Fireflies

I am in love with this song at the moment. Its so happy and makes me smile.

Happy Australia Day!

Here in Australia the entire nation has taken the day off to have a BBQ with friends, drink a lot, listen to Triple J's Hottest 100 and basically just celebrate the fact that we are Australian and think we are the "Lucky Country". So to everyone out there 'HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY'. Im very proud to be Australian and love my country.  Hell, Thomas and I have come up to the Sunshine Coast to stay with friends, drink, BBQ and of course, melt in the heat (and loll in the pool) whilst listening to the Hottest 100 (well, of course!)

Below is an essay on Australia written by Douglas Adams. I love his sense of humour and he has pretty much captured Australia perfectly - both our sense of humour and believe it or not, most of what he says is true, even if he says it in a very ironic tone. Its a little long but a good read, so enjoy.

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Australia is a very confusing place, taking up a large amount of the Bottom half of the planet. It is recognisable from orbit because of many unusual features, including what at first looks like an enormous bite taken out of its southern edge; a wall of sheer cliffs which plunge deep into the girting sea. Geologists assure us that this is simply an accident of geomorphology and plate tectonics, but they still call it the "Great Australian Bight" proving that not only are they covering up a more frightening theory, but they can't spell either.

The first of the confusing things about Australia is the status of the place. Where other land masses and sovereign lands are classified as either continent, island, or country, Australia is considered all three. Typically, it is unique in this.

The second confusing thing about Australia are the animals. They can be divided into three categories: Poisonous, Odd, and Sheep. It is true that of the 10 most poisonous arachnids on the planet, Australia has 9 of them. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that of the 9 most poisonous arachnids, Australia has all of them. However, there are curiously few snakes, possibly because the spiders have killed them all. But even the spiders won't go near the sea. Any visitors should be careful to check inside boots (before putting them on), under toilet seats (before sitting down) and generally everywhere else. A stick is very useful for this task.

Strangely, it tends to be the second class of animals (the Odd) that are more dangerous. The creature that kills the most people each year is the common Wombat. It is nearly as ridiculous as its name, and spends its life digging holes in the ground, in which it hides. During the night it comes out to eat worms and grubs. The wombat kills people in two ways: First, the animal is indestructible. Digging holes in the hard Australian clay builds muscles that outclass Olympic weight lifters. At night, they often wander the roads. Semi-trailers (Road Trains) have hit them at high speed, with all 9 wheels on one side, and this merely makes them very annoyed. They express this by snorting, glaring, and walking away. Alas, to smaller cars, the wombat becomes a symmetrical launching pad, with results that can be imagined, but not adequately described. The second way the wombat kills people relates to its burrowing behavior. If a person happens to put their hand down a Wombat hole, the Wombat will feel the disturbance and think "Ho! My hole is collapsing!" at which it will brace its muscled legs and push up against the roof of its burrow with incredible force, to prevent its collapse. Any unfortunate hand will be crushed, and attempts to withdraw will cause the Wombat to simply bear down harder. The unfortunate will then bleed to death through their crushed hand as the wombat prevents him from seeking assistance. This is considered the third most embarrassing known way to die, and Australians don't talk about it much.

At this point, we would like to mention the Platypus, estranged relative of the mammal, which has a duck-bill, otter's tail, webbed feet, lays eggs, detects its aquatic prey in the same way as the electric eel, and has venomous barbs attached to its hind legs, thus combining all 'typical' Australian attributes into a single improbable creature.

The last confusing thing about Australia is the inhabitants. First, a short history: Some time around 40,000 years ago, some people arrived in boats from the north. They ate all the available food, and a lot of them died. The ones that survived learned respect for the balance of nature, man's proper place in the scheme of things, and spiders. They settled in, and spent a lot of the intervening time making up strange stories.

Then, around 200 years ago, Europeans arrived in boats from the north. More accurately, European convicts were sent, with a few deranged and stupid people in charge. They tried to plant their crops in Autumn (failing to take account of the reversal of the seasons when moving from the top half of the planet to the bottom), ate all their food, and a lot of them died. About then the sheep arrived, and have been treasured ever since. It is interesting to note here that the Europeans always consider themselves vastly superior to any other race they encounter, since they can lie, cheat, steal, and litigate (marks of a civilised culture they say) - whereas all the Aboriginals can do is happily survive being left in the middle of a vast red-hot desert, equipped with a stick.

