Phew!

For some unknown reason I'd been operating on the assumption that Easter was middle of March rather than middle of April. I don't know why because I distinctly remember looking up when it was awhile ago. Anyways, aside from the feeling of mortality and increasing senility this generates in me, it's such a relief! Wow, a whole extra month to do things in! The freedom, the lightness of being, it's amazing. I should do this more often - convince myself that Christmas is in November, that Hazel's birthday is in July... oh the possibilities are endless!

Things are NOT going well with my thesis corrections, I thought they were done and I'd emailed them off but unbeknownst to me I had managed to lose all the tracked changes and am now having to mark them all by hand which is taking forever and of course I keep finding more things that need doing. Tonight though, I will be done! To keep my mind intact I've been doing a bit of sewing - pattern testing for Natasha at Hanies, and starting on a pincushion from 'Seams to Me'. Choosing colours and fabrics is very soothing to a ruffled spirit. This blog started out about the conflict between archaeology and crafting, but sometimes one keeps me going on the other. Speaking of which, must keep going!

More Kirsten Doran goodness

Posting about that Kirsten Doran sling bag pattern below reminded me that I had some other photos to post of her fabric! I made a messenger bag for my friend Shelly last year and forgot to take photos of it before I handed it over. I eventually threatened her enough that she took photos of it for me - on her iPhone, probably just to remind me that I'm about the only person in the world who doesn't have one yet :( As well as being fellow LOTR geeks, Shelly and I share a love of Mac laptops :)

I made it out of Doran's Botanicals print and plain brown canvas. After I'd started I managed to get some blank stone canvas from her to match the print but too late for this bag!
























The bag has lots of pockets front, side and back and came from this tutorial with a few modifications. I made the front flap too long, although Shelly kindly denies it. I've got another panel of this fabric to make a bag for me so I rather think that I'll be making the sling with it!

Ribbons and bibbins

I made a run to the post office today

I think the lady behind the counter thought I was nuts with all these soft, squashy envelopes going hither and yon. The white ones are for the Sew Mama Sew fat quarter swap (I did two) and the fabrics are my stash give-aways. Such lovely things to put into envelopes! I popped down to the stationers afterwards because I wanted to get Hazel a Dora the Explorer magazine and they had the Burda magazine so I got that for me, AND they say they get it every month so I'll have to remember to check back.

On Saturday I went to Spotlight to get some fabric to make a little something for baby Amy (small cheater shot here because I can't resist but want to retain some mystery for Jess)


and I found this, pure linen ribbon to die for.

I know, Spotlight? No way! But true, and to reward them for having such exquisite taste I bought 5 metres of it because I knew I'd use it, and love it, and wanted to encourage them to get more.

I also purchased, via the wonder that is the internet, three Oliver + S patterns on sale at Kelani Fabric Obsession. Not only were they on sale, but I had the Australian GST refunded making them a totally reasonable $16-odd Aussie dollars.




And a Kirsten Doran sling bag pattern (but sadly not the fabric!)

Feeling the Clothkits love

About a year or so ago I came across mention of the revival of the UK-based 'Clothkits' company and was really taken with their clothes for women and kids and the way it all works. Basically you get the kit with the cutting lines and designs printed on the fabric already, and you just cut and sew it up. I remember things like this from my childhood, whether or not they were Clothkits or not I don't know. Anyways, the range was small but promising and I mentally bookmarked it and then promptly forgot. I came across mention of them again today and wow the range has expanded and I'm so in love! Damn this low NZ dollar, it makes them too expensive, but I need to share the love.

How about this fabulous girl's dress featuring the Trellick Tower? Also available as a skirt for women that I'm coveting big-time.






















I'm also very much in love with this skirt, to the point where I'm trying to convince myself it's worth over a hundred dollars plus shipping.























But seriously, how freaking cute is it? A puzzle? Love it!

And lastly another girl's dress

Not really needing an ark here but...

...Mum and Hazel decided the world needed saving from flooding and went out in the pouring rain to fix it.


They're predicting up to 80mm from last night through today which is a fair amount of water so perhaps their preventive actions will save us all yet.

I need to make a little present for my friend and fellow mum Steph for her birthday on Tuesday but have no idea what would be quick and fun for her to get. Any ideas? I was wondering about something out of a fat quarter a la Sew Mama Sew, or that clutch out of 'Bend the Rules Sewing' but I don't actually know her taste in fabrics. It's actually quite hard to choose things like that for people because fabric tastes are so personal and I get quite anxious that they won't like my taste. How do I conquer this fear (if you can call it that) that sometimes stops me making something for someone purely because I think they won't like it and I can't bear to put myself on the line like that? The rational side of me knows this is silly but...

Redraw! and pet peeves

It's been a week and no word from Heather who won the pink selection of fabrics, and I don't have any way to contact her so I've had to redraw. And it's a good excuse to use the random number generator too :)


And #1 is...Sue Cahill from Niagara.

At the moment I'm cutting out fat quarters for this give-away and for the Sew Mama Sew FQ swap and I'll tell you what my fabric pet peeve is - when the person cutting it doesn't do it on the straight. A couple of the 1/2 yards I split were shocking, obviously cut while folded in half and when they're opened up they're in the shape of a V almost. Sure they've given 19" instead of 18" but it still doesn't add up to 1/2 a yard if you need it to run on the grain. Seriously annoying and just sloppy work. I cringe when I'm at Spotlight (our local fabric/craft shop) and one of the girls, who clearly doesn't give a stuff, is cutting and the edge looks all jagged and I'm wondering if I'm going to get my metre or if it'll work out at 90cm in the end. I suppose I could complain and make them recut but I'm not that brave :P

Woof, we've got a tropical cyclone bearing down on us at the moment and the humidity is awful. It's not meant to hit us up in Auckland so much, but we're all expecting lots of rain and wind overnight and tomorrow. I must admit that part of me wishes we'd get hit square on just to give us some excitement - Auckland lacks weather excitement and growing up in Edmonton I'm kind of addicted used to it.

Not much happening here

My parents are back for a couple weeks before the leave for Canada, so I've lost regular access to the internet because Mat can't remember the password for the wireless modem to add this laptop. The only cable connection is in the spare room - how inconvenient. I'm in the midst of panicked thesis corrections to get them done in time to apply to graduate in May, so not much going on other than that. I did try out an idea I read in a magazine last week though, for tarting up plain old plastic bottles you want to decant shampoo etc. into. I was having a crisis of too many huge bottles and things wouldn't fit so I was keen to try it out.

Essentially you tape on some nice paper and then cover it with clear contact film like you put onto textbooks etc. I used some old paper I had sitting around and they look much nicer than the unadorned bottles. I covered more of the bottle than the examples in the magazine, which had a thinner strip of paper and now I know why (I think!). These are pristine, never been showered bottles, however squeezing them and having them sit in water allows it to wick up onto the paper if you've got it as low as I have. The one on the right is all soggy and wrinkled under the film now. So I think I'll have to redo it with less paper and the film well above the splash line. And different papers - funny how your tastes move on - I loved these about 3 or 4 years ago but I'm sort of 'meh' about the two on the left now.

Oh, and Heather, please email me about the stash bundle I have for you!