Toastandcupcakes.

I’ve never really been a ‘model student’.
I had the brains, but not the academic attitude to make use of them.
To make things harder I had/have a sister who is incredibly, insanely smart and very,very academic. She was awarded Dux of our high school and was already doing university work before even leaving school.
It’s not that I didn’t want to succeed, merely that the curriculum did absolutely nothing for me, and the environment wasn’t helpful to me. Not to mention those teen years are about the most emotionally draining time ever, how on earth are people meant to focus on studying when there are so many boys, girls, drugs, friends, drinks, cigarettes and other nasty distractions around. I have no idea how I even dragged myself through with mostly passes, getting amazing grades was just never really going to happen, sorry mum and dad.
I’ve been thinking about this today, because I got my results back from my first three workbooks of my fashion course.
I was absolutely amazed to find I had scored an A+ on all three booklets (2x 93% and 1x 94%!!), not only making me completely stoked, but also putting my work ahead of the other 12 people on my course! I was jumping up and down, and I still have a spring in my step. I expected to do okay, like usual, but I never suspected I would blow everyone else out of the water. I’m proud!

Quite awhile ago now I made a custom Hoodie for a delightful girlfriend of friend of a friend.
The story behind the design is a romantic one.
This sweet guy has been apart from his loved one for a long time (think over a year..) with her in Korea teaching English and him in New Zealand. He was preparing to head over to join her and wanted to take her an awesome present, and thought a Toast original might be the key.
She loves chimps, he even proposed to her in a garden full of chimp statues at a zoo (on account of the fact they didn’t have real chimps..) so it made sense for her hoodie to have a chimp on it.

He found this t-shirt online (sorry I can’t find the original link right now, but If it’s your image please contact me and I’ll give you full credit!) and from that I reversed the colours and appliqued it on white fabric onto grey. This was my first attempt, and you can see that I focused too much on the shapes of the lines of stitching and not enough on the actual outline of the contrasting fabric.
But eventually I got it sorted, and after a mammoth search for brown sweat-shirting (would you believe I rung stores all over the country and.. nothing! In the end I was lucky enough to have my designer friend in Nelson send me her leftovers from last winter. Thanks lainee!), the design became a reality:

And here’s a picture of the very lovely Jen wearing her new, chimpy hoodie:

Hope you like it! and I wish you many happy days with your sweet man in Korea : )

I’ve been brainstorming today.
I’ve got two major ‘projects’ I’m working on at the moment. The first is, of course, my Winter skirts and dresses. This, thankfully seems to be coming along quite nicely.

Basically I want to make short jumper-like dresses, using an only slight-modified version of the pattern on the right (which is from the early 70’s). The dress on the right in the picture, but with different pockets. I want big pockets which are gathered along the top and that don’t sit flat on the dress. I want to make the dresses from beautiful wool blends, and nice thick plain cottons and linens, and have contrasting patterned pockets from vintage cottons.
The skirts will be a modified version of the pink skirt. They will be just below the knee in length, and the pockets will be much bigger, and more rounded, with contrasting top stitching. The insides of the pockets will be bright, bold vintage patterns and the skirts will be again, plain wool blends, cottons and linens. I might also do some patterned skirts with plain pockets. They’ll sit on the waist (the actual waist), and hopefully I’ll make some sort of top to go with them.
So luckily for me all that is left is to grade the patterns, draft the alterations and get sewing!
My other project on the other hand is going to take a little more brain work.
We’ve been invited to a cocktail party not this weekend but next. Sounds good right?
And it’s a themed cocktail party, sounds even better, right?
Except that they haven’t given us a theme. It’s a ’surprise’ theme, where we have to choose our own, and basically just have the best idea, annnd the best costume.
The tricky bit? I have exactly NO money to put into my costume, and not alot of time either.

A few years ago in Nelson, about 14 weeks pregnant, we went to a costume party with the theme ‘17th century pimps and ho’s’ (or at least I think that’s the right century?), I quite enjoyed the theme (the party itself only lasted 30mins before I got dizzy from the corset and smoke.. hmm) so we decided maybe we’d give it another go, now that I’m without child, and substantially smaller.

