Idyll Pleasures Ruminations

Needlefelting Class at Virginia Farm Woolworks

2011-04-17T10:45:00.000+10:00

Hello everyone - just popping in to say I will be teaching needlefelting at Virginia Farm Woolworks at Annangrove (NSW, Australia) on the 7th May. The choice will be to either make a teddy bear or a little pixie to pop out of odd places around the home. Small class of around 8 people so everyone gets individual attention - it'll be fun - come and play!

Mr Rosenblum's List, Constance Spry and Coronation Chicken

2011-01-15T00:05:00.001+11:00

I picked up Mr Rosenblum's List by Natasha Solomons at the local library on a whim and really enjoyed reading it. It's a charming book about a German Jewish man, Mr Rosenblum who, along with his wife and daughter, leave Nazi Germany and move to England prior to the implementation of Hitler's "Final Solution".

Mr Rosenblum is committed to becoming a proper Englishman and his ambitions take him on an interesting journey from inner city London, to successful carpet manufacturer, to "an enemy alien" internee and finally a country gentleman when he moves to Dorset to construct a golf course on fields that come with a tumbledown cottage.

Mr Rosenblum's self belief and optimism are unquenchable and he throws himself into this new life as an Englishman. His long suffering wife Sadie, is haunted by the past and desperately tries to construct an inner world where she can hold onto the ghosts of her parents and brother Emil - all lost to her in the Holocaust. One of Mrs Rosenblum's connections is through her mother's cookbook. As she cooks the dishes contained in the cookbook the aromas trigger memories of happier times. One of the most poignant moments is when Sadie cooks a Baumtorte - or "tree cake" - each layer representing a memory.

Photo source: Natasha Solomon

The Baumtorte is based on a recipe in a cookbook Natasha inherited from her own grandmother - you can find the recipe here.

I can completely imagine this book as a film and apparently she and her husband are working on a screenplay. I do hope someone options it for a movie - it would be fantastic! I imagined Pete Postlethwaite as Mr Rosenblum's cider loving and partially pickled friend, Curtis. Such a shame he (i.e. Pete Postlethwaite) passed away last week.

The book also references the famous "Coronation Chicken" invented by Constance Spry and Rosemary Hume to serve to foreign dignatories during the coronation. In one of those nice serendipitous moments I had been reading one of Nigella's cookbooks and she gave her spin on "Coronation Chicken" and it finally clicked in my head that this was the same recipe my mother had received from her friend, the late June Bosanquet and known to us as "Creamed Curried Chicken".

Back to Constant Spry. As the link to Wikipedia shows - she was quite an interesting character and I think would be a wonderful subject for a movie also. There is a relatively new book out about her called The Suprising Life of Constance Spry by Sue Shephard. Might have to add it to the reading list! Of course - the other thing that was pinging away in the back of my brain was why I heard of Constance Spry. She was, of course, famous as a floral designer and had a fabulous David Austin rose named after her "Constance Spry". Bingo! Pinging 25th brain cell was satisfied. I love that rose!

Don't you love going down rabbit trails?

Wicked

2010-11-11T18:21:00.000+11:00

One of the other lovely things we did as a Family was to go and see Wicked - The Musical in the last week before it left Sydney for Brisbane. We thoroughly enjoyed it (except for the bogan family behind us who talked, rustled lolly bags and popped open their cans of coke they'd brought from the supermarket).

Can't say that the songs were terribly memorable as the melodies were not straightforward - however the words were clever and I am full of admiration for the cast as they were difficult songs to sing. The costumes were absolutely spectacular - I was trying to absorb as much detail as possible. I particularly liked the green costumes for the citizens of Oz - they were full of inventiveness.

While looking for pics etc. of the costumes I came across this video on Threadbanger.com. It's an interview with Susan Hilferty, the Broadway designer of the original costumes. Definitely worth a watch. You can also click on her name above to go to her website.

There is also a shorter video on Susan's website where she talks about the thought process she went through at the conceptual stage

Theatre costuming is always a great source of inspiration for doll designers - Wicked certainly contains some amazing eye-candy!

You poor sad neglected thing.....

2010-11-11T17:41:00.003+11:00

Here I sit 11 November and my poor little blog hasn't had an update in so long - it's quite tragic. So time to capture a few 2010 thoughts and moments before it's 2011 and my head explodes.

Photo: Tara Bradford Paris Parfait

This time last year (ahem) the lovely Tara Bradford had a giveaway competition on her blog Paris Parfait. I entered and one this lovely book which Tara posted to me on her return from her amazing photo expedition to Jordan. It turned up early 2010 - so qualifies for my catch up post!

I love all things Parisian - so was thrilled to find this little number on sale at Blue Illusion. I had seen it previously at retail of about $59.00 but thought that was a bit much for something to tidy up my mail - so when it was there for $19.00 - well - I had to snap it up! It's very handy for holding bills and bits of chat that end up on the kitchen bench otherwise. Hmm - note to self - better go and check it for unpaid bills!

I have to say I also won another giveaway on a different blog. I was thrilled to win and left my home address as requested. Didn't hear anything back but as they had comment moderation I thought maybe something had gone wrong so left my address again. Still nothing. Eventually (as in some months later) I got an email saying sorry for the delay and it was going to be sent. Well - to this day - still nothing. Now - at the end of the day - the prize was not a big to do - but still - why would you run a giveaway and not come through with the prize? The more embarrassing thing is it's a blog run by one of the big fabric houses - a fabric house that I spent many thousands of dollars buying their fabrics for my shop. So stiffing me on a giveaway adds insult to injury. I just looked back - it was October last year - wow - that really is pathetic.

Anyhoo... moving on.....

We also had an interesting year with Chris finishing High School and doing his Higher School Certificate (HSC). Results won't be known until December - but - for better or worse it's all behind him now and all ahead of him too. Don't quite know how he made the quantum leap to adulthood so fast - but here we are!

Despite looking like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth - he managed to break a bone in my wrist by leaping out from behind a door to scare me - 7 weeks in a scaphoid cast doesn't do wonders for productivity.

Fortunately before the broken bone I was lucky to do a class with Pam Grose again. Looking back on my blog it had been three years since Pam had stayed with us last - so it was wonderful to have her back again. Marilyn Halcomb contacted me and we quickly organised a two day class. It was wonderful!

Here are some of Pam's dolls that she brought - she sold all but one I think.

These dolls are made with a new technique that Pam has been refining. Basically she makes a wire armature and builds it up with aluminium foil and electrical tape. I made the cat lady so she is skinned with velour - only the fingers need sewing the rest is hand sewn on the doll - making it easy to do.

Basic Armature

Basic armature for the hands

Basic Armature for the Cat Lady feet

The basic armature - checking for balance

Building up the shape some more

A body with shoes

Skinning the face and doing set in eyes

Stitching the eyelids

The face stuffed and finished - ready for painting

Claire is always one to get into the act - Pam had a spare toddler body so Claire made up this head - stuffed it and drew her own face on it, painted it and put together the body and sew the clothes on. She did quite a job of it!

and she sewed on the hair....

This one was going to have painted eyes rather than inset eyes

Some of the painted faces

Love the white tipped fur - it makes a great wig!

Craft and Quilt Fair - Darling Harbour

2010-06-24T15:23:00.000+10:00

I visited the Craft and Quilt Fair last week - I was absolutely exhausted at the end of the day and slept like a baby when I got home but I was tired in a good way!

It was wonderful to see all the textile stalls - lots of wool and felting stands as well as ATASDA, NSW Spinners and Weavers Guild and felting workshops and demonstrations (but I still miss The Thread Studio). I bought Uniquely Felt by Christine White a great techical book about Felting that covers all the major methods of felting as well as this DVD by Judit Pocs which shows many of her wonderful art pieces both in process and finally completed. Her Noah's Ark rug is just absolutely stunning!

I also bought some Free Trade Sari silk which is the waste silk from Sari production gathered and spun into a yarn. One of the traders had a knitted bag made out of a hank of silk - so I can home and made one - so proud of myself for actually finishing it!

Exciting news also that Pam Grose is coming to Sydney to teach. She'll be staying with me - so high motivation to get my craft room tidied up! It's unbelievable but it's been three years since she was last here - when we made her baby dragons - I am sure we will have great fun! I think I might make one of her little girls but I do like this sexy looking witch or maybe a young girl like this - kind of sassy and punk! Whatever we decide to do I'm sure it will be a fantastic time!

Teesha Moore - Fabric Journals

2010-05-18T09:43:00.000+10:00

Teesha Moore has been at it again - this time making fabric journals. Here are her 4 videos - amazing colours and I love her no stress approach to putting stuff together. If you don't subscribe to her blog you should - she is so incredibly creative. Enjoy!

fabric journal 1 of 4 from teesha moore on Vimeo.

fabric journals 2 of 4 from teesha moore on Vimeo.

fabric journal 3 of 4 from teesha moore on Vimeo.

fabric journal 4 of 4 from teesha moore on Vimeo.

Summer Holidays

2010-04-05T21:45:00.001+10:00

Here it is Easter Monday and I'm posting about last January - oh well better late than never!

This Summer, I took a trip into Sydney to have a little break with Emily, just like I did last year with Claire.

$109 on lastminute.com got us a mystery hotel at Darling Harbour - which turned out to be The Four Seasons. It is located in a very convenient spot - City side of Darling Harbour and a short walk there as well as up to the Queen Victoria Building (QVB).

Here's our room - not bad for the price!

Emily took to hotel living like a duck to water.

We dumped our bags in the room and headed up to the City. We went to Kinokunya - an amazing bookshop located in The Galeries Victoria opposite the Queen Victoria Building on George Street. They have an incredible range of books in all sorts of different categories. Here's Emily waiting patiently while I investigated the craft book section.
We wandered down to Darling Harbour for dinner. There are various options - some restaurants are expensive but there are lots of inexpensive options too. We decided to eat at Pontoon bar. Because it's a bar, they have a cheap food menu (due to the complexities of NSW licencing laws). Every dish is $10, cooked fresh on the outdoor grill - options include hamburgers, kebabs and fish and chips. It was yummy!

Now normally I wouldn't take my daughter to a bar (!) but this is a gorgeous outdoor setup with lounges and picnic style bench tables with a million dollar view!

We then strolled back towards the hotel, stopping for a gelato too. Back in the room we enjoyed the nice soft bathrobes and put our feet up and watched a bit of cable tv. Here's Em perfecting her bathrobe look!

Next morning we checked out and walked back down to Darling Harbour where we caught the ferry round to Circular Quay. Let me tell you that's about the best thing you can do for about $5 anywhere! From Circular Quay we walked up to The Rocks and had breakfast at Pancakes on The Rocks - neither of us could finish our pancakes - and that's saying something. The Rocks is one of the oldest parts of Sydney with some interesting, free museums featuring the archeological findings from digs around various different sites and theNSW Archives Office at Nurses Walk.

Down near Nurses Walk is a gorgeous button shop right next door to Margo Richards Antiques.

We slowly headed back up George Street to The Strand Arcade.

Emily was particularly taken by Sweet Art

They have amazing cakes

and these very cute pug dog candles.

I LOVED these chairs in the reception area - very chi chi!

Oh - and one more shot - how gorgeous is this bike in the window of the White Kikki-K shop? Unlike the usual Kikki-K shops this one only carries the stock in white. Getting fit would be easy on a gorgeous bike like this!

A new blog

2010-01-31T18:12:00.000+11:00

Summer has been long, hot and (now my least favourite part of the year) humid. On the plus side the kids are back at school (insert happy face) so it all evens out really! I have lots of posts to catch up but for the moment I wanted to let everyone who follows me here now that I have started a new blog - it doesn't replace this one but is very specifically about art dolls and art doll artists - it will be updated at least weekly (that's the plan) and will feature artist profiles, book reviews, information about conferences, tips and tricks and so on and so forth.
I will still be blogging here about life and more general interests so the choice is yours - follow one or the other or both depending on your interests!!
If you want to check out my new blog it is http://www.artdollartists.blogspot.com/

Christmas Countdown

2009-12-07T17:34:00.006+11:00

I am totally unprepared/do not have my head around/ etc the fact that Christmas is only 18 days away - holy smokes - just gave myself a fright writing that! The tree is not up, have not made the Christmas Cake, or anything - nor have I bought a single present. This is not unusual for me - I am always ready for Christmas in early January - see testimonial here.

So I thought in the spirit of all things globe-trotting I would post some Christmas window displays from around the world.......

Printemps in Paris - a three wise men vibe going on via Rolye on Flickr

Macy's via itornot on Flickr

This little snippet about Bergdorf Goodman's windows - love those staircases - very steampunk!

and this handy youtube video with a bit of a walking around the Macy's display in NY.

The kids finish school this Thursday - might have to go on an expedition into Sydney to look at the windows in David Jones and the big Christmas tree in Martin Place (on a cool day! ) better hurry up though - I am running out of time - argh!!!!

UPDATE!

My lovely friend Kylie just told me that Harrods has a Wizard of Oz theme this year.

They have lit up the store in green lights to look like the Emerald City.

The Knightsbridge store has apparently landed on the Wicked Witch of the East.

AND they were selling these limited edition ruby slippers in store. Unsuprisingly - they sold out!

Look what I found

2009-11-20T22:24:00.003+11:00

I found the pics I'd saved them down to my computer - but don't know where I got them from - if they are yours please let me know so I can add a link (or if you happen to know please tell me also). All I know was that the woman had needlefelted them as party favours for her daughter's party.

While I was looking for the elusive needlefelted monsters - I came across this - how awesome - it is a converted toddler pusher. I love the inside lining made to look like the brains. You wouldn't want to have an ugly baby though, people might be cruel.

needle felting love

2009-11-20T14:00:00.007+11:00

Found this incredible needlefelted "Venus" by Stephanie Metz who lives and works out of San Fransisco. She is a sculptor who works in needlefelted wool. Take a look at her site - she is an artist with a point of view which she communicates so well via her art. I particularly love the "Overbred Animals" series as a commentary on our relationship to the animals that we are bio-engineering for food production. Very thoughtful. Be sure to check out the entire portfolio - especially the figurative studies.

In other surfing - I also found this extremely cute (and highly more achievable) monster - firstly this one from Dawn Schiller of Oddfae (maker of those steampunk Chrono-Seidh that I am so completely in love with). There was another site with awesome one eyed monsters - but I've been looking for it all day - and it has disappeared.

But there are also these bags from Beth Connors from Felting In Fibre-Space.

Journalling

2009-11-06T15:45:00.005+11:00

I read many blogs - one of the artists whose work is consistently amazing is Teesha Moore. Her work has been featured in Somerset Studio and several other Stampington publications and she teaches at ArtFest in the US each year. Her work is original, quirky and colourful. She doesn't post on her blog very often but when she does - it's always a treat. Recently she posted several videos on Youtube showing how she makes her 16 page art journals - I learned so much from them and am hanging out for her to post the final part (which is the actual written journal part).
Her journals are made from a 22" x 30" Fabriano Artistico 140lb (300gsm) Hot Pressed Watercolour Paper. For those who actually occupy the same space in the universe that I do - I found it at the Art Supply shop at Hornsby!

Here are part 1 & 2 of the actual journal construction:

Here's how she paints the backgrounds:

Here's how she collages the pages:

And the pen work that she does over the top:

And finally here's a "white journal" that wasn't painted

UPDATE!

Here are the two additional videos from Teesha

Aren't they great tutorials - so wonderful of her to post them on youtube for the rest of us. Be sure to check out her website and particularly her rubber stamps - the Zettiology range and my absolute favourite (as in I'd love to own every single one) The Tattered Circus.

