Sitting, watching, waiting, wishing...

Cool Cardi - on my wishlist to knit. Thanks Pickles!

Also on my wishlist - leg warmers. They look perfect for bike riding. Pickles again.

Back into blogging and still enjoying trawling the net for lovely things. There is so much goodness, creating, though and overall beautiful things to be found. One link with take you to a whole new place, with discoveries to be had. I find myself truely engrossed, reading post after post after post written by clever creative types. Hurrah for you who are the creative ones, you smart things you!

What to be found:

A stellar Norweigan duo, who knit, supply patterns and also sell wool. Check them out at Pickles.

More Scandi goodness, this time a fabric printing lady from Sweden who has just been to her summer house with the family - Fine Little Day. The images make me swoon, and long for extended summer breaks, for light that lingers into impossible hours, for a place to get away to...

The Textured Leaf has some wonderful reading, and I found a fellow Melbourne woman who creates, and has lots of kids, but somehow seems to always be making something! I'm mega impressed Ms 1/4".

And then there is cooking goodness - ever faithfully delicious Joy, methodical and meticulous the Closet "cooker" (I'm not sure Kevin would approve of being called that though...).

What lovely things have you discovered lately?

Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?

Back to blogging, back to basics?

As per most bloggers, life has gotten busy and away from me. And then I started avoiding blogging, cause I felt guilty for my absence, for my lack of prioritising the land of on-line. How foolish! How head-in-the-sand! Cause why am I blogging anyway? Good question, it certainly got me thinking. I don't wish to blog out of obligations, out of resentment. There are plenty of other things in life that I feel guilty about, so why have "hobbies" that make me cringe...

At first I stopped a few months ago because we were busy. We were moving, I was flat out with work, we had no internet. Then I got even more busy and stopped having time to blog-trawl. And flicking through the loveliness of others certainly inspired me to both create, photograph and blog. So when I no longer had time to linger over other's words and images, I found it harder to write. Gosh, I've missed blog trawling!

Hurrah for Whip-Up! Today I followed link after link, finding delicious knitting patterns to try. And discovering new blogs, well new to me. There are some amazingly creative people out there! Who use beautiful resources! Who take light-filled images that make me glow with happiness when staring at them. So I feel like I'm back in the game. Loveliness!

So, what is next? Will I blog again? Or perhaps spend time doing the following:

Taking more photos

Some gardening - tomatoes and lettuce if you please

Time to start a new knitting project

Finish off a quilt

Hang my fairy-lights

Dream up gifts to make for Christmas

Perfecting my baking skills...

Hopefully all of the above, with some blogging thrown in too!

Lovely pinkness!

Where I lay my hat... My place and yours...

Wow, what a perfect MEME theme this week (thanks MMAM and Myrlte & Eunice)! Perfect as I'm about to pack up all my belongings and transport from one side of Aus to the other! Perfect as I will be living out of a suitcase for a month. Perfect as moving is an ideal time to re-think what treasures belong with you. Perfect as this upheaval is putting life in general in perspective. What do I want from a new place to live? What is important for a work-life balance? What is important for my relationships? What gives me peace? What looks after my mental health? What helps me love and serve others?

Is it stuff? Is it belonging? Is it spirituality? Is it security?

I'm not sure of answers, and thinking about things is making me listless. But I do know some things that are essential. Where I lay my hat has to do with the following things:

1. Where the fella is.

2. Where the Crick-star is.

3. Where I feel loved and can give lots of love.

What is important for keeping your hat hanging - with bells and ribbons on?

This is Mr Cricket, my little cat. He is not so little any more. But he still likes to hide in safe places.

My place's best feature, so nyoice!

(a tropical lightning storm around 2 a.m. - so powerful, so beautiful, so Darwin)

What is unusual about my place? This is the question asked by Tony from Little Suitcase in the MMAM meme.

Lots of things really. But nothing that makes me cringe too much. And nothing that is really out of the ordinary. We live in a pretty standard apartment. Three bedrooms, an open plan living area, a decent sized balcony. Nothing strange there. We don't live up that high, just on the fifth floor. We get decent reception on the telly, can spy on the neighbours if needed but have sufficient privacy too. What is unusual is maybe where the house is, who else lives around, and that it is in a tropical climate.

