a pincushion, combined with Jolie's idea of using the coils for embroidery thread cards. I loved some of the other ideas too, succulent garden (I'd probably kill it), olive holder (don't eat enough olives but it would look totally cool!), but had to plump for something I'd actually do. :) So thanks ladies, I'll be in touch!

Sewing perfect corners

2011-03-31T10:23:00.000+13:00

This tutorial on producing perfect corners is a thing of beauty in its simplicity and effectiveness and I can't wait to try it out. You can also see it in blog form over at Rag Pets.

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I've got a couple things in the works at the moment, but nothing bloggable yet. I'm about to go and sand down some freshly stripped-of-all-paint windows, which will wreck my fingers and cover me in dust. Can't wait until all this is done and I can get back to more creative pursuits! Actually I find painting itself very satisfying but the prep work is such a drag when you're a perfectionist like me.

Hair

2011-03-29T14:33:00.002+13:00

People often ask me where Hazel's blond hair comes from. Although she comes by it quite legitimately (Mat was blond and so were my dad and brother when young), I often feel like saying "the milkman".

- Posted from the couch using BlogPress from my iPhone

8:45am Monday morning

2011-03-28T09:24:00.003+13:00

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A broken promise

2011-03-24T08:00:00.003+13:00

Ok, so after certain excesses over the holiday period, I vowed that I wasn't going to buy any more fabric this year. Today I fell off the wagon. BUT! But. In my defense I'd since made another decision which was, in order to fit a couple pairs of new shoes into the budget I've decided to make all my clothes this winter. It's all about priorities people - priorities.* I have lots of knits to work with, but I wanted some wovens as well and I just happened to be out at Spotlight looking for an ironing board cover (fits most ironing boards my ass, now I have to return it!) and I remembered that Heleen had, out of the kindness of her heart (ahem), told me about these Liberty-like lawns they had so I had a quick look. They were nice! I could only find two prints and got 3 meters of the orange and 2 of the blue.

They're definitely not Liberty, in either print quality or feel, but jeez they're not bad. Not bad at all! I have a couple Burda blouse patterns in mind, although I have to say I'm tempted to try a dress in the orange. Just something simple with a bit of drape in the skirt, although I'd have to go and get another meter probably... Would it be too much do you think? It's not quite as bright as it appears in this photo, the orange is more muted and slightly pinker.

It would look simply smashing with these shoes

Source: overlandfootwear.co.nz via Hazelnuts on Pinterest

*Listen to me justify here - how am I doing? Have I convinced anyone yet?

Voodoo dolls

2011-03-23T08:00:00.003+13:00

Mat was walking past my little hive of industry the other day, picked up a doll-in-progress and exclaimed "Voodoo doll!" And unlike the ashtray, this time he's pretty much right on the money. Is anyone feeling unexplained pains? ;)

Retro ceramics

2011-03-22T08:00:00.002+13:00

When I found my beautiful little Rorstrand Picnick casserole in Edmonton I spent quite a lot of time exploring other Rorstrand patterns and one of the ones I particularly liked was Fenix. I've had a search in on Trademe (NZ's version of eBay) since we got back and a Fenix cup and saucer came up. As is often the case with me, I kind of got sucked into the bidding and my natural, yet usually restrained, sense of fierce competitiveness kicked in. I didn't actually expect to win but dammit I was going to make the other bidder pay dearly - and then, I won it. Woops. But really, how could I complain when I have this little bit of gorgeousness?

Frankly this stuff runs a little rich for my blood, but I'll leave the search in and you never know!

Another bit of ceramic came my way on the weekend, and this one...well what can I say - I don't smoke, Mat doesn't smoke, Hazel doesn't smoke (I hope), I don't know anyone who does really and yet I ended up with this:

The photo doesn't do it justice at all, the shape is just pure 50s, although to be honest I have no idea if it's actually old or not. It's in pretty good shape if it is, but I don't really care if it was produced last week because I love it! It was in the opshop and cost $7. I proudly showed it to Mat last night and he just looked at it with a little moue of distaste and handed it back. Sigh. The thing is that I really don't know what to do with it, short of taking up smoking, so here's the deal:-

*Leave suggestions as to what I could use it for - practical or otherwise - that might convince Mat to love it, in the comments and I'll choose my favourite in a few days and send them a little something in appreciation. Open to all and I'm happy to ship internationally.*