Fathers' Day and Flowers

Yesterday was Fathers' Day ~ here in Australia we celebrate it on the first Sunday of September.
I spent most of yesterday morning playing around with images to put on my dad's card.
I considered these three:

and I ended up choosing the last photo of the yellow daisy on the blue tile.

Craftwise, it's been a quiet week.
I've been op~shopping (thrifting for my American friends) and found these floral sheets:

I have a vague notion that I'd like to use these in a quilt. I've never quilted anything big before but these gorgeous examples over at Bella Dia, Old Red Barn Co. and Alicia Paulson's make me want to try.

I also thought that I'd share something that I made, as a practice piece, a while ago:

It's a piece of calico that I tie dyed and then drew on with Pentel Fabric Pastels. It was a lot of fun to make ~ the Pentel pastels were very soft and oily, and blended really well. It would be good to repeat the patten on a larger piece of fabric...and I've a vague notion that I'd like to quilt with this too!

What's inspiring you this week?

Treasures

I have been doing lots of beading this week ~
shopping for beads, looking through my beading magazines, sorting through my stash.
I'm in the process of making a necklace ~
something bright and cheerful,
something to counter Winter's drabness.
I made this memory wire bracelet last year:

I love the colours
and I wear it all the time
so the necklace is going to be in red too. Hopefully, I'll have some photos to show in my next post. But, today, I'd like to share pictures of some treasures I've bought recently.

I went out to the very first Made on the Left designers' market a few weeks ago and bought this beautiful bag, made out of the sweetest vintage fabric, from stuffaduck:

and purchased this yummy woollen scarf from a craftswoman called Susanna McAuliffe:

I also won these gorgeous Art Deco buttons on ebay:

I bought them to decorate neck warmers with but they're so pretty and old and precious I think I'll save them for something really special and just admire them for now. (If anyone's got a suggestion for their use I'd be glad to read about it.)

Have a wonderful week everybody.

A Small White Rose and the Chooky Dancers

My garden continues to delight. Here is a bloom that's been picked from the little rose bush that sits by my back door:

and, speaking of delights, have you seen this
~ a fabulous YouTube DVD?
It's a record of an indigenous dance troupe called the Chooky Dancers, from the top end of Australia, who are dancing to Zorba the Greek.

Watching this made me feel glad to be alive...and sentimental.
I used to be a music teacher, working in a very multicultural school (thirty different cultures were represented in our student body) and this troupe reminds me of some of my indigenous students, who used to dance an incredibly beautiful, unmistakably Aboriginal, very ancient stomp.
Deadly.

Booty

I had a fabulous time at Fremantle Art Centre's Bazaar last night. I hung out with my baby sister, caught up with friends, drank champagne and shopped shopped shopped.
What more could a girl want?

Here are some beautiful handmade goodies that I purchased, some from last night and some from last year.

These are made by a ceramicist called Amanda Harris:

(I bought these at last year's Bazaar, but Amanda has a stall this year too.)

This is a candle made by Golden Hill Candles:

It looks even prettier in real life.

I bought this necklace last night. This is by a jeweller, artist and film maker called Risa Herman (who I had a really interesting chat with) :

(I'm wearing this necklace as I type this blog entry, and I'm loving it!)

...and my favourite buy,
a vintage button bracelet, also by Risa Herman:

There were lots of other fabulous tables. I was really inspired by the FeltWEST stall. I'd love to participate in some of their workshops next year. The good news for Perth peeps is that Bazaar is on again tomorrow.

...and on an equally bright note ~ I have just finished most of my paperwork (that I've been grizzling about for the past five posts or so) and I've managed to meet the deadline
which means Sunday is all mine! Hip Hip Hooray!!!!!!!!

Almost

I am tired of paperwork.
My poor neglected cat is tired of paperwork.
Here she is. She's forced herself onto my lap and insisted that I pay her attention,
after a weekend where I've done nothing but feverishly shuffle notes and type into my laptop:

...but I am nearly there.
I'm so close to resuming my life outside of work
and I am looking forward to baking,
and tending my garden,
crocheting,
doing lunch,
hanging out with my darling niece and introducing her to the fabulous North and South,
making jewellery...
(actually, I make quite a lot of jewellery and when I've organised good enough lighting to take decent photographs I'm planning on posting some pictures of pieces I've made here.)

Oh, I am looking forward to soooo many things
and if I get back to the paperwork NOW
I might even get enough done
to be able to get out to Bazaar at Fremantle Arts Centre, which I usually go to every year because it's such a smorgasbord of hand made delights.

'Tis the season to be jolly
...almost.

Ravelry and Rain

It's too overcast to take photographs right now, we've had two days of drenching rain, so I have no new pictures to share...but this old photo of Molly is cute, don't you think? Despite the lack of evidence, there has been a lot of crocheting going on here. I'm working on Mum's flower bag, adding rows of pink and mauve to my Easy Daisy blanket, and I have started crocheting a lacy wrap, more about that later.

I've been exploring Ravelry too. I received my invite a few weeks ago but I have only just gotten around to having a really good look through it. What a fantastic resource! I've been browsing through patterns for cardigans this morning. It is so easy to access information about, and people's opinions on, garments. I love it!

Simple Food

I really enjoy writing here and I delight in reading other people's blogs.
I especially like the way that blogs often celebrate and elevate the ordinary. They inspire me, sometimes in ways that I'm surprised by ~ like the way I've started cooking again since I've been blogging. Seeing fabulous posts like Louise's, Kat's, Meshell's or the fabulous Posie's has a lot to do with this rekindled desire. These women do simple food really well...and here's some more evidence. This is a picture of Kat's guacamole.
(You can find the recipe here.)
It was delicious!

Here's my humble contribution ~ part of my breakfast. I topped the strawberries and passionfruit with natural yoghurt, almonds and honey, and had it with a big glass of freshly squeezed orange juice...mmm...

...and a photo of a posy of flowers from my garden, just because they're so pretty.

Sweet

I bought these sweet crocheted and knitted coat hangers a few weeks ago. They were made by the good women of the Little Daughters of Charity Bargain Box, my favourite opportunity shop. The hangers are resting on a lovely, faded, floral pillow case that I also thrifted from the Bargain Box. I'm planning on edging this pillow with a white thread edging like this one here. I've been inspired by these absolutely beautiful pillows that Alicia Paulson has embroidered...I love the idea of resting my sleepy head on something hand~stitched.