Category Archive

Alive and kicking. This has been a very busy week with work and, therefore, the blog becomes a sad little Neglectarino. I haven’t done very much crafting at all, but others have on my behalf!
I present to you, my new quilt, MAGNIFICENTLY quilted by the all-talented and positively exceptionally beautiful Tracey...

Can that girl sew or what? Check out the feathers she did in the corners!! I am so totally in love

Yes, I know. Once again it is only a snippet of a view. I don’t mean to tease, honestly I don’t, but it’s more Secret Squirrel Stuff. You know how it is…

I’m home. I have slept. I have recovered.

The Australasian Quilt Convention was fantastic! All you quilty types need to go!! The only bad thing about it was the lame photos I took -you’ll just have to trust me that everything about it was great, because all the proof I have is blurry. I had the BEST classes! Friendly, happy, competent students make tutoring a breeze and such fun. And the exhibition alone was worth the trip, but once again you’ll have to take my word for it. I don’t know quite what I did wrong but my photos are baaaaaad.
Even the pics I took of some of the fabric I bought are baaaaad…

The best part of the trip was meeting bloggers. I met this one and this one and these ones. They were all lovely and no one was an axe murderer (I’m secretly a teensy bit disappointed about that).
Pixie drove across town in a taxi just to have a drink with me before she headed off on a hot date! Thank you, Pixie; it was above and beyond to put in such an effort for such a brief visit.
Leanne and her mate Melinda and I sat together at the Gala Dinner and scoffed large quantities of scrumptious food while being entertained by equally scrumptious half-naked boy acrobats. Stomper and Crafty took me to a Japanese restaurant on Brunswick Street and we talked about EVERYTHING until we were very nearly kicked out at closing time. I’m not sure the sweet girls working there had heard some of the words we used. After we had worked our way through sex and religion and politics and childbirth, I was just about hoarse. We took photos and Stomper’s seems to be the best - of mine, one was blurry and the other has Crafty blinking and me looking like a startled panda (it was the end of four days teaching; I was knackered). Stomper, of course, looks gorgeous (Crafty, you look gorgeous, too, just asleep). I wish I could have dinner with Pixie every Friday, Leanne and Melinda every Saturday and with Stomper and Crafty every Sunday!

Melbourne is just as beautiful as it has always been. I would love to go there more often.
And Brunswick Street. What can I say? I’d move in today, given half a chance.

Here’s a snippet of what’s coming up next…

Tomorrow is Twelve by Twelve Day. Watch this space.

I was invited a month or so ago by Diane to join a new group that she was starting. There are twelve of us (inspirational women all), who will each make twelve 12″ quilts over the next ear or so. Each will take a turn setting a theme for that month’s quilt.

October was our first quilt challenge, to follow the theme “Dandelion” chosen by Diane.

Here is my effort. I am pleased, but reservedly so. It has been very much influenced by the R.E.M. song “Wendell Gee” and the words printed on it (my handwriting on the blue border and stamped with ink on the gray part) are from the lyric -

“there wasn’t even time to say goodbye…”
“if the wind were colours and if the air could speak”

In keeping with the sentiment of seeds/souls blowing away with the wind, I kept the palette calm and quiet (never can leave those lime/sour greens alone, though!). I think my favourite part is the seeds in the blue border (drawn with pigma pen, enhanced with silver crayon and quilted with mother of pearl coloured metallic thread) but I also like the seeds quilted into the light gray background (same metallic thread).

Between the blue border and the body of the quilt is a tiny insert of black and white gingham that is caught at intervals (alternating left and right) with lime green seed beads.

Visit the twelve x twelve blog to see the other quilts. They are truly wonderful!
(next theme is Chocolate! Woo hoo!! I’m an expert in that!!!!)

You have heard me extolling my husband Peter’s virtues many times. I don’t want to bore you (or, heaven forbid, drive you away!) but this post is about Peter and What He is Up To.

