Oh the gypsy life for me

Love the idea of trailing off to parts unknown at a moment's notice. To call yourself a gypsy sounds very romantic, if somewhat inaccurate, but to be a carefree traveller, wandering around the countryside without plan or time-frame has always seemed extremely attractive and enticing.

Here are some lovely images that capture this feeling - thanks to here for the inspiration.

{I'm suffering from severe travel withdrawal}

{found here}

{from a set of all things gypsy}

{via here}

{from here} Love that you can be a traveller but also a crafter! Note the banners, fabrics and grannie rug!

Black & white outdoors

What could be better than fluttering flags in black and white, in a springtime garden ::: from here


Curvy leaf print trays. They will go nicely with all my black and white china


My outdoors is now complete. Love the gingham and the little bird, from here

I'll snuggle down beside the fire, sipping my tea on this grey winter's afternoon and dream of a spring afternoon in the garden, all decked out in black and white.

about time ...

Holiday must be over, well my posting holiday that is. Been back at work for ever and it's getting on to the nether end of Jan 2010 now -  in fact it's well over a month since my last post ....  ooops!

Exchanged my very Xmasy photo at the top for a lovely shot taken by my v.talented brother of NSW countryside.

So, 2010 ... a month in. Interesting so far. More no doubt to come. Much crafting intended - in fact just knocking the studio (ok, spare room) into shape. Photos to organise. Material to stack. Yarn to sift through. Crocheted edge of rug to do. Hoo roo for now!

My first soft tree

At the start

Then, a little further on ...

Ta da!

Looks a little Parisian to me, don't you think? A little Gigi for some reason.

Ah, thank heaven for little soft trees!

I'll make some little companions for it tomorrow.

In progress (kind of)

Confession time.

I got as far as delving into my fabric stash, and then got completely sidetracked looking at all the amazing vintage fabric. Boy, there are some treats in store there ...

Meanwhile, these two scraps came out of the lucky dip of fabric, right at the bottom of the bag - and the shape of the floral was so completely a soft tree in the making! It's sitting here, patiently waiting for me to construct it. I've paired it with a rather lovely taupey velvet that must have been a scrap from one of Nan's upholstery projects - I think I remember it on a straightbacked chair, one of the ones she used for bridge?
I'm not sure what Nan made with the floral - my memory is not clear on this one either - I can see curtains but I'm also thinking a shift dress. One or the other (leaning more towards the curtains)

The floral has to be from the 60's (perhaps even the 50's?) I have a larger piece as well. I think I remember a time that I didn't like this at all. Now, I think it is rather interesting and I'm even prepared to embrace the pink - it is only a very small amount. I'll print out the soft tree pattern shape tomorrow at work so I get this right - in my usual perfectionist, procrastinating way, I'm prevaricating! I know I could have done this today without the pattern ... but it's the thinking about it that is fun too.

Making ...

Something.

shall report back later ....

New look. new purpose.

Getting organised to get started on the primary purpose of this blog - to blog about my craft explorations, prototypes, disasters, one offs and hopefully fab new career (if I can ever start making stuff!)

An inauspicious beginning though, coz I can't get this logo image to work the way I want it. Trying to make it bigger but to no avail. I did this on PowerPoint but it's not behaving like I want it to.
Will have to ask my graphics consultant at work.

Flock of avians

Today is Flocktober but I don't really have any bird stories ... although, design wise, I do have a bit of a thing about birds at the moment ...

e.g. I have this great Ikea fabric

Prints Charming have some great stuff:

I have this hand printed bird

And they do PYOF:

And look, they have more ideas

But these make my heart flutter:
crow
owl
bird
snuggly owl
chick
pigeon
birds and soft trees
mushroom forest and bird

If I can't seem to get started on sewing my own, I can at least drool over the gorgeous work of others.

