Vintage and new.

My family came back from Christchurch yesterday after a difficult week with much sadness. But also lots of laughter. It was very comforting to be with the family there , especially 2 of Ma's sisters , who had come over from The Netherlands. The funeral was of course a sad occasion , but as funerals go, I must say it was also uplifting and a celebration of the wonderful woman Ma was to so many people. Nearly a hundred people attended, and many I knew said that had it been held in Hawke's Bay, where she lived for about 18 years, we would have had standing room only.

On Thursday a family friend, and her last weaving pupil, and I went through all of her wool hoard. It took us most of the day. It felt really strange, going through all the boxes and baskets. So much thread and wool. She has inherited the large weaving loom, and most thread, which is good, since she likes doing it. And has the space to put it too; a standing 4-shaft loom of the size of a double bed demands a room of its own, with all the paraphernalia that goes with it. I took home a large amount of unspun wool etc. and I will share that around with her woolcrafting friends. While we were there, we also looked at her linen cupboards to sort it all for Dad , and her clothes and jewellery, which was so difficult......

I am just going to post a few photos from before things started to look dark.

That's what I call living on the edge. Excuse my teenager's mess , although Fox doesn't mind. That way there is always something interesting to sleep on; in this case the ukelele box our eldest got for Xmas. (It came with a pink v-shaped ukelele) Just one false move.......

Bought at an op-shop spree in Christchurch. 70's pop-art flowery sheets and pillowslips in blues, which is nice, since they often come in orange and yellow. A pile of children's handkerchiefs. I buy clean ones only of course. A sturdy jeans fabric printed with gingham patterns. And from the Savemart a set of skittles, all battered and played with. Delightful!
A cotton voile sari in pinks and blue-greens, an old pattern and vintage braiding in shiny forest green.

But then I found some fabric shops and could not resist.....I bought 2 lengths of silk voile , 1 a beautiful red and the other a bright light blue with pink and red patterns. I envision some beautiful nuno-felted wraps to be made in the future.
Strange how this combination of age and colours seemed to gel together. Pink, brown-yellow, black , touches of orange and green.

Clockwise from upper left; a 50's cotton with star shaped flowers, 70's cotton sheet with pop-art flowers, new Heather Ross fabric with mermaids and octopuss, and a new piece of my first ever Amy Butler fabric. The last 2 came from Bolt of Cloth fabric store in Chch , which was an amazing place; the fabrics were the kind I have only seen on the web. The colours were so vivid. Very dangerous to my budget!!

I want to make a pencil case for myself , so that I have my stationary with me all the time at my teacher-aide job. I have lost so many pens and pencils last year.
Another combination of old and new , although the new heavy cotton fabric with the coloured dots looks vintage. I think it will go very well with faded old embroideries.
Here are some vintage embroideries , some with dreadful rips in the fabric. I shall have to cut around all the nasty bits.

I love the floral tablecloth top left and the blue damask in the background. And the porcelain pepper and salt set were the oldest things I could find at Savemart. They are in the shape of a little beehive with clovers and a bee at the top. Sweet!