almost wordless wednesday.

Grass seed heads in my garden, trying thier best to pose in an artistic way.
xkate

garden secrets

I sometimes get up early-before my 2 kids!! I do a bit of garden wandering and photography. Birds are about but not much else and it is peaceful and a calm beginning to usually a far from calm day! Hopefully regardless of what else happens afterwards, this moment of stillness and quiet will allow me to have some perspective about what follows.

But that is not why I do it, I just do it because in the moment I think it is so beautiful, little toadstools surrounded by grass blades decorated with dew drops...little secrets just waiting to be seen, to be appreciated...noticing.
xkate

my creative space

I have been doing a whole lot of op shopping, to replace some borrowed furniture and lookit what I found! A big squishy-oh-so-comfy-couch! It doesn't really team with the theme of retro but for once I don't care...


So my newest creative space is 'couch' with this tangle of crochet scarf yarn...don't you hate it when you run out of yarn half way through? I am trying to combine this plain colour with this verigated one to stretch it further and get a scarf out of it...fingers crossed.

While opping' I also got a bunch of second hand craft books. While leafing through the mostly hilarious projects I stumbled across this illustration- an old story book graphic creates a new pattern...it looks so sweet, lovely idea don't you think?

xkate
head to http://www.kootoyoo.com/ for more creative goodness than you can poke a stick at!!

garden explosion

Once the soil is rich with organic and the seeds are planted, in this season there is not much more to do...except keep moving! Why? So a creeping cucumber doesn't grow up your leg! Can you spot the tap amongst this mass of vine? It's becoming a struggle to turn it on!

Checking out the growth this morning...does this vegetable look friendly to you??

or this one?

and these marks left by some kind of insect fascinate me...what did it? Why?


and here the creeper creeps up on itself!!

xkate

moustache power

Another joyful night was had by all at the Avid little market. Thanks all who popped in! I especially liked seeing some new stalls full of lovely goodies and the return of some old favourites.
But now for a quick public health message:

'Is your moustache thinning and pale? Insipid and wan? Have you been fruitlessly searching for a faux moustache ? This is your moment because Bec of little brown dog has finally come up with an affordable solution for the upper lip follicle-y challenged...'

The comfortable and very very sensible elastic attached moustache! Here she models how thoughtful and intelligent wearers appear with one on, hee, hee! She also creates the most beautiful clothing which you can check out here...http://littlebrowndoggie.blogspot.com/

Now for a date with some sponge bob and my lads on my big squishy comfy new(2nd hand) couch!
xkate

Marketeering

Yikes -I gotta fly! I have on my brand new retro dress, have a plate of caramel slice and my crafty goodness packed in the car...so hope to see folk at Avid Reader tonight!
For more information check out our bloggy
http://www.lovelythingmakers.blogspot.com/
xkate

my creative space

I had 'one of those weeks' with my kids...broken sleep, waiting for eternity at doctors and so I do not have a lot of energy to put into this post...but this tiredness did make me think its time to rejoice publicly in my one true love-TEA!
Over the years this love of tea has attracted some funny creatures to my home...


I am whittling down my possessions(again!!op shopping addiction requires constant clear outs) but paused to photograph these before they flew the coop...

I do love a tea cozy...even the name and if not for tea I don't think I would ever truly wake up!

xkate
as always for more creative thursdayness head to
http://www.kootoyoo.com/

train sales woman

I have been on a scarf making fad lately, crocheting here, there and everywhere. Today while waiting for a train, crafting, a lady struck up a conversation with me. She asked me what I was making and after I explained it was a scarf, I asked her whether she thought it should be called 'pumpkin soup scarf.' She agreed and then followed that up with...
"I want to buy it."
Oh. oh? really? Okay. Blush. Warm fuzzys.


Taking the food labelling of crafts thing further I have been calling this (un-finished) scarf berries and cream(this is the only way to make my scarf crocheting interesting to my two lil boys) It is on top of my new (old) kitchen chair. The lovely folk who loaned me their furniture for the past year are back and I have been on the hunt for some retro replacements.

