Rumble, and jumble.

Boxing day was the anniversary of Ma's passing away. But it actually started quite early for me; with earthquakes. Not everyone in the house felt them then already, but I felt the one at 2:o7 (4.2Magnitude), closely followed by a faint tremble at 2:08am(3.8M.) The creak of the house, as if a windgust hit the walls, is what woke me, and a very distinct rumble. Like a truck was driving down the street.

I had just dropped off to sleep again, when a 4.3M. shook at 2:38am.

It sure gets your heart going in the middle of the night.

The next one was at 3 minutes past 8(3.8M.) Everyone felt that one. We checked the Christchurch earthquake map to see how big they were. You can do that too if you click on the link and go to 26-12-2010. You will see that there were 33 that day. Some so small that you don't feel them.
Some beautiful dunes at the Christchurch beach. I love the way the wind is moving the grasses.

We all felt the next one though at 10:30(4.9M.) This one caused more damage in town and parts of the shopping areas (all ready for the big Boxing day sales) had to be closed off.

Where was I?

All soaped up in the shower, with my eyes closed... Rumble, rumble!

I squealed, held on to the wall, saw that the walls were moving in opposite ways to each other, realized the wall I was holding was a glass one (not good!) . Took a breath, realized the power was still on, and the water was still going, and just waited.

It stopped.

I rinsed.

Husband came running, "Yup, I'm o.k. That was interesting!.."

I don't usually feel like having a stiff drink that time of the morning, but I did that day.

I think we felt 2 more during the day. I have never experienced more than 1 in a day, and I felt very on edge; I think I can understand how frazzled the people of Christchurch must feel.

And they are all deemed aftershocks from the big one in September.

The 6th, 7th and 8th of January saw me doing a printing course at my bookarts club. We tried our hands at lots of different methods of mark making, with printing ink on lovely thick paper.

I really liked this method of creating my own plates with sealed cardboard cut-outs. I tried to make it look like late 50's early 60's botanicals. The teal and mustard colours helped .

The composition is terrible, but I know what I meant...

Wouldn't it be cool if I could have my own yardage of fabric with these, just like tiny happy has done?
And this is the best, I want to frame it. I used the same method.

Love the birches!
We took all the pages and bound them into a book. I used some nice green linen thread from Ma-L. and green glass beads.

This way I have a neat record of different techniques all tidily put together for later reference.

Treasure Hunt Show Case.
These haven't even been washed yet. I was so pleased to be able to go op-shopping again, since most of them close for 3 weeks around Christmas.

Yellow seer-sucker with little chickens destined for kids' clothes, several floral tablecloths for bunting or such like, quite a few stains I'm afraid. But they are soaking in the nappisan as we speak, so they might turn out o.k.

A red rosed serviette for zipbags, and a very sweet pussy-cat tapestry. Would look good for a bag I think.

I got a treasure of vintage doilies in December. I get picky , I only buy the ones with the finest stitches. One has the willow-pattern on it, just like the tablecloth on the right.

And a nice dutch souvenir tablecloth as well, good for the dutch bunting I make.

A child's sheet and pillowslip set from the 50's or early 60's; to be used for a little dress or a pinafore.

And another tablecloth in very good condition.

Weird Impulse Buy.
Knitting needles.

I don't actually like knitting very much. But these oldies have such pretty lollie colours, I think they look as good as a bunch of flowers!

The end of a school- and craft-year.

A Happy 2011 to you all!

Aren't they cute... The teachers of year 3 at the primary school where I work decided to give each child a little blackboard with the child's name on the back. The kids had to paint on the layers of blackboard paint and chose the colour for the back.

They then asked their enthusiastic teacher-aide (yes that's me!) and an arty student teacher to put the child's name on the back with some nice twirly letters. Well, we started to outdo each other, and it got out of hand, didn't it...

I spent about 3 schooldays painting with the kids hanging over my shoulder. Boards for about 85 kids, of which I did over 60. No matter, since the last 2 weeks of school were very irregular, full of singing practices and finishing off art projects.

I painted moths in the moonlight, bats and cats, snails, hedgehogs, owls, crickets and bugs and spiderwebs, blossomtrees, rain on ponds with dragonflies, 2 gnomes and 1 fairy. Each board different. And oodles of spirals, because that's my thing.

They loved it, and the parents were suitably impressed! I got lots of hugs from the kids and many thanks. It was great fun!!

I'll show you some photos from my working/school life about the End of Year Assembly or Prizegiving for our school.

Since there was no way all the kids (over 400) and their parents could have fitted in our small school hall, we had it at the nearest highschool, the one our youngest daughter has just said goodbye to.

