I've banged on before about how I've lived my life on Map 46. I was born on the map, grew up on the map & married a boy from the map. Both our siblings live close by & we spend a lot of time with our families.
It was a tearful farewell when my sister & her husband made the move to Darwin 5 years ago. We've visited often & they came back each Christmas. I thought they'd never come "home".
The decision to move back was made swiftly and definitely.
They've moved into a gorgeous house (just a stone's throw from us) & I've been helping to get them settled in. She's done a sensational job of decorating on-a-shoestring. I finished off the family room with half a dozen cushions made from Warwick Fabric samples which serendipitously pull everything together.
It feels like she never left. I'm so grateful that she's made it home.
I had uploaded a couple of pics and then my internet dropped out...I was in Queensland. Then I dunno it just seemed wrong to be blathering on about my stuff when there was so much going on.
Safely back in Melbourne I'm thinking a LOT about the floods and those who have lost (& are yet to lose) homes & family.
I love a can do attitude. I like people who make stuff happen. I like folks who enable other people. I like a generosity of spirit.
A couple of items have come my way this week (via great girls with "can do" attitude) & I thought they might interest you guys...
YOU CAN help someone else...
Help raise much needed funds for young cancer sufferers.
How You Can get in the Christmas spirit It’s simple for the public to get involved this Christmas. You Can’s primary fundraising mechanic calls on Australians to recycle their old mobile phones – turning trash into much needed funds.
You Can Post It! Simply log onto www.youcan.org.au and request a Reply Paid mobile phone recycling envelope to include in your gift-giving this Christmas. Redundant mobile phones can also be dropped into You Can bins located in a range of retailers nationwide: Sony Centre, Best & Less, Harvey Norman and Leading Edge Computers
How does You Can work? It’s simple! You Can’s chief fundraising mechanic calls on Australians to recycle their old mobile phones – turning trash into much needed funds. It’s estimated that there are anywhere between 15 to 20 million unused phones in Australian homes!
Sony Foundation has partnered with Folamh, an Irish recycling company, to swap old mobile phones for cash to raise money for the development of youth cancer centres. All donated phones will be recycled for reuse. That means, once collected, phones will be refurbished and resold. Any mobile phone that cannot be resold will be broken down into its constituent parts and responsibly recycled. So simply by donating an old mobile phone, Australians can directly contribute to You Can’s fundraising appeal, whilst also contributing to a greener planet.
&/OR
YOU CAN help yourself...
Learn to screenprint right here in Melbourne.
If you book into a class in the next two weeks Laura is offering a FREE hand printed tea-towel! - you can find out more here for class dates
You just need to do is get in touch with Laura via email learn2screenprint@gmail.com to express your interest.
OK so this is really more about my homework than the making of bunting. The chips just needed to be glued to a piece of paper but there's no fun in that is there? So I made two...one for the homework & one for the smallest.
I think the bunting's super cute & will be making more. The robot is of course by Jodie.
Mucking around with pencil & paper in a bit of down time from the hook. Doodling, writing, scribbling & trying to figure out how to make my homework look semi decent. I'm not at all comfortable with the pencils. ARGH!
Do pop in & add your link if you're playing along this week.
I'm on the home straight with my "car craft" project...just one more side to go.
I now have my fingers firmly crossed that I've hit the mark with this gift.
In other news... I may or may not have had a brainwave in relation to upcoming baby gift. Now I just have to figure out how to actually make the thing!
The smallest (with gearless bike) wanted to go for a bike ride. We headed for Dights Falls...she wanted to go further...through the Children's Farm...up the huge stairs in Abbotsford...detour through Richmond...and all the way into the city...smallest commentary the WHOLE way...over 30 kilometres...I like a kid with heart.
The kids watched a street performer in Fed Square & then we packed our bikes on the train. It was just a short ride home in the semi dark from the station.
Shall be on the sofa under a granny blanket...mini on my lap...binding like a woman possessed...watching listening to rubbish on the teev if you need anything.
Maybe you'd like to stitch with me? We'll work on a few basic stitches & then make an "x" bookmark to take home.
Maybe there's something else I've stitched that you like the look of? I can help you with that too.
