August 16th, 2008

Time for catching up

You know what. I think the morning sickness is over. The tiredness is over. I know this because we must be in trimester two so the pelvic problems can kick in. But at least I’m awake.

So today after a little burst of energy I have some photos to show and some things to tell. So what I’ll do is upload all the pictures and then I’ll come back and write about them. Ok… right. Done. Now I think I need a cup of tea. This is what I’m like at work. Big burst of energy. Then I need to go and distract myself for a bit.

So here are the little books from Yvonne - I love dirt, which is a fab little book for people with kids, full of fun ideas for outdoor nature activities - like cloud racing! And London Children’s Rooms, well of course I had to have that!

And because Yvonne knows I have a bit of a thing for Shinzi Katoh – she also sent some neat stationery and some Japanese fabric which I love.

As I mentioned quite some time back I put a skirt and top on lay-by with Alison. And because I didn’t work for two months it was quite an extended lay-by, but following my first pay day Alison popped them in the post along with some over yummy goodies including some yarn which you’ll see in a minute.

Di’s housewarming gift came not long after we got here and the washcloths were put to immediate good use, meaning they’re far too busy to be photographed right now. And as Astrid took a shine to the needlebook and ferreted it away to some secret corner in the house it too is unavailable for today’s shoot. So what remains to be photographed is one moleskine notebook making very good use of a liberty print that’s now really rather well travelled :)

For weeks, if not months I’ve been tormented by the fact I’ve made so much stuff and not photographed any of it. I’ve made two nani iro / robe rouge dresses, two bunnies, little baby wraps, organic waffle hand-towels with nani iro bias binding, lunch bags, nappy bags, hand bags. Anyway, lots of stuff! I thought I could make a big pile and just take a photo, but I seem to have forgotten to do that.

Instead here are the current knit / crochet projects; these three small ones are for the morning and evening journeys to and from work and include a pink scarf, a blue scarf and a brown scarf. The pink scarf was going to be a washcloth but I couldn’t stop, the blue scarf was going to be a square for the baby blanket but again I didn’t want to stop. The brown one is using the merino Alison sent – with the suggestion it become a scarf for Astrid so that’s one project with a concrete destiny.

This is the big blanket I am crocheting. It started out as a scarf but I didn’t want to stop. Currently the size of a beach towel we think it’s going to be a fairly expensive blanket. I’m using Savannah DK, a blend of organic merino, cotton and linen. Every weekend we make a trip up to Loop to buy a few more skeins of yarn and to make use of their winding facilities.

Since we arrived I’ve had a select few of my snaplock plastic bags of fabric kept out on my shelves for the next project. Whilst at work I make little notes in my notebook – little ideas, plans, things I want to do. Every week I write down red linen bag, makeup bag, new pencil case, trousers for Astrid. Every week I carry that over to the next page.

So today I took my absolute favourites out of their filing bags – the purple linnet chambray, the grey organic cotton and the nani suzuran field – and added to that a special piece of Lotta from Leslie and I believe I have my makeup bag and pencil case sorted.

The red linen has been waiting for red cotton for weeks and weeks and weeks, so yesterday Kevin was in Soho and I grabbed my opportunity to send him to Kleins for some thread and to Cass Arts for some form of pattern paper. Since then I have found MacCulloch & Wallis stock dressmakers pattern paper.

A recent eBay acquisition is Astrid’s carpet. The minute it arrived she declared it hers. Not being a fancy shiny one, it was a bargain at £16 + postage; one slightly worn, handwoven pure wool, 7 x 9 foot Iranian carpet. Also to note Astrid removed her lovely grey top to reveal an outfit I wouldn’t usually dress her in, except that today her entire wardrobe is in the wash.

Also bought on eBay, and costing more than the persian rug, a vintage Roberts Radio which is permanently tuned to BBC Radio 4. Perfect for crocheting to. Miss Lady Bird the Cloud quite likes it too.

While I sit down to edit today’s photos Astrid tears the house apart. Evidence of where the child has been. Next she’s after the camera.

One quick last photo of our front courtyard out of the living room windows and I’m off upstairs to write this blog post. Then I might trawl eBay for a mahogany chest of drawers to replace the ugly pine ones and see whether I can find a copy of Yertle the Turtle on vinyl.

Ah, and as I finish proofing, babychops two wakes up – I think I just felt a foot. Right, we’re off up to Pomona for salad and baps. We’re making burgers tonight.

Have a fun week!