All the children had been practicing their repertoire of songs for this evening. You can see their school uniforms and the principal and deputy sitting on the stage with all the silver cups and certificates .

I am not personally in favour of children wearing uniforms; I can see the advantage of keeping teenagers in line with behaviour and fashion competition by wearing uniform, but I feel children should be able to dress in all the colours of the rainbow or come dressed as spiderman or a fairy for the day.

It's all very British from a long time ago.....
The evening starts with a welcome song, followed by the national anthem in English and Maori.

So the boy in the foreground obviously scored big time in the cup department, but luckily they also give out certificates now and during the year for being the one with the most cheerful or helpful manners, or the most improved in work, not necessarily the best at a particular subject.

It's time for the Kapa Haka group (Maori song and dance) to show their stuff. Accompanied by guitar and singing, the girls show welcoming hand movements, the boys singing behind them.
Now a song complicated by rhytmic waving and slapping of the poi (soft white balls on a string). It looks spectacular. The girls look most confident in front of hundreds of parents.

Some speeches are made about the seniors leaving, people that have helped the school during the year, some teachers leaving or getting married. Our senior pupils get a weekly rock'n roll lesson , our principal is a big fan. So the best dancers get to show off their steps, it's great for confidence and boys and girls having to interact. The other kids think it is so grown-up!
Everyone cheers and claps along!!
Apart from all the holiday songs sang by all the children, the kapa haka group has another go, this time it is the boys turn, with a spirited haka(challenge), with much footstamping, shouting and chest slapping. The leader memorized a long haka in Maori, all about making the right choices and finding your mana (self -worth and respect). The 4 new Young Leaders for 2011 are standing behind them on stage, all the kids can go to them with a problem, or they have to represent the school at events.

And that was the end of the evening, all the parents find their kids and it's a madhouse for 10 minutes! See you all in 6 weeks!

I hope you found this interesting, especially if you are not from New Zealand! Here is a link to a haka done by another local school, it looks like they had many of the same movements.

The boys love doing it, and it boosts their confidence.

Originally a haka was used to call up the influence of one's ancestors to gather strength before going into battle. But anything can be a challenge; doing the right thing, starting something new, giving up a bad habit, and sometimes to gather strength after a sad time. Hakas are sometimes performed at the end of a funeral, at which time they feel very raw and overwhelming. It is also a controlled way of letting anger out.

Here some more of the gorgeous things I made for the Christmas Fairs I had a stall at, some sold, some will sell later. (think Positive). A few of the brooches I made using beltbuckles dating from the 1930's to 50's, embroideries of the same date and words cut from an ancient book.

Also some little zippered pouches made from vintage embroideries and serviettes, even the zips and lining are recycled. They are fun to make and can be used for anything.

This was a big post, but I'm on holiday and have lots of time!

Christmas Time 2010.

I hope you all had a good Christmas time, with some over-indulgencies and laughter.

We went to Christchurch for our Christmas, to spend it with Pa and brothers and family from both Ashburton and Spain. It was a fun time with loads of laughs and boardgames around the table, but it was also a sad time. We all missed Ma badly.

Standing in her kitchen with her apron on and using her cutting knives, rummaging through the cupboards for pots, pans and ingredients.

Sitting in her seat at the table, or finishing of some sudoku puzzles she had started. I'm afraid the tears were very close to the surface the whole time.

The first year has passed now, and that was full of first times without her.

On Christmas Day we took a walk on the beach. A bit too fresh for a dip, but lovely to sniff the salty air and build an appetite for later. Miss 19 glazed the ham and I made roast veges for our late dinner for 7.
And we are still a family. Middle brother took us all to a restaurant for lunch on Christmas Eve. Just for you a lovely family photo, which you will not find often on this blog!

We all came together again on Boxing Day, for a shared meal at Pa's home. My love helped me cook nasi-goreng extra for 11 people! That got rid of most of the left-over ham, haha!

Earlier in December I attended the end of year get together of my Book-arts club, of which I am a member. Our hostess had put out lovely book projects to admire, and a sumptuously spread table awaited us, of course we had all "brought a plate" in the kiwi manner. But the best plate that was contributed was the one with the cupcakes!

Above I am holding a teeny weeny book. All handsewn and cut and pasted. Very clever and precise.
A table full of book-arts goodness! My books look pretty messy compared to these little beauties. Very nice binding techniques.
A Lady's tea table with embroidered tablecloth, pretty china, silver teapot and delicious titbits.

Super feminine!!
They were just too pretty to eat.

Well nearly....
One evening last week, the light was peachy apricot for a quarter of an hour. Gorgeous!

