wrapped up

I get so much pleasure from the process of gift wrapping. It's emotive and soothing.

It's not because I'm a stickler for folding exact sized corners down perfectly and placing perfect sized pieces of sellotape in all the right places (like they do when they gift wrap in department stores or at the mall leading up to Christmas).

Quite the opposite. I'm a rough hewn wrapper.

I like to use beautiful old wallpapers that hold their folds. Thick corners turned down and held together with embroidery thread.

It's this part of the giving that means the most.

Something handmade and sent on it's way. Delivered to its destiny. Departed. And gone with it the joy of how good it felt to give.

tools of the trade

Serviced, sharpened, oiled. 

I'm quite sentimental about my tools. 

The Mundial Serra sharp scissors aka 'the big reds' were given to me by my Dad who worked in haberdashery for many years (and incidentally used to cross stitch and embroider and is therefore responsible for some the most well executed but god damn ugly cushions I have ever seen ...the tapestry mallard duck cushion being the ultimate eye sore).  

But back to snips. 

The Prazsion Sanokaulen by Soungen (try saying that after a couple of drinks) are pinking shears from Germany and were picked up at a church fair. I like using these on children's clothing in particular, to prevent the fraying that happens when an over locker can't be used. There's also another pair of Soungen scissors with H Y Kaufmann and Sons inscribed on them, which I use for cutting out my traced patterns in transparent interfacing. And lastly, there's the pair of Fritz Bracti by Soligen nurses' scissors, presumably for cutting bandages off and the like. (the sharpener guy told me this after I had assumed they were old hairdressers snips.) Not that I'm into DIY surgery of any kind.

Anyway the point is, they all come from some place long ago. They would have been used by untold hands and various craftspeople, have probably been sworn at and may have accumulated some good cutting karma along the way. That's why I love them so.

I had all 4 pairs sharpened for $30 direct at home, by a man who came with a van, with a lathe in the back of it and it took him all of about 15 minutes to make them as good as gold. A decent pair of sewing scissors still cost upwards of $30-$45 and some will reach well into the hundreds (particularly for those 40cm blades which the textile manufacturers use to cut the bolt from the rolls- I want me a pair of those puppies). Actually I'm beginning to feel like I could turn into Mrs Edward Scissors Hands any moment now.

All this makes me think about how people used to service things out of necessity. There used to be big business in fixing , repairing and making things last. Now our toasters are assembled with inconsistent screwdriver holes that no universal screwdriver or philips can touch, as their heads require triangular head drivers. Toasters designed so that no handyman can attempt to fix them and destined as a throw away item despite that fact that 99% of the device is still functioning. Toasters that have you searching the web in fury to see if an appropriate tool exists with which to remedy the situation. Toasters you have no luck with, to the point where you contemplates drilling said holes out. Toasters that have you thrash around with them to the point where, when you eventually give up trying to fix them, you plug them in and they work perfectly again!! Toasters that will teach us for tampering with the untamperable!

 

But lets not give up folks, for there is something to be said for regaining control of your life via craft and DIY rather than having some corporation feeding it to you. You know, people verses the machine and anti hyper consumer culture etc It seems radical now days. Funny that. 

So get out your oil and get lubricating ladies! ...your scissors that is.

Free motion darning. The accessory otherwise known as the embroidery foot. It attaches to the presser foot holder of sewing machine and effectively allows you to draw with the stitches any which way you like. It's initially slippery and hard to control and my attempts so far have been a little wonky to say the least. But it does have the advantage over hand embroidery in terms of covering a lot of ground fairly quickly and with a finish (once mastered) equal in stroke thinness to that of an ultra fine point tipped sharpie. Which alone makes it beautiful. I have noticed tho, that If you move or turn direction too fast, the stitch length becomes quite long and I think in a final product would be likely to snag and catch on things. Which is why I'm still a fan of hand embroidery. It's amazing how much can be learned by going into a sewing shop and asking lots of questions about all the small, mysterious and useful tools and equipment there are on offer.

Acrylics. Non toxic. Applied to 'pingies' and 'tooties'. The 3 year old loves it, the 1.5 year old cried and didn't understand about keeping her extremities off anything but the paper. So be warned with the younger ones that you do have to kind of force their palms and bare feet flat, press down, hold and have rags ready to clean the paint off pretty quick.

Because the wee lady's growing like a mushroom I have two dresses (one denim pinafore and another cotton smock) a peasant blouse and some leggings on the go. For the mister (for love and to really test the tolerance for homemade garments) a raglan T in teal and black fine stretch knit. Pour moi a Japanese bat wing blouse ...more of that to come later. Oh and ginger crunch, double generous topping of course.

Woodblock prints that are hanging in my workroom window right now.

They are printed from a letter given to me by my late friend Arnold Brooker. Arnold used to work in the printing trade and when he was in his 90's he had his late wife Louise's last letter to him made into a wood block.