This man is a Good Man. He is the son of a Good Man (and a Good Woman) and the father of a Good Man in Training.
We are blessed in my family, we have many Good Men - fathers, brothers, husbands. We do not take them for granted. We love them and we tell them so. We are proud of them and we tell them so. I suspect that there are far more Good Men in the world than the bad ones who get all the press, but that is no excuse to undervalue the ones in Our Lives.

Peter decided when he was twelve that he wanted to be a Civil Engineer. This amazes me. How many kids that age even know what an engineer does? Anyway, he did and he liked it and wanted to do it. He will tell you that he is Averagely Smart. I take serious issue with this. He is far from average. He is VERY smart, he is principled, he loves, he takes responsibility, he inspires other people, he nurtures, he expresses his ideas and opinions and he puts his heart and soul into everything he does. Look up “Commitment Phobic” in the dictionary - see there, under “antonym”? It says Peter.

If you ask my mother, who is one of Peter’s Greatest Fans (he has many, but she is probably Vice President of the Club, under me as Pres.), she will tell you that Peter’s parents were not only fabulous parents but they were very wise when they named him, because he really is a Rock. He is calm, strong, reliable, solid and a trustworthy anchorpoint.

Now the reason for telling you all this is to prove my next point. Peter is about to get his Just Deserts. After many years of working hard for other people, he is opening his own Engineering Consultancy. We have gone into partnership with a New Zealand business and will be the Australian arm. I am so proud of Peter and so happy for him. This is exciting stuff!
Here are Ali and Peter at the company launch which we held in Cairns while we were there for the conference last week.

We had a wonderful night! Yummy food, gorgeous venue and good company.

This whole process is very busy-making! And we have (cleverly, I think) combined setting up and opening the office with
(a) moving the rest of the family and belongings to Townsville
(b) Peter’s two week trip to Europe and the USA (he will leave next week and gets back a few days before we open).
SO, the garage to our tiny two bedroom townhouse looks like this…

…and we have more stuff in storage…
…the office is currently an empty concrete construction zone…

…and we open the doors 1 October!

So there’s some explanation for my distraction in the last few weeks. I’ve been doing all sorts of new things and the next few weeks won’t be any slower.

***I’ve been having some Issues for a month or so now with comments. Not all of them are coming through to my email, so if you haven’t received a reply from me, my apologies! I’ve tried to get back to everyone but I’m sure I have missed some. It was especially nice to hear that everyone else is just as fragile as me over stats and thanks so much for the congratulations for Ali on her maths success!

Also, to those of you that are camping by your letterboxes waiting for presents from me - I hope you’re comfy and well-stocked with marshmallows The wait should nearly be over!

Wow! What a great day! I spent the morning Peter (always my favourite way to spend any day), then had the afternoon scrapbooking at Sussanah’s house with Tracey and Jennifer as well.
There was yummy food, there were serious conversations, there was great music. And THEN - I got to take the music home! Sussanah is Queen of the Mixed CD. She not only made the CD, she also printed it AND made a cover - all on top of scrapping, making lunch and generally being fabulous.
I drove home Reliving My Youth loudly in the car. Oh, Smiths, I have never stopped loving you.
After I collected Ali from school, we ran by the Post Office for the mail…
…and LOOKEE HERE! Surprise surprise surprise! Un-whined-for, spontaneous gifties from Margie!
How cute are these??
I can blow my nose on my Spiritual Twin…And look at the scissors! Margie must know about me and my passion for scissors I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw these amazing cards. There are so many and they are all beautiful ( I love the bee one at the top).

Then Ali looked into the bag and said, “ooh! what’s that red thing?” When she took it out, she saw what was written on the tag…
…big smiles! Thank you so much Margie for your thoughtfulness and generosity. It was a wonderful surprise! Now, get to it and make a blog!!!

See this teeny tiny baby boy? He left home two days ago. And moved to New Zealand.
Where does it say in The Rules that babies are allowed to leave before their mothers are finished with them??

This is a boy who has an immense capacity for love, intellectual ability that he is only just beginning to understand, a social conscience and powerful sense of justice, a tenderness that makes me fear for him, a somewhat black and white morality, the promise of making a significant contribution to the world.
This boy never leaves my head, never leaves my heart.

