**CLOSED** Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day 2011

****WINNER is MICHELLE from Daydream Believers****

I really enjoy the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day, even if I forgot to offer up a giveaway of my own last year (might have had something to do with having a four week old baby at the time?). It’s a chance to discover new blogs & enter giveaways for things you might actually like from people that are offering prizes just for the fun of it, not because they’re being paid to or because they are hoping for something in return.

I am offering two vintage Enid Gilchrist books, Play Clothes & Toddler Clothes. These are very popular amongst certain people in the sewing set, some may even say collector’s items, so count yourselves lucky I’m too lazy to draft my own patterns….!

With these trusty Enid’s you could make a range of retro classics for your baby or child; think simple shifts, funky coats or even swimwear! If, like me, you don’t think you’ll be getting out the drafting paper any time soon, these books are a brilliant piece of Australian sewing & home economics history & a wonderful addition to any crafty bookshelf.

Below is a certain little Punk (*sobs*) in a dress from Play Clothes, made by Tracy way back in April 2009.

HOW TO ENTER:

All you have to do to enter is let me know what was the most memorable piece of clothing your parents dressed you in as a child? Good or bad, enquiring minds want to know. Cast your mind back to your baby photos for recollections of hand knitted jumpers or a little later when perhaps you wish your Mother had warned you against that ra-ra skirt & matching top with mesh sleeves ensemble… I’ll choose the winner at random & I’m happy to post internationally. Entries close December 16th.

Big thanks to Deb for reminding me about giveaway day today or I’d have missed out again!

My Kryptonite.

When I go opping there are many things I will buy in a heartbeat & be happy with, but none could I possibly need less than another annual.

They are my oppy Kryptonite, my absolute weakness, the thing I will buy for no other reason than I can’t NOT buy them. They fascinate me. They are fun & interesting, remind me of hours spent rummaging amongst my Gran’s bookshelves & are the tiniest piece of history bundled up into a hardcover book with the year conveniently printed on the cover.

We did the rounds yesterday & I found these two; ‘Misty’ & ‘Eagle’ both from 1983, in an oppy having a half price book sale. Had they not been half price I may have wavered on the ‘Eagle’ one – I don’t necessarily NEED boy-themed annuals, but for $2 I really didn’t have any choice.

Why don’t they make annuals any more? Do you have oppy Kryptonite? Doilies? Crochet hooks?

I bet you do.

Retail Therapy.

Yesterday we were in town for some veggie buying & sushi eating when I remembered about Borders closing down. We moseyed over & found the cupboard almost bare as they are in their last days, with everything at least 60% off & even the fixtures for sale.

I was sad that they were closing but cannot deny that my heart beat a little faster in anticipation of snagging a bargain… if only there were something decent left to buy!

There was. For me anyway. On a table at the front were these gems, usually $19.95 but reduced to just $3 each. I had one once but that was many moves ago – now I have the whole sassy set three. When linking I just saw there are two more! Doh!

I high-tailed it to the craft section but it was decimated. The only craft book left, without a word of a lie, was a knitting book for men (as in, Men; Knit stuff! as opposed to Men; Knit things for them!). Dejected I set about circling the store’s scant remains, hoping to come across something, anything, I could herald as a bargain… (…lucky I don’t get out to shopping centres much these days, any spare cash at all burns a hole in my pocket, especially when there is a sale on – I am a retailer’s dream….)

Cook books – gone.

Gardening books – gone.

Kid’s books – super gone.

Dvds – gone.

Cds – gone.

I ended up at the front of the store again in front of a bunch of Young Adult books. I saw something pink & floral, something that I thought had “…for girls of slender Mums…” as the subtitle, & I picked it up anyway.

Bingo.

A quirky & cute craft book, with skirts, bags & dresses to make! The title, in actuality, is Lovely Things to Make for Girls of Slender Means, which is me to a tee (…just as well it was about money & not girth…).

