prairie mouse

a quiet morning

ahhh............ a crisp autumn morning, children back at school, coffee, fresh baked oatmeal raisin cookies and a magazine!

since i got home from seattle i have done nothing but live and breathe fibre (so whats new!) i was lucky enough to get a job with a magazine here working on a new section they have introduced called handmade. i thought i was going to design a little toy but when i got there to my great delight there were a few pages and a few projects! so i have been very busy but have to keep the goodies under wrap till publication - july.

yesterday we had the photo shoot so i had to be super organised - i think i was -i was watching seinfeld at midnight the night before finishing up - that keeps a girl cheery, i can't help but laugh. i really enjoyed the shoot - great working with the photographer who had a fantastic eye. we worked all day and it was hard work but so much fun. when we were all done i had a wee lie down on the couch and had to literally peel myself off to do the school pick up!

this little tweeter was something i had made for the shoot but sadly for her she didn't make the cut. but she did make the blog!!

maxine's

the day before we headed up to port townsend karen insisted we go to a beautiful store she had heard about - maxine's. the hotel organised a car for us so that the driver would wait for us. we didn't leave the city till about 4ish so the traffic was picking up but we assured him we wouldn't be long. have a coffee were the last words the poor guy heard! when we eventually came out he was 3 coffees down and looked like he was asleep.

it was a beautiful store and worth the trip. i asked maxine did she mind if i took photos for my blog. i really wanted to capture it all but particularly the amazing paper flowers around the counter. it turned out that michael, who taught our first class at artfest had made them! so take a little stroll around the store and just imagine that it smelt beautiful too - oh, and there were talking birds.

hood in the woods

red, as she was known, came on tour with the girls to artfest. the theme was a walk in the woods and i made her to put in the gallery with a for sale sign. i did, in the end, put her on show on the second to last day but was relieved when she didn't get a red dot and i could take her home - something prairie was very happy about. when i was packing her to go away i put red in a ziploc and as i was closing it prairie wailed 'not the body bag mummy!'

more of miss red on flickr

back in aotearoa

wow, its taken me a week to settle after seattle! i did a long post this afternoon then decided i would divide it into parts and lost the lot. so i will make this quick as i am about to make dinner.

we had a great time at artfest - girls on tour, shopping, eating, drinking and laughing like i haven't in years! led astray by some naughty canadian girls who were our house sisters - liane and charlotte. so cool to meet you two, it was fun.

my favourite class, spun cotton animals, produced this pair. our tutor, the sweet michael, was so generous and i could have sat happily every day making more.

then back to seattle and a lovely meeting with maize and her so cute doggies - when blogging comes to life!

it is good to be home as i missed my family very very much. seeing them at the airport made this girl weep!

ciao ciao for now

in a couple of days time i will be heading off to the united states for a couple of weeks! i am going to artfest with my dear friend karen. we can't wait. there have been lots of excited phone calls and planning and now we are finally going. michael and the children are going to keep the home fires burning. thank goodness though, for communications the way they are today because i will miss them terribly. i did tell prairie that i would check on google earth to make sure they were matching the pegs when they hung out the washing!

karen, who has been to artfest two times already, said that everyone takes things to trade. the theme this year is woodland so i made these little woodsy garlands. i still have a dent on my hand from all the cutting (i made 50 sets) but they were fun to make and i really enjoyed painting them all, its been awhile.

after artfest, i am having another treat - i'm going to have a bloggy old time in person with this cooler than cool peep!! i can't wait for this either!

so, is anyone else out there going? let me know, i'll be here for a couple more days. michael thought he might do the odd post on my blog. adding his touch would be nice he thinks. i'll be checking that along with the pegs!!!

xxx

spot the piano

i just cannot stop spreading my stuff out and now prairie has an excuse as to why she cannot do her practice! a little while ago i shifted my machine and co. off the table into a corner where the piano resides. its great because we have the luxury of a table again but are now musically challenged!!! i will shift it, really. i was having a good old fold up and there was the perfect horizontal surface - what is a girl to do!

happy hippity hoppity

every easter i make hot cross buns and for the last three years they have been a la nigella. great recipe. i double it and leave out the cardamon and make 15 large buns. this time of the year always reminds me of my discovery of the blogs thanks to simmy and her sister and the magical time it was (and still is!) i felt like i had gone through the wardrobe door!

heres the dough rising

ready for the oven

glazed and ready to eat with a fresh pack of danish butter (a food mile indulgence but so so good)

so, i shall leave you with this delightful postcard, given to me by kay (salvage) along with some amazing fabrics (thank you again kay - i was touched and i so love doing the window) don't you just want to hop in and do some shopping in that quaint little village (another wardrobe to find?!!!)

happy easter!!!

xxx

multiplication

its true, they do!

these little hoppitys went off to salvage this morning.

easter bunny

i just remembered that we had to make a contribution to the easter basket for the raffle in prairie's class. i had started this for the window (sorry kay!) but thought i better finish it for the basket. phew, i can check that off now!

the party

it all started with my big idea - how about for your party i make some ragdolls for the girls to decorate? (thinking there might be about 6 on the guest list) but because it is the beginning of our school year and there are some new girls, prairie wanted to include everyone.

17 in total plus the prototype!

we put 2 tables and market umbrellas on the deck and i hung all the little felt dresses up like washing. the goodies on the table were covered with a cloth when the girls arrived - nothing like a little suspense!

i put out bottles of glue, a tin bucket full of wigs and lots of little bowls of decorating goodies, plus a couple of pincushions loaded with needles, threaded and knotted.

i wanted to photograph all of the dolls but it was too hard as the girls were all leaving at different times and they glued and stitched till the last second before they were dragged away. this is prairie's doll sporting a yellow ensemble with matching clutch.

i have to say that though there was a lot of preparation it was the calmest party i have ever hosted. i had to literally force them outside to do a treasure hunt and then had to take the food out to them! i loved that one girl would make earrings for hers then the next thing there were all these different versions around the table. same with the handbags or even the highlights they did in the dolls hair (i never would have thought of that!) when they were going out for the treasure hunt i heard one of them say 'this party rocks'. what more could i ask for!