If you can excuse my pathetic excuse at drawing in paint, this is what I’m thinking. The same corset as last time, although I’m considering dyeing it black (will that work?), a gathered boobtube type covering, a huge big black tulle skirt (which I wore to my 5th form ball), perhaps with some sort of bustle. I think I’ll give the white face thing another go, with the rosy circles on the cheeks and bright red lipstick.
My hair is alot shorter this time around, but I can’t afford a wig, so I’ll just tease it right up and pin it with some flowers. What do you think? Any helpful suggestions?
Abraham has a three piece brown woolen pinstripe suit which will be perfect. We’ll find him a top hat of sorts, and his brother has some wingtips that might be able to be borrowed. It’s so easy for guys.
Do you think we can pull it together? Or more importantly, pull it off?

I’ve been really struggling to juggle all of the things in my life lately.
I feel so torn between sewing, study, family, time to myself and boring daily chores like housework.
I really haven’t been feeling like I’ve been getting nearly enough done in well, any of these areas of my life.
I’ve been too busy sitting on my big bottom watching TV and cuddling.
Either that or sitting on this brain draining contraption, communicating with what seems like fairytale characters in other lands, nosey-ing at photos of beautiful creations and the art and creativity of those beautiful creations, and generally flitting around wasting precious time.
I can’t get motivated to get back into things, and then when I do get motivated I let everything else slide while I lunge completely into the task at hand. I really don’t know how people manage to find enough hours in the day to get everything done.
Part of me really wishes I could put my Internet usage at only a set time each day, say an hour in the evening or something. But I’m not even sure that would help. I think I would need some sort of robot with a sharp stick who was ready to poke me in the back everytime I started doing something other than what I need to be doing.
Anyway, the point of this long ramble, is that, among other things, I need to start keeping my house a little tidier. In the manic pre-craft 2.0 rush I completely neglected my house-keeping duties, and it seems the habit has stuck. I find myself leaving dishes around, not putting things away and generally being a lazy slob.
So today I tidied and remembered some of the things I love about my little house.

My book collection has grown quite nicely lately with the latest additions of a book about the wonderful Aubrey Beardsley ’s drawings (his slightly less scandalous ones!) and a book that I won from the Phantom billstickers mag,  (oh my! I actually won something!) called wall and piece,  about the ever-awesome Banksy. My wardrobe has, of course, also grown quite substantially lately too, after my amazing loot from Rozi. And my little shrine in the ‘guest toilet’ is also about to grow with the addition of a painting I bought recently at the op shop for only $2! (I’ll have to take a photograph.)
My house does make me smile, I need to remember to look after it a little better!

Aesop’s little room makes me smile too. His kitchen is almost better equipped than mine, after his recent birthday  gifts of a working, popping ‘Philips’ brand toaster and a jug for making ”cuppa tea’ from Aunty Holly. His beautiful rainbow fuzzibunz, which will hopefully soon not be so necessary (the potty is no longer the enemy!), and his huge collection of books and soft toys. He’s a lucky boy.

Life is so good right now. I guess perhaps I just need to relax and enjoy it a little more.

With me still being on a bit of a craft-break, after the very hectic rush to finish things over the last few weeks, I was a little worried about what I could blog about.
But luckily for me, Rozi arrived with even MORE stuff. So voila! something to blog about!

This haul was the accessories haul. Multiple beautiful handbags, a little bamboo sewing box, sequined purses, scarves, belts, a nighty, a corset, some barkcloth curtains, and of course.. jewellery.

Aesop absolutely loved the leopard print glasses, and I might be a little biased but I really think he pulls them off better than anyone else I can think of. Me personally, I think I might be more inclined to dive for the fake pearls first, although the animal print aviators are quite spectacular! hah!

All in all I’ve had the most amazing things from Rozi and I’m so thankful. It looks like the gift goddesses are smiling on me lately, and the thrift gods too. I had the most amazing fabric scores this morning at the op shop. I’ll pick them up on Monday (it’s hard without a car to organise to pick things up, luckily the ladies at the shops are quite patient!) and I’m so excited. Lots of good plain fabrics for suspender skirts, and my soon-to-be-designed new winter skirts too. yay!

And another thing, a little off topic. I’m loving Kimya Dawson’s music at the moment. She sings with the moldy peaches and she has the most incredible, unique voice. She sings about politics, love and the usual things, but she does it in such an amazing way. Her voice makes me smile big smiles and I find myself pressing the repeat button after every song.

