Magpie Chic

Merry Mouse meets Vintage Sheet.

2012-02-24T12:33:00.004-08:00

I decided to add the rows I'd made from my vintage sheet quilt into my Merry Mouse Quilt.

It just looks like it was meant to be,

and that way I finish two quilts at once.

I'm really pleased with it, and can't wait to do some more.

But today is a gardening day!

Merry Mice Again.

2012-02-23T02:07:00.006-08:00

I had a lovely e-mail the other day from a lady called Gloria from Australia.

She'd come across my Merry Mouse stitcheries while looking at some of the old posts on my blog.

She asked me for details of the publisher etc, and let me know that she had managed to find one of the books on e-bay.

Which reminded me that I have been planning to make these into a quilt for so long.

So I have finally started.

And you know how much I love to start things!

Finishing is another matter altogether.

They are from the Merry Mouse series of Patterns by Pat and Gloria, published by Doubleday in the early 1980s.

So I thought I'd use borders and lots of sashing and follow the look of this quilt from

Little Chicken Feather (Annie Downs).

I have some lovely gellato coloured fabrics to use.

And I think this might actually be the last quilt I start - for a long time anyhow.

I finally feel like I have enough quilts in my life.

But I will finish the three I have on the go.

This one will go into my Grandma stash.

It will be the very first thing in my Grandma stash.

Not that I am expecting to be a Grandma for a long time yet.

If ever.

But this quilt will be so special, because these stitcheries have such a story attached to the making of them.

They could really only be given to a Grandchild now.

Maybe I'll do some more tomorrow.

I'll let you know how I get on Blog Chics.

If You Open Your Ears to Beauty, You'll Hear it Singing its Song.

2012-02-17T16:00:00.000-08:00

A little trite perhaps Blog Chics,

but never the less true enough.

I've been thinking a lot about gardens.

My garden in particular.
And gardeners.
It hasn't been a spectacular season for the Granny's potager.
And she's been busily ripping out all her tomato plants.
Not enough sun.
They've all been smited by a botch or something,
although we have been eating the little sweet yellow ones.
The Granny is tremendously disappointed.
She is one of those gardeners that loves gardening.

I, on the other hand am one of those gardeners who loves gardens more than gardening!
I see gardening as a means to an end.
I see my flowers as still lives and vignettes that I can run together as a slide show,
or fuse in the moment inside my mind.

We both love to have masses of fresh flowers inside in vases.
Sometimes it's hard to decide weather to leave a lovely bloom to be enjoyed through the window, or to bring it in and smell it, touch it and enjoy its composition intimately,
but for a shorter time.

For instance...

this year I succeeded in growing two hollyhocks.

One pink, one white.

They are magnificently deformed.

So I cut one and used the single usable bloom in my photo.

To last forever, or as long as the digital life of the photo.

If you open your heart to beauty....

You'll find it.

The Granny Square as a Metaphor for Life?

2012-02-07T11:33:00.000-08:00

Hello.

I love this photo. It has nothing to do with anything, I just love the way it turned out.

I love all the colours together, and the way the cups stack up "just so".

I am looking for happy things to compensate for the weather.

We haven't had a summer yet here in the "Naki".

I really, really need a few days in a row of sunshine.

One swallow does not a summer make. Well all we've had here is the odd blackbird scoffing up the Granny's "pensioner bread" .

And there was the remains of last week's rhubarb crumble too, which may or may not be attractive to swallows.

I wouldn't really know, having not had enough summer to encounter even ONE...

The Granny has been randomly assorting her granny squares and sewing them together.

I have admired the work sufficiently to assume ownership of it I think.

That's mostly how it works round here.

Except for a made to order goat or two.

I really have no idea how the Granny Square is a metaphor for life.

I just made it up because I liked the sound of it.

Am far too pre-occupied with the weather to have that conversation with myself.

Probably something about going round and round, but then the Granny's Granny Squares are so free style and lovingly embellished that you just have to have hope don't you?

So there you are... the metaphor for life shall exist only in the most random of Granny Squares!

I found this gorgeous American magazine on my birthday. Luckily it was on my birthday, as it was so outrageously expensive i really shouldn't have bought it, but i just love it so!

A house is never just a house for me.

It's a blank canvas. I cannot be doing with the paint by numbers approach.

And gardens...

Freestyle Vintage.

2012-01-23T20:32:00.000-08:00

Hello there.

I have been given the gift of a week off to spend with Callum.

It has been a beautifully sunny week here, the cows have been in the meadow beside the washing line, and all has been right with the world.

Callum is getting better every day. It is very encouraging.

And I have had some time.

I chucked all my vintage fabrics all over the floor for a few days and made this little freestyle number up as I went.

I used another of "she who is proficient at separating eggs' " patterns from the early nineties. But they are timeless.

This big thistle next to the cow's meadow has just been calling to me for a while.

Worked beautifully as a backdrop for my little vintage dress photo shoot.

Luckily the cows had moved on by then.

I found an old cross stitch that had once been a nursery cushion, and it worked beautifully as part of the dress.

I was inspired here by the bags that the Dutch Sisters make.

The sunshine makes such a difference to how you feel.

And making something again.

And just playing with the fabrics and looking at them, and thinking up new ideas.

Every cloud has a silver lining.

Another Flock of Sparrows.

2012-01-19T14:16:00.000-08:00

I always notice the sparrows.

Have I got the collective noun correct Blog Chics? Can you have a flock of sparrows?

Are sparrows even large enough to be referred to as a flock?

I have no problem with the implied reference to cool eighties pop groups either.

You can take that or leave it.

In fact, as I have found Frankie magazine, an eighties nurdy try hard reference is appropriately cool.

I'm back in the hospital cafe scene Blog Chics. Communing with sparrows.

The Waikato sparrows have chutzpah!

They are aggressive, ask for what they want and are not afraid to just take it right off your table!

They are Gen Y sparrows these lot.

If sparrows were people they'd definitely read Frankie.

(this image from Lilac and Snow at http://leeloo.co.au/)

I discovered Frankie at the airport a few months ago. What a piece of serendipity that was!

It really "speaks to me". Now hows that for a really cynical use of pretentious self reference?

I'd be laughed out of town by the people at Frankie with that one!

It is such a cool magazine.

But not for the feint hearted if you are offended by a bit of bad language.

Don't give it to your Nana to read probably.

All the articles are interesting, some are quite thought provoking, most are incredibly funny.

But if you find the whole,"f*** yeah Granny square" thing
confronting, then probably don't go there.

But most of all I love the adds.

The whole vintage retro clever art kid design vibe makes me feel like a kid in a lolly shop.

(this image from http://luflux.com/)

I have made clothes like this for myself, but somehow I've never quite plucked up the courage to wear them down the main street of Hawera.

When I read Frankie I just want to put them on and make more!

(this image from http://francesbaker.co.au/)
Which leads me back to the reason why I'm back here communing with sparrows.

My boy had a brain bleed about 6 days ago.

His blood pressure must have gone through the roof (one of the complications of end stage renal failure and life on dialysis) and popped a fufu valve in the occipital region of his brain.

But we have yet again been so lucky. After a few stressful days immediately afterwards in the HDU in which he had some seizures and various CT scans and lots of medical intervention,

today we are back to observing that it is difficult to have a conversation about the zeitgeist of 2011 with your hairdresser, cos mostly they only discuss whats on the telly or where they went on their hols. And we're going home.

Back to Taranaki for rehab with the good physios and OTs at Hawera Hospital.

He has made a very rapid recovery. Not fluent yet on the guitar or the nintendo DS, but he can do it. He says it's like being dyslexic though, it's not coming out how he wants it to yet.

But he's lost that "possum in the headlights" look.

Still gets very tired.

Home for some TLC.

As for the whole hairdresser dilemma. Do you think that hairdressers have those conversations because they think that's what their customers want? Or do you think that they are so weary from the whole repetitiveness of it all that they just want to be on auto pilot?

It's an interesting question.

I bet some of them are just dying to launch into their theory for the Road Map to Piece in the Middle East.

I hope that this is the year they break free from convention and just do it!

Hopefully no hairdressers were offended in the reading of this blog post.

These are just the observations of a bored Mum trying to "internalise a complex situation in her head", engage my son in same, and reading too much Frankie magazine.

Perhaps I should just stick to I'm Elmo And I know It on YouTube!

Ciao Blog Chics.

Another Year Over, a New One Just Begun.

2012-01-09T22:04:00.000-08:00

Well here we are right at the beginning of a brand spanking shiny new year.

Do you do New Years resolutions Blog Chics?

I never have.

When I had little children I was just plain too busy for such frivolities, and one day just ran into the next and you turned around and it was Christmas again.

I've also learned a thing or two about motivation over the years.

And it doesn't come upon you just because it's the beginning of another year!

It has to come from somewhere very deep within you;

almost a primeval instinct rather than a rational process.

So when it comes upon you, that is the time to resolve things.

And that can happen at any time of the year, and certainly not every year.

I have only experienced that kind of motivation a few times in my life.

Probably just as well, because it requires a lot of focus.

So instead I come up with a little mental list of things I would like to achieve.

Just for my own gratification you understand.

None of them are life and death, and in fact they probably seem a little facile.

It's the stuff I want to do because it makes me happy.

I have decided to make a collection of duck/pheasant/any kind of flying poultry on plates.

It was inspired by a naive duck painting of the Granny's that I've had for years.

It's one of my precious things.

It gets moved about the house often.

I have it in the kitchen now.

And I suddenly twigged that I have a Meakin duck plate on the wall, and wouldn't it just be so serendipitous to come upon another.

And there an idea was born.

So far I've found this lovely old and battered pheasant one to go with the Meakin one on my "duck wall".

The Granny suggested I might like three flying china ducks like Hilda Ogden's "murial."

But I don't know Granny - that might be killing the golden goose don't you think?