Weird Impulse Purchase:

This called out to me about a year and a half ago. It's the Christ child on a 1950's bevelled edged mirror.

Yes, what can I say... pretty kitschy. In a sweet vintage way.

But now I have found His Mama! There was a grown-up Jesus as well but He looked way too sad, and I'm afraid I don't believe in the whole original sin thing. So He was left hanging in the opshop. Now I have a duo. Apparently when you have 3 of something it is a collection, so I'll stick with 2.

For now...

Season's greetings all!

Hedgehog pixie girl.

This is a copy of the Mecki postcard I used to have as a child. I think it said happy birthday, can't be sure. So cute!

I believe the dolls were made by the famous Steiff company, the one that produced the (now) enormously valuable teddy bears. You can learn a lot from watching Antiques Road Show.

I miss discussing the episodes with my mum, she loved that show too.

But I still watch them and think of her at the same time. Quite nice!

Floral Birds and a Weaving Goddess.

A dozen birds in the hand are better than 2 in the bush , or something like that...

Made from all the small scraps of fabric that I keep in my scrap basket. Won't they look lovely in our Christmas tree! Thanks for the idea cousin B.

Many pencil rolls were made for the several craft fairs I have been selling at. These were my favourite; and all sold ! The fairytale fabric was an old curtain from the late 50's or 60's. Unfortunately I only have about 40 cm left.

Oh how I wish I could get more. Or even a new quality fairytale fabric with little gnomes and toadstool houses, but without the garish colours. Nothing like it for sale around here ...

This is what I like doing with old table linen, crocheted and embroidered doilies: salvaging the bits that don't have stains or rips, and making them into bunting. It takes me quite a bit of time to colour co-ordinate them, but I love it.

The sets of bunting are a good 3 and a half metres long, so you can really string them up across the room.
Here a picture of last weekends' market in the court yard of our lovely Opera House. It was really hot weather, and we had a lot of public come in. What a beautiful setting, with live music and singing. My stall is behind the lady in green.

I talked lots and lots, about my things and to people I knew.
The Steiner Fair a few weeks ago, had a white elephant stall with a silent auction. For those of you not familiar with the term white elephant, it is a stall which sells people's unwanted but still use-able items.

I donated my old standing loom. I decided a while ago that weaving is not really "my thing". This one is a 4 shaft homemade loom of unknown origin, everything still intact. I have used it and made 7 metres of fabric.

It has been living in the shed, so it was time to clean it up and put it on my husband's nifty truck-lette. Above the "shafts" under the top beam of the "castle" a large spider had woven an amazing web. Perhaps a funnel-web spider?

Straight away I had to think of the ancient Greek legend of the Goddess Athene/Minerva and her weaving competition with Arachne. Athene's pride was hurt when Arachne wove some of the (lustful and selfish) deeds of the god Zeus (Athene's father) into the cloth. Her wrath was terrible and Arachne hung herself. Athene felt remorse, saved Arachne, but changed her into a spider (arachnid). She weaves on for ever...

I removed Arachne-incarnate gently and put her back in the shed with the remains of her web, and an apology.

Treasure Hunt Show Case...

This wasn't a purchase, but a swop with one of the stall holders I know. Such sweet 70's goodness and a good 3 metres each. I have just the right aqua-blue cotton to go with it.

Part of my crochet stash collected over the last few years. Such pretty pastels. All ready to be used in a one project or another.

Weird Impulse Purchase...
This tiny little doll (just 9 cm tall) was in my favourite op-shop St.Vincent de Paul's.

I immediately recognized a Mecki hedgehog doll. She is made from rubber with felt and fabric clothes. She (Micki) has a white hankie in one hand and I think she is missing a mountain walking stick in the other hand. She was for sale with 2 other folklore dolls, which didn't interest me . So I left those in the shop and walked out quite excited after paying my $1 .

I have a girlfriend who has a few larger Meckis. ( hi J!) I also used to have a Mecki postcard from when I was a little girl, but I can't find it anywhere right now (probably gave it to J. years ago...).

Meckis are collectors items, after a German cartoon character from the 1950's.

I love the idea of little hedgehog pixies, I wrote a fairytale for my girls when they were little, about just such a creature. We often have one in the garden.

Not sure if that one is magical though. Certainly doesn't have table-manners : a lot of smacking and crunching sounds while dining on those pesky snails!

I Love Colour!

Now here is something purple I made a few weeks ago already. Merino, Polworth and a sprinkling of silk. There were other colours too.

It should be on its way to the other side of the world, to my cousin B.

I wonder what she'll make with it.

Now the lady in the post office said it was the busy time for X-mas packages and I was just in time , but she assured me it'd be there by Christmas even though that's all she could promise.

