Going all the way

Have a new hairstyle and color if you can call white a color.  
Am loving it.  I have a new experience of hairclips - which is surprising to me as well as husband as they have never been a part of my life before.... 
Recommended to do once in your life.

Just to find time to sew

would you believe I have made just one bag in the last month!!!  I am so frustrated - and there is nothing worse than a frustrated sewer.  BUT I have a five day break coming up and the possibility of working a four day week.  HEAVEN
Any way a colleague asked me to make her a summer bag with lots of color.  the interior is lime green with purple red and yellow daisies  sparsely strewn around... it fit the bill!

Happy Holidays.

Melbourne Color and Rain

Luncheon on Mailing St Melbourne

Resting in Brunswick

flower stall, Melbourne

Just a misty morning.
Melbourne, down by the Yarra

Bags Bags and one for Lavendah

I love this bag, it was made for Lavendah Chile, a fantastic and beautiful heart sister, who I am meeting up with in Melbourne tomorrow. The trouble is I fell in love with this bag - it came together easily, no wrestling.  Trust me, I wrestle with bags.  My problem is - I fall in love with every bag I make, and when they are done, ironed and made up, you have to be willing to let your creation go, let it stand on its own, like any good parent would.

I give this to my friend willing, gladly - it is made with love, BUT damn it I like it.  When she gets it tomorrow I will be fine,  I know Lavendah will use this and love it, it is purple after all.















So here is your tote dearest Lavendah.  Hope you like it.

Going to Melb

Off to Melbourne at Midnight on Friday.  Princess Lavendah who blogs on Adventures of the Purple Chef and I are off to explore food, fabric, art and the joy of laughter in Melbourne. We will have a little celebration for birthdays, Christmas, Halloween and moments missed and fully regret the food we will eat, and spend our time walking it off AND loving it.  Five days of a little indulgence, surprises that I don't know about yet and exploring.
I have list, I have checked it twice, and I will be tempted by very impractical things, I also know there is nothing I need other than to share time with a heart sister, look at art, find a bargain if we are lucky and to eat food.  I will come back heavy, happy and travelled - 'tis good, innit?

As I love Practical Cats and live with three, I had to add this picture for no other reason than for whimsy.

summer bag in progress

My first commission - and it is a beaut.   I have been asked to,  "create a bag for my 14year old daughter" - the only guideline was "she doesn't like the color Pink!". -  what to do?  I looked at bags in teen shops, and was disappointed they were all so plastic or limp and lifeless. So I thought I would keep the shape of the bags that I saw and put together a summer bag with side pockets and a bow in the front.  A little unsure about the bow, but as it took me about three hours to create it I have now decided to leave it as is.  The handles will be on very shortly.  Will post when complete.

The receiver may well mumble thanks (as 14 year olds are wont to do, I may even get a roll of the eyes and a 'yeah thanks'), always a risk with a teen when parents think they are doing something out of the norm as conformity with peers is a major consideration.
The bag may well be lost in the bottom of her wardrobe to then be tossed when know one is looking.  BUT she is entitled to do that.


My deadline for gift giving is 6.30pm tonight - 02.10.10.




FINISHED!!  with only minor drama's and wrestling.  memo to brain - big embellishment on front means needing three pairs of hands to wrestle it into shape.


Happy Birthday Katie.



opinions?

Sunday slacking in the garden

A glorious spring day - the hammock has been taken out of its winter hibernation much to the delight of Miss Darcy (the Burmese Ginger Ninja).  

I just laid for a moment and curiosity got the better of her, I found myself pinned down to support her being able to peer out across the garden.

After being dismissed as a prop, I wandered to my journal and gave myself permission to sit for an hour and play.  My favorite photo of my mother and grandmother taken on a sunny day by an obscure uncle in the early 1940's - for all their tugs and pulls over the years this photo, for me, is about  love, tenderness and the delight found in each other.  My journal is better for it, having found this photo - a reminder to play when you can and delight in the small moments.

Loving the adventure

Sydney...no one said it was going to windy, blowing a gale in fact.  Maria and I huddled while Allison tried to hold steady to take the shot.  Might be a bit wobbly but we are enjoying the moment.

Spent five days in Sydney last week at a conference.  Made eye contact with the icons of Australia - walked until the back of my legs ached and still didn't see all I wanted to.  Caught all the aussie icons in the photo, Opera House, Bridge, Tower and the Manly Ferry and managed to keep the horizon straight....mostly
The food was great and the cost reasonable, (when will Perth restaurants stop charging horrendous amounts for food?) the service was fantastic - Blue Crab is wonderful as is eating waffles, vanilla icecream and hot fudge sauce late at night.  Every one I met who was asked directions were only too happy to help and to give extra directions to fabulous artisans and galleries, was great to meet such lovely people.