Shula is a legend. Never have I read a more articulate (and flattering) view of crafters than this post. If ever you have wondered WHY???? when looking at a loved one’s latest craft creation, read this. You will see the light.

We had one of those discount book travelling road shows come to town this week. The ones that have the TV ads where they scream SAVE SAVE SAVE NOTHING OVER$5 SAVE SAVE ONLY ONE WEEK SAVE SAVE SAVE at you. Usually I ignore them, but I was curious. And hopeful.
Two hours poking through endless miles of trestle tables piled with books, full of hope that I would strike gold - I came home with four books that I expect to be good and three that might be good.
They also had CD’s but they were no cheaper than regular stores, I thought, and mostly rubbish. But I did get this one which makes my heart flutter for ten bucks. (if you want to hear her sing try this link for Duo des Fleurs from Lakme)

I got up early-ish this morning. Good thing, too, because a courier van rolled up at the door and the driver handed me my BREAKFAST. LOOK WHAT MEGAN SENT ME!!!!!!!!!!!

(Doesn’t everyone open lolly packets with a rotary cutter??)
It’s a bit hard to talk with teeth glued together with pineapple flavoured chewy stuff, but I’ll try. These are Pineapple Lumps. I don’t know if you can get them in other countries or not, but I think of them as Kiwi Lollies. Part of a good Kiwi childhood is walking down to the dairy (corner store)to buy lollies (sweets/candy). And I always chose pineapple lumps. Even though they were 2 cents each and fruit tingles were five for 1 cent.

Oh, and there is FABRIC! Look at this gorgeous stuff! Even my non-sewing daughter noticed it and said, “Oh look - she chose fabric that looks like lollies!!” And pretty pretty red ribbon…

Thank you, beautiful Megan! That was a wonderful way to start the day

I have found some links associated with these beautiful embroidery images. The numbers are the images from left to right:

2 : Aimee Ray has so much beautiful stuff, it’s almost impossible to choose one thing for a mosaic! She has a website,etsy shop and blog.

3 : Is that THE most beautiful tea cosy in the world or what?? Bella Dia is well-known on Flickr as a prolific and inspiring artist. She also has an etsy shop, blog and website.

5 : The talented KariBombari is on etsy and has a blog

8 : Nicky Perryman has an inspiring website.

10 : Susan Sorrell is clearly brimming with talent and humour.

12 : Kerrin Quall is well-known in Australia because she is an awesome scrap booker - I didn’t know until I found this on Flickr that she uses other media too. Her blog is pretty entertaining !

13 : Karen (misses kwittys’) has an etsy shop full of cute stuff.

Over the last few weeks I’ve added quite a few new links that I haven’t pointed out to you. So it’s high time I introduced y’all.

Today I added House & Baby - any mother who gives her 3 yr old the digital camera and opens him a flickr account to boot is Totally Worthy in my books.
Erin at House on Hill Road has been my partner for the Vintage Button swap. She makes all sorts of beautiful sewn things and has wonderful taste!
And, of course,Laeroport has been around the sticks for just ages and ages but somehow she and I only met recently doing 7 Days (the self-portraits we did on Flickr). L is awesome, but most of you know that already
Soozadoo is Tracey’s sister - she’s funny, people, and smart; good combination.

These guys are great! Drop by and say hello.

Today was A Good Day ( a James term, much borrowed by me). Today was the Inaugural Meeting of The Cool Quilters. There are only three of us but, man, we rock. Flo and I went to Tracey’s house and we cut fabric and sewed and ate. Tracey won the competition for the most Lust-worthy Fabric of the Day. She was cutting into a desirable little pile of Prints Charming fat quarters and even left beautiful selvedge strips…

Flo (alas, blog-less, but beautiful and sweet nonetheless) won the prize for Most Excited Binder of Quilts, having learned today that binding isn’t as complicated as she had thought (thanks to expert tuition from Tracey).

And me? I was grateful to be able to borrow a board and cutter, attack my scrap basket and come home with pieces ready to sew. Tonight I finished these…

… for the Scrappy Cabin Challenge on Melly and Me.
Yep, it was A Good Day.

quilt favourites, originally uploaded by twolimeleaves.