Eventually, the new lot of people stopped being Europeans on Extended Holiday and became Australians. The changes are subtle, but deep, caused by the mind-stretching expanses of nothingness and eerie quiet, where a person can sit perfectly still and look deep inside themselves to the core of their essence, their reasons for being, and the necessity of checking inside your boots every morning for fatal surprises. They also picked up the most finely tuned sense of irony in the world, and the Aboriginal gift for making up stories. Be warned.

There is also the matter of the beaches. Australian beaches are simply the nicest and best in the entire world. Although anyone actually venturing into the sea will have to contend with sharks, stinging jellyfish, stonefish (a fish which sits on the bottom of the sea, pretends to be a rock, and has venomous barbs sticking out of its back that will kill just from the pain) and surfboarders. However, watching a beach sunset is worth the risk.

As a result of all this hardship, dirt, thirst, and wombats, you would expect Australians to be a dour lot. Instead, they are genial, jolly, cheerful, and always willing to share a kind word with a stranger, unless they are an American. Faced with insurmountable odds and impossible problems, they smile disarmingly and look for a stick. Major engineering feats have been performed with sheets of corrugated iron, string, and mud. Alone of all the races on earth, they seem to be free from the 'Grass is Greener on the other side of the fence' syndrome, and roundly proclaim that Australia is, in fact, the other side of that fence. They call the land "Oz", "Godzone" (a verbal contraction of "God's Own Country") and "Best bloody place on earth, bar none, strewth." The irritating thing about this is they may be right. There are some traps for the unsuspecting traveller, though. Do not under any circumstances suggest that the beer is imperfect, unless you are comparing it to another kind of Australian beer. Do not wear a Hawaiian shirt. Religion and Politics are safe topics of conversation (Australians don't care too much about either) but Sport is a minefield.
The only correct answer to "So, howdya' like our country, eh?" is "Best {insert your own regional swear word here} country in the world!".

It is very likely that, on arriving, some cheerful Australians will 'adopt' you on your first night, and take you to a pub where Australian Beer is served. Despite the obvious danger, do not refuse. It is a form of initiation rite. You will wake up late the next day with an astonishing hangover, a foul-taste in your mouth, and wearing strange clothes. Your hosts will usually make sure you get home, and waive off any legal difficulties with "It's his first time in Australia, so we took him to the pub.", to which the policeman will sagely nod and close his notebook. Be sure to tell the story of these events to every other Australian, you encounter, adding new embellishments at every stage, and noting how strong the beer was. Thus you will be accepted into this unique culture. Most Australians are now urban dwellers, having discovered the primary use of electricity, which is air-conditioning and refrigerators.

Typical Australian sayings:
*"G'Day!"
*"It's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick."
*"She'll be right."
*"And down from Kosciusko, where the pine clad ridges raise their torn and rugged battlements on high, where the air is clear as crystal, and the white stars fairly blaze at midnight in the cold and frosty sky. And where, around the overflow, the reed beds sweep and sway to the breezes, and the rolling plains are wide. The Man from Snowy River is a household word today, and the stockmen tell the story of his ride."

Tips to Surviving Australia:
*Don't ever put your hand down a hole for any reason whatsoever. We mean it.
*The beer is stronger than you think, regardless of how strong you think it is.
*Always carry a stick.
*Air-conditioning.
*Do not attempt to use Australian slang, unless you are a trained linguist and good in a fist fight.
*Thick socks.
*Take good maps. Stopping to ask directions only works when there are people nearby.
*If you leave the urban areas, carry several litres of water with you at all times, or you will die.
* Even in the most embellished stories told by Australians, there is always a core of truth that it is unwise to ignore.