Next travel log will be in October, off to Melbourne for a few days and catch up with Princess Lavendah and an exploration (again) of wonderful food, locating fabrics (we are fabric junkies), craft markets and galleries.

Blossoms across the road

All the fruit trees in the orchards are in bloom.  They squat on the slopes catching morning rays, pinks and white blooms lay stripes across the hill, greedily this flag of color turns their capped faces to the sun. pulling the warmth into themselves ready to hand over their luscious fruit in a few short months.

Spring Bag

I had fun with this one.  When we lived in Canada fall was my favorite season. the colors of the leaves changing, green and luscious in summer. Reds, browns to the tinder dryness of the maples,  the slowing pace of the day.  Stark and bare waiting for snow.  Back home in Perth, it has been so very cold up in the hills, no snow though, we still have the fire on in the evening and crisp mornings.  BUT, spring is in the air, the buds on the fruit tree's, azaleas are just showing of their skirts, the roses are straining with purple/green new growth.  A cusp of waiting for the moment when all the hidden promise will give way and color lights up the garden.  The sun comes up earlier and your arrive home in daylight.  

Nothing so inspiring or poetic made me choose the design and colors of this bag - or, I could be wrong,  it was the little bits of material that I had hidden away (leftovers) which reminded me of the colored leaves in my garden which are bright and strong.    

new bag

front of bag or do I make something else?

Smut's Birthday

Holidays for two weeks, at last time to do some sewing.  Having your husband taking the same time off has lead to a bit of stand off, as we both want to do different things.  BUT I'm sure we will make a compromise and do something Robbyish tomorrow.
For now though I have finished Smut's bag for her birthday and we are going to celebrate the day at a winery on the weekend.  I have so many bags in progress and completed that the time has come to see if I can do some income generating to recoup some of the outlay of materials.  This addiction is a filling the house with fabric and creations.
So now I have finished my friend Smuts bag - I have some ideas... I love pleats so will start looking on how to do smaller ones - I have found a skirt in a second hand shop that has some pleats and big eyes with a ribbon threaded through it, so my next challenge will be to recycle skirts, cargo's into shoulder bags.

Birthday Bag

What to do with all the bags?

 Officially it's called an obsession, naturally I think of it as a relaxing way to spend the afternoon.  Okay so it was all Saturday and most of Sunday.  I do  swear to put on my social hat next weekend.


Guess what I am giving my girlfriends daughter for her birthday?


:)

Working for pleasure

I love taking the day off, the men went to work and I stayed in bed listening to Gladys Knight singing 'Rainy night in Georgia' followed by the rest of the women on Lady sings the Blues, CD - a lazy cuppa whilst finishing off a book. Can a Monday morning get any better than that?
Possibly.  But I am not complaining.

I set about cleaning and sorting my stash - finding lost treasures and finding new ones.  I put together another tote.  I think it is time to start selling them as one can only have so many - what I did find was material that I bought in Canada with a good friend and a fat quarter given to me by another good friend, so I put them together and viola!

Living in a home full of men and cats has its moments - let me introduce my pack - the two biggest fellas are off doing man stuff.  The fella with the book is Mooseboy.  The big white cat who looks like he is strangling the small ginger cat is Gryff, the cat being strangled is Miss Darcy and the lovely chocolate colored goddess Circe, likes to sleep close but not too close.  They sit, slumber, read patiently while I sew. 

the weekend bags

I love this bag - I took it apart and relined it with a different stiffening material which has given it a softer and more comfortable feel  when you toss it over your shoulder.  Of course the question has to be asked just what am I going to do with all these bags?

Mooseboy is testing out a cookbook that I have bought him - well I bought it for the males in my household, it is time for them to do some cooking on the weekend as I don't particularly want to cook on the weekend. 

So tonight's gastronomic delight is macaroni cauliflower cheese  - which may not sound particularly slimming BUT as I am not cooking, have a glass of wine in hand,  three finished bags,  patted the cats who are luxuriating in front of the fire I am feeling a little smug - the down side is I  am hearing the sounds of pots crashing and disgruntled mumbling coming from the kitchen...ah the joy of cooking.

Bag Lady

Banging on about Doris

You know, it is one of the mysteries of life, that you get older you sound remarkedly like your mother, you sound like her, your body starts (ugh) resembling hers - I mean of course, you realise your never going to be 5"10 (I have no idea what that is in the new language but I have always wanted to be that tall), that you are impossibly now set in your ways and, AND, you can't let something go, case in point is Doris Grant. 
I am unashamedly a convert to her bread and her thinking.  But before you think "oh god, not one of those" I confess to an addiction to dark chocolate kitkats, maltesers and quiver at the knees when confronted with feta and toasted Pane di Genzano toasted with olive oil and sundried tomatoes and can be prone to fish and chips when after a long day at work don't feel like cooking.  But a 'Dorisism' caught my attention as I continued to peruse her book Dear Housewives:

The late Sir Drummond, who was adviser to the Ministry of Food during the war ( for those who may read this and born after 1960, it means WWII), maintained that if the people in this country[England] could live on fresh home grown foodstuffs, the hospitals, in twenty years, would be nearly empty.  White flour, therefore, to crown its other sins,  is not longer a fresh food - it is merely a 'filler' food, and worthless as a source of health, and of life.