Thank you to all the wonderful people who made these beautiful quilts! If you recognise your work and would like a link, feel free to leave one in the comments.
I do know some -
The middle two quilts in the bottom row are by small hands, whose fresh take on fabric always thrills me!

The sweet birdies are by sykossa - she makes
the loveliest things and has an etsy shop.
The little pram quilt in the bottom right corner is by mollychicken - it has really sweet embroidery across the top that you can’t see in this photo.
The spectacular and rather mind-blowing hand-stitched stars in the second row are by moonstitches.
The bottom left Grandmother’s Flower Garden is by Judy Scott, who has a whole collection of very lovely quilts.
And the pretty green and white one is by Shash who has a blog,a web site, too and more gorgeous things on flickr!
Here’s another one - second on the left, Row 2 was made by the Great Grandmother of Jessica of bunnybum, who has just moved to Perth. Welcome to Australia!

I got myself a little bit carried away with the rippling thing. It’s been hard to think about or do anything else for two weeks now. But it’s nearly finished…just the edging to go!
…but then I dropped by Flickr and HALLELUJAH you should just SEE what other people are doing!! Search “crochet” and you will find more than 40 000 images of fabulous stuff.
How about this
made by the extraordinary Marianne. Want to see more? Go here or to her blog (where she also has allsorts of fantastic links to textile-type-stuff).
Then I met Shula (for the life of me I can’t figure out how I have missed her when you guys all seem to know her already!) and, man, can that chick swing a crochet hook!

Great. Like I needed another obsession.

Focusing seems to be a big problem for me right now. And not just those ghastly self-portraits. I have a huge list of tasks that I should be working my way through. So what have I been doing? Teaching myself to crochet. Is that on The List? NO. Do I care? NO.
Anina has the same problem, so I know it’s not just me. I keep seeing Pretty Sparkly Distracting Things everywhere I look. I came very close to ordering one of these loom things a couple of days ago, just because I saw these and thought they were cool. I have no idea what I would do with them except maybe sew them together to make a blanket. Like we need ANOTHER blanket. (Oh yeah, except for the crocheted ripple I’m making.That doesn’t count.)
Then I saw these really pretty thumb tacks and got all excited about making some. I DON”T EVEN OWN A CORKBOARD!!! But they are so cute…
CURSE YOU, INTERNET!! You’re too damn inspiring!!

Advice for Novice Crocheters (or should that be Crocheteurs??):

1. When the Little Voice in Your Head whispers, “This isn’t working!”, listen to it the first time or it will morph into the Giant Booming Voice of Doom which will roar in your ear for the next three days, “I told you it wasn’t working!! If you’d listened to me you would be halfway to a blanket by now instead of only Row 8 on your THIRD attempt!!!“

2. No matter how much of a Card-carrying Smart Arse you are, and no matter how much like Sanskrit you think crochet patterns look, you SHOULD use a pattern. Making it up as you go along is only clever if you SUCCEED.

3. Mistakes made in Row 1 DO NOT magically disappear by Row 6, no matter how many deals you attempt to strike with God. In fact, they breed overnight. It is possible (nay, probable) to begin with 310 stitches and end with 337. If I had kept going I could have made a charming Christmas Tree Skirt.

4. Read what other successful crocheters are doing. They have all sorts of useful information if only you take five minutes to read it. It will save you at least three days of tantrums, pouting and aching hands. Thanks to some flickr ripple-alongers I found this pattern. Now, if I can figure this pattern out, anyone can.

Here endeth the Lesson.

I know, I know, this is like my fourth post in two days. What do you expect? I’ve got a lot of catching up to do. And I had to show you this…
http://www.threadbanger.com/
Go there. If you love textiles,clothes, making your own stuff, YOU WILL LOVE IT!!!
Meshell, this is right up your alley, chickadee…

…for my sister, who saves me from disaster from time to time.