Kaffe Fassett interview

2009-09-23T15:20:00.002+10:00

Everyone who reads my blog would know of my fondness for all things Kaffe. Here is an interview on Danish TV (but in English!) the link is here. It should open up in your Windows Media Player - that's what it did for me. Thanks to Jane for posting the link.

Fabric Explorations

2009-08-07T17:07:00.002+10:00

Here' a great little snippet from Quarry Books featuring Patti Culea and a mini project from her latest book

Isn't she adorable?

STOP! Where are you going with this?

2009-06-16T09:18:00.005+10:00

I know I have a few followers on this blog - not a lot - just a few. Some of you may have landed here because of an interest in dolls, or home design or quilting or felting. One follower is my best friend from high school (hi Gail!) and I know she is not interested in anything remotely crafty or domestic. Case in point - when I got married I had a kitchen tea. Everyone was asked to bring their favourite receipe. She brought a list of favourite restaurants because she makes reservations for dinner. So she's here to keep track of me (and now you've got your licence back (ahem) you will have to drive up the M2 and visit me).
But amongst the thoughts on paint colours and crafty love - you will perhaps have noticed a slight bent towards social justice issues. It may seem incongrous to be talking about pretty things one minute and horrific injustices the next but that's the nature of the world we live in.
I follow a number of blogs - some present a world where life is a continuous Martha Stewart Living event, untouched and unruffled by the crueler considerations of life. But even Martha had a time when life went pear-shaped and she spent time in the clink for corporate indiscretions!
I much prefer blogs that are more balanced and more real. One of the best blogs that walks these two worlds is Tara Bradford's Paris Parfait. In between pictures of vitrines at Galleries Lafayette and Parisian brocantes, Tara packs a punch with intelligent and incisive commentary on US, Middle Eastern and European politics. She calls people, political parties and whole countries out on their less than savoury policies and practices. She refuses to stand idly by and not speak up.
Which brings me to this -
About a year ago the issue of People Trafficking blipped on my radar. People trafficking is modern day slavery. Children, yes, CHILDREN are bought and sold as cheap labour and sex slaves and it happens EVERYWHERE.

Roughly 2 to 4 million people are trafficked in and across borders each year.
Human trafficking is now a leading source of profits for organized crime, together with drugs and weapons, generating an estimated 9.5 billion dollars per year.
The overwhelming majority of those trafficked are women and children.
The average victim is forced to have sex up to 20 times a day.
The CIA calculates that profits from one trafficked woman alone averages around $250,000 USD per year.
Traffickers acquire their victims in a number of ways. Sometimes they are kidnapped outright in one country and taken forcibly to another. Traffickers also entice victims to migrate voluntarily with false promises of well-paying jobs in foreign countries as au pairs, models, dancers, domestic workers, etc. When they arrive at their destination many are placed in physically confining conditions, their travel documents and passports are taken away and both they and their families are threatened if they do not cooperate. Women and girls are forced to work as prostitutes in heavily guarded brothels and strip clubs.
An estimated 1.8 million children are exploited by the commercial human trafficking industry. Children are abducted from rural areas and trafficked into a range of exploitive practices, which include bonded labor, sexual exploitation, marriage, illicit adoptions, and begging.
Young girls, some as young as 12 years old, are forced to work in brothels, massage parlors, prostitution rings, strip clubs, or used to produce pornographic materials.
Children are recruited and trafficked to earn money by begging or selling goods.
Child beggars are sometimes maimed by their captors to generate sympathy and generosity from potential buyers.
Victims are forced to live in confining and unsanitary conditions and are subject to many abuses such as malnutrition, sleep deprivation, emotional abuse, and beatings, lack of healthcare and forced abortions. Many contract STD's and hepatitis A & B and HIV/AIDs.
Children are deprived of basic education and any sort of parental upbringing, and are completely dependent on their captors for food and shelter.
Perhaps it doesn't come as a total shock to some that it happens in Africa and Asia but did you know it also happens in Europe?

And also the US?

So what can be done?
1) get educated - visit the A21 Campaign, the Greyman , Not for Sale or IOM to start to understand the insidious nature of human trafficking and how, when, where and why it happens
2) get political - write to your local, state and federal representatives to put political pressure and resources into policing and prosecuting as well as resourcing for rescue and rehabilitation
3) put your money where your mouth is - provide funding for the groups mentioned above and also buy free trade products that pay a fair days pay to workers and don't use child labour
4) think about prevention - many of the children are sold or lured in by the promise of a better life. Child sponsorship through Compassion or World Vision helps provide children out of the trap of poverty and vulnerability that makes them vulnerable to exploitation.
5) Pray - pushing back the darkness of this world is a spiritual as well as physical activity. One does not replace the other but done in conjunction -it achieves much.

Just don't bury your head in the sand. It has to STOP *

*STOP - Stop Trafficking Of People

Tents for the Homeless Pt 2

2009-06-12T09:11:00.008+10:00

I am happy to say that my husband's little initiative to raise some money to buy tents and sleeping bags for the homeless in Sydney's Woolloomooloo area has really taken off. He's raised over $1000 USD through Chip In as well as gathering a boot load of tents and sleeping bags from friends who have donated "in kind". The money is still coming in as others find out about it - but he spent the $1000 last weekend buying 16 sets of tents and -5 degree sleeping bags. It has been really cold in Sydney this week due to a air pressure system coming up from the Antartic - so those extra warm sleeping bags are going to come in handy. This is what he was originally confronted with.
You can see more pics and read about it some more here.

and this clip on YouTube shows the type of tents we bought - little two man jobs that can go up and be taken down quickly. The police turn a bit of a blind eye to the tents so long as they are down by early morning when the rest of the city turns up for work. So next time you see a homeless person - why not wordlessly buy them something to eat or a cup of coffee.
In the meantime, I'd seen this book on someone else's blog - turns out my friend Dale had just finished reading it and has lent it to me. It's a great easy read and a powerful story. Highly recommended.

And the winner is ......

2009-06-10T10:32:00.002+10:00

Deb! Random Number generator came up with #2 - so Deb wins the prize.
Congratulations Deb - I hope you make lots of them!
Now I am off to check the new Sewn website which launched today!!

Crude, Rude and Vulgar

2009-06-05T08:40:00.001+10:00

But this just made me pee my pants laughing!

A Little Oops

2009-06-04T07:55:00.001+10:00

Thanks to all those who have commented on the Sewn post for a chance to win - I've just made a small update because as I read the comment I realised I'd left off a very important word - PATTERN! You are entering to win a pattern - not the pincushions and needle cover itself.

Sorry about that folks!

Sewn - free giveaway

2009-06-03T12:30:00.005+10:00

Sarah Fielke has a great blog called The Last Piece. She previously co-owned Material Obsession at Hunters Hill here in Sydney but quit that at the end of last year. She is now the creative director of Sewn - a new website venture which is launching next Monday (June 8). There is a big virtual Launch Party with lots of different blogs joining in and offering giveaways. You can check out the different blogs and their respective giveaways here.
I've decided to join in the fun and lead all those quilters and other sewing chicks into the wonderful world of cloth dolls. You can join in too - just post a comment below before June 8 to go into the draw to win (drum roll please......)
Patti Culea's Little Star Pincushion and Needle cover pattern! To enter just leave a comment below by June 8th and I will draw a winner. Too easy!

Barbara Willis's new book

2009-06-02T10:56:00.003+10:00

Barbara Willis is one of the premier cloth doll makers and also a very lovely person. I've not had the pleasure of doing a class with her but I have met her and chatted to her at length at different shows over the years and many of my friends have done classes with her and loved the whole experience. Barbara is in Australia at the moment on a teaching tour - I would so have loved to have joined in the fun. My problem would be deciding which class to do.... There's this one called The Collector This one called Lillith

This one called Box of Memories

And - oh my giddy aunt - this one which is a mermaid journal

I have seen many of Barbara's dolls in real life and, let me tell you, as gorgeous as this eye-candy is - you have to see it in the flesh to get how rich and lush and layered and fantastabulous it all is. Barbara came to cloth dolls from the porcelain doll world and all of that experience informs her dolls from the daintiness of their poses to the use of silk and taffetta in dressing them along with exquisite accessories.

I will be ordering her new book from Amazon. I think I will need to laminate every page though so I can wipe off the drool easily.

Scarves for Bushfire Victims

2009-06-02T08:21:00.005+10:00

I belong to many online groups (mostly through Yahoo). Jan Macfayden belongs to one such group. Jan was on Channel 9 last week because she is co-ordinating a large distribution of quilts to Victorian Bushfire victims. Many, many people have donated quilts, fabric, blocks, backing fabric and so on to the cause, a quilt being a nice warm cuddle for people who have lost everything or who are so traumatised by what they have seen and heard. So when Jan mentioned that a scarf or beanie would be appreciated as it's getting pretty cold down there, the backlash from some quarters was - well - suprising in a rather disappointing way. The worst comment was this, "'People in Kinglake can afford to buy a hat and a scarf, I believe more than half of the bushfire appeal money has been given out. Also I believe that everyone who has lost their home has been assigned a case manager to work with them to help them. They would surely be able to organise some funds or vouchers to enable them to buy items needed. Unfortunately there are people who don't want anything that isn't handed to them on a silver platter or free."

Well Jan has posted a response on her blog which basically outlines the reality of the situation - but is it really that difficult to imagine that people who have been through such a dreadful experience might be suffering from stress, anxiety, sleeplessness, a sense of hopelessness and despair, depression and so on and are struggling with all sorts of stuff?

The theoretical assignation of a case worker does not mean that you have an one-on-one, 24/7 personal assistant to help get your life back together. Anyone who has ever had to contend with our woefully inadequate and underfunded social security system on behalf of themselves or another person will know how slow moving and time consuming it can be.

Even typing this makes me cranky. I just hope the silly woman who wrote this never has to experience the total loss and devestation that those in Kinglake and other areas have.

I for one was excited to know that all that wool I bought in a end of winter, "gosh aren't they fabulous and wow so cheap!" frenzy will find a home around the neck of someone who needs a little bit of a cheering up present.

So here are some I prepared earlier - for such a time as this.......

It's a Cold Old Day in Sydney today

2009-05-27T13:00:00.002+10:00

It is a rainy, cold day in Sydney today - can't help sitting here thinking how miserable it must be for those who live on the street. The good news is that we are at $690 (USD) so in AUD that's quite a bit more! I've bought some tents and need to price some sleeping bags - keep your fingers crossed that we can get some at a good price!
It's funny watching the donation process - originally we hoped that maybe 100 or so people might "chip in" $10 or so - however it's less people but so generous - hard to predict what people will do. It's funny in a way though - because if everyone did a little bit - it would all add up to make such a big difference.
Just remember do what you can, with what you have, wherever you are, whenever you are able.
Looking forward to hitting the $1000 mark!

Tents for the Homeless

2009-05-20T18:24:00.002+10:00

My husband is very interested in issues with homeless people. He was in town recently for a meeting and was after a cup of coffee - he wandered into Hope Street which is a drop in centre for Homeless Men. (He's kind but not terribly observant!). Homelessness is on the rise with the G.E.C. and many people are sleeping rough in the Domain in Sydney - with Winter fast approaching it's a rather cold prospect.

He is mobilising his friends from his old school - St Leos at Wahroonga who are called, appropriately enough, SLOBS (St Leos Old Boys). I said I would help him with my contacts too - so here's the widget for my blog. We are collecting the funds ourselves and then will buy the tents and sleeping bags. If you'd like to chip in - please feel free - we've set a goal of $1000 by June 30. If you live in Sydney and have an unused sleeping bag or little 1 or 2 man tent - feel free to drop it off and we'll make sure it goes to someone who can really use it.

To donate - click on the link below.

Oh for the old days

2009-05-15T10:56:00.002+10:00

I love old cartoons - and am always amused at how risque they were. Like this one.
Red Hot Riding Hood 1943

Swing Shift Cinderella

And these little nudies - would you see a cartoon like this today? All those bums sticking up in the water?
Waterbabies (1935)

I love the way there are a million things going on and the visual puns that so often go on..

Blue Mountains Weekend

2009-05-14T09:28:00.009+10:00

Because it was Mother's Day last weekend - but Sunday was taken up with Mother's Day obligations (but nice ones!) - I decided I was allowed to take myself off to the Blue Mountains for Saturday. Claire decided to come with me on the strict understanding that she wasn't allowed to whine. Once.

So we headed off to Leura (this was a chicks day out go to the Blue Mountains - not a go to the Three Sisters look out and go bushwalking trip). We went to a place called The Nook which features work by local artists.

There were two artists who particularly caught my eye - one was Pam de Groot who does some of the most beautiful felt work I've ever seen - her colours and colour blending are gorgeous. There was a beautiful rainbow wrap and some handbags (one of which is on her blog). Claire also liked the journals covered in felt - I told her we could make one on the weekend. She's not going to let me forget either!The other artist was Lindy Longhurst who does beautiful naive style paintings with dream and fairytale motifs. I think I liked them so much because many of the girls in the pictures have long, dark hair.

We also discovered this amazing stationery store. This pic doesn't really do it justice. I thought I might have a hard time convincing Claire to spend time in there. Boy - was I wrong. Her eyes were like saucers. I had a quiet chuckle to myself - I am passionate about paper - can't explain it - just am - so it was amusing to see at least one of my kids has inherited my love for all things stationery. This love was also extended to an amazing antiquarian bookshop in Katoomba where she discovered a book of poetry by Tim Burton called "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy" and sat reading it quietly for the best part of half an hour. This was the favourite I think.

Staring Girl

I once knew a girl who would just stand there and stare.

At anyone or anything,she seemed not to care.

She'd stare at the ground, She'd stare at the sky. She'd stare at you for hours,and you'd never know why. But after winning the local staring contest, she finally gave her eyes a well-deserved rest.

She was disappointed that I wouldn't buy her the book ($35) but knowing I could probably do better on Amazon or Ebay - I said no. However as a consolation I let her read my Spike Milligan books - "A Dustbin Full of Milligan" and "Small Dreams of A Scorpion". Another win for genetic predispositions - it was a hit.

Mother of the Year

2009-05-12T14:05:00.001+10:00

Just saw this on The Lettered Cottage - I made my own version - send one to every poor, downtrodden mother you know.

Yum on a budget or Chicken Risotto

2009-05-12T10:28:00.005+10:00

I am amused (on the odd occasion when I watch the news) by the relish with which the newsreaders talk about the Global Economic Crisis - or G.E.C. as I like to refer to it. In the true vein of "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!!" the G.E.C. is touted as the greatest disaster EVER.

As a student of history I think, "hmm - seem to recall a thing called The Great Depression - which did actually occur in living memory - and was, by all reports, just a tad more severe than what we are currently experiencing."

If my single mother Nanna was able to survive it without the benefit of social security - I am sure we can all manage just fine!

That is of course if we don't all die of swine flu first which the aforementioned newsreaders seem a little disappointed has fizzled so quickly.

All of which brings me to this. In the interests of economical housewifery (and yummy goodness) I bring you my stock pot. 1 kg of chicken wings in water to cover (costs about $2 and is therefore cheaper than the off the shelf stock you can buy). The end bits off the celery that you normally chuck out, some pepper and salt and herbs. If I buy fresh herbs there's always too much so I throw them into a plastic bag and into the freezer and then throw them into the stock pot when I'm making this. I also throw in an onion. Great tip from the domestic goddess herself (aka Nigella Lawson) - leave the skin on the onion - it makes your stock go a lovely golden colour. When I heard her say that the light bulb went on and I thought "D'oh! as a bit of a crafty chicky babe - you know that onion skins can be used to dye things!". Before my stock was always a bit pallid - not anymore thanks to Ms. Lawson.

