Hurrah!

Four things

Anna (Ayama-Chan) from Sew What has tagged me to share some things about myself in groups of fours.  Well, blogging is still relatively new to me but I love knowing there's a community of like-minded creative people out there so here goes...

Four Jobs I've Had:

1. Children’s Book Specialist (fancy title from working in a bookstore) -  I loved the books, some customers tested my patience but, I loved the books
2. Journalist (one day I might write for a publication I love)
3. Editor (yup, maybe one day for a publication I love)
4. Teddy-bear maker (I used to sell a few and some have travelled the world from Canada to Scotland – including a biker bear who I made a little leather jacket and bandana for!)

Four Favourite Movies:

Oooh this is hard as I love films....

1. Definitely Baraka
2. Definitely the Three Colours Trilogy (which I’m counting as one)
3. Definitely anything starring Cate Blanchett (also counting as one choice) including Oscar and Lucinda, Elizabeth and Babel
4. In fourth place are all my other favourites including Love Actually, Amelie, Blood Diamond, Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, Gosford Park, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, Babette’s Feast, Star Wars Episodes IV, V and VI (the originals – not with Jabba with a tail…), Bend it Like Beckham, anything 007, The Labyrinth (yup – born in the 70s, grew up in the 80s), The Dark Crystal (ditto previous point), After the Wedding, Match Point, the list goes on and on :D

Four Places I've Been

These are places I've loved in amongst the places I've been:

1. Plockton, Scotland
2. Thulhaagiri, The Maldives (yup, it really is Heaven on Earth)
3. The Ring of Kerry, Ireland
4. Portobello Road, London

Four Places I've Lived

1. In the country
2. In the city
3. South
4. North

Four Favourite TV Shows

I don't really watch that much TV anymore but I have loved these shows:

1. McLeod's Daughters (in the days of Claire and Tess)
2. Sex and the City
3. The Block
4. The Farmer Needs a Wife (haha!  Yup, we were addicted to this - and Average Joe too!!!)

Four Favourite Radio Programmes

ABC 720.  I love the gardening show with Sabrina Hahn.  I love Drive with Russell Woolf.  I really dislike the sports obsession the ABC has and wish cricket and football would find their own radio stations - and why don't they have a craft segment??

Four Favourite Foods

1. Thai
2. Vegemite
3. Dark chocolate (Oxfam’s is best!)
4. Ummm…aeroplane food!!  I love the compartments and I love waiting for it to come up the aisle and I love the fact that if I’m eating it that means I’m flying somewhere!

Four Places I'd Rather Be

1. The Maldives
2. Scotland
3. At the park with Brendon and Matilda
4. Relaxing at home

Well, whenever I read these types of lists on other people's blogs I am excited to see if we like any of the same stuff, am intrigued by other people's quirks, or am excited to read about something I hadn't heard of before.  I hope there was something in my list that someone somewhere found interesting??  If not, well they're my favourite things anyway :)

Now I'm tagging these four people who as Anna said to me, "If this isn't your thing, I completely understand!  Just try not to 'break the chain' ":

1. Katie from A Little Bird Told Me. So
2. Stacey from Three Red Trees
3. Katy from I'm A Ginger Monkey
4. Jacinta from One Little Acorn - hey Jacinta, I just realised you already did this in February!!

If you guys want to particpate I'd love to read about your favourites but if you're not keen to do it then I just want to say I love reading your blogs anyway and they're four of my favourites ;)

 

Time

Who couldn't do with more?  I seem to be running out of time lately even though everyone has the same amount!  And February even had an extra day this year - apparently five or seven (?) babies were born in Perth on February 29th.  How odd to only have a birthday every four years - although it would be really really special.

If I had time, I would add a cuckoo clock to the wall in the Dormouse House.  As it is, the rescheduled birthday party is this Saturday (poor Amelie was sick on the original date and the party had to be postponed - baby animal zoo, pony rides and all...) and I'm still stitching away at tiny coffee tables and tiny mice.  I am actually looking forward to finishing it so I can get back to some other crafty things I'm itching to get moving on.  For Christmas, I made Amelie a book bag and filled it with board books.  She really liked the buttons.

