Win win

Well I had such a good break. So good. Saw Edge of Love, met one of my literary heroes - David Sedaris, read, cooked, crafted - pics will be up soon. I made little birds and tackled one project that nearly drove me mad!

To celebrate my new lease on craft - let's have a giveaway. Leave your name and email address (between now and Friday, 30th August noon - Melbourne time!) and you could win KNITTING NEW MITTENS & GLOVES.

I've had this book for a little while now but honestly - I have enough trouble knitting a scarf, let alone some of these beauties.

Thanks for your lovely messages!
x

Serenity Now...

Deep breath. Feeling better? I don't know if it's because I'm tired of winter, or because I'm 40 but lately I've been feeling blah. I can't seem to muster the will to craft. I've been spluttering with a cold and cough that sounds as if I've been chain-smoking Vicounts. I've been getting way too many "Hey. You look tired" comments and at work, over the constant tapping of keyboards, you can here an orchestra of wheezing, sneezing and slobbering mingled with the smell of peeled mandarins and Vix Vapour Rub.

So. I'm taking a week off work to get my mojo back. I'm dusting out the craft-room, I'm going to trawl through my Japanese craft books and drink green tea. I've even booked a massage! I'm even going to go to gym EVERY day. I'm going to read heaps. Waiting to be cracked open is John Marsden's book, Hamlet, Ken Follett's

Pillars of the Earth

and let's not forget movies, and cooking and playing with the dog and catching up with friends and maybe even some crochet.

I'm looking forward to posting some pics of my new crafty adventures. I've been quiet on the blog of late but have been drawing masses of inspiration from Loobylu and Meet Me At Mikes and of course, Whip Up.

I can hardly wait.

A new dress for Wanda...

They walked the whole night and all the next day too from morning till evening, but they did not get out of the forest, and were very hungry, for they had nothing to eat but two or three berries, which grew on the ground.
Hansel and Getel by the Brothers Grimm





There were many friends. Candles were blown out. Red wine, white wine, two blazing fires and at night, it rained. If you peeked through a window, you would have seen lots of people laughing. A brilliant weekend.

I'm very lucky to have a whole room where I can craft. Last week I cracked open the wonderful SOFTIES book by Therese Laskey and made this little guy...oh, can you spot the point where I should have switched from black cotton to white??? Hmmm. Facial features to come.

While I was sewing, I was listening to Craft Sanity on my mac. So much fun - Jennifer Ackerman-Hawyood has interviewed a whole raft of fab crafty peeps. I'm going to drop her an email and suggest this fantastic crafter

My inspiration wire is about to snap! Might be time for an overhaul.

Martha Stewart Living - June

I have a thing for bees. When Em and I were living in the country, we came this close to getting a hive.
For a couple of months we attented regular Bee Society Meetings (lots of tea and cake) with about 12 old blokes in a hall.

Eventually they invited us to to take part in a hands-on bee experience because one bloke needed to replace his queen.

It was amazing. I was really nervous when the day arrived. I grew up watching KILLER BEES OF AFRICA movies and naturally, the best advice I got was "don't show fear". Right.

We didn't wear full bee gear - just made sure everything was tucked in (lots of layers) and the blokes gave us big bee hats and glvoes.

The worst part was that initial shock of seeing them ALL - 1000s of teeming, buzzing, droning bodies fluttering and zooming. Brilliant.

The only moment that really threw me was when I casually turned around and asked Em if there were many bees on my back. The sharp in-take of air was a pretty strong indication...but it didn't totally freak me out. In the end we didn't get a hive but every time I see a bee, I get a little wistful.

Brrrr

It's snowing in Trentham...which is a reasonable distance from the city (and me) but I like knowing that pretty little town is turning white - if only for a few hours.

I found the pattern for these felt strawberries at Whip Up which will take you to the pattern here - Mr Monkeysuit

It's such an easy pattern - they almost make themselves but be warned - a crop of them will have you longing for warmer days and ice-cream.

Oh. And look who I found in the strawberry patch...

A lot has happened since my last post: let's see - oh I got shingles. Not pleasant. Spent ten days dragging myself from bed to couch and back again but almost feeling normal now. At least I got some reading done. I don't know how I missed it the first time round, but I got stuck into The Heart Garden by Janine Burke - a book about Sunday Reed and her home/gallery, Heide.

When the gloom lifted, Em and I went to Patchwork On Central Park - despite the name, it's in East Malvern, not New York. What a great shop. Okay. When I say "Em and I", I really mean ... Em went and got coffee while I drooled over trim and fabric. I knew I was really on the road to recovery when I made some Black Apple dolls. It's such a great, simple pattern. I'm saving these gals up for gifts. In the end I painted their faces instead of using floss. Talk about stress. I used a tiny brush and just a lick of paint and held my hand really, really still - worked out fine.
The eyes on the little Japanese mouse? bear? gave me the idea - so did Jam Fancy's beautiful dolls.

Etsy Loving

She's not mine but she could be yours...

This Wanda Frog pic (in blue top) from here
and another (pretty dress) from here
and finally (cute green and white tights)here

It's all a matter of taste, of course but I'm intrigued that people can look at this frog, Wanda and

A: just see a piece of green land-fill.

B: suddenly realise they can't live without him/her.

C: are totally baffled.

Do I really need to declare my position?

WANDA I LOVE YOU. GET HERE SOON.

Rings

I've been sticking and stacking and switching and trawling through 1000s of buttons... so here are some new rings.

It's not easy, choosing green...

We've been doing a little painting - one door all red...but now Em & are trying to choose the perfect shade of green for our bedroom walls.

I'm leaning towards a natural kind of green - calming but not too green.

Em wavers between a lighter shade and something that says - "green" but not "too green".

We ended up picking a green each and got a couple of sample pots and slapped it on the walls to see which green worked.

Disaster.

My green was AWFUL - swampy, sea-sick green. I could hardly stand looking at the patch, let alone an entire room.

Emma's green was AWFUL too! Minty, toothpaste green that was irritatingly pale and insipid.

So Saturday afternoon we got out all our books on colour/decorating and immersed ourselves for an hour in page after page of colour - hoping to stumble across the right green.

Didn't happen but it was a fun way to pass an hour. The quest continues but here's a few pics that I like.

Favourite Flickr Friday

How can you not love Arthur's Circus?

And look at this blanket at Granny-Along. Love the colours.

I'm smitten with Wanda. More photos at House of Duke here...

Have a good weekend!

My Blog Bats Its Lashes...

Thanks to Pip for this brilliant post about How To Make Your Blog Look Cuter.

I've been blogging for three years now and really, up until this week - I still didn't know how to put a frame around one of my pictures! This post really is fantastic.

I've pimped my blog and there's no turning back now.

Here There and Everywhere

This is just one of four books filled with images that inspire me - or are just quite simply, lovely to look at. Magazines, blogs, newspapers, flickr - there's always something that catches my eye.
Sometimes the will to craft, to begin a new project - well, I run out of steam. When that happens, I get my books together, along with all my Japanese Craft books and just soak them up. Always, always, always helps.

Big Moo Excited.

I got some Moo business cards made up using some photos I took in Japan last October. I think they look fantastic and I love their quirky size and the good quality paper they print on. Very pleased. Here they are...

This is a close up of a couple of cards that are in a funny old book I found a few weeks ago. I think they must have come with every bar of Toblerone in the early 1900s - the book is published by them, too. Some are pictures of dogs, others are from fairytales.

It was one of those purchases that inspired a look from Emma that said ''What the hell do you want those for?''. Both books are very tatty looking but the little cards are so sweet. Right?