Prepping For Deco

Every February the messages start to fly frantically back and forth between fellow Decophiles as we count down the days before we all converge at TCOTU (The Centre Of The Universe) for annual art deco weekend in Napier.  Furs are aired, costumes are inspected for any signs of wear and tear and a few running repairs are undertaken.  And every year I vow and declare that next year I will be better prepared and not leave things until the last minute.  Well it was another last minute effort this weekend, as per usual, in the scorching hot weather.  We seem to have packed much more efficiently this year though, using our old leather cases rather than polypropylene bags from the $2 shop.  The clothes are the least of our worries, it's all the handbags, shoes and hats which take up most of the space.  But one must have the correct accessories, they really to make the difference darling!  Next year I will do better ...

Now Mr Shoestring is not given to romantic gestures (or he may well be, but not where I am concerned).  However for some reason this year he pushed the boat out and ordered me a vintage style bike for Valentine's Day!  It will take about six weeks to arrive but it is a beautiful pale green shade and will have a dear little basket too.  Of course this means that I will actually learn to become a competent bike rider rather than a person who consistently falls into blackberry bushes and emerges dripping with blood and shaking.  After all, we can't have such a beautiful bike being damaged.



One good turn deserves another and I proudly presented Mr Shoestring with the hat box he had been visiting in the second hand shop near Shoestring Cottage, which pleased him mightily.  Even the colour is deco and it still has its New Zealand Rail check in sticker on one side.  It seems that people liked to make sure in those days that things were securely fastened; the hat box has not one, not two, but three catches to ensure no adventurous hats could make their escape.

It wasn't all toiling over a hot iron this weekend though, it was the monthly Matamata markets and what a fabulous haul of treasure.  This little fellow was just begging to come home to Shoestring Cottage, he was leaping for joy once I put him on the wall.  

His colouring is beautifully faded and though he has lost a bit of his gloss he hasn't lost any of his joie de vivre!

And this deco looking girl has taken up residence alongside the other two I already had.  She looks a bit haughty and superior but I'm sure in time she will get used to her reduced circumstances and enjoy life in a shadow box in a cottage.  Or at least tolerate it with better grace. 

Her companions look a little perplexed to find a newcomer alongside but they will learn to rub along nicely in time.  

One thing which gave me a nostalgic thrill was finding this IBM typewriter golf ball.  When these typewriters were introduced they were the epitome of all that was state of the art, cutting edge and technologically advanced in offices.  Where I worked only the secretaries of senior partners (it was a law firm) had access to these magical machines.  We used to have to type documents in triplicate and every time an error was made it involved correcting the carbon copies as well, how time consuming and frustrating it was.  The more careful you were not to make a mistake, the more seemed to appear as if by some kind of horrible magic.  At nights the typewriters were all lovingly covered with plastic covers, there was some fear that dust might somehow get into the workings and damage them from what I can remember.  And now these things seem so quaint and antiquated!  

There was a delightful fruit plate to hang in the trees outside and replace one which flew off in a storm and smashed to smithereens.  It set me back $2 but I endured the enormous expenditure for the sake of garden ornamentation.

And four champagne flutes which look pretty with a cooling summer drink - a berry, some ice, some rose water and tonic water, just the thing on a hot summer's afternoon.  They have a pattern of grapes on them and I can imagine them on the set of Mad Men only with a sophisticated cocktail perhaps.  

The tomatoes and passionfruit are cropping well even if the grass is turning into brown felt rather than green velvet.  

It wouldn't have been a well balanced weekend without a touch of stitching and I finally got around to making the teatowel I bought in Brighton into a cushion to go with one from Napier.  Instead of choking myself on second hand duvet feathers this time I cheated and put a feather pillow inside, much quicker and less bothersome on a hot summer day. 

Maybe the best part of the weekend though was visiting with Madame La Poste and being allowed into the inner sanctum, her work room.  What an Aladdin's Cave it was!  A place for everything and most things in their place, baskets with fabrics all ready for the next project, a design wall with her crazy quilt almost completed, inspirational pictures and everything to warm the cockles of a quilter's or embroiderer's heart.  I came away feeling newly inspired and less guilty about my scheme to start work on a new quilt; after all, if it's good enough for Madame La Poste it's good enough for me.  I do think she was rather unkind to belittle my use of brown but each to his own!  Thank you Madame La Poste for a look into that magical place.  