The fabrics were from Superbuzzy and I used self-cover buttons, which were very fun to make.  There's a pocket on the back for a library card - even though she just turned one she already has a library card, yay!

Time now to re-arrange yet another room in the last few weeks of our renovation.  I've got no idea where we're going to put everything when the boards get sanded - including ourselves...

I've just signed on for Earth Hour 2008.  Must remember 8pm 29 March.  No doubt it'll come around quickly...

I Heart Mikes

I have been stuck in bed with a head cold.  Silly time of year for a cold but I hope I'm getting it out the way before Winter.  It's a bit tricky having a cold in 38 degree heat and trying to keep cool but needing to curl up and sleep.  Ah well!  I did manage to do a little bit of hand-stitching while lying in bed and appliqued a little felt deer on a polka dot heart for the Hearts for Mirabel appeal organised by the very wonderful Meet Me At Mikes.

....deer heart.

And before I got this (sniff sniff) cold, I made this one too...and I thought of it before I started to read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland!

...yup, Queen of Hearts...which actually seemed funnier before I had a cold.

That little heart wouldn't stay still for the photo, which isn't great anyway considering there's still nowhere to take a photo during our renovation!!!

At least the hearts will be on their way to Mikes, which is lovely.  Now I'm back to bed to get rid of this cold in the sweltering heat and dream of other crafty things...

Hurrah! xx

small (furry) coincidences (that sleep in teapots...)

 

Have you ever thought of something - an image, a new idea to try, something you'd like to have a go at or a new technique to master - then once you've thought of it, you notice the same sort of thing elsewhere, or something related to it or something someone else has done before you got to try it or the thing you thought of suddenly pops up in a few different places and you wonder if it's a coincidence or if these things were going to be there anyway and you just weren't looking for them before...

This is the case for me with this little guy and now I am thoroughly obsessed.

It started with an old craft book I have (and one that I LOVE - Jean Greenhowe's "Favourite Dolls and Toys" - she does wonderful knitting patterns too if you are after beautiful toy patterns to knit).  The book has a section on toy houses and in there is a Dormouse House - made totally of fabric and made to look like a tree stump.  The house has a zip running down the centre and it unzips into a loungeroom and a bedroom.  There's cozy lounge chairs and a log fire and a patchwork quilt on the bed and a family of dormice live there...

   

I loved the little dormouse house the minute I saw it and it's my only (so far!) niece's first birthday next month so I am making her a dormouse house.  She will be a bit little to play with it yet but another one of my obsessions is making her gifts rather than buying her things - we have a large family and there's a few grandkids on her Dad's side too so she has oodles of things already and will no doubt be spoilt for her first birthday (secretly anyway I'm not sure who will enjoy the dormouse house more - Amelie or me!!).

 

I haven't made the little dormice yet and there's heaps more to do but I am absolutely loving making it so far (although it's been really challenging and fiddley - miniature curtain ties are not easy to tie - it reminded me of trying to tie bows on my Strawberry Shortcake dolls' clothes when I was little...)

I haven't really thought much about dormice before (funny that..) but when I Googled them I discovered they like to hibernate, live in France, eat berries and they're soooo cute...

I searched for them on Etsy to see if anyone there shared my obsession but only a couple of things popped up.  I started to think about drawing my own dormouse pattern and then I met up with my bookclub on the weekend to see The Kite Runner (which was last month's book) and we couldn't locate copies of this month's chosen book so decided to go with the second option - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (which surprisingly none of us have ever read except for bits and some of the poems - Beware the Jabberwock my son! - and we'd all seen the Disney version) and who should appear in Chapter Seven: A Mad Tea Party but.....

The Dormouse. 

I am now dreaming of dormice and obsessing over patterns for small mice living in little teapots...maybe one day I'll make a little dormouse teapot house.

Yup.  Obsessed.