I love Doris more and more - she is a woman of common sense and a wonderful turn of phrase.  I have to confess to buying wholemeal/grain bread bought and wrapped in plastic this week - I simply ran out of time to make more bread.  But I did find that the loaf of bread I made stayed fresher longer (we finished the 2nd loaf on Wednesday), it didn't toast all that well and that she was right about eating food that you know where it comes from, how it was grown and what it contains.  I also learned that I can make my friends son a sandwich (he has loads of allergies) and I know exactly what it contains without studiously reading the label (with my glasses on, 'cause god forbid that writing is small of the ingredients list).

Memo to brain though - I have to remember to grease the bread tin otherwise the bread sticks to it HARD - frustration abounds.  Bon apatito.

Doris Grant Loaf

So about the bread.  Dead easy to make - I would hazard to say no fail.  I used raw honey for the sweetner, let the bread rise in a warm place for 40 minutes.  Baked for 30 mins then another 5 -7 mins out of the tin.  When semi warm I sliced one loaf and shared the cooks treat with eldest son, (with butter gently smeared on top) it was lighter textured than I had expected and with a nutty taste.  Tasted great with the chicken corn soup that I made for dinner.  Toasted, took a little longer than normal BUT was delicious. 

Dear Houswives - If you love your husbands, keep them away from white bread

Ah you look at the cover of the book and chuckle to yourself, this should be full of patronising do's and don'ts of a 1950's housewife (I accompanied my mooseboy to his aunts house which is stuffed with books which we are encouraged to look through) .  Upon reading the opening to yourself, in a very prissy upper middle class interior voice, you discover tone and prissy-ness galore. BUT, then it strikes you in the back of the head like a dense whole-wheat loaf which is filled with goodness and made with love, that Doris Grant is a woman ahead of her time.  I dropped the prissy voice, surreptitiously took the book from the room it had rested in for years went outside with my find, sat on the very cold concrete edging in the garden, finding the only piece of sun and started reading, properly. 
This slim volume of passionate discourse, is about the benefits of eating non processed food, demanding food that has been untouched by science or as Doris says, (I feel I can drop the formal Mrs Grant and call her Doris as she is now my newly formed reading companion) men of science. 
Needless to say Mooseboy's aunt very graciously gave me Dear Housewife and the companion book Your Daily Bread and as I sat with these treasures on my lap going home, I felt that I had discovered a new friend and I needed to know more about this 'go-get-at-it-ness' of a woman.
I researched when I got home and found that Doris "...early in her married life found herself incapacitated by arthritis, which became so bad that she found herself climbing the stairs on her hands and knees. A cousin, who was a doctor, then gave her an unusual prescription, consisting of three columns of proteins, starches and acid fruits with the instruction, "Don't mix foods that fight!" 
Doris's (now my very good friend) book has chapters labeled Public Enemy No. 1 & 2, Food, Health and Happiness, speaks passionately about the over refining of sugar, not mixing concentrated starches,sugar, and acid fruits in a meal.  In Your Daily Bread, she has a wonderful chapter labled Murdered Bread. I quote the wonderful style of Doris;

"Many people choose the white bread, firstly, because they are entirely ignorant of its potentialities for illness and unhappiness; secondly, because it is wrapped in the attractive whiteness of seeming purity; thirdly, never having tasted real brown bread they thing that white bread, on account of its colour, must taste better."

Doris's 'Real Bread' is wholewheat bread - which requires no kneading - her own discovery which I will be trialing today -

The Grant Loaf
To make three loaves
3 lb of stone-ground wholewheat flour;
two pints of water; two teaspoons of salt;
three teaspoons of Barbados sugar (or, alternatively, a tablespoonful of honey);
and three teaspoon measures of dried yeast
or for a smaller quantity
1lb/450g strong wholemeal or spelt flour
1 tsp brown sugar or honey
½ sachet
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil or melted butter
Mix the flour with the sugar or honey, yeast and 2 tsp salt. Stir in the oil or butter and ¾pt/420ml water to make a loose, sticky dough.
Scrape the dough into a greased 1lb/450g loaf tin.
Cover loosely with oiled gladwrap; leave in a warm place for 30 mins (until dough has risen by a third).
Preheat the oven to 220C

Bake for half an hour. Slip out of the tin and check that the base sounds hollow when tapped (if not, give it another 5-10 minutes). Cool on a rack.