We live in the middle of three apartment blocks, all of which have the same street number. This is unusual. You give directions to people and say "come to the middle tower". Lost tradies will approach you down stairs and say things like "where do I find unit 78?", as it could be in any of the three buildings. Our building is named after a war person, some guy who did something heroic. There is a picture of him next to the lift, with a spiel about his accomplishments. This is strange, maybe a little embarrassing also. And everyone who lives in these apartments works for the company the fella does. I really cringe about this, and certainly wouldn't say this is nyoice. If I'd known before we had moved here, I would have found alternative accommodation. But it hasn't worked out too badly.

But what is unusual, and the feature that I love is the view! We overlook the water, seeing the sun rise and set over the sea daily. There is a fishing boat marina just outside, and when a good haul comes in fireworks are set off on the boats. One such catch reached shore last night. It was spectacular to have fireworks exploding right outside our bedroom window. Oh, I will miss this. I've not lived so near to the ocean before and truly love sitting on my balcony and contemplating life. With a good book, a glass of red and the breeze lightly rustling through my pot plants. Please enjoy this unusual feature of my place, particularly as we are leaving it in only two weeks!

My collection, better late than never

Life (well time anyway) seems to be slipping away from me. There is too much to do. In just over two weeks I will be moving from one side of Aus to the other. And I have to finish work, communicate with the removalists, plan where we will be staying along the way after we devise a route to take, buy Christmas goodies as we will be arriving on Christmas eve, orientate a new worker to my job, clean the mess we live in, encourage the cat that he will be okay on an aeroplane, apply for any job in Melbs that seams okay, etc!

So much to do, not enough time.

So the Meet Me At Mikes meme just got away before I knew it. I've not posted for the past couple of weeks, I've not trawled through the creative posts others have put up. Oh, so sad.

The theme of the past week was around collections, with this lady asking the question "What do you collect?". I collect junk, shoes, recipe books, board games, metal cigarette cases, dust. But most consistently I collect birds in the form of Christmas decorations. My ultimate plan is to one day have a tree just full of birds. And to tell you the truth, I sometimes put them up when it is the middle of the year. They are too lovely really to have hidden away. The bird thing started after the demise of my real bird, Hairy the Canary. He was a lovely little fellow, who died after dehydrating in the typically unseasonably hot Melbourne weather that sometimes hits. The gold papermache bird was purchased in memory of him. And the collecting took off from there.

Want to make me happy? Buy me a bird ornament thanks. What do you collect?

Welcome in...

I saw the topic of Pip's meme just after it was posted on Saturday. But the week is getting away with me and I've not put anything up. Ops!

So here is my place, but only for the next four weeks as we are moving down south again. Hurrah! People keep telling me I will love the cold weather, wearing coats, drinking good and reasonably priced coffee, being able to buy shoes galore... Are they right? Probably. What I'm looking forward to is living near a beach that you can swim in without risking your life from three different kinds of dangerous animals. I'm looking forward to having a few bookstores! I'm looking forward to re-discovering some lane ways. I'm looking forward to having op shops that have things that are more than 30 years old in them.

But as for now, welcome to my place. I live on the fifth floor of an apartment building. The thing that I detest most about apartments is the area between the lift/stairs and your front door. They are so sterile and devoid of character. They are communal spaces, I know, but that doesn't mean they have to be ugly. Ours sure is though.

When you walk in the front door, you hit a wall. But then the kitchen opens up, and the open living area. As usual when I took these photos we were in a mess. There is panadol in the fruit bowl after all! But there are mangoes there too. This painting was done by me when I was in year 12. It was one of my major pieces and an image I love. I took some photos of a class mate, then painted her outline in a luscious salmon. Strangely this girl is now living in Darwin (we went to a ritzy-ditzy private girls school in Melbs) and selling hats made out of trucking canvases. I would have never have imagined this happening, ever.

When I come home, I generally kick of my shoes, turn up the fans and just be. I am a home body and love being with the fella, amongst our stuff and our cat. I like that home is messy but familiar. I love that it has character from our things and not only contains necessities but things I love too. I love that it is not just utilitarian (like my workplace), but comfortable and pleasurable. How I love coming home at the end of the day!

So thanks for looking through my place, or coming in the front door at least. Above is a sneak peak back through the door, perfect for seeing if the neighbours are around or if it is all clear to do an undie run to the rubbish chute!

My place and yours - secret weapon revealed!

