Thursday, August 28, 2008

:new red shoes:

I bought these sandals in a sale for $30 in June (mid-winter!)…

I knew I wouldn’t get to wear them for months, but they were such a bargain and so very summery and delicious and I have enjoyed looking at them, sitting on my bookshelf for the last eight weeks or so.

I feel ready to wear them now though, and to wear cotton skirts with bare legs, and to have to put sunscreen on again, and to be able to have picnics on the lawn, and for evenings where it is light later than 5.30pm.

Meanwhile, it continues to rain...and my backyard is a bog and I have worn various shades of brown, grey and black for weeks.

So I thought I’d share my ‘summer fantasy’ shoes with you today...for one simple pair of shoes, these hold a whole lot of promise.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

:the butterfly cushion:

I found an unused 1970s linen tea-towel at the op-shop with a beautiful butterfly graphic on it. I loved the reds/pinks and oranges together. I decided to make it into a cushion for on my bed. I cut out the butterfly, sewed quilt batting on to the piece, then hand-stitched some detailing thereby ‘quilting’ it slightly, added buttons. The back of the cushion is a piece of an orange wool blanket.

I really enjoyed making this. It was a lot more time-consuming than a lot of the things I make, but I do enjoy hand-sewing a lot and want to do more of it.

***

& Thanks to everyone who popped over to the new blog yesterday and left comments or sent encouraging emails. We are really trying to push ourselves in terms of bare, naked honesty over there and it is a little scary - so your support means a lot.

xxx

Monday, August 25, 2008

:come and see:

Come and see! Come and look!

I am both excited and terrified to invite you to share in my latest creative endeavour - a collaborative art project/blog with the lovely Helen ‘Show Your Workings‘ Heath.

It’s called ‘Helen Squared’. Geddit?

And loosely, it’s about our creative process as writers + we will share with you our collaborative journal project + hopefully various other creative inspirations and ideas!

Hope to see you there.

We a both a little scared of showing our metaphorical underpants in public this way...and yet...we want to do it to push through all kinds of creative barriers and issues - so do come along with the ride and share with us your thoughts and experiences.

Friday, August 22, 2008

:new things for Magnus’s bedroom:

Willoughby’s room is all dinosaurs, planets and Lego...but I still have some influence over the way Magnus’s room looks. Here are a couple of new additions to his room.

I made this raincloud for him out of a woolen blanket and some thrifted fabrics. The strings are bias binding. I would like to make another one and try to get the rain drops to look a little less clumsy, but other than that - I was happy with how it turned out.

And this beautiful ‘orgami’ bird is by Free Range Baby. It was one of my purchases at the most recent Craft 2.0. An example of a simple idea, beautifully executed. I love it. (Oh & so does Magnus! It hangs over his bed and he talks about it every time he’s on his bed.)

Thursday, August 21, 2008

:blast off!:

I am so very lucky to have friends who are a) very clever, b) very prolific and c) very generous. This necklace was the latest in a string of beautiful things the delightful Dairne has made and gifted to me. She is so very talented. I love this necklace and I know I’ll wear it all the time once the weather thaws out to the extent that I don’t have to wear a scarf 24/7. Thanks, Dairne!

***

Last night was blast! I’m still on a high. Wonderful, friendly people came...the poets were brave and clever, there were lots of people who came just to listen - which is lovely. The coffee was strong, the cake was Lemon-flavoured, the ambience was just as I’d hoped...I only made a few stuff-ups (they are so bad, I cannot repeat them here without melting into a pile of cringe on the floor) and on the whole - I am really happy with how it all went.

Most heart-warmingly for me is that there was a teenage girl who came, still at high school, her name was Rebekah, and she read three poems! She was just awesome. I was so happy to see a lovely young person engaging with poetry like that.

And thanks to my dear friends, Thom, Madz, Toni, Margi, Div and Tim for showing up to support me. You cannot know how much I appreciated being able to see your smiling faces in the audience.

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