May 2007

May 31st, 2007

Delivered

Today’s vege box; we got the medium size just to see what it was like as we could have done with more fruit last week.



Looks like cauliflower will be on the menu and I think I see a pear cake on the horizon. Must get some walnuts for rocket salad with parmesan and pears. Roasted squash on brown rice with caramelised red onion. Spinach and kumara soup. More beetroot salad! The mandarins are super sweet and delicious – I have already eaten three!

What would you make?

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May 31st, 2007

Garden magic

I was making tea earlier and looking out at the garden I noticed steam coming off the leaves and a beautiful spider’s web sparkling in the sunlight. I just had to take some pictures to show you how beautiful it was.


It is cold this morning. And still. Just magic!

And… this time four years ago Kevin and I had not quite met – but only a few hours from now we would meet on a hot hot day at the Garden Gate next to the Heath. We spent the whole day together until 10 and again the next day… and the next… and the next…

Bon anniversaire Kevin : ) xx

The other good news is that our grapefruit tree is coming on for a second run. And the garden is absolutely filled with new bulb growth – Spring will be like a magical mystery surprise garden show.

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May 30th, 2007

Week of the kitchen



{ This is my fave photo of the week – the lovely delicate french glasses we use for wine }

Following the delivery of our wonderful organic vege box I am pleased to announce the quality of cooking and eating in the house has gone through the roof – it’s really inspiring being given a box of veges – here you go – make something with this!

Our new Habitat pan has also got me hankering to be in the kitchen. I am totally in love : )



We’re pretty much at the end of the veges so I made a Leek and Potato soup – and the beetroot salad I’ve been eating for lunches every day.

Leek and potato soup



Slice 2 leeks and pan fry in a deep pan until golden brown. Slice 2 potatoes, chop some sage leaves and add to the mix. Once the potatoes are looking a bit cooked (2-3 mins) add in just over a litre of stock (chicken / beef / veg). Add salt and pepper, put the lid on and simmer for 25 minutes. Serve topped with a sprinkling of parmesan.

Beetroot salad



Grate or dice 1 big fresh beetroot and 2 carrots. Dice a tomato or two and a green pepper (capsicum). Put it all in a nice big bowl.

Make a yummy viniagrette: Into a jar add 2 parts oil, 1 part vinegar, juice of a lemon, a teaspoon of dijon mustard, a teaspoon of sugar, salt and pepper and a pile of fresh thyme leaves. Put the lid on the jar and shake. Pour over the salad items and toss. Sprinkle with pumpkin seeds. This is also good served on a bed of salad greens.

Poor old sewing machine though hasn’t had much of a look-in! Although I am working away on some more zip pouches in Liberty Phoebe babycord, lined with Betsy tana lawn. Yes – they are just delicious! And I do have a plan for them which shall be revealed in due course…



And I’ll also make some with these fabrics:



We did the second coat of white paint in the kitchen and half of the hallway. And, following young Miss Nicky‘s request, I have just taken some photos so you guys can watch progress as we renovate.

All we’ve done so far is a bit of paint – and there’s a lot to go ! The dark blue paint in the hallway illustrates what we have just had to paint over (in hallway pt. 2). It’s had two coats and needs more – and we still have hallway pt. 1 to do!



I’ll leave you with our kitchen enjoying its new walls by candlelight.



Have a fab week (and Queen’s birthday weekend if you’re lucky enough to have that) !!

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Just a boring footnote regarding Bloglines subscriptions – I stupidly added in the WordPress one, which doesn’t display images in Bloglines. If you would like to get the RSS one, which does display images please choose the second one down that says: http://www.anknelandburblets.com/?feed=rss2. If you’d like to do that now here’s the link.

Sorry about that folks… and thanks to all of you have updated your subscriptions : )

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May 26th, 2007

Polaroid fun

I bought myself a polaroid camera last October and was, only afterwards, told I couldn’t get the film for it as it’s quite an oldie. Went into the shop today to see what we could do and it turns out I only need regular 600 film. Trés cool!

