A new home for the girls.

 A good friend of mine was looking for something to fill a large blank wall. He offered his services as temporary custodian of my Elements series. Thanks to Rob's brilliant carpentry skills, they were hung to perfection.

They came up a treat. 

They look so much better in a nice Victorian house than in my grotty studio.

My Latest Obssesion.

#1 Cushion

Of all the things I'm good at, Business Studies definitely is NOT one of them.

It is, however, an area that I really need to know something about. So I am doing a course.

To help penetrate the impenetrable jibber-jabber that is businessy stuff, I am creating a new range of homewares, screen printed with my designs.

Product number one, the cushion. This one is a demo model made with fabric from my own stash. The front is a light denim and the back is linen.

Horizontal view.

Back view of #1 Cushion

 So here are some of the stunning fabrics that I have to work with for my first range.

A Delicious Pure Linen

A Gorgeous Linen/Cotton blend.

Cutting time at the Studio

Can't wait to ink this baby up!

I've been spending some quality time at the cutting table.
-a big stack of cushion fronts cut out. (tick)

And at the computer, working on my images.
-designs finished. (tick)

Said images are , as we speak, being applied. (bestill my beating heart). 

Next stop, printsville!

News from the hills.

Had a phone call from my girl today...yay!!! Apparently she has started a knitting craze at work. She found a stash of knitting needles, crochet hooks, yarn etc. and they all sit around knitting and chatting after dinner each night.
She tried to make a sock, but it turned out to be way to big for her. She is using it as a cover for her chainsaw. She promised to send photos, stay tuned.

That's my girl.

Snippets of Persuasion.

Reading a Jane Austen novel can be like eating a super rich chocolate cake. You need to stop and savour every little bit. I'm only up to Chapter 3, and already, I have to put the book down and share this gem with you.

The story so far....... Sir Walter Elliot of Kellynch Hall in Somersetshire, baronet, is facing financial ruin. He must either;

a) moderate his flamboyant lifestyle

b) divide and sell part of his estate,

c) lease Kellynch Hall and move somewhere more modest. Perhaps to Bath, rather than London, a much safer place for a gentleman in his predicament:- he might there be important at comparatively little expense.

All three options are to Sir Walter outrageously preposterous.

His equally flamboyant daughter Elizabeth offered a few suggestions. They could;

a) cut back on donations to certain charities

b) not go ahead with the drawing room renovations

c) not send her sister Anne her annual present.

What a girl, all heart.

Mr. Shepard, a civil and cautious lawyer, was pushing for option c) rent the estate. He put forth the idea of doing it in the strictest of secrecy, perhaps to a wealthy naval officer.

Sir Walter expressed his distaste for sailors in no uncertain terms;

I have two strong grounds of objection to it. First, as being the means of bringing persons of obscure birth into undue distinctions, and raising men to honours which their fathers and grandfathers never dreamt of; 

and secondly, as it cuts up a man's youth and vigour most horribly; a sailor grows old sooner than any other man; I have observed it all my life. A man is in greater danger in the navy of being insulted by the rise of one whose father, his father might have disdained to speak to, and of becoming prematurely and object of disgust himself, than in any other line.

Goes on to explain how he once mistook a certain Admiral Baldwin for a man in his sixties, when he was only forty.

...the most deplorable looking personage you can imagine, his face the colour of mahogany, rough and rugged to the last degree, all lines and wrinkles, nine grey hairs of a side, and nothing but a dab of powder at top.

...they are all knocked about, and exposed to every climate, and every weather, till they are not fit to be seen. It is a pity they are not knocked on the head at once, before they reach Admiral Baldwin's age.

And I thought it was difficult to secure a good rental property in modern day Melbourne!

What a Handsome Lad......... Thats My Boy!

When a hulking figure in overalls appeared in the doorway this morning, I nearly jumped out of my skin. First day of TAFE today.

What a fine figure of a young man he makes. I must confess to shedding a quiet tear. He looks so grown up.

Decked out in high vis overalls and steel capped boots the size of  motor boats, he is just itching to get dirty.

Thats My Boy!

Fly My Pretty, Fly!

When one of your babies flies the coup, it can be pretty scary. Emotions running hot and cold........ from both of us.

