floating world

tea towels

Sooz organised a tea towel swap, which I think is possibly the best swap I've ever been involved in. I like screenprinting, but it only really makes sense if you do lots of the same design, so it was wonderful to send some of my printed towels out to other people and get 5 different ones back. And tea towels are easy to post, too.

Mine were from (left to right) Ellen, Kirsten, Sooz, Di and Tania, and I love how they are all so different and yet they look great hanging up together. My kitchen will be much more beautiful, and I am retiring all my manky old ones straight away.

We are on a major elephant kick here, with back-to-back readings of Barbar every night, so I sent out some little orange elephants on my towels.

Thank you, girls, for being such fabulous swap partners and an extra big thank you to Sooz for organising. 

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Other things making me happy right now, in addition to my new tea towels:

- The photos of Nakameguro (near my old neighbourhood) on Hello Sandwich (actually, her whole blog is making me happy, it is gorgeous).

- Making Tom Yum Goong soup and having it turn out just like the restaurant version

- Investigating Steiner Doll making classes

- Planning a holiday for later in the year

- Reading some really good books. I just finished The Lacuna, and the last 2 books of the Millenium Trilogy. And then I reread The Hours. I'm thinking Jack Maggs next. And maybe then Breath (although I don't always like Tim Winton). Any other suggestions?

- Eating Turkish Delight easter eggs

I have sewing block at the moment, which is mostly because I need to make a cover for an armchair and I'm intimidated. But I'm just going to ride it out, and trust that my enthusiasm will be back before too long.

loot

Some people seem blessed by the second-hand gods, and usually I am not one of them. I visit shops where others have found gold, and discover only manky t-shirts and broken junk. But on the weekend a friend and I did a dawn jumble sale raid  and found so many good things. A pretty German coffee set, lots of vintage buttons, Golden Books and a threading toy for Ali. My favourite thing is the orange floral thermos... it was $2, AND has fabulous lurid flowers, AND we tested it and it kept the water hot enough to make tea for 9 hours. Fabulous. Also found but not photographed: some little Japanese melamine dishes and a sterling silver photo frame. And then we ate jam and cream on scones with a view of the harbour. The gods were definitely smiling.

japan in childrens books

When we lived in Tokyo I tried to find books about Japan for my nephew and nieces to help them understand where we were. The most popular was the First Book of Sushi, which became a real favourite in their house. It's a little board book with colourful collage pictures and a catchy rhyme about the different kinds of sushi. Apparently my niece became a very adventurous sushi eater, because she was keen to try all the things she's read about in the book.

My all-time favourite was Sayonara, Mrs. Kackleman, by the fabulous Maira Kalman. It's out of print now, but we tracked down a second hand copy on Amazon. It's about two children from New York who run away to Japan to escape their piano teacher, the notorious Mrs. Kackleman, and are shown around the country by their Japanese guide, Hiroko. It's notable for its fabulous illustrations, clear introduction to many things Japanese, and also for wacky lines like, "Hey Hiroko, are you loco? Would you like a cup of cocoa?" I don't know how much my nephew liked it, but the combination of educational and bizarre really appealed to me.

 

I still enjoy keeping an eye out for Japan-themed childrens books, and spotted some by Allen Say at the local library. Kamishibai Man and Tea With Milk are a both sweetly nostalgic, and give a glimpse into a long-gone Japan.

Tea with Milk is the story of how his parents met, and about being caught between two cultures. Kamishibai Man is about an old story-telling man who comes out of retirement to a newly busy city. I love his delicate watercolour illustrations.

 

Ali's favourite, which is referred to around here as "In Japan" (It's actually "Japan", from an old kids series called "Starter Places", published by Macdonald and Company in 1973), was a 50c Salvos find.

I love old reference books, especially ex-library ones (Remember library cards? And the date stamps? And card catalogues?), and this one has fantastic illustrations to boot.

It even has slightly macabre pictures of people fleeing natural disasters. Although the bit about no-one getting badly hurt in earthquakes is a fib.

Ali loves it, and asks for it over and over again. Bits of the book have been incorporated into his play, not always in a good way. Yesterday he was brandishing a knitting needle and shouting "Ken-DO!" 

I'd love to take him to visit Japan before too long, and I just hope he isn't disappointed by the lack of castles and samurai.

rays of sunshine

It has been wet here. Seriously wet. It rained almost non-stop for 5 days. And not light, pitter-patter rain. This was apocalyptic, roof shaking, soaked-in-a-second rain. And in the brief moments that the rain stopped it was so hot and humid that all my 3M sticky hooks fell off the wall, sending posters crashing everywhere. It feels steamy and tropical, and mushrooms are popping up everywhere.

