connected / connections

I am loving and soaking up everything that's happening for my path right now. Letting things evolve and happen and trying really hard to not put emotional energy into bad things, or invest too much into the outcome. It's about the journey. 

And about the daily connections. 

Yesterday really brought it home for me. I spent the morning taking photos with my Hey Maker girls, and chatting about mothering, daughters, child changes. Laughing and sharing mothering help, advice, comfort, and cups of tea and simple avocado on rice thins. 

Then I went for a coffee and yummy lunch wrap in town. All on my own, with my new book (more about that later - so delicious). I barely got to open my book. Moments after my coffee arrived, my neighbour / friend walked in the door. She sat and had her lunch and coffee with me - normally we chat at the bus stop, or school gate, and run off again. 

Then a short time later another up-the-road neighbour (who also happens to be the kids' modern dance teacher, and lives in a converted church) and her friend walked in for coffee. During that chat I discovered that her friend is actually the mum of one of Ari's school friends. The friend he's been asking to visit for the past year; and I've been saying I don't know his parents. 

And then, you wouldn't guess it, but my friend Jo walked in to buy some ground coffee. And while I'd only seen Jo at our Hey Maker meeting hours before, we still had lots to talk about. 

I know I live in a small town, but it's not that small. I guess when you hang out at the best coffee shop in town, where the hostess knows everyone's name (except that group of people who had just climbed Mount Warning, but we know their names now).

How good to have that nice warm coffee shop connection. I walked away afterwards with tears pricking at my eyes - for the good, solid, warm feeling of the connections that have been made since moving back 'home'. It made me think of my mum; and how we couldn't walk down the street without her stopping to endlessly chat to another person who she knew, who she connected with.

*I heard an interesting program on the radio on Sunday, about the i-Disorder: the psychology of technology. And I wonder if it's true, perhaps to some extent; but I think I feel good and real connections with people who I've "met" online as well.

*I love that these flowers, which were on the table at Modern Grocer coffee shop/deli yesterday, were brought in by a customer. Just another reason why living in a small, local, lovey town is a wonderful thing!

weekending - good things

What a full and lovely (yes, ok tiring also) weekend. A long weekend. Thank you Queen for letting us celebrate your birthday now.

Things we did ::
- a fairy party with face painting and a bunny. Mishi informed us that they weren't real fairies as she could see the straps on their wings.
- a beautiful grown-ups only party for my friend Kathy's birthday. What a fun afternoon of making, and chatting and eating good yummy decadent food. And looking around and realising I am making (have made) some super good friends since moving down here.
- woke up Sunday morning to gloom and rain and wet and overcast. Decided to go to Brisbane for the night. What a good thing.
- met Sylv at yarn heaven Tangled Yarns. such a delicious and inspiring shop. we did have fun. we did buy some yarn. and guess what - I have actually started making something with it. So far I have half of a pair of fingerless mittens already finished and being used as I type. (one warm hand, one cold hand - have to finish the other mitten soon!).
- we went for afternoon tea at my cousin's new(ish) little grocer cafe, Sourced Grocer. What a sweet little spot - great for some local cheese, in season fresh produce, a cup of good tea/coffee, and a bowl of very yummy (and reasonably priced) food. ok - yes, my cousin's own this place, but I'd be saying all this even if they didn't! I've seen Sourced on Instagram, and featured in The Weekend Edition. They even sell ice-cream sandwiches!

And yes, it rained and rained and was windy and cold and dismal. We stayed inside and soaked up the heat from our fireplace - and the warmth of the real electricity and television and long hot shower for one night while in Brisbane.
What did you get up to this weekend?
What are your plans for the coming week?

*my computer seems to have overloaded itself and won't take any more photos, so......

{living simply} some things I don't talk about

 {before any of you get excited; this isn't our house - it's my dad's house - the beautiful upstairs verandah with bamboo ceiling. And the downstairs entryway with those well worn bricks and the mud-brick style walls}

I've been thinking a bit lately about how we live, and how it probably differs quite a bit to how other people live.
I don't talk about it much, as really for me, it's part of who I am, and almost how I grew up - so it doesn't feel unusual or difficult or different for me. But I am very conscious of how it is for Sam and for my children, and for family and friends who come to visit us and have never experienced this way of living before.
So, I've decided that I might start sharing it here a bit more too.