Thank you for your lovely comments about Shem and inspiration.  It's nice to know there's people out there - and such inspiring people too :)

Some inspiration

It's funny where inspiration comes from and what some people find inspiring others wouldn't think twice about.  It's hard when you're inspired by other people's (crafty bloggers') crafts and don't want to copy them but when you have an original idea (or what you think is original) you wonder whether it's been influenced by something you've seen elsewhere and maybe you've forgotten you saw it....  I love browsing Flickr and the internet and having a look at all the amazing things people come up with and I'm completely addicted to craft books.  Maybe nothing is truely original in this world anymore but sometimes I think I should stop looking at other's people's work as I don't want it to influence my own - or be accused of copying (or worse, out right plagiarism).  I guess that's the nature of the web though (not so much copying or plagiarism but sharing!) and it's nice to share things with others and to see what other people are doing and I think (as many other people have debated) that there is such a thing as web etiquette - just as there is in the world outside of blogland - and most people seem to know what's the right or wrong thing to do.  Not sure if all this came out clearly (I'm a bit rambley today!) but it's something I think about a lot when I'm making things and there's plenty of debate about this whole topic already out there.

Anyway, this little guy popped into my head last night - actually it was while I was having a shower (in our horrible outdoor shower made of bits of our old pergola - can't wait to throw the lot in the skip bin after the renovation, including the mould, slugs and mozzies - yuk!  Actually, I'm a bit embarassed that I shared that....) anyway, I thought my husband's shampoo bottle was a cute shape and this little guy popped into my head (yes I did say it was funny where inspiration comes from...)...

 

This is Shem.  Shem had one hat decoration (a spotty ribbon with a vintage button) and then decided to be a bit of a collector and more hat decorations appeared - two suffolk puffs (I LOVE that name) or fabric yo-yos with button centres...

And speaking of inspiration, I am completely in love with Angus and Julia Stone.

I received their album for Christmas (thank you Brendon! xx) and have played it over and over and over again - it is permanently on repeat and it is wonderful...

A Book Like This.

My sister Jess has seen them play a couple of times and said they were excellent.  Next time they're in Perth I have to see them.

Hurrah!

Soft Turtle Buddy

Soft turtle buddy for my friend's baby boy Thomas (T is for turtle and T is for Thomas!).  The pattern for the turtle is from Amy Karol's wonderful book Bend-the-rules Sewing.  I have mentioned this book before but the more I read and use it, the more I LOVE it.  There is a Bend-the-Rules Sewing group on Flickr and people have made the most gorgeous things from the book.  Amy is a star!  She offers tips and advice through the Flickr group on her patterns, fabrics and the book, and is always there to help out.  I love her Angry Chicken blog too.

I used a cheap acrylic felt for the turtle's body only because I loved the bright, spotty pattern.  His legs, head and tail are cotton and he has French knots for eyes.  I sewed a couple of bells into a tiny cotton pouch in his tummy to transform him into a rattle.  He was quick and easy to make and he was fun to make too - turning him inside out and having his legs and head pop out of his shell was like watching a baby turtle hatch (kind of...).  I like patterns when they're easy to follow and fun to make.  Thanks Amy!

 

I also appliqued a couple of baby singlets for Thomas and packaged them up with his turtle.  I haven't sent them off yet but I hope he likes them :D

count your blessings

This is the last week of my holidays until I return to a job that I really have had enough of.  I started looking for a different job a month or two ago and got offered an interview for a job I would have LOVED about five years ago.  In the end I decided not to go for the interview as it was a bit like chasing an old dream that I'd since replaced with new dreams.  Funny how the start of the year is full of the new and the old.  Anyway, I was determined not to waste this last week of my holidays - despite today being 40 degrees in Perth again (that's 104 Fahrenheit apparently) - actually I just checked the BOM and it's only 38 degrees today (only) - whatever, it's still hot and muggy in Perth and I'm whingeing about it and feeling bad as there's floods in other parts of Australia and places with ongoing drought so I really have nothing to complain about.  Anyway, the heat and our renovation make it difficult to do all the things I had planned for my holidays - ie craft!!  My craft room is such a mess I don't know where to begin and the three rooms we're currently living in have boxes stacked floor to ceiling.  I don't know how people renovate houses when they have children - there's just the two of us and two furry pets.  Matilda is barking at the sound of a nail gun - I think she's had enough too!!  Ah well, it will all be worth it - we keep hoping it'll be finished by next Christmas at least and hopefully we can put up our tree this year!!!

On a brighter note, the gardenia is flowering...aaaahhhhhh the perfume!!!!

