July 2007

July 27th, 2007

Wish us luck



Photo from a shoot this week for indice.

The past couple of weeks have been so packed full of things happening. Lovely NZ has taken off – especially Lovely Blogs and Lovely Shops – as I’d imagined. Whip Up did a post on it and everyone said they had a big spike in blog traffic. I never really got much past the “I have to create this site” thought, so it’s fun watching what happens.

We went up to Matakana last weekend and met two gorgeous girls at a shop called The Cream of Matakana. They knew Melissa of Tiny Happy and we had heaps to talk about. It’s so very cool when you dig and dig and then just chance upon nice people like that. They are looking for cool and stylie crafty stuff – so all you crafty girls and boys they want to hear from you.

On Monday Astrid and I go in to hospital for the entire week. Tuesday is the day of Astrid’s operation. It’s a cosmetic surgery job to iron out her forehead which fused months before she was born. So, in order for her not to have a pointy head and potentially squish her brain they’re operating on it. It’s a four hour operation and they actually take the whole thing out, reshape it and put it back in. We’ve been leading up to this ever since she was born so it’s going to be so good to get it out of the way. I’m really not looking forward to the long wait while she’s in theatre but I know she’ll be fine – they do this operation six times a year and have been doing it for thirty years and babies don’t die from it.

We’ll be in the hospital until next Saturday so they can keep an eye on her. I’m taking in the last few of my aromatherapy assignments and case studies to write up so I’ll be able to get my diploma.

Little Orchard shop was built yesterday. All it needs now is for me to do some styling and take the product shots. Ingredients and packaging are being sent in from around the world. There are some exquisite little essences on their way. And a very special floral water I have scoured the world for (seriously I spent days and days looking for it). Much as I’d like to buy locally I can’t get everything here. So France and Italy will have to do. Although I do have one organic famer growing me a crop for distillation as we speak. Gosh that sounds so amazing to say that doesn’t it! (I think so).

It’s a culmination of so many years’ work; from the idea – to researching it – to studying in London and finding flickr; where I’ve found so much more inspiration than I’d dreamed of and met so many wonderful and supportive people. If nothing else this has been well thought out – I came up with the idea in 2000(!)

Yay – I have just that minute organised going into Nature Baby tomorrow to do a story on them. I’m photographing three shops tomorrow as I don’t know how much Astrid and I will be out and about after the operation and I’ll definitely be wanting some new content for Lovely Shops.

Right. I had better and go and do the jobs I have successfully put off all day while I’ve been updating the Lovelies.

40 Comments »

July 18th, 2007

More Koharu no Fuku

Well I decided to finally look up the meaning of my favourite book, and it means clothes of the early autumn. And here I am making things from this book in wool. But it’s the easy book and a good one for me to become reacquainted with sewing again.



Astrid’s green woolen dress also doubles as a bib, especially when worn with matching scarf. We can last at least a few hours before a full change of clothes is in order.



Astrid’s really starting to blossom. She’s such a friendly smiley fun baby and we are enjoying entertaining each other during the day. Nothing like a big squeal from mummy to elicit a huge smile!!

Later this week we’ll be venturing away from Koharu no Fuku into the realms of Onnanoko no Fuku (girls clothes). We’ll be making a long sleeved top with flower and pocket decoration, using some of the beautiful merino I got from the Global Fabrics sale.

14 Comments »

July 18th, 2007

Of feathers and pillows

Remember the feather pillows I was talking about making – the ones in Simple Sewing with a French Twist? Well, I made one. And I’ve made the covers for two more, but I’m putting off the stuffing part.



Yes, the stuffing part. Next time I’ll be wearing a protective mask and glasses. And maybe a boiler suit.

You know in cartoons when you see someone rip open a feather pillow and all hell breaks loose, well they aren’t lying! Feathers really are totally weightless, and go in one direction. Up.

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July 18th, 2007

And the winners are…

The cards and prints go to Maria in London and Veronica in Las Vegas (next to the beautiful desert). I have flown over that desert many many times and it is an incredible landscape.

These are the last remaining full sets of these cards from my 2004 run – making way for the new edition being printed next month.



And a surprise prize goes out to Nicky, also in London, for a blog contest nobody knew they were even entering when I asked for some help on a typeface decision. Little Orchard shop is slowly slowly coming to fruition. Things are all being put in place behind the scenes.