The way we live on this little parcel of land isn't how we planned, or how we will always live here. But it's how we are living here right now, and have been for the past 16 months, and will continue to for some more time while our house building continues. But much of how we live is how we want to live - and will be a continual journey of slow and simple living.

Firstly - the no electricity thing. Yep, it's hard. It was romantic for the first few months, during Summer and the long evenings. But after some time, and then in Winter when the sun sets at 4.30pm. Well, it's a bit of a drag.
We live by torch light, and candles and little solar garden lights that we take outside to charge every morning, and bring inside every evening (they are more for ambient lighting, and act as little glow-bug / night lights for the children in these dark dark nights). We buy candles, and have also been making our own from the melted wax (I'll blog about that another time). We read our bedtime stories by torch, and in Winter time we cook dinner by candle or torch or good eyesight!

We have a battery powered radio - it doesn't last long if we play cds on it, so mainly we listen to whatever radiostation isn't fuzzy at the time.

We don't have tv, or a little dvd player. We have my one laptop computer (we did have two, but Sam's died a while ago). This means at night time we can sometimes either watch a (borrowed from the local library) movie or I have time for my blogging addiction, or doing online work. I charge my computer at my dad's house on most days - but not all days; those nights we have no computer at all.

We charge our mobile phones in our cars when we're driving to school or town. I take my charger and plug it in whenever and wherever I'm out and about, and I feel I'm not pushing the friendship too far...

We have a small gas fridge, it doesn't fit much, and freezes any vegetables we put in it. Luckily for Sam it keeps beer nice and icy! When we first moved here we used an esky and ice for at least 9 months - this was horrible and tedious. But it has taught us to only buy what we will eat and need for a few days, and not keep unnessecary food at the back of the fridge going bad and wasting electricity. (Go and look in your fridge - do you need everything in there? Do you really need a fridge that big?).

Prior to living here, we were never a high-energy consuming household. This is just a step further, and makes us realise we don't need as much as we ever use when it's at our finger tips to switch something on.

Perhaps you could try using your computer for as long as only a fully charged battery lasts. When it runs out, you have to turn it off - you can't plug it in and spend more hours blog-hopping, or pinning, or all those other things I used to do all hours of the night when I lived in Brisbane.

We spend more time reading or sitting and enjoying the quiet. We go to bed earlier, which means we have a better sleep and wake up earlier as well.

You could set yourself a little challenge to live in the dark for a few hours this week. Dinner by candle light is romantic, crochet by candle light is poetic. Get the kids involved too - reading bedtime stories by torch light is really fun; an adventure. I'd love to hear how you went - go on, it's not hard, just a challenge.
(and before you go to bed, go outside even in the rain the cold the snow to say goodnight to the moon, the stars, the sky, the night, the world). 

skies {and looking up}

A week of rain last week got us all down and mopey again. I think everyone in the Tweed Valley is affected by the rain the same way. All these years of wet and moss and mould and weather predictions that one friend joked could be the same for the next year.

So - seeing sunshine yesterday, and glorious blue skies today. It's enough to make us happy again. Anything's possible when the sky is blue and the only clouds we see are the pretty ones all coloured by the afternoon sun.

I love watching the morning shadows stretching into our yard.
This morning, while waiting for the school bus, the kids and I spotted spider web filled with dew, and fine early morning mist, and the sun slowly creeping over the mountains. And the birds were calling.

What a glorious start to the week. Winter is well and truely here.

     :: other lovely things from around ::
} my brother and his partner on the radio, talking about CSA
} fig and fauna - on such a pretty blog to look at, about life on a homesteading farm.
} Alex Falkiner - been so loving seeing her stitching work and colourful images on Instagram.
} Lotta's new exclusive collection - this top especially.
} and the sweet games my littlies were playing over the weekend - M dressed in her yellow tutu as Pikachu and A with a specially made Pokemon belt, as the trainer Ash.

pinwheels & sticks at World Environment Day

This Sunday we'll be having lots of fun (and hoping for the sunshine) at the wonderful World Environment Day Festival in our local town.