Matilda enjoyed the flowers too...

 

and, in a very round-a-bout way (isn't that always the case in blogland?!) I stumbled upon this lovely blog - sotreadsoftly - and the author's wonderful website - I love the colours and her designs and the 'specialness' of the things she makes - I love that bird cushion!

And while reading her blog's old archives, the phrase 'count your blessings' found me and reminded me how nice it is to have a house (albeit half-finished) to live in, family to love, pets to cuddle and flowers to smell (another lovely phrase is 'stop and smell the roses').  If I can't get into my craft room to sew and create, at least I have access to the internet and all the inspiring blogs out there!

My sister Jess gave me two Japanese tea cups for Christmas featuring owls...

Yup - thats' the last fruit mince pie.  I'm off to close the kitchen door and the noise of renovations, drag myself away from the internet and fill my last week with some of the things I've been meaning to do... despite the heat.  Can you run and smell the roses too??

Some fabulous things Part One

Cat brooches from alliratee... don't worry, they're just saying hello to the bird...  These are Australian made by a fabulous designer who donates 10% of her sales to the Save-A-Dog Scheme.  Yay!

This fabulous book - Material World: Home Decor Projects for the Fabric Obsessed by Cat Wei has some excellent projects.  Apparently, Cat Wei is a co-host on a show called Material Girls - I don't have pay TV so have never seen this show but the book features some fabulous ideas by 20 designers from around the world and many of the ideas are original - nice to see something new.  I like these projects:

For the candy-coloured toile bench (above) the designer has used a classic toile textile design and has embroidered sections of the design with candy-coloured tapestry wools then painted the bottom of the stoll to match - funky toile!  The book also features some interesting facts about textiles and very handy tips for each project - there's a 'tomato floor pillow' I'm dieing to make and a a natty idea for vintage button pillows.  Great book.

And....

...this Endangered Species Chocolate is AMAZING.  I have nearly polished off a block of the Dark and White Chocolate Blend...mmmm...fabulous.

and they donate 10% of their net profits to 'help support species, habitat and humanity' apparently.  What could be better then eating chocolate that helps out animals :D 

To market, to market

This Friday is the Fremantle Arts Centre's 2007 Bazaar market and I am soooooooo looking forward to it!!  Last year's was splendid and this year there are 19 new stalls!  Hurrah!!  But best of all, I have an exclusive invite for myself and a friend to the preview on Friday night and my Mum and I are going.  I can't remember (almost!) the last time Mum and I did something together that was just the two of us and I am so excited!!

I think the Bazaar is really the best market Perth has each year.  There used to be the Victorian Rose Fair but I think the owners went out of business.  There are other fairs - I think a new South Perth one started this year or maybe it's next year??  Must check it out.  And there are the Treasured Craft Creations Fairs at Claremont three or four times a year but they're a bit 'lavender' - there is absolutely nothing wrong with lavender - I actually really love lavender - but unfortunately some "craft" things have a bit of a reputation and I have cringed in the past when people ask if I have any hobbies.  Thankfully, now when I answer "craft" or "sewing" most people are interested and don't start chuckling about the doilies their grandma used to crochet or the macrame their mum did in the 70s...

I went to the Treasured Craft Creations Christmas Fair last weekend.  There was oodles of lavender and lots of beads this time - past fairs have been inundated with trends too... beeswax candles were all the rage one year, teddy bears used to be everywhere, candle votives and soaps always make an appearance....  They have started combining the Fair with antiques (well...as 'antiquey' as things get in Perth although there are things people have had in their families or tucked away somewhere for years...).

I bought this little guy...

Looks like I'm not the only one to have a squirrel pop into my life all of a sudden...albeit a blurry squirrel...

And this little brass mouse...

Who has a simple inscription on the bottom that reads, "Bree 1983".  I wonder who Bree was???  1983 means it's definately not an antique but it is super cute :)

And finally, these lovely fabric ribbons...

Hurrah!   The Claremont Fair was definately worth a browse... and the smell of lavender was nice too ;)

Mike for Mirabel

Meet Mike.  He's off to Meet Me At Mike's for this lovely cause - just in time, phew!