So I've moved the duck painting and put the small couch into the kitchen

and the chairs into the lounge instead.

And swapped the quilts and cushions around to achieve the desirable level of "squishy".

Soon we will start on the "Granny studio apartment".

Just waiting for the builder.

We are so planned up!

We know every detail of every detail in our heads.

Just need a few men out from town to make them into real

(like the velveteen rabbit - or the Christmas Goat for that matter!)

And I've re-arranged the bears on the window sill.
And enjoyed the Mister being home and watching "the world cup of pool" for a few minutes in between cricket matches.

And watched the garden grow and grow with the constant rain we've had.

And loved the pink hydrangeas that we have here.

And yearned for a sky blue one like in my old garden.
They say you should never go back.

The new people have ripped out the lovely cottage plants and planted yukkas inside the buxus.

What's that about?

I try not to think about it,

I have the lovely photos of how it was.

And I'm going to start making things again.

When the Granny has moved into the new headquarters I'm going to put a sewing table back into the spare room and have my sewing things all ready to go again.

I want to make pretty little dresses from vintage fabrics again.

Just because it makes me happy.

Which hopefully makes it a happy New year all round!

Sugar and Spice.

2012-01-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

What are little girls made of?

Like everybody else, they are made of the sum of their life experiences.

On the 1st of January 2012, "She who is proficient at separating eggs" will turn twenty one.

I remember the day of her birth like it was yesterday.

Today I feel an funny sense of displacement because I am unable to reconcile the little girl

with the person who I now rely on as a friend and confidante,

organiser of events, and compassionate advocate and companion to those she cares about.

In many ways she was born into the shadow of her older brother, and has remained there ever since by choice.

Right from the very beginnings of a child's "knowing", she has been his most understanding advocate and supporter.

Compassionate, fearless and unrelenting in her role as protector and facilitator of many things.

I also know her as drama Queen and apprentice racing car driver, now well and truly graduated

to her own (shared with Dad) 1973 Toyota corolla - purple of course.

And agreeable participant in all my eccentricities (tea parties).

She is also the Easter Bunny and Mother Christmas on every possible occasion.

And doer of crosswords with her Granny!

Woe betide you Granny if you get caught cheating on those word puzzles!

We are so lucky to be three generation of Magpie Chics able to play such an integral part in each other's lives.

Happy 21st Birthday my Beatie.

Today you get to be the favourite!!!!

The Christmas Goat.

2011-12-26T16:18:00.000-08:00

When "The Woozle" was out from Queensland in October, he became fascinated by the feral goats you come across on the side of the road travelling down through the King Country and North Taranaki.

So the obvious thing to do is to ask your Granny to knit you one.

As you can see, he is the most successful knitted goat EVER in the history of knitted goats.

To the extent that he became real and began to eat the Christmas tree.

Luckily we had a couple of spare ones!

(Christmas trees,not goats you understand.)

On Christmas morning the Tail Cat was a big help setting up the tables for an al-fresco lunch.

"She who is proficient at separating eggs" is also proficient at being Mother Christmas on Christmas Morning. She has a system of anti-clockwise present receiving, and a pair of scissors to hand for the difficult bows and string!

Each present must be fully unwrapped and admired by all before she moves on to dish out the next one (in an anti-clockwise direction of course).

This is in fact AFTER the Christmas lunch and the Christmas cricket match, but I just got it in the wrong order and couldn't shift it!

The blokes discovered that we did not still have the cricket set from 1972 since our last shift, and so they improvised with a pick handle for a bat and an old tongue-in-groove cupboard door for wickets.

They also reasoned that it was safer to bowl toward the picture window than bat towards it.

Uncle Stu was fielding in the gully - literally when he failed to take a catch and crashed through the lavender hedge at the boundary and fell into the Hundred Acre Wood.

But I bet he smelled nice.

There were some very "House and Garden" photos of the Christmas lunch.

And the obligatory posing for the family photo.

Everyone was extremely positive and excited about this part, especially The Granny (not).

So there you have it folks. All over for another year.

I should imagine The Granny will have to knit a camel or six toed sloth or next year!

Looking forward to it!

Once Upon a Time...

2011-12-23T17:49:00.000-08:00

...there was a blog chic who really fancied building a gingerbread house for Christmas Day.

Every year it would reach a certain stage of development,

using various plans and construction methods....

and then collapse!

But finally, after many, many years of prototypes and failures,

she got the structural design and building materials just right!

A frame shape, and toffee to stick it all together.

Perfect!

"She who is proficient at separating eggs" had a plan for the decoration.

And The granny was in charge of cute marzipan animals

to sit on the roof and outside in the snow.
There were ducks, and cats, and ring tailed possums and wombats of course!

And a gingerbread man to stand guard outside.

And they all lived happily ever after!

The Jesus Table.

2011-12-12T21:54:00.000-08:00

A lovely weekend of sunshine.

Out came the Jesus Table to sit under the climbing hydrangea.

Perfect.

Grannies are naturally attracted to such pieces of sculpture appearing in the garden.

The same as cats and cardboard boxes!

Oh Christmas Tree.

2011-12-03T14:13:00.001-08:00

1st of December is time to put up the Christmas trees and start planning the Christmas Menus.

"She who is proficient at separating eggs"has been around with her Australian Women's Weekly recipe supplement, and I got out my NZ House and Garden equivalent and off we went.

We intend to make about 25 puddings and 2 salads!!!

Obviously a little more fine tuning to get through yet.

But we did find a triangular ginger bread house which may well turn out to be the solution to our gingerbread house structural engineering problems!

The Granny has put up her Christmas tree too, so we have three inside.

And one outside for the cats to play with!!

About 23 sleeps to go Blog Chics. Hope the weather improves!

Catching the Cupcake Fairy.

2011-11-25T13:01:00.000-08:00

You know how I love to start projects Blog Chics.

I started this one almost 18 months ago, then packed it up in a box when we moved house.

Never to be seen again till now.

I blogged about it here when I had the initial flash of inspiration that you can't ignore when you want to start something new.

And here it is, the finished article.

I will add more and more pages, but I have three complete ones now.

You have no idea how long it took to get that far!

The Cupcake Fairy is my Grandmother as a little girl - with wings of course.

Reminds me a bit of when I was little and we would have wallpaper or flour and water paste and collage and papier mache and scissors and magazines and make a huge mess for days at a time.

I remember asking for a stapler for my sixth birthday!

You know what Blog Chics.... we have way better glue now days.

I love having no lumps!

And the Granny has finished Morton's little brother!

Have a great weekend Blog Chics.

Flowers From My Grandmother's Garden.

2011-11-19T07:59:00.000-08:00

There is an enduring memory from my childhood in which a letter would arrive in a fat airmail envelope; with an Australian stamp and my Grandmother's beautifully old fashioned handwriting on the front.

My mother would read it through a couple of times, and then I would be allowed to have a go at deciphering the beautiful handwriting.

It was like unlocking a secret code.

I remember they would go something like this...

"...I am watering the garden every day now... " and she would go on to describe what was flowering and what was looking its best, and there would be all the minutiae of a gardener's life there in the detail.

Evey now and then there would be something like ...

"...Stephen killed a brown snake today and hung it on the fence..." which would keep me interested when descriptions of the colour of the dahlias had become a bit tedious.

Forty years later I am composing letters in my head to my Australian Aunties.

As every new rose appears and every new hydrangea flowers, and the Granny asks me to dig the potato patch and she plants the tomatoes, and we plant some more sweet peas to climb the frames that the beans climbed last year.

And they go something like this...

...Dear Doreen and Kathy,
it rains at least a couple of times a week at the moment, and the equinoctial winds blow outside our shelter hedges.
The clothes dry quickly in the meadow and some days the grass lies almost horizontal.
But inside our shelter belt of hedges, it is relatively calm.

All the roses have begun to bloom.
I pruned them, fed them and mulched them a bit and it's worked wonders.
I really thought they were on their last legs when we came here at the end of last summer.

The climbing hydrangeas have burst into flower and will be perfect as shady umbrellas in the summer.
We plan to put the Jesus table out there under the biggest one under the walk way.
The Jesus table was a lucky find in the local antique shop in Eltham (The Bank).
Barb had all her religious icons displayed on it when we came in out of the rain one Sunday and bought it for the Granny annexe.
It is a rustic French looking affair, round, and the perfect size for breakfasting on or taking outside on summer evenings.
It shall be forever known as the Jesus table.

The Granny cuts the blooms as they become completely open, and fills our collection of little china jugs with beautiful velvety roses.
The kitchen is filled with the scent of them when you come in from outside.

I have never had such a collection of reds, russets and black-burgundy roses.

In my other garden I favoured old fashioned roses in pastel shades.

Here I have bushes and bushes of healthy iceburgs lining the walkways and the sweeping down the driveway alternated with lavender.

They have just burst into flower and have the prettiest hint of pink when the buds have just opened. They fade to white by the time they are ready to be picked.

And yellow. I have yellow roses!

I don't have any stories of snakes to tell. Only cats who plonk themselves in the middle of a patch of catmint and roll around in ecstasy.

What is it about catmint that makes them love it so much?

They follow me around with the wheelbarrow up and down to the compost heap.

This is where we'll put the Jesus table in the summer.

The Granny fancies sitting under the climbing hydrangea with a glass of wine.

And I have to confess I got a "man out from town" to cut the hedges.

Well, actually it was a man and a girl.

The Granny and I went round afterwards with the secateurs and the hedge cutters and evened everything off and neatened it all up.

And sweapt the paths of buxus cuttings and put them into the compost pile in the paddock.

It is early morning here now as I write this and the birds are all starting to wake up.

The sun has risen over the mountain and has left a red tinge on the snow line through the cloud.

The wind has already started. The branches in the tall trees shift outside my window.

