In which Lui and I potter around the garden

Well, here she is. My new miniature peach tree, Miss Rose Chiffon. She is covered with the tiny beginnings of buds which will burst forth in early spring, and the fruit itself will be white-fleshed and red-tinged. I am already dreaming of jams, pies and crumbles. Hopefully mixed with apples from the two ballerinas...

Here is an interesting article if you are contemplating getting miniature fruit trees. I don't really have room for more, but in the future I want to get a cherry tree and an almond tree!

This afternoon Lui and I spent a bit of time in the garden. It was a warm afternoon, and dry! so we made the most of it. Checking on the bulbs, pulling some weeds, sweeping up.

We were happily surprised by this sweet little clump of irises! I thought it was great last year when they bloomed in August, so finding them in July is a treat.

And, now that my package has been received, I can show you what I made for the Little Critter Swap. Birdies! They spent a bit of quality time together before being cruelly separated. Purple Birdie flew off to a new home in the USA, with a melting bar of chocolate to keep her company. And Brown Birdie, well I kept him. What can I say? Look at his little feet:

she loves to fall

she loves to fall

Mixed media. 190 mm x 113 mm.

Little Critter Swap goodies

My Little Critter swap package arrived! Inside were these three cute owlies - mama, daddy and baby! Or perhaps three sisters? Or neighbours who share the same tree? What do you think? They are sharing a shelf in my studio space, and seem to get along very well. (Perhaps that means they are not related...)

This wonderful package is from Emily. She also included these wonderful goodies and treats.

I love the rosette on this tea towel.

Here's my little critter, wrapped and tied with a bow. I'll show you more when it's been received!

Crochet, and op shop embroidery

Last weekend was the third wet one in a row, and came complete with rain, sleet and then snow. There was only one thing to do - curl up on the couch with a blankie, a pile of new books and some crochet.

Eat, sleep, work, brains! This is Corporate Zombie from Creepy Cute Crochet by Christen Haden.

The snow was gone by Sunday and we could leave the house, so we went for a trip to the garden centre. I ogled some dwarf peach trees and wondered if I could find room to squeeze them in somewhere. Conclusion: I probably can, so I might pop out again next weekend, weather permitting of course!

These are some embroideries I found at the Salvation Army shop. I wish I had time to make lots of pretties like this. One of my other new books is Doodle Stitching by Aimee Ray, so I'm hoping to get back into that soon! Regarding the tiny dolls house firescreen: I realised quite quickly that I would actually go blind if I kept on at that, so I've ordered a magnifying lens. Naturally it's on back order, so I've no idea when it will arrive.

Well, that's about it. As I've said before, wet weekends feel interminable but suddenly they're gone and you've got nothing done. There's something motivating about sunshine. Cross your fingers for next weekend!

she loves Frankenstein

I am doing a series of paintings called she loves...
This is she loves Frankenstein.

Little bits and pieces

I finished the tinyland afghan! Well, I think it's finished. I was debating putting a contrasting border around the edge, maybe in blue. I still might do it but for now, finished!

Actually I finished it several weeks ago and have tried to blog it several times. But alas, the dial-up internet connection has been steadily getting worse and worse, and I've barely been able to get online, let alone get my blog to load. So it might be time to move with the times and look at a broadband connection.

As promised in the last post, I did go out and take some piccies in the garden. Unfortunately I'm out of practice, and most of them were out of focus, badly composed or both. And, since it's done nothing but rain for the entirety of the past two weekends, I haven't had a chance to retake them. I now understand the phrase "to have a face as long as a wet weekend". This weekend was interminable...

One or two photos came out, so here are my blueberries! Still fresh and delicious in the middle of winter. That's something to be cheerful about, like the blueberry pancakes I had for breakfast yesterday. Yum!

I love the way the pea shoots tangle together. They are still going strong, despite the cold. I also have silver beet, broccoli and lemons. So it's far from being dead out there.