The viewfinder is a bit all over the place so it’s total guesswork in these early days where to actually point the camera !!!



7 Comments »

May 25th, 2007

Autumn

I think it is high time for an Autumn post! The leaves are turning and the ground is slowly becoming littered with beautiful shades of brown, orange and red. Time for me to buckle down and finish up all my current projects – so I can get going on my new ideas.



And yes, here I am at my new online home. Please be sure to update your bloglines subscription. Or, click here to subscribe to the RSS feed. Hopefully the site is all tested properly – but if you do find any glitches or have any comments please let me know : )

Inspired by Alison’s Vessel Wednesday image we’ve now got a weekly order in for a delivery box of organic produce. It reminds me how in London we’d just pop into the local shops at Baron’s Court or nip into Fresh and Wild Soho before getting on the tube – such an enjoyable daily ritual. But with me on maternity leave right now it’s easier – and uses less petrol – to have it delivered. Yay!



Soon it will be time for us to dig the new vegetable patch and get ready to order our fruit trees. I am so excited, but I also need to contain my excitement a bit longer while I finish the tasks at hand. We have had such a busy social life (yes, believe it or not!!!) that Kevin and I have barely spent any time during the weekends at home recently. So this weekend we are all set for more painting, curtain-making and for me to start making Astrid’s winter blanket.



I’ve bought a few metres of various Cath Kidston cotton duck fabrics on eBay over the past month or so – for projects around the house – and no doubt a few bags. It’s so exciting having a house to decorate from scratch – although I must admit I’d secretly be quite happy if the walls would all paint themselves white.

And in case anybody was wondering if I’ve made anything with the purple flower fabric – yes I have – and there are designs for skinny handbags with leather handles in the pipeline too.



Funnily, I just about gave myself a heart attack the other day when I got so excited about a piece of vintage French Fabric on eBay and I got my top bid ready and confirmed it at 12 seconds. I didn’t end up with the fabric but it took me about two hours to calm down from the entire experience because I just got totally over-excited about it! I must admit that isn’t a usual occurrence – has that ever happened to you?

In the post this week was a big box of licorice allsorts from a printing company who will do the packaging for my skincare range – hooray for them!



And in outgoing post is my first ever swap – with Laura from North Carolina. I have just looked that up on the map and can report it is on the East Coast – about half way up. I am actually quite keen to visit America – the landscapes look just so vast and breathtaking – and I must confess the thrift shops look pretty good too.


Tempting as it is to show a sneak peek of what is inside this box, I am not going to because it would entirely spoil the surprise!

7 Comments »

May 20th, 2007

Seven things

I’ve been tagged by Carson !
And I tag Tanja…

Each person tagged gives seven random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write on their blogs seven facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag one other and list their name on your blog. You have to leave the person you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and need to read your blog.

7 random things about me. + 1 because I got a bit carried away.

{ One }



I met my best friend Polly when we were seven. we’ve somehow been best friends ever since even though she moved to London when we were 14. I visited her in 1990 when I lived in Germany and moved there in 1998. Polly has just moved back to Auckland. Yay!

This photo was taken in Hyde Park, May 2003.

{ Two }



I met Kevin through an online dating agency! Whilst reading TimeOut London one day I noticed they had a new site, TimeOutDating.com. I joined, put Kevin in my shopping basket, he contacted me. We didn’t do that whole email me a list of… kind of thing. Neither of us thought that was cool.

We met on May 31st 2004 at The Garden Gate in South End Green just by the Heath. He texted to say he’d be late. I phoned him asking what he wanted to drink. He fell in love then. I fell in love about five minutes after that.

This photo was taken at Madrid Airport August 2004.

{ Three }

If I had to choose only one food in the world ever to eat again it would be carrots. I love them in salad, spag bol, as they are, and sliced on toast. I think they are best sliced on toast. Second runner up would be rice and salad. Third runner up would be Donna Hay’s orange and poppy-seed cake made with spelt flour.