Truth be told, I bought it without really looking at it, so excited was I to find any kind of decent looking craft book at all, but when I got home I perused it more & even googled it; then I found that my bloggy mate Jennie had reviewed it! She’s done a much more thorough job than I would ever do, so go there if you’d like to know more, but I was doubly chuffed to find that someone who’s sewing skills are much better than mine thought my bargain book was a good’un too!

A winner, a reminder & greetings for the day…

Thanks to everyone who took the time to let me know their favourite kid’s books, we have a massive list to be getting on with now! For anybody after some recommendations, check out the comments on this post.

My dear friend random.org has picked a winner for Planet Yawn; Congratulations Madeline! Hopefully I already have your address from the Cushion Swap so I’ll get it off to you as soon as the Post Office is open again; hope you enjoy it.

Happy Easter peeps, catch you tomorrow which most importantly is ANZAC day but also happens to be the last day to sign up for the Cushion Swap, so if you’ve been dillydallying or know someone who has, now is the time!

Growing Bookworms.

Punky is a bookworm. She can’t read yet, but that doesn’t stop her from “reading” every night before bed. She chooses a selection of titles from her ample supply & bunkers down for some cosy book action.

She has A LOT of books. When her room is all tidy & all the books are on the shelves & not stacked in piles of varying heights throughout the house, I almost need a hammer to get those last few books in there.

Her book collection started well before she was born – on oppy runs I would come home with children’s books that reminded me of those I had as a child or those I used to read when staying with my Gran.

I can still remember the very first book I read to her – she would have been about two weeks old & I lay on the floor with her & held “The Cat in the hat comes back” above us. Her eyes were drawn to the high contrast pages as I read.

We could spend all day reading books over here. Some days we’ve come pretty close – my throat gets sore from reading aloud but Punk still sits quietly, listening, looking. Suspence joins us now – sturdy board books only – but he is all about the mashing & grabbing & chewing.

The Boy says Punk doesn’t need any more books, ever, but I don’t think you can ever have too many. Each new book is an adventure, the start of fond memories, something to hold, to admire, to get lost in, to share… that’s why yesterday when I saw this book being practically given away I grabbed two copies.

Illustrated by Emma Magenta, whom I knew from The Peril of Magnificent Love & written by one of my biggest girl-crushes, Toni Collette, this hardcover picture book is as quirky as it is delightful, the story of a naughty yawn who won’t share & on another level a cautionary tale about what we are doing to our environment.

So I said I picked up two copies? One has been read & re-read to Le Punk thrice already, the other is for you.

If you’ve a little person who would enjoy Planet Yawn, tell me in the comments the name of your favourite children’s book, the book that every child just has to have on their bookshelf – Punk’s on the lookout for new reads.

I’ll pick a winner at random in a few days, happy to post this gorgeous book anywhere you happen to be. xx

Bittersweet.

Most of you by now will have heard that Borders & Angus & Robertson are in a whole world of hurt right now & have entered into voluntary receivership.

This makes me sad. I loved Borders, LOVED. I used to work at Borders Bondi; I was there before it even opened, sorting the books onto the shelves & stepping gingerly between unsecured tiles. I loved it from the start – it was my kind of store & the people that worked in that store were my kind of people. It’s the only job I have ever liked, & I have thought since leaving to have Miss Punk that one day I would work at Borders again… but, well, it doesn’t look likely now.

There has been much talk about the evils of eBooks & buying books online, & while those two things may well have contributed to the financial dire straits that the company found itself in, I doubt they were the only factors & I’m not the only one.

Ironically, The Boy received an ereader for his birthday on Thursday – the Borders affiliated Kobo – and a Borders gift card. Not only did that mean that I now have myself a shiny new Kobo (he had zero interest & although I was excited initially I have deducted that ereaders are, disappointingly, not ‘all that’…), but that The Boy had an acute need to get in store to spend that voucher. We heard on the radio that there had been conditions placed on gift vouchers due to the current ‘situation’; in order to redeem you have to spend the same amount of the gift voucher’s worth; ie: If you have a $50 gift voucher you have to spend $100 in total, & as annoying as that seemed, the lure of a 40% off offer saw us head in yesterday afternoon for a bit of a book buying frenzy.