Us Hey Makers have been asked to present not one but two fun arty - making - crafty type activities. With all things recycled and natural and collected and gathered, we'll be there with supplies to make sweet little pinwheels. Come along and add them to the 'windfarm'! Of course, it's a silly and fun little statement on wind power.

We'll also have a pile of beautiful sticks gathered and collected from our forest floors. Dan and Justin will be on hand to help you with the making of a community art expression of space and linear viewpoints. I really can't wait to see how this evolves throughout the day with people adding their stick or twig or branch here and there across the park area.

Please come along, if you're local or even a short drive away. The whole day is a much needed fundraiser for our local Environment shop - The Caldera Environment Centre. This is the longest running, constantly opened, volunteer run environment centre in Australia. They celebrated their 21st Birthday last year. I think that's an amazing testament to the spirit and dedication of people in Caldera.

Full details can be found here. Come and say hi, won't you. {We'll also have our badge making machine, and some of our market stock for your to look at - lots on sale as well}.

stitch still life

i stitched these little pieces up this morning.
cleared away the mess on our table and set myself up with some thread, a needle and these scraps of hemp / organic cotton (which do look like linen, don't they).
vague notions on Shibori stitches - though of course, nothing at all like the intricate reality of Shibori. perhaps one day - maybe never. maybe will always be my inerpretation. i think that's ok. actually, maybe that's better.

these two little pieces had a quick photo shoot and then into the jars of dye outside. i had intended on having a cabbage purple, but it had turned brown (i put a rock in it to weight some other fabric down, and it must have had it's own colouring in it! ah well - red cabbage is on the shopping list). they both went in the rusty / eucalytpus leaf solution. a deep dark intense grey. we'll have to wait a few days to see if the stitches worked their magic, as i've imagined or not.....

i'm hoping next week may be a bit less busy (though i doubt it!). perhaps some more stitching and dye experiments.
mind you - i just love the look of rough stitches on raw folded.pleated.tucked.manipulated fabric

what will you be doing this weekend?

{ps - i forgot it thursday, which means it's creative spaces play day}. 

middle {Wed.nes.day}

it's the middle of the day.
the middle of the week.

just this for right now.
red = cordyline seeds. orange = ginger seedpods. bookshelf + blackboard = B's house.

Ari told Mishi this morning that you spell wednesday Wed - Nes - Day. Reading and writing is happening in leaps and bounds with those two - so many words. Maths (they call it number at school) is another story. It's making me slightly worried about Ari's (lack of) maths understanding, hoping it will change over the next few months.

what are you up to this rain/sun/rain/sun day?

just this

I pulled these from the dye pots this afternoon. These are the ones I put in only a few days ago - yet already such great colour.

Photo is dark and grainy, as it's dark and rainy here! (hehe - that was a funny little play on words, hey...).

The blue is from red cabbage with salt. What an excellent colour. The last red cabbage jar I dyed was purple. Did you know red cabbage is a ph indicator. I think the salt may have changed the colour a bit. My dad said it looks like denim, then he told me why denim is called denim. Do you know why? Well - it comes from a man in France who was the first to make the fabric, he named it after the city de Nimes, hence it became de-nim. You can read about it on wikipedia if you don't believe my dad, but I know that my dad really does know a thing or two!

And the little rock up top was from the blue dye pot as well - it's gone a dark and mysterious hue. 

The grey is from the rusty nail and eucalyptus brew. Some pieces are linen, some are hemp - creates different depths of colour on different fabrics.

The orange/brown is from coffee - what a good colour. I really do like it a lot! Every time there's coffee left over in our morning coffee pot, Sam saves it in a jar for me. I do think it would be much deeper and stronger if the fabric was in there for longer. And it's had no mordanting - so I don't know how colour/sun fast these pieces will be.

