My first quilt



Finally, after 8 months, I have finished my first ever quilt! I must say that it was a mission.  and also that my sewing was quite shocking.  But I really loved the colours and doily's and overall vintage feel of it.  It got posted off to Timaru yesterday for my first nephew who is about to be born any minute.  A definite learning experience!!!



 

 

The Eastern ...and Me!

Late last year I had the most amazing opportunity; to open for The Eastern (from chch) at Donovan's Store in Okarito.

Was such a good night and great to play with them in front of a packed crowd of 50ish friends.

Thanks to our good friend Ben Sarten for the wonderful photography and videography.

60th Birthday Cake

My mums 60th was last month and I went over the east coast to celebrate with the whanau.  With the help of a good friend who is a baker and cake expert, I managed to make this Mississippi Mud Cake for my mum.
My friend made the lily flower, and I painted it.

When Life Hands You Lemons...



Make cordial... and lemon curd... and lemon meringue pie... !

I put a call out on Facebook for lemons, as you do... and I certainly got lemons!! 

This is my daughters lemon cordial she is going to sell at the Okarito Market Day next month. Hoping that it keeps alright until then!

 

 

Bag for a Friend

A bag I also made a few weeks ago for a girl at work, I was really pleased with how it turned out.. Bag Brief: PURPLE.  Think I got it.
Found the purple fabric in an awesome shop in Methvyn, was originally pillowcases which turned out to be perfect size for making a bag!
Lined in the same fabric.

Purse for a Friend

Hi there!
Haven't blogged for SUCH a long time as things have been crazy busy, hoping to get back into it now...
Made this purse last week for a good friend of mine who loves bright and funkiness. She wanted it padded for her iphone, so it's sandwiched with batting and free embroidered on both sides, and lined.

New work space in progress...

As we have a TINY flat with four of us squished in there, my beloved decided I should have a GIANT wardrobe cupboard for all my 'crap'. 
And it was free from the neighbour who was going to burn it!
This resulted in a new improved, but minute workspace, as it is in our bedroom and I have to maneuver my way to bed at night..
But I'm happy for now...

Paper Flower Bouquet

I felt like some flowers in the house the other day, but...it's winter, so alas no real ones to be found at my house, so I made some paper ones!
They are made from florist paper and bamboo skewers...

Now listed in my shop at www.felt.co.nz

More hemp/jute sewing in the form of a bag. Not sure what to do with it yet (tempted to keep...  but no, have dozens of bags already!)
Possible Franz Market Day stock, or may end up at Okarito Nature Tours....

new projects and shop

I've been doing a little bit of sewing recently with some jute/coffee sacks, with quite good results.... having trouble attaching any more photos, but the purse above (and more!) is now for sale at Matchbox Studios, Cuba Street, Wellington!

 

Also have turned some of my card/patch images into stickers, which was quite fun...

 

Bit slack on the blogging front however; life and everything gets in the way you know?  Off on holiday to Nelson soon where I hope to have amazing creative inspiration and also remember my youth at art school there...

How life has changed!!!

Arohanui,

Tash

This bag was commissioned from a friend of mine and I was really pleased with how it turned out, would be my best so far! 

New Shop on Felt NZ

www.felt.co.nz/shop/chilligirl

One of my paint/stitch pieces on this great new West Coast website Artland

http://artland.kiwi.nz/index.php/painting/item/127-in-limbo-painting-by-tash-smith.html

 





Friends and Flowers

 

 A friend gave me some beautiful sweet peas out of her amazing garden yesterday, so thought they were worthy of a pic.
Have been very slack lately on the blogging front, 
hope to keep it up regularly now!

A friend of mine is getting married on Friday at the lake down the road, and so we all have been crocheting up a storm in an effort to create some unique and wonderful bouquets.  I have had the job of sorting them out and fixing them up with some 'stems', which i made from straws with bamboo skewers inside for some stability.  Today we will wrap this lot up with some beautiful fabric for her bouquet, and the other two smaller ones i will crochet around all the stems and tidy up.

New shop items

 A few Chilligirl shop items now available ...  Okarito Market Day again in a few weeks so busy sewing up some Chilligirl handmade goodies.
Also doing a homemade icecream stall so will be a busy day!

Post-Holiday Blues

Hi there! We are now back from our big holiday with the kids to Thailand, was beautiful, hot, relaxing etc everything you need on holiday on a tropical island/s, a little full-on at times with the kids and LOTS of people which we are definately not used to living here on the coast!
Finding it hard to get back into the swing of life, and in desperate need of somewhere to sew up some more goodies for my shop - think i am going to have to use the kids new wooden table they got for their birthdays.  Because we have also shifted (just before we left on holiday), I traded my small house with the big bench for a slightly bigger house with no bench.  Hmmmm. 
I have been crocheting up a storm however, hats for the whole family, a cowl scarf for me, and now knitting some gloves for me too (before summer comes!)
Will attach a few photos from holiday of some inspiring paintings/colours...  Ka Kite Ano, see you again soon!  Tash

 Silk cocoons from the Phuket Butterfly and Insect Garden
They had a great display all about how they make silk, including traditional Thailand techniques and looms etc. 

 

Butterfly cocoons all lined up ready to hatch! And some older ones...

 

 

Hand painted pillar at The Big Buddha shrine,

Koh Samui, Thailand

'In Limbo'

'In Limbo', Acrylic and Stitch on Cotton, made for The Left Bank Gallery Canvas Fundraising Project next month. 

Well, this month we have shifted house, organized and booked our honeymoon/OA (Overseas Adventure) bought a shipping container (to fit all our stuff in that doesn't fit in our bigger but-lacking-in-storage new house) battled with the phone company to get the phone on, and celebrated our wee boy's 1st birthday.. and I've just finished my work for The Left Bank Gallery's Canvas Fundraising Project next month!!  and all without having any internet at home...  which is a major problem and my excuse for not blogging.. or doing any work for my shop... (if you were wondering where i went?)
It's been busy....
We are off to Thailand for our 2 1/2 year awaited honeymoon-with-the-kids
which is pretty exciting!  Hope to be able to post photos on here but will see how much fun we are having..
Kia Kaha (keep strong)
Tash

Fibre Fungi's I - III

Pics of 'Fibre Fungis' which will be at The Left Bank Gallery,

Greymouth,  from next weekend until the end of May.  All are crocheted embroidery cotton over wire.

There is actually a fourth one, which was my favourite as it was a bit oblong shaped and had quite different sizes 'holes'.  I was making it the night before I had to drive to Greymouth, so I didn't get around to photographing it!  Slack artist, I know, but I also know that the gallery will take pics of them all too...! 

Toothache past few days so not much in the way of creating happening, let alone anything else...  big storm tonight which is pretty exciting as it has been a year or so since we had one.  xoxo



Family Forest Walk

We went for a nice little walk the other day into the bush across the road from our house...... Had lots of ideas of a Forest Fairy birthday party here!