To finish I quote again Doris who died at age 98;

"If you love your husbands, keep them away from white bread . . .If you don't love them, cyanide is quicker but bleached bread is just as certain, and no questions asked."

"Lucille" picnic bag - it is quite small but can hold quite a lot.  Takes about three hours to make as it is very easy, if you don't have had the company of a friend while sewing, it would take about two hours.  You know how it goes, you sew, you drink tea, you chat solve the problems of the world etc, you sew a little more, you unpick because you are distracted.  Good friend decided that I must have been making it for her and took it with her when she went home.    The site to find the pattern is  http://sewtakeahike.typepad.com/

Finishing off quilt top

Gryff just trying to be helpful as I lay out the quilt top.

weekend taken care of

I started writing something very lyrical yesterday at work as I looked out through the window across to the large park.  Something about ...a world beyond work, of trees, birds, of mystery, of sparkling early morning dew, oh it got worse.... the sun gracefully sliding across the open field, people coming and going, catching some late autumn warmth.  Not terribly original but I was feeling wistful for the open air.

As you can tell I was using my excellent avoidance skills, instead of writing monthly reports (the sound of gagging intrudes here at home, even now) my reverie was rudely interrupted by phone ringing and the need for me to focus on helping people who are in need of support.

BUT now it its the weekend, it has to be I slept in 'til 7.35am!   Which is a big deal when you usually have to be up, mostly awake and on the road by 7.00am.  Two whole days in which to clean, tidy, forage, do dutiful things (visit eccentric aunts), and then maybe find time to do some creative stuff. 
The 'to do' list goes like this
1.  finish bag started last weekend - the dining table which doubles as sewing table needs to be cleared for, I don't know, dining on.
2. Cut out another bag or two one for a good friend and another for b'day present for step mother
during all this the cuckoos in my nest will want feeding -
3. Drink some bubbles - memo to brain do this after I have cut material - also good time to sit with husband.
and that takes care of the weekend.

Working Girl Blues

& the sound of bubbles.

You work all week, and do your best BUT your hanging out to go home and finish what you started on the weekend.  The pattern from Melly and Me is wonderful.  You can make it as bright as you like or (I found some lovely curtaining remnants) sedate.  I am really pleased with how it is coming together and as an apprentice I am finding great satisfaction in putting it together.  I have some ideas for designing bags and as you know the perfect handbag is the holy grail - i may never find it or make it BUT the challenge is half the fun.  Finding material from op-shops and cast off clothes from friends has really set my imagination on fire.  BUT i am determined to get more skills before I lurch into designing, of course finding the time out of the working week is also a challenge.  Ah the joys of paying a mortgage and the bill collection.

The wonderful sound of cork escaping a bottle of bubbles can be heard from the kitchen and a glass full of Barrossa Sparkling has been placed in front of me - hmmmmm tuff choice.  Cheers for now.

spent the afternoon with the beginnings of a 'stitch and bitch' group. Lovely women who are willing to experiment with their sewing. I did my usual (you would think that being the age that I am I would engage brain) lets try something new, not just rehash the old and safe sewing. Lets make art journals, lets look at some contemporary work, lets use bold colors and design, remembering I had only just met half of the six member group. Whilst the more conservative balked at making journals they did say that they are willing to watch, learn and if they felt comfortable they would try. So I guess that if someone can stretch to listening to new ideas about mixed media - I can return the favor with, whilst not playing safe, participate and learn some old tricks- EVERYONE has something to teach us.
I was also given (from one of the conservative ones) a swatch of materials that was given to her, which she admitted she would never use- which blew me away. She said my face was a picture as I looked at these rather large pieces of material, which are BIG AND BOLD.
Sorry Lavendah Chile no purple BUT wow. Can't wait to really explore what I can do with the material.

All cultured out

I am drowning in music, dance, sound and light. What a crazy but hypnotic week. I have sat in large doorway and viewed young artists as they perform in front of critics who can only dream of being brave enough to put their trust in the audience.
I marvel at how a group of people can see, hear and be a part of art and all come away having seen or felt something completly different.
Today will be a day of reflecting, watching the mood of the day as it drifts from rain that feeds my parched garden to a display of thuder and my husband taking pleasure of sitting outside under tin roof enjoying another form of music for the soul.

A wellness day. I took a wellness day from work and felt very well spending money and being an omnivore at the quilting fair. People everywhere. I managed to find material to make a japenese quilt with a large red disc and cranes flying.
I am all cultured out. WA Opera Sublime, musical theatre on Tuesday (brillant young talent) with a retelling of Hansel and Gretel. Defying Gravity last night at WAAPA and tonight Don Quixote at His Majesty's.