Today I will be mowing and weeding and digging in compost for the Granny's potato patch.

And hoping for some sunshine.

In your gardens you can take that as a given; but not here.

Not even in late November.

But I think I would trade that for the possibility of finding a brown snake amongst the

snapdragons!!!

Customise and Embellish.

2011-11-11T23:28:00.000-08:00

Every now and then a girl has to re-arrange things a bit.

A certain amount of re-shabbying goes on, this time inspired by a day in bed reading lovely books.

It's almost worth feeling poorly to have the excuse to just indulge, sleep and indulge again.

Rachel Ashwell's new book is just a pure confection.

The Granny has vowed to strew lilacs across her feet in the manner of Rachel on the front cover.

Never mind that we don't actually have any lilacs.

We have climbing hydrangeas that are equally frothy.

All the text across my photos is from a gorgeous book I got from the library

called Boudoir, by Hilary Robertson.

She categorises the many styles of romantic and vintage glamorising of the boudoir in the most resounding way.

I find I am strongly inclined toward the "material girl", with a strong influence of "vintage girl" and a dash of "boho".

She says, "the danger of vintage is that the whole thing can become madly busy and "Grannyish", but the vintage girl avoids this by balancing pattern with plenty of white paint on the walls."

"...a collection of mismatched rosy china cups is infinitely more charming than a conventional tea set."

Material girl has "magpie instincts" which draw her toward anything decorative or glittery.

"...Material girl is more likely to hang a particularly delicious frock on the wall than tuck it away in a wardrobe..."

"She likes nothing better than to scour flea markets and thrift shops for crepe de chine slips or floral tea dresses."

"...fondant shades of pistachio, lilac, duck-egg blue and sugared almond pink are mixed and matched with abandon".

...no -one can tell you how to be eccentric, but if you follow your heart you will inevitably get the "boho" look..."

...Material girl has never graduated from childhood's dressing up phase..."

I just love the text in this book. It's spontaneous and insightful and not in any way cliched.

Rachel tends to be a little bit NOT these things sometimes.

Have a lovely weekend Blog Chics.

In Which I go on an Expedition with Pooh and Piglet to Martinborough - and Bring Back a Mirror.

2011-11-06T11:03:00.000-08:00

When planning an expedition, you must first decide on your destination.

For ever such a long time I've had a hankering to visit the Wairarapa for an expedition up the main streets of Greytown and Martinborough.

Gorgeous little antique shops and boutiques and yummy little delis and French Bakeries.

I hadn't been there for about ten years.

The next thing you must do is choose your accommodation.

We chose Walnut Cottage, up one of the cute little side streets, up a long driveway,

surrounded by orange blossom, granny bonnets and self seeded poppies.

Set in the garden of a very nice man called Kevin.

As well we weren't looking for a woozle on this particular expedition, because I don't think we would have found one in Kevin's garden.

It was not the kind of garden in which to find a woozle.

But we did find a variety of funny little dogs.

And the next most important thing to have on an expedition of course, are the provisions!

Pooh and Piglet had made very sensible arrangements with table cloths to guard against Municipal bird poo, plastic knives for the blue cheese and other such practicalities.

Piglet is an ideas sort of a person and has a solution for all eventualities, which you will see further evidence of later.

My contribution to the provisions was Katie's date square and a big thermos of coffee - and the Granny's best marmalade for breakfast.

It was necessary to borrow the Granny's thermos and her latest jar of fresh marmalade for the event.

Katies's date square was a huge hit with everyone concerned and you can find the recipe here.

This particular "stopping for provisions" event was on the way back.

We had yummy french bread and left over cheeses, tiny peppers, buffalo mozzarella, avocados and strawberries left over from our dinner the night before.

Katie's date square was just as delicious after a day in the tin.
I am wanting to say here "a day in the tin in the Wairarapa sunshine", because that would sound so inviting and has such poetic ring, but alas the first day was freezing, with snow in the South Island making its presence felt. But we did have some lovely sunshine on the Sunday.

And it was in Martinborough on Sunday that I found the mirror.
Such a mirror as I had lost all hope of ever finding.
A French Country inspired mirror, the right dimensions for above my fireplace, with the right aged look.
And when I found it, it was a moment of instant recognition. This mirror was a kindred spirit and was made for my fire place, but how to fit it in the back seat of a small suzuki hatchback?

Piglet and Pooh are never without good ideas and steely determination when it comes to pieces of the heart and kindred spirits.
A girl just knows how important it is to have things come home with you, not wait for them to turn up on a courier van a week later.

And so it was arranged.
I cannot tell you how, but they did it with pieces of string to measure with and highly developed spatial skills.
Somehow they managed to alter the laws of physics and matter displacement.
I just watched and let them get on with it. As you do.

And I found this treasure along the way, which I will spend the next week with.

And here it is.

I can't wait to get it on the wall.

But I'll have to wait till the Mister comes home and can get out the chainsaw, the hacksaw, the micrometer, the spirit level, whatever it is that blokes need for these occasions.

And just enjoy it.

Mustering Cats.

2011-10-30T00:47:00.000-07:00

Hello Blog Chics.

We've been busy round here with a lot of small people and some large people.

The large people have come very intermittently to build the shed.

Intermittently because the weather has been so bad.

Spring has really been wet, wet, wet, and very windy so far.

But that is far from unexpected, and thoroughly unremarkable, unless you are trying to build something with scaffolding!

The small people have been and gone now.

We had one sunny afternoon the whole two weeks they have been here.

The youngest two did manage to spend a lot of time doing outside things though.

All the games involve cattle, stock whips, yards, gates and fences.

Mustering cats on tricycles is a new string to their bows.

The shed provided quite a lot of entertainment as well.
Especially the machinery involved.

We did the customary trip up Mt Taranaki and the walk to Dawson Falls.
It wasn't actually raining, but it was very muddy on the track,
so a thoroughly good time was ha by all the small people in gumboots.

I showed off my photos of mountain fauna and boys climbing the bushline track to the Wozzle.
He said he would like to have the ones of the shed under construction please!!!!
Should have known!
His little brother interpreted one of the Woozles's drawings for me.
It went something like this...
"these are the cattle yards and these spots are the cattle waiting to be mustered into the yards."
And here was me thinking it was a butterfly!!

Life's a Box of Chocolates.

2011-10-16T21:12:00.000-07:00

... "You never know what you're gonna get" - Forrest Gump.

This post is especially for my Auntie Doreen,

who has been waiting to see what pops up in my garden this spring.

These gorgeous blue irises are my favourite so far.

They are just the most amazing shade of purpley blue.

This week my nephews are visiting from Queensland.

We've had all the bikes and skateboards out,

lots of rugby tackles and chasey on the lawn, and making scones with Granny.

The cats have been conspicuous by their absence during the day.

Everything is coming into leaf and bloom.

Rainy Day Truce.

2011-10-02T20:59:00.000-07:00

Sunday spent by the fire while it rains outside.

I'm stitching in the ditch in red embroidery cotton on this cot quilt.

I want it to look vintage and handmade, and cuddly, which is why I'm hand quilting it.

The Tail Cat and Marigold have called a truce for the day because they both felt inclined just to sit by the fire.

So if you pretend the other one isn't there it all works perfectly!

And when you nick off out to the kitchen to see what's available, someone else gets your posie!

Two in a basket is even cosier.

Graham's idea of phone a friend perhaps?

Oh Marigold you have such a dirty face! I am affronted!

I found some Brambly Hedge china on Trade Me, which was very exciting, because I've always wanted some.
This one is "Winter."

And this one is "The Meeting."

Spent the evening climbing over engines, ladders and various gear box parts with Hubby measuring up the Granny HQ kitchen.

Brain storming solutions for hiding the electric fence controls, and the water filtering system,

while still keeping enough bench space and keeping the look that we want.

We have come up with a cunning plan, which I won't bore you with, but I think it will work very well.

Watch this space.

Yes it is finally spring!

2011-09-26T00:51:00.000-07:00

And hasn't it been a long time coming!

The winter seems to have gone on and on here, but at last things are starting to bud and flower and pop up!

This popped up like a mushroom in the paddock last week.

I've been very busy supervising and worrying about where the septic tank breather was going to end up and weather the cows would get in while the fence was down.

I've also had very minimal internet access (probably due to weather) so no blogging from me.

The Granny has been very busy making scones for the builders so that they will do an excellent job on the Granny Headquarters in a few months.

But first we must get the big shed built in the paddock so we can move all the racing car stuff down there, freeing up the garage to become Granny Annexe.

So here are the darling buds of September at the Magpie House.(No, not these blokes in high vis gear and boots - the green stuff!)

The Granny is overhauling the pottager and has made good use of the cow poos available.

The other projects going on around here are all baby related, as we prepare for a new nephew in Australia.

Cot quilt by me (vintage, just squares and stitch in the ditch),

Teddy and crochet edged bib by the Granny.

With assistance from the Tail Cat!

A Bit About Cats.

2011-09-05T00:19:00.000-07:00

This week it was time to say goodbye to an old friend.

It became time to call the vet out for my old ginger marmalade cat.

The Magpie Cat went peacefully to heaven on the nice vet's knee, cuddled up in her blankey.

I didn't want to put any pictures of her here, but I did have these lovely ones of the Tail Cat helping me trim the lavender hedge a few days ago.

I had to choose a day when I was at work to have the vet come out.
The Granny was good enough to supervise it all and to tell me all the details later,
because of course, I wanted to know, even though I didn't want to be there.

All I could think of that afternoon was that she wouldn't be there on her spot on the couch , asleep in her blankey when I got home.
And I felt wretched.

But the vet said it was well time.

Her kidneys had failed and her blood pressure had gone up so much that her retinas had detatched and she was completely blind.

She would have just wandered off into the paddock and died if we hadn't watched her so carefully.

As it was she had a lovely life, and a comfortable and stress free old age, and there isn't a lot more you'd wish for them.

