Today I'm....

...waiting for the rain

....watching my fish, Gilli, die

....feeling good about my business

....looking forward to supervising an exam, but only because I'll get some marking done

....feeling tired

....enjoying proper tea

....wanting my thesis proposal to write itself

....wondering how I can have so much work due now for a second semester subject

....wishing I'd organised to go to the farm this weekend

....trying not to clench my teeth so much

....wanting more time in the week

....looking forward to watching the footy tomorrow

how about you?

My Favourite Thing

My mum bought this small quilt for me from a antique shop in Fremantle last year.

It comes from England and is about seventy years old.

I love it for a number of reasons but not least because when it is over my feet it makes them warm. This seemingly simple thing is actually quite amazing because for years I suffered from frozen feet that won't warm up when I get into bed.

And now it is getting cooler it is back on my bed and I love it all over again.

Hmmmm

I am going to make this:

Thanks to this very talented quilter

Wow, so life really gets in the way of blogging, huh. I know I am constantly saying how busy I am and I guess that's boring, I'm sure if you're following or subscribing you would probably just prefer posts a bit more regularly.

April. The 1st was the official start of my consultancy business and, oops, but that just totally passed me by, except that Katrina and I went out for a all-out dinner last night to celebrate other things so I'm just going to pretend that we also celebrated that. But! I do have my first project going and my business is actually earning money, (and in fact has already made my sales target for this month) which is beyond exciting and I'm probably not really appreciating it enough or taking a bit of time to be amazed and thankful for it. Mostly, I think, that is because I'm trying to focus on lining up my next project, or that's what I'm telling myself anyway. The work is fascinating and I'm really, really enjoying it but the way these things go mean that I can't tell you a lot about it. So, it will just have to be all mysterious. Suffice to say that it is about local WA history and has a research focus, which is the answer I'll almost always give when asked about projects I'm working on. :)

Uni is relentless too just now. I'm finding that the switch from teacher to student I need to do regularly to be rather confusing. I have to keep telling myself that I know a lot of things in one field (Education - where I'm teaching) but not so much in the other field (heritage - where I'm learning) and my poor brain is finding it tough. Plus, assignments are flying at me thick and fast and I am trying to sharpen my thesis topic. So, when I'm not teaching or working I'm doing things like going to museums, reading and meeting my supervisor. All great fun, but exhausting.

Today has been my first day off in quite a few weeks. I slept in (an a futile attempt to sleep through my hangover), Katrina brought tea and toast to me in bed (if you know me you'll know how incredible this is to happen), I read, I watched telly, walked the dog and generally just did NOTHING. How lovely it has been. Tomorrow and Sunday are marking days then, although Monday is a public holiday, I'll be back to work.

I hope everyone has a lovely easter. Tell me you're doing something exciting - camping, perhaps? I'd love to go camping...

Shower Power

So busy with non-crafty stuff, but hopefully after tomorrow I'll be back in the swing of it in a serious way and with news too!

In the meantime, I want this bathroom!

From one of my fave blogs - The Selby - because it is just like walking along and looking at the outside of houses and wondering what happens inside (which I do everyday) except you get to see inside the houses and wonder what happens (way more exciting). Plus, they are always smarty pants artists and designers and clever creatives. Bonus!

Lovely Sunday

Today, Mum and I went to Ellis House. It is an old house in Bayswater (just near home) that is now an art gallery/community.

Their art markets were on today where their member artists were painting and selling their wares on the lovely shady verandahs of the house.

They also had tea and cakes available for $5 (bargain!) to eat under the shade of the huge old mulberry and jacaranda trees in the backyard.

While we tea-ed we watched a woman painting

And enjoyed the lovely things found in nature. The Bougainvillea around here is glorious at the moment and I need to get some more shots of it. And a Kookaburra feather lying on the grass. It was such a peaceful way to spend the morning.

But best of all - I spent a bit of time nurturing my creative spirit and hopefully this will allow me to get into the groove this week as I need to get serious in the lead up to market day. 

What a Week!

At least I'm here to bookend the week that was. So busy and exhausting and totally devoid of creative energy, which is the real reason why I haven't made it here.

And now it is Friday night, so I'm going to crawl into bed with a book and cuddle up to my dog. Tomorrow is a new day.

Last Night

My house mate/best friend/all-round awesomeness cooked dinner last night. We had pasta with HOMEGROWN tomatoes and zucchini. So delicious. We also had some wine, and then the camera came out.

Yes, it was hot yesterday. 39degC. It will be 42degC today. Charming.

Bike, vintage shopping, eggs, cleaning!

Yes, basically that was my day. I feel very productive!

This morning my housemate and I set off on our bikes for Cycle Sunday (commonly known in our house as CS - pronounced 'sssss' - just like our Facebook Free Friday, known as FFF - pronounced (you guessed it!) 'fffff') and headed for a vintage garage sale where we were promised buttons! old linen! vintage clothes! and where I bought all of those things.

I spent about $30 which was awesome. The dress will become a bag and the linen and lace will be parts of cushions, I think. I already have some old linen like these pieces but they've come from my family and I've hesitated cutting them up until I knew what I was doing. Now I'll be able to practice with some of these. Although not the clogs - the clogs are so cute!