Day 3 (Day 1 of Long Weekend)

Soaking, solid rain is blanketing Sydney right now. Just returned from dinner at a great Thai restaurant near Central. Lovely flavours, as good as last time we were there. Good company, lots of laughs and a few nice glasses of wine - followed by a great coffee, just a few doors down. They really know how to make a good coffee, UV and I agree. We went there last time too and again, it was just as good. Only had a couple of spoonfuls of a very sinful blueberry cheesecake, so feeling quite happy with the day, food wise. This morning's weigh-in was very much a relief, 2 kilos less than yesterday!! Go figure ... well that's what we are trying to do on the other group-effort blog, Figure finding. All of us yesterday weighed in more than we anticipated. Perhaps, as I suggested, it's those unpronounceable scales we bought (2 of us) but I guess it's just the vagaries of the weight loss journey ... or maybe it's just the weather.

So what else can I say about Day 3 of the festival of blogging? Slept in (coz I kinda, um, stayed up til about ... 2ish. Blogging. UV stayed up too, so we were both a bit weary this morning.) So we had a lazy A.M, reading, drinking nice coffee, chatting and discussing the Anglo Saxon hoard uncovered recently, now on display at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (I really want to see it!). I started reading my archaeology feeds and learned a few interesting things, including an ancient Nigerian tribe called the Nok (weren't they on Stargate SG1 once?? - oh, that confirms it, I am watching too much SciFi)

What I really need to emphasise about today is that I (literally) dusted off my sewing machine. It was actually covered in red dust from the dust storm a couple of weeks ago. I hadn't realised it was uncovered and near a slightly open window. Oh, dear, I'm such a good housekeeper!
I didn't end up using it but I did stretch the fabric I bought at the craft fair over a canvas, to hang on the wall. And I'm about to start a new scarf, from a kit I bought at the craft fair - more on that later. So, finally to some craft. I'm also planning to make some soft trees and a pyramid door stop. More on that later also.

Amelie is on right now - what a great film, but (I'm embarrassed to say) I slept through it the first time we saw it!

Rufy did his feral mad cat routine tonight - he was outside while we were out to dinner so came in very wet and started galloping to and fro, from kitchen to deck. He even knocked over the water. Jasper and Licorice looked on, nonplussed, far more sensible ... or perhaps lazy. Ruf is relaxed now, on his pouf (favourite spot, above)

Daylight savings starts tonight (ah ha, Clocktober gets a look in!) so I can't stay up til the wee hours, plus we are off to a 1st birthday party tomorrow, a good drive away so we have to leave here about 10 (and I have to go and buy a present before then!!)

Day 3/Day 1 a good one, very nice to have the feeling of a long weekend, still 2 days left.

All weekends should be long weekends.

P.S. Finally (after perhaps 3 years) I have got my ipod up and running. Yay!!

Blogging Blogtober

I signed up to Blogtoberfest! And I decided to used my own, real name, not one of my psueodo-noms-de-jour that I normally coin. Phew! Two big steps for day one of the fest of blogging that is October.

Now, what to write about ... hmmmm .... this could be the moment I've been dreading when I have indeed run out of things to say. No, no, Badskirts ideas are great so here goes with Knocktober:
Maryanne is my name but sometimes I go by Coorabella (over at Flickr and Ravelry) ... that name is based on a place I love, Coorabel, at the back of Byron on the beautiful north coast. Other places I love include my Wamberal home from childhood, the bar at Bar Beach, where I swam every summer morning as a teenager and a little corner of my current garden where the weeping pink puff ball lilli pilli grows high beside the sacred bamboo, curling ferns and monsteria deliciosa - quite special. I must photograph that over the weekend - if it doesn't rain too much.

::: here's my little corner of the garden, I shot it this morning (actually tomorrow morning to be exact as this is really yesterday now ... confused? me too!) :::


Amazing what you write about when you are not really planning it!

Other things about me? I've joined a little weight watching group at work, starting last week, so that's something I'll blog about no doubt.

My main reason for blogging is craft - of course! - I'm a compuslive crocheter, knitter, sometime jewellery maker and fabric hoarder. I'm planning on sewing some of my vast tracts of fabric one day soon(ish). I dream of a craft studio but in reality I only have a spare room. One day when I finish painting and organising, it will be the craft hub of my universe!

How's that for blogfest numero uno! Looking forward to tomorrow.

Here's a photo I added tonight to Autumn Color Week on Flickr ... its brown today. This is a great tile that appeared amongst the rubble when we removed our old kitchen - very 70's! I'd like to use it for something but not sure what yet.