Anyway. The kids are having a sleep over, and I'm still doing final prep for tomorrow's market. It's dark and cold and rainy, and I want to sit in front of my fire and crochet....

What are you up to this weekend? Do have fun fun won't you! xxx

threads - kinda sorta really lovin' these

just made some little pouches using bits of fabric scraps. oh - don't you just love fabric scraps!!!

and messy stitches. how can you go wrong with messy stitches, raw edges, and that delicious peachy-pink thread on the natural hemp.

but boy-oh-boy. super super lovin' it on the grey-ish pieces.
i dyed these pieces in a solar-dyeing bottle of rust and eucalyptus. um - love love!

i'm off back to my solar pots to add these natural linen and hemp pieces into some coffee and some red cabbage. can't wait to see how they look after a few days / week in the dye.

these little pouches are for my crochet stones - little nests, safe carrying places. these will be available for sale at the Sew & Tell market this Saturday. i'm so excited to launch my rock collection (small as it is at the moment, due to those cut fingers and big bandaids!!).

come and check them out, won't you?

{weekending} raising the flag, cooee & cake - who could complain!

I must admit that I still cannot quite believe the beautiful weather we have been having. Perfectly glorious Autumn days and crisp clear nights.

This weekend we have ::
- tidied the house throughly
- sorted kids clothes (and found new homes for lots of grown-out-of pieces)
- stacked our wood pile bigger for Winter fires
- enjoyed the beautiful skies and the silhouettes of the afternoon shadows and trees
- visited the dam and coo-eeed from across the water to each other
- breathed and enjoyed the moments of living here. the sheer and utter wonderfulness at where we live!!
- cut three different fingers. one very deep (while cleaning the stove). big fat bandaids make hard work for typing or crochet. {well that was me - I cut my fingers. all three cuts}
- had beautiful cake for our birthday (which is on Wednesday). thank you thank you so much to Sam's parents for coming down and spoiling us. we were NOT expecting cake or presents at all. (both Sam and I have sort of forgotten it's our birthday in only a few days...)
- raised the flag* on our building - an Australian builders tradition when the ridgebeam is nailed in place, is to nail a branch of gum to the highest point as an indication of where the roof will be.

Here's to a happy week. There's lots and lots and lots to do, but I intend to enjoy it all and have cups of tea with crochet and sunshine and breath through the rush!

* I cannot find any information about this, or the tradition of it, so will have to trust my dad that he's not making fun of us (he did seem to be doing it in all honesty). If you know about it, let me know.

Sew & Tell - counting down the days

There's a new market happening soon. It looks like lots of fun. There'll be so many excellent stallholders, some I know, some new. I can't wait. I'll be there too with lots of things. Come and check it out, won't you - if you're around.

It's at the beautiful (I've been told) A  & I Hall in Bangalow. Have a day out in the lovely town after the market, or head over to the beach after or drive around the glorious mountains and valleys and countryside.

Sew & Tell Market - handmade and hand-me-down. Saturday 26th May 10am - 4pm.

Make sure you say hi!

{images with thanks to Sew & Tell}

::

These remind me of my mum. In ways that I suppose people who knew her will understand. But also - she used to make and stitch and sew little things like this. I wish I could find some photos of things she made. I remember some long limbed fabric rough-stitched gangly people she made once. I want to find some time to make some stitching like this - I think I've been dreaming of this, using my mums fabrics remnants.

This work is by Janet Edmonds. I first saw it over here. I recently bought myself the book Three-Dimensional Embroidery, but have not yet had much time to look through it. Perhaps this weekend....

 ......................................................................................................................................