The Boy stocked up on gardening books & I picked up Pip’s new book, as well as the new Frankie; I wasn’t going to get Frankie (I have been trying to pretend it doesn’t exist, as it gives my inner hoarder pangs of regret still, to think I recycled my Frankie collection in a fit of insanity), but it was at the counter & we had to make up the money to use the gift card as our calculations as far as the discount went were a bit off; I’m glad I got it, it looks good, just like the fresh, fun mag I discovered when it was brand-spanking-new… although it makes me feel old to think that it’s “already” up to issue 40.

We had coffee & chai & jelly slice in Gloria Jeans & chillaxed mid-shop, & it was nice. It reminded me of the days & long nights I used to work & was just a pleasant way to spend the afternoon; but it made me sad to think that we might not be able to do that for much longer.

Library bound.

Le Punk & I are off to the library in a bit, to stock up on new reading material. I just finished Two Caravans By Marina Lewycka (& Punky is quite finished with Spot Has a Party & Dear Zoo, thank you very much…), it was good apart from the ending (too often am I disappointed by a below par ending to an otherwise perfectly good book), & I am trying to remember if I read her best selling Short History of Tractors in the Ukraine. I do remember it was popular at work way back when, I certainly picked it up…

…anywho, in the meantime, I have started Anna Karenina by Tolstoy on my iPod – I thought it would hurt my eyes trying to read a book on the little screen but it isn’t too bad at all, if you have an iPod touch (she says smugly, although not as smugly as she would if she had an iPad…) or an iPhone, get yourself the Stanza or iBooks app & go to town; you can then buy books just as you can for any e-reader, but the best part is the amount of awesome free books available, classics like indeed Anna Karenina, Dracula & Animal Farm. (There is a bunch of girly stuff available too, like Emma, but that is not really my cup of tea…)

If you don’t have any sort of e-reader, you can still read literature on your PC if you are so inclined; Project Gutenberg is a great place to start, & although I may be the last to know about it, Scribd is pretty dandy too.

Hitting the wall.

Today’s ‘Flea Market Find’ (I see Sophie is too busy to play this week, but that isn't going to stop me...) is not new, just something I finally got around to using! Ages ago I got a massive stack of old Woman’s Weekly romance novels; I thought they would be good collaged on one of my ugly opped cupboards, but last week I painted those… so….

I have been fighting with our room since we moved to Le Cottage. It is small. It is dark. Apart from the hall, it is the only room that isn’t plastered, so you can see the boards. It doesn’t even have the redeeming feature of a beautiful high ceiling like Punk’s room, because the loft is built above it.

I had been trying to make it somehow look bigger, brighter, and that is where I was going wrong. Last week, like I said, I painted the cupboards. The intention was to make them both a nice, solid, glossy white, but after one coat I stopped, liking the shabby chic (or more like shabby shabby) look that one dodgy coat bought. Making the room seem bigger is, I think, an impossible task. Not only is the re-built ceiling too low, it is entirely brown wood!

Yesterday it dawned on me. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. I had to work with what I had. A small, dark, room. What do real-estate agents say of small, dark rooms? That they’re ‘cosy’.

Bingo.

So that revelation lead to my evening’s labour – haphazardly sticking sheets of ripped up old heart-racers behind the bed.

I love it. Oh, and The Boy actually likes it too – I am shocked & awed.

So good to be back in the meme swing, even if I'm all by myself! Go see Soph for more Flea Market Finds from weeks gone by, and bookmark her blog for next time.

What I’m Reading…

What do you know, I actually finished The Mother Tongue, mostly because I was a wee bit obsessed & reading it every chance I got… highly recommend it, if you have any interest in that sort of thing.

Now I’ve moved on to Air Babylon - ‘twas quite a popular book when I used to work at Borders & sounded interesting enough – a sneaky behind the scenes look at airlines & airports – so when I found it at a garage sale for peanuts a few weeks ago picked it up.

