It's good to know they're still being made with such delightful ingenuity. It is so very appropriate for billy carts to be home made, individual creations like these, not stamped out with factory sameness..
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
Morning light
Although it wasn't the earliest part of the day, the slant of morning light still caught these stalks and showed their subtle beauty.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Faux
Not bad for fakes, are they? Spotted them in an op shop window, big blowsy and cheerfully pretty.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Thicket
So much to do today that I barely scrabbled through the thicket of work. Sometimes it's hard to see the wood for the trees (or twigs, as the case may be).
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Fresh
The latest project. Pretties with a splash of Amy Butler (does Ginger Bliss qualify as vintage Amy Butler fabric??!!). To be published in Australian Country Craft and Decorating in a few issues' time.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Simplicity
Creamy white, a tin roof, simple fence, simple verandah millwork. Simplicity works, doesn't it? Paring back,working out what's really essential and what's not.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Onwards and upwards
Sometimes, what you're given is a journey onwards and upwards, and all you can do is take it. And, if you choose, notice the texture of the stone and grass, the subtle shifts of colour and the turn that hides what dreams may come as you climb. Sometimes it's about the journey, not the destination.
Monday, July 23, 2007
More reading
The rest of the most recent pile of magazines. Quilt Sampler always interests me to see how North American quilt shops are organised, what they feature in fabrics and samples. Country Living, the English one - I just lose myself in the photography. Creating Keepsakes is still my favourite scrapbooking magazine, although the large local shop doesn't even stock it any more and were quite sniffy about it when I asked - they'd 'moved on' from it, apparently. House Beautiful is me succumbing to one of those amazingly inexpensive US subscription deals - I bought one copy locally on spec, and liked what I saw.
It's all input, information, ideas, colour, design, inspiration, food for thought: and time out.
It's all input, information, ideas, colour, design, inspiration, food for thought: and time out.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Choir of Hard Knocks
The Australian Sixty Minutes program had a segment on The Choir of Hard Knocks last weekend. Particularly if you're not in Oz, and have been wondering what it's all about, I was glad to find this link. You can see the segment here.
Creative inspiration
It's a while since I did a magazine catchup, so here's the first part of the most recently-read pile. A couple of new additions - I hadn't seen Adorn, or Quilts and More, at local newsagencies before.
What I'm actually doing today, apart from all the usual weekend stuff, is thinking out a table runner in gelato-pretty colours. Got the block design sorted, just have to decide on fabrics and start cutting and sewing. Is it overkill to have thought of three other tablerunner designs while working out this one? Love that feeling when your brain starts humming, and you remember other fabrics you have, and ways to put them together, and various shapes and patterns and photos that are fizzing around in the mix.
And there's one lot of instructions to write for another project. Sometimes instructions are no hassle, sometimes they're just NOT what you feel like doing!
Had a great day yesterday seeing the revelation of an annual quilting challenge. I'm always inspired by what the other dozen or so members of the group produce, and intrigued by seeing how each different creative mind has worked with the challenge in such individual ways. (This took up most of the day, which I why I didn't get to Harry Potter till the evening. It was a good day - two lots of anticipation).
Enjoy...
Recent finds.
A rock guitar version of Pachelbel's Canon. I want this finger dexterity....
Blogs:
Poppalina on Acts of Gratuitous Beauty, about people who craft.
A bird in flight
Rosehip71
Bella Dia's list of Craft Blogger books
Must revise my links list over there on the right. Some I don't seem to read any more, while my Bloglines list grows ever longer with new discoveries. Opening my Bloglines list is like a wonderful self-made magazine, with columns and sections I've chosen, and new things to read all the time.
Playing:
I'm doing a few posts on colour palettes over at whipup, but if you don't visit there, do look at this one of fd's flickr toys, which generates the colour palette in a photo: Palette Generator.
Part of my family's DNA is an affection for gadgets - Book of Joe is a wonderful tyre-kicking fix of the wondrous, the wacky, the intriguing and the completely nutty...
Watching:
Australian Story consistently has extraordinary documentaries. Some you can watch on broadband, if you miss them at 8pm Monday nights on the ABC.
A rock guitar version of Pachelbel's Canon. I want this finger dexterity....
Blogs:
Poppalina on Acts of Gratuitous Beauty, about people who craft.
A bird in flight
Rosehip71
Bella Dia's list of Craft Blogger books
Must revise my links list over there on the right. Some I don't seem to read any more, while my Bloglines list grows ever longer with new discoveries. Opening my Bloglines list is like a wonderful self-made magazine, with columns and sections I've chosen, and new things to read all the time.
Playing:
I'm doing a few posts on colour palettes over at whipup, but if you don't visit there, do look at this one of fd's flickr toys, which generates the colour palette in a photo: Palette Generator.
Part of my family's DNA is an affection for gadgets - Book of Joe is a wonderful tyre-kicking fix of the wondrous, the wacky, the intriguing and the completely nutty...
Watching:
Australian Story consistently has extraordinary documentaries. Some you can watch on broadband, if you miss them at 8pm Monday nights on the ABC.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Read. Good . Well done J.K. Rowling.
