Long Shadows and Winter Sun

On Saturday Em and I took Toby to the Williamstown Botanical Gardens. It's a pretty small area but beautiful and often we're the only one's there, which is even better. The sun was glorious and the colours - everything looked internally lit up.

My weekend is starting a little early - hope you enjoy yours.

A Long Walk

On Sunday Em and I took Toby for a looong walk from Yarraville to Williamstown, which is about a 10k return trip. It was perfect strolling weather; weak winter sun and a slight breeze. We live around the corner from the West Gate Bridge, so tens minutes after closing the back door we were under the shadow of the mighty spans. Every girl and her dog was out yesterday, lots of kids on bikes and people jogging, pushing prams or fishing. It's so lovely to live near the water again. I especially like the industrial landscape of our neighbourhood (though I don't like what it does to the environment). There's lots of abandoned factories and warehouses, smoke stacks and tankers. Here's some wonderful photos Em took on the way and back. Seeing the beautiful cloud was a bonus.

New Corners

Always love a bit a green. When I get organised, I'm really going to try to keep some herbs alive in the garden...

Another corner - more tins. I think I need help!

A flock of tin birdies.

Martha, Martha, Martha.

Travelling South

This picture doesn't really capture much of what's been going on for the last two weeks. Emma and I moved from the country to the city. Goodbye grazing cows and vegie patch, hello cafes, trucks and city lights. Picking up the keys from the real estate agent's was so exciting. We've never owned our own home before and suddenly, everything took on a whole new sheen....''our'' door, ''our sloping lounge-room floor'', our ''rusted spouting''...

We've spent the last 2 weeks rushing from one room to another and back again, which is much more fun than it sounds. I can't wait to explore the area more...we can walk to our local cinema, heaps of shops - even a bookshop...we can see the bridge from our bedroom window and on Saturday, we went to the local organic market in the park.

The craft-room is up and running but I haven't made much - too busy being thrilled that almost everything little thing has its own spot. A real novelty.

It's nice to be back.

Em and I and a friend spent the day in Daylesford on Sunday - lovely and wintry day, dark clouds, autumn leaves, chocolate and bric-a-brac, old books and hot soup. I was standing in a bookshop...looking out the window when this flock flew past.

This is a photo from a magazine. It makes me feel relaxed just looking at it...but I'm not sure why. I love cool minty greens and the pinks with the honey colours and the exposed beams. Sigh. When we move to the new house (in less than 2 weeks) I'm going to make sure I bring a bit of green inside - doesn't have to be fancy flowers, just something to in a pretty vase.

The Peggy's

From left to right; Peggy-Sue (she likes a drink), Peggy-Jane, Peggy-Ann and Peggy. Most of my craft supplies are packed for the big move, so this is pretty much all I had to play with; bit of fabric, glue, trim and textas. Can't wait to unpack everything at the other end...

Thanks for all the lovely comments about Theodore! I love Theresa's spin on his wonky leg...yes, I agree...Theodore is "waving"!
My town had a big second-hand market on Sunday & I found a large box of buttons for $5...some of them below. I made heaps of button pins for my pin board, which gave me the idea to use some of these wooden number discs I found about a year ago at the Camberwell Market. I'm not sure what sort of game Housie is - like Bingo perhaps? Anyway, I really like the look of them.

Introducing Theodore.

I saw the pattern for this dog in a Japanese craftbook about a year ago. I remember looking at it with awe, never imagining I would ever get to the stage where I would actually make my own. Well. On Saturday I had a go and looky what happened? I always thought that sewing fur would be hell but it was actually quite forgiving; hiding my messy/crooked stitching. I have no idea why, but my dog is much, much bigger that the dog pictured in the book. No doubt this will be just one more unsolved mystery. He took about four hours to make and I jabbed myself with my extra long needle about four times...but it was worth it. And yes, poor Theo has one front leg shorter than the other. Ahem.

Cooler weather means hotter food. I got the latest Donna Hay which had a recipe for Strawberry and Rhubarb pie. It was crazy easy to make, baked in no time and made the house smell of warm oranges and cinnamon. Hmmmmm

I know it's a bit late but I hope everyone had a good Easter. Made some last minute bunnies, thanks to Bez White's great pattern.

Hmmm. Note to self...iron tablecloth next time!

Party dresses and cupcakes.

Emma and I had some friends up for lunch last weekend...they have three beautful little girls, so what else could we do but make these little gems...when I took the cover off the cake stand ... they was an audible...''ahhhhhh''. Very cute.

The late rain bought a late rose...and

I haven't been doing too much crafting lately but making these Easter cards was a good way to ease back into it. There's something really satisfying about sewing paper on the machine. Vintage illustrations from Happy Kitty Bunny Pony.

Emma and I live in a house of many bits and pieces but the day of reckoning is upon us! A couple of weeks ago we bought our first house and now we must pick up (at least once) every single thing we have and pack it away.

I like to think that the older I get, the less I accumulate but yesterday, when I started packing the first of many, many boxes of books, I realised that I just don't have to keep them all.

This is a bit of a revelation for me - I've always had a lot of books, even when I was a kid. My bed had a little built in bookshelf with a night light in the corner and it was always full of books; my favourite titles or whatever I was reading at the time.

Now Em and I have eight bookcases, all full, with books stacked on top of books, squeezed into together.

But yesterday, as I picked up each book...I really scrutinised it and made myself explain (to myself) why I needed this book in my life. After a couple of hours, the KEEP stack was still higher than the OUT stack, but not by much. Yes, I did go back later and pick out a few titles from the OUT stack and put them in the KEEP stack, but not all books are created equal. Some I books I don't even remember (bibliophiles amnesia) buying let alone reading, some books I'd picked up second hand and couldn't say no because they were cheap or because I can't seem to not buy a copy of Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier...even though I have three....and how did I end up with four copies of Jane Eyre? Three copies of To Kill A Mockingbird? Two copies of Emma? Three copies of Written on the Body? I think I know why. Some books are like sad, little orphans and I couldn't leave them all alone with Harry's Guide to Truck Maintenance or Electronics for Beginners.

Usually I feel a bit anxious when I let a book go. I'm not quite sure how to express the criteria, but this time round, I'm determined to only keep those books that I would go out and spend money on to replace.

Moving into a new house (in the spring) is like a new chapter and I suppose it feels like this is my chance to shake off a few habits and do things differently... kind of liberating, too.

The books will find a new home, a new reader, new hands to hold them...now to my egg cup collection...

This was my second attempt at sewing with fluffy material. The first looked more like road-kill but here it is...supposed to be a bunny but looks a bit like a mouse. It's all in the ears so if I have time - I might make a new set soon. Still, a bunnymouse it is.

Corners of my Home

Toby's got that she-made-me-do-this look about him and he's right. I did make him sit on the little chair until I couldn't take his ''enough already'' stare.

Yesterday was supposed to be a sleepy Sunday, bit of reading, bit of gym, bit of baking...but then I started sorting through a few things...which lead to tidying up...which lead to ''oh my god - we have so much "stuff" and soon I had to stop myself from piffing everything. I'm a bit of a collector - I quite fancy my "things" but every now and again I feel all minimalist and sparse and want space not clutter. This overwhelming feeling of too much stuff comes with the house-hunting we've been doing over the last few weeks. What an eye opener that's been. But that's another post. Yesterday I came across Ophelia. I bought her in Stratford- upon- Avon on my first trip overseas, about 19 years ago. She cost a silly amount and stands about 2cms. Her tiny arms move up and down...that was the clincher, as I recall.

Anyway, by days end - the house was a little less cluttered, but not much.