I have a bit of a thing for teak and vinyl so I was pretty pleased with these black chairs too. My kitchen has a quirky mismatched retro look now.
Hopefully I will soon have some new retro furniture to snap away at as I trawl the second hand dealers in the coming weeks...
And last but not least check out these bats...this image doesn't do it justice at all, there were more than I have ever seen, flying over continuously for about half an hour tonight! Is that a sign of something?

xkate

in the quiet...

After the storm, the quiet is quieter. I am rejoicing in the sky when it is clear, in the sky when it is grey, simply noticing.
xkate

my creative space

As always head over to http://www.kootoyoo.com/for more creative sharing...
xkate

wet, wet, wet!

Jack, Lu and I were walking along a lagoon path near our place yesterday and quite literally had to watch our steps as these(we think!) little Bibrons toadlets were leaping across the path...we have had SO much rain, dams filling around and it's lovely to hear the sound of happy froggys and toads. You may like to go here to hear their cute sound yourself...
http://frogs.org.au/frogs/species/Pseudophryne/bibroni/



It's been so damp though, takes everything ages to dry...I painted these images in oil paint(on large buttons) a couple of weeks ago and they are still drying!



And I had to keep chasing the sun to get my recently dyed wool to dry too. But it created some pretty little scenes...here's the skeins resting on the laundry floor getting a spot of late afternoon sun, and below they are hung out on my front porch catching some sea breeze. They turned out very luscious red!

thanks all for the sweet comments lately, it absolutely makes my day!
xkate

my creative space...

Its that time again-creative space- fun! What's the creative space anyway? Is it the drift of thoughts that starts with a challenge and leads to a beautiful answer? Is it the room, cluttered with materials, where objects are assembled, ripped apart, snipped, tacked together, then somehow elegantly put back together again? Is it the walk in the morning where a kingfisher was observed, it's wings shining turquoise? Where does it begin, become for others?

Creativity comes to me via these word worlds...

Appreciating someones designs is creative at times...and lastly, I have to share this,

Fozzie bear?! Well, without ridiculous but very watchable shows like the Muppet show, or things like sponge bob and 30 rock, I would never stop and sit... and nothing hand made would get created!
xkate
for more spaces head to http://www.kootoyoo.com/

my creative space

Found these beautiful green vintage buttons in bag I bought second hand on Monday, it was my lucky day.Sorting through them was wonderful and these ones I popped into a jar so I could look at them while I worked. I keep clinking them together against the sides of glass jar, the noise, the colours, its very relaxing...hmm. Sew, sew, clink, clink. Simple pleasure.
Hopefully I will see some of you at Avid Reader tomorrow night?
xkate
To see more creative space head here...
http://www.kootoyoo.com/2010/02/my-creative-space_18.html

that 70s fabric...

I spotted a funky 70s curtain a few weeks ago in a second hand store and bought it home excited and pleased. However in a moment of impulsive oddness, I put it out to sell at a garage sale last weekend.
Thank goodness it didn't sell because I don't know what I was thinking-I would have cried! How could I resist creating something out material like this? For instance in the image above notice there is a cat with a bird perched on it's hat, sitting atop walrus' head, happilly dangling a line near a 'no fishing sign'?

And a penguin as cute as this one? So amusingly strange! I cut it so carefully to try and preserve the funniest bits and made a handbag with it.
I was speaking to a friend of mine today and we were both mentioning how sometimes its very stimulating working with recycled materials. Perhaps because there is the creative challenge of using the material well, and having to design something with the item as it is provided to you, not the item you wish you might have...A limitation is really is helpful for me creatively, I usually get overwhelmed in fabric shops and avoid them partly for that reason, the selection is too much. And also you are just not going to find a piece like this at Spotlight.

The next Avid market night is coming up, first for the year, this Friday, the 26th.
I will try to find time to make pesto dip because thanks to the rain, storms and constant warmth my basil has gone bezerkers!