Wet weather, a toddler and living in a small space is a sure recipe for crankiness but, to try and fight off cabin fever and insanity, I've been focusing on the good things I can do despite the rain.

Knitting

My copy of Whimsical Little Knits arrived (Ysolda was donating 80% of profits to Haiti, so it was a good reason to buy patterns I'd been eyeing for a while) and, inspired by Kate and Sooz I cast on an Ishbel straight away. This was not on my list of things to make, but it's using yarn I've had stashed forever* so it seemed meant to be. 

Reading

I was vaguely aware of Dumbo Feather for ages (I think my brother told me about it) but only bought my first copy last week at the MCA. It's fantastic! Such a great idea - each issue profiles 5 inspiring people. And that's it. No ads, no stuff for sale. Just beautiful photography and layout and inspiration. One of the people featured in this issue is the very stylish Pia Jane Bijkerk - I've enjoyed her blog for ages - and the others are equally fascinating. I've already picked out a couple of back issues I want to order.

And I've also been reading The Girl Who Played With Fire, which is perfect for nap times in raining days.

Fixing

 

This is probably the least exciting picture that's ever been on the blog, but it is totally exciting to me because we! now! have! a! shelf! in! the! laundry!!!

I bought the shelf and hook thing from Ikea about a year ago, and they've been sitting under the stairs ever since. But when Ali was napping on Saturday we finally took the dryer off the wall, drilled holes for the shelf, decided we might as well paint the room while everything was chaos anyway, and then put the dryer back and the shelf and hook rack up. Now the washing powder is safely out of reach of Ali, and the cupboard under the sink can be used for buckets which were previously lurking in the sink. And the lingerie bags and broom can hang up out of the way. This makes me very happy. (I'm now on the hunt for a pretty laundry powder tin.)

Cooking

We had friends over for lunch on Sunday and it was too wet to barbeque so I made Gin and Tonic drunken chicken with iceberg, mint & cucumber salad, Toasted Grains with Labne and a ridiculous peach meringue cake (all from the latest Gourmet Traveller). They were all really good. I tend to avoid recipes with lots of steps and ingredients, thinking they'll be complicated but sometimes it really is worth making a bit more effort. All the recipes made a mammoth amount, which meant we had lots of high quality left overs, perfect for snacking and packed lunches. 

And today the rain has finally stopped so I can finally head outside, get on top of the mountain of washing and stick my pictures up again.

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* The yarn is a super soft baby alpaca that I bought while I was pregnant with Ali, thinking I'd make him something out of it. I am so glad I didn't. He was a very sicky baby and clothes lasted 1 hour max before getting milk all over them. And handwashing isn't really a priority when you have a newborn. He had jumpers (like this one!) that he grew out of while they were in the to-be-handwashed pile. So this yarn has been hanging around for almost 3 years waiting for the right project, and I'm pretty sure the Ishbel is it.

*

take your time

On Tuesday Ali and I went for a little excursion together. We caught the bus to Circular Quay and went to the MCA to see the Olafur Eliasson exhibition, Take Your Time. It was the perfect kind of art for a toddler: our favourite piece was "The cubic structural evolution project": three tons of white lego bricks spread around a table, ready to play with. Another was a big white almost-circular wall that cycled through the colour spectrum. Ali lay on the floor in the middle and called out the colours as they changed.

There was also a tunnel of shiny reflective triangles, a dark tunnel that lead to a waterfall, and a spikey astroid thing that worked like a kaleidescope... lots of beautiful experiments with light and space. (Photos of the exhibition are from the MCA website).

Then we walked up towards Town Hall and had a potter in Kinokuniya. I love browsing through their stationery and craft books, it's almost like being back in Tokyo. The craft section was much bigger and better organised than last time I visited,  and they are having a craft promotion during February - including 20% off craft books and a Kino Craft Fair on the 27th. Then we stopped in next door at Ichi Ban Boshi for delicious gyoza and gyudon before catching the bus home again. It is so special to be able to spend time with my little one, to see new things and talk about them together. I feel very lucky to be working part-time, so we can enjoy these places on week days when they're not so crowded and we can take our time.

apple picking

Lots of room to run around + apples to pick = very happy toddler.

We went to Pine Crest Orchards in Bilpin on the weekend. I think we will be eating lots of apple pie and crumble in the next few weeks.

small changes

Even though it's almost the end of January, I still have that beginning-of-the-year feeling. I've been doing sorting, throwing out, and fixing little things that annoy me. Sometimes the smallest things make a massive difference, and then I wonder why I didn't do them years ago.