Once it's all boiled up and smelling gorgeous I strain everything out - chuck out the celery and onion (profligate waste I know!). I take out the chicken and pull off the meat and throw out the chicken bones& skin - it's suprising how much meat comes off those wings!!! I put my stock in the fridge so that the fat comes to the top and solidifies so that I can skim it off easily.

Now you can, of course, turn this all into chicken soup - very nourishing and restorative for family members dying of swine flu (or, if they are men, of a common cold which is always "the flu") but I love chicken risotto with a passion - so that's what I use mine for. Chop up another onion and some bacon and saute in a pan. Add a packet of arborio rice (that's the proper rice you use to make risotto in case you didn't know).

Add a cup or two of the stock and stir it in till it's absorbed - then add some more and so on till the rice is soft. The secret to a good creamy risotto is to keep stirring all the way through cooking it. Sound painful but it's kind of relaxing (particularly if you are holding a glass of wine in the other hand as you do it and if you want to slurp a bit of the aforementioned wine into the risotto - well - who am I to argue?). Oh - and you can throw the bits of chicken from the wings back into the mix too.

My children hate mushrooms as much as I love them (the mushrooms that is - not the children) so I fry some up separately and add them to my bowl at the end (usually hidden underneath the risotto so they don't think that there are mushrooms in theirs.

In summer, when asparagus is in season I blanch some and add it right at the end. In winter a hand full or two of frozen peas chucked in at the end will do the same job and adds a bit of greenery to the scene. Pepper and salt and some parmesan over the top and need I say more? Guess what's for dinner tonight?

Black and White Floor in the Hall

2009-05-08T13:34:00.006+10:00

Now that the outside and the hall are done - I am going to need to start thinking about flooring. Our hall cops major traffic in and out of the house - so a hard floor is a must. I'm thinking tiles or floating timber floor.

In honour of Idyll Pleasures' shop floors (RIP) I am tempted to go black and white tiles in the front hall. I like it on some deep level - it's a little whimsical and fantasy style - reminding me of Alice in Wonderland.

Here is some eye candy I've collected around the web. I can't recall all the places where I got these images from - shout out if it was you! Ok so the yellow wall is a touch too yellow for me - but I like this because we've got a double height hall too. I like the white trim and bannisters with the darker rail.

While I am not a "blue" person I liked this picture because it shows the b&w tile against a timber floor. Again we have a similar configuration with the formal lounge opening off the hall. While I love b& w tile - the lounge room currently has wall to wall carpet - which will probably change to floating timber floor with a large area rug - so I was interested to see the tile to floor with rug look.

Now this picture (which I think may have come from Joni's blog) is wonderful - although I don't have a roman architrave door I do have decorative plaster cornices. I like the way the b&w can look sophisticated.

Now these two pics I do know where they are from! The lovely Brooke Giannetti posted these on her blog - they are of a client's home she recently did. The colour of the hall is very similar to the colour I just painted mine and I love the white trim on all the doors etc. (that's going to take me a little longer (ahem)). Again I like the way the tile can stand up against the timber (I am assuming it's tile - perhaps it's a painted floorcloth). This tiling pattern is a little more subdued than the even b&w alternate and again is sophisticated in a relaxed sort of way. I don't actually think it would be possible for Brooke to do anything I didn't like - she has fabulous style and sense!

Now this one I think is from Joni's site because she loves those carriage lamps (which reminds me I also need a new light in the hall - but that's another story). I like the small black tile in the white here too - and the black border around the space is something else to consider - it really looks like something - doesn't it? This one gives a bird's eye view of white with little black tiles (this image is from Daisy Pink Cupcake) - something else to consider but I think all that white would be lots to keep clean!Here are a few kitchens with b& w too - love the look of it and something to consider if I get serious about taking the slate out - I would have three rooms plus the hall in b&w then - not sure if that would get to be too much?

The second pic is from Daisy Pink Cupcake (she has similar tastes to me I think - I love everything she's posted on her blog).

This image was from a magazine article via another blog which has slipped my mind and I couldn't find despite some googling on a house redecorated with a circus theme - great bright colours. I loved the harlequin pattern on these vases - just an idea to subtly carry through the b&w to other parts of the house.

It's funny because as I've been writing this post I have seen half a dozen more posts with b&w floors come up - but I will stop here or go nuts! I think I've talked myself into it - what do you think?

My New House

2009-05-08T09:29:00.002+10:00

Here it is - before

And after in the Dulux Clotted Cream and Portland Stone.

What colour do you think I should paint the front door? Woodland Grey (the colour of the roof and guttering), Portland Stone (the colour of the windows and woodwork) or Clotted Cream (the colour of the plaster stucco) - or something else for a little "pop" of colour?

Invisible Children

2009-05-02T11:59:00.002+10:00

One of the blogs I follow is Judy Coates Perez of Painted Threads. Judy happens to live opposite Harpo Studios (that's where Oprah works folks). Read her post about the approach of Invisible Children to Oprah here. I hope Oprah picks up the story - it will really raise awareness about the issues in Northern Uganda.

Fingers crossed people!

More Steampunk stuff

2009-05-01T09:24:00.004+10:00

Back again - you know me I don't post for ages and then - whammo.
I just checked out a link that Cynthia sent me ages ago (February). Sorry Cynthia - I am a bit slow off the mark! It's a NZ Automata maker - great little clip - thanks Cynthia! Have a look here.

Also Dawn Schiller is a wonderful polymer clay artist - she made this little guy a while ago - so clever! Dawn has a blog and also sells on etsy and ebay. This is just marvellous isn't it? So detailed and so tiny!

Nicoletta Ceccoli

2009-05-01T08:15:00.006+10:00

I was doing a little blog surfing yesterday - I landed here and while I don't even know what language this blog is written in - she had the most gorgeous pictures and the name of the artist. Nicoletta Ceccoli. They are very lovely aren't they? Her website is http://www.nicolettaceccoli.com/ anfd you can order prints from her. Mother's Day is coming up - anyone?? Hello - hint! hint!
Take a look at her galleries - they would also make fabulous dolls.

Going back to the original website in the foreign language - she also had these two amazing images - anyone who knows my love of mermaids would know how much I love these two photos. Eyecandy is eyecandy in any language!

Cottage Cream & Portland Stone

2009-04-29T16:29:00.008+10:00

The painting continues a pace (because I am actually paying a painter to do this bit!)
The exterior of the house is currently being painted. I googled and googled paint schemes for Tudor style houses - hard to find anything other than the traditional white and dark wood. There were a few ideas out there - this and this and this but not many and mostly of colours were named they were from the US - so no help to me in the Antipodes! So with the help of a book from the library a few googled images and my trusty Dulux exterior paint colour chart - I chose Portland Stone and Cottage Cream (which is the same colour as the interior of the house). So far, so good. Plus I found a great painter - he works like a Trojan and is very neat - so it's all going swimmingly. Can't wait for the final look. The windows look so much better even just in light grey undercoat (to kill the dark varnish on the windows). Here's where we started.

Just to remind you - here's what we started with

So far we've had the roof and guttering redone and removed one tree fern (they are stubborn buggers). Will show you the big reveal next week when the cherry picker has been delivered so that Chris (the painter) can reach our bedroom window. The land slopes away sharply on that side (you can't tell because of the bushes). Looking at this picture I am also keen to get that driveway cleaned off too with a gurney.

Alice In Wonderland Redux

2009-04-24T17:15:00.003+10:00

Discovered a new blog which I think is pretty gorgeous - I particularly like this post about Alice In Wonderland for a birthday party. Been there done that AND got the tee-shirt but love the pics in her post!

I should ALSO add that one of my followers is the Mixed Media Mischief Makers blog group who are currently hosting all things Alice at their blog here.

Always will love all things Alice!

Feeling Very Middle Aged......

2009-04-16T15:20:00.002+10:00

I was having a moment today (don't worry - it's passed) where I was feeling middle-aged and largely irrelevant. You know those days when you feel like you're not sure where all this is going and you lose that inner knowledge of who you are and why you're here?
Anyway in between having a moment, a glass of Pepsi Max and checking out bloglines - I came across this. Now I can't embed it into this post because it wasn't possible - but seriously - go to YouTube and check this out. For those who know me - you know I don't cry easily - but this really got to me because here's this 47 year old, unemployed, never been kissed spinster with a cat called Pebbles who has stepped up into her extremely improbable dream and - well - you have to watch and see what happens next.

Gold - pure Gold. Thank you Susan Boyle for being on this earth and being so brave & such an inspiration! You are beautiful!

The Secret Omnibus Inspector of Paris

2009-04-15T10:49:00.005+10:00

Some things just tickle my fancy. I was doing some family history research and read the following story in an old newspaper - you couldn't make this stuff up!

The Edinburgh Evening Courant Sep 13 1867

An Eccentric Traveller - The Paris correspondent of the Express is responsible for the following:- Most of the omnibus conductors in Paris, more especially those on the line from the Barriere du Trone to the Palais Royal, have been for years familiar with the face of a little old man with a cheerful look, sparkling eye, and grey hair, who literally passed half his life riding in omnibuses. This eccentric individual always got into the first omnibus which left the quarter in which he lived at seven o'clock in the morning. He went in the first instance, to the Palais Royal, and then somewhere else. He took half an hour for his breakfast, and an hour for his dinner. The rest of the day he passed in omnibuses, and he always contrived to get a number in time for a seat in the past omnibus from the Palais-Royal to the Trone at midnight. He sat whenever he could in a corner next the door, so that he might talk to the conductor, and he betrayed visible vexation when he could not get that place. On getting into an omnibus he always asked for a "correspondence" - i.e, a ticket entitling the bearer to ride for nothing on some other line - but he very seldom made use of it. His habit was to put the ticket in his waistcoat pocket and pay afresh in the next carriage. Two days ago, after taking his dinner in a third-class restaurant which he frequented in the Rue de Ville, he asked the waiter to let him sleep a little, but begged him particularly to wake him in half an hour, as he had to take the omnibus for Batignolles. When the waiter, with the punctuality due to a regular customer, came to wake him he shook him by the shoulder in vain. The little old gentleman was dead. The doctor called in certified that he had been carried off by an apoplectic stroke. The domicile of so great an omnibus traveller was easily found. It turned out that he was a native of Nantes, whose head had been turned by his coming unexpectedly into a considerable fortune. He was under the delusion that he was a secret inspector of omnibuses, whose duty is to to about and report the passengers, with a view to discovering frauds on the part of conductors. 1500 omnibus correspondence tickets, carefully sorted and labelled, were found in one of his drawers.

Good Friday, Channel 7, 12pm

2009-04-09T17:10:00.001+10:00

That's when I'll be on the tv folks - see you then!

Baa Baa Black Sheep Have You any Wool?

2009-03-22T08:27:00.001+11:00

Saw this on Sara Lechner's site - how completely funny - I'm trying to imagine how to incorporate these ideas into my needlefelting.

Embellishing Queens & Mermaids

2009-03-16T06:56:00.011+11:00

I belong to a group called The Embellishing Queens. There are 7 of us and we meet every two months to work on projects and take the occasional class. It's a good balance between challenging yourself to do something but not so stressy that you don't want to come if you haven't got your project done!

Last weekend we had Wilma Simmons come and teach us her bead embroidered mermaids using Patti Culea's face stamps. Such a great time - Wilma is an extremely organised teacher - she had little supply kits (you know - all the things you think "oh no I forgot to bring my....." were in there) as well as beautifully printed out patterns and instructions. Wilma's beading is absolutely fantastic - she lays down the beads, back stitches and couches - so if you ever buy something from her you are pretty much guaranteed that the beads aren't going anywhere! She also has a great eye for colour mixing - always an art in itself!

Here are some close ups of the body and tail of the mermaid on the bag - although the predominant colours are blue and green - there's alot more going on here - notice the silver on the bodice and the bronze outline in the scallops on the tail?

The pattern(s) Wilma gave us included a necklace, the handbag and a mermaid "art doll" shape. So many possibilities. Here are some shots of the necklace version. This one has one flat beaded side (the right) and a freeform twisted chain on the other. The pattern has the shape for flat on both sides - but as this is a demo piece it's good to see that you could go either way. The other thing I noticed on the necklace was that Wilma had used darker blue and mostly matte beads for the necklace part - leaving all the shiny bling colours on the mermaid. It would be too much if the whole thing was shiny.
Wilma had developed up these pieces as part of a challenge to use polymer clay in a different way. We rolled out our Super Sculpey and stamped the faces onto it. Some cutting and shaping ensued - some stamps needed to have shoulders added in or parts masked and Wilma showed us how to do this. I decided I hadn't had enough caffeine so used stamps that didn't need to be masked. The stamp on the left is by Patti Culea and is Audine. I borrowed it from Carole who was kind enough to lend it to me (apparently she bought it at this fabulous place called Idyll Pleasures...) the other stamp was one that Wilma had which was a lovely old fashioned face. I guess if you are going to make and sell these things you need to check the reproduction rights for the stamps - I know Patti is ok with making things to sell with her stamps (always acknowledge on the swing tag people!)

You'll notice we pierced holes with a T-pin all over the polymer - this was to allow for the beading later. You could just as easily stamp onto fabric and create a piece too.
We traced the patterns onto interfacing and ironed that onto some thin pellon. The polymer clay forms were glued on with E6000 glue (watch those toxic fumes!)

Here are a few pieces that Wilma had started to bead - she taught us how to make frothy fern fringe as well as the seaweed fringe. All the frothy beading etc. helps to fill in the raised edge between the polymer clay and the fabric.
Wilma pointed out that as it was an embroidery piece we could also utilise things such as silk ribbon and novelty yarns etc. in our pieces.
I am a definite mermaid aficionado - so I was very happy! Lots of beading to still do - but so many possibilities!

Apart from all the mermaid love, Wilma also brought some of her other pieces to show us. She is also a mad keen felter - these photos don't really do justice to the depth of colour and complexity of the felted pieces - photos always seem to flatten the colours out. I love the combo of beads and felt - happy sigh!

This doll's face is beaded using the same techniques we learned in the workshop. The pattern for it is by Annie Hesse and can be found in Patti Culea's 4th book on Cloth Doll Beading.

The piece below was also amazing - the warrior on horse back is a simple shape - Wilma added the man's face and horse's head separately, along with the arms and legs. The beading was exquisite in all white shades.

Apart from the workshop we also had show and tell. Some time ago I posed the thought of doing something with a birdcage (of course I've done nothing with mine but there you go...) Anyhoo.... Janine found this beauty at Bay Swiss and furnished it all with doll's furniture as a boutique seamstress's shop. Don't I have great ideas?

Surely my 15 minutes is up?

2009-03-04T11:15:00.002+11:00

According to Andy Warhol "in the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes".

Well nuts to you Andy W. - the rate I am going - I might crack 16!

You'll remember this and of course this and this too but now I am going to be on national TV for this.

My three friends (Stacy, Liz and Allison) and I will be telling our story about how we were inspired to raise over $100,000 to help the child soldiers and child mothers in Uganda. It will be shown on Channel 7 on Good Friday. Being 4 very ordinary, everyday suburban mums we are hoping to inspire people to commit to making a difference in the world at the local and global level. The story will be also shown at this conference - a full circle because that's where we were inspired to being with.

