the latest addition to my family

I have a beautiful new niece who is two weeks old!

Her name is Eliza, which I think is a beautiful name, so pretty in fact that it has been on my own list of names-to-call-future-hypothetical-daughters for some time. But as these daughters are hypothetical, I'm perfectly happy for my sister and her husband to use the name on their real, solid, tiny little daughter.

She was born after a particularly quakey night in Christchurch. There was a magnitude 5.3 quake at about 10.30pm, centered very close to where we were, and it was followed by about nineteen more quakes throughout the night, right up until little Eliza was born at about 5:45am.

Eliza is going to be part of a strange little generation. Her class at school will be full of earthquake babies. And her elder sisters will grow up knowing rather an unnatural amount about earthquakes for children their age.

Anyway - musings about the future aside - you may remember I had been doing some knitting for my future niece, and I wrote about it a little while ago on this blog. Unfortunately, I decided in the end that the little wrap I made was just not good enough. It looked okay in the photo you saw, but that photo did not reveal all the flaws and mistakes that are just so obvious when I actually held the wrap in my hands.

So I had a go at something a little less challenging:


And I am glad I did, because I think they're rather cute!

two items for your perusal

First up, I have bought my first pair of heels - ever!! The idea is that eventually I will start going to job interviews and so on, and needed a pair of shoes that aren't falling to pieces/way too casual. And so I have invested some money, with the help of a very generous sister, in a pair of basic black shoes with a wedge:

[via]

This is significant because I never buy or wear heels. I'm tall, and I've always felt even more like a giant if my shoes had any height to them. However, in trying these shoes on, I couldn't help but notice how (a) flattering, and (b) pretty they were, much prettier than they appear in the picture, and I simply fell in love. Unless any of my potential employers are short, insecure men, I should be able to cope with my new statuesque appearance with few negative repercussions.

Secondly, I have been knitting. For the first time ever, I have knitted an actual piece of clothing that required assembly, for my sister's baby, who will be making her appearance mid-June. Here is my "lullaby wrap":


I have to admit I was a little disappointed with it, as it looked much nicer in the photo, and I managed to make numerous mistakes while sewing it together. But now that I look at it again I think it's redeemable. I'm thinking of crocheting a little rose (if I can figure out how to do so, but I have seen a number of youtube videos that make it look do-able) and attaching it to the front - what do you think? A mistake, or pretty?

costume ideas for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Before our singalong Chitty Chitty Bang Bang party, we sat down and watched the movie, with pencil and paper in hand, jotting down ideas. One of the things we were especially looking out for was costume ideas. And so I give you this, a long list of costume ideas for those who take dressing-up seriously:

1) Truly Scrumptious. This is a fairly obvious one for any girl, and we had two Trulys at our event. This character has a number of ridiculous cupcake-style dresses and hats which are easy to mimic, and it is easy to find ridiculous clothing in any op shop (also known as thrift stores in the US of A, I believe?). She also has a number of distinctive hair styles like the one above which will always stand out.

2) Race car driver (opening credits scene). All you need is an appropriate pair of goggles - which, I grant you, are not always easy to find - and some kind of suit.

3) Wear an old-fashioned swimming suit, like Dick van Dyke's costume in the beach scene.

4) Grandpa. Find a dilapidated old suit, a pipe, and either borrow a real medal or make a fake one.

4) The executioner, who appears for about three seconds in the scene where Grandpa arrives at the Baron's castle. I suggested this to a friend, and she seemed quite offended, but I thought it an excellent idea! All it requires is black clothing, some sort of eye covering, and a fake axe made from cardboard (or even a real one).

5) The dolls, which are the disguise of Truly Scrumptious and Caractacus Potts. If you want to be the raggedy doll played by van Dyke, all you need is a clown-type costume.
If you want to be Truly Scrumptious, do what my flatmate did. Hair into plaits with yellow bows. A white blouse of some kind. Get an old green top and cut it up, and lace it with yellow ribbon or fabric. Find a little half apron and a red skirt. Paint your face with lots of make-up and red cheek spots. She looked gorgeous!
6) In theory, I thought this could be a costume. It's one of the Baron Bomburst's spies, as he arrives in England. I'm not exactly sure how it would be made, and it would be very difficult to sit down or watch the movie in. But if it appeals to you... go for gold!