My secret weapon is not crafty. It is kitcheny. Yep, I love to bake. I love the rewards that come from baking. I love passing recipes on to colleagues. I love being on morning tea and needing to come up with the goods. My secret weapon is now around a year old. She was a birthday giftie from the fella. And I love her with a passion. In the event of a cyclone, I would rescue her along with the cat. She mixes so smoothly. She takes the muscle out of bread making. She whips up the lightest icing. Oh Ruby Red, I love you!

Thanks Pip for the ongoing My Place and Yours Meme. Thanks My Bricole for this week's theme. I'm enjoying taking part.

Blog HQ contemplated...

Bit behind with the blogging this week. My bestie Ris and her fella Dave came up for a tropical adventure. So I powered through five days without spending time in front of the computer. It was wonderful.

By the by, isn't the Territory spectacular! Who wouldn't want to swim in this waterhole?

Who wouldn't sip bubbly while lounging next to this shore line and fading sky?

Who wouldn't giggle when confronted with such a silly croc?

But back to the blogging. MMAM's meme this week is the theme of Blogging HQ thanks to a creative type called Ninon. If I can get my hands on it, I prefer to use the lappie for my blogging. I love sitting on this arm chair with the retro snail cushion protecting my knees from the comp's radiation.

But if needed, I will work in the study. Hurrah for the corkboard, and for all those who drank wine to donate to the corkboard making cause. Corks are hard to find nowdays, and this was made around 6 years ago before stelvin tops were made mainstream.

Just before blogging this, I completed an inventory of the items we want moved down south in less that 45 days. So my blog-constructing space will change... and a change is meant to be as good as a holiday. But a move is one of the most stressful things one can do in life. So my solution is to get into the crafting with a passion. Posts about creativity will follow, I promise. I'm also wanting to do things to spoil myself and relieve the tension that is building up in my thoughts. Like get my hair cut this weekend, spend some time shoe shopping, riding my pushie to work, reading my newest cook books (thanks so much Miss Maudry!).

By the bed "My place and yours"

By the bed "My place and yours"
Originally uploaded by the_bashful_owl

Week 2 of the "My Place and Yours" meme from Meet Me at Mikes. This week I was taken aback to realise how much extra stuff I deposit next to my bed. And how I don't remove it once it is there. For example, I've got some panadine forte there, from a knee operation that I have over two months ago. And I didn't need the pain killers after it anyway. Plus there are some hair bands there, and I now have short hair... I think I need to clean up a little.

What I love about my bedside is more clear in the picie at the top. I just love my lamp, with it's "glass" base. I love the earring holder that is on the wall. My fella originally made it for me, constructing a standing frame taunt with mesh. But in time it's little legs got wobbly. So I was given a frame from Ris, added some pink silk behind the mesh and embellished it with a patch and fancy stitching. Now days I don't tend to wear dangling earrings, but love the tactile nature of such a precious creation.

Back to the mess, it contains some necessities. Such as the alarm clock, red nail polish (living in the tropics means year-round nice toes if you please), pearl studs, papaya all-purpose balm and a chunky bangle. And all within arm's reach.

By the bed details.
Originally uploaded by the_bashful_owl

By the by, the book I'm reading is intense and amazing. Please check it out if you are feeling strong in your spirit and wanting a haunting, moving, enticing read. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.

Blogging games, I'm joining in...

Hurrah, discovered blog-link funtimes care of Meet Me At Mikes.

I've not played these sorts of games before, and those involved seem like the nice sharing kind. But alas, we still don't have a great functioning camera. One has been interstate for about 6 weeks now being repaired. The other went in yesterday to a fantastically bespoke little store. We climbed up a flight of stairs in an undusted narrow passage. A carved red door was on the right, and behind it was a camera repair lady! She had shelf after shelf of SLR lenses. She had little buckets with caps and bolts and bits and pieces. She said she will tell us in a week if the camera can be repaired.

Back to the theme, my shelves are not as fun as the camera lady's. But here is a camera phone photo of my treasured things that are grouped together on a shelf.

My clever mum cross-stitched the eggplants for me. My darling sisters bought me the pink tea-pot (on the left) and cups. They discovered it in the Oxfam shop in Camberwell. So nice of them, and it was a great birthday gifty five (five!) years ago. The pink thermos gathers preposterous amounts of mould on it's cloth-covered cork stopper, but is perfect for transporting warm honeyed chai tea in. The little tea cup and saucer tucked behind is a treasured op shop find, one that made me wonder why someone felt the need to give it away. Lots of lovely things. Lots of pink, lots of love and lots of little details. Loveliness, on a shelf.