Sad news in my family this week. A little baby not-yet born, lost.  little tiny. I do not understand the un-fairness of this - there is no understanding. Only a heart-wrenching. And then ... maybe, perhaps a softness, and a being. Though I do not know. My love to all you out there trying for a baby. I know, yet also can only imagine, the emotions.

the sunshine keeps on shining

I woke up a little sick this morning with a tummy bug. I stayed in bed all day, except for a wonderful little nap I took on the verandah in the afternoon sun.
Sam got the kids off to school and then came back home and looked after me all day. And he mowed the yard as well.
Every day that it's sunny I am happy. House building has started which is just the best best best.
Today was a planned do something day. Instead I had a do nothing day. I guess that was important after my busy do-lots last week...
Here's to a happy week for you my friends. What will you be doing?

papernstitch - red seed studio

 
I'm on Papernstitch! So exciting to be having an exhibition over there. Check it out. I've got lots of new things in the shop - some lovelies for you, some for friends. Lots of things at the moment are one-offs or limited editions. Lots of pieces on sale as well - so go have a look-see.

I'll be having a few markets over the next two months, so you online shoppers have first choice. Jump in quick!

Ok. I'm off to set up some screen printing right now. Some new tea towels and.......
I'm trying to decide what colour to print with - what colours are you loving right now?

I am loving

It's Friday night. I'm sitting by the fire with cat-boy curled up near me. He sure does like the fireplace; sometimes we find him almost underneath it.

It's been a good and full week. Right now I'm really loving |||
• how excited both my kids were after their cross country run for school today. As Mishi says "Ari and Mishi didn't get qualified, but they did good". She asked me yesterday if I'd still be proud of her even if she didn't win. Of course darling! They get their sporting talents from me....
• the way my boy is so interesting to talk with and listen to. He's reading so much now, and everything. A whole book in one night. And books about science and history and ancient history and astronomy. One morning he couldn't eat his breakfast until he'd finished his chapter! It made me so happy. (he gets that from me too).
• the fact that tomorrow is Saturday. We're going to do a big (much needed) house clean and then I'm planning on going mushroom searching with the kids (if the weather stays good).
• these purses - golly I do love them so. Is it ok for me to say that?! {they were on the papernstitch site yesterday. Yah to that! They're in my shop right now - just in time for mother's day}
• I organised a play date with a friend for next weekend. Our kids are perfectly the same age, we're hoping our husbands get on (they both like mountain bike riding and design and drawing and are both pretty cool. Though neither of them are very chatty). And she has a letterpress machine in her living room!! Yep, she's a super cool friend
• loving - well crochet, Instagram, the blue skies and clear starry nights, the fact my traffic jam this morning was a herd of cows and not a backlog of cars, the possibilities of new ventures and dreams coming true.

new monkey-play (with easter eggs in pretty foils)

Can I tell you how sad I was to find out that Picnik was packing up it's pretty little rug and shooing away the ants. I relied on Picnic to make my blog headers and other little bits and pieces for online editing. Was easy, simple, quick and do-able with no long training videos or downloads.

So - it was with much excitement that I read on Kimono Reincarnate's blog about a new site called PicMonkey. I jumped straight on to have a try. EASY easy I tell you, and fun and so much excellent stuff there.

Currently there is no collage option, which is what I liked about Picnik, but they say coming soon. So I can wait.

Go check it out for yourself. These are some of the fun edits I did - the heart / arrow one being my favourite, probably because I don't generally go in for that myself though *heart* it when someone else does it....

scraps of time, scraps of fabric

I've been spending precious moments in my "studio space" lately. Mostly to do online research and work (and yes, real work - not pinning and such!..... well, not much anyway).

I've gathered up some of the fabric scraps and pieces I have in my fabric boxes. All my hand screen printed organic fabrics. They are now in little bundles just ready to post off to your sewing machines, hand needles, or crafting spaces. Oh - golly. What would you make with these delicious scraps.

Lately I've been making lots of bits with my fabric scraps. Tiny purses and bags. My girl made a sweet little handbag for herself over the holidays, and my boy made the funkiest belt.

Isn't this the most beautiful sewing machine. I don't think she works. She doesn't belong to me, but I know my sister really won't mind me piling her up with fabric for a pretty photo or two. With that moment of afternoon sunshine gleaming in.