So - you know - get in quick if you want my autograph because I think my time's up!

I Love a Sunburnt Country

2009-02-08T14:11:00.002+11:00

Ok - nothing to say about Global Warming - but one has to pause at the dreadful loss of life (as well as property and livestock) in the south while there are torrential rains in the north. The pictures from Victoria are really so shocking - with at least 25 people confirmed dead (even though it will take some time longer to confirm the identity of those people).

The two extreme natures of life in Australia bring to mind the poem by Dorothea Mackellar:

My Country

The love of field and coppice,

Of green and shaded lanes,

Of ordered woods and gardens

Is running in your veins.

Strong love of grey-blue distance,

Brown streams and soft, dim skies -

I know but cannot share it,

My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,

A land of sweeping plains,

Of ragged mountain ranges,

Of droughts and flooding rains.

I love her far horizons,

I love her jewel-sea,

Her beauty and her terror –

The wide brown land for me!

The stark white ring-barked forests,

All tragic to the moon,

The sapphire-misted mountains,

The hot gold hush of noon,

Green tangle of the brushes

Where lithe lianas coil,

And orchids deck the tree-tops,

And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!

Her pitiless blue sky,

When, sick at heart, around us

We see the cattle die –

But then the grey clouds gather,

And we can bless again

The drumming of an army,

The steady soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!

Land of the rainbow gold,

For flood and fire and famine

She pays us back threefold.

Over the thirsty paddocks,

Watch, after many days,

The filmy veil of greenness

That thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country,

A wilful, lavish land –

All you who have not loved her,

You will not understand –

Though earth holds many splendours,

Wherever I may die,

I know to what brown country

My homing thoughts will fly.

What can I say but - pray for rain - lots of it over Victoria and NSW and for the rains to stop in northern QLD.

Creative ideas

2009-02-04T12:16:00.001+11:00

Look at this little piece on Youtube which I saw on Teesha Moore's blog. It's brilliant!

More Steampunk thoughts

2009-02-02T11:01:00.000+11:00

Well - thinking about all that I forgot - there is of course The Time Machine (both the H.G. Wells book and movie). The 2002 version with Guy Pearce has a great scene where he inserts his brass knob into the time machine (located in his very victorian glasshouse) and everything starts to light up and spin etc.

ok - I just published this and didn't mean to - so sorry for anyone who subscribes via feeds and will get 7000 updates!

Other favourite things/people that I think fit well into the steampunk genre are of course Michael de Meng - particularly with pieces like this.

And here are some pics of a few things I think I could put together into a nice little steampunk inspired display.

More Thrift Shopping

2009-01-28T08:58:00.004+11:00

I love posts about thrift shopping because people always find the most amazing stuff and I always think, "Wow, I'm living in the wrong place because I never find stuff like that". Well apparently I am living in the right place now - 'cause look what I found!
Firstly I love the art of James Christensen it's very inspirational to doll artists as he's costuming and posing say so much about the characters. So I was very excited to find this brand new, unopened jigsaw puzzle for the princely sum of $3.

The other thing I found was this beautiful top, again - $4.

I also got this book of art works for $2 - I plan to use the pictures in some altered art if I can bring myself to chop it up - I am not very good with altered books as I can never bring myself to chop them - it feels inherently wicked.

Shiva Sticks

2009-01-24T13:08:00.004+11:00

I am in a group of awesome textile artists - we call ourselves the Embellishing Queens. One of the experiments we are planning for this year is with Shiva Sticks (aka Markal). Carole sent through this link at Canyon Textiles. At the same time a couple of the gals on Doll Street Journal added some info about them too. Colleen Babcock wrote this post on her blog last September. Camille Pratt wrote a list of colours she regards as essential. This is what she wrote:

Must have colors (IMO), are the:
Iridescent White
Iridescent Dark Blue
Iridescent Turquoise
Iridescent Red
Iridescent Brown
Iridescent Gold (an antique gold)
Iridescent Copper
Iridescent Light Gold

'Regular' colors (non-iridescent):
Titanium White
Ivory Black
Napthol Red
Ultramarine Blue
Burnt Sienna
Raw Umber
Yellow Ochre

With the colors listed above you can mix up pretty much any color you chose(remember the primary colors: Red, blue and yellow), and lighten them with the white, or darken them with the browns or black.
Thanks Camille for permission to reproduce the list here.
Patti Culea is currently working on a cloth doll with Shiva Sticks - find a link to her blog here.
Looking forward to experimenting soon.

Steampunk Sydney

2009-01-21T02:20:00.006+11:00

I was very conscious of showing Claire some of the terrific buildings around Sydney - here she is in the entrance to the State Theatre - it just glows - it's so beautiful and rococco.

The Queen Victoria Building has some amazing elements too - here is the tiled floor as seen through the open domes three stories up. We watched this clock strike the hour - there are many historical scenes from English history that move through.

Looking up there is this beautiful glass dome.

And isn't this staircase the very essence of steampunk?

Menzies, Monet and Holidaying in your own City

2009-01-18T23:42:00.010+11:00

Steven was away in Western Australia last week and the oldest two were off at camp - so Claire and I had a little mini-holiday. I checked out lastminute.com.au and booked a 4 star mystery hotel in the middle of Sydney for the princely sum of $99. Well it turned out to be the Menzies - and definitely 4 star (but most impressive to an 8 year old!) It's in a great location - so we caught the bus down the M2 with our back packs on. They allowed us to check in early so we could dump the bags. A spot of lunch at the MLC Centre (an old stomping ground of mine from my previous high flying corporate life) and then off we went up Martin Place, across Macquarie Street (stopping to rub the nose of the lucky Il Porcino statue outside the Sydney Hospital) and through the Domain to the NSW Art Gallery to see the Monet exhibition. No photos of the actual exhibition - I don't think you were allowed to and I didn't try. The two favourite pictures were two that were posed side by side - one of Rouen Cathedral which was so encrusted with paint and subtle close up that it was difficult to discern what you were actually looking at but increasingly spectacular as you stepped away. The other was an early morning painting of the famous pond in the gardens at Giverny - the brushwork was so smooth - I could imagine that there was an early morning mist on the water. So lovely - his works are just so sublime.

After the exhibition we wandered around the rest of the Art Gallery and looked at some of the permanent displays - here's Claire admiring Fredrick McCubbins. And here's Snowdrop and the seven redcapsI have no idea who painted this one - but I love it! We walked back through the Domain and stopped off to admire the State Library (currently undergoing a renovation of it's exterior) and then down to Circular Quay and hopped on a ferry to Darling Harbour

At Darling Harbour we went to the Lindt Chocolate Cafe and had an Ice Chocolate - this is the chocolate they have in heaven - I'm sure.After some dinner we caught the Monorail back up to the city and walked back to the hotel. ...Stopping to admire the Strand - it's so beautiful I promised to take Claire through it the next day. Back at the hotel Claire swam in the hotel pool and then we had showers and lay on the beds and watched Foxtel till our eyes fell out of our heads (well actually I pulled rank and said lights out). The next day we went and had breakfast out (Little Miss knocked off a full cooked breakfast thanks very much!) We went back to the Strand and stopped to look in an antique jewellry shop on the ground floor - called Victoria and Albert Jewellers I think. Well the lady there was so lovely to Claire - she sat her up on the stool and treated her as though she was her best ever customer - allowing her to try on the most expensive necklace in the shop - a rather large solid opal heart surrounded by a couple of carats worth of diamonds - and only 12,500 dollars! Here she is trying on an 18k gold hair clip that had diamonds in it. We also went past the State Theatre and had a look at it - and walked up to the Queen Victoria Building - but I'll save that for another post because this one is getting too long! But here's a shot of the chocolate shop at the QVB - delish!

All I can say is - having a holiday in your own back yard is great - it helps the local economy and helps you to appreciate where you live. For those who live in other countries you might wonder about the colour of the sky in the shots of the harbour - they are completely untouched - the colour of the sky in Australia is just that colour!

Thrift Shopping

2009-01-09T00:00:00.000+11:00

I enjoyed a girl's day out with Emily and Claire this week - the boys were away - so we went and hit the shops. First stop was the local Vinnies - Emily - who is just a little germ phobic walked in with her nose crinkled up and all "the smelly old stuff'". Undeterred I scanned the bookshelf and picked up Eat, Pray, Love by Elisabeth Gilbert and All He Ever Wanted by Anita Shreve for the princely sum of $2 each. Claire was happy to pick up a 50c copy of a book on rocks and minerals and Emily soon changed her tune though when she discovered a brand new Fiorelli handbag - for the princely sum of $3. Claire had to get into the game too and picked out a brand new Billabong bag for $2. As we were paying for the bags I noticed this little beauty up on the wall - too good to pass up at $5 it's now hanging in the hall - but will probably relocate to the bedroom. After we left Vinnies, we went past a handbag shop that was having a big sale I'd wanted to check out. Emily was shocked to see the very same handbag that she'd just bought with a price tag of $109! She decided that she'd got the buy of the day. I have to agree!

Today we watched Thoroughly Modern Millie - complete with an extremely young Julie Andrews, Mary Tyler Moore and James Fox (completely unrecognisable!) as was Pat Morita (as in the Karate Kid) who played "Oriental #2" with the very thick round glasses. The other standout of course was the irrepressible Carole Channing - her singing 'Jazz Baby' is the best thing in the movie. The other thing that was divine was the bedroom at Muzzy's "cottage" - oh those white moire taffeta walls and the blue ribbon motif throughout the room. The girls really enjoyed it - especially the part where they have to tap dance in the lift to make it work. It was fun to see them enjoy it so much - I loved it as a kid.

Surfing through Endless Summer

2009-01-05T11:40:00.006+11:00

New obsessions are fun - and surfing the net (which only really happens for me with a new obsession) can lead you to all sorts of weird and wonderful things.

I found this site which has lots of cool things - including a print out and make your own flip book - something to keep the kids amused until they can't find the stapler. As well as A Bawdy Woman Jumping Jack (although I must say the string seems to emenate from an unfortunate place!) and I love the staging page for the Bawdy Women. As I looked through the site at the automata I recognised a few pieces - I had seen them in Susie Oroyan's various doll books I am sure - how funny that the journey should come back to dolls.

The look and feel of this site reminds me of another great love from my childhood - namely Coles Funny Picture Book - which was an entirely Australian phenomenon - the rest of the world having no idea what they missed out on! Now there were three as I recall - but No. 3 was by far the best.

At some point I also recall Victorian Paper Masks in my childhood - probably my mum bought some - I get my fancies for somethings from her I am sure. They looked like these ones here - and you can still buy some - here's a cool site in New Jersey, USA that seems to sell some pretty fantastic stuff. And this English site which has different collections including Alice In Wonderland. In one of Kaffe Fassett's books - Glorious Inspiration most likely - he has a room with lots of face motifs and there are paper masks like these ones lining the wall. Actually some of those ideas in Glorious Inspiration and Glorious Interiors remind me of the steampunk elements - the collectors eye of shells, natural history, mosaic, animals etc. - wonderful!

I also had this game as a kid - I am not sure what happened to it - might have gone to God in the great clean up of '06 (not that I'd have thrown it out - my love for vintage ephemera was too strong - plus the fact it was MINE!) I distinctly remember playing it at around the age of 9 - especially after I'd had my appendix out - because if I was careful I could lay it out on the bed and not joggle it.

Steampunk Love

2009-01-01T21:32:00.009+11:00

To celebrate the new year I thought I would share a new obsession - Steampunk. Now I say its a new obsession but really it's the name tag developed by people who love the things that turn me on. It's not the content of Steampunk that I've newly discovered it's that there is a name for it!

Some claim it has grown out of the goth culture (losing all the emo bits presumably) or the sci-fi genre. I don't know about that but I know it describes the things that make my heart go pitter-pat when I see very lust worthy items - like old books (swoon), libraries full of old books (double swoon), anything to do with clocks, clock parts, old watches, velvet, inlayed wood, steamer trunks, anything to do with old fashioned travel (think trains like The Orient Express) or ocean liners (like Titanic - but hey - no icebergs thanks). Literary influences on steampunk include anything Jules Verne naturally and other writers of that period who wrote about the future.

One of the best blogs is The Steampunk Home - I spent most of the day avoiding the heat and the whining of children by immersing myself in the blog from start to finish. Can't say that I totally agree with all the calls re: steampunk or not - but hey - that's the whole thing - it has that certain je ne sais quoi - and probably can encompass people's particular pecadilloes (as opposed to armadillos - although a stuffed one would possibly qualify - as taxidermy in the Victorian pseudo scientific taste can be encompassed by the look although I am personally not big on the dead animal thing!)

When I finished reading and drooling at all the pics - I thought of all the steampunk style things I have loved over the years - what actually occurred to me is that some of my all time favourite computer games are very steampunk - Myst (and its follow up games such as Riven and Exile) are very much in the genre, as well as the various Zork games (written by Activision) particulary Zork Nemesis. Now the truly scary thing is that these games are at least 12 years old in the case of Zork Nemesis and 10 or 11 years old in the case of the various Myst games. Wow - am I ahead of the times or what???

Other things I love that I think have some steampunk influences in them are of course movies - The Golden Compass is one of course - the storyline didn't do much for me but I loved all the costumes and set designs and of course - the gadgetry - not the least of which was the aforementioned compass and the airships and Daniel Craig who isn't the least bit steampunk but maybe a steamy hunk which is close enough in my book.

And then of course there was The Spiderwick Chronicles - which I might also add got a mention on The Steampunk Home because Holly Black the co-creator of the aforementioned book has a Secret Library which is accessed through a hidden door. Sheesh! It's enough to almost motivate me to go and write a best selling book for kids so that I can afford to have one too. (Can you tell I am only slightly jealous? I wonder if she'd let me come and sit in her library and inhale the leather bindings on her books till I sneezed? Or maybe move in - permanently??)

Other movies which have a steam punk vibe also include Disney's Treasure Planet (wouldn't dare post a pic they'd probably sue me and take my house for violation of copyright) a Series of Unfortunate Events (who didn't love that closing credit sequence of illustrations??)

I don't think you could quite include Harry Potter although I think the Golden Snitch probably comes close - enchanted objects are too into the magical fantasy as opposed to something quite conceivably built by a mad scientist or creative genius.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all that

2009-01-01T21:21:00.003+11:00

Well - this is my 101st post - anybody out there? It's 2009 - can't believe the decade has been and almost gone. Can't say I miss 2008 very much - it was a long year - split into two for me at June as having the shop and then post shop life - so in many ways it felt like two years!
Emily has taken some photos for me of the various things we did in the count down to Christmas - I won't post them here but will add them back into the Christmas posts - who said you can't re-write history?
Spent New Year's at my friend Gail's house in Longueville. Very relaxed evening and we strolled up the hill to see the fireworks around the harbour. We were standing there like two grumpy old ducks rolling our eyes at the ridiculous teenagers standing in front of us. "OOooooo - we don't ever have to do 2008 ever again! Ooooo - we're going to Uni this year! OOooooo - I'm going overseas! Oooooo- I've had sooooooo many Cruisers! Ooooo - I'm going to be soooooo hung over tommorrow! " - what is it about teenagers that they feel driven to comment loudly on every inane detail of their sorry little lives in the loudest voice possible?
Every one else was happy just to stand and ooo and ahhh and the fireworks and hug and kiss and say happy new year!