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August 5th, 2008

All the things I want to write about

(but don’t have time to)

Do you know I get up, get ready, leave the house by 7.45am. Get to work around 9am after I’ve been and got a proper flat white from the Spitalfields Coffee House. Work until 5.45 or 6pm and get home around 7.15pm. Then we cook and eat by about 8.15pm then I will come upstairs and do a fraction of the work I have to do for my own clients, and then at around 10pm I will sit downstairs and watch a bit of tele and do a row or two of my (king size) crochet blanket. It’s too big to take on the tube now so I’ve started a small project for my travel time - a pink crochet washcloth which might end up being a table runner or a scarf.

On my way to and from work, not while I crochet – but as I’m walking, I also dream about all the things I would love to write about and photograph. Things like… I would like to do a photo essay on my trip to work from South End Green to Brick Lane; where I go for lunch; shops I look at on the way home. But I put the charger for the little camera battery in a very safe place equals now lost.

Other things I think about writing about are how this Saturday I went early into Mayfair to John Frieda to see my wonderful hairdresser and had even more hair cut off, properly. By heck it’s good now. I’d like to photograph my new haircut. I won’t photograph my new maternity bras from M&S but I will photograph all the new makeup I bought after I presented myself at the Chanel counter in Selfridges, advising them I’d not had makeup for two years and now needed some. And when I get paid next and go back to Selfridges and buy the Chanel sunglasses I’ve been coveting for some time now I shall also photograph those. A Chanel portrait.

I’ll also photograph the perfume Kevin bought for me from Space NK and the things I bought the day after Kevin bought me the perfume but from a different Space NK, because I was so excited by the shop I just needed to go back and buy tweezers, a body brush and a nail buffer.

Those are the things I want to write about. And I also want to visit Rob Ryan’s new shop in Columbia Road. Ryantown. Rob and Yvonne have some naming ideas in common! And I still haven’t photographed the amazing washcloths from Di that have revolutionised things around here – and now I find out they’re for doing dishes, not washing faces! Yvonne sent us some amazing stuff including this book and this book which you all really do need to see.

But for now I shall wish for my charger to make a miraculous reappearance, do some work then retreat downstairs a few minutes after ten to do a row or two of the blanket. And I’ll also tell you I’m very very pleased it’s been raining. I’ll keep on saying it, I just love the rain.

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July 27th, 2008

A is for…

Babychops. Or so we keep telling her. Thank you Aunty Vonne!

Kevin got my table on Saturday and so out came the sewing machine and the little room had more tidying. But it’s been so hot here I could only do five minutes work before I would have to stop and feel ill for another five minutes. Repeat for one hour. Go downstairs for shelter. But the little room is coming along nicely hot though it may be.

This week was Astrid’s first time at the new childminder’s and so far she has learnt to poke her tongue out and spin around and fall on the floor. Tonight Astrid waved. Yep, at long last we actually got not just one wave, but a full three minutes all in one go.

Because I’ve stolen her room Astrid gets the living room for toys and fun things such as rainbow mobiles, blackboards and little chairs and tables. This also means we don’t have to put her alone upstairs to play with her stuff which would just be silliness.

Hat wearing shot for Lies and Ande - she loves the hat now! Loves it!

Now it’s too hot to write. Someone make it rain. Please.

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July 22nd, 2008

My little mezzanine

When I was little I used to like designing interiors. I would design fairy houses set in huge old tree trunks and plan rabbit warrens of rooms and sketch out the furniture placement and which way the doors would open. As I grew older I did the seating plans at school – I would draw where the desks would go and decide who sat next to whom (a long forgotten fact only recently unearthed upon discovering my old school reports).

Before I reached teenagerhood I gave up a really really really big bedroom at home for a small one on the condition dad would build me the mezzanine I had designed for it. The mezzanine would have asparagus ferns and other plants hanging from its beams. My purple silk would drape above and I could pretend I was in Arabian Nights. However my plans were scuppered when I didn’t manage to stick to the other part of the bargain; and that was to keep the new bedroom tidy for three months. In hindsight they must have known that was impossible and they were in fact getting a pretty good deal – although I did find it much easier to decorate the small room and remember wishing there was a contest I could enter it into for best decorated room.

Somewhere in my flickr stream there are photos of my old studio flat - which is just over the road from where we live now - illustrating just how messy my version of nice is. As I say in one of the captions – “before Kevin came along and tidied me up“.

So, I have, metaphorically speaking, kept my room tidy now for five years and my prayers have been answered. This weekend Kevin took Astrid out and I unpacked boxes and put away and sorted and hung things up. And now I have my own dream room, complete with handbag and hat collection on the wall, a knitting chair and a proper wooden ladder leading up to my secret hideout – the mezzanine. Next I’m going to ask for some time to sit in my knitting chair or up in my hideout to read all my books and knit all my squares and plan all future decorating work.

