As I feared, it has not been easy to regularly update this random blog. I have not written an entry for the past month. Terrible!
So what has been inspiring me?
Inspiration has been solidly based around swaps. I've got a serious case of all things owlie at the moment, and have been creating stuffies. For the unindoctrinated (this was me just a few months ago), a stuffie is simple a toy made from fabric and filled with stuffing. They can be just about anything and are not just for children. I've been drafting patterns for owls and then creating them. I've used a variety of owl images to get me going, including the patterns from a handbag that is simply printed with black and white owls, images from magazines of people's owl collections (I must get me one of those), and anatomical drawings from the net. I was also send a cute, squishy owl in a swap from Queensland. It is green and polka dotty! It is lovely. Pictures and patterns will be displayed soon.
The first owl I made did not work at all. I think it can be transformed into a fish and salvaged (many thanks go to my hubbie for this tip - I was happy to throw it out). It was disappointing, but has a bright, oceanic future. The next owl was made with a caramel brown paisley fabric and is simply too lovely to give away. It was placed by my hubbie on our bed! It must be cute. He also has ideas that it will make a good plane pillow next time we fly. I just need to finish its wings so it can fly... After these two attempts, I have completed an owl to send and swap, and will put it in the mail tomorrow. Owl post headed for Germany. I have another owl stuffie to make to fulfill a swap obligation, and am yet to decide his colouring.
I've been looking at lots of our photos lately too, and have found inspiration from these. A local shop has cheap prints at the moment, and we have a few thousand photos to develop. Particularly, I've felt nostalgic about my holiday to France in 2007. The "I heart France" tee-shirt I'm wearing has also contributed! So I've created a Parisian postcard swap. Click on the icon to view details... Join up if you will.
My hubbie is away at the moment, and I've been doing lots of reading in his absence. I joined the library last weekend! It was so satisfying to be given my new card. I'm not sure why I waited for more than twelve months to join since moving to this area. I love libraries... The chaos of books shoved onto shelves by readers out of order, the anticipation of a good find, rediscovering favourite reads, not feeling guilty if I don't finish a book when it doesn't grab me. For February, the library had "surprise" romance books for borrowing. They were wrapped in heart gift wrapping and could be opened once borrowed. I chickened out in fear I would get a Mills & Boon. Maybe they will have them when I return the books on the weekend...