One last Christmas Tradition

2008-12-26T16:34:00.000+11:00

Dad actually broke with Tradition this year and had his nap before the food as well as after. Must have been all the excitement of receiving a copy of The Mountain Muse from his favourite daughter.

100 posts and the Christmas menu is decided

2008-12-23T21:00:00.006+11:00

Well - what a suprise - I went to create my post and what do you know - it's my 100th post! Just popping in to say that the Christmas countdown has begun. The present shopping is done, the food shopping is done - even the booze is bought and stashed away!

So - Christmas meal (it's never lunch or dinner - it's somewhere in the middle) is decided. We will nibble on Bar-Bits (see left) along with slices of fresh bread and Mum's bringing her chicken pate (receipe from The Old House at Wickham circa 1972) - then it's boneless roast chicken with waterchestnut stuffing, Nigella's couscous with pomegranate (which my sister-in-law served up on Sunday and it was YUM) and a spinach and walnut salad. Oh and we have to have crispy potatoes with sea-salt and rosemary because Emily said so.
Trad. Christmas Pudding (courtesy of Mum again)with mandatory Hard Sauce and then a cornucopia of sweet things to pick at till we all feel like throwing up - Christmas Cake (made by me - we'll be making it tommorrow), rumballs (ditto) and Crostoli (from Harris Farm) and Magenbrot and other little lebekuchen from Aldi. Oh - and cherries, white peaches and mangoes for anyone who thinks that eating some fruit will make them feel virtuous. Drinks will be Champagne cocktails for me, Mum and Kylie (my sister) to start and then either a white or fruity red according to how people feel - me I think I'll stick to the Champagne! Dad and Steven will no doubt start with a beer and join us at the wine. One of the good things about hosting Christmas is - no worries about drink driving!

Receipes are as follows:

Bar-Bits

1 box of Cheerios
1 box of Kelloggs Shredded mini wheat
1 box Kelloggs Crispix
pretzels
bag of mixed nuts
1 tablespoon celery salt
1 tablespoon onion salt
1 tablespoon garlic salt
250g butter

Put all the dry cereal, nuts and pretzels into a large baking dish. Cut up the butter into small pats and spread around the dish. Sprinkle the different salts over the top. Bake in a slow oven (150 C) for 1/2 hour or until toasted - stir every 10 minutes or so to bake evenly.

Chicken Liver Pate from The Old House at Wickham

Ingredients
1 lb chicken liver
1/4 lb chicken breast OR pork fillet
4oz smoked bacon
3 cloves garlic
1 chopped onion
Thyme
Parsley
Salt and Pepper
1/4 pint of cream
1 glass of sherry or brandy
2 eggs
1 tablespoon cornflour
1 tablespoon water

Method: Toss the meats and them toss in hot butter. In a separate pan sweat the onions and garlic till translucent. Chop the meats and retain any juices (for a smoother pate you might want to process half or so in the wizz). Put mixture in a large bowl with herbs and seasonings. Mix the eggs, cream and sherry separately. Mix the cornflour and water. Combine the whole. Line a greased casserole dish with the bacon. Fill with mixture and cover with more bacon. Cook in a bain marie for 2 1/2 to 3 hours at 300F or 150C

Boneless Chicken with Waterchestnut Stuffing

4 rashers bacon
1 clove garlic
90g butter
2 small red capsicums (that's bell peppers for those in the US)
Salt and pepper
2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
2.5 cm piece (1 inch) piece of green ginger (or a big dollop from a jar if you can't get fresh)
6 shallots (that's spring onions if you are English and scallions if your American)
2 sticks celery
250g can waterchestnuts (see asian food aisle in the supermarket)
2 eggs
1 large chicken (or turkey) or 2 smaller chickens

Cut down the backbone of the chook making sure not to go all the way through the carcass. Use a paring knife to remove all the bones except for the wings and the drumsticks. (Bones make great stock by the way!)
Heat the butter in the pan and add the peeled and chopped onions, crushed garlic, peeled and grated ginger, seaded and chopped capsicums, chopped celery and chopped bacon. Saute gently until onion is tender and remove from heat. Place in a bowl breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, chopped shallots, drained and chopped waterchestnuts, lightly beaten eggs and sauted mixture with any of the fat from the pan and mix well. Stuff the carcass of the chicken - sewing it up with needle and thread as you go (use a bright colour it's easier to find) Sew it up completely - turn it up so that the sewn side is facing down in the pan and truss the wings and legs if needed to further keep its shape. Stuffing is enough for a 3kg (6lb) turkey. To serve - let it stand for 15 minutes covered in foil. Prior to serving pull out the cotton thread (make sure you got all of it!) Serving is as easy as cutting into quarters and putting onto the plate. Each chicken generously serves 4.

Rumballs - or would you like to smell my Grandma?

2008-12-20T11:17:00.004+11:00

There are certain family traditions that are handed on from year to year. Every year my grandma would make rum balls. I make them every year - mainly because the smell of them is a sense memory that makes it feel like she's in the room. Is it possible to have a tear in your eye and and a smile on your face at the same time? I think so!

Now there are many ways to make rumballs - left over Christmas Cake is one of them - this receipe uses wheat-bix (or for the English - weeta-bix and in the US - not sure what you call them but I'm sure you have them on the supermarket shelves). So - if you make them up think of my grandma who's been gone for 20 years this year - but lives on in happy memories like this one.

Rumballs

1 Tin of Condensed Milk
1 cup dessicated coconut
8 wheat bix (crushed)
1 cup finely chopped mixed fruit
2 tablespoons cocoa
2 generous (!) tablespoons of dark rum

Mix altogether - leave in the fridge for a few hours. Take small balls and roll in coconut or chocolate sprinkes to finish. Store in the fridge if you live in the southern hempisphere!

Favourite Christmas Carol

2008-12-20T11:07:00.003+11:00

Well thanks to Erica for nominating "The Nightmare Before Christmas" - I'd thought about that one and then promptly forgot - we own it on video and it usually gets an outing. Have to say I like Tim Burton - he's favourite movie of mine is "Big Fish" which I thought was very charming.

Now all time favourite Christmas carol? Well hands down for me is "O Holy Night" - having searched You Tube for appropriate renditions - I can't really go past Celine Dion. Not usually a fan of Celine - but her voice does it justice in this version and the diva voice theatricals are kept to a bare minimum. There is a version that I sometimes hear being played in the shops - I have a sneaking suspicion it's Mariah Carey - it reduces me to tears for all the wrong reasons - there are so many trills and vocal aeronauticals it is truly appalling. Anyhoo - here's my all time favourite Christmas Carol - what's yours?

Christmas Wreaths

2008-12-19T15:20:00.003+11:00

Cruising through the stores feeling pretty good because I've mostly done the Christmas shopping - went past the dreaded Lincraft - they already have their Christmas decorations at 50% off. They these wreaths for $4.99 each and the box of balls or $6.00 or $7.00.
I'd been wanting to get a new wreath for the front door - maybe even two as it's a double door. I used some beautiful Vandoros ribbon from Idyll Pleasures (how convenient to shop there (lol)) and created these beauties. Even my 15 year old was impressed! "I'm not going to lie to you Mum - they are seriously impressive."

So - what do you think?

What's Your Favourite Christmas Movie?

2008-12-11T17:15:00.003+11:00

Every Christmas we (ok well - I) head up to the local video store and rent an armful of Christmas Classics to get everyone in the mood.

My personal all time favourite is a movie that came out in 1983 when I was living in New York. I think it went straight to cable (which is where I saw it) but I loved it then and I love it now (I even bought the video when MGM released it a few years ago). It is called "A Christmas Story" and is a charming tale about a young boy living in the 1940's whose greatest Christmas aspiration is to own a Red Rider BB Gun. He is thwarted at every turn by his mother, teacher and even Santa who tell him - "You'll shoot your eye out!"

This movie has given us a family saying "Quickly - I whipped up some tears".

I love this movie - it's narrated in the style of "The Wonder Years" if you remember that tv show from a few years back. Funny scenes include the dad winning a truly atrocious leg lamp, a boy getting his tongue stuck to a frozen lamp post and my personal favourite the "Oh Fudge!" scene where Ralphie helps his dad change a tyre (in the freezing snow) only to drop all the lug nuts and drop the "Queen Mother of all swear words".

So what's your favourite? Others naturally include It's a Wonderful Life

or maybe the Grinch?

Miracle on 34th street - the Natalie Wood version

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and also the modern one with Mara Wilson (aka "Matilda")

what about the Little Drummer Boy ?

or maybe Frosty The Snowman?

or Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer?

Or maybe A Christmas Carol?

Then there are Christmas scenes in movies like "Little Women"

So what about you - what are your favourites?

Christmas Cake Part 2

2008-11-17T11:47:00.005+11:00

Carla asked an interesting question about wrapping the cake - you do it when it's cool and I generally leave it in the tin or at least leave the greaseproof and brown paper wrappings on it - no worries then about contamination from the newsprint. I've also update the receipe to give US equivalents for the flour - anyone in the UK will be familiar with plain flour and Self-raising flour. Not sure what they do in Canada?
Found this handy website for those who want to make US/British conversions for receipes.

Christmas Cake

2008-11-15T15:23:00.004+11:00

Remember last year when I was ready for Christmas in January? Well -now I am footloose and fancy free I've got my Christmas mojo happening a bit earlier than normal. Today I put my fruit down to soak ("macerate" is the technical term). I've been making this Christmas Cake since 1978 - I was 13 at the time! Mum discovered the receipe in The Australian Women's Weekly. We were attracted to the fact that it said it made a nice moist cake and was suitable for those who need to make a cake at the last minute.

Well - there's nothing worse than dry fruit cake (you know the ones that look promising but need a large cup of tea to wash it down?) and Mum is not one of those highly organised people who puts her fruit down to soak on the 1st July (suprisingly - either am I!).

So - we made the cake. It was brilliant. So brilliant - we've made it ever since. I even made it for my wedding cake. I've never tasted a better Christmas cake and don't think I'd even be tempted to try a different receipe. So - if your own Christmas cake is a little disappointing - try this one. I think the secret is the glace fruit and the grated apple. Make sure you use a good brandy. VSOP is great - "Very Safe for Old People" as my grandma use to say.

Christmas Cake - Australian Women's Weekly 1978.

375g (12oz) sultanas

375g (12oz) raisins

125g (4oz) dates (chopped and stoned)

125g (4oz) currants

60g (2oz) mixed peel

125g (4oz) prunes (chopped and stoned)

60g (2oz) glace pineapple

60g (20z) glace apricots

125g (4oz) glace cherries

1/4 cup orange juice

1/2 cup brandy

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons grated orange rind

1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

1 apple - peeled and grated

250g (8oz) butter

1 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups plain flour (American equivalent is all-purpose flour)

1/4 cup self-raising flour (American equivalent 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour with 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/4 cup of brandy (optional - but not if you belong to my family)

Chop fruit and put into a bowl and add orange juice and brandy, lemon juice, rinds and peeled grated apple - mix well.

Cover and leave stand 1 or 2 days (or a month or two if you're organised). Use an 8" cake tin, greased and lined with 1 brown paper and 2 greaseproof paper linings. Cream butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs one at a time and beat in well until the mixture is smooth again. Add in sifted flours and various spices. Mix in and add fruits. Bake in a low/moderate oven until cooked. (I place a piece of brown paper over the top of the tin for the first hour - it helps stop the top from burning). When cooked remove from oven and pur 1/4 cup of brandy over the cake. Wrap the cake in newspaper (when cool) and store upsidedown until you wish to ice it. Storing it upsidedown helps to give a flat surface to work on. Carla asked about wrapping it in newspaper (the brown paper and greaseproof is still around the cake when you wrap it (I also usually leave it in the tin to help it keep a good shape) - see - someone always asks a question you didn't think of!)

Enjoy - you won't be disappointed !

What I've been up to recently

2008-11-15T12:41:00.004+11:00

Well - not much happening on the craft front although I have made a doll (the basic pattern from Patti Culea's Cloth Doll Making Book) which is going to be in a round robin with a bunch of friends (this will start in January - scary thought). It's so long since I made a doll she's got blow outs in the finger and neck as well as being a bit lumpy in the stuffing department - I am really out of practice!

Hmm - also knitted a bag in fluffy yarn and also made some button necklaces (quick and easy - thanks to Kellee for showing us how).

My major project has been to start a blog about my great great grandfather - William Robertson. He started writing poetry and stories in his 70s - very fascinating. I've been helping my dad on his family tree.

He didn't really know his own father (long story) so finding family and making connections has been something of a journey of discovery and I think he is secretly chuffed to find out his great grandfather was a writer (as was his grandfather). As he said, "well it explains the poetic gene" - to which I wittly replied, "oh - good on you fat head!"

But my dad has always been good at writing (he's not talkative - too introverted for that). He wrote to my (maternal) grandfather to ask permission to marry Mum (because Dad was at sea and wasn't able to do it in person).

My grandpa was Police Commissioner in New Guinea after the war and he summoned my mother to come and see him. He had a great sense of humour and so he said very sternly to my mother, "this man is not a seaman at all." Mum got worried thinking he was about to tell her he'd had her fiance investigated and found some dark secret about him! My grandpa went on, "no - he most definitely is not. He's a bloody poet!"

Funny! Anyway - Dad's great grandfather William self published two books of poetry called "The Mountain Muse" and "Echoes of the Mountain Muse" - I have started blogging the stories and poems and adding additional information in on the topics and research and so on. It's right up my genealogical/ history alley! Take a look here.

A new character

2008-10-26T22:49:00.002+11:00

Here's the little fellow I whipped up on Saturday in preparation for the class yesterday.

He's actually cuter than he looks in this pic - couldn't quite get my photo mojo happening.

Back from the Dead

2008-10-25T09:50:00.006+11:00

Sashi commented on my last post which was made a million years ago (thanks Sashi). I was gone so long I wonder if everyone thought I'd died?

Someone who did almost die was my cat Rumple. She was ravished by a randy chocolate siamese cat who bit her on her beautiful fluffy tail (where I couldn't see it). Long story short she developed an abscess on her tail and then had pus forming on her chest. If she'd been any closer to death - she'd have been dead! So an oxygen tank, drip, intravenous antibiotics an X-ray and a chest tap later - she survived but definitely used up all of her nine lives. Probably my most favourite bit (not) was when she came home and I had to give her not one, not two but three different pills twice a day. Lord have mercy!

So apart from feline near death experiences what else have I been up to? Enjoying the freedom of not owning a shop anymore, catching up with girlfriends and lots of veging out which has to stop really. I've also been working as a volunteer with a refugee family which has been an eye opening and interesting experience.

Tommorrow I am teaching a needlefelting class to a group of wet felters - dry felting and three dimensional techniques will be new to them - so that's exciting.
I've also got a gig next Saturday with a Spinning and Weaving group too up in the Gosford area. This has motivated me to get the needles out and add a few new samples to my repertoire - so watch this space!

Will I ever get ahead? (Pun intended)

2008-05-19T10:43:00.006+10:00

Well a month and a bit has gone past. The move went well (even though it was raining) and we are mostly out of boxes. I have painted precisely one wall (in the breakfast room - because I swore I was not going to unpack and repack the buffet and hutch containing the "good china" one more time). Anyway - the colour (Clotted Cream - Dulux) is better than the poo brown that was there - so I am inspired to continue (even though my legs ache from climbing up and down on the chair to paint - who needs a stairmaster?)