Maybe you'd just like to come & have a natter & French Knot for three hours? Fine, great, love to see you. Just so you know you'll still get a little kit & supplies so plenty of bang for your buck.
It's all organised by Notebook & the classes are held at Amitie in Bentleigh.
Date: Saturday 28 August 9:00-12:00 I plan to focus on the bookmark at this class, but will of course be flexible.
You can book your tickets here.
There are other fabulous classes on offer. I'm seriously considering signing up for Andi's quilt as you go but there's something for everyone. View the August timetable here (we are on page 2).
It's been an amazing week in my neck of the woods.
Just truly gorgeous things have been happening over the last seven days...
My sister & her family are coming home!!! You can't even imagine how insanely happy this has made me.
An amazing, amazing person sent me THE NECKLACE in the mail! Just a totally inspiring act of generosity.
I've received sweet handwritten notes, posts & lovely, lovely emails from internet mates. You know who you are and I thank you from the very bottom of my heart.
Finally, yesterday for no particular reason Auntie Pat gifted me a box of lambswool/angora Anny Blatt. This is an incredible treat.
All those years ago when I worked at Woolcraft I used to spend far too long "tidying" the Anny Blatt shelves so that I could enjoy the luxury of this yarn. I imagined that one day I'd be able to make something amazing with it.
Totally inspired by Assemblage & Aunty Cookie I've cast on a few stitches.
The jar lights I made created quite a bit of interest.
The benefit of using LED lights over tealights is safety & if you're having an outdoor party you don't need to worry about weather as the light would of course be protected by the lid of the jar.
Edit: I used large jars which were purchased very cheaply from a homewares store but used kitchen jars would work too. If you want uniformity with the the lids then perhaps a coat of paint?
The LED battery operated lights that I used were purchased from Bunnings. They are OSRAM brand "Dot-it" lights. They are around the $10 mark but they do just go on & on & on. I've also seen them at lighting shops.
I'm seriously considering setting up something in the garden similar to this brilliant piece of garden art...
freshly installed & 3 months later
which was inspired by Margie's project here.
Of course, you don't really need a how to...it's a speed demon type project. Forge ahead, have a crack & you can't really go wrong. How to contain the light View more presentations from kootoyoo.
& because I wanted to try out the embed feature through Google Docs...
you just need to click the little icon in the top right (open in new window) if you want to print the pdf.
If you liked this idea you might also like the wrapped tealights.
overlooking the water bottle on the bedhead, saying nothing about the teabag in the sink, not minding about the running shoes left in the middle of the bathroom floor, keeping silent about the sugar bowl being left on the bench, understanding that shoes should be left beside the footstool, admiring the collection of sporting trophies, supporting the house-to-home-junk-collection, reluctantly framing the team photos,
& for Len and his wife the "pool room" laundry where he was allowed the poster of some 70s (Essendon) AFL hero in her perfectly pink sanctuary.
Nan didn't put the camera away & I didn't get it out.
Thursday: trip to Kyo/The Mill/How Bazaar was amazing & of course my regular Melbourne haunts seemed somewhat crap in the shadow of the Day 1 shop. I stitched & laughed 'til I cried.
Friday: Nan hatched an exciting quilted garment plan. There was much swearing & carry on about the quality (or lack thereof) of the Janome & many pro Pfaff arguments were put forward. I stitched & laughed 'til I cried.
Saturday: Shopping for craft supplies & a bit of parental running around for me & a lot of time with the Janome for Nan. I stitched & laughed 'til I cried.
Sunday: Camby Market & back home to the trusty Janome for Nan. I stitched & laughed 'til I cried.
I didn't feed her (like at all - - - I was too busy stitching & laughing 'til I cried), but I think there's plenty of nourishment in a Capiroska & I made her plenty of those.
I've been very lucky to meet & make some really truly ace real life mates because of this space. Let me tell you...Rummage is one of the best.
Big giant ups to The Date & to The Frenchie too for making it happen.
My bossy mate Tracey came home from a client meeting & told me I needed to make her a scarf with sleeve holes cut in it. Then she mentioned she'd seen some fabulous vests in Cactus Jam that she also wanted. Should just mention here that she's the recipient of the grey granny shrug too.
