Monday, January 14, 2013

Printing t-shirt fabric

Having fun printing up my own t-shirt designs using my 'Grid' hand carved block.
(The tassel is one of Pippa's from Ouchflower.)





Sunday, January 13, 2013

Making Macaroons

The big girl has wanted to make macaroons for a long time now. When we were in Paris 
last year, we saw this kit in a shop window on our evening walk. I found it online after 
we'd returned and it was the big *squeal* surprise in her Christmas  sack... 
and now she's making...

 


    

    


 ... and now we're eating :)

Friday, January 11, 2013

Creative Space: T-shirts

Running late this week (well, this life really!)... If you've been following my instagram 
you'd know that I've been busy with making t-shirts. Only two are fully completed so far
but there are many more partly constructed so they will mostly be going into my shop.
(I'll let you know when)

I've cut my own pattern and designed them to fit loosely with a raglan sleeve. Each
has a crocheted cotton circle on the front too. This red one is destined for the shop.


The striped jersey is fabric I bought in New York about 10 years ago now and it's 
incredibly fine - I lined the front panel with red cotton jersey for modesty but have
left the back as is so it'll be deliciously cool in summer :)



Modelled by me so you can see how loose and comfortable it is :)


The other t-shirt I've made this week I think I'll be keeping but can make some 
more if you'd like one...?



It's a light grey cotton jersey with ivory trimmings on the sleeves and at the bottom. 
The neckline has a nude cotton tulle trimming and the crocheted cotton circle is in 
a pale peach/nude too. (The pic below is the best representation of it's colour.)
Loving these colours together :)



Shown on and photo-bombed by the little one with our cat :)


I guess we're all aware how hot it's been... Funny how the weather can send me 
running to our one air-conditioned room and dictate what kind of craft is done :) 
What have you been up to? Has it been dictated by the weather? 
More creative spaces at Kirsty's here.   

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Kindness


I have some travelling lined up for this year (but more about that at a later time)... 
Anyway, I've been thinking about travelling and remembering good times in places 
both familiar and strange to us. In particular, I've been remembering one day (10 
years ago now!) when we decided to stop off in Tokyo on our way back from another 
trip to have a quick look around. We had no travel book, no prior knowledge. We 
thought we'd just walk around for the day then head back to the airport on our way 
home. But we were totally unprepared for just how far out of our frame of reference 
Tokyo would be and were totally lost in no time at all...


And then we were saved... A lovely gentleman approached us and asked
if we needed help. We had about three words in Japanese and he had even less
in English, but somehow we managed to communicate that we wanted to see
some local sights. And this is when the magic happened... the most extraordinary
kindness we've ever encountered in any of our travels. This gorgeous lovely man
decided to be our guide for the day.



He hailed a cab and took us to a temple... He took us to a carnival with rides and
street performers... He took us to places to eat and showed us beautiful local 
architecture and sights... And for that entire day, he would not let us pay for a single
thing. (We tried several times but he wouldn't hear of it).




At the end of the day he wanted us to come back to his home and have dinner
with his family but we had a plane to catch, so he took us to the station for the
airport train and stood on that platform waving us goodbye as we glided out of the
station. Have you ever heard of such kindness?


Thankfully, I had the forethought at the time to get his name and address before 
we parted and sent him a thank you letter (which I had translated into Japanese) 
and some photos of our day together. I sent them all off but didn't hear from him 
again. I'm ashamed to say I've totally forgotten his name now, but I'll never forget 
him. I think of this lovely man often and his incredible kindness. He is such an 
inspiration for me and has been the impetus for my own behaviour towards 
travellers in our city.

Anyway, there's no particular point I want to make... I just wanted to share
this amazing day and wish us all beautiful times in the year ahead :)

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Happy New Year!

Look at that... It's 2013 already! Happy New Year!
Already it's a funny kind of year, this 2013... I feel as if holidays are over 
already (for us Brisbane southern hemisphere-ers we're on summer holidays 
until the end of January) and I'm getting organised for the year ahead. 
I feel buzzed... and that's kind of weird for me :)

Loving this super duper clipboard below... I can only hope that this
buzz lasts me through the year because I have plenty of super duper 
things in the planning :)


What about you? Are you still comfortably winding down with the summer 
haze or have you hit the new year running? What are your plans for 2013?