See Also: "Deserts: How to die in them", "The Stick: Second most useful thing ever" and "Poisonous and Venomous arachnids, insects, animals, trees, shrubs, fish and sheep of Australia, volumes 1-42"
- Douglas Adams

Mooce Baby is having a giveaway

In my blog reading travels I have gathered a larger number of blogs that I like to read regularly. They are listed down the side of this blog here - mostly so that I just need to come to my blog and see whos updated and go off and read.  There are a huge number of fantastic blogs out there and I just seem to keep collecting them. But believe it or not I do read them all (at the moment anyway, being off work etc).

Well Ive found another blog that is really cool and (even better), they are a local person (local to me here in Brisbane).  Mooce Baby.  Im enjoying reading the blog entries and she makes the most fabulous childrens clothes.  With a background in fashion design, you just know these clothes are gonna be gorgeous!

I thought Id let you know that the Mooce Baby blog is having a giveaway at the moment which is a great reason to head over there, and you will wanna stay and read once you get there! Go check out the Mooce Baby Blog and the Mooce Baby shop/website.

New Designs from Thea and Sami

One of the local fabric designers that I love  - Thea and Sami - has released a sneak peak at her new fabric range Cottage Garden coming out soon. I cant wait to get my hands on some of this (though given my cluster stuffup finances at the moment it may have to wait a month or two.).  Isnt it lovely? I can see bags and cushions and depending upon the shade of purple possibly bench cushions for the dining table. (Photo courtesy of Thea and Sami blog)

You see we have a dining table that is large and wooden and we have benches instead of chairs (we dont entertain formally - we are very informal).  Its in the room with the Iris wall (see my post about my budha for the colour).  The benches can get a little hard if youre sitting for any length of time and while I love the current cushions, I could always do with some more! If the colour doesnt match....well there is always brown and possibly red (yes red actually goes well with the iris. I wouldnt have thought so either until I saw it accidentally one day). Or maybe a footstool for my office....ooh the possiblities. What fun!

My sewing adventure

I actually managed to spend most of yesterday afternoon sewing! I had to first clean out the sewing room because we had junked a bunch of stuff in there after the Christmas hoards left. Did I mention we still have my Godson, his Partner and Baby M staying with us. Yes they are now living with us for a while. So suddenly we have a houseful of people, a real little family. Anyway, this is why having the house to myself and actually having sewing time was so special.

So I will show you what I have made in a minute. Any experienced sewers will probably laugh that it took me all afternoon.  Its a Passport Holder. I losely used this tutorial.  When I say losely used, I mean, I basically read it then winged it myself.  Wasnt hard actually. But Im still a nervous sewer so I did my usual - I made it out of paper first. That way once I had the dimensions correct, I just used the paper as a pattern to cut.  It worked well.

So here are the pictures. See if you can work out the thing I did wrong. Oh, Fabric is by the wonderful PippiJoe - isnt it super cute?

Front

Back

 

Inside

 

Outside

Inside filled (the top left is supposed to look like a boarding pass -
dont look too closely its actually some movie tickets... heh)

So did you catch the mistake? Yep I put the button on the wrong side. For us English speaking peeps the hook should be on the right hand side and the button should be on the left. So when its closed, its going to look either Japanese (well I think it IS cute enough LOL), or like Ive made it with the fabric print upside down - until you open it of course. Once you open it you just realise the button is on the wrong side.  All I can think is Ive been spending a lot of my time reading Manga lately so reading the book backwards is almost a habit now.

I made it for a friend of mine who is flying out for a trip tomorrow.  I was supposed to have lunch with her today but Ive come down with a bad cold/virus and dont want to give the virus to her so Ive had to cancel lunch. Insert big Sad Face!  It means she wont have it to travel with.  Im sad about that but thats OK. Shes only going for a week, and I know she plans to travel a lot more so she can take it next time.  I may even make her another one in the meantime - something a little darker cause Ive realised since I made it also that the white colour shows every damn mark - probably not good for travelling. I may even put the button on correctly on the next one...