But I still find myself rationalising it here because I wish it wasn't so.

R.I.P the Magpie Cat.

Spring Cleaning.

2011-08-27T15:34:00.000-07:00

A bit of sunshine causes a metamorphosis around here.

I feel like an old lizard having sat round on his rock long enough to warm up a bit and get on with things.

Like some new Granny squares and a spot of spring cleaning.

Airing the bedding and actually getting the duvet cover dry outside on the washing line in the meadow, instead of in the dryer, which is a pretty joyless occupation.

Dusting and moving things around a bit.

And fixing the latest curtain crisis, because they did not survive washing!

Vintage tablecloths to the rescue again.

Necessitated a quick reccy of all the local op shops before they closed on Saturday morning.

They are supposed to be temporary, but they look so good I suspect they'll remain.

Meanwhile this lizard is off to make marmalade cookies for next week's lunches.

Marigold and the Dust Bunnies.

2011-08-25T00:42:00.000-07:00

Some days there are a series of events that put words in my head that just won't go away.

They go round together and mix themselves up and get stuck as an idea.

Such a thing happens mostly when I'm on auto pilot.

It happened the other day when I was doing the upstairs vacuuming.

I get dust bunnies.

They get under the bed especially, and behind the bathroom door, and sometimes in my summer sandals in the wardrobe.

They are grey and fluffy and hop around the wooden floor with the prevailing breeze.

It occurred to me that they really should be a character in a children's book.

There are some words that just seem to go so well with other words.

Like Marigold.

Who is not a dust bunny, but the Granny's cat.

But they go together so well.

No idea about the rest of the story, but I've got the title sorted.

The above are my vintage inspired wrist warmers. I just invented them, but I probably got the idea when i was cleaning the toilet.

The Granny and I had a New Plymouth day today.

Starting with the Hospice Shop.

I found a huge stash of vintage Christmas treasures to bring home.

Can't believe no-one else had got there before me!

Next on the list was Faded Fancy at Fitzroy.
My favourite vintage shop.

I still don't know the lady's name.

But she was as lovely as ever, and recognised me straight away.

She asked me if we were having a New Plymouth day.

So it has become a New Plymouth day!

There were so much gorgeous vintageness!

Mrs Faded Fancy happened to mention that it was getting harder and harder to source things in Taranaki now.

Apparently she relies on people bringing stuff in for her to buy from them.

So now I know what to do next time I need to have an edit.

Mrs faded Fancy was delighted with the idea, because she said I would have just the sort of stuff she likes!!!!

Which leads me back to Marigold and the Dust Bunnies.

Because the cover design would look something like these...

Which we bought from Faded Fancy today.

And this so cool vintage bath mat!!! I love it.

Back to vaccinating babies tomorrow Blog Chics!

The More it Snows (Tiddley Pom...)

2011-08-16T15:25:00.000-07:00

I have to eat my words from a few weeks ago when I said the snow was a once in a lifetime event. It's happened again!

I know this will all be a bit ho-hum for you Northern hemisphere gals, but it is truly a cause for delight and celebration when it happens here in the 'Naki.

Except if you are a cow I would imagine.

My snow lady had her elevensies outside, while I was occupied following what looked suspiciously like the tracks of a Woozle.

I thought one might have ventured up from the hundred acre wood looking for a warm fire to sit by.

I never found it, and the tracks did look like they went round in circles, so perhaps it just went back into the woods.

The Granny and I put on some ski gloves and gummies and went out to play.

It'll probably never happen again.

I feel so lucky to have experienced the magic of it just once in my life time.

There are signs of spring happening here though Blog Chics.

I can't wait to see what pops up in the garden.

I think we have some jonquils already, hidden under the snow.

Have a lovely week!

Arsenic and Old Lace.

2011-08-13T21:17:00.000-07:00

Hello Blog Chics. Today we are waiting for another "big snow".

It's supposed to be coming up from the South and will be here by tomorrow.

I've been working on my Magnolia Pearl inspired doilie and old lace blouse for the last two weekends.

Which is why you haven't seen me.

The main hold up was getting the covered buttons and the button holes done.

My old bernina is a bit random for buttonholes, and requires the mastering of about 26 steps to complete each one.

I covered the buttons with scraps of machine embroidered doiley, as hand embroidered was too thick.

Hubby asked if it was meant not to meat up at the bottom.

Honestly! I just raised my eyebrows and explained that it was like shabby chic painted furniture, and he just raised his right back.

But he got it.

Meanwhile he's converted The Granny into a motor racing devotee. She's been watching the Trolley Derby in the Auckland Domain and killing herself laughing!

She reckons it's the best thing she's seen since Judge Judy!!!!

This is the little book I bought in Canberra with all the vintage inspired tops and dresses in it.

Couldn't wait to try it out.

And they work!

And the instructions are very simple, and it looks like the sizing is spot on too.

I just add all my own stuff in a random manner till it looks right to me.

I chose this pattern for my "Magnolia pearl" blouse.

I'm very pleased with it. The granny has been an especially creative photographer in between the go carts on the tele!

Thank you Miss Haidee.

2011-08-01T00:03:00.000-07:00

Hello Blog chics. It's my last day of holidays today.
My last chance for a while to throw a bit of fabric on the floor and make it into cute things.
I have so enjoyed the last few days of doing nothing but that. Actually today I mowed the lawns as well!

I mentioned the current issue of Australian Country Style which has inspired me to make little dresses again.

There's a fabulous article about a lady in Tasmania living the dream and doing just that. She has her own website.

You can find her at misshaidee.com.au
She makes heirloom pieces really. She describes them as "keepers".
I really liked that. They are expensive, but they reflect the workmanship and the time that goes into producing each garment.

So I had a few doilies and vintage tablecloths and vintage sheets that all went together perfectly.
So I made them into a gorgeous little size two dress, inspired by Miss Haidee in Tasmania.
I used a couple of patterns that I had used often for "she who is proficient at separating eggs" when she was little.

Vintage table cloths are just so lovely to sew with. The cotton is so crisp and the colours are so vibrant.

Since I had just mowed the lawn, I was able to take my little dress outside for a photoshoot.

It was quite ta-dah moment, because it's so long since I've made stuff.

Sweet Mary is making a lovely vintage 5 inch square quilt at the moment, and hand quilting it with embroidery cotton. It looks so squishy and inviting.

I think I shall make one with the scraps from all my vintage makes.

Have a good week Blog Chics.

I'm hoping for a bit more sunshine myself.

It's good for what ails you. (Some Grandma Ida wisdom for the week.)

Vintage Sheet Bag.

2011-07-28T00:38:00.000-07:00

I found my scissors.

Tipped all my material out onto the floor.

And got started with my vintage sheets.

When I make one of these bags I just make it up as I go along.

I keep adding embellishments and bits of cut up doilies and all sorts of little scraps and tit bits.

Sometimes the art is in knowing when to stop!

Sometimes I use them to cover up imperfections in my sewing, or a hole in the fabric.

I save every little scrap of embroidery, lace and trim.
For making bags.

But it starts and ends like this.

And this.

I bought a fabulous book of adult patterns in Canberra.

They are by a Japanese designer, and they have a lovely vintage simplicity about them.

Have also been inspired by this month's Australian Country Style, and the lady in Tasmania making the vintage children's dresses.

Has re-inspired me to make a few more "little pink dresses".

Only one more day of my holidays left, and I intend to make the most of it.

Riding Shot Gun.

2011-07-27T16:26:00.000-07:00

This is my version of the seventies "Love is ..." cutesy cartoons.

No cute Holly Hobby dresses and love hearts sorry.

This is "love is riding shot gun in his race car, and only closing your eyes in the really scary bits!"

Actually this one is my dad's race car, and Hubby is taking it out for exercise at Taupo because it's for sale.

Actually you feel really safe because you are all harnessed in.
It's the other cars that appear to be coming in through the passenger side window at a hundred miles an hour that make me slightly nervous!

The helmet hair is pretty dreadful too.
Today I am about to chuck all my material all over the floor and make a bag or two!
So long since I've done anything, I can't find my scissors!

Finding Julia - Post Card from Canberra.

2011-07-25T16:39:00.000-07:00

You can walk from just about anywhere to anywhere in Canberra.

There is a vast network of walking and cycling tracks along all the major thoroughfares.

And there is virtually no traffic!

I've seen more traffic on Friday afternoon in Hawera.

And everywhere you go there are magpies.

It's a city of magpies and monuments.

I enjoyed walking from the Old Bus Depot market all the way along Lake Burley Griffin

(I think that's what it's called) to the Art Gallery,

and down to the local shopping centre near Parliament Buildings.

Of course I was sure I was going to run into Julia doing her weekly shop at Coles on Friday

night; after a hard day defending the carbon tax.

But she was nowhere to be found.

Even in the New Parliament buildings, where I did a thorough search of both the Upper and

Lower Houses, and the roof top.

In case she's slipped out for a ciggy.

I did catch up with her later on the TV news.

In a way this trip was a lot to do with memorials, if not monuments.

It was a sort of living memorial to my Uncle Don,

who's time has almost passed,

and who is the holder of so much of the oral history of my family and of the times he lived in.

He's the Granny's elder brother.

They share a preference for quiet contemplation and books and art and the natural world.

So this was a chance to enjoy a bit of that together, in an unhurried manor.

And for me to meet for the first time as an adult, those members of my family

who exist in that parallel universe across the Tasman.

And to hear the stories from the past that are so important,

and allow you some insight into why you are who you are.

The Granny and I laughed most inappropriately in the reading room of the Canberra State Library while reading excerpts of a novel written by my Grandma Beatrice in the early 1930s.

It's called The Lure of Pleasure.

I know! It sounds like a very bad Mills and Boon Title.

But it's actually very moralistic, and not much pleasure was had by anyone from what I could see.

