Good bye Edna

Yesterday one of my lovely old ladies passed away.  These are two roses from her garden.  I feel very sad as I have always had at least one lovely old lady in my life to share her stories with me and I feel a deep loss now at the stories untold.  I know that it was her time to go.  She was 96 years old.  She was tired.  She told me about 3 years ago that she always felt that she was about 21 years old.  I can't even count the number of times that she has shown me her dresses that she has kept from great memories, laid each one out for me to see.  Each dress preserved with memory and love - not every dress that she ever had, just the important dresses.  She would take me through her house to show me anything new that had come in, a card, or a bunch of flowers, a photo of her two grandsons. When I lived next door to her, we shared a vegetable garden so that she could have fresh vegetables still after Charlie had passed away and she would share her fabulous scones and her care.  I will miss Edna.  I will miss her calls to say that she needs help to fix something.  I love my old ladies.  Rest now, Edna, rest your weary bones, thank you for all your time you have shared with me and thank you for all those times you asked for our help.

A Scarf a day - brown & orange in the hair

This is a lovely brown & orange paisley scarf from Skip shopper's granny May that I was lucky enough to inherit. They were all nicely folded in a drawer all very neatly. I wish that I was that neat with my scarves...

I love my neck piece that Skip Shopper made for me from a found box of Singer bits. I just had to show it off!

Did I mention that on Saturday I went to Yarraville Market & saw Sew Hum & her gorgeous crochet work & lovely bebuska dolls & pencil cases, met Beccasaurus & saw all the fantastic baby mats that she has been making, pencil cases, tee shirts, and purses. Their stalls looked really good & their stock looked fantastic. I also saw Glenda from Reaburn who makes gorgeous retro fabric cushions & lampshades who said that she will be opening a shop over summer down at the peninsula (watch this space). The girl who did watercolours next to Sew Hum was amazing & I also met some locals from Kensington/Flemington who quilt and knit. And then I bumped into Curly Pops & met Tinnygirl! What a small world it is.

Must get on with the day...class to plan for the girls - 7 girls cutting out fabric at once. Should be fun.

I had a great time whizzing around on Friday at the Design Made Trade 2009 looking at the fantastic things on offer that people have been creating. It was great to see what Nick at Design Loop has been doing with bamboo this year, and the lovely Anna and all of her brilliant cards. There was Mattt with the new digital printing bags that he has been doing - always great bags & now he also has detachable straps on bags. I bumped into a friend from school and saw their incredible furniture The Timber Trip - worth looking at - incredibly well made furniture from recycled timbers. There were also so many others there worth mentioning:
makedo - cool connectors that you can use to create sculptures out of anything
designboom - this was an incredible market of international designers - wow
in-sync design - great geometric jewellery
...and many many more!
What a creative place to live in!

words & pictures - remember

I remember, I remember, I remember that beautiful strapless cobalt blue taffeta frock that I designed myself that I wore to my year 11 formal. I remember the hair that I curled to go with it that stuck out way too far...and the white court shoes & white stockings....the blue and pink eyeshadow and pink lippy. Precious. I was with my best friend. She had a dress in the same colour and permed hair. She had white court shoes. We were like twins. Our dates were not. Our nights did not end the same. Mine had really bad garlic breath and I couldn't bear to go near him. He just annoyed me in the end. Hers was really nice. They were best friends too.

I remember the 1920's style cream dress I designed and made for the year 11 deb ball. I thought I was going to marry that boy. You have no idea when you are 15, but you think you know everything. I remember how much my heart was broken the next year.

I remember the dress I designed and made for the year 12 formal with the red and black lame fabric and red and black tulle with the daring split and all of the diamantes I glued and sewed onto it with all of its angles. I remember the big hair and Michael confessing his love for me completely out of the blue, and someone else slashing themselves later in the night in the bushes.

Dresses have all of their memories that are entrenched in their seams and they tell their stories for all their years to come, whispering them out of the closet for people to hear. They help the stories to keep coming out. They keep the remembering....the laughter, the tears, the sadness, the dances, the goodtimes.

Thanks Pip for a lovely theme of remembering!

sorting the mountain

A great friend Andrea sent me an email last week wondering if I was interested in some old buttons & fabric from an old relative of hers & I have been having a wonderful time in lounge room since then going through many bags and boxes of this gorgeous lady's sewing history.

There was so much fabric that I had to sort it into colours (is this too anal?)

and then the buttons

and the buckles (can you believe the amount of them...! I think that I might have to make belts)

I feel soooo lucky. Bless her! There are are other treasures that I will share once I have got it organised and taken the pics.

Hip hip hooray

I know that things have been a little quiet here, but this is no reflection on real life. Kids have all gone back to school (yep! All of them now!) without too many hitches. Am trying to work out what this new life means... Working with school chicks to make a fruit & vegie garden.... Shell shocked about the bush fires surrounding our city & gathering everything I can to help out... Sorting out the 2 car loads of stuff we have inherited from hubbie's grandparents house...more to come still... Silently swimming in the North Melbourne pool trying to swim through my migraines.... Trying to find my sewing room again after the hol's have finished (have just remembered that's what I do!) as it has been filled up with with everyone else's things and bits I have gathered along the way :)...