Nicky wins a Liberty print zip purse / pencil case / make up case – complete with hand stitched lining and a light sprinkling of home-made charm on the zip sewing skills.



Thanks everyone for entering – it was fun – and not to worry if you didn’t win this time – there will be plenty more little contests around here.

Oh, and Astrid and I did pay a visit to our local lovely yarn studio – so please do have a look – it’s over in Lovely Shops.

4 Comments »

July 11th, 2007

Salvage

If you haven’t managed to have a look yet, do go and check out my new post on Salvage – our local vintage fabric shop which has had a few mentions so far on this blog – now it’s got a permanent home with lots of photos over at Lovely Shops.



And watch this space – tomorrow Astrid and I are visiting Cait MacLennan Whyte to take some photos of her wonderful yarn shop which she runs – on Thursdays only – from her garden studio in Herne Bay.

8 Comments »

July 10th, 2007

Link to Lovely NZ

If you would like to put a link to Lovely NZ on your blog please copy and paste the code below. There have been a few problems with me putting the code on this page as the characters keep converting themselves grr! I think this form text box should sort things out. Please @anknelandburblets.com">email me if you have trouble.

<a href=”http://www.lovelynz.co.nz” border=”0″ alt=”Lovely NZ”><img src=”http://www.lovelynz.co.nz/img/lovelyNZbadge150.gif” /></a>

5 Comments »

July 9th, 2007

What I’ve been doing

This.



I’ve been making Lovely NZ websites. And I’m excited about it! It’s all part of coming back to New Zealand – I feel the need to rediscover this place.

Really, I feel more at home in London than I do here and this is a way for me to go out and talk to people about what they’re doing; and for me to find, and show others, the lovely and interesting in New Zealand and put it all in once place.



We’ll be beginning in Auckland of course, but we’ll start making more weekend trips away. I just can’t believe Kevin is allergic to scallops beause it’s the Coromandel scallop festival in a few weeks. Maybe we’ll just go anyway and I won’t tell him about the scallops.



I would love to hear from people who have suggestions and ideas or who just want to say something about it. You know I only came up with the idea six weeks ago. I can’t believe I’ve actually built the sites and written a few stories already. It’s something I’ve actually been doing for years now – but always working for other people.



So I feel incredibly satisfied and happy about this project.

Very content indeed. (And I’m also in a very good mood because Camper has at last reached our far-flung shores).

10 Comments »

July 6th, 2007

Loop sale starts Saturday



Debbie Bliss Baby Alpaca Silk DK & Cotton Cashmere
Louisa Harding Kimono Angora & Kimono Angora Pure, Kimono Ribbon & Kimono Ribbon Pure, Kashmir Aran & Kashmir DK
Lana Grossa Piccolo
K1C2 Jam
RY Classic Cotton Jeans
Noro Cash Iroha
Laines du Nord Opaline, Modella and Madras

Starting this Saturday 7th July, from 11am, they are marking these fifteen yarns at 40% off (while stocks last) to make way for all the gorgeous and exciting sixteen NEW yarns they have coming in for the Autumn/Winter.

Loop
41 Cross Street
Islington, London
N1 2BB

phone 020 7288 1160

www.loop.gb.com

1 Comment »

July 5th, 2007

There’s a new Fred in Town

If you haven’t read it over at Yvestown, Fred has appeared on the blogging scene just recently. Hi Fred!

He emailed me a couple of weeks back telling me about his fabric collection and the next day his wonderful blog materialised just brimming with posts!



I am so glad Fred and WordPress have become such good friends.
Which is good because we all NEED to see Fred’s nice things!



Fred sold some of the fabrics in one of her books to Cath Kidston and he’s got a house full of stuff. According to the man himself, Fred is a MAXIMALIST.

In my email I also told him if I was still in the UK I’d be around there in a flash taking photos for the book he should be writing. And taking some of that vintage fabric off his hands if he needed more space in his basement. Yvonne doesn’t know this but I volunteered her as stylist for the book too.

And Fred most definitely needs to write a book. Which in starting a blog I think he’s begun. And a big YAY for that. The world needs more cool dudes like Fred.