Pros; I found it at a garage sale, it’s a no-brainer.

Cons; Not nearly as scandalous or interesting as I’d hoped.

Now I don’t know if I’ll be done with this one by next week – I don’t feel compelled to read it, even though it’s the sort of book one should be able to manage in a few days, plus a trip to the Library may see me with something I’d prefer – or then again, knowing my Library, it may not.

Read any good books lately? I am always up for new recommendations!

What I'm Reading.

It has an okay ring to it, "What I'm Reading Wednesday", don't you think?

I don't know how regular I'll be with this - mostly because I doubt I'll be onto another book by next Wednesday (it's a big book!), but we shall see.

So, what I am reading right now;

The Mother Tounge by Bill Bryson which I started last night & am LOVING, I adore the way Bill Bryson writes - he could write about atoms & things & be interesting... oh... that's right, he has...

I'm not very far in, having only finished Eats, Shoots and Leaves last night (I *coughs* kept falling asleep, but it WAS interesting...) but already I have come across grand gems that I wish I had the memory power to retain, and dinner party guests to entertain. Such things as (on the first page no less);

"...this warning to motorists in Tokoyo: 'When a passenger of the foot heave in sight, tootle the horn. Trumpet at him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage, then tootle him with vigor.' ...it would appear that one of the beauties of the English language is that with even the most tenuous grasp you can speak volumes if you show enough enthusiasm - a willingness to tootle with vigor, as it were."

or, did you know;

"...The French, for instance, cannot distinguish between house and home, between mind and brain, between man and gentleman, between 'I wrote' and 'I have written.' The Spanish cannot differentiate a chairman from a president, and the Italians have no equivalent of wishful thinking. In Russia there are no native words for efficiency, challenge, engagement ring, have fun, or take care.... [yet] ...French and German can distinguish between knowledge that results from recognition (respectively connaitre and kennen) and knowledge that results from understanding (savoir and wissen). ...the Gaelic speakers of Scotland, not to be outdone, have a word for the itchiness that overcomes the upper lip just before taking a sip of whisky. ...we have nothingin English to match the Danish hygge (meaning 'instantly satisfying and cozy')..."

Ah... I find that all extremely interesting, especially 'hygge' - what a great word!

...and the latest Inside Out mag (which comes with a spiffing tea-towel, so it's a must-buy, really). Inside Out is my new favourite magazine, buying two whole issues in a row says so. There was a home last issue I fell in love with & another this issue (if you buy it I bet you can guess which one), there are pages & pages & pages of beautiful inspiration & it almost takes my breath away. I am beyond over Better Homes & Gardens, although I doubt I'll pass up 50 cent copies at the oppy, but they seem to rehash the same things after a while & it's not as visually appealing or stimulating as Inside Out, I think.

What are you reading right now?

Mmmmm Books.

(Not to be confused with the 90s song from those girlie-boys, “Mmmm Bop”)

Yesterday was a lovely day for books. A trip to the library both reminded me why I should go more often AND why I don’t – I stumbled upon things I wouldn’t find browsing online, but the books I actually searched for were all at far away branches which would require a $2 transfer fee & generally results in my being $2 out-of-pocket AND bookless, because by the time they send me out a letter saying the book is in, I’m reading something else & promptly forget about the letter, then the next time I go in I’m told the book was sent back a month ago & that will be another $2 for no reason, please….

I digress.

Anywho, so I got a bunch of lovely books from the library & returned home to a satisfyingly weighty parcel which contained The Crafty Minx. Will tell you what I think of it when I get a chance to look through it properly… right now I am a little too engrossed in Eats, Shoots & Leaves… which is packed full of interesting facts & amazing examples of punctuation that I forget the minute I read, but I feel somehow enlightened all the same…

My Place And Yours!!

Woohoo!

Here it is!
I hope you’ll play along! (And you might want to get a cup of tea, this is a long one…)

Since this is the first week of My Place And Yours at Punky & Me, I get to choose the theme, nice.