{ Four }



Astrid is named after Astrid Lindgren who is the author of my favourite book, The Brother’s Lionheart. It’s been my favourite book since we were read it at school when I was about 10. I went to the Auckland Steiner School from age 7 to age 14. That’s where Polly and I met.

{ Five }



When I was a kid my Dad was into the teachings of a guy named Da Free John. He wrote a lot of books about, well, life, and attaining enlightenment. When I was 11 we went off to his sanctuary in the states. It was called Mountain of Attention and it was about 4 hours from San Francisco in a bus. Well, it was just so much fun for me – hanging out with heaps of girls my age, doing yoga, wandering around the manicured gardens, picking flowers, meditating… there was a zoo there with a llama, secret wells and springs hidden amongst little temples here and there. A girl I made friends with, Cairo – she and I got kicked out of the school for kissing under the mistletoe out in the forest one day.

{ Six }


I lived in Germany for a year when I was 17 on an exchange. I lived in a tiny village called Angfurten, near Wiehl, near Gummersbach, near Köln. I still keep in touch with my host family and I still speak pretty fluent German. I have also lived in Belgium – in a tiny village on the German and Dutch borders – called Gemmenich. I was an au pair. That didn’t last long – only 4 months. I lived in London from 1998 until 2006 with a year back in Auckland in between.This photo is of the house I lived in in Germany.

{ Seven }

I went to University for about 4 months and studied completely the wrong things – ie international business. Needless to say that didn’t last long. My first job was as a calligrapher. I was 18 and earning about $80 an hour writing names on invites, table placings and name badges for the New Zealand Investment Conference. My second job was as a receptionist at a sharebroking agency where I got one half of my sharebroking papers. They changed their minds about training me as a sharebroker so I quit and got a job as a graphic designer. The rest is history.

{ Eight }

My ambition was always to be an interior designer then that changed to shoe designer at about 19. I was enrolled to go to the college in Melbourne but it closed down a week before I started. So here I am as a web designer with ambitions to be a fabric / fashion / accessory / paper goods designer with a skincare range.

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Right – I have to go and get Astrid ready, so I’ll finish this up and tag my peeps later !!

Have a fun Sunday…

11 Comments »

May 16th, 2007

Time travel + zips

Thanks everybody for helping me decide on the font for Little Orchard. The final logo design will be announced in the next few weeks!



Today’s Vessel Wednesday photo is of the old milk and cream bottles I happily discovered on a bit of a nostalgia trip last Saturday. They’re joined, on our kitchen table, by a Rosa Pomar print. Do you remember the old milk bottles? Wouldn’t it be great if they brought them back!

For mother’s day Kevin baked a sponge cake (albeit with organic spelt flour and unrefined sugar) which I decorated in true 70s style – with raspberry jam, whipped cream, mandarins and kiwifruit. Lucky I don’t decorate cakes too often then : ) My mum thought it was pretty great though!!



Following my “Tickled Pink” post a couple of weeks ago Laura very kindly offered to do a swap for the Lotta Jansdotter book which I have been not-so-secretly coveting! Yay! Every time I think I’ve decided what I’ll make I find another exciting piece of fabric. Don’t worry Laura, I think I have now decided… (she says, dreamily staring into her pink label bowl).



On Friday night as I drove past my favourite fabric shop, Salvage (deserving of its own post one day), I spotted something truly divine in the window! A quick phone call on Saturday morning secured it – although after our big day of sorting I nearly forgot to go and buy it – but I jumped in the car at twenty to five and raced over.

It’s 3.5 metres worth so I think we’ll get a few bags out of this baby!! (note my glasses on the fabric for size).



The rest of my week has been zips zips zips zips zips zips… I am seriously quite zipped out.

