new dress & people I admire

sometimes I make my own clothes.

I followed the pattern on the far left very closely. And since it is meant for a teen girl, I thought I was making it for my younger sister, until it fit me. :)

I also made a pair of very plain straight legged black pants that too boring to photograph. a drawing instead....

Anyone else feeling drained this week? Maybe it's the aftermath of craftwerk.
Oh yeah, as Lies said, I will be bringing you a craftwerk post very soon. Just not today.


Before I go I want to especially thank Victoria for the most thoughtful package full of books (3d illustrations are much appreciated!), pillow cases which will be transformed into something else at a later date, and some photo transfer paper.
Victoria uses this paper to transfer images onto fabric as part of her art. I am a big admirer of her daily journal art work project she has going on. Check her out here at DEAR MEGAN.

here are some of my favourite examples of her work.....




A beautiful combination of textiles, photography, and drawing. Thanks Victoria... I am now feeling less tired and more inspired after posting your work.


until we meet again in blogland....

-k

New things

First, a few 'old' new things, in our house :

The leopard chair!
- a spiffing gift from Gabe's brother
who's moved back overseas to England
and knew I had a soft spot for it!

Thrifted cutesey cups!

Deco-ish found table-lamp in lovely blue, hmmm bit of a dud photo

Now onto just a little selection of new things I made for yesterday's Craftwerk-fair (Kimberlee took loads of photo's - so I'm sure there's a whole post on the fair to come!). Most of these sold, yay!

Simple large tote-bags in fun fabrics

Bird-and-dot-hats

Still fresh (so counts as new thing eh) this little funky top I made for Lieveke. She calls the big buttons on the back 'my bicky-buttons' and yes she did at first try to eat them...



Also, lets add a few new names to the inspiration-list :
-last week these ladies had beautiful textile-pattern inspiration :
Mecozy
O (Lena Corwin)
-top 'I've nothing to wear'-inspiration with these girls :
Bits and Bobbins
Only shallow
-and last but definitely sweetest: I would like to get this goooorgeous lavender dream dress for Lieveke, but it's for a five year old sigh

Muu muu dress at Fifthavenuesouth's Etsy shop

Have a happy week!
-L

urban garden

Since we live in the central city in a studio apartment, a big yard is not our reality. But we want to make the most of what we've got and maintain some green where ever we can. So let me introduce you to our urban garden. it is what it is.
Before we started our garden, we got books from the library about rooftop, deck, and patio gardens which put a lot of inspiring but possibly far fetched ideas in our heads. Months after the great installation, we are still looking like this^.... It turns out beautiful gardens take time.

And yes we have had some set backs. Does anyone out there know anything about magnolias?!? HELP! these guys are truly making us look bad.

For months they were healthy, lush, and green and then, seemingly overnight, all the leaves turned yellow brown, gave up on life, and fell out. I've tried more water, I've tried less water, I've tried more sun, and less sun, I even fed them liquid blood and bone. But no improvement!

Maybe they are haunted....that's the only logical conclusions I can come up with.

Anyway, here are few newbies we just added to our collection. We bought them through trademe from an eccentric older woman who is just crazy for plants. "I buy two, three everyday and now I have too many. so I sell," she explained to us. Note: she planted these in a spare filing cabinet drawer, aces!

We got these from her too, but they have to stay indoors. In case you are wondering, that first one is called chain of hearts which I am told can grow 10 metres long. (bring it!) I'm a bit vague about what the others are called.

I remember my mom having African Violets in our house while we were growing up, so I must admit nostalgia was main reason I purchased this plant. But when we went to pick it up, the woman told me they were 'very temperamental.' great. Any tips (mom)?

Here are some dried flowers for our no natural light kitchen. On the right we have dried lavender and on the left is a little something I like to call blueish purple mystery flower. Feel free to fill in the blanks for me.

Keeping with our theme, I have no idea what kind of plant this is either. (Kelly, do you know?) But I like how it looks against our brick walls.

My parents bought us this indoor weeping fig tree (a type of ficus) for Christmas and its doing quite well.

Okay that is it for the urban garden tour. I plan to do veggies next summer when I am feeling more capable. especially after seeing the bounty of kate's garden, inspiring!

Also, let us not forget
CRAFTWERK,
is this saturday on cross st in the central city. 2-7 pm.

The wet weather lately has been making worried but we are gearing up like usual and hoping for the best.

These new rabbits will be there, will you?

We are taking all the gear from our etsy shop to the markets, so lots of rabbits, dresses, bibs, cards, and bags to choose from.

Lastly I want to say HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! I wish you all the best non commercial version of this holiday.

