Tuesday 27 December 2011

Babbit the Moon Baby

 So...I've finally finished the personalised embroidery cushion I've been making for my friend Tony-from-work's niece Ava Lily...and this is it! I'm very pleased with the results. I'll be sad to let it go...
I wrote the poem on the back for her, which goes:
Babbit the Moon Baby 
has many lovely dreams
She burrows in the fabric
of Ava Lily's pillow
and snoozes in the seams.
 I modified the poem somewhat from one I'd already written (I'll write it in full at the bottom of this post) which was originally a bit darker, to make it suitable for a 2 year-old girl! I don't think her mother would appreciate the original...
 This is the cover of the latest issue of Mollie Makes (you can get it online from here: molliemakes.magazine.co.uk), a handmade crafts magazine I've been reading lately that I've fallen in love with and is a huge inspiration. I've discovered so many artists and crafty people this way, and some lovely blogs. It's also great for the listings and directory at the back, for if you need specialised buttons or fabric...whatever you fancy!  
Li'l Babbit with her fluffy-lace tail and button. Her nose, as well as the berries of the vines below, are soft satin stitches. 
I got the idea for the design from Aimee Ray's book Doodle-Stitching (http://dreamfollow.com/) that I've been learning how to sew and embroider from. I copied the image of the rabbit from the book by freehand, and followed the instructions for making the cushion; but I applied the lace and button to the tail, and came up with the idea to embroider Babbit onto satin material (that looks more like a sun than a moon but anyway...) and applique the satin onto the material that would make up the cushion. And all of the back piece - the poem and the typeface - was my idea.
The satin material came from an old skirt, the aqua back piece from an old dress with a broken zip and the lace from a charity shop top. The button was stolen from Mum's huge jar of odds and ends.
There are a few things I've learnt (chain stitch, satin stitch, actually finishing a project) and things I've learnt not to do (cutting fabric BEFORE embroidering). And I cannot use a thimble - they only seem to get in the way. So I'm vulnerable to Sleeping Beauty Syndrome (pricking one's finger), an occupational hazard of needlework. 
I love the sound of the snag and slice of thread being pulled through fabric...
...and I love doing ivy, vines and creepers for borders and decoration...
I have many more ideas that I'm excited about. Watch this space! But for now, I'm going to watch Fingersmith with my sister that we found in a charity shop and then catch up on Great Expectations that was on tv earlier today then Zzzzzz...
Pleasant dreams :)
*  *  *
Babbit the Moon Baby
has many haunted dreams,
she lives in the fabric of Matilda's pillow
but kicks and tears the seams.

The pillow is flooded with Matilda's fears,
her father's not been kind;
and the darkness after lights go out
marks her impressionable mind.

The mushroom's been uprooted 
and the ivy's gone awry,
the squirrels' scattered, dropping acorns
and the birds fall from the sky.

The embroidery is ruined,
all the stitching's come undone.
There's nothing left for Babbit now
but to run, rabbit, run!

Matilda reaches for her pillow
finding comfort among the tattered seams,
to pet her little Babbit
which will pacify her dreams.
*  *  *
 - Nina x

Wednesday 21 December 2011

The Aviary





Small bird, don’t die and leave me all alone,
with only the world that I wish I’d not known,
to stare into the cage where all your life you’d flown.
To me you were more than just skin and bone.

All the wild things that I loved died,
they couldn’t bear being caged up inside
There’s no longer use in trying to hide,
because the wolves that you fear are now waiting outside.

***


When I was little I almost got a robin to eat from my hand. He’d appear out of nowhere while I was dancing around the garden and I used to sing songs quietly to him to try and encourage him down from the cherry tree, but I think he preferred the other bird’s singing to mine.
    A few times I’ve sat myself down and tried to make myself remember everything happy, but I don’t know what I’ve done with all my memories. It’s like I’ve put them in a box labelled “empty” and hidden them somewhere secret, and only when I’m not thinking about it one of them finds its way back to me. Anyway, I remembered the robin with the big obsidian eyes just today. He doesn’t come to our garden anymore, and neither do the starlings. We have plenty of ratty pigeons though…
    Today I’ve started on some paintings I plan to show to The Moontree Gallery crew when I start my work experience in summer. Have also been planning some photo-shoots, one of which includes a pair of extravagant lampshades, which I’ve been looking high and low for since the start of the holidays, but I haven’t yet found ‘the one’s’ yet...
-Katie x

Tuesday 13 December 2011

Once Upon a Notebook Left Behind

So...Katie left her notebook over at my place one weekend, and I stole a glance through it (as only bad big sisters will do). I love her drawings - they're such beautiful oddities. For a 14 year old they're pretty imaginative. And, as this here blog was dreamed-up with the idea of putting our creative stuff on it, I'm sure she won't mind if I share these with you. I hope, at least...let us know what you think :)















note to Katie: please don't be miffed with me! 
- Nina x

Sunday 11 December 2011

Nostalgia

Didn’t feel like doing much today, only decorating the Christmas tree and watching Princess Mononoke while it drizzled outside. Now I’m staring at the pot of ivy I got yesterday, imagining it creeping over my room until it becomes a little forest with black birds nesting in between the leaves. I imagined it crawling over me while I was sleeping and rooting me tightly to my bed so that I couldn’t get up in the morning to go to school or turn off my very annoying alarm clock. If that happened I’d have more time to stare at my ceiling, which I never often have much time to do. I got a pot for Nina as well; maybe it will cover her room too…
   

Yesterday was mostly about getting the Christmas tree as well as Ivy, and I brought along my friend Ruth to help us pick out a good one. But we let the parents get on with that job and instead got lost in the maze of trees; we sat down somewhere secret and sprinkled fake snow over each other, pretending we were in Narnia. An hour later we were back in the boot of the car on each side of our “small” tree, eating orange and chocolate jam and writing unpleasant messages on the window J

But Today isn’t as happy as yesterday. As Nina says, I’m feeling Nostalgic. When allowed to I often dwell too much on my childhood; I want to remember more things and try to relive them, but the memories only come when they want to, so instead I sometimes flick through the old book of nursery rhymes my parents would read to me when I was little. And now I show some of the rhymes to you…







…Funny word, Nostalgic- sounds like nostrils and magic…

-Katie x

Friday 9 December 2011

come, we have cake...








 Dad took a pic of us whilst a flock of swans landed
gracefully on the river behind! Alas, this was not captured on camera.



cake makes us sleepy...







Our Saturday picnic in pictures, with a couple of vintage market finds J
- Katie x