Kokakos and notebooks

I found this wonderful tile at a local garage sale recently.  It lives in my work room, and gives me a little lift every time I settle in with a cup of tea.  I'm sorry to say it took me a long while to realise it must be a kokako.  My New Zealand native bird knowledge is obviously sadly lacking!

Making more little notebooks this week.  The one on the left is covered in a paper bag from Folio Books in Brisbane.  Love that place.

My Creative Space

Lots of making going on around here lately.  Not much posting!   I decided to join in this week's My Creative Space after reading a very inspiring post from Kate over at Fox's Lane.  Here's to getting more involved!

I have been lugging this chair from house to house for approx ten years, with the vague intention of re-upholstering it.  Anyway, I finally got around to doing a night class.  A bit of extra padding, lots of stapling (and just as much pulling staples out) and here is the result.  I should really have taken a better 'before' shot... this photo was taken after I had stripped off the first lot of faded green check.  I came across this amazing Trelise Cooper fabric discounted because it was the end of a roll. (Just as well ... it required 3 and a half metres of fabric due to the large pattern repeat and the original price almost took my breath away).    It's a bit hard to tell from the photo, but the light blue pattern is a kind of velour. Very luxurious!  Now I'm itching to make a start on the next chair in the garage.

Little Red Riding Hood

I recently bought some red wool to make myself a Tessuti cape (which afterwards I regretted a little.  Can an adult wear a red cape?)  Anyway, I just happened to come across a pattern for a little cape in the Oliver + S book - Little Things to Sew that required exactly the amount of fabric I had left over.  It was very easy, and fun to make.  I'm pleased with the way it turned out.  Unfortunately my 18 month old daughter is not so keen.  I managed to get it on her for about five seconds for the photo, but haven't managed to get it anywhere near her since.

bookbinding

I've been playing around with making books lately. Here's one I made for a friend's 40th birthday. It's a notebook/sketchbook, with a linocut print bound into it. The handmade paper used for the cover came via a friend from Basler Papiermühle, the Swiss Museum for Paper, Writing and Printing. I visited this amazing place in Basel, Switzerland a couple of years ago and was blown away floors and floors of papermaking, bookbinding and printing equipment and demonstrations. Anyway, more on that another time. Here's the book.

Post #1

Right, here goes.  To start with, a reminder from a wonderful trip to Paris a couple of years ago. If only I had a bigger suitcase....