I hope I remember to participate next week...

So much to see...

Wow, there is just so much happening on line! I think I'll brows for just twenty minutes, and before you know it two and a half hours have past. What's the deal? So I've descided that since I spend so much time looking, I really should use some good blog manners and be commenting too. If I find something lovely to look at, I should say so. Don't you think? It's only right really.

So. Lovely things I found lately?

Thanks to Maudrey, Love In Melbourne

A dedicated quilting lady at this spot

The cover art work from Florence and the Machine - anatomical drawings, flowers...

A forum for crafty types - thanks Pip

I promise to endeavour to comment on stuff, and let the world know that I care.

How did I survive without....

So, he did it again. Left me alone without technology that is. Yet again the fella is away and this time he took the laptop. Only being able to check email at work was infuriating! Plus I've got so much work to do I felt too guilty to blog-surf.

But I braved the maniacal German florist-cum-computer repair lady (surely this is a terrible combination and we should have never gone to this shop in the first place as she uses fake flowers). She had taken our desktop hostage and refused to cooperate. We were going to call the dodgy computer repair ombudsman. They must exists, surely....... But lack of technology, a malfunctioning DVD player and looming knee surgery compelled me to fork out the exorbitant amount of cash require to redeem the computer. I must say I do feel more gleeful than this girl.

She is from a cute little group of articles I found all around the theme of tips for nerdy girls. They are as follows:

How to look less nerdy in glasses

How to make a room look nerdy

How to be smart without being nerdy

How to like nerdy things without being a nerd.

For some reason I get the sense that some people have a problem with being nerdy. Not me, not that I'm that nerdy. I don't wear glasses, I didn't study chemistry at school or uni, I don't know pi to any decimal places, and I've only just gotten in to hyperlinks. My fella though is nerdy. He will even wear his sunglasses over his glasses when driving. Love him!

Crafting: a few cows for the herd, working on the final sleve of a jumper, contimplating some embroidery.

Design sponge and some divine design...

Loving Design Sponge.

Loving the finnish house they featured. Loving Finnish and finnish design and rich lush gardens and antlers and saunas... Loving that I will see my mother-in-law this weekend, who recently returned from Finland. Looking forward to some Scandi food and some lovely gifties - thanks Kaisu in anticipation.

Check out the finnish blog that has even more lovely images here - wish I understood more of the language! Must learn, must get out the Soumi-Englanti dictionary...

Crafting and reading - getting a balance

What I'm creating:

Back of a baby's jumper - front done, back and sleeves to go;

Udderly lovely cow from the Meet Me At Mikes book - one finished, another half cut out, more fabric purchased to make a few more (so many babies out there and no camera to take pics of the finished products);

Two quilt tops finished - can I be bothered quilting them?

Pincushion for my quilting pins - appliqued a brown bird onto some bright blue felt, perfect for stabbing and grabbing.

What I'm reading:

Wren handmade - linked from the design sponge blog, and will be crafting some DIY daily this week!

Spool sewing - can't believe I've not read their blog before, I'm so in love.

Udder handmade friends - the lady who designed the cute cow.

Recovery in mental health - a new work textbook that arrived today.

Overall I'm inspired to create and to change the world around me. I love reading what others are doing and am attempting to get the balance between wanting to create and needing to work. How I do love what I do though... hence being sucked in to the work text today.

Blog browsing and killing time before he gets home.

So my fella is away, for simply ages it seems. He's taken the ipod and the camera, but at least I have the car and the king-sized bed. When he goes I pig out on veggie food, and don't have to share those bottles of red. But I don't sleep soundly without him next to me, and miss the board game challenges we have...

At least I've got this boy for company. Hurrah for Mr Cricket!

So, what have I been doing? Well, I did get some of those things from the list completed. I baked my little heart out, and have discovered some new irresistible cookie. They are more like biscuits actually, perfect with a cup of tea. Find the recipe here. I've taken a reader's advice, and highly recommend that their little bottoms be covered in white chocolate. Simply delicious. I've also been sewing until my back aches and my fingers hurt. An ugly quilt is almost complete. Initially I thought the combination of avocado green, burnt orange and rich brown worked. Now on mass they look like a hang-over from the 70s. What was I thinking? But so much love and energy goes into a quilt, it has to grow on me. In consolation, I'm planning my next big sewing project. Thinking blue stars with yellow middles. Taking a class on the weekend on cutting triangles in order to prepare. It will be my first patchwork class, and I'm nervous. Hopefully everyone else isn't a mamma. Will a childless 20s chick fit in? Probably not, but my sewing skills will improve hugely. Plus it is great to get to know some of the local patchwork community.