My sweet, and very, very talented friend Rozi turned up on my doorstep this morning with two HUGE big black rubbish bags full of vintage clothing.
She’s the queen of vintage, and her ‘wardrobe’ is a choc-a-block rail full of clothing that spans nearly the whole length of her long, long bedroom. And luckily for me she was cleaning out her ‘wardrobe’ ready for her big move to the city, and she decided I was to be the lucky recipient of some of her extras.

There are far too many beautiful frocks and things to photograph them all, this is a little taste of the wonderfulness. The sad part though? They’re TINY. Some of them have a mere 66cms in the waist (26"), and the pile of things I can squeeze into pales in comparison to the huge pile of things that I can only admire. There are a few things I could perhaps slither into if I dropped another five or ten kilos, but 66cms is something I could never achieve, even through the most drastic of measures.haha.

What I really need is another clothing rail in my studio. One for things I make and one for impossibly tiny, beautiful vintage dresses that I will look at, stroke and sigh over. It’s decided.

I arrived home yesterday evening after my much-awaited trip to Wellington (and to craft 2.0).
All in all it was a pretty successful weekend.
In true Rhiannon fashion I somehow just happened to get some gross vomiting bug/ travel sickness that lasted most of the weekend, but in between rushes to the bathroom (which was conveniently close to my stall) I served many a lovely customer, sold many a hoodie, met many, many new people and many who I’d sort of already met through the Internet (Hi ladies!) and listened to some beautiful music.

Due to my lovely stomach, and therefore lack of nutrition, it seems I completely forgot to take any real pictures in my whole time in Wellington. These two badly lit shots of my stall are the only photographic evidence of my journey. I wish I’d had the energy to take more pictures, especially of all the other beautiful crafters. There was talent abound in that place, let me tell you. As well as my good old favourites, I discovered a few new beautiful talented faces including cloud of birds, and Ramari Textiles. Oh and I got to buy things/trade things with my official new favourite NZ crafters Paper Tin. They really are so incredibly clever.
I owe huge thank-yous, especially to Sue and Martha for rides, places to stay, cute children, photographs and musicians, words of encouragement, organisational skills and all round lovely, clever niceness. I would like to also thank Thom for a very delightful, sunny morning of coffee, wandering and great multi-leveled stories. Thank you soooo much to Lou (and Tony!) for coat-hangers, company, rides, support and loveliness. Thanks to Stacey (and flatties) for mousakka, spiceworld, hula hooping and 20 questions. Thanks to Dandylion for stocking me and for encouraging words, And thanks to well… everyone for a lovely, successful weekend. I can’t wait for next time!

Now to spring clean the house and the studio and start all over again!

Aesop’s birthday on Sunday went swimmingly. Alas, I don’t have any pictures of the actual party, because my batteries ran out just as the guests arrived, and we took all the pictures on mum’s camera, but these are some good ones of the setting up (and of course the attempt at cake making!).
We had a yellow theme. We had yellow streamer, balloons, yellow flags with all different types of yellow fabric, yellow table ware and of course everyone wore something yellow.
The cake turned out well.. okay. Let’s just say It tasted good, but if I had a day job I’d be keeping it. I realised that it is incredibly hard to ice the side of a two layer cake on a hot day when the icing is melting, and that I really should have practiced using an icing bag before attempting the actual cake. Oh well, next years can only be better, right? And as someone said to me on the day: ‘Look at it this way, by the time he’s 21 you’ll be making the most amazing masterpieces ever.’ Thanks NanaO.
All in all the company was lovely, the presents were incredible and the food was nice too.
Happy birthday my son.
Of course, amongst the happiness of the birthday was the ever-present stress about craft 2.0. It is of course THIS Saturday, meaning I have exactly two days to completely finish and pack everything. I would like to say that I’m right on track, but alas, nearly everything that was on my list on Friday last week is well,.. still on the list. Oh well. It does mean though that this will be my last blog for a little while.
To those of you who’ll be there this weekend, I’ll see you Sat (I should hope everyone who lives near wellington will be coming!), and to the rest of you, well, I’ll see you early next week! Take care!

Dear sweet Aesop,

Two years ago today I was arched over a stack of pillows, in the bedroom of our little house, in the throes of labour. In just 7 more hours I’d have you in my arms.
After giving you a bit of a wiggle, and telling you we were ready for you the night before, you had decided it was in fact time to show your little face. After months of kicks in the ribs and regular intervals of hiccups, we were finally going to meet you. I was so excited and I actually felt ready.