-K

Cream is YUM

Hello everyone, it's Lies, finally! I haven't been able to blog as much as I'd like to lately... Let's catch up!

Last Saturday I met the lovely Jodi, who runs 'The cream of Matakana', a wonderful design and lifestyle store in Matakana, to the North of Auckland. Jodi had ordered a 'Leopard-dress' for her nearly-two-year-old daughter Claudia. BUT she also wanted to stock, for exclusive retail, on these :

Jodi Emailed me later on to say that the second leopard-dress sold as well, only 5 minutes after I delivered it to the shop. How exciting! I really was pleasantly surprised at the attractiveness of 'the Cream' (the shop is housed in what used to be a dairy factory and has lots of space and light) and the quality of the goods for sale. AND they sell my very favorite Blue Earth soaps (just hooked on their spicy fragrances!). So have a look for yourself : The Cream of Matakana

Yes, as Lieveke declared a deep existential thruth the other day : 'CREAM IS YUM'. This after eating loads of only whipped cream and none of the healthy fruits of the summer pudding...

It was actually our craft-buddy-ette Charlotte who put Jodi on to me. Thanks so much C. Charlotte's pretty range of baby-clothes and bags is also available at 'the Cream'! Here is Lieveke in a gorgeous halter top with my favorite Liberty print, made by Charlotte (and the skirt made by myself) :

And today, I recieved another Email form Jodi, with photo's of her Little Claudia in the new leopard-dress, so sweet :

And because I just love to post on children in my stuff, here is Hannah, 3 year-old-daughter of another craft-pall-erina, Nikki. Born to model this spunky girl, in the 'little linen dress' :

The drive to Matakana takes a good hour and a half. To make it pleasant for every-one (Gabriel driving, Lieveke singing and snoring) we travelled with stops. On the way up we visited the pictoresque town Puhoi, originally a Tchecq settlement. Here is Lieveke by the Puhoi-river with the tiny (very old and very cute) library-building reflected in the water.

And on the way back we had a picnic/snooze/swim in paradisal Wenderholm, a typically more shielded and less rugged Eastcoast beach with parks and a river, where lots of Pacific Island and Indian families love to gather for huge barbecues or swim-fests. Great fun, for the eyes as well.

So there, Saturday was a fun day for all of us. And Sunday sort of oozed along in the same happy atmosphere, as I finally got to sew some new things for the upcoming Craftwerk-fair of next Saturday!

To be continued, friends!

-X Lies

when moving backward is good

a drawing for The Ribbon's myspace page

I have been inspired lately and I did a bunch of drawings on Thursday and Friday last week. Mainly I wanted to do some fashion illustration to use in a portfolio submission to a magazine.


For the longest time I have stayed away from drawing the human form in a linear way because it's one of my strengths. And this may sound crazy but I got suborn and didn't want to do something I was good at because it felt like I was just playing my trump card. I wanted a challenge...to move away from my comfort zone.But these drawings were just so fun and easy for me. I feel silly now for completely staying away from this kind of drawing for so long . Meanwhile I started doing loads of collage which you have probably seen in my cards, so I guess it was good to move on for while. Now it's starting to look like a blend of the two, no?
I may even want to do some life drawing classes again, just for fun. But this time I wouldn't try so hard to challenge myself, and I'd just draw the way I naturally do. lines. lines. lines.

Oh and keeping up with my last post, I thought I would give a little update. Luke and I have signed up for an organic fruit and veg box drop program. There are several available in Auckland so we are lucky. This is a pretty big step for me because I just just hate buying expensive things (its the Minnesotan in me), maybe because it feels unrealistic or impractical. But really I must remind myself that factory farming is far more unrealistic and impractical in the long run.

okay that's all for now. More crafting goodness coming soon (we have a craftwerk this weekend so I will be posting pictures of gear :)


_kimberlee

ranting and working

I have been working pretty hard lately... a lot of crafting and illustrating happening because I have been inspired. But while I have been doing that, I have been thinking about the reasons behind my crafting. Earlier I mentioned the problem with our system of consumption and promised I wouldn't go into it yet. Well the time is now.

Many people have been thinking about this and we have seen a lot of docos and buzz around sustainability, global warming, fair trade, etc. So there is a problem and we all know it. Our corporations are bigger and more powerful than our governments, we get our products made overseas where the labor is cheap and workers are forced to put up with appalling conditions, the materials used to make our products are sourced from poor countries and I don't think the way those materials are extracted is fair to the countries, workers, or natural environment.

And we back home see the problems with the materialism are society is caught up in, or I hope we do. We buy more than we need and we are forced (maybe) to buy what we do need within a system we know is not fair. This gets me down a lot. I want to make good choices as a consumer, but it takes so much work to find good alternatives and that organic peanut butter is two and a half times the price of the regular stuff (right Helen?).