7) Dick van Dyke's costume from the Old Bamboo scene. You would need a waistcoat, a straw punter's hat, and funny shaky things to strap around your calves. And of course a bamboo.

8) The Baron or Baroness Bomburst.

9) The child catcher. This terrifying man may upset small children. But a friend of mine came as the child catcher, which was pretty hilarious. He wore all black, with a black hat, and carried lollipops in his pocket. Pretty easy, but could you pull off the creepy manner?



10) Cyril and/or his wife. The very funny couple at the fairground - the husband's hair is ruined by Caractacus Potts' machine.

11) The Potts family: Caractacus, Jeremy or Jemima. Shabby chic.

12) Big brown bear. I really wanted someone to come as the big brown bear who comes lolloping over the mountain, in the story read by Grandpa to the children.

13) Caractacus Potts as we first see him, wearing his rocket backpack. Ambitious, but this would launch you to the forefront of party attendees. (Heh heh.)

14) A pirate. Pirates get mentioned very briefly, when Jeremy requests a story about them. My flatmate came as a pirate, because we recently threw her a pirate-themed birthday party and provided her with a hat, an eye-patch and a sword. This looked awesome with a striped shirt and lots of jewellery. She ended up coming as a girl pirate, because her boyfriend was a bit creeped-out when she painted stubble on her face.

15) A sweet factory worker. Another flatmate came dressed as one of these. She got a little half-apron, and put a paper doily in her hair as a little cap, over a grey top and black skirt - it looked very cute!

16) One of the old prisoners from the scene in which Grandpa is thrown into the dungeons. All this requires is a long grey beard and black clothing.

Finally, my costume:
17) I was: the roses of success growing from the ashes of disaster. (It's from one of the songs.) A trip to the op shop --> a loud top covered in roses. I wore earrings that were flowers, and I made myself a garland of fake roses. I wore dark jeans/shoes for the ashes part of the costume.

How to make a garland of (fake) roses:

I used:
- about a metre of florist wire, in several pieces (very, very cheap from a florist's)
- green tissue paper and sellotape
- fake roses - not too big, with long stems that are easy to bend
- some pink ribbon (not necessary)

I begun by twisting the florist wire together to make it a little stronger, and the correct length for my head. At one end, I made a little loop so that eventually I would be able to hook the other end in.

Then I covered it with green crepe paper, rolling pieces around the wire and holding them on with sellotape. (If you don't have many roses you may want to find a more attractive way of holding the paper on.) Don't cover the little loop you have made, but cover the other end of the wire with paper.

Then I began winding the stems of the roses onto the garland. I had about 24 roses all together (which cost about $18), but I started by placing them intermittently and then filling up the gaps evenly, so that they were evenly spread along the garland. I left about 12 cm space at each end of the wire so I could hook it up easily. This meant that the roses only went around to just behind my ears.

I wrapped a little pink ribbon around the garland, but this was pretty unnecessary and didn't really show up.

random display of leaves

Last autumn, I became a little bit obsessive-compulsive about collecting beautiful leaves and pressing them in the pages of large books. I've left them for about a year now, and the other day I got them all out to have a look at the fruits of my labour.



They're pretty! I'm not completely sure what I'll do with them! Greeting cards, bookmarks, photo frames? Who knows?!

The leaves that were pressed in my Penguin English dictionary came out the best, and the Georgette Heyer Omnibus and Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words also worked pretty well. I warn you against using Khrushchev Remembers, however. The leaves pressed within its pages were of a very inferior quality. :)

beads and bookmarks

Here is how to make this bookmark:

DIY Christmas

Greetings! This year, I am doing Christmas presents cheaply. Hence, the appearance of Christmas crafts in my life. This is how to make the little bags into which I am going to put yummy things, and which I am going to give to my relatives as presents. They're very easy, very cheap, and actually pretty quick too!

I even have visual aids, because it's very simple to do but complicated to explain. Away we go!

You will need 2 rectangles of different coloured felt. Cut each corner to round it out, like so:


Then each piece needs a 14-cm slit along the middle. Do this by folding in half and cutting 7cm:

And now, follow the instructions pictured below:

Once you have folded your bag, there is nothing you need to do to it to make it stay together - one of the things I love about this little bag!