She gave some of her characters a very hard time. Particularly one called Madge.

The story goes that all the friends and relations round Croyden in those days were terrified of offending her, lest they turn up as a character in one of her stories.

She also wrote under the pseudonym of Grandma Pixie in the Weekly Times for many years.

My Uncle Gordon has kept all her letters to him as a child.

He allowed me to choose one from his collection to have as my own.

I brought home a lot of the memories and recollections, as told to me for the first time, by the people they happened to.

Each with a slightly different perspective on the same events.

One of Uncle Gordy's stories I'll have to make up my own ending to.

It involves some childhood exploits with an echidna in a hessian sack, being dragged around the town for good sport.

Gordy is a real animal lover, so he wouldn't have meant it any harm. It was just something to do with your brother and your mates.

I wanted to know what had become of the echidna. He can't remember!!!

In my version it just crawled out of the bag and waddled away .

We also had the pleasure of experiencing a mobile family afternoon tea, prepared by my Auntie's Kathy and Doreen

(she who is famous for the white above knee boots).

Not just the stories were passed down that day.

I came home with this lovely Crinoline Lady cake plate,

various pieces of curtains, tablecloths, remnants of material and other treasures from her cupboard.

Travelled all the way in the back of the car with the afternoon tea from country Victoria to Canberra.

Much to the consternation of my Uncle Joe, who clearly does not understand the order and priority for packing luggage for us "magpie chics'.

Many of the treasures once belonged to my Grandma Hazel.

And I did find something vintage and interesting in Canberra.
In fact a whole market full of it.

The Old Bus Depot market happens every Sunday in Canberra.

The quality of the merchandise was very high.

Beautifully handmade items.

With price tags to adequately reflect the work and time that goes into producing them,

which I was pleased to see.

If you want to get a bargain, then this is not the place to come.

If you understand and appreciate the investment involved in handcrafting, collecting and re-purposing, then it is.

There was such a lot of beautiful hand knitting to choose from, and hand dyed wools and yarns.

Available in every colour you would care to imagine.

I found a lady who made beautiful and ethereal looking gowns and wrap skirts from hand dyed thrifted doilies.

This wedding dress was my fav.

This is Cocky, who I remember from my first visit to Australia when I was three.

My Uncle Steve has been his curator for the past forty five years or so.

They have very long lives. He'll probably outlive my Uncle Steve.

In fact Cocky is most fond of my Auntie Kathy, who does all the daily curating!

She is country Victoria's answer to Bindi, but she presides over a collection of shelties, poodles, ugly cats, miniature ponies, chooks and birds, approximately equivalent to the number of Little Black Sambo's pancakes!

She does all that from this beautiful spot in country Victoria near Tatura.

I had to have a fairly extensive photo shoot with Harry the rooster, as he would be a fairly useful model for one of The Granny's chook paintings.

He was most co-operative and photogenic.

I caught a ride from Canberra to Tatura with the Uncles, who were able to fit me in because we'd eaten all the afternoon tea!

We stopped along the way at the Dog on the Tucker Box Memorial near Gundagai (hope I have the spelling correct).

You know the song, from Dad and Dave from Snake Gully, used to be on the radio?

The Road to Gundagai.

It's somewhere just over the boarder from the ACT into New South Wales.

Near Snowy River Country.

Anyhow, I loved that series, and particularly that song, so this was quite a significant event!

Clearly the Uncles thought so too.

This is my Uncle Gordy without his trademark "Ned Kelly" beard.

I hardly recognised him without it!

Here he is.

So I arrived unannounced at my Auntie Kathy's, which was done in collaboration with my Uncle Steve, for fear that she would be up all night cleaning the toilet and vacuuming if she had known I was coming!

So I had a few lovely restful days in country Victoria, reading my book in the sun, chatting to Auntie Kathy and visiting all my dead people in the little cemetery at Murchison.

They are all there. Grandma and Pop, and Auntie Marita, and cousin Shannon.

And Kathy and Steve will be there one day too. They've chosen their plots.

The only one not there is my brother Matt.

He wanted his ashes scattered in the Tasman Sea.

Metaphorically half way between both countries that he felt identical loyalties to.

I understand why.

I too sometimes feel that parts of Australia are my spiritual home, although I have never lived there and only spent small blocks of time there.

But I feel like that about parts of New Zealand too.

I think it is simply a visceral feeling of connection to a landscape and its history, at the emotional point where they intersect for me personally.

As I was whizzed down the Freeway from suburban Melbourne to the airport by my lovely cousin Simon, I was pleased that I would only have to point the car in the direction of Motorway South - Hamilton and keep going, when I got back to Auckland.

How very uncomplicated!

And when I reflect on why it is that I choose to live here and not there, and why it is that The Granny has chosen to live here and not there for most of her life, I think it is something to do with the uncomplicatedness. That the eccentrics and make doers and non fitter inners are all universally welcome here, just as much as the two cars, the batch and the boaters, and that innovation is admired and respected, and that we are somehow a less homogeneous society.

No firm conclusions. It may all really come down to landscape of one kind or other, in the end.

And this is the landscape i came home to.

Probably a once in a life time event. About 4 inches of snow in my garden.

Snow to sea level in many parts of the country.

Richard took these photos with his phone.

And as I contemplate my mountain of holiday washing, I am lookin out the window at the real mountain. All picture perfect and cone shaped, fully covered in snow.

And i am happy to be home Blog Chics.

Glove Love

2011-07-09T00:11:00.000-07:00

I've been awake in the early hours reading my old Victoria magazines.

I stole a moment and collected all my vintage gloves and arranged them as above.

I'll leave them there till I pull out my vintage Christmas tree at the beginning of December.

I'm already planning where it'll go.

Today I pulled out all my vintage tableclothes to make bags.
I arranged it all randomly on the floor, put it into piles.
moved the piles around a bit,
cut out one bag and put it all away again.
I still can't quite get into it.

I'm off to Canberra next week with the Granny.
To catch up with family.
I've never been to Canberra, so I'm hoping to find something vintage and interesting there.
(Other than the Granny.)

Meanwhile we are sat by the fire while the thunder storms go at full tilt outside, and the rain comes in sideways.

Have a great weekend Blog Chics.

Dolly Becomes a Child of the Seventies.

2011-07-02T16:09:00.000-07:00

Granny and I decided Dolly needed a new outfit.

So we thought we'd make her a child of the seventies;, inspired by vintage crochet.

Such as these crocheted dresses Jo and I wore on Christmas Day in 1972.

That's me in pink.

I personally love Auntie Doreen's white boots.

Auntie Doreen crocheted the dresses.

Matching was in for little girls then.

Dolly got a way more hip look with her "Hey There Goergie Girl " vibe.

It's the cloche hat that does it.

The Granny made up her own pattern using a baby dress as a template.

Her powers of crochet are incalculable.

I don't know why she can't do algebra if she can make up her own crochet patterns!!!

I bet architects can't do that!

And the shoes similarly so.

Dolly is still waiting on an peasant blouse to wear underneath her crocheted dress.

Aren't the faded out jeans so cool?

Dolly's lost an eyelash somewhere, so we'll have to get her another one from the doll hospital I guess.

Enjoy your weekend Blog Chics.

Good For What Ails You.

2011-06-25T22:33:00.000-07:00

My Grandma Ida used to say this all the time.

She applied it to things like gravy, scissors for cutting up raw chicken, Edith Piaff songs... in fact anything that came prefaced with, "Ida, why do you .....". Because it's good for what ails you.

These gorgeous blooms have been very good for what ails me.

I had a lovely gift voucher to spend in my fav french inspired shop.

La Paige in New Plymouth.

It stocks linens to die for!

What ails me at the moment Blog Chics is a lack of creativity. I've had nothing in my head for months really, but I just didn't like to say so. I think the logistics of keeping up two gardens through the Taranaki autumn, the pedantic nature of some of the stuff I've had to learn for work, leaving in the dark and coming home in the dark has just sucked it all out of me.

This is not to say any of this is abnormal, just part of life. And now it is over.

This weekend some retail therapy and my new House and Garden mag

have really done the trick.

I feel the cogs start to turn again, and I'm making bags and cushions in my head once more.

These are a few of the winter blooms I've found serendipitously in my garden at the new house.

I was reading my House and Garden (July Issue) in bed this morning, while onto my third cup of coffee, when I discovered an add for some people who make bespoke cake stands out of your old china!

A Eureka moment that was, because I've been wanting to do this for ages,
and been secretly lamenting the fact that the thing for unscrewing wheel nuts or the power drill were probably not going to be the right implements for drilling the holes.
And then where would I find the right hardware?

Problem solved. This lot do it for you. thevintagetable.co.nz

So I gathered up some of both my Grandma's china and emailed them straight away, before my fourth cup of coffee even. So I shall let you know how I get on.

The Granny and I went for lunch today to the new cafe in Eltham called Rhubarb!!!!

Have to say it was pretty ordinary, but maybe they'll get better.

It must be hard to get it all going smoothly in your first week.

Shall report back on that too.

So afterwards, we went round to "The Bank" which is a gorgeous vintage/retro emporium I have blogged about before.

Barb had this amazing reproduction french Louis something chair there, in the perfect celedon green that I love.

You know what happened.

I bought it; and it gladdened my heart so much to see it fit perfectly into my house.

You know what happened next too, don't you!!!

I moved my Grandma Ida's chair into the bathroom, which really appeals!

I'm sure she'd say that it was very good for what ails me.

And I have my chooks and ducks back at the front door too, now that the other place has been handed over to the new people.

And that really gladdens my heart!

One last thing Blog Chics.

This is the first time I have ever been compelled to print a retraction here at Magpie Chic.

It involved a certain Granny and the consumption of last weekend's rhubarb loaf!!!

After I'd published, I found 3/4 of a rhubarb loaf in the cake tin!!!!