And don't get me started on all the waste and the by-products of our waste and what that is all doing to our natural world and the limited resources we have left. If all this is sounding like news to you... check out thestoryofstuff.com
I really recommend it.

The things I can do... (lets stay positive here)

• I can buy less and use less... that is not expensive or time consuming. and really, its good for the soul.

• I can buy second hand through trademe, op shops, garage sales, I can share with friends and family.... does everyone need a lawnmower when you only use it once a week? or that cake dish? or those baby clothes your kid already outgrew?
  

• I can use communal things and public spaces like the library, the park, the swimming pool...ever wonder why we even have/need home gyms, home swimming pools, home libraries, home playground equipment? is it really necessary to recreate a full resourced micro society within the boundaries of your own property ? Can you use more community resources? What's available near you and how can you support and take advantage of that?

• I can mute the ads! brilliant! so when the T.V. or radio is blaring at you, just turn it off until the music or programs come back on. so simple yet hardly anyone does it.

• I can make my own stuff! last week I made pants which had me wondering if I would ever need to buy another pair again. The fit was better because it I tailored them to my body, it was cheaper than buying them. Now I am thinking, what else can I make?

• I can get people to make some things for me or buy from local markets. I don't always have the time, energy, and $$$ to do this, but sometimes I do. Also there are some organic fruit and veggie box drops that I am looking into, at pretty reasonable prices too.

I am very encouraged by the crafting blog community, as I have noticed these concerns of mine are addressed in many of your blogs already, and many people are living examples of what to do. So thanks.

And on an unrelated note, I want to show off this doll I made. She was a custom order, and having never made a doll before, took a very long time.

I've been calling her Molly. And we've gotten pretty close over the past few days, especially after her head transplant surgery. sorry about that Molly.

reversible dress, side one

reversible dress, side two

pearly shoes

Hope you are all well, and that you kiwis enjoyed the beautiful Waitangi Day this week.

untill later,
-kimberlee

ENJOY! the local colour! the te tuhi summer markets

The te tuhi centre for the arts is located in Pakuranga Auckland, and this year they decided to run a local market. I think its a great idea because we all could do with a little more community. And shopping locally is one way to help the solve the problem of our flawed systems of consumption. but I won't go on about that just now.... instead I will introduce you to the local colour.

THE ANTI FASHION LEAUGESee Claire in the backround there? (not the pineapple head, the one wearing the blonde wig) She designs the t-shirts with clever illustrations, the badges, the pencils, the stationary... all of it. On her business card, she is ironically just the 'vice president'. yeah I get it :) funny woman you are!

'P.J.s all day now O.K.'

great!

I completely meant to buy a few of these pencils because they charmed me. but I forgot. next time, okay?
yes we do love the anti fashion league. She is a bit of a newbie as this was her first market but look out for her at the upcoming craftwerks. hopefully she'll get in:)

she has a really fun website for your amusement antifashionleague.com

CARAVAN

This woman has taken her love of caravans to the craft world, just look at the beautiful things she makes. Lies bought one of her cushions a while back which was equal parts weird and wonderful.

oh nostalgia, sweet sweet nostalgia.

next market there is talk of her bringing her retro caravan and parking it our front for people to admire. she will even let you go inside. bonus.

ALVITA

The local nuts. (I didn't mean that as a joke but it kinda sounds like one) These guys are all over the place now and doing really well, have you seen them at brittomart markets? a seriously good product.

THE ANTIQUES STALL (okay I don't really know the name)

the women are charming though, see?

MONKEY CRAFT

Sonja makes some cute kids clothes... check her website.

V+A

these sisters recently teamed up and started their own line of t-shirts and homeware. One is an illustrator/graphic designer and the cards, t-shirts, and cushions show off her original designs.
get in touch: virginia.angelia@ihug.com

TAMAKI ESTUARY PROTECTION SOCIETY

Don't you just love the logo? either it's purposely retro or it hasn't changed in 35 years. My money is on the latter.This woman volunteers her time promoting conservation.

Oh here's us. blush.

we're anemone by the way. but you know that already. Lies didn't do these market so it was just my stuff this time. we'll be reunited at craftwerk though, so anticipate our full range.

R U OK?

a craftwerk regular. Her badges speak for themselves.

Sarah will be at the next craftwerk but meanwhile you can find her here.

that's it for the markets. Sorry those I left out, I forgot to take photos of some people.

SO next te tuhi market is March 1st. more stall holders are invited so get in touch here if you are interested. don't be shy.

te tuhi link here

-kimberlee