Lights Out!

Yep, lights out! We did, last night between 8 - 9 pm for Earth Hour. We had a wonderful feast by candlelight - kick arse falafel, pasta, HUGE grilled veggie salad and turkish bread! OMG! Suffice to say we did not need dessert. After dinner nephew X wanted to blow the candles out, which we did, and so were in complete darkness. Then the screams (of delight) started and some of us ran around the house pretending to be robbers. Then someone got the torch out and there was an impromptu shadow puppet show. Then, and this is where we got REALLY carried away, we traced our silhouettes on the inside of the back door. And this is what it looks now:




The image is bit dark and the tracing is a bit wobbly, but it was a lot of fun! You can see X's strange rating system on the left. None of us quite understand this system except for X. I think you have to have a thorough background in Yu-Gi-Oh swap cards and the like... If only every day could be full of such spirit and spontaneity!

above: knitted brooches and bird watching badges for Local and Global

I'm in the process of making my last order of stock for March. And the last order I'll be sending from within Australia! What a strange feeling. I'm feeling good about it all, actually. I can't wait to touch down in KL and see what's in store for me! Thistler moves into our apartment on Monday and with any luck we'll be buying crockery together by the end of the week.

I've been packing and unpacking my suitcase all week. Some things I'm taking with me for certain are these:



The little birdie is by my good pal The Orange Tree. You can check out her etsy shop here. The map of Australia is a pin cushion given to me by another good pal for my birthday last year. I'm gonna miss these two gals a lot, so I'll be giving their creations a pat every time I feel homesick. The two towels beneath are my favourites and the only two I'm taking with me!

purses and purses

OK, here they are. Purses I made yesterday and shall post tomorrow, off to AprilMay. If you're around Scotchmer St Fitzroy Nth the first weekend in April you might pick one up! (wink)



above: 'orange blossom' vinyl purse




above: 'cowgirl day' vinyl purse




above: 'marshmallow dream' vinyl purse

Each of these babies features six card pockets, a zippered coin pocket and two long pockets for notes and receipts. They are so much fun to make, and are the very item made by maude is built on!

Raining Dogs + Mice

It rained and it rained and it rained. All night and all day. I had washing 'drying' on the line and kept waking up during the night, panicked, thinking the washing would disintegrate in all that rain. Oh rational mind, where were you?
So, I fully intended to pop some pictures of the purses I made today on this blog. As soon as I logged in I knew it wasn't going to happen. Apologies, but it would be too time intensive this late at night. Have a look at this instead.

Cute little doggy. Getting a bit long in the tooth, many of which she had removed recently. Poor thing. Oh gosh, I can hear a mouse scooting around the kitchen. I'm going to bed.

Was That a Bunny?

We just had Easter, right? It pretty much flew by me without so much as a chocolate egg. Well, I got two little eggs and had a hot cross bun or three, but essentially it was a non-event for me. I'm feeling a little empty about it all. Maybe it's my Catholic upbringing back to haunt me? How do you celebrate something that has fundamentally changed in meaning for you? Find another meaning for it? Perhaps I should take those ideas of change and new life and focus on them this time of year, instead of grappling with ideas of resurrection and the whole Christian version of Easter. You know, plant a tree. Bake something. Pay homage to the change of season. That's a way I could celebrate happily, acknowledging change, regrowth and new life. Yeah!


candlestick banksia seedling and rabbit


Anyway, on a less naval gazing note, here's what I made today.


More purses! I only spent half a day on these, so I'll be making more this week. They're also for aprilmay's All in a Months Work open studio event the 4th, 5th & 6th of April. Unfortunately I won't get to see it, but I bet it's going to be grand! The image above is the inside of 'Sunny Day'. Can you believe I've mysteriously deleted the picture I took of the outside of this one? You'll have to wait til tomorrow to see it now.



This one is called 'Soft Forest'. I adore this fabric. Again it's something my younger sisters keen eye picked out. She bought it years ago and passed it onto me when the sewing project she purchased it for went awry. Lucky me! Look at that dappled light seeping in through those autumnal trees. Seasonal, hmm? Guess I have unwittingly paid homage to those ideas I mentioned before...

Necklaces Galore

Here's a few shots of my bead + button and beaded fabric necklaces I've been working on for the past few days. I'll be sending some of these to aprilmay for her April installment of 'all in a months work'. I've been making the beaded fabric necklaces for a couple of years, but the button and bead necklaces are just two days old!

My Day So Far

Has consisted of two main events. My lovely sunny-side up egg for breakfast



and the arrival of this


Hurrah!!!!