Things that are blue

Our butter dish

Very old ink

Vintage sewing threads

Retro Bitossi pottery

Vintage lotus cake plates**

An old bible

Mr Bojangles' eyes (they really are that blue)

What blue things are there around your house?

(**does anyone know where I might find more of the lotus range? I am always on the lookout!)

Monday

It's supposed to be springtime here in Australia, but you wouldn't know it by the weather. Last night was so windy and wet and cold that I cooked us up a big batch of vegetable soup for dinner.
It's a winter staple in our house, but is always a big hit, and very easy to make. I really only lightly fry off any vegies I have with some onion and olive oil, add crushed tomatoes, vegetable stock, and some lentils, and let it simmer away for a while. We love it on a bed of brown rice and with a generous handful of fresh parmesan cheese, but you could always omit those - it's lovely on it's own, too.

I hope you're keeping well and warm, even through a colder-than-usual Spring.

My Creative Space

I've been busy (read: procrastinating) today. I've decided to make some of this reclaimed fabric from last week into a clutch, and am trying to decide which kind of closure to use. I think I will try and find a long tortoise-shell look clip closure, but may opt for a large flap - mostly because that won't require sourcing said clip closure.

In other news, these bowls were from Ikea at the beginning of this year, I'm not sure what they're called, but I picked them up for around $4 in the bathroom section. They are like a half egg shell with a flat bottom, so one end is deep and the other shallow, and I keep my pins in them. They are so useful I think I might start giving them as gifts to fellow sewers. The deep end is so deep that it's difficult for the pins to spill, and the shallow end makes it super quick and easy to grab them as needed, or, even better, chuck them in as I pull them out from a seam as I'm sewing, rather than poke around for the cushion. I keep the small one right in front of my machine for just that purpose, and then just tip them back into the big one, which is at the other end of the cutting table, when I'm done. You could always lie a magnet in the bottom if you liked, too.

Beautiful creative spaces here

Weekend

The Man gave me the biggest bunch of flowers I have ever seen - 15 lilies and over 100 californian poppies. Yep. It weighs more than a small child. Californian poppies are my favourite flower - all that wild, fragile, colour. I should mention that one of The Man's clients is a florist....an excellent contact to have, clearly.

I then shooed him out the door and had some of my closest girlfriends over for a dinner party. Good company, good food, rain outside. Perfect.

A storm rolled in..

..and it rained...

..and rained.

Last weekend's seedlings emerged.

And aside from these little gift tags for some friends' upcoming birthdays, I didn't do much except listen to the rain and read a book.

I hope your weekend was a relaxing and happy one, too.

Weekend

I know it's Wednesday already, and probably really too late to be posting about the weekend, but I took the photos, so I thought I may as well share them anyway.

We had a birthday party to attend



Seeds to plant



And this stunning fabric, which I cut off an old lounge suite on the side of the road, to wash



I hope your weekend, however long ago, was lovely.

Meltdown

I had a bit of a meltdown on Monday, and it's taken me up till now to feel completely better again. Just one of those days where everything became a bit much - I suppose we all have those moments, right? (right??) At any rate, late on Monday afternoon there was a rainbow clearly visible from the window in my studio, which was a welcome reminder that storms often give way to beauty. (if only my photo did it justice...)

Friday

I've always thought it funny to hear people say they do their best thinking in the shower. Sometimes if I feel stuck on an idea, I have a shower in the hope that inspiration will strike. It usually doesn't.

Things that are green

breakfast




lemongrass tea




mint from the garden

moss

grass

a gypsy bucket

ranunculus leaves

bangle

What green things are there in your house?

My Creative Space

Most of this week's creative energy has been held against it's will and only allowed out for the express purposes of business card design and compliancy efforts and label ordering and other such nonsense. I'll be glad when this part of re-opening the shop is over.

If there's any creative urge left by Saturday I plan on channelling it into the garden, but probably not before trying my hand at this retro sun hat pattern, which was gifted to me along with these fabric scraps, by my sister in law earlier in the week. I love gifts like this the most of all.



The weather's warming up more now, and the humidity is rising. I'm sure in a few weeks time when it's much hotter and the humidity becomes stifling, I will eat these words; but for now I am loving the smell of the evening rain on hot earth and the fresh, dewy kind of anticipation in the air through the days.
It reminds me of home.

Beautiful spaces here x

Tuesday

A visit with a favourite small person



And then home for dinner with the man



Lovely

busy

These to-do lists aren't exaggerated. I'm working hard getting ready to re-open my shop (just in time for the silly season, why do I do these things to myself?) and hopefully, notwithstanding dramas, will be ready to launch in two weeks' time. I'm planning to run a sale and some giveaways to celebrate, and I'd love for you to join in the fun. I'll keep you posted on when it will be.
You can also be notified by email when the sale starts - just go to my etsy shop (here), and follow the links. Etsy is completely free to join, and they only send out emails if you choose that option. If you are a member of etsy already, you know the drill.

My Creative Space

This week has been busy and getting busier. I wish I had some creativity to share, but unfortunately my cutting table is covered in to-do lists and calculators and other boring things.

So here, instead, is a gratuitous photo of part of my stash, which lives in a cherished and well loved white antique amoire in the studio. Sometimes at the end of a crazy day, I find myself just standing in the quiet half light, drinking a cup of tea and staring at my stash. So much possibility.
And then, of course, something rings or beeps or cries or yells; and I take a deep breath and close the door.
But my stash quietly waits there, patient with me as always. Maybe tomorrow it will become something beautiful.



Beautiful spaces here x

This isn't a bird blog, I promise

It was a long weekend here this weekend, and we were looking forward to a nice dinner out and getting lots done around the house. But between a very rainy Saturday; a last minute all-day babysit on Sunday; and me getting the dreaded lurgy yesterday; we didn't do any of the things we hoped to. Oh well.
We did have some cockys (sulphur crested cockatoos) visit us on Saturday afternoon, a common backyard sight, except that they were much closer to the house than usual - I think they were enjoying all the rain-displaced bugs in the lawn. They are so common here that I sometimes forget how amazing they are - such big birds and so white.

new old fabrics

My latest acquisitions from Wednesday's adventure

Thursday

A late breakfast at Rolador cafe, in Newcastle. I recommend their smoothies. Yum.