Today feels like a sewing day

I have the house entirely to myself until I have to go get Helen from work. YAY. I should be doing housework (bleh), but I think I might sew instead. I have a few projects that I wanted to tackle and put off while we had so many people around the house over the holiday period. Like a passport holder for a friend (who incidentally is going overseas on Thursday so I really should do that one today I think), a doorstop, soft toys, a wallet for myself, baby stuff for my cousin, yoga feet/slippers, cushions with Thea's gorgeous fabric and a bunch more.

Oh and clothes - but they will have to wait till I get patterns and fabric. Im looking like I will probably be back at work in Feb so was thinking I might 'reinvent' myself in the mean time.  Sounds fabulous. Dont have the money to do too much though, but I thought maybe some new, sewn by me, flattering clothes might help with the back to work nerves (which are considerable I can assure you). How does one work out what suits you and then what to make? I wonder if there is a website or online course or something for this? I cant be the only person who has ever wanted to do this. Surely not everyone is born stylish and funky - I dont think I was but I desperately want to be. Being overweight doesnt help I guess. But surely us bigger girls can look good too?  Any pointers for me?

I think I will leave that research for another day though, else I will end up in front of the PC instead of sewing. And today I want to make something!

Im learning to Knit

I know. Who starts to learn to knit at 37?  Well, as you know Im getting into all things crafty. I love it. Ive been doing jewellery and beading for years but lately Im starting with the sewing again and of course reading reading reading. And that means that knitting has come across my sphere of attention.  Looks easy says I. Mum used to knit when I was a kid. Shed turn out a jumper for me in a single night (true, she was lightening fast).  She used to say it was good when she was stressed cause it kept her hands busy and her mind relatively quiet.  Sounds good to me. I cant even seem to sit still long enough to watch a tv episode at the moment. So I thought Knitting might help.

I didnt reckon with the fact that I am apparently unco! Knitting is just not working for me.  The photo above shows my best work yet. You cant tell but it is supposed to be something called rib knit - is that what knit 1 purl 1 is?  Ive taken it apart about 15 times and started again. I can cast on OK, nothing fancy its just like knitting but you put the stitches back on the needle right? Yep.  I think Ive managed to work out purl. It took me a while to get my head around it. Im wondering if I still dont have it right and thats my issue.  Because knit 1 purl 1 is a nightmare to me. To start with I was purling with the yarn on the wrong side - which meant I was somehow not only tying my knitting up in knots but was gaining 2 stitches for one. Not good. Pull apart. Try again.  Pull apart.  I finally found this website that showed me what I was doing wrong - I needed to pull the yarn through to the front before purling. OK, I think I got into the swing of that. 

But it still doesnt look right. Tension? Purling is wrong still?  I was trying to make this pair of fingerless gloves. I think I will go back to just knitting one row, purling one row and make a scarf  and then when I work that out, move on to gloves....I know. I didnt realise the gloves werent a beginner type thing.  Ive started reading the following sites in detail:   Craft Leftovers,  Knitting Help, Learn to Knit (UK), Patons How to Knit, Learn to Knit (USA).    Any help is greatly appreciated at this point. So if you know of a site or can help, please...please...comment.

At least its keeping my hands busy and I can sit and watch a movie in one sitting.....and practice makes perfect right?

Friends for dinner and a moment of peace

Helen is still on holidays and of course I am still not working at the moment too. We have been doing lots of stuff (Im learning to knit - more on that another time) but tonight we have some friends over for dinner. Nothing fancy, just some curries and good company.  The photo is of my Budha. My friend brought him back from Tibet for me after searching high and low for one that he felt was perfect from me. It was blessed by a monk in the temple there. Buddha sits on my dining table normally along with a large Ganesha - I dont know if they normally go together but in our house (which is actually non religious specific) we love any statue of beauty and they seem to play together well here!

Tonight Budha is presiding over our meal to ensure all is happy and well with us.  I couldnt help photographing him the other day in the afternoon sun with the blinds making patterns on the dark wood of the table and our Iris coloured wall behind him. Its doing it again right now so I wanted to show you a small piece of my peace. I hope all is well in your world too. Namasté!