You can see it here amongst the tomato and cucumber plants in my tiny permaculture patch.
Mixing tomatoes with basil makes for delicious meals and confuses bugs like fruit flies with the mixture of scents.
yum
xkate

inundated

They have visited my lounge room, my kitchen and now my very own bedroom...

a cute green friend, this time on the base of my bedside lamp. I know one is under my bed right now because I can hear it landing as it hops across the floor!! I have lived in Brisbane now for about 13+ years and not once has a frog entered a home I have lived in. It is the most heart warming thing.

I was taking more notice of my garden today, and I felt very happy and inspired by the beauty all round...


Moments pass by so fast. Un noticed. So fragile and small and lovely.




Now that the weather has briefly cooled, I have been wanting to do things! So using some vintage buttons I ordered in from the U.S and a whole bunch of fabric I bought second hand, I have been sewing...

So far I have 2 bags made and another 3 cut out...have had some suggestions from friends and have experimented and found a way to make a bag which can be turned inside out for 2 different looks...but wait -there's more...vintage buttons hidden inside...such a satisfying project!
Now one last thing, 'yay! the lovely thing makers market evenings are kicking off again', Friday the 26th-Boundary Street, West end, 5.30 til 8, Avid Reader...
xkate

backing up

My computer screen was flashing like a disco light today, occasionally fading to white and basically looking like it was about to break down altogether! So I decided to back up all my photos, pronto, which meant I had a brief look through the last few years of images. And apart from oodles of photos of all kinds of lovely folk, family and friends and funny things there was a huge amount of images of my creative bits and bobs.


It was odd looking through the old craft images, sort of like looking at high school photos, embarrassing but sweet too. I wouldn't know exactly how much I have made, gifted, sold and traded, but LOTS!! There are photos of the first markets I ever went to and even before I went to a market. I started off truly when I exchanged this oven mitt, made from 2 old felted jumpers for art therapy classes.

I made things for years before this of course, but I began to see my work might have some possible financial value and worth. And I began to keep some kind of record...and here warts and all are some of my early things...




P.S-i hope no one tried to go to the wetlands festival...it truly was a wet-land here on Sunday, and it was rained out and cancelled, my apologies if anyone went along.
xkate

new things

Please excuse this really ordinary photo!

It shows a crochet stitch, spike stitch, which is used in the project 'Sienna headband' from the beautiful book vintage crochet
I talked about this book earlier here....
http://dashrobin.blogspot.com/2009/11/treasures.html

It is a slightly challenging stitch. Simply 'spike' your crochet hook below the row you are on, yarn over, then draw through and pull the yarn up to meet the top of your work, yarn over again and draw through both loops on hook and continue...or if that made no sense, google it!

This was my first attempt but I have since being playing around with colours that are only very subtly different and the results are very interesting. Its wonderful how one new stitch or tip from someone can open up a whole field of new ideas sometimes...


Apart from crocheting my heart out, I did go into the city and shifted around and re stocked my supply of goodies at Bleeding Heart too, so it's all there for you to see at Bleeding Heart cafe, in the school of arts building on Ann street in the city.



Expect to see more changes soon as the wall behind is going to be painted(YAY!) and some more exciting things are planned...



Miss dish now has set up shop too, and her dramatic and beautiful creations are well worth investigating.


I am reminded of burlesque style outfits when I see her rich luscious pieces but they would be suitable for more down to earth fashion too...sometimes its nice to jazz up a plain jane outfit with something contrastingly pretty, do you agree?


This is such a long blog but before I sign off, one more thing;
This weekend, this Sunday actually, at the Nudgee foreshore there is a music festival in celebration of wetlands and the migratory birds who visit them. It sounds like a lovely mellow event for big and little folk, and celebrates conservation of these important habitats and the diverse species of travelling birds who live in them. It also combines another love of mine, world music, with performances by varied performers...check out the details here...

http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/BCC:BASE::pc=PC_5999

xkate