The Big Dry

We have heard that January 2015 is likely to be the driest and sunniest on record in our part of the world and perhaps that's why the little pond in the back garden at Shoestring Cottage is doubly alluring this year.  Apart from peering fretfully into its waters to see if the fish babies have survived and not been gobbled up by their parent,s I was looking this weekend at a water lily bud which had formed under the surface of the water.  It seemed doomed to fail because it wouldn't open under the water surely?  The next morning when I looked it had grown overnight and the bud was clear of the water

then a couple of hours later it had unfurled its petals and was in bloom.  

It's almost like living in the tropics, everything seems to be living at an accelerated pace - as long as it has enough water to survive the dry spell, that is.

The pond is beginning to look a bit overcrowded; apart from miscellaneous aquatic grasses and the water lily we now have this gorgeous and exotic looking "zebra grass" (Miscantus Sinensis Zebrina) which apparently will grow to 2 metres and have pink/copper flowers from time to time.  Well, we will see if that comes to pass but it looks very handsome next to the solitary water lily blossom at present.  And its stems make a good place for the fish babies to hide from their terrifying parents too.

Down at the wetland under the overcast skies (which refuse to part with their rain) the convulvulus were glowing ethereally and the wild fennel having a bumper year and reaching for the clouds.

It wasn't all gardening, there was stitching to be done and I amrelieved to report that I have nearly completed the dratted needlepoint which I promised myself I would get done before doing any more exciting and interesting projects.  

It's still on the frame so you can only see the centre section but once it's finished (and surely next weekend will be the last big push because I am up to the last bit of border now), I will back it with the very useful green velvet from some cushions found in an op shop, then I can leave it alone and press on with the next opus.  This polyanthus will look very pretty in the sewing room if and when I finish it, and by cunningly recreating the pot but with a slightly different coloured blossom (pink perhaps) it will make a nice bolster cushion as a change.  

It's almost time to get ready for art deco weekend in Napier again and I unearthed this hat in a local second hand shop.  It will be too hot to wear for summer deco maybe, but in winter time will be just the thing with a tweedy jacket and skirt.  You can see the face of the fox and it is wrapped around the edge of the hat in a very cunning way, quite a triumph!  Maude kindly agreed to model it for me, she can never give up her haughty expression and attempt a smile but she does her best.  

Next weekend it will be time to start airing the furs and auditioning various costumes, excellent!

Barcelona, Paris and Rome via Brixton, Bermondsey, Bath and Brighton (Part One)

Greetings friends one and all, once again I must apologise for my long absence.  Mr Shoestring and I have been to London to visit our two wicked daughters who refuse to return to our fair shores and from thence travelled to parts unknown (or at least unknown to these colonials).

I know you will be interested to hear about all things pertaining to stitching experiences, so I will start off with the visit to the Kaffe Fassett 50 years retrospective exhibition at the American Museum in Bath.  When we planned our trip I was unaware of this exceptional event, but it came to my attention via that wonderful publication, Patchwork Mania, where I spied an advertisement one day.  What a wonderful experience that was!  All stitchers who remember the 1980s will recall how Kaffe burst onto the scene with his inspirational depictions of everyday objects such as cabbages and cauliflowers, and how that revolutionised the needlepoint genre at that time.  He has  also worked his magic upon knitting and patchwork and his use of colour, especially intense saturated colour, has inspired people the world over.  When we arrived at the American Museum the trees were festooned with knitted ornamentation and that was just a taste of things to come.

Another wonderful experience in England was the Burlington Arcade which was jam packed to the gunnels with vintage and antique jewellery, including one shop which displayed only old timepieces year by year.  Of special interest to me was all the art deco jewellery in this arcade.  Whatever your fancy, there was something to tempt you here.

In Brighton we looked at the pier, where even the toilets still have the original Victorian tiles and the stained glass windows are still in perfect condition,

but that faded into insignificance once we saw the Royal Pavilion.  What a magnificent treasure and how gratifying that so many treasures in England are still in the easy grasp of ordinary people.

When we visited many museums and art galleries there was no charge, for instance the National Portrait Gallery, which must make things a lot more accessible and encourage people to take advantage of the resources at their disposal.

One place we had badly wanted to see though was Eltham Palace which is an unusual amalgam of medieaval palace and art deco grand house (what more could one want), and is within an easy train trip of London.  On the day we visited the weather was beautiful, clear and sunny and we were impressed by the way the house and garden were presented.  When the family bought an restored the neglected property and added their own stamp on it with modern architecture and interior decoration the great Hall was about to collapse and had been used as a barn for housing farm animals and the sheer vision they displayed in melding ancient and modern was quite awe inspiring.