The letter tells of how Arnold had insisted that he buy Louise a rubber mattress for her bed, despite her protests of it being too expensive. She wrote of  how it had bought her more comfort than she could have ever imagined and thanks him for his kindness and generosity throughout their marriage. That was the last communication Arnold ever received from his wife. He was in a psychiatric unit undergoing electric shock therapy and she was lying in her comfortable bed dying of cancer. Arnold went on to become a mental health rights activist and a Wellington icon of sorts. He was instrumental in getting chapels put in psyche units all over the country and was subsequently commended in parliament for his efforts. Arnold died in 2006. I know all this because many moons ago I made a documentary about Arnold's life called 'The Whirling Man' (he used to wear placards around his neck that were always flapping in a whirl around him where ever he went). The doco was selected for the New Zealand Film Festival and became a bit of a 'sleeper hit'. Arnold was still alive at the time and dutifully and rather proudly attended all of the screenings. He was a true inspiration to me and I get quite chocked up reflecting on him in this way. Needless to say this letter and its sentiment are very dear to me. I think the connected cursive of Louise's writing style and the red ink look very romantic. RIP Arnie.

resurrected part 2

$2 pram from a church fair. Gave it a good jiff and sewed up a new seat for lamby.

This is the same fabric I've used earlier here. Take a closer look...

...it tickles. Can be bought from Bolt of Cloth.

Another metal chest. Now a real pirates chest.

Op shop'd picture frame which has a new matt to fit its lovely photo. Image can be bought here 

or here

Found Oak chair: Reupholstered in

..."bud-da byes" 

this years tree

Its made from driftwood we collected at Pines Beach. We made it by drilling holes in the center of the driftwood pieces and slotting them over a metal rod. The rod has to be fairly rigid so it wont waver and we used a bigger piece of chunkier driftwood, a washer and a nut to secure it to as a base/stand. 

It helps to consider how wide you want your base and at which height you want to taper it to a point. Then its really just a matter of collecting enough different lengths and some extras to stack your pyramid. I think the curved pieces look nice pointing upwards and that way they also hold the decorations better. I'm planning on ceremoniously burning it on the fire on New Years Eve!

A couple of years ago my Mum started a new tradition in our family of going to Ballies and buying the kids and I a new decoration each. It's my december highlight.

...there was that one year tho when I felt utterly justified in calling management to notify them that their Santa was a reticent sleeze bag with no imagination and had been making eyes at all the mummies! Yes, I got Santa Fired!

Oh and last years tree... 

Harakeke flax stalks spray painted white.

...think I might be stretching it a bit to come up with a new one every year. Any ideas?

Resurrected

Today I spent a wonderful hour or so pottering around in the garden. Actually it was technically more like fluffing around. But it was a gorgeous day and I wanted to soak up the colours and bask in what is usually overlooked as being hard work done and dusted. It struck me that a lot of what stands out in our garden has been resurrected and tarted up in some way. I like the surprises that an economical eye finds in something formerly rejected and forlorn.

Above is an old watering can re-licked in bright red, op shopped wire hanging baskets, vintage horticultural society black pots, and our old hot water cylinder.

below are the two deck chairs scored on two different occasions on the side of the road. 

An old metal chest home to our many pairs of outdoor shoes, jandles, gumboots etc keeping them dry and out of direct sunlight. And a wine barrel direct from the winemaker!

An old wagon wheel for definition 'acquired' by someone else. 

Another side of the road score, some old Avery scales... just for decoration and a wooden spool/wire reel as a table for a cuppa.

clever man idea.

The old wood basket that had unwoven itself now covered in concrete and sculpted into a planter.

the other half of the cylinder.

Rainy Day

Today we woke to droplets of rain rolling down our windows.

Mushrooms abound from our own bucket growing someplace dark and warm.

One boy loves his raw, freshly twisted from its spores.

Homemade muesli made different every time depending on what is at hand.

Reminding me of the muesli my mother in law made for her father. And how after he died she gave what he had left in his home to us. It was generously packed with brazil nuts, cashews, molasses and cranberries. She dotted on him all the time in these small ways and that batch of muesli was the best version I ever had. 

And home haircuts. I lure them with lollies. They suck them too fast. I end up eating more hair than they do lolly. They've had the same old scarecrow style since they were six months and surely too young to be needing haircuts in the first instance.

They looked as if they had been fertilized from their tops, or like fluffy eagle chicks or those pantyhose faces sprouting grass. I usually end up chasing them around the house during the next day or two making subtle corrections where their patience allows. Its a kind of how-to-pretend-you-live-on-the-prairie-even-tho-you-don't- sufficiency that has had me cutting their collective heads about 32 times at an equivalent salon cost of $15 per cut (conservative) with an approximate salon saving total of around $480. That's makes me feel really good ...because I want new shoes.