She was "affronted" when she read that bit in my last posting.

In the manner of Tom Kitten's mother when the kittens were naughty upstairs when she had company for tea!

She wanted to leave a comment to that effect, but lucky for me, couldn't work out how to do it!

So a retraction I shall print ....even though one could be forgiven for jumping to such conclusions after the episode of the missing lemon tarts!!!!

My lips are sealed Blog Chics.

Country Living Rhubarb.

2011-06-19T23:14:00.000-07:00

A little bit of Country Living cooking this weekend.

I am always so inspired by the beautiful photos in the pages of Country Living.

Do you think mine looks anything like the real thing?

They remembered to take the knife away, and they have a nicer tablecloth, but all in all not too bad an effort. And it tasted fantastic.

I think most of it must have been consumed by the Granny because there wasn't any left by the end of the day - and it wasn't me because us weight watchers chics are only allowed one piece!

It was from this issue of Country Living, which I have just bought.
We get them a couple of months after the UK.

It's uses are many and varied. Pillows for old cats being amongst the most useful.

Am still arranging things in my house. This is a bit of a "Nana crochet" corner I think.

Hope you all had a good weekend where ever you are.

A Spot of Granny Shifting and Some Cows in my Meadow.

2011-06-15T00:40:00.000-07:00

Sometimes there are cows that graze the meadow behind the house.

They are supposed to stay in the meadow,

and not venture past the electric fence into

the hundred acre wood.

But cows being cows become curious and they worked out that the electric fence wasn't switched on.

Well three of them did anyhow, and escaped past my washing line into the hundred acre wood; trampling and eating everything underfoot.

I know never to hang out your washing with cows in the vicinity, from childhood experience of same!

But at least we got the day off school that day.

Taranaki rain being what it is, everything we owned was hung on the line by Sunday

(when a herd of cows happened along and attempted to eat it and tread it under foot as above!)

And we have discovered why the Tail cat sometimes comes racing in the cat door looking like she's seen Ned Kelly's ghost out there in the dark.

It's the cows. Silly Tail's afraid of cows.

So all the extra cow chasing delayed the Granny moving for about half an hour while Richard and the owner of the cows chased them back into the paddock and we turned the electric fence on.
Yes Blog Chics, we have said goodbye to the Magpie House.
It has been sold to a young family who love it.
So I am very happy that our home has gone to a good home!

Now we have a dilemma when converting our current garage into the Granny Annexe.
And that is, how do you disguise the electric fence control panel in what will become the Granny Kitchen?
Any interior whizzes out there with a solution?
Not your usual interior decorating challenge is it?

Counting My Winter Blessings.

2011-06-05T22:48:00.000-07:00

Hello Blog chics. Thanks you for your lovely comments on my last post. It reminded me to count my blessings, and that there many to count in the winter.

We haven't had our first frost yet, so I can still get photos like this beautiful dew laden nasturtium.

I can spend all morning snuggled up in bed reading my favourite magazines, and moving some things around on the dressing table to create a new vignette to photograph.

And I can look out the window on a winter's morning and see the work of many spiders over night, adorning the hedges.

And this! because she can climb up the pergola and get onto the verandah roof!

And there are still the last roses of autumn hanging on.

And I don't have to stress about watering the cuttings I have transplanted from the other house, because it just keeps raining!

And my red geraniums are doing well, sheltered under the eaves.

And I am planning the beginnings of a bluebell wood here by the woodshed.

I dug up some bluebells from the other house today and put them in.

And the cats are keen gardeners, never minding the rain, posing happily for blog pics by the woodshed.

I'm putting it all to bed until the spring, when it should be wonderful.

Until then I will enjoy the spring and summer in other people's gardens. Thanks to the magic of the blog!

Babushka with Pine Cones!

2011-05-27T21:52:00.000-07:00

Another useful thing to do with vintage fabric bags.

Gets me out of going for an official walk today.

It's pretty chilly, and wet under foot. I didn't fancy walking up our busy road because I have to dive off into the long grass whenever a car comes along. And get wet up to my knees! UGH!

So I went off down to the 100 Acre Wood to look for a Woozle.

Didn't find one, but I did find a few pine cones along the fence line.

Meanwhile, I have been progressing with the picnic quilt a bit more.
It will be quite spectacular on the lawn in the summer time.

Sitting inside by the fire now, burning pine cones because I can!

And reading my June NZ House and garden, and dreaming of spring.

I'm such a sook about the cold!

Quickly while it's not raining.

2011-05-21T15:31:00.000-07:00

Hello Blog Chics.

It's been a while. Real life has been all consuming. Most specifically keeping up two big gardens and two sets of lawns, in the small intervals when it doesn't rain, and rain, and rain!

And then there's the ever present problem of trying to get the washing dry. I confess at times I have just piled it into the car and taken it into Mum's and put it in the dryer.

Most reluctantly, because I am an ardent fan of line dried washing - especially when I have a lavender enclosed meadow to hang it in.

AND - I've been forcing my way through an extremely boring assignment for a paper I'm doing for work. Sooo boring, mostly about legislation and medico legal considerations. Put you off the whole business if you let it! But I've finished it all thank goodness, so onto better things Blog Chics.

I'd hate anyone to think I was moaning. On the contrary. I am totally consumed with it all in a good way, and I love the house and both gardens, and I even like my job. I just have no time for anything else because of the rain!!!!

And no blogging! I've had a few goes and deleted them in the embryonic stages because they were just not worth reporting. Or the photos were rubbish. Might resurrect a couple and put them into a different context when I feel more creatively inspired.

This has been my one source of creative inspiration lately, and I have really had to be disciplined and psyche myself into doing it because it's good for my soul. A bit like that assignment!!! My soul is ABSOLUTELY not improved in the slightest way since the assignment, I can assure you.
But it has been slightly buffed by my foray into the world of "Material Obsession Two".
But again it has taken on a character building flavour, as while I admire pieced quilts, and the use of colour in this book, I have had to challenge myself to actually take it on.
It's very spatial, but once you've cracked the formula it becomes boring blog chics, and the only buzz you get is from choosing the colours. But I suspect it's a bit like weeding, when you're finished you're pleased you put the effort in because it looks great. And it will use up all the random things in my stash that are not my kindred colour palette. I imagine it will become a favoured picnic blanket!

Give you an update soon when I've had time to get batteries into my camera!
Today I am happy to report some watery sunshine has penetrated the standard grey of the 'Naki skies, and I can even see three quarters of the mountain through my kitchen window.
The question remains ... to hang or not to hang - the washing !

Chics in Aprons.

2011-04-26T00:08:00.001-07:00

This is what happens at a typical party here in The 'Naki.

I don't know weather it's a universal thing, or not, but this is what the girls do here at a party!

We all hang out in the kitchen get busy, and have a fabulous time.

Everyone loves my aprons, and they had to take turns for the photos.

These are my friends Patrice, Heather and Leigh on clean up duty.

You wouldn't think it would be fun would you, but it absolutely is!

And this is what blokes do at the same time as the Sheilas are fighting over the aprons.
You wouldn't think it would be fun would you? Would you?
They look pretty happy about it.

Maybe it is a universal thing at parties.
Does it happen at Northern Hemisphere Parties too?

Can't have a party without cupcakes (and aprons).

Grannies like aprons too.

Lemon meringue pie - a shared triumph!

Cath Kidston apron.

Pudding!

Walter and Willis Go Hunting For Eggs.

2011-04-22T16:56:00.000-07:00

This morning the Easter Bunny came to Mawhitiwhiti Rd.

I captured her in full motion, like those old photos of faeries at the bottom of the garden.

Leigh and Willis are here for the weekend.

Big housewarming party at our place this evening!

Leigh is my Jo Seager Cook School friend, so I'm getting her to do all the difficult bits.

Willis is really called Ron, but to us he's been Willis for years. As in , "what you talking 'bout Willis ?"

So Leigh and Willis took full part in the performance of the Easter Egg Hunt.

And this is where the Walter part comes in. That's Willis' name for Hubby, to even things up. makes it easier to tell stories about Walter and Willis' adventures. Alliteration really helps in theses matters.

Callum got a Transformer egg from the Easter Bunny.

And here's the customary random photo of my cat - looking very "House and Garden" amongst the autumn leaves.

Then what else would you do but the cross word with your Granny!

Morning Talk

2011-04-14T00:52:00.000-07:00

Do you remember morning talks at primary school?

This post is going to be a little bit like one of those,

because I have nothing particularly important to say, and a random photo of my cat!

So it's mostly about how my friend Claire who is a stitcher /quilter extraordinaire invited me to a stitching group with a couple of other ladies who both happened to be called Michelle.

I enjoyed it so much, and it was nice to meet new people called Michelle!

All I could find to take was my Christmas Beatrix Potter cross stitch. And that was just lucky because I found it behind a chair in my knitting basket.

I managed to complete a small area of brown hedgehog.

This is what they are all making, with their own choice of fabrics, colours, threads etc etc.

This one is Claire's. I just love it, and am feeling re-inspired, but I still have to find all my stuff!

It's here somewhere.

I think I'll do mine in silver threads with shabby chic colours. Surprise, surprise!

And I really, really want to get some bunting made for our housewarming party.

But time is of the essence, and I probably won't have any left!

I have made some more curtains from tablecloths. My life is complete blog chics.

There are just not enough days in the week at the moment.

I'm scared of the Cooker!

2011-04-06T00:27:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day since I've been here that I have been able to stay home all day and just enjoy it.

I began with some baking. For every day lunch box fillers you can't go past the institution of the Edmonds Cook Book.

This book remains on the best seller list year after year. It's been published since the early 1900s I think, and every Kiwi Cook has a copy. I was going to say housewife, which would have been the case for most of its history, but I don't think the "housewife" really exists any more.