So. Influenced by the bombsite that is my house right now, some packed boxes, some empty boxes and muchos mess, I looked around in desperation for some aspect of my place right now that I didn’t want to hide under the rug (there’s an idea for you, future Theme Queens) and kept drawing blanks.

Usually I love my kitchen, my copious amounts of rarely used cookbooks, my vintage kitchen knick knacks, my teapot collection… but right now…. teapots are packed & the rest is a shameful mess, so that was out.

I gave up & plonked on the bed to get a little further through my book when it hit me…

The theme this week folks is “What I’m Reading”. (I swear I tried to think of something more catchy that meant the same thing but my brain just would nae be in it…)

Books are not made for furniture,
but there is nothing else that so beautifully furnishes a house.
~ Henry Ward Beecher

At the start of the month there was much talk of resolutions, a common theme I noticed while doing the blog rounds, happy in the knowledge that I wasn’t participating in the negative cycle that lapsed resolutions can become, was ‘Read More’. As much as I am against resolutions, I think that one is worth keeping.

Right now I am reading ‘Me Talk Pretty One Day’ by David Sedaris, it is SO FUNNY. I got it for Christmas from The Boy’s little brother (I shall not be re-gifting, although it sort of already has been… he always reads the books before giving them…!!!), along with another of his books ‘When You Are Engulfed In Flames’ I read that first, although Me Talk Pretty One Day was written first, and loved it.

It made me laugh out loud. I love when a book can do that. Lots of books can amuse you. Lots of books can make you think “…that’s funny!” but it is a little rarer to find a book that has you giggling like a nutter while your other half is trying to sleep.

I’m almost finished the book, I’ve been on a bit of a reading jag lately and have another book in the wings already, waiting for the curtain on this one, but I am enjoying every page, especially the one below, which has given me my new favourite word, and that I shall endeavour to slip into blog conversation at the first opportunity.

What are you reading right now…? Is it a book? A magazine? A blog? What do you wish you were reading? Where do you wish you were reading it? Is it a library book? Was it a gift? Are you enjoying it or persevering?

Your take on this theme can be whatever you want it to be, and I want to see it! You can take a quickie photo without getting up, you can draw a picture (…that gives me an idea… I’d love to see a diorama. Go on. Make a diorama!), you can trek to the library and take covert snaps, whatever, wherever, you’ve got time!

Share your link below, we’ll be playing all week!

(If you’re new to My Place And Yours, Pip’s original post about it is here.)

Housekeeping:

As for next week’s theme… well – what shall it be…?! I loved Pip’s idea of a Theme Queen, I loved visiting ‘The Queen’ and seeing why she chose what she chose, but with disappointed if I couldn’t play along because I just didn’t have something to do with the theme, because playing along is what a meme is all about, and the more the merrier, no?

So, I’m going to be choosing the Themes & the Theme Queens a little differently. We’ll see how it goes at least, if it does nae work then we’ll try something else… we’re resourceful and crafty after all!

If you would like to be next week’s Theme Queen, then all you have to do is play along this week & comment here (in le comments, not the linky box... thanks Tracey... hehe) with what your theme would be. I will choose a theme from your suggestions that I think is fun & inclusive and will announce the Theme Queen in the new meme post on Saturday, which will be a nice surprise for everyone.

Pip said it all here;

Each week we'll have a new theme. The theme will be a place/perspective : out the window, in the top drawer, down the lane, at the post office, in the kitchen, at work, your cafe, under this, behind that, inside the other... whatever. Just a kind of common place or perspective we all will have. I don't want to take the fun out of it by suggesting too many - think about the things we do each day and the places we go, or utilise and go from there!

Sound like a plan? Good’o.

Let’s play!

(..and thank you Pip for this shiny meme, I really do like it a lot & hope it will thrive here!)

My Creative Space.

I SO wanted to have last week's WIP ready for you today (that pic is Le Punk "helping"...), but alas, my wrist feels rather carpel tunnel syndromish and I can't say I enjoy it... I've been (hand)sewing, drawing, sewing, writing, sewing & sewing and it is starting to take it's toll so I am taking a break & stocking up on ideas & inspiration, which means, today, My Creative Space is sporting crafty books & mags.