But some opportunities are just too good to pass up. My first-born decided to defer uni for a year and get a job. And what a job she got. She is now a full time staff member in this fabulous place. 

It is an outdoor education centre up in the high country. She is doing a month of intense training, to take groups on adventure hikes.

Adventures include skiing, horse riding, kayaking and the like.

It will be a huge year for her, but I know she will rise to the challange, and love it!

Her own little log cabin.

Some of the residents

Sally the Goat.

She'll be looking after this handsome feller.

This place even has its own scratching post!

The Gear Shed.

The Saddlery.

I gorged myself silly on the fruit in the orchard.

There is always just one more.

Now that is an oven!

A huge thank you to my fabulous brother, Des, who drove us up and back. My car would never have made it.

While the young 'uns were busy on their orientation, we were able to enjoy the ambiance.

Wrap Skirt with a Twist.

Here is one of the many wrap skirts that I have made from Nicole Mallalieu's fabulous book, You Sew Girl.

This skirt has made a previous blog appearance, on me. But it looks much better on my lovely daughter.

Another Day, Another Adventure.

This morning I stumbled out of bed in the usual bleary eyed manner. Made a cup of tea and wandered out into the back garden.

Imagine my surprise! The neighbour's lovely old bluestone shed had come to visit.

Pumpkin Time.

Which one first? Wee B Little or Potimarron?

If you have been reading my blog, you may remember that I went a bit silly with buying seeds from Diggers last spring.

There were so many interesting varieties of all the veges that I love to grow, and some that I hadn't thought of. There were even some that I had never heard of.

So of course I had to try as many as possible. The greenhouse at work was full of my experimental crops. Seedlings were in abundance. Luckily I have an understanding boss. When they were big enough to plant out I had to dig up most of my yard, and make up some extra planter boxes to accommodate them. Carrots are growing in an old bath, capsicums in an old cabinet.....

Friends, family members and pretty much anybody that came within cooeee had excess seedlings thrust upon them. Thanks for your help everyone, hope your gardens are thriving.

There were so many lovely varieties of pumpkins to choose from. But I was strong and only bought four packets of seeds. The miniature varieties are already ripe. Tonight I picked the first one. The choice was, Potimarron or Wee B Little.

The winner was potimarron. A lovely French pumpkin with a delicious chestnuty flavoured flesh. I had a slice with my dinner steamed with a dollop of butter, salt & pepper. It was divine! 

Tomorrow I might try this,  roasted potimarron

Yep, it really is that colour. No Photoshopping.

My little buddy, Gyppie models for scale.

Jamarch's Menagerie.

Historical fiction is not for everybody. But I really enjoy a good fictional romp through real events. This one brought to life the characters, lives, sights, sounds and smells of its time.

Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch is an engaging story set in the eighteen hundreds. Jaffy Brown spends his early childhood surviving poverty and street life in London's East End. He lives with his mother in an overcrowded dwelling where they manage a meager existence. 

Things change, when eight year old Jaffy chances upon an escaped tiger. Jaffy pats the tiger on the nose and it picks him up in its mouth and carries him a short distance. He is rescued by the owner of the beast, one Charles Jamarch. 

Strangely, this part of the novel is actually true. German born Charles Jamrach was a well known dealer of wild animals in London at the time. He would pay sailors to bring him exotic animals from all over the world and sell them to zoos, naturalists and private collectors. And there was an actual Bengal tiger that escaped its enclosure and picked up an eight year old boy who patted its nose. The boy was rescued by Jamarch himself, and was unhurt. There is a statue to commemorate the event in Tobacco Dock in Wapping.

Back to the story, Jamarch gives Jaffy a job where he stays and looks after the animals. He makes friends with another young employee, Tim. The boys, and Tim's twin sister grow up together and Jaffy falls in love with the sister, Ishbel.

At the age of sixteen Jaffy is employed, with Tim by Dan Rymer, an agent for Jamarch. They are to travel on The Essex, a whaling ship to the Dutch East Indies to catch a dragon. I'm assuming that they went to what is now Indonesia to catch a kimodo dragon, the world's largest lizard.

And catch a dragon they do. After that disaster strikes, and as sailors are traditionally a superstitious lot, they blame the dragon. The Essex was a real whaling ship, and the events that happened to both ship and crew are also true.