Now I need to get ready for the Maribynong Makers Market on 14 March as I just found that I got accepted! Yay! Hip Hip Hooray. Time to sew.

here & not forgotten

School holidays are here and many projects have been ahappening o' here. Renovating eldest son's room...whilst he takes over my sewing retreat...driving up & down the Hume Hwy emptying out hubby's grandparents house in Wangaratta & finding great treasures...sitting at North Melb pool for swimming lessons...forgetting that we have a computer...making jelly...bucketing water on plants to try to keep them alive...lieing on the concrete floor with the fan on to stay cool...painting toe nails...late nights...catching up with friends
School will be back soon... life will return to normal...whether we like it or not

make a list

It's my tradition that today I make a list of what my goals and dreams will be for the next year and I look at my list from last year and feel all fuzzy about how I went with those (or not depending on the year).

So, things that I am feeling really good about this year are:
* attending 3 markets & opening my salon up
* challenging myself to make some new things
* putting some of my things into a shop
* feeding my family all year and watching them grow into gorgeous boys
* slowly getting less migraines and back pain as the year went by
* organising the house just a little bit more
* planting more vegetables around the garden
* starting writing
* finding a really good osteopath

* being encouraged into doing a blog by some good people

Things I am looking forward to next year:
* sending my youngest to school
* reading quietly during daylight
* sewing and creating more
* writing
* breathing gently
* loving my family
* loving my friends
* getting better at blogging

a time for a break

For all those who have been so kind as to have been reading my blog, thank you. I hope that you all had a very merry Christmas and wonderful time with your families.

We hosted Christmas at our house and it was just the best. The company, the shared food (argentenian bbq - yummm), the noise, the crafty/foody deco's that the kids and I spent hours/days making, squeezing everyone around our table... all made it to be what Christmas should be. We missed the members of the family who couldn't make it and remembered them with angels flying above the table. I will post some photos later when I am back with the photos of Christmas. We finished the day with driving around looking at the most amazing Chrissy lights in Ascot Vale and Moonee Ponds (and have decided to make that a new family tradition).

I am now taking a little break from it all recouperating from the year; reading, gardening, writing, op shopping, breathing & playing with the kids. See you all again in the new year.

I wish you all the very best for the new year and hope that you can find some way to get a little closer to your dreams.

Happy New Year! Feliz Año Nuevo! Glückliches Neues Jahr! Καλή χρονιά! Gelukkig Nieuwjaar! Nouvelle année heureuse ! Nuovo anno felice! 明けましておめでとう! 새해 복 많이 받으세요! Ano novo feliz! С новым годом! 新年好! Sretna Nova Godina!

brrrrrr

Wow! Who would have expected such an incredible wintry day for end of Nov? I did start the day outside and the tent was sooo purtty ('cept for the mud)...however, as the tent began to fly away and the sleet/hail fell, they managed to find a tiny space to squeeze me inside. Sorry, no pics of inside stall.

Massive thanks to all who helped out. Lou, Rob, Fiona R, Vish, Pete, Milly, Tansy, Matt (my love), Mum, my boys, Ric, and Caroline - I couldn't have survived the day without you.

Thanks to all loyal customers who hunted me down and found me! It was great to see you again.

I will be opening my doors v. soon for "shop mornings/evenings" during the week and/or the weekend. Just catching my breath & working out which days. Watch this space.

Hoarder

I have just come to the dreadful realisation that I am in fact a great hoarder. Now, to those who know me very well, this may not actually be at all at new idea, in fact, it is probably quite a yawn. It came to me in amongst the cleaning up of my old emails & realising that I in fact had 220 in my inbox - sorry, I am embarrassed about the number, and then there is the sent messages - and that I would have to go through and delete all those lovely old words from friends. I hate to delete words. I love words. I also love fabric, buttons, pictures, books, old clothes, found objects, basically anything that has a story to tell. I really do find it hard to just chuck them out. The Man in my life tells me that if I haven't touched it in 6-12months then I should just chuck it - eek! That does make me want to stop breathing. In a way it does become all the more precious the longer I have it.

I wonder if there is such a thing as hoarders anon?

List of things to do in order to deal with my "hoarding"

1. clear old emails

2. get rid of fabric that I really will not use

3. same for yarn

4. same for buttons (is that possible?)

5. clear out house of other "things" that I may well have gathered along the way & not dealt with appropriately (ie chucked out)

6. resolve to be a little less like a magnet with things

In my frustration at not being able to sew or knit at the moment due to neck & shoulder "issues" I have changed my room around and come up with some do-able projects while I wait for the injuries to heal.

We chopped a tree down that had died & my man made a gorgeous wall sculpture & the boys (7yrs & 4.5yrs) made some too.

I live vicariously through them.

