Getting to know and love my town.

Out and about my local area recently, getting to know my town and the streets near by. I've discovered parks with bbqs. I've stumbled along a bmx bike track with crazy looking hills. A pomegranate tree was also spotted. And heaps of old lovely houses. And out of the way coffee shops. And buildings transformed for new purposes.

But remnants of the old uses of the buildings remain. Such as in these signs. Like them?

My maiden name was mercer, which means one who deals in fine cloth or linen. It is from the French and is linked with textiles.

And in the fantastic stationary store next to the scene of my morning coffee, these little fellas were poking about. Delicious.

Fabric samples and what to do with them

An early birthday gift came my way yesterday - only two months early. It was a beautiful 50cm piece of olive green owl fabric. Thanks Mum! So, what to do with it? Well, first I held it tight and ahhhhhhhed a little. Then a studied the cute little faces of the differing owls. Then I flicked through a few books and pondered making a bag. Then I stacked it up with another length of new fabric with a similar colour scheme. Then I ahhhhhhhhed a little more. Cushions perhaps? An apron trim. Pockets on a denim skirt. An owl even. What to do, what to do?

And the floral fabric? I'm in love with it. It was the inspiration for the pinwheel quilt I started in my dreaded patchwork class. I simply adore the addition of coral flowers and soft lilac on the green. Really, this metre of fabric should go into a quilt, but I can see a skirt forming. Oh, the tugs on my creative heart...

Today I plan to contemplate these important things a little more, while pouring over the new Frankie if it is out. My subscription has expired, and with current subscriptions of MixTape and Peppermint, I'm not sure I should be subscribing to anything new. Plus I'm keen on regularly reading InsideOut and Real Living at the moment. But as it is my last day of no-work-due-to-sore-knee, perhaps I'll splurge. buy sushi and read new magazines. Sounds like a nice afternoon, perhaps I'll do it snuggling under this old quilt?

Owlie, owlie, owlie, owl

Lots of sewing, lots of owls. I've just finished the third owl stuffie and am becoming more confident in my stuffie abilities. I love the character that their faces have, and that a very different owl can result from a combination of fabric prints and colours. Two of them are headed overseas. Another will find it's home in the Parkes's place (as mentioned previously). I'm contemplating making a few more, perhaps a gifties for siblings. I have a sister or two who may appreciate an owl for a stuffie.

What is it about owls that is so appealing? That they tend to be reclusive and evasive? That they command power and respect? They they feature in Harry Potter? Owls are generally loved by many craftsters and artists. They appear on many prints and fabric items. I have the most loveliest teeshirt with a wise owl on it, and I wear it with pride.

Collaging until my fingers stick together...

I have been under the pump creating two postcards tonight. Both of which were swaps and need to be sent today. Unfortunately there are late, but only just. I don't like sending things out late though...

The scope was to create two handmade, collage postcards that are okay to send envelop free in the mail. I find this is a challenge with collages due to their tacky nature and the tiny pieces. None the less, they may survive. I've also printed off a copy of each to have following just in case all the bits get caught in other mail and ruin the post.

My first swap recipient is a woman from the US who just happens to like owls! So thrilled by this. I have created another image similar to the blog header, although this owl is less bashful and more a dancing owl. His skinny little legs make him look like he could be taking off to a chicken dance. The background is from a catalogue of northern Australian aboriginal art. I've been contemplating putting the Rudd bonus towards some art. Thus I've been visiting a few galleries to get ideas of what art is available and what interests me. Art could be a good investment in these hard financial times...

The second postcard is more of a wistful girl. She is quite young, loving hearts and horses (I think all girls go through these phases). Her hair is quite chic though. I've not collaged people for a long time. When I was in year 10 at school I collaged a self-portrait but have not done one since. I feel collaging wistful, whimsical girls could become my newest favourite collage subject.

Enjoy the images. Get out the glue. Scatter minuscule pieces of paper all over the floor (if only I had a cleaner...). Put on a movie in the background. Collage, craft and create.

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.

I swap with Swap-bot!

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...