Don’t you wish you lived in Wellington? And if you do, what are you waiting for? Get thee to the Ghuznee Room!!! (at 5:30pm on 2 April)

S is a cool letter. I like the shape of it. I realised when writing this list that now that I am up to Letter Number Nineteen I am becoming rather repetitive. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you can probably chant the list of my favourite books and films and musicians. There’s nothing mysterious about me, I’m afraid. Still…

Sewing: well, duh. Some times I like sewing. Sometimes it’s a pain in the butt job that has to be done.
Sleeping: I have a natural talent for sleeping. Must be half wombat. Or sloth.
Scrapbooking: I’ve tried not to get interested but it’s so hard not to buy all those really cool papers and who doesn’t want to write about themselves??
Soft things: down pillows and comforters, foamy soap, fluffy angora, babies, my daughter’s ears (ooh she’s going to hate me for that!)
Soaking in Spas (translation: jacuzzis): have a tendency to induce sleep, however, and I worry about drowning.
Starting Things: I’m very good at starting things. Not so good at finishing. I’m what you might call an “Ideas Man”. (calling all fans of The Castle!)
Nina Simone,Bruce Springsteen (don’t laugh at me!),
Dusty Springfield and one of the Great Loves of My Life, Michael Stipe.
I will love Kevin Spacey forever because of American Beauty - enough even to forgive him for K-Pax
I couldn’t take my eyes off of Tilda Swinton in Orlando.
Egon Schiele:one of my favourite painters.
Has anyone out there seen Shortbus yet? Given my love of Hedwig, I’m keen to see it, but it might be a while before I can - North Queensland is a wasteland when it comes to progressive film.
John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath is still my favourite book ever.
Salad: my favourite food, especially green salads. Which should make me skinny but sadly does not.
Silk.
Spirit: all of its meanings Go on. Pick one. OK, not strong alcohol. All the meanings except that.
Symbolism: it’s fun finding the puzzles and being all arty and enigmatic. *hahahha*
Sassafrass: I don’t even know what that is but it sounds very cool.
Singing loudly and wantonly and raucously, even, to my favourite songs.
Sneaking kisses when no one is looking.
Shoes.
Finally, in my haste to dispatch the R list, I forgot a BIG favourite - The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Sorry, Frankie. You know there’ll never be anyone else.

Today is my last day in New Zealand. The past few days have been fantastic. Mum and Dad and I have been scooting around doing Holiday Things. We visited Zealandia on Saturday. Fabulous and rather other-worldly. Ate dinner here (Salmon. Suffer, Peasants!). And…

…wait for it…

…yesterday, we went to Cirque du Soleil. Yay us! It was way cool. But you know that already (unless you’ve been on another planet for the past few years).

How about an R list?
R is for
Rivers: I’m a river and lake person. I love fresh, cold water. Makes living in a place like North West Queensland an interesting experience I’ve begun a collection of water photos…Ripples…
Remembrances and Recollections: little snippets of life saved for another day that recall the smell and sound and touch of where we were.
Real stuff: who wants fake? who wants faux? Gimme real, baby. I want Attar and Essence, not Smells Like and Suggestion Of.
Red Red Red Red Red: like a fire engine. (But, no Gary, not Brick)
Reflections: all kinds - thoughts, images. In water and glass…Risotto: I’m good at making risotto. Except when we have guests, and then it always turns to glue. My favourites are mushroom and pumpkin.
Respect: essential and all too often lacking. Hard to quantify but it’s absence is always obvious.
A short list - time to pack.

R words that are fun to say…
refuge, reef, recluse, ragamuffin

Wow! Wow! Wow! CHECK THIS OUT!!! I wasn’t going to post anything today, but how could I not share this?? Can you even imagine carving a crayon? The guy’s name is Pete Goldlust.

Today I am thankful for…

1.The Opthamologist who happily and cheerfully abandoned her Saturday afternoon off to meet me at her surgery and remove the foreign object* that was embedded in the white of my eyeball and that had made my Thursday and Friday and Saturday morning miserable.

2.The skillful touch that made it possible for her to do so without me even realising it had happened. (”Can I blink while you do this?” “You can blink all you like - it’s done!”)