Then we cycled on to the Coode St Cafe where we were lucky to get a table as they were all booked out (!) and had tea and eggs - so good! Then home via a little tyre mishap.

We had psyched ourselves up for cleaning day and dutifully started when we got back. About four hours later the house is sparkling and ready for inspection on Tuesday. And, more importantly, lovely again for living in.

This post seems very report-y. But there you go. I'm tired! Tomorrow is the first day of my new job and I'm so looking forward to it.

I hope you all had a lovely Sunday too.

Veges

Although it is almost the end of February (eep!), my summer vegetables are still going strong. Gotta love the Mediterranean climate here in Perth! The first two tomato plants I had have well and truly finished now and really need to be pulled out, but I have another that has just started to produce lovely ripe red fruit.

The capsicum (pepper) plants are still producing fruit and should for a while yet. You can see a tiny one up the back of the basket in the shot above.

I was a bit afraid that I'd planted the zucchini (courgette) a little late but the plants have burst into flower, grown so quickly and produced the first fruit ready for picking within about 5 weeks! There are plenty more zucchini to come too, which is great because I LOVE zucchini.

But autumn is coming and it is the best time for gardening. Although I'm loving the summer (as always) I am looking forward to digging around in the garden in the cooler weather, planting beetroots and cabbages and beans ready for the winter months. And, really, that is the best thing about gardening, there is the pleasure of now and the excitement of what is to come.

Fireworks!

One of my favourite things! I used to have to wait all year for the New Year's fireworks (or in Perth, the Australia Day fireworks), but possibly the coolest thing about our house is that we can see ALL the fireworks at the racetracks, casino and various other events from our front yard.

Tonight was the loudest fireworks yet. It really did sound like bombs going off and my poor doggy was scared out of her wits. But it was awesome - huge, huge fireworks that reverberated through the cooling night air. So cool!

Firework photography is so hard, especially when you just run out there in your nightie and are not using a tripod, but I thought it was worth a shot. A nice reminder, anyway.

By the way, a really warm welcome to those new peeps who have been reading my blog of late. I love to know that you are out there, why don't you drop me a comment some time?

On the home front

This week has been crazy busy getting ready for a new job - the kind that needs lesson plans and photocopies - but I think everything is sorted for my start on Monday. I've been staying close to home and feeling the need for a little cocooning. So I wanted to post about some the things I have around me at the moment. Starting with my favourite craft tool.

I know, you're thinking, wha...? that's not a tool! But it really is to me. It is an Ikea piece, but I don't think they sell it anymore. It is on wheels and fits perfectly under my table when I'm not working and then wheels out next to my chair when I am. I can change my thread easily, find a random button for embellishment, grab clasps, zips and whatever else I need without having to get out of my crafty-groove. I keep fabric that I want to use on my current project in the top drawer, threads and other extras in the second and use the third for storage. So, perfect! It makes me happy every time I reach for it.

This week I also sold a TV cabinet that I was using for storage in my work room (on Gumtree - LOVE gumtree for selling things!) and bought an Expedit bookcase from Ikea.

So much more room, so easy to see things and it fits in the room a lot better too. I haven't, obviously, put all my fabric in it yet, but the plan is to have everything sorted by colour or type (I haven't decided which yet) so it is easy to see what I have. Down the bottom are my three baskets of wool and I'm looking forward to getting back to knitting when it gets a bit cooler.

And, just because I was in my workroom with the camera, here is a sneak peek of some new products that will be available at the Perth Upmarket (at the end of March) and after that at my Etsy shop. These little baskets are so quick to make but have a lot of potential for really creative use of fabric. Plus, they are lovely for keeping all those little random things that collect on a bench or desk neat and organised!

Things getting done

Ever so slowly and steadily, things are getting done. I haven't managed to get back to here because I had to fix an issue with my camera (all better now, although I can't use my favourite lens - boo!), but other things are getting done.

Like yesterday morning Dad came over and put hooks in our bedroom walls! We have picture rails in every other room in the house, so it has been frustrating, but now there are things on our walls! Hooray!

This shot is above my bed. The print is of an important, if controversial, early Australian painting - Fish Catch at Dawes Point, Sydney Harbour by John Lewin. I've had it forever and it makes it home when it is up somewhere. Below that is my bedhead and my fantastic Ikea bedside light.

The little sign on my bedhead. One day I'll tell you about my plans that this relates to.

The other print I love up on another wall. I'm all about the clean, clear surfaces at the moment, so everything is put away and I feel better for it. The two pictures on the book shelf are part of my personal history. The one on the left is of the York Hotel where my great-gradfather, grandmother and grandfather, father and aunt all lived and ran for a long time. The photo was taken during the time that dad was a kid there. The other picture is actually pressed wildflowers that I picked and pressed in the early 1980s. In the bottom corner is a photograph of me picking the flowers...awww.

I'm going to put things up in the shop today. It is too hot to be anywhere except right in front of the air-con, with all curtains closed and iced water to drink, so it is a day for the computer and for reading when I get sick of that.