I have also been a very lucky girl and have received some lovely lovely post from Di and Yvonne which I’m just going to have to tell you all about very soon indeed! And then I’ll also tell you about all the amazing stuff we’ve been doing and all about how I am working five days a week at an agency in Brick Lane and how I’ve seen heaps of degree shows, including Textile Design (woo!) and how we’ve been to Borough Market and Neal’s Yard and Columbia Road again. And how I’ve ordered some heirloom tomato plants and how we planted the garden last weekend at long last. And the amazing set of nested coffee tables I bought (Kevin thinks g-plan or ercol). And the fact this baby is starting to feel big. Or is that me feeling big? And my recent trips to Loop. And the knitting classes I’ve booked. And the wool I bought (oh. my.)

And and and… and I’ll take a photo and show you my mezzanine.

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July 6th, 2008

And then there was stuff

What a fun weekend we’ve had! Unpacking our stuff. And picking up the cats! We really must go out for some fresh air. No wonder I’m falling asleep. The cats just wandered in, plonked themselves down and made themselves right at home. I think we were more traumatised by their flight than they were – in fact, they’ve never looked so well.

The little sewing room’s taking shape, although I still need another ikea trip to get the smallest table they have. Today I unpacked all my japanese craft books and the fabrics. Last year really was one for stocking up on fabric. Cleverly I packed them all into plastic bags before we moved – as I now discover we’ve moved into Moth Central, North West London. Excellent planning.

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July 6th, 2008

A good reason to start knitting again

I know I’m always saying I can’t knit. Well, I can actually. I can knit little squares. No, they’re not for testing the gauge – that’s my real knitting.

This little blanket was started way way way back in time (here to be precise) and I only got half way before Astrid was born. But now I’m back in the land of being able to buy Debbie Bliss cotton DK in nice colours I might be able to revert it to all lilacs and blues and have it finished on time.

“On time?”, I hear you ask. Yes! On time. In approximately 28 weeks – that’s January to you and me. January. That ought to give me enough time to finish it don’t you think?

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July 6th, 2008

Craft again

Last week I finally managed to get myself to Cloth House. I’d been in once for a three minute scout while Kevin and Astrid had waited outside. This time I had all the time in the world. I was so amazed by the simple loveliness of the fabrics, the buttons and trims were just too much to bear so I saved them for another trip.

Ah… the hand printed indian cottons – there were two table tops with bolts stacked three high. It was impossible to decide so I just picked two.

And the voiles – a whole shelf of different colours. Not just white, cream and brown, oh no no, they have colours!

But the linens… the linens (you’ll have to look at 44 for those). The linens were just unbelievable – so many to choose from; thick, thin, rough, fine, purple, chambray, green, blue, grey, and every other colour under the sun. And then there was RED. Jeepers creepers the red linen made me want to jump right onto the bolt and fly away on it.

Now to clear the table, get my sewing machine out and make quick and easy shopping bags. And hang them up in the kitchen. That’s all. And then have another sleep. And then maybe bake the carrot cake I’ve been talking about all week. And then catch up on all my unanswered mails (sorry people with unanswered mails and comments – I really am going to have to sort myself out here). But not until I’ve had another sleep…

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June 30th, 2008

Here I am

This weekend saw us up in a small village just out of Leeds and a camera full of photos that need downloading. It also saw some lovely charity shop treasures, green and lovely riverside walks, a few treats for the garden and a lot of rain and cold.

The portfolio site is now ready for public view, although I could spend another week on it easily – print and photography aren’t even in there yet. In between interviews and our daily walks and the fact I put half my portfolio on a hard drive in the shipping. What a brilliant idea that was.

Speaking of shipping it arrives here tomorrow. We’ll have sofas and drawers and a decent choice of shoes and clothes. And a grater. And proper big towels. We’ll have cushions, throws, baking dishes and cookbooks. And on Saturday we’ll have cats! Yes! The pussy cats will be here soon – hooray!

So soon things will be more settled. The little house. The little lives. The little jobs. The little garden. Soon things will all be ticking over nicely. Very soon indeed.

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June 24th, 2008

Yoo-ii shop update

I’ve been checking on a daily basis and can now report Yoo-ii has updated her shop.

Waterlilies – design by Yoo-ii • letterpress printing by lynn russell | satsuma press

There are three limited edition prints available – two gocco prints and one letterpress collaboration. I love Yoo-ii’s unique geometric and abstract style of illustration.