Blogs I'm interested in:

Open - Melbs deliciousness, my fave smelly store was featured today!

Vegan and Vintage offshoot - Little Love Lost

And the source of the biscuit recipe - Joy the Baker. Has to be my favourite. Love baking and happen to have the middle name of Joy. One of my goals in life is to be a better baker after all. Told my fella this, who said I would just have to practice if I want to improve. He doesn't mind at all.

Received a beautiful silk badge corsage in the mail today from my crafty and creative friend Ris. Got to love her work. Images will be up at some stage, when the camera is either repaired or returned. Have to find some pics to liven this up after all...

Reading through the Half Blood Prince, in preparation from the film coming out on Wednesday. So sappy, but so excited. Until then muggles...

Happy sewing, baking, reading...

Sunday reading list

After a restless night's sleep, I thought perhaps the gym would be good. I go around three times per year, and it is only in our basement car park. I lasted eight minutes on the cross-trainer (I think that is what that contraption was!) before collapsing on the floor. The only solution was to come back upstairs and read my newest magazine!

Peppermint Magazine came out during the week, and was a wonderful surprise. I had subscribed months ago and not heard back from the publishers. I feared they had taken my money and run. That was me totally overreacting of course. My mind is still not made up about the mag - I'm wondering if it lacks a little something. But in saying that, it had a big article on the rise of handmade, and has a list of interested blogs who are concerned with creating, eco-ness, op-shop clothing, etc. So far I've been a fan of Vegan & Vintage and don't mind Little Green Stilettos.

Through my blog trawling, I followed a link to a link, etc and have found this fellow - Closet Cooking. His recipe for lemon and blueberry breakfast cake sounds delicious. I'm keen to read him more regularly and get on with the cooking.

Speaking of cooking, here's a recipe for the Orange and Chocolate Cake I dabbled with last week. It is a mix of a number of recipes, and a take on the traditional non-leaven orange cake of Jewish culinary traditions.

Everyday Ingredients Orange & Chocolate Cake

2 oranges
200 g melted butter or margarine
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 ½ cup self-raising flour
¼ cup cocoa powder

Beginning the night before ideally, place the two oranges into a saucepan & cover with water. Cover, bring to the boil & then simmer for 2 hours. Leave in the water until cool, ideally overnight – your house will smell delicious!

Pre-heat oven to 180⁰C. Line a round 23 cm (or so) cake tin with baking paper.

Remove the oranges from the water, quarter & place into the bowl of your food processor – skin & all. Process until no chunks remain. Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl, process until well combined. Pour into cake tin. Bake in oven for 45 minutes. Test to see if cooked by piercing the cake with a skewer – will be free of batter if cooked. May need a further 10 minutes. Enjoy dusted with icing sugar. Some thick cream is nice too.

Back in the real world

Why no blogs?

1. Smashed camera - trying to photograph the last storm for the season and camera fell off the tripod. I was so devastated... missed the incredible lightening and couldn't take picies for a while. We've got a cheapo replacement, trying to find the receipt to have the good camera fixed.


2. Holiday went wrong. Car broke down in the beautiful but isolated Kimberly region of Western Australia. No technology, no food, no insect repellent. Challenging times all round.

So, currently needing to create some postcards with ice cream recipes for a over-due swap. Also need to make a birthday giftie for my lovely sis Rach (thinking a project from this book). Also slowly working on hand-quilting a long-term project, and inspired by this beautiful tin...

Happy days.

To blog or not to blog...

I've been umming and ahhring about beginning a blog for the past few months. There are some perceived benefits and a number of drawbacks. For example, am I surcoming to the neo-individualist path that society has gone down in shouting out about the inane ramblings of my life which really are not very interesting? Do I have the dedication and stamina to routinely blog? Who really cares about what I write anyway? Is a blog fulfilling the void that facebook has opened up where I need to feel connected to the world by some technological means? After this musing, I think I should give up now.

But, through the eyes of the bashful owl I will be able to horrah my crafty pursuits. Oh, the conundrum!

So blog I will endeavour to do. My mission - to routinely post crafty images and contemplative reflections. They may be frivorlous, they may be mundane. So read on or not, it's okay...