But! I can now sew zips. And I am now good at making pencil cases / glasses cases / makeup bags / tailors chalk cases… Yes! Here are some getting ready to be lined.



I really wanted there to be a way I didn’t have to hand-sew in the lining. But I didn’t find one, and it’s actually very satisfying and beautiful to have hand-sewn lining. Fabrics are Cath (how did I end up with 4 metres of the brown one!!) with Liberty tana lawn lining.



Angie asked earlier about where I studied aromatherapy…

Angie – I studied in London with ITHMA at Regent’s Park College. The reason I chose that particular course was because it was in Regent’s Park (what a joy every weekend to be there) and because they have a class trip to Provence for the chemistry module. Our teacher was Gabriel Mojay who’s quite well known in aromatherapy circles – his method uses oriental medicine as a platform for aromatherapy. Rather tricky to grasp – but once you’ve got it it makes so much sense. Here’s us in France. Yes it rained the whole time!!



And it’s raining the whole time here in Auckland too. Which is good. Because I ♥ the rain. Lots and lots and lots!

Have a fabbo week everybody : )

13 Comments »

May 9th, 2007

Little Orchard

I am very much loving Vessel Wednesday. I love how it gives me a simple task each week to complete. I have been really happy with the photos I’m taking for it. Thanks to Carson for thinking up such a brilliant idea! Today’s image is of a lilac porcelain bowl by Mud Australia. It is my absolute favourite item ever. In fact I’ve never actually used it – just carted it around from one side of the world to the other and back. As of today it’s officially a fruit bowl for organic granny smiths. : )



Thank you all so much for visiting and saying hello! I hope I have been and visited everyone who’s left messages here – but if I’ve missed anybody I’m terribly sorry – please give me a prod!!

My new little label I’m working on is called Little Orchard. It came about because people simply cannot say, let alone remember, Anknel and Burblets. (try looking away now and spelling out anknelandburblets.com). For those of you who are wondering, Anknel and Burblets are my childhood fairies. I’ve many stories to tell of all the fun and exciting things we made and got up to – but that’s another post altogether.

So, which typeface do you like best for using in the logo ?



Little Orchard is the chosen name because we are turning our place into a little orchard – with heaps of fruit trees and a (small) meadow out the front! We’re also putting in a big vege garden and I’m going to grow aromatic plants for culinary purposes and making my own essential oils and hydrosols. It’s so exciting being able to do all of this now. I think having children is such a wonderful thing to do at this time in life.

For the shop I’m beavering away on designing some fabrics, sewing things and finishing my aromatherapy diploma so we can officially dispense the magical Anknel and Burblets potions. We’ll have hairclips and girly things by Lotte Lello too. And of course some yummy butterfly prints. Yay I can’t wait till it’s all ready – I am just brimming with ideas and excitement!!



Kevin was off work ill today so he looked after Astrid while I finished sewing our His ‘n’ Hers shopping bags – pictured above. Now, is it strange that I just want to line everything?! I am totally doubling my workload but I am not sure I could manage to have an unlined bag anymore. Now I have my wonderful new sewing machine I could just sew all day!



I will leave you with a photo of our back lawn early this morning in beautiful Autumn light. Hope you all have a wonderful week : )



25 Comments »

May 7th, 2007

Tickled pink

My timetable went a bit skew wiff this week because I visited my mum on Friday so on Saturday I was going to continue craft day but instead spent most of it in hospital after falling out of the front door and dropping Astrid. Eeek. This is the same week we took her to a craft show where the music was so loud she screamed louder than the music. Cue one very fast exit!!

On Sunday morning I awoke to a very sore ankle and a flood of emails proclaiming new flickr contacts and blog comments. Hmmm. Something was afoot…. and that something was Yvonne !!

Ha ha ha ha ha!!! I just grinned and grinned for ages. How funny that my blog makes her want to do a little dance I chuckled away to myself. I’ll have to let her into the secret of my happiness – and that’s the ability to squeak (not hum) the song, “stop in the name of love” (and do all the moves at the same time) whilst outside admiring vintage hankies on the washing line. With your boyfriend listening.