Cold winter nights mean snuggling up on the couch with a blanket and a Bollywood DVD. It's always good to have something to do with my hands too, so this is my next needlework project. It's pretty tiny so hopefully my eyes won't fall out while I do it. I'll keep you posted!

The hothouse in winter

The weather outside may be frightful, but inside the hothouse at the Christchurch Botanic Gardens it's still hot and steamy! And there are still some colourful and fascinating plants putting on a display. We went for a walk on a balmy Monday afternoon which felt like midsummer, although just two days before there had been snow falling to sea level.

I'm hearing stories of snow being forecast for next week. We had a -4 degree frost this morning so I'd almost believe it.

Which is why these colourful, tropical photos are so wonderful to look at right now! They remind me of summer and being warm.

This is my favourite, with its crazy curling stamen and paint-speckled petals.

This weekend I'll try to take some photos in my own garden, which is looking quite pretty and colourful for midwinter! The only problem is with days being so short, good light for photos is in short supply.

But it was just right for this photo, which was taken by my mum last weekend as we had lunch by the estuary. It was about 1 pm and everything was blue and gold and pearly. Imagine having this view on your doorstep... I'd never get any work done, but oh how lovely it would be!

Pincushions

These are some pincushions I made last weekend. I had a lovely photo I took of them all laid out in a rainbow, before I stuffed them, but I can't find it anywhere... I must have deleted it off the camera without transferring it. So, this one will have to do. Seven little pincushions, all in a... circle?

I love the vintage-look print on this fabric. I had to take these photos at night and then colour-correct them in Photoshop, which is why there's such a discrepancy in the colour of the background! The first photo is the closest. Oh, and there are more pics at my Flickr page.

I've been reading about this Orphaned Artworks thing and it's got me a little freaked out. Even though it's a US government bill, it's obviously going to affect artists worldwide. So I've decided to start watermarking my photos. It feels a bit strange to do it... like I am being arrogant to even assume that someone might want to thieve my lowly little photograph! But, I'd feel really sick to discover my photos being used somewhere without my permission, so this is hopefully a small step to preventing that. What do you think? Do you watermark your photos too?

On a lighter note, here's a lil' stuffed panda I made this week. He's off to a very special destination but I can't say more in case someone is reading this...

It's a gloomy, grey, soup-and-toast kind of day here today. Luckily I have a loaf of bread cooling in the kitchen as we speak. Time for lunch :)

Miniature granny squares

The doily wasn't going quite the way I wanted it to so I put it aside and started these tiny squares for a mini afghan. There is quite a challenge going on with these... some curl at the edges, some are bigger than others, some are nice and square and some are more round. However I'm nothing if not persistant (read stubborn), and I want to see this finished so I can have something to drape over the chaise which matches the patchwork cushion. So I will finish it, even if my eyes drop out of my head...

Welcome to Tinyland

I love miniatures. I don't have a dolls house, mainly because I don't have room for it, but I do have a small (but growing) collection of miniature furniture and bits and bobs.

Welcome to Tinyland! Here is my white metal chaise, softened with a comfy patchwork cushion. A miniature pink cyclamen (my favourite!) sits on a little side table, and someone is getting up to mischief on the shelves of the dresser in the background....

Naughty kitty! Maybe that's why the birdcage is empty...!

I embroidered this little patchwork cushion. The main reason for getting this furniture was because I want to make little soft furnishings... cushions, throws, embroideries, etc.

So tonight I started on this. It's supposed to be a table centrepiece but is turning out a little bigger than I thought, so it's going to be more like a tablecloth. It's okay though... as I work I'm getting ideas for better, more intricate designs.

This is the tiny hook I'm using. I don't know the exact size, but the handle says "5 + 22". Here it is alongside a 4mm hook for scale.

After this I'm going to make some teeny tiny granny squares for an itty bitty afghan, and I have my eye on one of these Janet Granger embroidery kits. And some 1mm knitting needles. And a magnifying glass!