A fantastic giveaway by Happily Ever Artist

A friend of mine Sally is having a giveaway over at her blog - Happily Ever Artist to celebrate her 1 year of blogging.  Sally makes gorgeous handmade beads like the ones you see here. The ones you see here are MINE! I bought them from Sally and look at them frequently. They are mesmerising and so beautiful.  (Thanks to Sally for the photos - you photograph them so much better than I seem to!).  So if you love beauty in the shape of glass, go see her blog for the competition, and her website for what she has for sale - she may even remake the ones you see here if you ask her nicely!

Swarovski's cats

This is so cute. Im not entirely sure what cats have got to do with Swarovski's but its a really cute (and clever) piece of animation. Im guessing (and I could be wrong) that the cats names and colours are the names and colours of their new range....its the only connection I can make.  (thank you to coloradiction for the link)

OUCH!

This is what happens when you dont put the wrist strap of the Wii remote on your wrist while you are playing tennis.  Thank Goodness for Home Insurance!

Valori Wells...and my travels to quilt-dom

Weve had a rare moment of peace this morning with all of our visitors having left for other parts for a while (some temporarily - they will be back). Its cool and raining on and off and just realy quiet. There are the sounds of birds and cicadas and the occasional plane (normal). I spent a lovely hour sitting on the couch reading my latest Homespun and watching Helen playing the new Wii Fit (very amusing). Thomas (my puppy) was at my feet and it was just such a lovely way to spend an hour.

I was dreaming of all the lovely things that I can make. Ive never been overly intersted in making quilts. For some reason they all seem to be very dark in colours - browns, rusty reds, Burnt Orange, Olive Greens - Just too dark and rustic for my personal taste. I am totally in awe of the skill that goes into these quilts - the creativity and just the pure love and work is inspiring. And so I have been reading about quilts anyway, just because I find the people who make them worthy of my attention. (picture above courtesy of dont look now)

And in reading of these outstanding artists, I have come across a number of people who actually make quilts that I want. No dark colours, all beauty and light and brightness. And Modern! One of my issues with the quilts is that they are often that traditional style that really works in the shabby chic style houses and the old cottages and places like that. I love looking at that style. But its not the way I decorate. Our decorating style is very modern - clean lines and empty spaces - Lots of white space - and these quilts just look ridiculous in that sort of environment. But I have found quilts that are modern and fresh colours and just gorgeous.

One of these artists is Kellie Wulfsohn from "Dont Look Now". I bought the latest Homespun because I saw that she had a gorgeous quilt pattern in it called Little Monsters (picture above). THIS is the kind of quilt I can get into. Little Master M may actually be old enough for it by the time I manage to make it. I have a lot to learn first.

Another of these artists is a fabric designer called Valori Wells. I found her blog (which is a thing of beauty in its own right - you really need to go have a read. Her photos of Christmas are just stunning). Valori has a beautiful range of fabrics in the style that I like - bright happy colours, ways of using it in a modern way. She also has a download of some free quilt patterns called 'Urban'. I was exstatic to find these patterns because they are something I can see not only working in my house, but something that I feel I could actually achieve with my current level of skills (or lack thereof).

So Imagine my surprise and excitement when this morning I open an email to find that I have won a competition that I entered months ago on Valori's blog. (I love this community which seems to give so much to each other.) I have won some samples of Valori's beautiful fabric - Im unsure what as yet, but I will post again when I recieve it! Thank You So Much Valori! I will treasure your fabric and hopefully put it to good use! (both photos courtesy of Valori Well's' blog)

Its made me think about the community and how they share so much. I have very limited skills at this point, but I think, as I go along, I shall try to create some tutorials, or something to give back to the community in the same way as they are giving to me.  I have a distinct feeling that as I go along I will be making more things than I will have any use for - simply for the enjoyment of  making them. Maybe I can give those away too. I wonder if there are any charities that take those sorts of things? I will have to reasearch that!  If you know of any (preferably Australian to start I think), then please let me know!

Such Beauty...I want

Erin McKeown's beautiful house and beautiful music. Check out her website for more. In particular, go to "watch" - you can pay to view her cabin fever concerts - concerts held in her beautiful house, next to her beautiful stream.  She uses the money to make her music and keep herself out of the record company's hands.  Kudos to that!