I didn’t have the easiest pregnancy with you. We ‘tried’ for months before you decided you were ready for us. We didn’t tell anyone we were trying, so when you finally began to grow there were alot of confused tears and worries in the family and a lot of people thought we weren’t ready to become parents. At points we started to believe them, and combined with money troubles, a completely unsuitable living arrangement and a sudden diagnosis of epilepsy a bit of doubt set in.
But we overcame that. We found a beautiful cosy little house, your dad found a lovely job which paid the bills, the family came around to the idea and we started collecting bits and pieces and looking forward to your arrival.

Your birth was beautiful, painful but beautiful. We’d spend months preparing for you to squeeze your way out. We’d done classes and we’d massaged everything there was to massage (?!), and it really paid off. We had the most amazing midwife in the whole world (We love you Lyndell. Thank you.), we had each other, we had both the mums for support and we did it.
After sixteen and a half hours of labour, you landed in your Dad’s waiting hands. He cut the cord and you were all ours.
Meeting you was incredible. It was so surreal, I couldn’t believe it was finally over, or should I say, it was finally beginning.

Your first year was amazing. Every single day you dazzled us with how clever and how beautiful you are, and made us try harder than ever before. We laughed harder than we’ve ever laughed and our tears could have filled rivers. It was both hard and incredible. My thoughts on parenting changed alot, and I learnt lessons that no amount of reading could have taught. I realised that things I thought would come naturally didn’t, and things I thought I could never learn I had in me all along. We overcame so much to get through that first year, and I remember a year ago at your first birthday marveling over how somehow we had managed to keep you alive, and somehow we had managed to stay together. We were so proud of ourselves.

I guess failure is something you will learn in life too, sweet Aesop. I guess its inevitable that one day you’ll not be able to live out something you’ve dreamed about. I wish I could save you from ever having to live that, but I can’t.

This year things have been a little different. Times have been hard, arguments have been had and separations have been made. You’ve seen far too many tears, and far too much anger. You’ve moved islands, and houses. You’ve learned that you now have two homes, and that mum and dad somehow aren’t quite how they used to be, and even now when things are improving between us, and you get to see so much more of your Dad, you’re learning to be one of those children with a life split between two worlds… something I so dearly never, ever wanted you to learn or feel.

So this birthday Aesop, I want you to know I’m sorry. I want you to know I’m trying my very hardest, and your Dad is too. I’m sorry we haven’t been able to keep it all together for you, and I’m sorry for the tears and loud voices. I’m sorry I haven’t turned out to be the ‘natural mother’ I hoped I would be, and that my patience is thin at the best of times. But I also want you to know that I love you. I love you more than anything I’ve ever loved before. I think you’re so incredibly clever, and so beautiful it blows me away. Everytime you laugh my heart melts, and even when you’re being your cheeky-ratbag self, and driving me straight up the wall- I love you. Nothing will ever change that.
So Happy birthday my sweet one. This year will be easier. I promise.

A few of the new finished hoodies! I’m sewing like an absolute nutcase, cutting out new things which I almost know I have no chance of actually finishing in the next week, and struggling to put the finishing touches on the huge pile of ‘only one thing left to do’ hoodies and bags. Arrrrgh.

In order to keep myself sane I’ve been trying to think about other things in my very short breaks throughout the day. Today I spent about half an hour pulling little green caterpillars off my broccoli and cabbage plants. They’ve nearly demolished them : (.
Does any one have any hints and tips (that don’t involve awful toxic sprays) that might help to get rid of them? My gardening attempts don’t seem to be very successful so far, my seedlings are only coming up in patches, and the soil just doesn’t seem to be improving at all. Fingers crossed we get some decent rain soon and the soil laps it up, and the caterpillars get washed away!

My other little distraction is turning two tomorrow. He’s been keeping me company ("get-off-a-material!") while I sew, and is putting up really well with my less than wonderful-attention-giving parenting techniques at the moment. I’ll write the usual ‘birthday spiel’ about how amazing he is tomorrow, but I couldn’t resist showing you these two adorable pictures of Aesop in the studio this afternoon, trying to distract me! (And my new red shoes! Aesop likes them even more than I!)