There are old books, new books, library books & opshop mags. Yup, that's Better Homes & Gardens on the bottom there. I find it hard to believe that I own any Better Homes & Gardens mags - 50 cents or not - but I swear to you they are SO much better than you imagine them to be... really! Full of cool home ideas & crafty stuff & even the occasional yummy recipe (meanwhile, that big ass CWA cookbook has maaaany yummy recipes...!). Like the super annoying TV show without the super annoying stuff. Will be scouring the Oppy for more issues, me thinks.






(See - how awesome is that bookshelf wall? I am drooling over pretty like this right now, obsessed with buying a house, hopefully we get to go house shopping around xmas... woot!)


I'm going to get me an old peeps brass bracelet or something & get sewing again... if I don't have that WIP up next week feel free to kick my butt.

More Creative Spaces here.

Handmade Home; Book Review.

First of all, anyone who might be expecting something that resembles a "professional" review in any way... well... avert your eyes!!! This is just me rambling on about a book I was lucky enough to win.... ;)

Right! So, Handmade Home by Amanda Blake Soule, of SouleMama fame;


The day I got the book I couldn't resist having a quick flick through it - and from that I have to say that I was rather disappointed. Being a bit of a craft/repurposing nut, there was little in the form of projects that I haven't seen before, either in other books or on the Internet, so with a sigh I put it aside and went about my business. (I have to say here though that I loved the vibe of the book, the feel of it, the pictures...)

Last night however, I sat down with a cuppa after dinner and actually read it. The whole thing. From cover to cover. Imagine that... actually reading a book... as opposed to just looking at the pretty pictures, as I had done.

Well. That will learn me to just flick through - judge a book by it's cover if you will, because this IS a gorgeous book.

I discovered that Amanda is a woman after my heart, albeit a more productive, eloquent version. ;)

She loves vintage, she loves old, she loves "thrifting" or opping to those of us on this side of the world. She is a 'homebody'. She tries to tread lightly on the earth. She loves to make things for her family and to enjoy them and to dream.

This book is intended for the novice or beginner sewer, in my opinion, as most crafters would have come across most of the projects in this book already, as I had, as we are a curious and searching bunch, but after reading it, I don't think it should be limited to this group alone.

It is also undoubtedly aimed at 'Mamas', although there are projects that anyone could do and enjoy, but there is a lot of using your kids art work or making things for or with your kids - which I loved.

The book is divided into sections;

• Nourish: Projects to Inspire Family Feasts
• Nurture: Projects to Inspire Wellness and care
• Play: Projects to Inspire Imagination and Growth
• Seek: Projects to Inspire Adventure and Exploration
• Retreat: Projects to Inspire Calm and peace

There are things I like in each section; I fully intend to finally make a word banner, for example, and we have a definite need for the 'Beach Blanket To Go' and the repurposed towel rugs for the bathroom, but it really isn't the projects that I love about this book, which is odd, considering it is a craft book, but the sentiments behind them.

The book is punctuated by Amanda's musings on family, creative and home life, and I enjoyed these most of all. The small tips she shares within these sections I also found more inspiring than the projects themselves, but I did enjoy reading about each project and how she came to make each one.

Her talk of the stories behind old things, either thrifted or handed down to her within her own family, speaks to me in the nicest way. Her passion for breathing new life into the old, how she has adapted the old adage 'waste not, want not', and her conscious efforts to reduce her footprint on the earth, all made me eager for more.

The focus on family and showing love within it is pure and honest - just as love should be. The use of 'home' and 'family' in this book is totally interchangeable, I think. Home is where the heart is (except in the case of her cute 'Family Heart' which can be carried along with an intrepid traveller when they are away from home).

