prairie mouse

leafy wip

42 - i counted. i looked at the pile and thought i just couldn't face hand stitching them so i used the machine and was happy with the results - the stitching and the speed! they are for a christmas project.

school fair

its over for another year. i love the friday afternoon as everyone buzzes around, busy with their own tasks and then suddenly it all comes together and the transformation from school yard to summer festival is complete. we were lucky again this year to wake up to a beautiful sunny day.

the main gate with bunting i made a few years ago. its lovely seeing it come out year after year.

 

cookies for the cake stall

 

the activity i organised to run alongside the plant stall. the repurposed tree tree from the spring window at salvage held seedlings and signs. i cut up egg cartons and put a little string on them so they could be carried like a little basket. the children spooned the soil in with little bamboo spoons then placed the seeds and tucked them in with another layer of soil.

 

close up of the sign

 

and the main event of the day for us - tommy's 20 minute slot on stage! here, he is singing the 9 inch nails song 'hurt'. wish you could hear him!

minnie

i bought these sheets today for prairie. i always like to make their beds up freshly for their return from camp, with a treat or two as well! as i hung them out after washing them i thought ah - minnie mouse would have chosen these!

 

her camp is at a popular tourist destination - the waitomo caves - famous for their glow worms. they are staying on a marae and everyone sleeps in the same room on mattresses on the floor - boys on one side and girls on the other. having been doing this, cooking cleaning and exploring underground for the week i think i am going to have one tired girl! here is a photo i found of the sleeping house. now to get the sheets off the line and the bed all made!

tote

our school fair is coming up this saturday. amy street, ellerslie at 9am - 2pm if you are in auckland and fancy a waldorf fair. tommy's class is doing the auction so i made to doante, a tote. linen outer, vintage cottton lining, flowers and handle detail. and look - another use for chard! called silverbeet here, we grew up dreading finding a pile of this on our dinner plates. i like it now (albiet hidden in ricotta!) though this one has gone to seed.

the gorgeous vintage fabric i picked up at salvage. i loved the happy summer yellow not to mention the cool kitchen graphics.

 

a close up of the fabric flower - this fabric frays beautifully

 

a ruffle detail for the handles

 

and a hatch label tucked into the side seam

 

our prairie is at camp this week so its a quiet household. of course we miss her terribly but there is plenty to keep me occupied with things to do for the fair.

the teddy bear window has gone now. it ticked away - a kit here, a piece of fairy bread there. then on the last day a woman came in and bought the lot. the mushrooms, all the food, the clothes and crowns off the bears. wow! now i have to wrap my head around the christmas window and time is ticking!

horse chestnut in the sun

i was sitting in the sun this morning talking to my mum on the phone gazing up at our horse chestnut tree and the blue blue sky. we bought the house at this time of year so its like a new beginning when the tree blooms. its blooming is so short as the blossoms are so fragile and the slightest bit of rain or wind brings them cascading down. but, we do get part two - a pink carpet!

prairie is home with a cold so she is sitting in the sun making up one of the kits - the belgium biscuits (cookies). a fairy bread kit went off all the way to norway this morning!

happy day!

kit love

i managed to get a photo of the birthday window this morning. as usual, reflecty but you'll get the idea. kay's bunting looks so festive and she knitted the clothes for the teddies and the sweet little cupcakes!

 

i finally put together some kits to go with the window and delivered them this morning.

 

 

lots of work putting them together especially for michael who did all the computer work for me. i like the little piles that build up like this....

 

and this....

 

next up in kit form - the belgium biscuits. i was wondering what to do tonight!

teddy bears picnic

warning: this post may cause hunger!

its salvages 4th birthday and to celebrate, kay wanted to put a teddy bears picnic in the window. my hand shot up - i'll make the food! being a teddy bears affair the first thing i thought was a must have was a jar of honey.

 

next had to be the quintessential item on any party table in the antipodes - fairy bread. i made 6 pieces of this - that was a lot of french knots!

 

lamingtons were next off the needle with their coconutty goodness.

 

and what would a party be without a belgium biscuit

 

and of course, some gingerbread boys who did in fact live up to the story. that night, after i had taken the photos i discovered one of them missing. i couldn't find him anywhere and the next morning i went back out into the garden to find the missing one had spent the night out there and was tucked up in the straw! naughty boy!

 

being a birthday window there had to be a cake - with 4 candles naturally!

 

my old ted was nice enough to pose with the honey pot

 

and then with the whole picnic

 

this is all now in the window along with kay's pretty bunting, cupcakes and sweetly dressed bears. i forgot my camera so will shoot that later. happy birthday salvage!

have a great weekend!!

orange and poppy seed cake

a couple of baking shots of a cake i am taking for dessert tonight. recipe from the silver palate. when i was taking it out of the pan it came away in a couple of places. ggrrrrr. i thought i might make some runny icing and drizzle it over then i remembered that i had some blood oranges so i candied some peel to decorate with. making that was fun.

the recipe called for a tube pan. i have always wondered what that was and thought it was literally that, a tube. i think my mother used to bake a loaf in one. i googled it and found it was what we call a ring tin. ah, now i know! i found that my tin is called a fluted tube pan. i haven't made this before - my friends are always my guinea pigs!

 

a new school term

and one needs a little something new to go back with. for us its the last term leading up to our big summer break so not the time for a new bag or lunchbox. we did however get prairie a new set of lyra coloured pencils as hers were all literally stubs. they didn't fit in her tin so i suggested a new pencil case for them. busting to use some more pellon i launched into the project but didn't finish till after i had done the school run this morning. gave me time to photograph it before it grubbies up in the schoolbag!

 

i used this great tutorial and some poochie milk carton corners

 

both inside and out are vintage fabrics (thank you kay!) and the zipper was lying about. cash outlay - zero!

baking bug

prairie has been turning out a few box cakes of late but yesterday tried her hand at one from scratch. she fancied carrot so i got out my trusty 'new york cookbook', made sure we had all the ingredients and let her go. it was a good starting recipe with the oil instead of butter making the process that little less complicated. 

fresh out of the oven.

 

proudly presented to the family for dessert! frosting recipe from 'the silver palate'.

i could hear her humming away happily in the kitchen as she decorated.

 

she wanted walnuts, i wanted raisins. i suggested both. i was marched out of the kitchen!