4 Comments »

July 3rd, 2007

Cards and prints giveaway

To celebrate the arrival of my prints (for the soon-to-be shop) I am giving away a set of ten mixed greeting cards from my 2004 edition and a 5 x 7 print each to two lucky winners.



To enter simply @anknelandburblets.com?subject=giveaway%20entry">send me an email or leave a comment below.

Two winners will be drawn at random two weeks from today (July 17th, 2007) and will be notified by email. (Your email address will not be passed on, or used for anything else.)

47 Comments »

July 3rd, 2007

Productivity

Today got off to a brilliant start with the arrival of Alison’s famous Mandarin Jam. Alison’s [quote] enthusiastic packaging material included some rather delightful items, which have come to a happy new home.

I was very surprised to find all of these little extras propping the marmalade up, all beautifully colour-coordinated and nestled in a kraft filing box. Alison so kindly included some Aunty Cookie ‘home sweet home’ fabric which I can’t wait to use!

We’ll be enjoying the jam, as instructed, on fresh sourdough, toasted, with organic French butter and a good cup of tea. I did have a sneak taste of it and it tastes so so so delicious.

Anknel and Burblets say they’ll be eating Alison’s jam for breakfast, lunch and dinner.



In other happenings I’ve been very productive having taken some time out from flickr. Millie’s bag is nearly finished. And to celebrate I’ve got out my Cath Strawberry fabric and am making some more bits for the one-day (as in it’ll happen one day) shop. Things are slowly piling up in the cupboard.



Speaking of the online shop. I built it last week. Then tore it down again as I really didn’t like Zen Cart. It reminded me of a late 90s content management system. Erk. So Little Orchard Shop is still a couple of weeks away yet.

The fabrics from Jen have all been neatly filed down the right hand side of my winebox. I have a bit of a thing for wineboxes and would use them for all my storage if I had enough of them.



I went to Global Fabrics again the other day to have a look at their linens and pick up a sample for Alison of So Tread Softly. The excellent news is they have branches in Wellington and Christchurch and the other, sort of, good news was they were having a bit of a large sale happening on merino and some of their cashmeres. I was not in the good books when I came home sporting this lot:



And here’s a close-up on that Donna Karan linen.


Astrid’s getting a new dress and trousers, as soon as I ever manage to sew them. The little scarf is from my favourite book Koharu no Fuku (in case I haven’t mentioned it often enough). I’ve made four so far – they’re lovely and quick to make, so are excellent gifts.



And here’s the bag I made from Simple Sewing with a French Twist. It’s the Rive Gauche carry-all. (Should you ever choose to use that pattern I would omit the slits and make sure you edge the bits the handles go through). This used the vintage tie fabric and bamboo handles from Salvage and the lovely green lining from Global Fabrics.



The new sites I am building are nearly done and now waiting for content. I had a bit of a buggeration with the logo I wanted to use and to cut a long story short I have to change it to avoid any potential copyright issues.

I’m really excited about them and just want to spend all my time going out and getting the stories. I have one, which I’ll be able to show you soon – which will then reveal the game plan.

The postman also very kindly delivered my photo prints from the UK last week and to celebrate that I’m having a bit of a give-away. And on that note I’ll go and write the give-away post.



Not forgetting of course the weekly Astrid photo just to catalogue her growing up. We like this photo because it captures the sense of ‘baby’ in Astrid. Linen bunny from Nature Baby.

9 Comments »

July 3rd, 2007

The magic of flickr friends

And new ones at that.

I was blown away by Jen of String and Scissor’s generosity and her enormous vintage fabric collection that she must have been just bursting to share. I am so so so lucky. Really lucky :)

Here is part of my thank you email dotted throughout the photos.



The care that has gone into each little bundle is wonderful and incredible and each a little treasure chest full of beauty.



I hope that in photographing them I have captured a bit of the magic in each one; and the joy of two hours and three cups of tea unwrapping everything!



Astrid and I would like to say thank you from the absolute bottom of our hearts.



We have been absolutely blessed to receive this beautiful gift from you and we feel very honoured indeed to have received a gift which has had such great thought and intention put into it.



And I know you will say, ‘oh don’t be so silly’ but there will be a little extra swap thank you heading out in the post in the next few days.









Thank you Jen :)

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