3.The loving husband and children who wasted several of their precious hours in The City (normally spent shopping) accompanying me to the Optometrist and then the Opthamologist, without complaining (even though I then had an eyepatch on and they called me Winkie and Cyclops for the rest of the afternoon and made pirate “Aaaarghs” at me).

4.The Optometrist who Fit Me In, then phoned The Best Opthamologist in Town At Home on a Saturday because “I don’t want you to go to the Emergency Department and risk getting some butcher who leaves you with impaired vision.”

5.Today my eye feels as if it never happened and I still have the same old Less Than Perfect Myopic Vision I’ve always had.

6.The ability to pay the bills.

* wasn’t officially identified before it fell off the paper onto which the Dr had placed it. From her description, I believe it was the centre of a sequin - you know the tiny circle of plastic that pops out of the hole in the middle? I told you quilting was dangerous.

Here are a few nice things I’ve been liking lately…
paintings by Gillian Warden
this sweet, sweet bunny at little cotton rabbits
beautiful felt things made by the talented Betz White
and more lovely work from Claire Basler

If you need even more, have a look at my wists (link on the side bar!)

Had to show you this beautiful work by Su Blackwell...

…and I keep forgetting to tell you a funny thing that happened while we were on holiday. Do you remember the site with bad bad baby names? Here’s a real life cracker that I heard while shopping. Precious little girl aged about two.

Called Embassy. Yep.

Here is Meredith’s newest work. She’s not too thrilled with the photo, but it’s the best we can do. This precious little girl is her daughter. Oh, and look! More parrots! These are budgies. They gather in flocks of thousands in Australia. It always seems so cruel to me that they should be alone in a cage.

As a follow-up to yesterday’s post (and, as she has pointed out, my ‘M’ list!), go visit the Mater today and be inspired by what real women have instore for them as they approach their sixties and seventies! This, my friends, is Growing Up. The maturity for which we should all aim. And being a descendent of women such as this probably helps a little, too.

OK, I’ll shut up soon, I promise. It’s just that after a week there’s so much to say. The best thing about getting home yesterday was the mail. I HAD A PRESENT!! Sarah the Magnificent made these for me…
…I love the beautiful wooden buttons , especially. She did such a good job Thank you, Sarah xxxx
Megan, have you noticed your influence in this photo?? All those self-portraits have rubbed off on me. We must be a house of weirdos, though. NO ONE asked me why I was taking photos of myself in the bathroom mirror!

Update: The Tote has been Christened. It just had its first outing to the hairdresser. Tote worked wonderfully. Won’t mention haircut.

My sister and I must be on the same wavelength - we’re both thinking about kingfishers!! I hadn’t seen her newest work until she sent me a photo today. Meredith’s beautiful new painting “Exotic Native” has been accepted for New Zealands Wallace Awards! She says, “It’s about my feeling on being an ‘homogenised’ NewZealander, our country being somewhat of a melting pot with a very short history- some would argue none at all.”
The painting is framed in a glorious (read expensive!) Italian moulding and it is for sale.

ps the link to Merediths blog is no longer active, but her website will be up in a couple of weeks. I’ve had a sneak preview and it’s wonderful. Her work is exquisite and I’m not just saying that because I love her!

Update: Merediths new website is online now. A few bits and pieces aren’t fully operational yet, but you can see more of her work.

I get really excited when I find some clever new design or idea. My family are constantly hearing me yell, “Look at this!”

aside : I just realised something really funny - I have a number of times in the past seventeen years complained to my mother about my son constantly demanding, “Mum, look at this!” Hit me if I complain about it again. I’m sorry, C.