Here

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June 16th, 2008

Evening walks on the Heath

And a lament for the Greek shop of Dartmouth Park

I said to Kevin this time I wanted to walk on the Heath every day – and not just get so used to it being on my doorstep and I would simply forget, or be too lazy as I was in the past. So yesterday evening when I was in bed reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle Kevin hauled me out, we all wrapped up warmly and off we set over the Heath, to Swain’s Lane, down to Dartmouth Park and back.

We discovered my favourite shop and main reason for wanting to move, one day, to Dartmouth Park is gone. The lovely rustic wooden exterior, darkened by years of wear and weather. Gone. Replaced by shiny white tiles and bleak steel joinery. The inside once a clutter of dusty wooden shelves, dark wood floors – a hive of local bustle – a deli counter harbouring bottles of hand-pressed olive oil, hand-made cheeses, salamis and hams. Gone.

Where vegetables, full of life were once displayed in wooden boxes, now the usual manufactured produce lies in green plastic bins. The light so bright. The floor so shiny. The shelves grinning sarcastic metallic smiles. You are gone.

Oh the Greek shop of Dartmouth Park you have gone. The fresh loaves that used to grace the front window. An empty shelf of flour late in the day. An interior at least twenty five years old, all wooden and showing your age we loved you so. You’ve now been swept over by progress. Your soul cemented over and covered in shiny grey lino. You have gone you have gone.

A new shop has sprung up in Swain’s Lane, full of organic produce and hope. So all is not lost. Not lost at all. Perhaps the soul of the Greek shop has moved there. Maybe it has.

Yesterday we were blessed with one of my favourite lights for photography – when the sun’s going down shining against dark dark clouds.

And I also wanted to say thanks so much everyone for your lovely comments and welcomes to London – it’s really really lovely to arrive with such greeting and well wishes! Many of you have asked why we moved to London – well it’s a long story so I shall post about that once my CV is out in circulation and I’ve built my new portfolio site.

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June 11th, 2008

Little collections

Before we left I organised a few house warming gifts to self to ensure we had some personal touches to make the house feel like home when we arrived.

Having white walls and high ceilings means I’m more in love with our new home than I think I’ve ever been with a house I’ve been living in. And coming from IKEA-free New Zealand means it’s always doubly exciting to move to Europe and go crazy at IKEA. Twice!

And while we’re on the subject of inbound post – my Superbuzzy order worth $47.00 had a customs charge of £12.22 (£4.22 tax and £8 handling fee). Add on $15.90 for postage and that makes for one heck of an expensive 2.5 yards of fabric. Lucky then that I bought a lifetime’s supply of fabric last year because I don’t think I’ll be ordering any more in a hurry.

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June 11th, 2008

London, sweet London

Oh it’s so good to be back. Better than we’d ever imagined in fact. We’ve walked and walked and walked and walked. Through Soho, from here to Camden, back to Belsize Park, up to Hampstead, around the Heath, through the City, up to Hackney and from here to South End Green countless times. We’ve walked more than we walked in an entire 18 months in Auckland.

walking up to Belsize Park – London believes in meadows

We’ve eaten rhubarb yoghurt, parma ham from Carluccios, cranks wholemeal loaf, lurpak butter, proper english sausages, strawberries, plums, pret twice for breakfast, spinach and ricotta pastries, incredible raw-food mango cake from Spitalfields, salt beef beigel, smoked salmon and cream cheese beigel from Brick Lane, and I had the best ever Mocha from the coffee house by Spitalfields.

our Street

Sunday morning saw us up bright and early and on the bus to Farringdon where we walked to Spitalfields while everyone was setting up – it was brilliant being there without the crowds then on we went to Brick Lane. Too early for Labour and Wait so up to Columbia Road (all minus camera of course!) where my crowd combat method is to walk down behind the market on the footpath and dip in and out to look at the flowers and plants. And to buy herbs and alliums of course.

kitchen herbs

That night we walked up to GPK for dinner, just to ensure we didn’t need to eat for another week at least. They’ve got coleslaw now which tastes as though it’s half sugar. Astrid liked her burger though. And she shouted a lot too.

Astrid yelling for burger

Then our weary little feet carried us back home. To a new home that’s very quickly and naturally feeling like home home. This is my favourite place in the world to live this little Street we’re in. And our little cottage is better than we could ever have hoped for.

view from the kitchen (note strawberry hanging baskets)

And in only a few short weeks we’ll have our stuff, the cats will be here, Astrid’s childcare will all be sorted and we’ll both be working. Simple (she says collapsing in a heap).

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