work in progress... sunnyside up!

  Hello!

I have been busy, not doing anything too exciting that no one has done before, but crafting felt food for the gherkin's (shhh) birthday present.

I am pretty happy with my eggs (easy) and love my pile of beans! I am now a complete convert to wool felt - this process has shown me just how much better wool felt is to work with.  My bread is ok - love the shape and thickness, although if I had my time again I would make with quilt wadding rather than just stuffing it with polyfill, so it didn't puff up too much. I am very unimpressed by my first watermelon attempt - I think I really have to make a three dimensional slice,rather than trying to cheat with a flat version! Cheating never pays...

Sadly, I am only able to handstitch these, as my machine is strictly off-limits at night due to our teeny weeny new home in Sydney and our very light sleepers...
So, next on the list is... more fruit and veg. Because the gherkin has significant allergy to nuts and peanuts (and not long ago, sesame too), he hasn't eaten much packaged food, so all of the foods I will be putting in his kitchen will be the key staple sorts of foods - bread, pasta, fruit, veg. I also want to make up some cartons for milk etc. And bought a small variety pack size box of weetbix (you know the single serve sized boxes) yesterday just for the box! (weetbix is the only cereal we can eat in this house when mummy's not doing porridge).

I have been super-inspired by a number of felt food genii (?the plural for genius?) on the net...

amazing range (and diy e-books for purchase) from lilly bean

gorgeous lunchbag tutorial from skip to my lou

plus many many many more.... it seems the world loves felt food. My Pinterest has been getting a real workout!

Have fun, I'll check back in shortly with another update.

xo

crafty books for kids

Hi again!

The pickles clan took a wee trip to the library yesterday, and picked up a great couple of crafty books for the gherkin (and for me too).

Joseph had a Little Overcoat is a 1999 book by Simms Taback, and is all about the art of reuse and refashion. Joseph starts off with an overcoat which then becomes a vest, a tie, a hankerchief etc... and in the end turns the whole experience into a story! It is a lovely read (based on a great concept), but of course what first caught my eye was the gorgeous illustrations.

Crafty of course because of the story. And check out the back cover... buttons - yippee!

Another of the books is by Clare Beaton, whose multimedia (mostly felt applique it seems) illustrations are just gorgeous, and have been a favourite with the gherkin since I bought him one of her books as his first ever book (before he was born)

This time from the library we have picked up Mrs Moon. One of my favourite illustrations would have to be this one, although this nursery rhyme still completely freaks me out...

I love the fabric choice for the tree! A lovely read with my boys and a bit of inspiration for me, too.

Do you find yourself picking books "for your kids" which are actually for you? Or are you (as I was pre-kids) an avid childrens book collector? What are your favourites?

I'll pop back later with my fab opshop finds for the toy kitchen and just because, a bit later.

Chat soon xo

cottage industry... have i mentioned my visit?

Probably have forgotten to mention that I visited Cottage Industry when I was last in sunny Melbs. Cottage Industry is the baby of the lovely Pene, and is where I spotted my first ever in real life doily tree....



[sigh] Lovely!

I had almost completely forgotten about this visit until just the other day when on holidays with all of my boys, and flicking through a pile of my sister's old inside out magazines, and found a photo of the lovely Pene herself!

The article was just okay - more of a pictorial than the sort of article I was interested to read about this gorgeous woman... her blog is so warm. But that said the photos were lovely and the shop itself on Gertrude St is just beautiful... if you are anywhere near Melbourne it is well worth the pop in to Cottage Industry. (And I wish you luck in any efforts to leave the store without one of the vintage teatowel ottomans...)
xx

shhh! (secret squirrel)

Shh! Secret squirrel post below...

I have another little boys' birthday coming up. The gherkin is turning three! Already...

And there is one thing that he love love loves at the moment - pretend play, especially relating to cooking, or picnics or cafes (gives away how we spend much of our time, really). So (shh) for his birthday he is getting something very exciting. A kitchen! So I have been trawling the net, looking for play kitchens online, cause this is something I want to make myself.

I thought before I start, I might include some inspiring images. These are some of my very favourite toy kitchens from around the web. Enjoy!

I will be posting here as I get mine going, as well as posting my felt food successes (and messes!). I know, the web is already overcrowded with pictures of toy kitchens, but this one is for a boy, and my boy, to boot.

Chat soon xo

what i did last night... finders keepers

Guess where I went last night???

And what a lovely night we had! Some highlights for me were:

paperboat press - gorgeous, pretty clay creations
brainbow - where I bought one of these
crayon chick  - where I found the most beautiful jute crochet garlands... which I am still considering buying online
and made590 were there, of course
and I also found the cutest of dresses, which i am now regretting not buying (or at least trying on)... and I have no idea who made it... anyone know who was just inside the front door with a big rack of dresses?

Oh! and the venue, atmosphere and music were great. Actually, really fantastic live music. Thankyou organisers, a good night out for this usually stay-at-home mummy.
xo

favourite markets coming up! 4th june 2011

I know, I am now living in Sydney, but my very favourite markets are coming up again in sunny Brunswick.

Yep, the sisters' market is on 4th june melbourne people, so be sure to get there! Be tempted by the gorgeous bags by the very lovely Carla of emotional baggage or the very beautiful (and sometimes a wee bit cheeky!) ceramic design from and o designs (and of course plenty more).

Brunswick Town Hall
10am-4pm
Saturday 4th June.

Enjoy, lucky Melbourners!
xo

ps. anyone in NSW know any local (good) markets up near Sydney?

crafty commutes... and trying something new

 

(shhh) commuter bunny

 Well, hello there! (anyone still out there?)

If you are still stoppping by, you are a more patient creature than I --- I have been absent for ages, but thinking of blogging every day... if only I could work out the trick to mobile blogging!

commuter crochet

Life for the pickles clan has been so very different. New city, new home, new roles. I have been back to work full time whilst Mr Pickles has been staying at home with the Gherkin and Little Pickle (and the Pug, of course!). I have missed my little men terribly, but we are now (after three months) swapping back... back to being full time stay at home mummy again, whilst Mr Pickles goes back to the land of 9 to 5.

So, what have we learned about how the other half lives over the past three months?

1. Working is easy. Much easier than being a stay at home mum. BUT I cannot live without my boys. I could not sustain the absence from my boys for any longer, in fact, with only two weeks to go, I am dreading every single day away from them.

 

commuter craft - there's no place like... - small stitching for my workmates to hang in the office

(you can't see in this terribly lit photo, but there are cute little lines flying aound these ruby slippers)

2. Mr Pickles is an amazing, incredible, wonderful dad. I always knew about the amazing, incredible, wonderful man part, but less so about the competent dad part. I never gave him enough space or time to allow him to feel or show me how competent he really is. And he is fantastic. And our precious boys have grown in very different ways because of him - the Gherkin is funnier, Little Pickles giggles more, they do all sorts of funny stuff together... it has been really important for all of them, and for me too, to aspire to being able to parent like Mr Pickles.

3. Long commutes are brilliant for crafting! 3 hours on a train each day (I know, disgusting!) and I have been crafting up a storm. In fact, all the photos in this post are commuter crafts. Sydney commuters, it seems, are less familiar with the crocheting commuter, but my local, regular commuting friends adjusted.

Anyway, I hope you are all well and happy and I will be posting again soon :)

Have fun xo

ugh - can't get my bluetooth to work to get my mobile crafting photos into this post... technology! working on it... hope to have some more craft pics in here soon x

oh! and a little something the gherkin and i did together -

calico and food colouring in spray bottles.

so messy, and so much fun!