That sounds fairly straight forward you might think. But I have a small confession to make.

I'm scared of the cooker! It's so flash! And the hobs are gas, the nobs are different, and I'm slightly scared to twiddle them in case it self destructs in 10 seconds!

I managed to work it all out without anything going bang, and made vanilla biscuits with chocolate drops and no raisins! A lot of the recipes in the Edmonds book can be modified to suit your larder. The ones I make I have made so often that I know all their little idiosyncrasies and tricks for doubling the recipe etc.

So I've been sneaking round taking pictures of small vignettes that are different in this house, but at the same time very familiar.

Autumn is beginning to set in. Daylight savings finished last weekend.

I have been lighting the fire at night.

But today I lit it in the afternoon and sat there writing a letter to my friend Debbie in Tauranga, whom I haven't seen since 2003, but who has recently discovered my blog, so we are back in contact, which is lovely.

Debbie wrote me a real letter. I re-discovered the joy of the letter that day, and promised to write her one back. So today was the day.

I have another friend who writes me real letters on special occasions.

Hello Fi, if you are reading this post.

There is just something special about a hand written letter. It says the same thing as "handmade" to me.

Somebody values you enough to take the trouble.

And my cats STILL only drink from china cups. As soon as I put the cup and saucer down on the back veranda she went straight there for her customary "cup of tea".

The Magpie Cat is getting old. She is appreciating her new cat door. It's a big step up for an old arthritic cat, but it means she can stay inside out of the cold.

Grandma's Tablecloth.

2011-03-26T19:23:00.000-07:00

Murhpy's Law implies that if there are really good quality curtains in the house you move into, then you are probably going to hate them with a passion.

Such has turned out to be the case here.

So in order to fit within my re-decoration budget which is nil, I decided to use my embroidered tablecloth collection to make curtains. I wonder what Grandma would think.

The one on the left includes a tablecloth she embroidered.

I am pretty pleased with the way the way they turned out. I think they suit the house.

Just need a few more to do the other window. Good old Trade Me should do the trick.

That's Grandma's tablecloth with the red poppies. It is particularly lovely.

I didn't know my Grandma very well. I only met her three times.

She died when I was in my early twenties, so I actually have quite few bits and pieces that belonged to her.

All my Grandmothers were accomplished handcrafters, but my Grandma Auss was the most accomplished. Especially at embroidery.

I think she would have approved of the "make do and mend" aspect of my new curtains.

Meanwhile I have been enjoying hanging my washing on the line in the meadow.

Climbing through the fence (having first established that it was not electrified) is part of the fun.

Buttered Paws Not Required:an evidence based conclusion.

2011-03-21T23:44:00.000-07:00

We have finally moved in! Six blokes, several trailers, trucks with lifty things on the back and vans, utes and a honda accord was all it took.

My hubby was brought up in the"sitting on the concrete will give you piles" tradition, and he is firmly of the belief that you must butter the cat's paws when you move them.

I have to concede there is some logic to this, in that it might induce them to groom.

However, the chics make the cat rules in this household, so no paws have ever actually been buttered, and now I can present my evidence based conclusion that it is just not necessary!

I rest my case.

The tail cat moved in and made herself right at home.

The kitchen is still huge because my new table hasn't arrived yet.

The Magpie Cat decided that she needed to be carried up the stairs.

She achieved this by yowling very loudly at the bottom till we came and carried her up.

I guess if you haven't had stairs before, you might expect that your people would carry you up,

or install a small chair lift or something.

What actually happened is that everyone got busy and ignored her and she had climbed the stairs by herself by the second day.

View of the garden from the upstairs window.

Forgot to fix the exposure on this one.

Not a scerrick of butter on the Tail Cat's paws.

There's a Mouse in my House!

2011-03-06T01:40:00.000-08:00

Indeed more than one.

I found them while I was tidying up my endless boxes and baskets of sewing stuff.

I have only very vague recollections of doing them,

But I suspect it was over the many hours spent in hospitals with Callum,

when one day pretty much merged into the next and I was very grateful to have cross stitch to occupy me.

That was in the days before I could afford to make quilts.

In fact my first quilts, and some of my favourites still to this day, were made from scraps of material from Sarah's dresses and scraps from things my Mum had made for us.

Each scrap tells a story.

I remember when I made this one.
I was expecting Callum, and I made it for him, not knowing if he was going to survive.
I had it framed, but it was done very badly, so I took it apart a few years ago and used the frame for something else and kept the cross stitch with the others.

The mice are all from the same cross stitch book. I found a half finished one too, which i will endeavour to finish eventually!
Never thought this would happen, but have to confess I can't see the colours very well at night now, which makes me lose momentum with cross stitch these days.

I also found Mrs Tiggywinkle at the bottom of the pile.

She was very delicate and difficult to do. The detail is so fine.

I can't use the 18ct anymore, because I just can't see well enough.

My daughter does it beautifully, and so quickly, and laughs at me for my bumbling about eyesight, the way I used to when I thought that would never happen to me.

Gosh I did that ten years ago!

Mrs Tiggy is one of my favourite people.

She's an ironing freak, just like me!

Jo and Annabel come to dinner.

2011-03-01T19:39:00.000-08:00

Way back in June I blogged about my girl's weekend at Jo Seager's Cook School in Oxford.
Then I came home and talked about it to anyone who would listen, and promised a Jo Seager dinner party.
Well I've finally done it! But I had to invite Annabel (Langbein) along too because she has such lovely photography in her cook book, and I just make her flat bread recipe ALL the time.

It's great to have with hummus with drinks before dinner.

These are my most photogenic deserts. Lemon roulade, lemon possett (in Grandad Darcey's best crystal glasses), and mint truffles.

This is Annabel's bread with hummus and my fav, blue cheese. No -one else likes it, so there's plenty for me!

Coriander chicken and basmati rice.

Close up of the deserts, which I am slightly biased towards!!!

Dinner parties are not really my thing, that's partly why it's taken me so long to get around to it. I feel slightly self conscious about it, because i remember my Grandma Ida's in the 1970s, which were truly stupendous, and my Mum's with the baked lemon trout and pineapple pudding (not sure if they appeared on the same menu??)

And I worry that my lemon roulade might be quite tame in comparison.

Certainly coriander chicken would have been laughed out of town in the 1970s!

But Jo and Annabel are the new Doris and Audrey in my book.

Both glamorous in their own way.

Both icons of New Zealand culinary culture.

History will prove me to be right, I am sure.

Little Chicken Feather.

2011-02-26T13:34:00.000-08:00

I have a brand new Great Niece called Rebecca.

I hadn't made anything in preparation this time, because I didn't know if we were getting a boy or a girl, and mainly because I just wasn't so organised this time.

So when she was born, a little lightbulb went off in my head and I thought I'd use my favourite bag pattern (super nappy bag I thought). And Little Chicken Feather, whom I just adore.

So if you don't want to spoil the surprise Emma, don't read on!

This is my favourite design from Little Chicken Feather.

I had just the right fabrics for a girly bright gelato looking combination, and there had to be some yellow. Just about everything has been recycled or a left over from some other project, which is handy when inspiration strikes you at 2 o'clock in the morning. A bit difficult to nip off to the shops then.

I've been sneaking round to my Mum's house to sew, because I have packed my sewing machine up here.

Isn't she gorgeous!

I love it.

Open to View.

2011-02-25T01:58:00.000-08:00

I am having such trouble sleeping at the moment!
My mind goes around in high revving circuits continuously.

I am mentally placing our furniture in our new house, my washing on that clothesline in the meadow.

My concrete chook in that garden.

I remain in a holding pattern, in house limbo.

Reflecting on how I will miss this house, but in my mind I am already gone.

I've been looking back on some of my favourite photos. Favourite memories.
Of each season in the garden, the Christmas my brother rode the kid's scooters up the drive way, flat out as fast as you can with a prosthetic leg,
coming home after 7 weeks at Starship after Callum's first kidney transplant. All those homecomings.

All those first flushes of spring.

Re-decorating as each child left home, as a kind of compensation package for losing them.

All those tea parties.

And all the faeries I may or may not have found at the bottom of the garden.

Things I made with this house in mind.

The start of so many creative processes. The formulating of "Magpie Chic".

Luckily it is all movable, transformable and re-inventable in a Provencal Farm House kind of way.

Our first open home was on the sunniest day in February, so everyone was doing lots of other stuff and not coming to open homes LOL!

We had two people! But we've had quite a few people through during the week. Early days say the Real Estate ladies. I think this is what's keeping me up at nights reading blogs and watching the living channel, trying to avoid watching Christchurch or hearing about it on the radio. It is so awful I just can't even bear to talk about it.

I feel so lucky that my Mum and sister are no longer living there. I feel so lucky to be thinking about houses in such a way, when the people of Christchurch will be thinking about houses in an entirely different way. There's something about the guilt of the survivor about it.

I just feel so lucky.

I am making things again! I'm sneaking round to use the granny's sewing machine and making a mess at her house. Because you can't have a mess in house limbo.

Here at the Magpie House we are always "open to view".

One Must Always Balance One's Frills.

2011-02-18T14:46:00.000-08:00

On a recent "ladies shopping" expedition with she who is proficient at separating eggs and he who looks better with his hair cut (who came a long because he had nothing better to do and takes a macabre interest in the psychology of "ladies shopping"), we stumbled upon one of those little pieces of advice that have become family lore very quickly.
"He" was heard to remark to his sister that the items she had assembled had a few too many frills. And apparently it is his observation that you must balance your frills.

So today I am the enviable recipient of a special tea party apron. Designed for me by my sister Jo, who received her initiation into the art of the tea party while on holiday here last month. And the advice about frills has obviously taken root.

It is a bespoke apron (love that word!!!), if such a thing can exist. No-one else will have one. Not even the Granny. Because apparently the frills on mine were so potentially injurious to sanity of the maker that she vowed to stick to the pattern when making one for the Granny!

