In the zone.

Can you guess what I’m doing?

Just stopping in quickly… I’m totally in the zone but I’ve a LOT more to do. Why do I only have one pair of hands? Why do these children need things like attention… and food??

Today is the day…

…that Kate marries the wrong brother.

Or not.

My Creative Space.

I have a confession.

I have no frikkin idea how to correctly sew on a button.

I have sewn buttons on before, but not with any particular method. I just kind of knot & stab & twist & stick & knot & knot & knot again until it stays on kinda ok when I tug it. It looks like a bird’s nest on the underside of buttons I attempt to sew on.

This afternoon I almost finished a magnetic wrist pin-cushion cuff thingy for someone… apart from the bloody buttons. I made an attempt but it just wasn’t working out. What if she, like, looks under there?

So this evening’s mission is to look up how to correctly secure a button. I shall absorb this vital information like a sponge & accomplish the task at hand. I will finally know how to do something my decidedly un-crafty Mr has known how to do since catholic school when he was made to sew shirt buttons ripped off in schoolyard fights back on properly…

Do you have an embarrassing craft-related confession? This is a long way from being my only one, but it’s probably one of the worst.

More creative spaces over here, with people who are much more accomplished in the button-sewing-on department, I’m sure.

Today I went opping & I bought:

Did you ever used to play that game when you were little where one person would say “I went down the street and I bought a hammer” & then the next person would add something, remembering what had come before; “I went down the street and I bought a hammer and a leopard”?

My mum & I used to play it, trying to outdo each other with the grossest things we could think of, an example of which might be: “I went down the street & I bought a dead dog with maggots in it’s eyes, a mouldy horse’s tail & some green poo!” (..sorry if you’re about to have afternoonses…)

Anyway, today I went opping & I bought;

One cute musical telly that plays “London Bridge is falling down”.

One hat.

One hexy patchwork cushion.

One little dish.

One vintage kid’s book with adorable illustrations.

(…and a cockroach sundae with hot slug sauce, flea caked chocolate chips and a cherry on top!)

Whoa.

I do believe I deserve a cup of tea & a lie down.

Cushion Swap sign-ups are closed, cushion swap swapees have been assigned, emails have been sent!

If you’ve not received an email with the details of whom you are to send to, please let me know.

Now I’m going to go far, far away from the computer for the rest of the day. More cushion inspiration round ups are in the works, so if you’re feeling a bit stuck already, stay tuned!

Lest We Forget.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.

Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

 

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

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!

The Weekend So Far.

Hope you’re having a good one!

Crochet; Cushion Tutes Roundup #1

For those of you who like to wield the hook & would like to join in with the Cushion Swap, I’ve compiled a little list of links for inspiration & assistance.

Free Pattern for Mod Striped Cushions;

Free Pattern for Crochet Stripes Cushion Cover;

Free Pattern for Retro Crochet Cushion;

And, remembering we are only sending the covers, you might want to adapt your pattern to use only the front crochet panel & one of these methods;

Fleece cover for crochet cushion cover tute;

Repurposed jumper cushion back tute;

Happy hooking! Still time to sign up for cushion swapping fun here.

Brewhaha.

It’s been a while since my last obsession, surely I’m due?

What is it this time I hear you groan?

Tea.

I’ve always liked the idea of tea more than tea itself. Tea parties, tea pots, fancy pants tea blends… they are all very nice & appealing, but me being me, my daydreams are a far cry from reality. I’ve nobody to tea party with, I got rid of my disused teapot collection as our “kitchen” is way too small to cook in let alone display teapots I didn’t use & I’ve always been too lazy to properly brew loose leaves. Usually, when I have a cup of tea, it is steeped from a sad little tea bag & tripped out with milk & sugar. Recently though I have been happily dipping lovely little gauzy pyramids of tea into my cup. With a bit more room to expand, & dare I say it, a higher quality blend of tea, my usually daggy cuppa has gone & had itself a little makeover.

I’ve even been drinking it without milk. Without sugar. I don’t know if you would be able to pay me to drink a normal cup of tea from a regular old teabag without copious amounts of milk & sugar – I’ve tried it in the past & it’s not an experience I remember fondly… but, can you see where I am going here…? I think I am wanting to move even further up the tea appreciation scale. Past the little supermarket bought pyramids & onto those wonderfully exotic loose leaf blends I have so often admired, snuffled & ultimately never bought; if better tea bags produce such a markedly better cup of tea, than no tea bag at all, well, it should be bliss in a tea cup.

Enter the gadget. You know it’s not an obsession with me unless I have a chance to waste spend some money on it…

The ingenuiTEA! I found it while lollygagging about on ThinkGeek, NEEDED to order it & now I am waiting. Waiting. Waiting. The wait has been made all the more painful by lots of lovely tea arriving from adore tea yesterday… what a TEAse! (I kill me.)

All this & not a thing to brew it in! Bec suggested putting some in pantyhose & sticking that in the cup… as truly retro as that would be, I am very sad (not really..) to say I’ve not a single pair to wear, let alone steep tea in….

…so I wait, while regretting my hasty decision to de-teapot the kitchen.

Do you like tea? (I know this lady does, and this one…) Do you know very much about it? I was shamefully un-informed about the the hows & whys of tea before I stumbled into this tea class, if you’ve any interest at all you should check it out – you’ll be spouting (ha! spouting! Like a teapot!) interesting tea facts to everyone you know.

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

Paper Giants

 

The story of Ita Buttrose, Kerry Packer, Jack Thompson stripping off & the birth of Cleo?

Did you watch it? Did you love it? I watched it. I loved it. Except for Ita’s lisp. I could have done without that… but everything else was great. If you missed it you can watch it here.

If you did watch it & you did love it, you may, like me, be coveting all things 70s? Asher Keddie’s wardrobe as Ita was a-ma-zing; & if I ever get the chance to frolic in the ABC’s props department I will be in seventh heaven – the sets were so very accurate right down to the biscuit tins!

Let’s shop the 70s, shall we?

First we need some wheels…

…then some heels…

Some funky shades;

A velvet dress!

Kitchen ware…

…not forgetting the fondue set…

…and a nice phone for making important calls to the office.

Oh I could go on… and I very well may.