This is my favourite “HEY YOU GUYS! LOOK AT THIS!” site -
http://www.notcot.org/ Allsorts of great design, beautiful things and wonderful stuff.
And this is todays excitement from them…

I’ve seen this guy before but had forgotten about him. Beautiful doesn’t begin to describe his work. His name is Peter Callesen
All his work is cut from paper and, as well as being technically extraordinary, it has a magical dream-inducing quality. Wait til you see the skeletons and blossoms and snowflakes and castles…

You may have noticed (if you are VERY observant!) a flurry of activity in my list of links. I’ve added a number of new ones in the past few days. These are all new friends or friends that I would like to cultivate because they are soooooooo inspiring! I am so grateful to Ulla - her list of links is probably the most superb collection I’ve come across. My goodness, the brilliance and talent and style. And she seems to know all of these genii personally! I tell you, it is an indulgent way to fritter away an afternoon…

Speaking of frittering, a few weeks ago, I realised that I have been wasting too many hours. We travel LOTS of miles from month to month, mostly driving between here and Townsville. That’s four hours each way in which I could be doing something useful. So, here they are. Useful things:

It’s been many years since I did so much hand sewing. These are done over papers (English-style) which is the very first kind of piecing I ever did, aged twelve, at Waikato Diocesan School for Gels.
I’ve really been enjoying making them. It won’t be a big quilt, however, because the itch to get the sewing machine out and “just quickly finish them” is getting worse! I have used lots of favourite fabrics - Kaffe Fasset and Amy Butler prints, gingham, spots and stripes and some 1940’s stuff that I paid a kidney for in Houston. Drool.

J is a cool letter. I like the shape of it and the way it sounds. And it’s for Jonathan, my precious brother; his clever, pretty daughter, Jessica; my wonderful sister-in-law, Jeanine and James, Son Number One.
Jasmine and jonquils smell delicious and a flowering jacaranda is one of the loveliest sights you could ever see.
Amy Tan is one of my favourite writers and the first of her books that I read was The Joy Luck Club. As with all of her books, it is gentle, poignant and loving.
Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy is not gentle. It rips your heart out of your chest and jumps up and down on it. I didn’t enjoy it, but it sure did stick to me. Phew, it’s good.
I love the sound of Janis Joplins voice - the grit and the intensity. It’s passionate and very sexy!
I like Joe Cocker for the same reason. Pearl Jam just rock my world (don’t you think Eddie Vedders voice was made in heaven? I can forgive them for the naff songs only because he sings them!) And, as with most of my age group, I worship at the altar of Jimmy Page.
John Lennon and Elton John both make my list because they have each written songs that deserve to be proclaimed trumpet-tongued in heaven ( P ).

There’s something about the movie Jaws. I wouldn’t ever include it on a list of my favourites, but each time I’ve watched it, I couldn’t stop until it was over. I guess that makes it a pretty good movie! And The Jungle Book has been a favourite since Mum took me to see it at the movies when I was little. “Ooo be do, I wanna be like you-hoo-hoo…”
Don’t you think Just Shoot Me is funny? I do!
I wear the same jewellery every day - beautiful diamond rings and a gold heart necklace that Peter has given me, a gold bracelet that Mum and Dad bought me and the same cz earrings that I bought when I first had my ears pierced aged TWENTY NINE. Yes, it took me THAT long to get up the courage. Finally I had it done a few weeks after my third child was born, when I figured that if I could give birth to three babies without dying then surely I could handle a HUGE SHARP NEEDLE BEING RAMMED THROUGH MY EAR LOBES. uugh I’ll be back in a minute just going to lie down

BTW, if you would like to see some very beautiful jewellery, have a look at Simone Walsh

Guilt-inducing, Need-a-shower-afterwards secret pleasure : Jerry Springer. Yes, I am THAT shallow, THAT vacuous. I will admit that I can’t stand an entire show, but twenty minutes is like trying to not watch a car crash.
After that confession, do I even dare mention the word Justice?

Fun j-words to say: jinx , jitter, jiggle, juju.

Look what flew into my letterbox! I told Leslie a lame joke and she liked it! She even said it was a prize winner and here is my prize. Thank you so much, Leslie. These are very pretty cards and if I ever decide that I can stand to use them (I’d rather just hoard them selfishly), I will write on them with the pink glitter pen

ps: to all my friends who think they might receive a cute postcard from me with a pink message on it - don’t hold your breath! I’m more selfish than you’ll ever know! xxx You may just have to buy your own instead *raspberry*

This must be the loveliest bracelet I’ve ever seen. More beautiful jewellery by the talented Grainne Morton here. (I know I found this site by following someones links, but I’m sorry, I don’t remember whose!)