The lists are taken directly from my favourite tea party menu.

I remain devastated that she didn't have any Doris Day music on her ipod the day of Granny's birthday tea party.

I myself being way too un- hooked from technology to own an ipod on which to put my own Doris Day music onto!

The last item on the list is of course a reference to our fine Taranaki weather!

The apron looks so "House And Garden" hanging on the apron hook, and is sure to be the thing that sells my house after the first open home on Sunday!

People will stop and admire it!!!!

As do I, every time I go past. I can't wait to actually wear it! With some Doris day music in the background of course! As you do, when your frills are properly balanced

Magpie Jam.

2011-02-13T19:28:00.000-08:00

Our old plum tree produces a great crop of damson plums every year. Goodness knows how with that huge hollowness in the middle of its trunk. Not quite sure what's holding it up.

Perhaps the bora holding hands?

It's where the kids had their tree hut (cut down from the cab of an old landrover - as you do in this part of the world).

The tree hut blew down one night in the big storm of 2004.

Lucky no -one was stationed underneath it at the time.

This tree is one of the many things that I'll miss about this house.

But as the saying goes, you can always make sour plums into Magpie Jam!

Which is what we shall do. Or rather, what the Granny will do, because she alone holds the key to the mysteries of making jam set without much sugar.

AND she didn't go to Hogwarts either - or Jo Seagar's cook school for that matter.

You'll be pleased to know that i had plenty of supervision today as I painted the shed window and harvested the plums with my ladder.

First open home next weekend blog chics, so it has to be perfect.

I edited the advertising copy and added a few of my magpie chic photos to their catalogue and culled a few of theirs. They had done an ok job, but it was all in Real Estate speak and i needed to add a little House and Garden speak, and give them photos framed by trees, and photos with the rose in the foreground looking at the deck.

They are very accommodating with all my editing and Magpie Chicing of the portfolio. I think they just probably raise their eyes and smile. But someone will just fall in love with this house if it's presented as i see it in my mind's eye.

It will just be serendipity of course.

Letter to myself.

2011-02-12T13:02:00.000-08:00

I recently saw an article in a magazine in which Terry Irwin wrote her sixteen year old self a letter, offering sage advice and council about the years to come. The concept appealed, although Terri Irwin sadly, did not. At the risk of appearing self indulgent and sentimental. I thought I might have a go myself. Writing with the hind-sight of forty four years.

Dear Jacqui,

wherever life takes you and whatever you do, while you may wish you could change a few things, you'll look back on it all and be very happy with the way it's turned out.

Every cloud has a silver lining. It is not often obvious to start with, but you must look for it, and it will reveal itself eventually.

You are about to embark on a career that was chosen by default. It will be an intermittent career, but you will make such good use of the knowledge you gain from it.

There will always be the echo of your mother's advice in the matter. Appearing at their loudest in those moments when you are most thankful that you know what to do, and are not encumbered by a fear of the unknown. " A training for life".

However, you WILL look back and wish someone had suggested becoming a theatre costume designer or a photo journalist!!!

Remember that the beautiful people don't necessarily stay beautiful.

You will have happy children. You have chosen well. He has all the best qualities that you identify in your father and none of the worst ones, that make you weary and distrustful and fearful. It was a gamble well worth taking.

You will find joy in the small domestic craftings that you learned as a right of passage for the women of your family. They will become transformed into your art. Your expression of creativity. You will understand it to be part of your personal concept of "soul".

You will experience loss and grief, as everyone must at some time, but you will have had a lifetime of practice and preparation for it. It will add to the sum of your experiences and to the person you are, and the memories and symbols will become woven into your daily life.

You will always worry. The worrying makes you safe.

There will be many days like today, when the sun is shining and the cicadas are loud in the birch trees outside the window. A perfect day.

I have fallen in love ... with a house.

2011-02-08T19:58:00.000-08:00

The Magpie house is for sale blog chics, for i have fallen in love.

It happened on my birthday. I saw it across a crowded room (na, I saw it in the local paper actually), and i did swoon, because it was the very house that magpie chic dreams are made of.

And the bloke that lives with me could find no holes to pick in the perfectness of it's construction (half the battle), and the only caveat he put on was that he make haste with the construction of a large and in charge garage in the paddock at the bottom of the garden, cos the double garage is not big enough. And i was fully expecting that and do not care about garages in my meadow as long as they are far enough down the hill so as not to obstruct the view!

And the Granny loves it equally which is just as well cos she'll be moving in when we sell all the family jewels including her house. But the not big enough garage will convert to the perfect granny annexe.

We are all in love.

So i am very busy painting the window sills and weeding the garden, so forgive me if i do not blog about doily bags for a while. I've packed up the sewing machine till we move in.

If you would like to have a squizzy at it it's HX1011393 harcourts .co.nz

i bet you fall in love too. But i think there is only one of them.

You know that thing about pinching yourself to believe it's real. Well, i am black and blue (metaphorically you understand!!)

Perfect... for the dress ups box!

2011-02-02T19:57:00.000-08:00

Well blog chics, it was kind of successful, kind of not, in a very mutton dressed up as lamb sort of way LOL!

I do admit it looks pretty, but i just can't get over the fact that it's really made out of the bottom of a nightie!!!!!
BUT; it would be perfect for a little girl's dress up box.
So if anyone has said little girl who might like it, please let me know in the comments, and I'll happily send it on. If I get more than one offer to re-home it I'll just draw names out of a hat, in a very official manner.
Too much work to get chucked in the re-cycle part of my sewing cupboard.
And it was a fun experiment. I stayed up till 1 am making it, cos I knew I had to mow lawns and pull weeds today before (A) it rains again and (B) I have to go off and vaccinate a few more babies.

I think what i need to do is find a pattern that is exactly what I want, because the jigsaw thing wasn't entirely successful. The bodice doesn't quite fit properly, and the sheerness of the fabric while pretty, meant that I couldn't hide my seems completely.

Kind of off the scale on the mutton dressed as lamb o meter!!!

Would probably look quite good on a 14 yr old ha ha!!!

But it's very pretty and made me happy.

What more can you ask really out of a $3 table cloth and the bottom of a pink nightie!

Oh and I'm 44 tomorrow. Had to do the maths to work out how old because I just forget now days.

Don't worry about it too much because Doris and Audrey were fab in their 40s I'm absolutely sure!!! That's Day and Hepburn, in case you were wondering blog chics.

Once Were Tableclothes.

2011-01-31T21:02:00.000-08:00

I've started putting together my tea party dress. Well the bodice anyhow.

"She who is proficient at separating eggs" asked me if I only ever sewed with table clothes and curtains these days.

Yes, and doilies and lace and ribbon...

Well just at the moment anyhow.

I'm experimenting with a couple of patterns, hoping that an amalgamation of the two will achieve the desired effect.

It looks pretty, but i don't know if it will fit yet.

Here is the bodice.

And the two patterns I'm using. Bit of a jigsaw puzzle I've got going.

I just love the fabric and the rose embroidered into this tea throw that I bought for about 3 dollars at one of the local op shops. I've lined it with some pink polycotton.

Be back again in a few days with a progress update.

I can make that!

2011-01-26T21:13:00.000-08:00

One of the best things about getting out and about and looking at things is the new booster of creative inspiration that I get every time. It's not so much from buying something, although that's nice if you can do it, but often the budget doesn't allow. It's the buzz that I get from connecting with something beautiful, and the ideas that it sparks in my own head. It's a kind of scaffolding for building new stuff from old ideas.

I found these beautiful tea party dresses at Port O Call. They so inspired me. I was lucky enough to be able to buy one, but I would have bought all three of them if I could have.

This is the one I bought in the end, because it fitted the best. But it was an agony of decision making, and I changed my mind twice!

And I went home completely inspired to make my own version of the tea party dress in as many permutations as makes me happy.

I have had such fun in the last week or so rabbiting around in the op shops, and looking at stuff with new eyes. I'm looking for things I can use as embellishments for tea gowns.

I'm piecing together vintage nightie patterns and making something that is just right for the job, and I'm just about to start experimenting with what I've got to hand.

I 'll be back with something in my next post. Still not exactly sure what, but it will just evolve.

Might just evolve into the recycle bag in my cupboard too. But that's just part of the deal. It's not ALL about the process, but the process is important. It's all a bit of an experiment at the moment. Just have to see what happens.

My first Port O Call.

2011-01-23T13:11:00.000-08:00

I may have mentioned in passing blog chics, that when I grow up I'm going to run away to somewhere sunny and open a tea shop.

To reassure myself in a very "Yes Virginia there is a Santa Clause" kind of way, I make a pilgrimage to Napier at least once a year to Port O Call.

Of course you know that was behind our choosing Napier as the destination for our road trip, don't you. You've already figured that out haven't you?

I could barely contain the excitement, even before I'd got through the doors.
Waiting the 10 minutes for it to open up was an agony, comparable only to queing for tickets to an All Blacks versus Springboks rugby test in the 1970s I should think.

I found such beautiful things - more of that for it's own blog post.

We got down to the serious business of dressing up and choosing our tea cups.

So many lovely, lovely cups to choose from. It's such a buzz to choose from such an array.

I cannot explain to you how it brings joy to my heart to see them all lined up with their prettiness and dainty femininity on display, and I may choose ANY one to be THE one.

Cos you'll probably think I'm bonkas for anthropomorphising tea cups.. But there you go.

It just is.

George was occupied for hours choosing her outfit, and was very taken with the gloves.

And I got to wear the purple negligee that I had missed out on during my last visit with my friend Leigh.

And my favourite pink candyfloss hat.

So very pleased to meet you Madame.

I feel as If I'm being presented to the Queen!

I know that one day I will open my tea shop in that sunny place; because, after all...

there is more than one way to eat a lamington!