I bought a file step from Kikki K for the desk in the study, so now instead of having plastic folders sitting around with bills and things in them I have nice logical folders: "to pay", "to file", "pending", "tax" etc. - much tidier, and prettier to look at too.

At the end of last year M brought home a photo mobile from the MCA store. This week I finally chose photos and had them printed them out at half size. I stuck them together - some with photos on both sides and some with origami paper - rounded the corners, and hung them up above my desk. Both the photos and the paper are from Tokyo, so it's a nice reminder of our time in Japan.

Buying a new teapot is another thing I wish I had done ages ago. I passively disliked our old teapot for about 5 years - it was given to me, and I couldn't justify replacing it because it was perfectly functional. But then I bought a new paprika Dibbern one with some Christmas money from my grandmother (she is a big tea drinker so I thought it was a fitting gift). I love using it so much, I can't believe that I hung on to the old one for so long.

long weekend

It's Australia Day on Tuesday, so we're making a long weekend of it and heading to the beach. See you next week!

gingham top

I sewed this top before Christmas but never got around to posting. It's from Simplicity 2593, which I've had my eye on since I saw it over at Angry Chicken. I did View C with twists around the arms, but I have some striped linen which is destined to be the twisted-neck version.

This fit is roomy - I measured between two sizes and went for the smaller one, but it's still quite generous and a bit gapey under the arms - to the point that I like to wear it with a singlet underneath. But it's nice and cool for summer, looks smarter than a t-shirt, and fits in well with my mummy-duty summer uniform of shorts / denim skirt + top.

finishing

When I first started reading blogs people would write about their "stash" and it seemed so exotic. Up til then I had only ever bought fabric for a specific project, used it, and thrown out the scraps. Luckily for me I was living in Japan at the time, which is the home of cheap and adorable fabric, and so it didn't take long for me to accumulate a cupboard full. If I saw fabric I liked I'd buy half a metre or so, just so it was on hand when I decided what to use it for. And then there were the fabrics I bought with a specific project in mind but never got around to sewing. And then I started knitting, and stockpiling yarn as well... not much, but enough to fill a drawer. The thing is, now that I have a stash of supplies I have realised that I don't really like it - I hate clutter, and having unused things hanging around makes me feel vaguely guilty. For the past few years when writing out new year goals I have put something vague like "Finish unfinished projects / use materials I already have / don't buy new materials unless it's for a specific project and going to be used immediately". Which obviously doesn't work, because the pile of unfinished projects and stash of unused fabric and wool isn't getting any smaller.

So this year I tried something different. I wrote out a specific list divided into three headings: half finished projects, things which I would like to make and already have the materials for, and things that I would like to make but don't have the materials for yet. Then I typed it up and posted it here. The idea is that I work through the half finished things first, then the things I have materials for, rather than getting side-tracked and buying fabric for a new project. With the exception of things like a slip-cover for the chair downstairs, which we really really need. I don't mind buying supplies if they're going to be used right away, but the goal is to reduce the amount of stuff hanging around in limbo.

So far it's working - last night when I was tempted to start a Malabrigo capelet for myself, I decided to pick up the half-finished Rowan jumper instead. And I've crossed off a few half-finished projects already and it feels great to get them out of the sewing room.

I made the patchwork squares for these lavender sachets before Christmas, but then ran out of lavender. I picked up more from Alfalfa House last week, stuffed them while chatting to some lovely ladies at the Craft Room, and now they're bundled up in a ziploc bag ready to give as presents.

The hat below is from McCall's M4478, View A. I cut it out for Ali in early 2009, from a soft blue linen (leftovers from the duvet cover) and some spotted blue cotton for the lining, but quickly realised that the brim would be too narrow for proper sun protection, which is pretty essential here in Australia. The problem with the pattern is that the width of the brim stays the same for all sizes, and while it's enough on the newborn size it's not deep enough for a toddler. Anyway, it seemed a waste to have the pieces sitting there so I sewed it together and now it can stay in the car and be a spare for when we forget his proper hat.

The shorts are more of a success - I cut them out before Christmas in some light-weight denim from Spotlight. They are View S...

... from one of my favourite Japanese children's sewing books, ISBN 4-579-11100-1 (あかちゃんの服、てづくりの服).

Like so many of the Japanese patterns they're well cut, and have cute little details (like this pocket stitching) that make them look more "finished".

When I started these shorts Ali was still in nappies and running out of things to wear, but now that he's in undies all day he can wear shorts that were too small before - he's back in size 1 and 2 shorts from last summer! But these are nice and loose, and easy for him to pull up and down by himself, so won't be wasted. And now I've found a nice shorts pattern I'm thinking of lots of variations I could make, including turning them into pants for winter.