(Just for the record, started reading at 7pm Saturday, done and dusted by 11pm. And I resisted the immense temptation to turn to the back in the style of Harry in When Harry Met Sally, to see how it ended...).
(Just for the record, started reading at 7pm Saturday, done and dusted by 11pm. And I resisted the immense temptation to turn to the back in the style of Harry in When Harry Met Sally, to see how it ended...).
Friday, July 20, 2007
The splendour falls...
Something rather interesting about the straight lines of the human wall, and the organic shapes of nature. How much we try to organise and order our lives, and yet we admire beauty that will often have nothing at all to do with order and structure.
This castellated wall is at Vaucluse House in Sydney's eastern suburbs.
(Title is from a poem by Tennyson. But you probably knew that. Or if you didn't, you googled it.)
This castellated wall is at Vaucluse House in Sydney's eastern suburbs.
(Title is from a poem by Tennyson. But you probably knew that. Or if you didn't, you googled it.)
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Frost
Not as cold or frosty as Tuesday morning, but this morning there were places where the frost had limned the grass...and since I didn't have time to photograph Tuesday's beauties, here's a little bit of this morning. Part of the appeal of frost is the way in which it does make you notice the structure and texture of things - leaves, stonework, whatever gets that subtle white overlay.
For a reality fix, as I wax lyrical about frost, I can give you a kid version: "Why would you bother taking photos of grass????????????"
(Because.)
For a reality fix, as I wax lyrical about frost, I can give you a kid version: "Why would you bother taking photos of grass????????????"
(Because.)
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Wings and stars
Another view of the Hyde Park war memorial in Sydney. I love the winged light flanking the window. The ceiling is full of stars, more dense as you look up towards the centre of the ceiling.
I didn't photograph today's main activity - paperwork (at work) and more paperwork (writing quilt instructions at home). Between privacy issues and not wanting to bore you witless, these didn't inspire my camera out of its bag.
I can't photograph the red and black challenge quilt which I got back from the quilter today (revelations on Saturday, just time to get the binding on....). Showed you the challenge fabrics a little while ago. Found a couple of excellent feature fabrics for the quilt.
Besides, I really wanted to show you this.
The other thing I didn't photograph was a tattoo. Not mine, but someone I know whose response to his little nevvy not being born alive (it was around the 24 week stage of pregnancy) was a tattoo of the baby's name and date and a Celtic cross, which I was shown today (he got it done yesterday, less than a month later). I'm not one for tattoos myself, but there was something very moving about it, in what it stood for in his life: to mark himself forever so the little one wouldn't be, because he was too important to be, forgotten. A very personal memorial from an uncle who's not yet twenty.
I didn't photograph today's main activity - paperwork (at work) and more paperwork (writing quilt instructions at home). Between privacy issues and not wanting to bore you witless, these didn't inspire my camera out of its bag.
I can't photograph the red and black challenge quilt which I got back from the quilter today (revelations on Saturday, just time to get the binding on....). Showed you the challenge fabrics a little while ago. Found a couple of excellent feature fabrics for the quilt.
Besides, I really wanted to show you this.
The other thing I didn't photograph was a tattoo. Not mine, but someone I know whose response to his little nevvy not being born alive (it was around the 24 week stage of pregnancy) was a tattoo of the baby's name and date and a Celtic cross, which I was shown today (he got it done yesterday, less than a month later). I'm not one for tattoos myself, but there was something very moving about it, in what it stood for in his life: to mark himself forever so the little one wouldn't be, because he was too important to be, forgotten. A very personal memorial from an uncle who's not yet twenty.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Sydney Harbour Bridge
How could I do one Sydney icon without the other?
It was the coldest morning in over 20 years in Sydney this morning - around zero. The drive to work had frost-whitened verges and fields - cold enough to be pretty, not cold enough to be dangerous (I've driven on black ice and I'd rather not do that again....).
While this photo was taken on Sunday, its palette of blues and whites is a coolly accurate reflection of today's temperature - the subtle colours of the end of a winter's day.
They're saying tomorrow will be even colder...
It was the coldest morning in over 20 years in Sydney this morning - around zero. The drive to work had frost-whitened verges and fields - cold enough to be pretty, not cold enough to be dangerous (I've driven on black ice and I'd rather not do that again....).
While this photo was taken on Sunday, its palette of blues and whites is a coolly accurate reflection of today's temperature - the subtle colours of the end of a winter's day.
They're saying tomorrow will be even colder...
Monday, July 16, 2007
Sydney Opera House
However many times you see it, the sweeping grace of the Opera House's sails never fails to impress. It is such a beautiful building.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Choir of Hard Knocks program
The concert this afternoon was absolutely wonderful. My hands were sore from clapping, my ears heard joy and skill and commitment.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Thank you.
Thank you to each of the helpful people who pointed me in the direction of a knitting pattern for my dear mama to knit for one of her grandsons (as posted about a little while ago). Each of you has added essential info to the search, and now it's up to her. She couldn't believe how helpful internet people were!
Thank you.
Thank you.
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