I am debating painting the skirting boards because they are all stained at the moment. I want to - but if I start I won't be able to change my mind - so need to know I'll see it through to the end. I can't seem to make my mind up about anything at the moment. I quite like the slate - colours are fantastic in it when the sun hits the floor - but it doesn't quite gel with the pale look I was aspiring to. But it does hide the dirt wonderfully well which is another tick in it's favour. Hmm. More cogitating on the whole question really.

The other great question is drawers for the bedrooms. You wouldn't think it was so ruddy hard to find decent drawers - the only alternatives seem to be crappy MDF or thick chunky pine. I am hoping the antique fairies will help me find some - but people don't seem to relinquish chests of drawers and tallboys like they do other items of furniture. Plus I need lots (three kids and husband).

I have had a chance to do something creative - I recently took a class with Bobbi Oliver (who by mysterious happenstance was featured in the same Patchwork and Stitching magazine that had my Picket Fence quilt on the cover). She is a doll artist who works in Super Sculpey. We made two heads - one a half face to make a pin with (or similar) and the other a full head. Mine turned out quite well - a bit of a character. I took Mum to the class too as a bit of a mother's day present (couldn't think what else to give her) and she had a great time. She makes porcelain dolls with Lis Jones - so doing a sculpt was a bit of fun for her I think. The next day (Sunday) was Mother's Day. My eldest sister was down from Queensland (unbeknownst to Mum) - so we had lunch at my place and Mum got a big suprise to see her there. I made homemade mini lemon meringue pies (bought the pie casings thinking I might lash out and make Neenish tarts again - but then came to my senses). They turned out a treat and I should have taken a photo - but the Robertson family (ably assisted by the Butel mutations) are not shy of a good feed - and they all went too fast for me to photograph anything other than a few measly crumbs. But trust me - they tasted good!!!

Open the Duir

2008-04-11T14:54:00.004+10:00

I totally fell in love with this site when I first saw it and its lovely "movie". The movie is available on youtube but you might also like to watch the higher resolution version on their own website. The music is by a Norwegian musician called Martine Lund Hoel. Isn't the world wide web a wonderful thing some days?

What Is Art?

2008-04-10T13:32:00.003+10:00

I love Lesley Riley's blog - she posted this link today - really made me laugh.

You should check out the other Creature Comfort videos there too.

I need a really good sleep.......

2008-04-04T13:33:00.003+11:00

Well the packing up continues - I am about to box 70 or there abouts (I've lost count really!)
Still recovering from a rather horrible cough and totally wiped out every day from working and doing the rest of life you know - the whole wife/mummy gig? I am sick of waiting to move - I now want it over and done with.

I found this totally fabulous bed at www.brocadehome.com - isn't it divinity? I love it - and I also love the venetian glass mirror behind it too (and the chandelier for that matter). It's an American website - so won't be ordering one any time soon unfortunately - although I reckon I could get a really big jar of Lumiere paint and transform an old bed somehow??

Oh well - a girl can dream!

I do have a silver dream that turned into reality - my new Mazda 3 Neo Sports. I chose silver (has an black trim inside). After 13 years tootling round in my previous one - it's nice to have an updated car - with CD player, ipod dock, electric windows and central locking (yay!) - better not fall asleep in it!

A crash, visitors and mozilla

2008-03-01T10:18:00.002+11:00

Well my laptop crashed on Wednesday - so far as I can figure out I've lost everything (and no - I didn't do backups). My own silly fault I suppose but I have been so underwhelmed by the tech support from HP. The basic problem is that the computer gets to the Windows part of the boot and falls over and restarts again and goes round and round and round in this continuous loop. The helpful email support sent me a microsoft page telling me how to fix the problem - all very interesting but as I commented - I don't even have a way to get to the DOS prompt let alone do anything else. When I emailed this back the ever helpful 'Sam' told me how to get to the DOS prompt. Apparently you click on the "Start" button, click on Run and ....... Well yes Sam, that would be terrific but if the computer actually got to the windows screen with the Start button - I WOULDN'T HAVE A BLOODY PROBLEM!

Oh - that Sam-I-Am, that Sam-I-Am. I do not like that Sam-I-Am.

Haven't heard from Sam since I pointed that one out. The resolution appears that the only way to fix the problem is to wipe the whole computer and lose all my data which is not a very acceptable result to me. They do this really clever thing now where they partition the hard disk and set aside a portion that allows you to recover if your PC fails. This is very clever and saves the fifty cents it would cost them to provide you with the software ON DISK. The problem is when you are in a position such as the one I am in - you have to wipe out the entire PC to get it to work again because you don't have any disks to boot from. Brilliant!

Did I mention I hate that Sam-I-Am?

So now I am on my husband's old laptop which runs Mozilla Firefox. I use to use Microsoft Internet Explorer (call me a weird but I actually quite like using it as I've had problems with Mozilla Firefox).

I am now horrified to learn that my blog is a great big mess when I look at it in Firefox with things all over the place. Quelle horreur! I shall attempt to fix it up - but if you are looking at it in Explorer and it goes haywire in that let me know won't you - you know like you'd tell someone that their skirt is tucked up in their undies before they leave the ladies restroom?

So it's been a fun couple of days - I've lost every photo from my PC (family ones - the kids - argh) although fortunately I have a few on this blog so I will have to screen scrape them off even though they will be low res).

Had a couple of virtual visitors to the new house - Judi and Erica (friends from the doll world although I do also know Erica in "real" life) and Jodi who has a wonderful blog called Cote de Texas. She is an uber doyenne of stylish decorating with fab taste in everything. I left a comment on a post in her blog - so she popped in for a visit. Kind of wish she'd waited till I'd done something about the brick walls, pink paint and green carpet - feeling like a bit of an Aussie dag (which I am but - well - you know).

So that's it for now - autumn has come to Sydney early -it's cool and crisp today - beautiful and sunny - that terrible February humidity didn't come for once (yay!) No doubt we'll get a couple more hot ones in the mix - but it's kind of exciting to know that summer's over.

Some more of the new house

2008-02-26T14:34:00.007+11:00

Ok - so last post was about the backyard - you might notice that we have a pool (yay) - the girl's will really enjoy it in the summer (I think it's got solar heating too which is good!)
Here's another shot across the deck - you can see all the bushland we own - it's nice and peaceful and yes - we'll be repainting the railings!
There are lots of birds that live in the gum trees - so it will be nice to sit out and enjoy the privacy (or as Claire calls it Privatsy).
The kids are looking forward to having their own rumpus room (complete with bar - won't be hiding the booze down there!) It should be easy enough to run water into the space to make it a wet bar - maybe even a kitchenette! The vertical blinds and the brick walls are another thing that will be going - I hate both with an equal passion - can't stand that Australian colonial look with brick walls, pine furniture or brown leather couches - brown, brown, brown and drab, drab, drab. (Sorry - getting a bit passionate there!) Here's the family room and the peach walls, vertical drapes and the tiffany light shades are going as is the slate tile. It's going to be so much brighter and paler!
Here's the formal lounge - yes the pink walls and green carpet will take a bullet as well as those very unattractive light fittings and curtains. I am tempted to put built in display/bookshelves on either sides of the open fire - not sure if there is enough depth there - I'd like to use the power to the unattractive sconces to have illuminated cabinets.
Sitting above the formal lounge is the master bedroom with equally tasteful light fittings and curtains and paint and carpet with the addition of a wallpaper dado. See - this makes it easy - you just think - bullet - it's a no brainer. I do like the double doors though I'll be painting the wood stained door trims white too.
Last but not least - the kitchen. In it's day I'd say that it was the top-of the line on offer - look at the granite benchtop - it's at least 2 inches thick. It's a bit heavy looking and ultimately I think I'll install a new kitchen based around my choice of appliances (I loathe Smeg with a passion - anyone with me on that?) I think the current oven is a Westinghouse - so I might actually be able to cook with it. In the interim I may well paint the cupboard doors white to lighten the mood a little and maybe change the doorknobs. The slate floor may stay till I decide exactly what I am doing in this space. There is a breakfast room and the family room in a straight line from this kitchen - if possible I'd like to take out the walls and open it up into one large communal space - but that will largely depend on whether the walls are supporting walls or not and implications of beams etc. to span the space.
Well that's it for now folks - my life will shortly be about nothing else but packing boxes.

Home Sweet Home

2008-02-26T13:16:00.008+11:00

Ok - so the good news is we sold the house - for $6000 more than the asking price in two and a half weeks. How good is that? The unfortunate downside is that of course the rest of the family has gone into anti-keep-the-house-clean-for-potential buyers (grrrrrr........)
Just to add to the general merriment - we also bought the new house last week - here it is from the front. The tree ferns will be the first thing to go as they block the light into the front windows - I shall either sell them or move them into the bush at the back. We will also get the roof restored - repointed, cleaned, sealed and re-sprayed an get a soft wash and high pressure hose done on the driveway (we were so impressed by what a difference it made to our house!) I am also thinking of repainting the bluewall and trims - but can't decide on a colour - so it may stay the same for a while as I contemplate!
Here's around the back - it's a big block - 1910m2 but mostly it's bush - no garden to take care of which I am feeling slightly ambivalent about. Part of me wanted to buy an acreage and put in some totally splendiferous garden (probably had something to do with seeing a show on the ABC about Sissinghurst - but in reality I am not an upper-class English heiress with a husband interested in garden design - so I am probably having myself on - (you know - just a bit). However - I do have a genetic predisposition for gardening - my grandmother's grandfather was a self educated man who worked at various times as either a groom or a gardner. Apparently he use to go around the Botanic Gardens and point out all the incorrect classifications on the various plants to the gardeners.
Dad's side of the family has an even more impressive gardening history - his great grandfather was head gardener at several big estates in Scotland - he even worked at the Archbishop's Palace in Armagh, Northern Ireland. This is pretty funny as Dad's gardening ambitions have only ever stretched as far as mowing the lawns (and then having a nice refreshing beer soon after).
I remember one time when the grass was about knee high and Mum begged him to at least mow a path to the washing line. Which is exactly what he did - once around the Hills Hoist and back again. She was not amused.
We of course thought it was hysterical - until I saw Muriel's Wedding some years later (which is the most poignant and tragic comedy ever). Remember the scene where the mother had asked and asked for someone to mow the backyard so she could hang the washing out? She ends up committing suicide and when Muriel returns home the backyard is a smoking ruin as her mother set fire to it - evidently she was not amused either.
OK - wow that went off on a tangent didn't it? So I will do another post showing the rest of the new house and I will jot down other notes to myself about things I want to change.

Compassion

2008-02-13T13:03:00.000+11:00

I haven't tried uploading video before so this may or may not work (or may well crash the computer!)

This is a video of Claire (my youngest) being interviewed after church for a video presentation at the annual dinner that kicks off the year.

It's a moment in time which captures her compassion for others so well. The little girl she mentions, Sophie Delezio really captured Claire's attention - I think because she has come through so much for one so young and also because of her unfailingly sweet smile despite life's difficulties. Whenever Claire has a whinge about her hair not behaving or (God help me) her thighs being too "jiggly" I ask her if she thinks Sophie whinges about the way she looks. It's snaps her out of it quick smart!

Psst - Want to buy a house?

2008-02-13T12:17:00.000+11:00

Well - all creativity has ground to a screeching halt as we've been getting our house ready to go on the market. The only painting I've been doing has been up a ladder or on my hands and knees touching up scratches and scuffs etc. We have reached the Harbour Bridge status where you get to the end and have to begin again. The house (and garden) are looking pretty good having decluttered (all in storage at my brother-in-law's house - God Bless Him!)

Our first open for inspection was last Saturday and of course it rained constantly - at least people will know the house is water-tight! It's open today too and you guessed it - it's raining again! Despite the rain there was a good number of people who turned up for a sticky-beak and at least 8 contracts have been sent out. I am hoping that it won't take too long to sell as the whole keeping everything neat as a pin (with husband, three kids and a cat) is frankly not a whole lot of fun.

Prior to the decision to seriously put the house on the market there was some creativity happening between Christmas and school summer holidays! I was invited to be part of Patti Culea's new book - but I can't show pics of that of course!

I also made a fairy chair from Aves Apoxie Sculpt by following the instructions by Jean Bernard on the Aves site. It turned out pretty well I thought and it gets lots of comments from people passing by the shop. Here's a picture of it under construction - will take a picture of it totally finished when I can. I painted it with Lumiere Bright Gold - looks fantastic.

Cherry Tomatoes

2008-01-07T23:13:00.001+11:00

One of the nice things about the rain we've had is that the garden is growing. Early this summer, we went and bought a bunch of seedlings. Some got eaten by the snails - but this little tomato plant has produced a punnet of tomatoes already - and boy are they sweet as sweet!

Happy New Year

2008-01-03T14:44:00.000+11:00

OK - so now I've got the Christmas thing off my chest - happy new year everybody!

2008 looks like it's going to be a big year. First off the husband wants to move house - which sounds fine if you say it really quickly but that entails:
a) getting your own house in order so that it looks somewhat more desireable than a "renovate or detonate" proposition
b) keeping your own house actually in order so that it's ready for inspection at the drop of a hat - this is hard when two parents are working and the three kids are at home - eating (plate? what's a plate?) drinking - (coaster? what's a coaster?) and going for swims (think wet cossies and towels dumped in sodden piles along with several changes of clothes a day.
c) keeping the garden in order - it's summer and a reasonably wet one at that - so all the plants (and more especially the weeds) are growing like mad to make up for the last three summers when it was so hot and so dry they weren't allowed to do anything above barely survive).
d) finding a house where one would like to live - we've found a couple but they are in a different area so would entail changing schools for all three kids. I don't even want to go there!

Maybe it would be easier to get a divorce -hmmmm.

Now you may well be thinking why not just renovate, detonate, put on an addition etc. to deliver what we want? Well - that's all very sensible but as we have had gee - I don't know - at least 1 million iterations of this question the one thing we know about ourselves is that we are not knockdown rebuilders, renovators or anything else like that - mate - we can barely maintain!

So we will search for the perfect place and hope we eventually find it. We did see this place - but someone bought it three days before Christmas. Who buys a house three days before Christmas I ask you? We're also thinking about this place - but it may well go before we get our act together.

So how did I spend my one week of the year off?

Painting.

Steven is a great starter ( I call him the gusher) - he is however totally crap at finishing- anything. So he started painting the laundry, the outside bathroom and the inside bathroom ceiling with great gusto. I of course finished them all - you know those boring fiddly bits where ceiling meets wall, second coats - that sort of unimportant stuff which requires going up and down the ladder a thousand times? I also repainted our bedroom and took down the curtains and washed them, stripped the bed and washed all the linen including the quilt and dusted and mopped every nook and cranny.

Basically I've come back to work for a rest.

Now apart from all the moaning the exciting thing is that lovely Patti Culea has asked me to do a project for her new book. A great honour and the timing is pretty snappy which suits me as the longer I have to procrastinate then that's exactly what I do. Mind you the inner critic is having a lovely time with me - but I think I've got an idea that will work - knowing me the overachieving perfectionist will do at least two different ones - you know - just in case.

Better go and extract my digit!

Ok - I'm ready for Christmas

2008-01-03T11:05:00.000+11:00

Well - in true Megan fashion I feel about ready for Christmas now - even though it's the 3rd January.

Every year I tell people I'm ready for Christmas by early January and they laugh (they are usually the people who have done all their Christmas shopping in the June sales and put their fruit for the Christmas cake down to soak on the 1st July). But I kid you not - I find the rush up to Christmas and the responsibility for Christmas somewhat overwhelming - so I am not emotionally ready to kick back and relax until - well - the 3rd of January or thereabouts.