Anyway, I thought, high time for a little blog update. There’s bag-making a-going-on but here’s a quick little tour of my day:



Oscar just generally being cute and happy whilst settling in. Rufus is being a bit of a big meanie still. But we love Oscar.



Some knitting. I’ve been doing this since last September. One day it will be a blanket for Astrid . It’s taking so long I will probably have to make a single bed spread. My guess is it’ll be done in three years. So far I’ve done 60 squares.



Current work in progress. Shopping bags for Kevin. These will be unbleached calico with applique bonsai prints on the front. I got the teatowel from a thrift shop. It looks like an old 70s one with three beautiful bonsai arrangements. Hopefully finished tomorrow night !!



Freshly arrived post + new pincushion. Yep, some yummy japanese craft books with dresses for little girls. Mmm full of lovely Liberty prints. Very glad I spent a lot of time at Liberty while I lived in London.



Currently reading – see above. I just love the library. Books are so much more expensive here, so I get everything I could possibly imagine out from the library and if something is a keeper I’ll order it. ( The Practical Knitting book was $1 at the fleamarket. ) Out of this lot I would buy Cath Kidston’s in print, stitch and the Florence Broadhurst one. But I won’t because I want the Lotta Jansdotter one instead. Which they don’t have at the library yet!!!



These flax baskets were a bargain at $10 each from Onehunga, and they fit all my fabrics in (except the huge cupboard full in the laundry) which is much better than squashing them into a big Liberty bag where they’d lived for too long. They’re great and have totally improved my life!!



Today’s timetable item: aromatherapy day. Yes! One day soon I will get my diploma! I am writing up all my case studies and then finishing assignments, so I’ll be a few more Mondays yet… it was soo tempting to just make today craft day again, but that would mean I would never get my diploma. I just love the timetable for helping me be so disciplined about my tasks.

Oh yes, so the point of this post was that my timetable went out a bit on Friday – ah how could I possibly miss craft day…. so off I go back to my bag sewing and a nice cup of chai.

7 Comments »

May 3rd, 2007

Time out

Have had a bit of time out from flickr and my blog as I’ve just spent way too much time on ‘the fun stuff’ and not been earning my keep. So I’ve written up a timetable and got my teeth into some bits of client work.

I’m still beavering away on my new brand for my shop. In fact I have quite a few brands which will all fit in neatly under the main shop umbrella. Yes the butterflies are all part of the master plan, which has been hatching since 1999 – so it will be well thought out to say the least.



Also in the studio there have been ads designed, new websites being built for clients and aromatherapy case studies and assignments getting finished off so I can get my diploma.

I’ve started seeing clients for custom skincare and dispensing medicated preparations which is what I really love. I must confess I’m not especially interested in massage at all (although I do enjoy it at the time). Mind you I did only study aromatherapy so I could make products so that’s all worked out then.

Friday is craft day which is the day I look forward to most. I made some cushions two weeks ago and gave them away before I photographed them. Last Friday I made a start on the bugaboo bag which took quite some time to complete. It was definitely the most ambitious sewing project I’ve undertaken. This is all now possible thanks to my new sewing machine of course. My lovely retro sewing machine might look cool but it was super annoying when the bobbin jammed up every two minutes.



Some fabric hoarding has also been taking place. The best news is that on a walk around the neighbourhood I found an old fashioned and cheap little fabric shop quite close by. Next time I go back I’m getting the bright yellow corduroy.

Kevin and I set to painting the interior at last. We managed one coat in the kitchen and the second part of the hallway. Anyway it’s a major improvement.

I must say life with a timetable is great. Even it I don’t achieve everything on it it does provide me with a framework for the week and I am getting so much more done instead of sitting around wondering what I have time to do or what I should be doing. Speaking of which, today is client work day.

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