Finally, make some little straps for it out of pieces of ribbon about 7cm long. I like to sew them on with cotton that matches the colour of the felt, but the guide I used last time said to glue them on. I think this probably wouldn't last very long so I recommend sewing! But whatever works for you.

{Later addition: I decided to sew up the open edges just a little bit so the bags can hold more. It depends what you want to use them for.}


Here are some of the other bags I made, all in the space of a few hours. Quick and easy!
Last time I made these, I stuck little paper snowflakes on as gift tags, and filled the bags with wrapped sweets. I may mix it up a little this time ... who knows? I've got about five days to decide!

I LOVE THE ONSET OF CHRISTMAS. Am in a happy glow right now.

how to:

Tonight I made This:


I have a smallish-medium sized jewellery collection that I just don't use. It's really sad. I've figured out that it's because I keep it all smushed together in a box and so I don't even remember what it is that I have.

First step in fixing this: An earring holder.

A shoebox lid + pretty paper from one of my favourite shops, Trade Aid + glue + a nail to poke holes = and there you have it! I am quite happy with it, actually a little too proud of it, so this is why I am displaying it on here, almost immediately.

In a quaking update, we have now had over 1000 earthquakes in Christchurch, over the last three weeks. The first one was the big one, the aftershocks vary in size and depth. This morning our entire church building was shaken by a relatively small 3.6 and a 4.1, but the epicentre was only a few blocks away - an interesting experience. Who knows how long they'll keep coming? They're still interesting to talk about with every single person you meet, but they're becoming second nature to me now.

the hills will be alive

We are having a Sing-along Sound of Music at out flat next week! Finally!

There'll be crisp apple strudel and pink lemonade and Austrian beer. There'll be costumes! (Eek - still haven't thought of a really killer idea for me!) There'll be singing, shouting at the TV, booing the Nazis, hissing at the baroness, and a goody bag filled with things to do during the film - edelweiss to wave in the air as we sing; party poppers to let off when they kiss; a whistle to try our hand at calling the children. It's going to be awesome!

In preparation, we are turning our flat into Austria. We're thinking pine-scented air fresheners, we're thinking Christmas tree sans decoration, and we're PAINTING. I found some really cheap poster paint at a bargain store, and I borrowed a huge roll of plain newsprint paper from my father. My flatmate R. has painted a huge mountain and lake scene, probably about 3 metres by 1 metre, and I have been painting these scenes:

Recognise this? The hills are alive!
That was my first scene and I'm really quite proud of it. My second was taken from a background from the Lonely Goatherd puppet show scene, including the puppet prince.

Step 1: Paint the scenery - mmMm, lovely sixties' browns and greens. (By the way, the stripey material under the paper is one of the super-cheap shower curtains we bought to protect the carpet/table from paint soaking through cheap newsprint paper!)
Step 2: the prince.
Step 3: the castle, a few little touch-ups here and there, and here is the finished product:
I am particularly proud of my puppet-prince: (A prince on the bridge of a castle moat heard, lay ee oh a lay ee oh a lay EE OOO)

It is SO MUCH FUN painting again. I haven't really painted since I did Art at school when I was fourteen-ish. And the size of the paper we're using is very forgiving, because you stand back at a distance and everything looks grand. It is so relaxing coming home in the evening and doing something as therapeutic as pushing paint around on paper.

My next scene will be one of the frames in the opening credits of the movie, I think - something architectural from Salzburg - while flatmate R. is planning a scene from the abbey.

I can't wait until the night!

my current project

I am knitting a blanket. Because it's coooooooooooooold. Last night we walked to church at 6.30pm and the paths were already frozen over. I slept in four layers of clothes, with three blankets on my bed, and was still cold when I woke up.

Luckily in about a month's time, I will have another blanket made of multi-coloured squares to keep me warm!!

I will probably need about forty squares; I have knitted about nine already, and my fingers are getting faster and furiouser. It is such a fantastic way to chill out because you can just sit down, go "blaaaah", let your mind wander, and give your restlessness an outlet through your fingers, or you can knit in front of the TV and feel virtuous/productive, et cetera.