thornberry

You all know what my absolute best op shop find is - the Golden Hands series that I found a couple of weeks ago!  My other favourite op shop find isn’t quite from an op shop - it was from one of those second-hand/bric-a-brac/”antique” places - but it was still a bargain (around $5 around ten years ago) and I love it.

Yes, it’s an ash tray, and no, I don’t smoke - but I love objects made of glass.  It has a lovely weight, and the gold flecks inside are a gorgeous contrast to the red and clear glass outside.

I had a theory at one stage that I was going to collect heavy glassware.  The collection hasn’t really grown past two pieces, mostly due to lack of room (and finances) but I do also have a divine Kosta Boda bowl that I bought in Sweden many many years ago that was extremely bloody heavy to cart around in a backpack, let me tell you!  Thanks again to Angela for hosting and to Lino Forest for this week’s theme.

Michelle thought that this week we all needed to have a look at the spaces in which we create.  Here are some photos of mine, which will be familiar to many - I’ve posted pictures of my sewing room before.  This is how it looked on Sunday night:

The ironing board in it’s permanently up position, waiting for me to actually do some of the ironing that is piled up beside the overlocker.  The dress on the mannequin (thanks Nikki for lending me Dolly) is waiting to have the waist seams let out.  I bought it to cut up for the fabric, but other than the waist it fits really well so I will eventually alter it.  You can just see the edge of my tiny old portable TV that I watch when ironing.  It’s right next to hubby’s old couch from his bachelor days (which badly needs recovering).

And here it is from another angle!  I was very lucky that when we renovated our house a bit over a year ago we included a nice large sewing/craft room.  It makes such a difference to have a dedicated space to leave all the works in progress (and the never-ending ironing piles).  It is relatively kid-friendly - Clare does lots of craft at the pine table, which my Dad made for me many years ago.  He’s a great wood-turner and has made most of the furniture in our house.  I also have a couple of boxes of toys for Stella, but she prefers to play with fabric scraps and tape measures.

The chair in the front of this photo was the first chair that Dad made; Mum did the upholstery.  And look, more piles of ironing (incidentally, the ironing piles are now double the size, still waiting to be done).  And there is (some of) the fabric stash in the cupboards at the back.

The other space in which I create is my lounge-room corner.  Crochet, hand-sewing, embroidery.

Thanks again to Michelle of Quilting Mick for this week’s great theme and to Angela of three buttons for hosting this meme!

This post is actually a week late.  Whoops!  Hubby reckons that my entire fabric stash could fit this heading nicely.  Instead, I have chosen this:

I ordered this kit to make this teddy bear in - wait for it - 1995.  I still think that the bear is very cute - so why hasn’t he been made yet?  When will his status shift from “to-do” to “work in progress”?  Or even to “UFO” - unfinished object?  At the moment he’s not even a started object!

We recycle in the usual ways.  Compost bin for food scraps; recycling paper, glass and plastic in the recycle bin; recycling garden waste in the garden bin.  Although I have to admit to buying plenty of new fabrics, I also use old ones in my sewing.  But one of my guilty pleasures is fashion magazines.

My way of recyling?  I didn’t buy any of these myself - I have a friend whose husband works in the fashion business, and they are a business expense!  She passes them on to me.  I pass them on to my cousin.  She passes them on to her niece.  And eventually?  I suppose that they end up in someone’s paper recycling bin!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there!  This is my Mum.  There’s every chance that she’ll be horrified that this photo is now out there in the blogosphere!

Mum is/was a nurse - pretty obvious from the photo really.  This photo must be around fifty years old - now I’m giving away your age again Mum!  I love this photo, for many reasons.

Thanks again Mum for everything that you are to me and everything that you have done for me.  I wish that I was a little more eloquent so that I could truly express what a wonderful mother and person you are.  I love you very much.  Happy Mother’s Day.

Well, they’re not really the pair of shoes that I would sleep in - they’re not quite comfortable enough for that - but they are definitely one of my favourite pairs of shoes.

Great colour, gorgeous embroidery, cute heel, and actually quite comfortable!  I bought them about three years ago from a little shop in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy - unfortunately the name of the shop escapes me now.  I don’t wear them often, but love them whenever I do!  Thanks to Love and Afros for this week’s theme - I’ve really enjoyed checking out everyone’s shoes!

Angela asked us to post an extra “this is” for this week.  So here I am, pre-1985!

This is 1984, at the Year 11 school dinner dance.  Mum made the watermark taffeta dress.  I loved that dress!  I wore it a few times, then it was passed on to my cousin.  The dress had a dropped waist, gathered skirt, and a sash.  Tres chic!

Each week I await the announcement of the following Sunday’s “this is … ” with a little excitement and a little trepidation.  Will it be too hard for my overfull, addled brain?  And this week, we have “this is my favourite book”.  How on earth to decide?  I like most books, for all sorts of reasons!  Eventually I thought that I should let my first impulse rule the day.  This is my favourite book.

Why?  Firstly, it reminds me of my Gran.  She started me off on the “Anne of Green Gables” books when I was quite young, and I adored them.  I still do!  Secondly, it’s a great read; incredibly evocative in its descriptions.  Thirdly, the main character is fantastic.  Considering the time in which the novel was written, she’s a terrific female role model.  And the male lead isn’t half bad either!  Each time I read this book I appreciate it differently; I first read it in my early teens (maybe earlier), then again in my late teens, then as an adult.  It’s still a really lovely story.  Not terribly deep and/or meaningful I suppose, but there are some lessons to be learned about living each day as though it is your last, about facing your fears, and about being true to yourself.  So thanks Gran! 

Do you know what this is?  Maybe you own one already.

My latest discovery is an expanding sewing gauge, and I can tell that it is going to reduce my frustration levels and improve my finished products enormously!  It is used wherever you need to mark anything that is equidistant, like buttonholes, buttons, pleats, etc - I am sure that I will find other sewing applications for it as well.  I can’t believe that I have taken so long both to discover this and to actually buy it!  A girl has to have good tools.  Edited to add:  for the Aussies that now realise that they too NEED one of these, I bought mine online from Punch with Judy.

There are a few fantastic giveaways happening in the blogosphere at the moment - check these ones out and if you’re quick you may even win!

Bronwyn at Whippet Good has a giveaway of lots of handcrafted goodies for her 100th post:

Emma at Scrap Bag has a Kaffe Fassett fabric giveaway for her 100th post:

and Betty Jo at Lino Forest has a beautiful brooch giveaway for her 200th post!

Like many of the others participating in “this is …”, I don’t have just one jewellery or knick-knack box!  I have these instead:

A little dish I drop the day’s jewellery in each evening (I don’t like to wear any jewellery to bed), a laquered box I keep hair elastics and clips in, and a little turned wooden bowl my Dad made that I keep lipsticks in.  Mum emboidered the cloth.  One reason why I don’t have a jewellery box is because I keep my “good” jewellery in rolls, hidden away (which worked in my favour over a year ago when we were burgled - the thief didn’t find them, but went through my cheap stuff in the top drawer of my dressing table).  My necklaces are all hanging up on the inside of my wardrobe door:

It makes it easier to choose which to wear!  And I keep my hankies in this box that my Nanna made many years ago:

The pink gingham box below it holds sentimental memories: special cards, little gifts from Clare, and such.