Summer treats! It's lovely eating a sweet, gorgeous smelling strawberry and you need to take 5 mouthfuls to finish 1 berry...!

There are 3 strawberry farms within 10 minutes drive from our house. When the wind is the right way you can smell them when you drive by.

They also sell seconds, (they don't have the perfect shape) and those are great for making fruit salad or jam. I got 1 1/2 kg for nz$5 (2.8euros)

I will have them with my breakfast, morning coffee, lunch and dinner.

Right now I am enjoying them in a cheesecake , made from Ma-L.'s recipe by Miss 19.

A new clutch of shopping bags ready for sale. These are made from 1970's sheets. All those patterns and colours go together (in my opinion) . I use bags like these myself all the time.

And I'm sure I recognize some of the patterns from childhood.

Orange goes so well with purple. They are on opposite sides of the colour wheel.

Lots of new felt balls for the different size heads that my Bushbabies need. I have been doing so much work in the past months. Lots of sewing and handstitching. The last 3 weekends in a row have been taken up by market stalls : my regular one and one at the local Steiner school and last weekend a 2 day one organized for local artisans. I did very well and met some neat new people and caught up with others I hadn't seen for a while.

And I met Lucy from Felt.co.nz , whom I had only met in the virtual world, nice to put a face to a very helpful person!

Treasure Hunt Showcase!
*Lovely 70's fabrics in (what else?) classic orange and brown. And neon pink!

*A mid 20th century breakfast tray-cloth. The little tea cup is supposed to have a matching serviette, but that has long been lost. The edges are crocheted.

*And a school-journal from the early 60's. I bought it for the illustration; such classic printing. I wasn't going to leave the little pony boy in the free box.....

*Some cotton with printed cats, would look great as a child's pinafore dress.

* Another school journal from the same era('65), more lovely printing.

*And those little bedtime stories are really dreadful saccharine tripe!

But the pictures are hilarious and I make new notebooks out of them, keeping the pictures in and sewing new sketching paper into the spines.

* 2 Aprons, one in a turquoise kitchenprint, and the other in mauve and yellows. The last apron has the bonneted lady on it by a well, it says "all's well that ends well".

So twee...

*The doggies in the middle fabric are printed onto genuine barkcloth from the 50's /early 60's. It was sold as a dog-blanket for $3! It was padded with a little bit of quilting. I unpicked all the stitches, soaked it in nappisan, washed and ironed it. Just 1 stain remained, yeah!

It is cute and kitsch at the same time.

*A handful of pink and purple thread to really make my sewing "up-cycled".

*And lastly the little doilie at the top, 1 of 3: the style of the little tree on the hill says 1930's/40's to me. It is made with applique and embroidery, with a tatted edge.

Now what will I transform all these into....?

Creations by others.

The most beautiful colour in the world: Bird's Egg Blue. On red and white polkadots.

The little egg came from my Dad's and his wife's garden, she gave it to me. The little nest blew out of a tree from our own garden last autumn.

I love bird's nests. No-one teaches the birds how to do it, they just know! I had a good look at this one, it has bits of blue plastic from an old tarpaulin woven into it, and little unravelled threads from washed fabrics on the washing line.

I often throw these threads and bits of wool on the ground on purpose, hoping the birds can use them. Obviously they do, which pleases me immensely.


So clever!!
A new flower piece by our youngest daughter, with a twist. It was displayed at school in the art room. The threads in the middle represent a dream catcher.

I like it.
And our eldest is back home again from university. She is planning on having a gap year, earn money and go see Europe next year. Then continue her study the year after. She has suddenly realised that she is free to do as she likes in this world!

She made us a lovely hotcakes breakfast on Sunday. With fresh strawberries. Delicious!

Ok, some opshop finds to show off. From left to right; a tin serving tray with the red and light blue colour combo, a large bell-tea tin in fantastic condition, so kiwiana. And another kiwiana tin; Edmonds(sure to rise) baking powder.

I put some old buttons in it.

Can I get the lid off again? Nope...

The little blue tin is such a lovely colour blue, I had to have it for 50 cents.

The little biscuit tin with the red polkadot-dressed girl sewing on her tiny sewing machine , is just my favourite. I saw it in a second hand shop in Waipukurau. But I left it there, because my hubbie kinda rolled his eyes at my collectors/hoarding bug. A year went by and I passed by that shop again with some of my felting friends. I went straight to that back shelf and rummaged through all the cake tins. And there it was, still waiting for me....

It was obviously mine in the first place.

The little blue tin was for dressmaker's steel pins. But I bought it full of little metal bobbins.

What can I do with those? Has anyone got a creative idea?