Then I saw this at Leonie's & thought it was the perfect two for one. I decided to trial it with the last piece of blanket from the slippers. This rectangle was it...I didn't cut it at all. I just waved the tape measure around my bust & from my shoulder to my hip ... near enough. Positioned the arm holes by eye (lucky that worked out OK).
The slashed vest was supposed to be a 1 hour gig & truthfully the slashing took fully five minutes but I could hardly put a rectangle of blanket up with a few cuts in it & say I made it. The idea behind the slashing was to give the blanket a bit of fluidity.
I threaded the machine with red & the bobbin with white & just roughly rectangled the slashes. I didn't finish in under an hour ... it was more like two but that did include numerous trips to the bathroom mirror to check & check & check that I hadn't completely lost the plot.
I'm quite chuffed with it, so totally unable to decide if it is in fact fabulous or complete cheater craft. Either way it was fun.
PS: The doily top is merino & was a gift from Icebreaker (?) isn't it gorgeous?
PPS: Feeling a bit weird about loading a post with pics of self. More here if you want to see the red.
I made a lemon birthday cake for The Date...for desert at the family(his) lunch.
I'd scoured Delicious and found just the recipe. A nice list of ingredients that made me sure the resulting cake would live up to the "delicious" promise.
I made sure I had the best ingredients, nice olive oil, home grown lemons, quality prosecco, beautiful eggs. I set to work and made the cake. It did all the right things in my new oven (which I'm not great mates with yet) & looked gorgeous when I removed it from the tin.
I tasted the tiny bit that stuck to the side of the tin & my heart sank. It tasted very eggy.
What was I worried about? I'm normally pretty good with this sort of thing. I thought that there'd be plenty said about the egg cake rather than the lemon cake. Then all sorts of crazy food poisoning scenarios were running through my head.
I knew I wasn't going to be serving my cake. We went to Browns on the morning of & picked up a white chocolate & raspberry cheesecake (stunning) & a flourless orange cake (meh).
The cake was duly sampled when we returned home on Monday evening & it was, just as the magazine promised ... absolutely delicious.
There's a lesson here ... if you think it's good - it IS good & who cares what other people think.
I knock - a little melodious knock. "Come in", I hear. I think how cool it is that my eighty something Great Aunt is happy to have her door unlocked.
I let myself in.
Auntie Pat is all organised and ready for our knitting date. The radio is tuned to Magic 1278 and her current knitting project is laid out on the dining table.
I'm offered a cuppa and say yes to a cup of tea. Once the tea is made we settle ourselves at the table. Auntie Pat examines my homework. She's very happy with the way I'm knitting. She runs her fingers over my work and says softly "Mmm, yes, you're going to be a beautiful knitter Koo". I feel well pleased with this. I like to be good at stuff.
I've brought along the pattern as well as my 365 knitting stitches desk calendar. I hand the pattern over to Auntie Pat & ask ernestly if I should begin at January 1st or maybe today's date? "No", Auntie Pat says firmly. "Close that book." I do. "Right, now just open it up and work on whatever pattern it throws up." I do exactly that and open the book at the diagonal rib. Auntie Pat is pleased and tells me to get started.
I cast on using my thumb and Auntie Pat begins reading. We sit together in an easy silence, knitting and reading. "Islands in the stream" comes on the radio and I smile to myself. I don't think I've heard that song since 1987. I hum along happily.
Every now and then Auntie Pat offers a "interesting" or "hmmm, clever".
Very quickly the two hours is up. I pack my things and say my thank yous and goodbyes at the door. Once I start the car I'm tempted to tune the radio to 1278 but decide to save the Magic for Tuesdays with Auntie Pat.
I think today is going to be a creative feet up kind of day.
The kids are still on holidays & I'm not quite ready to tackle anything too major on the crafting front.
I've so much I want to do...
- make myself a new handbag - a quilty something - a quiet bit of stitching
but I think I shall sip tea & look for more inspiration amongst the pages of Home Journal.
I'm also admiring my new bluebird tape measure necklace. Just purchased from lovely Yasmin Ellis - I found her via find make do & fell in love with the bluebird. She makes other excellent pieces & she's got an etsy shop right here.
Don't forget to pop in & add your link if you're playing along this week.
