prairie mouse

olive leaves

i tease prairie for always fiddling. i suppose the devil makes work and i do smile (and sigh just a little) when i find a small pile of teeny pieces of shredded paper where she has been sitting. i am as likely to find drawings all down the side of a shopping list or my pile of yarn ends i have sewn in reduced by much snipping to even smaller pieces! i found these engravings yesterday and really smiled. i thought they would make a cool painting, perhaps i'll leave the necessary materials lying around!

layers

thanks for all the frida love! i meant to say that i want them to be fabrically sumptuous. layers and layers and layers of cotton, linen and wool. when held in your hands, the layers yield yet have substance. for a fabric junkie such as myself this is nothing short of pure bliss!

after our long dry summer, the rain came and it didn't stop, causing flooding and general mayhem. one of these days when it was impossible to step outside i sat at the table with a lamp, put on a huckleberry finn audio book and got out the beads. i made a dozen little necklace and earring sets for my linen friends. i have stashed beads for decades so was fun digging deep and bringing treasures to the surface. much like tom and huck and their treasure! it felt like i was in a cave it was so dark. i love the language used in that book (and tom sawyer). its a great story and the turn of speech fascinating. i'm afeared that our language is slipping away, homoginsing. i don't think, evolving. dipping into something like the wind in the willows - i am staggered by the luxurious amount of words used to describe a simple act. there is an interesting article here on how the story came to be. never knew that!

yesterday i made a few pairs of bloomers and started another cardy for the girls this time listening to pollyanna grows up but it wasn't mark twain thats for sure and pollyanna's constant good cheer began to get on my wick! the thing that stuck out for me was her newspaper delivery friend, jerry, referred to a automobile as a buzz box. 

and keren - you asked about how i do the hair. on the doll in the photo you were looking at, i stretch, snip and stitch a piece of black woolen felt over her head then add yarn plaits. this is quick but usually i embroider straight onto the head and then add yarn plaits, which i much prefer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

the fridas keep coming

the first frida became brooklyn frida as she went off to live in williamsburg. the second was for p for her birthday so she is auckland frida. ordered by the owner of the first frida, this next doll was for a special reason. to celebrate the end of treatment for breast cancer. for a young woman who had to go into the dark and has come out on the other side. it was an honour and a priviledge to make her. i decided to make her dressable - who doesn't like playing with a doll. she has been gifted now and is loved. she is london frida and is traveling there very soon - in the hand luggage so she can play dress ups on board!

the doll was wrapped and then every item wrapped individually.

the little purple dots are removeable marker - amazing what you see after you've taken the photo!

i was delighted to hear (after i had made the cardy) that the recipient is a knitwear designer! the cardigan is 8 ply with a crocheted koigu trim and closed with a snap fastener/dome. her skirt is pure linen.

the beads were from a necklace i had in the 80s. i'm not sure what they are made of. resin? coloured bone?

i love baskets in any size or shape so thoroughly enjoyed making these

so, the next doll, frida hamilton, has gone to live with one of my dearest, oldest friends, miss sue. a birthday gift. you can visit her here playing in her sweet garden and showing off her fabulous thrifted finds!

a linen skirt with a vintage lace petticoat

blouse and bloomers

and of course, a cardy. this is some beautiful vintage wool sue found for me on her op shop travels!

this frida got the other basket and some earrings too.

a diego doll next?!

nouvelle broderie

i discovered the other day, the most beautiful range of linen items to embroiderer - t towels, aprons, table runners, little purses, cushion covers..........

i bought a t towel. the linen is beautiful and the towel is all ready to go - hemmed and with a little cotton loop to hang it when done. 

however, it doesn't come with needle, thread or chart. i searched around for the lettering i wanted and finally found it in an old marie claire idees. by the time i had charted it i felt as if i had already stitched it! 

i chose a dmc stranded floss - 321 and am using two strands over two threads. with the linen threads being fine and uneven (which i love) its quite demanding but worth the effort.

the range is available here

 

tutukaka coast

we headed north on the weekend to the tutukaka coast to go to a 21st of a gorgeous young man we have known all his life. tutukaka is three and a half hours north of auckland and we were driving through some serious rain storm to get there but when we arrived it calmed down and we spent every minute on the beach. we stayed in the sweetest little motel in whangaumu bay right on the beach with its own access.

prairie brought her ukulele and we walked through the shallows early sunday morning with her strumming softly. magic.

soul food!

more cheese

today i decided to try hugh fearnley-whittingstall's fresh curd cheese. we are going to have a bash at his mozzarella later on because we bought a new toy, essential i think, to successful cheesemaking - a digital thermometer. mr f-whittingstalls fresh curd cheese uses rennet (sorry prairie) and it is defintiely a different texture to using lemon juice - far silkier.

frida keeping a watchful eye on proceedings!

after that i put down four litres of yoghurt using last weeks batch as my starter

now to pluck up the courage for the mozzarella!

 

whey to go

we get our milk once a week. 20 litres at a time. straight from daisy. out of that we make some yoghurt and soft cheese - queso fresco and paneer. i save the whey in a jar and use it for cooking and occasionally slosh some into a smoothie to thin it out. it's smell always amazes me - so soft and sweet. like a new baby. 

i am not an adventurous cheese maker but have always wondered about making ricotta from the whey. how could you squeeze one more thing out of this liquid. apparently you can and the norwegians go so as to use the second whey to make a reduced caramel coloured cheese called gjetost!

i cannot believe i have taken so long to do this. it was as simple as bring the whey to the boil. i only had about a litre and a half of whey so the yield was tiny. but oh so beautiful.

and the queso fresco draining

a peek under?

the jokes are flying thick and fast much to t ans p's horror. movie titles, song lyrics. oh its endless!

fare thee well summer

i must concede that, after picking up acorns, horse chestnuts and cardoon seeds that autumn is in fact upon us - i dug out my slippers last night and gave it up!  

towel love

most of our towels are starting to get a little shabby on it especially where they are stitched - along the top and down the sides. i have been serging/overlocking them to extend their working lives - there being nothing wrong with the towel itself. 

this one however was going at both ends (there has to be a better way of saying that!) where there is a decorative woven non toweling bit.i'm loving this new improved version and will be eye balling the others for even the slightest sign of fraying!

 

wrapped

just wrapped the garland ready for the weekend. brown paper and burlap - my usual!