One of her tips, more like a side note within a piece of writing entitled 'Comfortably Worn', about how she likes to fill her home with old things, was on 'Patchwork Furniture', a tiny paragraph about patching up old & beloved chairs as they need it, was the inspiration for my latest (as yet unfinished - blasted thing!!) Work In Progress. Another of these little snippets was about how her family has a 'healing basket' which is where the family head when they are sick, tired or out-of-sorts, for some comfort, filled with necessities to make one feel a little better, "...a first aid kit, without the medicine..." an idea I am definitely going to adapt.

As the book is predominately aimed at new crafters, she has included information on repurposing fabrics (the whys and wherefores), where to find vintage fabrics (I don't know if I like that - they're all mine I tell you - ALL MINE!) and setting yourself up to start sewing - all super handy if you're a novice.

All in all, Handmade Home is an inspiring, even nourishing, book. If you are new neither to sewing or repurposing, you will find food for the soul (...or soule... sorry, I couldn't resist...) in this book, it is heartwarming and interesting. After thoroughly reading through it, I found my mind alive with ideas, sparked by something Amanda had written or kicked off by a simpler project - that in itself, the inspiration to think more creatively, or more importantly, live more creatively, is worth the cover price alone (...or it would be, hehe, if I had bought it...!).

I recommend it to Mamas most of all - it might even make you a bit teary - we're a breed prone to that sort of thing - but it will also make you look at your home with fresh eyes, and fresh ideas.

Vintage Book Illustration Love

I love books. Comic books, picture books, non-fiction books, biographies, novels, anthologies... I love them all.

The books that have a very special place in my heart however are vintage children's books. I have collected them for years. Well before Punky was on the scene, I would scour the dusty bookshelves of overcrowded op shops, searching for books that I remembered from my childhood, which then led to any vintage books with charming illustrations.

I love them for their history & the ideas & inspiration they exude. Particular favourites are Little Golden Books. I love everything about old golden books - from their tarnished spines to their beautiful back covers.

As a result, Little Punk has masses & masses of books, she has her big book shelf (see below) which has books wedged in on display but also piled in the cane baskets beneath, then she has another storage cupboard full to the brim, there are so many stacked beneath her cot that they are starting to spill out on all sides and at any one time there are probably 20 of her books strewn about the house.

There was a time that I would have been incredibly distraught at the thought of a child "messing" with "my" books, I mean, anything could happen to them! But since having Punky I have both become less materialistic & more relaxed in general, books are for reading, admiring & inspiring, and nobody needs beautiful, engaging things around them more than a small child, in my opinion.

Thankfully, she is generally quite gentle with the books, and the only books she's ever wrecked have been cheap board books that I could have cared less about. She is often found sitting quietly in her room, on her chair, "reading" & she brings us books throughout the day & sits expectantly on our laps to be read to. I love that she enjoys books so much even know, and earnestly hope that continues, for the rest of her life.

ACHOO!

...that's right. We're sick. All of us. We're coughing, spluttering, sniffling & sneezing constantly... and, as if that weren't bad enough, today is an absolutely gorgeous day, sunny, warm & wonderful, and it's hard to enjoy it, being all sick & sorry for ourselves! It's much easier to be sick when it's cold & miserable & there is nothing to do but curl up in front of the heater with a nice cup of tea... not when it's nice & warm & the park is calling!

Anywho... enough whinging (for now... or more precisely for the blog, rest assured the entire Punky household will be whining quite consistently for at least a few more days...), and on to something fantastic... my awesome Japanese felt food pattern books arrived today...! WOOT!!

They are so beautiful... even if I am heartily doubting my ability to even vaguely get the gist of how to make anything from the Japanese instructions, pictures & all, I am still super glad I ordered them, they are just magic to look at.

They are called Felt Vegetables and Fruits & Handmade Felt Food & Goods Vol 2 from the 'Heart Warming Life Series'... they are entirely in Japanese & entirely adorable.

Scared of hideous failure thought I am, I will not be able to stop myself from attempting at least some of these gorgeous little felt masterpieces for Punky's birthday kitchen. I especially love the little fruits & vegetables, cut in half so that the seeds show.... *swoon*