I remember now! It was flibbertygibbet! Thanks xx

Nearly forgot! Truck on over to Ullabenulla and have a look at her dollhouse. She has some AMAZING ideas for this work in progress and it’s more than a little inspiring. I’ve been scouring the miniature and dollhouse sites and most of them are very stiff and formal. Ulla’s ideas are the proverbial breath of fresh air.

Just when I thought the obsessing over dollshouse stuff had abated, allsorts posted images from this site. This is the kind of dollshouse that I would love. Forget those Museum-like collections of Victorian Stuff. Doesn’t this just make you go, “oh! aw! look at that!” ? Here we go again…

ps: wait til you see the little fireplace!

Meredith has a new exhibition from August 12 - 31 at the
Mixed Media Art Gallery in Casabella Lane, off Barton Street, Hamilton (New Zealand).

Opening is at 5:30 pm Friday August 11.

You are invited!

I’ve finally got a grown-up, alphabetised link list! And a couple of new links, too. Say hello to green kitchen, pink iris and dangling by a thread!

Thought you might like to see the wedding dress I made for my sis about four years ago. She pretty much knew what she wanted and we nutted it out together over a day or two. It’s easy to make anything look good on her - she’s gorgeous! The train fabric is awesome; two layers of organza with feathers caught between the layers. The rest is silk.

Aren’t these cool paintings? I’m biased, they are by my sister! She now has a blog, so you can visit and see some more at http://meredithcollins.blog.co.uk/

ps Currently available from PPg Gallery
194 Great North Road
Grey Lynn
Auckland
New Zealand
Gallery hours Tues - Fri 10:30 - 4:30 Sat 11- 3

The gorgeous chandelier paintings are NZ$1800 each and the doggie (Izzy, so ugly she’s cute, aka Whizzy Squizzy because of the wee problem ) is NZ$750

I have work to do so, being the Queen of All Procrastinators (Cower before me, Punctual People!), I am surfing the net instead and admiring beautiful artwork from around the globe. Ooooh, clever, clever, lovely artists. You make my world a happy place! xxxx
go visit these guys:
http://www.saeleeoh.com/
http://www.kozyndan.com/
http://www.catiachien.com/index.php?sitepage=gallery
http://to-fukuda.com/index.html

Just a quickie today! Busy, busy, busy this week. Via Geri at crazyforfiberI found a fabulous technique for applique that Terry has developed. Click here to see. VERY VERY good! Can’t wait to try it myself. Thanks, Terry, for sharing!

This is my gorgeous, clever sister! (basks in reflected glory. bask. bask.) You’re invited - go check out her amazing paintings. Tell her that I invited you.

The King of Higher Learning has done it again! Congratulations to clever Peter who is now a Level Two Accredited Tennis Coach! That means he can now coach coaches on how to coach. The only thing after that is Level Three for coaches who coach professional players, but they are a bit thin on the ground out here in Western Qld so he’ll just stick with Level Two! And now that that qualification is out of the way (by two days), he is busy at work on the next one…
And, in a similiar vein, I have suffered a sporting injury. Last night I dropped a photo album, juggled the catch and SIMULTANEOUSLY got SEVEN (count them, seven) (you heard right, SEVEN) paper cuts across my knuckles (could there be a more painful place?? I don’t think so) . I had to be blood-binned and today four of them are infected. I doubt that there was ever anyone who has suffered so for their art. I bet that even Leonardo never topped three at a time.

Apologies in advance to the poor sad dial-uppers, but everyone else - you must check this guy out! I have NEVER liked jugglers (except Stevie Starr, who I have watched juggling chainsaws that were GOING) but this guy had me entranced. Doesn’t hurt that he’s juggling to Golden Slumbers and when Pete plays that on the piano and sings to me I’m in a puddle on the floor… But my mother’s reading, so back to the juggler…

Go to this site and click on “The Big Finale”
http://www.chrisbliss.com/videopresskit.html

Even if you DON’T like Golden Slumbers (what’s wrong with you???), watch this all the way to the end. It’s extraordinary.