I've decided to start a little Studio Scrap Challenge. Are you up for it? Pop on over to purchase one of my scrap packs and start some making. The competition starts now, and runs until the end of August. There's a Red Seed Studio $50 gift voucher for the winner - we'll have a general voting so its all fair. What do you think?

watercolour

in my head i am doing watercolour paintings everyday at the moment.
i don't think it has anything at all to do with all the rain falling around me.
it's just a feeling, an emotion that's welling up inside me.

when i was a child, we did watercolour painting every week at (Steiner) school. it was something that i loved just so much. was a part of me, of who i was, and how i felt. it was such a perfect outlet for some of my creativeness.

wet paper, wet paint, wet colour. makes for such deliciousness of colour and lines and movement and feeling.

i wrote last week, that i wanted to do some watercolour. it didn't quite. actually, a lot didn't quite happen last week as planned - lots of other stuff happened, so that was ok. i'm going with where life takes me - no other choice at the moment!

so, until i get the time (and materials) to sit and do some watercolour painting for myself, these images will have to suffice.......

i have started collecting watercolour images on a pinterest board - have a look. share some more with me, if you find any. this is a picture of Mars - yes, the planet Mars. it looks like skin with tattoo ink or watercolour swirls, don't you think. i have this as my desktop image - it's been there for years and still i am fascinated by it. i can't find the exact link, but i'm sure it was from the HubbleSite (i mean there aren't many sites with such detailed images of space and stuff, are there!!).

something practical this time

I got this lovely lovely yarn on Friday, at a local op-shop (thrift store). It really was a lucky find - I'd gone to get cash from the machine, and when I came back to pay, the lady was putting it out for sale.  I said how much, she said '.....oh, $4?'. Yes yes!

A whole bag of yarn balls. 7 full + 2 with only a little bit already gone. 60% wool with 40% nylon - though it feels really soft and woolly. It's in the most delicious dove grey colour. Someone bought it a long time ago from Coles for about 0.75c, they still have the labels and price stickers.

I've been thinking I needed to start on a lovely blanket - so that's what I did. But then, lying beside the fire last night, Sam mentioned that we really do need some big floor cushions. So - this became a crochet floor cushion (still in the works). I'm planning it big, as big as I can go with the yarn I have. Perhaps I'll get two?

There's no pattern. I just started out as I know how - crochet in the round. And then I added five little corner tab bits (with double stitches and chain rows), to form a pentagon shape. It's just evolving as I work each new row. Changing stitches as I feel like it. I did say at some point today that I was already a little bored with it (after all this tiny rock crochet, this really is a big project for me) - but changing stitches helps to keep me going. And it really is quite yummy yarn. Soft and so easy to work. It's crocheting up quite quickly. And the whole family is taking interest in it, which really does help.

I was using orange embroidery thread as corner markers (oh, I do need to get me some stitch markers, don't I!). The orange was a perfect pop against the grey (especially on this overcast, rainy day). And then, a quick look in my tiny stash bag to discover some orange yarn for the occasional row or two.

It's sure to be ready in time for next Winter - I know myself too well. I get a great start on things, and then go now-where with it. Here's to a finished cushion before the 'lying in front of our fire season' is over!

 and this last one, taken by candle light, and the extra light of a torch. It's hard holding a heavy torch in one hand, and taking a photo with the other hand. I've realised (or thought about it) this week, that we have been living here for 15months now - with no electricity....... 

Crochet by candlelight seems to have become my life!

{sun}day-ing

What glorious sunshine. So good. It warms the soul and lifts the spirits.

I can't believe how much I love love love these sun images. I took them from the moving car (it's okay - I was the passenger!), with the full afternoon sun streaming through. The trees cut the sun into slivers of shafts of light. The iphone works for some things like that as the camera is so slow at taking photos (often I miss the shot I'm after due to the slow shutter speed), but it worked so well in this instance. I want to print some of these - once we have a wall to put artworks and such on!

Of course there was some crochet work happening. I am working on a small collection of these - planning (perhaps) to sell some. What do you think?

Also - my 10 things I love for this Sunday at up on the Hey Maker! blog if you want to check it out.