Am I alone in this feeling?

That said we actually had the tree up early this year because it was the 7 year turn to have Steven's family. I don't normally put the tree up until after Em's birthday (who wants their birthday upstaged?) But ahhh - the blessing and the curse of a large family - blessing because you only have to host the event once every seven years - curse because when it's your turn it's a very large number of people to have in your house all at once. Thankfully they have this family event well in advance of the actual day - so we don't fight about who's parents we spent last Christmas with and all that other stuff I know many people have to contend with.

I did make a gingerbread house too - because there was a gingerbread house "outreach" night at my church. Couldn't really give a tinker's cuss about the gingerbread house - just wanted to hear the speaker - Rebecca Manley Pippert. I have read all her books - and my copy of "A Heart for God" is truly well thumbed (but missing in action at the moment - may well have to get a new copy). She is truly a gifted speaker - we were very lucky that she had a cancellation on the Sunday and so was able to speak in church - you can hear that message here (you might need to scroll down to 2nd December to find it).

I also snuck out of the shop to go to the K-2 infants school concert and awards. Every kid in the class gets a certificate - so no biggie - but Claire's teacher did say that she always kind and friendly to everyone in her class - which was very heart-warming and much better than "works hard to improve at maths". It's nice to know your kids are nice to others (even if they scream like banshees to their siblings).

Emily of course finished up Year 6 - and I totally missed it because she told me it was at 3pm. Of course it was at 2.45pm - so haven't got a photo of her walking down the "tunnel of love" or anything else. Bad mummy!

My blessed father paid for us all to go out for Christmas lunch - so we didn't have the whole food shopping/cooking/serving trauma although Mum couldn't help herself and cooked a chook, a pud and a cake anyway! She said she felt funny not doing any food - I told her all I felt was relief. You might remember this photo from last Christmas - well I have to confess that was me this year - I totally conked out on Mum and Dad's bed and had a good long snooze. (No photos though - I'm not that silly!) I managed to buy Christmas presents for the children who have everything - helped along by the fact that Chris wanted a guitar and at 14 you can get away with a single expensive present.

So that was the end of 2007 - jumbled up and rushed. 2008 isn't looking very different at this point - but more on that later.

Summer is here

2008-01-03T10:30:00.000+11:00

Ok - so this post was supposed to happen in late November/early December but...... you know - I've been a little busy!

One of the first signs that it's really summer in Sydney (well - the part where I live) is the jacarandas coming out in full bloom. I adore jacarandas and love the way they turn an area purple - both in the tree tops and carpeted beneath when the blooms start to fall. Here are two shots which look rather maudlin as they were taken in a churchyard at dusk - but I couldn't resist as the trees looked so pretty.

After the jacarandas there is more purple when the agapanthus come out.

And can't forget the christmas bush - both those things signify Christmas in Sydney for me.

Sometimes Turning 12 is easy......

2007-12-10T22:55:00.000+11:00

Well - we are the other side of the birthday party and it was smiles all round. They all came, they all ate, they all had fun and they all pronounced the party as "so cool" and "really awesome".

I did my best Uber-mummy effort and am completely exhausted by it - but it was worth it to see the beaming face!
It's been raining cats and dogs in Sydney over the past week so I decided to set up inside - wise decision it was an absolute stinker of a day - must have been high 30s - so I was loving the new air-conditioning let me tell you. Turned out to be a wise decision as at about 4pm it actually hailed. My friend Erica (who was having a party at the same time )reported on it here - amazing!

This was how the room looked. We bought jumbo sized playing cards and stuck them all around the walls. Bought colourful posies of flowers from the $2 shop - they are pretty $2 shoppish in real life but massed altogether they looked very Wonderlandish - and they photograph like a million bucks!!!

The rose garlands were a score - picked them up at a shop called "dusk" which sells girly candles etc. They were only $5 a pop - the original price tag was $39 each.Love a bargain! Will save them for Valentine's Day - maybe wrap my naked self in them like the birth of Venus and see if the husband notices???

Anyway - back to the party.
Here's another shot down the table - do you love the pink and green plates? Found them in Target - $3.99 each - thought they were very funky!!! Did I mention that I was Uber-Mummy? I decided in a fit of mental instability to make Neenish Tarts. From scratch. They turned out beautifully but took about 4 hours to make. I will never begrudge paying for them in a cake shop ever again. They looked (and tasted) spectacular though - here's a shot of them mixed with the chocolate dipped strawberries we did (and for those of you who don't live in Australia - yes they are huge, lush and we get them all year round - we are a fruit lucky country!)

When the girls arrived I got them to decorate the cupcakes (I hadn't got them done due to the marathon Neenish Tart making) - it's a great thing to do at a party. Here's some cupcake love.

It was also a great excuse to buy a cupcake tree!

Turning 12 is hard sometimes

2007-11-28T22:45:00.000+11:00

Em is turning 12 soon. She wants to have an Alice in Wonderland party. No problems here kiddo. We've come up with some great ideas for decorations and games. I've told her she can use real china cups, white linen, the silver tea service - and have a Mad Hatter's Tea Party. She wants to be Alice and after a small spat with Claire at 7.30am one morning we resolved that Claire will not be an alternative (read smaller/cuter) Alice but the White Rabbit (bribed with the promised use of an impressive pocket watch on a chain that I just happen to have).

So what's the problem? Well turning 12. Her great enthusiasm has been dampened somewhat by the response of a couple of friends. She made the mistake of seeking approval of the plan rather than just extending the invitation to come and join the fun. These little girls are turning into young women - this is her last chance to have this sort of party. Next year she'll be in high school and turning 13 and she and her friends will be old enough to think it's naff rather than fun. Some are already teetering on the brink - involved with boyfriends and flirting with eating disorders. She's worried that everyone will think she's a baby and/or that they won't come.

We had a long conversation about deciding whether to follow the crowd or lead it and whether pursuing friendships with people who think they are better than you or too cool to come and help celebrate your birthday are worth the effort.

In the end mummy logic prevailed over the quivering bottom lip and the boo boo face and she's now back into highly enthusiastic mode. Gulp! No pressure there - I'll just be eternally damned if the party's a flop.

So the invitations are printed and ready to hand out. We'll put up a marquee in the garden (a friends gazebo), lay trestle tables with white linen and put out the silver tea service (probably filled with peach flavoured ice tea) and the china tea cups. We'll serve ribbon sandwiches, jam tarts, chocolate dipped strawberries, cookies iced with the word "eat me" and little iced cupcakes. We'll decant the fizzy drinks into coloured glass bottles with labels that say "drink me". I've promised a red velvet heart shaped birthday cake with red fondant icing and iced flowers. And if anyone wants to get too snooty then I shall say "Off With Their Heads".

Hiro Nakamura wins the Australian election

2007-11-25T09:16:00.000+11:00

Is it just me - or am I the only one who has realised the resemblance our new fearless leader has to Hiro Nakamura from Heroes?

It was bugging me last night that Kevin Rudd looked like someone I knew but I couldn't think who. Then it came to me this morning - Hiro Nakamura!

So Banzai Kevin. Now could you wind back some of the nastier elements that have crept into Australian life since John Howard got to set the agenda. You know - things like locking up people in detention for very long or indefinite periods in the name of "national security". Thank goodness that the US will soon be rid of the dreadful George W.Bush.

Looking forward to a kinder, gentler world. Be gone peddlars of the politics of fear. I've had a gutful.

Just an update - I read this article by Hugh Mackay in the Sydney Morning Herald after the election. It really hit the nail on the head for all the things I'd been feeling (and I'm not even a "doctor's wife". It will be interesting to see whether this pans out to a long term trend.

They Came, They Saw, They Gave

2007-11-12T10:37:00.001+11:00

Well I am happy to report that the Watoto Hope Charity Dinner went off without a hitch! The rain ,which we've had all week, stopped and it was a lovely cool spring evening on the Harbour.

We kicked off with Drumbeats performing on the balcony. Anyone who wasn't sure where the venue was only had to follow the drumming! Everyone then moved inside and was able to join in the performance with the drum or tambourine placed on their chair.

It finished with a conga line round the room and out the door (which is how they cleverly collect all the instruments). Lots of fun and a great icebreaker. They generously performed for half their normal fee - so if you are looking for a great icebreaker /team building exercise for an event - give them a call.

The venue looked terrific - no photos yet but I'll update this post when I get a hold of some pictures. We also had the Australian Girls Choir perform - they walked in singing "I Still Call Australia Home" (their signature song) and followed up with "Starlight Express", "Keeping the Dream Alive" and finished with "O Yeah - Can You Hear Me Calling" . They were really marvellous and everyone enjoyed their performance so much. They even did an encore.

Matthew Smeal is a Sydney based photojournalist and he took us through some of his very powerful images that he took while on trips to Uganda. I have copies of his photos but don't want to post it without his permission - so I'll ask if it's ok to put one or two of them up here.

There were so many people who donated their time and skills.

My friend Allison asked her friends Lee and Graeme and to do the A/V which they did - free of charge. The normal fee would be around $3500 for an event like ours. Friends like Ken (see below on saxaphone) and Dave came and provided fantastic music for the evening - free of charge.

Elisa Colla - a very gorgeous and very talented young lady from our church sang with the band - her first real "gig" - but certainly not her last. If she doesn't end up very famous I'll be very suprised!

Even the session muso who turned up to play keyboard free of charge refused to take the $50 travelling money.

In a world that is often dark and cold - isn't it nice to know there are so many people willing to do wonderful things just for the asking? It's been a real lesson to the four of us to always ask. Sure the answer might be no - but so often it's "yes" and an enthusiastic "yes" too.

Mark Bradshaw from Watoto's Australian Head Office was there as were Unia and Michael from the Watoto Children's Choir.

Unia travels with the choir and Michael is an 11 year old who is in the choir. Isn't he gorgeous?

It was wonderful that they were with us - not only to be part of the evening but also to answer people's very valid questions about how much of the funding reaches the kids versus admin costs etc.

It was good to stand at the back of the room and just take in the fact that it was all really happening. Everyone was switched on and attentive to the information - which was great to see. It's always tricky to present a pretty graphic story of desperate need on the one hand and on the other hand not make people feel so uncomfortable that they look for the nearest exit. After all people have come to hear about the charity but also to have a fun night out with friends. Without tooting our horns too much - I think we nailed it - people were engaged in the information but obviously also had a great night. We were supposed to finish at 11pm - there were still people sitting at their tables chatting etc. at midnight!

So - what was the punchline? From a room of 165 people we raised $104,000! I was hoping for a house which is $38,000 - so $104,000 was just gobsmacking. I am rarely a) lost for words and b) near tears - but believe me - I was both. Unbelievable. And the great thing was that it wasn't a few people giving a lot but everyone giving something which I think is a wonderful thing as it means everyone was engaged in the message and everyone made a response.

Thankyou everyone who came. Thank you to everyone who gave their time and effort to make the evening so successful. Thankyou to those who said yes to bringing a table of friends. Thankyou everyone who gave.

Now we can build two houses - which will totally change the life of two mothers and 16 children. Plus the additional funds can be used towards another building.

Thankyou. Thankyou. Thankyou.

It Never Rains it Pours

2007-11-07T00:20:00.000+11:00

It never rains ... it pours - wow - three posts in one day. I go for ages not posting and them - whammo - I can't stop.

This time it's a few pictures of my Tome. The tome was designed by Patti Culea and I have a group that meets once a month at Idyll Pleasures. We get a new pattern each month and do some work on the page for that month. It's suprising how much we get done in three hours actually. It's been fun and a good discipline for me to actually work my way through the patterns. Here is my cover - the three girlfriends.

The fabrics are actually from the Girlfriends range by Sis Boom for Freespirit Fabrics. They are offcuts from the quilt I made earlier this year.

This is the back page (front and back) It has tyvek leaves and some free motion embroidery on it.

Page 2 is photo transfers and windows- the pics are of my kids.

The rear of this page is a pocket with an angel (she needs finishing).

Page 3 is fabric collage. I am still working on this page - need to collect some more flowers. I traced the face from the pattern and coloured it with prismacolour pencils. Cool. I am looking forward to completing the whole tome - I think it will look awesome when it's finished.

Maggie Grey's Cat

2007-11-07T00:11:00.000+11:00

I mentioned Maggie Grey's post recently. She had a terribly funny post about having her cats temperature taken at the vet. I told her it reminded me of my favourite picture in a book published in the early 1980s called "100 and 1 uses for a Dead Cat". Here is that page.

Not Such a Blog Addict

2007-11-06T19:16:00.000+11:00

Apparently I am not the blog addict I thought I was - there are many others who far surpass my meager efforts! Erica - thanks for not pruning me from your list - I shall try to be worthy of such an honour. I have been following your growing home renovation with equally growing bemusement. For God's sake woman - quit while you're ahead!

Judi W (who subscribes to 105 blogs) was the lovely person who told me about bloglines - so if I do become a certified blog addict it will be all her fault (lol). Actually Judi has started
another blog for people to comment on cloth doll patterns - ones they've actually made etc. and what was good/bad/indifferent about them and I've just realised I haven't added it to bloglines yet - so there's another one!

I have been an excellent mother this afternoon and whipped up a skirt for Miss Claire with a matching headband.

She refuses to get off the Sims 2 long enough to model the skirt for my blog (ungrateful little snit) but is wearing the headband.

So I will take a picture of the skirt all by itself.

I found the pattern here at Grand Revival Designs. The headband was a quick whip up with a couple of yo-yos made with the Clover Yo-yo makers. They are a groovy little contraption which makes whipping up yo-yos a doddle. I got the idea from Heather Bailey - and they are her fabrics featured in the headband and skirt. Heather actually has a rather lovely looking headband on her site - but I am too lazy and made up my own.

Blog Addict

2007-11-06T00:37:00.000+11:00

How many blogs do you keep track of? I had a whole bunch saved into favourites - then someone told me about bloglines.com where you can keep a list of blog feeds and it tells you when they are updated. So far I am up to 66 blogs - is that too much? I hate waiting for my favourites to post something new and groovy - so I figure with 66 feeds then there's something to read every morning (and it's far more interesting than the newspaper these days).

There is so much eye candy out there - it's like a personalised magazine. Speaking of magazines - I hear Victoria magazine is back in print - however whenever I go to their website it tells me it's not there. Very frustrating! I hope it will be available in Australia - actually I think someone mentioned they got a copy at the Crewel Gobelin in Killara - must call them and ask!

Recommending books

2007-11-03T10:48:00.000+11:00

Maggie Grey is a wonderful British textile artist who has a terrific blog about her comings and going and "arting" (which is the general term used by my daughter Claire for doing creative things). Maggie has wonderful "netiquette" she replies to everyone's posts in her blog and checks out all the people who post to see more about them. How well-mannered can you be? She checked out my blogger profile and has even recommended a book for me to read which I will lock in here so later when I am trying frantically to remember what it was I'll be able to find it. Note to self - the answer is Phillip Pullman's Dark Materials.

I am a bit hopeless when it comes to good netiquette - but I did finally manage to post a comment on Sashi's blog after all the wonderful comments she has left on mine - it was the least I could do! I vaguely recall I owe a response to Linda Misa too. Isn't it funny to think that I'm in Sydney, Linda's in Tasmania, Sashi is in England - we've never met and maybe never will in person - but know quite a bit about each other through the various online groups we belong too. Weird really. I know Linda has young kids like me and can't wait for school holidays to end (especially summer - ooh Linda - how will we survive?). I am a firm believer that I would be a really fantastic wife and mother if it weren't for my husband and kids.

