Things I like!

For those of you who were asking, or wondering about Christmas/birthday presents for me, here's a taste of things I like! Hardly prescriptive, though!

1. leyla necklace 2. PataPri teatowel 3. annacote maple notecards 4. marymarsh ponytail holders

Drink Me Alice - handcrafted vintage art resin jewellery (I like the squirrel!)

Hanging Tree of Life

I love the Bad Cat necklace, although it's kind of grim!

Lined coiled ring

Frankie magazine

Amazon WishList

Vintage tins, tea cups and platters (esp. with an orange accent)

Poppies for Grace Writing Set

Music: Whitley, Death Cab for Cutie, Angus & Julia Stone, bluegrass or latin in general, Missy Higgins, Xavier Rudd and heaps more

Themes/things in general that I look out for: matryoska/babuska dolls, squirrels, birds (esp. silhouettes of birds), vintage/retro stuff... and heaps more that I can't think of right now!

We leave for Canada on the 5th of December, and all our stuff goes into storage this Friday, so that's why I haven't posted for a while, and won't post for a while again, I don't think! I'm finding I constantly have to let go of my desire to make gifts for people, because I simply don't have time. I'm thinking I might make belated gifts during the Canadian winter.

I signed up for Nikkishell's swap a month or so ago, not realising that the timing would be particularly tricky! I have, however, managed to pull together eight postcards to swap. Posted them today - glad to get it out of my head! I had one idea, and one evening to pull it all together. They just had to work, and I apologised to the person who got my first one - the first pancake, if you will!
Anyway, I'll post again from Canada. Best wishes to you all. Hey, can you recommend any good Canadian craft blogs you've come across? Cheers....

More sewing (when I should be knitting!)

I whipped this up the other night, after having made a long list of all the people I'd like to make Christmas presents for. I know it's totally unrealistic, even moreso because I only have four weeks to work with, before we leave for Canada. But I just thought, maybe this bag that I'd seen in blogland, just maybe it might whip up quickly (seeing as it was posted on the whipup site -haha!) and it would be a useful gift...

Here it is, posing on the washing line with my bright nappies! (Well, mine cos I washed them, but Jasper's the one who wears them - just wanted to clarify that!) I used that ubiquitous apple fabric from Spotlight - not sure it's cut out to be a bag (pretty punny!), seems like it might work better as an apron, but anyway, this was just a prototype, to see how the pattern came together.

Came together okay, but as for creating a mass of gifts, I'm not so sure. I think I'll make some, but not the thirty that I originally planned, in my addled list-making state! I might just have to let go of the lovely idea of presenting ALL my gorgeous friends with handmade gifts... hmmm...

Presents for Anna

Well, now that I've finally finished them and given them to Anna, I can post a pic of the presents I made for her. The purse is the Artsy Clutch from Amy Karol's book. The bag I made from fabric I had kicking around in my stash, using Tiny Happy's tutorial. And the journal I covered using Lara's tutorial. Inside it, I stuck a photo of Anna and I together for almost every year that we've known each other, and given we've known each other since 1985 (Prep!), that meant collecting and cropping a fair few photos.


I've neglected to say that the the journal album was a gift for Anna's birthday in October, and the bag and clutch were actually very very very belated Christmas gifts!!!! That's pretty slow, eh! Thankfully, this year, I know what I'm giving her, and it doesn't involve quite as much making, so I might just get it done in time!

On a different note, yesterday I suddenly realised that the hoodie I'm knitting for one of Piper's friends needs to be done by the weekend. I'm onto the second sleeve, with just the button band and hood to go, but I just need to put the time in. Makes me realise how I usually spend more time on the computer - blogland and the internet in general are so distracting! I will post pics of the finished product soon, and also of the bibs in progress, and the cushion cover I want to make, etc, etc!

Lunchtime

Lunch today: toast, boiled egg, tuna, and veges with chilli hommus, consumed while perusing the latest issue of Frankie.

My partner is away til Sunday, and my parents are looking after my three-year-old, so it's just me and Jas hanging out. Cooking becomes an even lower priority than usual!! Quick and dirty rules the day!

Jas and I headed to IKEA today, with the intention of picking up some drawer dividers for Piper's playroom. Everything gets shoved into the drawers in there, and then she can't find anything. When the mess is overwhelming, she doesn't seem to play in the playroom anymore (who can blame her??), which defeats the purpose of having a playroom in the first place, to slow the spread of toys to every single corner of the house!

So yes, IKEA. I was pretty single-minded. RESISTED the strong urge to purchase an easel and carpet to add functionality to the room. My partner will be glad to read this. He's pretty against anything new coming into the house, seeing as we leave for Canada in six weeks and will have to pack everything up then.

After putting in a good effort all afternoon, Piper's playroom is clean and rearranged. I just have to deal with the piles of stuff in the hallway, and hope she doesn't find the bags destined for the op-shop!

On a different note, I've been enjoying one of the latest CraftSanity podcasts, with Amanda Blake Soule (aka SouleMama). Just appreciated her openness. Hey does anyone know if anyone's interviewing Australian crafters? I'd love to know...

Poppies, love em!

We had good friends over for tea last Thursday and I decided to go all out - roast beef, yorkshire puddings, roast potato, sweet potato and pumpkin, freshly shelled peas, with carrot cake for dessert. I also purchased two bunches of poppies while at the market. They have to be one of my favourite kinds of flowers. I even ironed the tablecloth!

I sometimes forget how much a little bit of effort in a room - tidying, arranging, adorning, ie. with flowers - changes my whole relationship to the space in such a positive way. I'm blogging about this to try and help me remember this fact, and do something about it more often!

Craftanoonevening

Well, another craft space happened at my place last Friday. Thought I'd post some pics, cos it's always inspiring to check out what other people are making! It goes without saying that it was a LOVELY mellow vibe.

Jotara brought along her hook rug - it has an amazing floating quality of movement, reminiscent of a sea anemone. Very tactile and delicious!

My Nan was down from Brisbane, so she came along, even though her current watercolour projects were too hard to transport. Instead, she set about untangling a few massive bundles of wool Jotara was working with. How helpful!

Here's me working on the old scrapbook, of course! I was very excited, at the end of the evening, to realise I only have ONE DOUBLE SPREAD and TWO HEADINGS to go, before the thing is COMPLETED!!!!! Unbelieveable!

Jotara, Piper and Bek, who was working on a knitted scarf, in between poking Piper in the head!
Anna's output for the evening: three stamps, from go to whoa! A tree, an elephant with a raised trunk, and an elephant with a lowered trunk, inspired by fabric I had on hand...

This is one of the pages I got done (excuse the bad photo). I was very pleased to get this one done (the letter O) because I knew I'd have to get into the creative zone and be willing to make a mess of tissue paper to get it happening. But that's the point of a long craft space - I had enough time to get into that head space...

The boys (Gord, Pete and Jesse) even got to puzzling in the kitchen (and letting Jasper suck on beer bottles!). Fun all round...