More to follow, I just wanted to let you know I'm alive and kicking!

Garden Envy

This week I called in to see my mum on the way to Shoestring Cottage and I couldn't quite suppress a teeny tiny attack of that old foe of all gardeners, Garden Envy.  Of course I wouldn't like to visit my mum's garden and find the spring growth infested with white fly and aphids but ... there are always things to be seen in other people's gardens which one might wish to have for one's own!  For instance, my garden is so microscopic that there isn't space for areas with different types of plantings, because it can be seen almost all at once.  Because Bobby has a villa the front of her garden is very traditional and pretty and just what one would hope for in a charming old well established garden

 But around the back there are areas with a definite subtropical feel, you could wouldn't be much surprised to see some monkeys or brightly coloured parrots in the upper reaches of the trees sometimes.

And then my spring blossoms look so sharp and garish compared to some of these more subtle beauties.

 The latest addition to the garden, a sumptuous apricot and pink shaded magnolia the likes of which I have never seen before.  (I think she would suspect me though if it mysteriously vanished one day.)

And a new camellia called Pink Lace, enormous blossoms and so tenderly shaded.

 No space at my place for a darling little gazebo draped with climbing roses,

 and my cats never pose obligingly either.

But we have to suppress these feelings in our gardening bosoms and press on and make the most of what we have or we would give up the fight altogether, so I tried to look for positives in my patch despite the fact that the flowers have to grow cheek by jowl with the vegetables because space is so short.  I will just call it companion planting and pretend that silver beet and parsley benefit from the close proximity of bluebells.  

 And this subtropical beauty did survive the frosts of winter and is putting on a very brave show already.

The miniature cyclamen are multiplying too.  

The lilies are forging ahead but I am a bit concerned about this one which seems to have some kind of mutant flower stem growing, perhaps two stems have fused together because it looks as though there will be one bumper crop of flowers on one single stem - as long as the slugs and snails don't triumph, of course.

We discovered a new op shop this weekend and I have added two more priceless treasures to my art collection.  (I am thinking of leaving it to the country as a national treasure when I die, I am sure the curator of the national art gallery will be overjoyed.)  

This reminds me of summer holidays on the Coromandel peninsula, the sun bleached grass in the foreground and the coast are just perfect.  It was $3.00 which seems a fair price considering there was no frame. 

I thought this one had some kind of interesting seedheads growing in the foreground but eventually realised that it had pieces of tissue paper stuck all over it, which I have picked off as much as possible but still a few remain.  $3.00 also and no frame, tsk tsk tsk.  

Bobby was having another one of her seasonal fevers where she feels the need to divest herself of possessions and I was the grateful recipient of a dainty little white chair which is very useful in the bathroom at Shoestring Cottage. (Looking at this picture I realise she also donated the vanity, which was immediately painted white, and the wooden screen which may well become white any day now too).  

I have heard from the Southern Sisters that they have been living the art deco life down there, and have completed replica nurses' uniforms from World War I for an event they are attending.  This of course had the effect of focusing the little grey cells (as beloved Hercule Poirot would say) once more upon the need to get up to speed for art deco weekend next year and not let time go past without making any effort, which is what usually happens.  I dragged out these likely contenders which will hopefully be able to be modified and fit for purpose. 

This dress is silk so should be comfortable for summer deco.  I very much like the slightly drab deco colours of the fabric.  When I located it languishing and unloved I also bought the scarf draped around the neckline, which hopefully can be used to make some kind of floating panels for the back or some other deco accouterments.  

This combo has a distinctly Miss Marple feel about it and I realised afterwards that it has no suitable hat, which could prove to be a big challenge.  As The Dancing Queen has frequently remarked, and as the Southern Sisters may well agree, the hat and accessories can make or break your outfit so I had better get to work in this.  A natural coloured straw with some lavender blooms on it might be just the ticket - just a question of finding such a thing, of course.  

 Here is a detail of the crochet in the jacket, which features a very tricky interlocking circle design.

 And I can just picture Miss Marple in a floral print along these lines.  

It was yet another weekend of torrential rain at Shoestring Cottage so I could turn these problems over in my mind and not feel badly to be indoors - this was the third rainy weekend in a row so there must surely be some respite soon!