Gold, Pure Gold

It all began on a very rainy morning last Thursday in one of those terrible indoor playcentres last week.
I hate those places because:
a) you have to pay
b) they are noisy
c) the food is crap
d) the coffee is crap.
I love them because when it rains in Melbourne and you have a preschooler:
a) it is freezing and they still want to run around & they DO drive you nuts in the house
b) you can catch up with your own friends & they can knit or crotchet (yes, I am still obeying the osteopaths orders & twiddling my thumbs)
c) you can drink crap coffee & be warm & talk.
So it is this conundrum of Love/Hate that led me to this place in the pouring rain & also the fact that it is essential to my mental health to meet with my friends on Thursday morning as it is what I call my "Thursday Therapy Session". For those of you who are not as fortunate as I to have a weekly therapy session with like minded people, this may well be an eye opener for you. You may feel that you have been missing out on many things in life. We do solve many of lifes little problems, and sometimes, the bigger ones.
Some of the topics that were discussed and worked through were: music lessons, interview techniques, returning to work availabilities, sporting parent responsibilities, annoying babysitters, partners input into domesticities, tall story telling 4.5yr old children, until we got down to the real nitty gritty topic that is probably the most important...what to have for tea tonight. Let's face it. We are all sick and tired of thinking of another single meal to make & if someone else can think of one for us, then all the better. Finally someone said Osso Bucco and it was finalised for me and Ange, but it did somehow got us onto a funny conversation about the Gold in the freezer. It went a little something like this.
M: I don't ever label anything that goes into my freezer, because I always think that I will remember what it was, but then I forget, so then we have to have a "freezer-surprise week" which hopefully doesn't mean apple crumble for dinner.
A: I always make chicken stock and then put it in the freezer and leave it there. It stays there too long and I think that it is too good for the family
M: It's like gold, pure gold. Actually, I think I probably have some in the freezer from last year.
A: Too good for the family
M: Waiting for someone to have a baby so you can make them a soup
On the way home, Ange & I saw each other at the butcher buying the osso bucco, and the bones for the chicken stock...pure gold for the freezer...just waiting for the baby to come. Maybe I'll make a rissotto for the family this week. Or maybe just chuck the whole lot into a casserole! Surely that is not wasting such good stock - or is it? After the boys walked in the door after school & asked what smelt so good, it would be mean not to let them have the stock...

Stephanies Recipe (adapted)
bag of chicken bones
tops of 3 leeks
2 carrots
2 sticks celery
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs parsley
12 peppercorns
2 sprigs thyme
Bring to the boil, simmer for 4 hours, strain allow to cool, skim off fat & use within 2/3 days or freeze (but please DO use).




Oh, and it I did find that ice-cream container of stock from last year that doesn't have a date on it. Not sure whether to chuck it... I have made a promise to myself that I will from now on label all food going into the freezer. (note that beautiful tower of fresh frozen stock).





I really must go & sweep up all of those nectarine leaves that came off the tree in that storm on Friday & pop them in the compost. Please, please never put your green waste in your normal bin. It is much better for the environment for it to disposed of by the council with the green waste rather than being put with landfill and becoming part of the problem. I know that my council does a free monthly pick up of green waste, so if you don't have a compost bin, either start one up or check with your council. We only get one chance at this earth!

clarity

It has been a very busy week and a half that has had a general theme of cleaning up the mess that my room had become and then once I got the bug, I couldn't help it, I got carried away and we had to declutter our back room.

I always find it incredible how "stuff" manages to accummulate until it starts to overtake your life. I mean, we are not actually big consumers, however, "stuff" still manages to find its way into our lives. The boys bring things home (artwork, found objects, nuts, bolts, bits of wood, old things), and this includes the young boys and the older one. All of these things get "popped" around the house and left there because they are interesting...and they are. I am not saying that they are not. They are the things that differentiate our house from anyone else's house and I DO like that. What I don't like is that it always looks like a tip.

So the point of this last weekend was for us to find a way for our back room in particular to look less cluttered, whilst still having all this really interesting stuff around, and enabling more interesting stuff to come into our place with all of its stories to tell. I think that we actually did it. It was hard work. My back was sore by the end of it. I did fall asleep on the floor on Sunday night at 7.30pm...

A new shelving unit (thanks Matt) painted white so that we can see all the colourful things, and the bookcases painted white do seem to show up all of the books and bits inside them.







I do like what Matt did with the plates that he has found on the wall, and also with the drawers on the wall.!!


















I am still slowly getting things onto Etsy - I did get a little distracted with the "decluttering".



Our friend had a baby and the boys decided that they all needed to sew a present for Zac all by themselves, so 2 blankets, 1 cushion and 1 migraine later, all was done - pretty impressive












sewhum helped me out again, this time with the machine sewing (as I am still obeying the osteopaths orders...) and we made baby Zac a gorgeous cuddly dog from vintage fabric. The boys have all put in their orders now.










The week ahead is a cold one - time to cook lasagna, thick soup, vaccuum the heater filters and get the jumpers out.