2007-11-01T18:16:00.001+11:00

I am a
Snapdragon

What Flower
Are You?

"Mischief is your middle name, but your first is friend. You are quite the prankster that loves to make other people laugh."

Hmm - spookily true. I love these silly quizzes!

Watoto Hope

2007-10-31T10:01:00.000+11:00

One of the non crafty things I've been doing this year is helping to organise a fund-raising dinner for Watoto. Watoto (which means "Children" in Swahili) was started in Uganda as a response to the terrible impact of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. By 2010 it's projected that there will be 60 million orphans due to the HIV/AIDS crisis. That is an unimaginable number.

I love the Watoto model - rather than having a large institution - they build a village which consists of houses, a medical centre, schools and community centre which doubles as a church. The houses are headed up by mothers who have been either abandoned or widowed by HIV/AIDs. They have their own children plus others - there are eight kids to each mum in a house. These mothers become the mothers for these orphans for life and the kids lives are completely turned around. It's brilliant.

Apart from the HIV/AIDS problem (as if that wasn't enough) - in Uganda there is an ongoing civil war between a man called Joseph Koney and the Ugandan Government. Koney has "recruited" his army by raiding villages and kidnapping children aged between 8 and 12. Girls are forced to become sex slaves and servants of the older men and boys are forced to become child soldiers. They are made to kill friends and/or siblings or be killed.

The movie "Blood Diamond" (which was set in Sierra Leone) gives a fairly accurate portrait of how this process works. It really is diabolical in the truest sense of the world. If the children escape (they are executed immediately if caught) they generally can't go home - the boys because they have invariably been made to kill people from their village and the girls because they usually end up pregnant with a "bush baby" as the result of being raped.

So - the good news is that Watoto has gone to the north to Gulu (which - ironically enough means "Heaven") and is setting up a Watoto village up there which will take in the boys and girls and provide long term rehabilitation for them. I personally can't think of a more worthy cause in all the world. It costs $38,000 AUD to build a home (that includes all the supporting infrastructure like water and power). We are hoping to raise enough funds to build at least one home - maybe more. So - say a prayer that the people who are coming to the dinner will be open hearted and generous.

If you want to get involved you can check out the Watoto website or another great organisation called Invisible Children. But please - don't think "how terrible" and move on. Get mad - and get involved. If you raise enough money to build a home - you can even travel to Uganda to help build it - how totally cool would that be?

PS - I should mention these photos belong to Watoto - one of my jobs is to do a looped slide presentation that will run during dinner!

Ladies Night Out

2007-10-19T19:16:00.000+10:00

Here's some more doings - this time it's beading. I love this pattern by Sheila Cleary called (unsuprisingly) Ladies Night Out.I made these three up in one afternoon - it makes up really quickly. It uses size 3 & 4 Swavorski crystals (the olive green one I used 4s and 5s I think) as well as little charlottes. I bought them from Meredith and her very gorgeous mum Jan from Silhouette Designs - they were our friendly neighbours during the February Stitches and Craft Show in Sydney. They are awesome beaders - their stand was busy from days opening to closing and their workshops are hugely popular. If you get the chance do a class with them. The size three crystals and the charlottes are hard to find - but they have them so give them a shout if you are looking for them. Mum bought some gorgeous cabachons from Jan as she and her husband go fossicking and then shape and polish them. She's mounted them on ultrasuede and is doing peyote stitch around them. They look terrific will take a picture one day when she's working on them at the shop.

Back in the swing

2007-10-19T18:41:00.000+10:00

So - got the camera for my birthday - just in time because the other one stopped working - good on you boys!

So - here's a couple of needlefelted things I've been working on - this guy who I did in a colour called "cheesecake" - my kids reckon he's the same colour as the Simpsons.

Then there's this pig which lots of people think is cute but which freaks me out because I think the face is too human.

Then there's this brown bear which I really like - but he's hard to photograph because he's dark brown.

I am waiting on Birgitte's new book which is in print (if you can read Danish) and is currently at the printers (in English) and will be ready in about three weeks (woo hoo). I'll be ordering it in along with her other two books which I've been holding off on restocking because of the cost of ordering and sending from Denmark.

Turning 42

2007-09-29T11:11:00.000+10:00

Well - it's my birthday tommorrow and I am struggling to find a positive about getting older. Recently I have realised I am gettting old lady fingers - they are getting stiff and sore and a suspicious arthritic looking bump has appeared on the most important digit on the most used hand. I have started taking glucosamine (with chondroitin) as well as fish oil tablets to try and support my joints - but can I tell you that fish oil repeats on me terribly? See - I am even starting to sound like an old lady - argh!!!!!!

I haven't posted for a long time because husband-man and the boy-wonder have commandeered the camera for important men's stuff (husband-man for "work", boy-wonder to film himself attempting "ollies" on his skateboard). Have dropped long and broad hints that a camera for me for my birthday would be a wonderful idea. I'd cross my fingers but I can't - because I have OLD LADY FINGERS!

I am off to Marilyn's house to help her get a website up and running - she used to have one but it lapsed - and someone grabbed her website address (don't you hate that?) So we'll have to come up with a new name - nothing crazy - just something that will help people find her (and her gorgeous patterns).

Later!

Eclectic Quilt

2007-08-01T23:30:00.000+10:00

I've made another quilt - getting rather prodigious in my old age! This one is a pattern created by Lynne Wilson from Highland Quiltworks called Seams Like Fun - it uses 16 Fat Quarters to make the inside of the quilt in quite an efficient way. I decided to do it out of the Girlfriends Range by Jennifer Paganelli for Sis Boom. I wasn't quite sure anyone else would like it because it's a pretty eclectic mix of fabrics all mushed in together - but everyone who's come into the shop as I've been sewing it has positively exclaimed over it - so I guess that's a good sign huh? Because it's not my pattern it won't be in the magazines as a project but it will be a kit available to buy.

Visit from Ruth Prest

2007-08-01T21:33:00.000+10:00

Ruth Prest is a dollmaker from the US - she is in Australia on a short visit and stopped by the shop today with Ann Maullin to say hello. That's Ann on the left and Ruth on the right. Ruth was such a lovely lady - she obviously couldn't bring a lot of dolls but she brought a book with all her dolls in it and Ann brought one of Ruth's giraffes that she had given her some years ago.

Ruth also brought some of her beautiful beading work which was stunning.

A group of dollmakers assembled to meet Ruth and brought samples of their work. Ruth is writing an article for Soft Dolls and Animals magazine about her trip down under - so we might appear in there at some stage!

Here's Marilyn Halcomb holding a new doll she's created - I can't remember what the doll's name was - maybe Purple Passion? She's got her corset on - but she's put on a little weight and can't quite get it done up at the back. I love the high heel slippers - very Gloria Swanson. (I'm talking about the doll here - not Marilyn !)

The little elf type fellow is Marilyn's version of Gloria Winer's new doll pattern. He really was an appealing little fellow.

Here is a beautiful textile piece that Erica had done with all sorts of beading and couching and interesting things on it. I previously attributed it to Ruth - but Erica let me know it's her piece. Actually I feel better now because I was so busy admiring all the things Erica brought to show that I forgot to photograph them!

Back to Ruth - she also had a couple of fabric postcards - love the Crane picture.

The tiny little baby troll was a gift to Ruth by Ute Vasina - here's a close up of it - you have to see this thing in real life to realise how tiny it is. If you look at it versus the size of the postcard - you'll get something of an idea!

It was a lovely day and so nice to see Ann, Anne, Marilyn, Erica, Annette, Natascha and even my Mum turn up to say hello to Ruth.

Being recognised as someone famous

2007-08-01T17:33:00.000+10:00

I had a lady in the shop this afternoon who came in because she saw my picture in Patchwork and Stitching. Her daughter rang her while she was in the shop and asked where she was. She replied she was in the shop of a really famous person. Ha! ha! Very cute.

Now for all my dollmaking friends in the universe I said that they had featured my dolls in the article. When I said that though I hadn't actually seen the article - here's a scan of the pages - they really did make a feature of the dolls (and even my needlefelting ones too).

Very happy!

I am famous for a second lunchtime

2007-07-23T20:43:00.000+10:00

Remember when I was famous (in my own lunchtime)? Well - it's happened again! My Freshcut quilt has made the front cover of Patchwork & Stitching magazine! Cool - here's a copy of the styled shot they did for the inside of the magazine too.

For those who actually buy the magazine - there is also a profile on me complete with my true love - cloth dolls! I'll be kind and spare you the photo of me though ;-)

I still think it's funny that I am on the front of a quilting magazine because I am soooooooooooo not a quilter. Mind you - have to say it's improving - what with all the quilts I've been making!

Later fans!

More Log Cabins and a new quilt

2007-07-20T10:13:00.000+10:00

This is a quilt I finished at the end of last week. I saw it in Jean Well's Patchwork Made Easy and loved the colour combination. I realised I had just the right fabrics in the shop to make it up - took me a while to quilt it and bind it though! The purple is actually a rose print from Eleanor Burns - Through The Seasons range, as is the small purple floral, the red check and the dark mustard. The other fabrics are from Nancy Halvorsen of Art to Heart.

I've now started another quilt (not a log cabin). It is the free download pattern using the Empress Woo range by Robyn Pandolph. For those who'd like to see what I am aiming for you can look here.

I've been really, really busy this week.

2007-07-06T12:07:00.000+10:00

Let me have a trumpet solo please - I have finished not one but two UFOs this week. The biggest one was a queen sized colourwash heart quilt for my mum and dad (Three years in the making from before they moved house). Will have to take a picture and post it here.

The second UFO was a log cabin quilt for Patchwork and Stitching magazine. I started it back here in April. Well here it is finished in one hit yesterday and ready to send.This pic is from before I quilted it and did the binding but it photographed better here than the photo I took when I tried to hang it up to snap it. Now I have to finish the instructions but that's the quick part - I am so much better with words!

I've been busy

2007-07-06T08:53:00.000+10:00

One of the things I've been busy doing is helping my Mum and Dad clear their house out as they finally sold it. It's been the family home since 1968, despite various stints overseas (Petersfield in Hampshire, England from 1972 - 1975; Ossining, New York 1982 to 1984 and Holland after that).

They actually moved two years ago - but Mum wanted to be sure she liked her new digs before they gave up the house. Needless to say it was a big job - so Mum and I swapped several days - she went to play lady-in-the-shop and I went and got really ruthless with the stuff. Some got flogged on ebay - others went to the Salvation Army - books went to Lifeline for their annual book fair. Mum has an extensive collection of clothes from the 1950s - they went to Cavalcade of Fashion - where they will be properly curated and looked after which is nice to think. Anyway the last night the four of us (Mum, Dad, Kylie and I) had a "last supper" around the kitchen table. My older sister Ann was missing (gadding about in Bali for a month - smart girl!) But it was just like old times. It's kind of funny to think of it not being in our family anymore - lots of memories that's for sure. The best ones are always family dinners - where we'd sit around the dining table and laugh uproariously at something - you know the sort of laughing that brings tears to the eyes mixed with an inability to speak? Eventually Grandma would sob "oh stop, stop - before I wet my pants" and that, of course, would set all of us off again.

Here is one such scene - I am obscured by Dad's finger - and am wearing the floral circle skirt that I made as part of Home Science (mandatory in Year 7). That was the sum total of my learning to sew really.

Then it's Grandpa, my younger sister Kylie, Grandma, Mum, Nanna and my older sister Ann. This was taken Christmas 1978. Mum is about to cut Grandma's pudding (done the old fashioned way in a cloth (no basin) so it formed a floured sort of a skin). Ann and I had both made Christmas Cakes at school at the end of year activities week. The icing was as hard as hard but the cake turned out great! We only had one more Christmas altogether before Grandpa died in 1981. Each year someone would say, "this might be a Last Supper you know" - bummer when it turns out to be true. The most scary thing about this is that my mother's hair is a lot darker than mine is and I just worked out she is the same age in the photo as I now am (42 this year). Tempus Fugit.

Trade Show

2007-07-06T08:02:00.000+10:00

Well - I should have posted this about a month ago but - well - I've been a little busy!

Went to my first Trade Show (I can do these interesting things because I own a shop). The main motivation was to hear Kaffe Fassett speak. I have been a long time admirer of all things Kaffe - being seriously so much in love with his books such as Glorious Inspiration and Glorious Interiors (and Glorious Needlepoint etc. etc.) that I have hunted them all down on ebay over the years and bought them all, mostly because I was embarrassed by how many times I'd borrowed them from the local library.

His talk was most interesting and I had a bit of a chat with him at the book signing afterwards. This is where trade shows are so much better than retail - not half so crowded! He had the proofs for his new book (which is due out in September) and graciously allowed people to have a look through so they could get organised making quilts in it before the book comes out in print. I told him how much I liked his old books such as Glorious Inspiration. He asked me how I liked it. I told him, "it's probably not the thing to say to a very visual artist - but gee it's a great read". He took the compliment. My favourites of all his fabrics are the paperweight series and the planets series and the good thing is Rowan Fabrics (who produce all his material) are doing a series of classics that will be available on a permanent basis. As he pointed out people are still buying the books and get frustrated that they can no longer get the fabrics. Here are some pics I took during the talk. I was in the front row but the lighting was absolutely terrible. I've enhanced them to within an inch of their lives so you can see. The quilts are totally spectacular in real life needless to say.This one was my favourite - loved the blue.

The final thing I thought was suprising was how tall Kaffe was. He'd be at least 6ft 2" I think. I'd always thought he was a slight sort of a man having seen him in his various books - so it was a bit of a suprise. Also the fact that despite living in England for 30+ years he hasn't a trace of an English accent. Actually I thought he sounded rather like elinor. I'm sure they'd get on a treat.

Well apart from Mr Fassett, the show was also interesting for the other things I saw there. Monica Poole is a designer of really gorgeous handbag patterns and I spent loads of time circling her stand. I'll be getting some of her bag patterns in for the shop. She's actually in a DVD in the latest Homespun with a pattern and all the tips and tricks to make a bag - totally different process from the one I'd imagined!

There were gorgeous trims everywhere which I couldn't resist ordering as well as the more mundane (but necessary stuff) like handbag magnetic clasps and perspex bag shapes for lining the bottom of the bags. I also went to a talk by Julie McKenzie of Material Possessions. She is a quilt shop owner as well as a designer of patterns - she is responsible for the cupcake cookery book that you see around - very cute projects and her stand was just gorgeous. She was very generous with her knowledge about what works and what doesn't.

I also spent some time talking to Karen and Nora who have recently launched iQuilt. This is an online magazine - huge potential - and both ladies are right up there with those in the know about who's who and what's what.

Ok - this post is getting realllllly long so will buzz off now - more later.

Needlefelting continues

2007-06-02T20:51:00.000+10:00

Haven't had much time for anything lately - thought I'd post a little gnome baby I felted a while ago - here he is - curled up asleep.

My L'il Monster

2007-05-09T11:38:00.000+10:00

I didn't post a pic of my L'il Monster previously because he hadn't been quite finished. Here he is in all his glory - didn't quite turn out all cute like everyone elses - I must have been channelling my inner Goth. I think because I painted him black for the base coat and also because his mouth turned quite beaky for some reason. Anyway - I love the way the interference colours show up against the black. I also love the Jo Sonja Opal Dust which gives the sparkle. Here he is in the window of the shop scaring all the kids away.