Far From The Maddening Crowd....& back in my studio!

Yes, that's right....Felix is now 9.5 weeks old and a super baby who sleeps for 3 hour stretches and is glorious when he's awake....so when he sleeps I work (I know I ought to sleep/rest too, though I prefer to make the most of studio time while I can).

This post features a recent commission for my very dear friend and fabulously talented Monique Germon, who is launching an online store of beautiful handmade treasures, at the start of November this year....and lucky me, she wants my work too!

Her new business is called STORY and showcases a more mature, pared back and elegant aesthetic which is going to be really exciting for me to work with, a real change! Here are images of the STORY Flagship Cosy I've just finished for Monique, from the finished cosy back to its beginnings as a pile of fabrics...oh, and a photo of Felix and I taken yesterday (you can see Felix concentrating on the computer screen as the laptop's camera took the photo!).



And a detail...


Other side & detail...



The work in progress...



Laying out the cosy sides...


Choosing the fabrics...


The inspiration/reference images...




And this is us, Tara & Felix...

A bit of Willow Pattern fun...

I'm working on a set of new tea cosies and doing a bit more research about the history of the Willow Pattern and story behind the legend.

I thought I'd share these two films with you, I especially LOVE the first one, the children's drawings animated are really great!

Let me introduce you...

To our new little boy, Felix William Anatole Badcock-Howe, born on the 8th July just before tea time!



He lights up our lives every morning an is the most glorious child, we feel really blessed....and terribly in awe of what we've made together, Rainier & I!

Warmth & sunshine to you all! xxxxxx

Getting ready to go to hospital...

And I remembered I wanted to find some music I love to play during labour...this one is making me cry too much (all those hormones!!), and I've always loved this video version made for SBS television in Australia...



These are the lyrics.
Sa ziza zecob dela dalou'a
Boralea'e borale mi komi oula
Etawuae'o ela'o coralia wu'aila
Ilei pandera zel e' tomu pere no mo mai
Alatawuan icas imani'u
Barletas e'e barkia'a
Pro'e lai e'le a pantou la'u
Ilei pandera zel e' tomu pere no mo mai
Sa ziza zecob dela dalou'a
Boralea'e borale mi komi oula
Alatawuan icas iwua'oula
Ilei pandera zel e' tomu pere no mo mai

Rose-Mount Tea Cosy, for my partner Rainier's parents.

While I await the birth of my first child I'm doing whatever I feel like and taking a little break from some orders that are taking longer than I'd hoped to finish, to complete a few things that I started last year! In other words, I'm procrastinating a bit!!

This cosy I started last year for my partner Rainier's parents, who love green and have a wonderful garden and farm with some lovely bushland on it in Mole Creek, northern Tasmania. Their farm is called Rose-Mount which I've embroidered with the date of their house on one side...




And on the other side I've embroidered Rainier's parent's initials and some roses...




I'll post some pics of the cosy in the garden at Rose-Mount soon....I'm being induced tomorrow night so I won't be very talkative on this blog for a week or two after baby arrives, unless I'm blessed with some extraordinary quantity of energy and find myself still sewing tea cosies in between changing nappies, breast feeding and naps!?!

Thanks to everyone who checks out my blog and apologies that it hasn't been very interesting of late, I've been a bit preoccupied..... ;-)

Anatomy of a Tea Cosy commission, June 2010, FINITO!

Well, I feel it's finished!

The sides are hand-stitched together with a double layer of back and overcast stitch (using upholstery weight Gutermann thread), before the silk binding is stitched around the edges as the final touch.

I've used Hemp denim as the lining as its nice and durable and can withstand tea stains, etc! So here are the images....

Anatomy of a Tea Cosy commission, June 2010, Stage 5 & 6

Ahhhhhh, finally I have been able to spend some really intensive 'quality time' on the cosy and we are now nearing the finish line, which will be later tonight!

So this is the Union Jack side of the cosy, with 1972 Mercedes chain stitched and satin stitched initials of the client's husband....


Then the HP sauce bottle and Bacon Buttie I applied as applique and embroidery above the car...I'm really chuffed with how the HP sauce bottle has turned out, I was really having difficulty finding a good way to do it without spending months hand embroidering all the details, so hopefully this is a successful and lively approach?!


And a close-up...


Now all I have to do is line, stitch and bind the edges of the cosy tonight and photograph it in the daylight tomorrow and show the client to make sure she's happy with the finished product.

I will update the images in the morning for your viewing pleasure!