floating world

greyness

There has been a lot of fabric swapping going on around here. As well as the kids swap, there was the handprinted swap that Leslie organised last year. And then following on from that Di organised a second round swap. For the second swap most of us used grey or colours that complemented it, so Alison devised the Greyness Swap, where all the fabric would be printed in grey tones, except for a couple of pieces in a highlight colour.

Last week was grey and wet here, so it was easy to think of what to screenprint. It felt good to get my screenprinting supplies out again - I did a course at the beginning of 2008 but haven't printed much since then. I should do more, it's lots of fun, and I am spoilt to have Peter Leis not far away for supplies and advice.

The pieces I've been sent back so far are absolutely beautiful, and I can't wait to see what the postman brings next.

kids fabric printing swap

The boy child is very interested to watch me sew, knit and print things, and often asks if he can join in, so when Kirsten organised a kids fabric printing swap I signed him up straight away. I explained that he'd make some fabric to send to two other little boys in the post, and that they would make fabric to send to him, and he was really excited. He then asked every day if we were going to print his fabric today, so it was good when we had a quiet day at home at the end of the holidays so we could get on with it while Milla was napping.

We used an apple stamp (inspired by this Pinterest link) but he was more interested in smearing the paint around with the fork and a cookie cutter, so we did some of that too. I find at this age (4) art and creating is so much more about experimenting with materials and textures than the end result. The only time he is concerned with the finished product is if he's watched that Mr Maker show, then he wants it to be exactly the same. Kirsten cleverly paired the children in the swap with others of similar age, so hopefully the two recipients will be like Ali and more excited by playing with paint and receiving something in the post than worrying about tidy printing.

australia day + a quilt

It's Australia Day here, a public holiday I have mixed feelings about. It's always nice to have a day off work. And I can see the benefit in taking time to reflect on and celebrate the country's strengths and acheivements. But the choice of date alienates a fair chunk of the population. And I wish the shops hadn't realised that Australia Day usefully fills the tiny gap between Christmas and Valentines Day, because now they use it to flog poorly made tat with the Australian flag on it, and put other things in "limited edition" Australia Day packaging. Flag desecration is usually controversial, but right now you can buy special limited edition Australia Day nappies so the nation's babies can pee on it. Surely I'm not the only person to find this odd?

Anyway, I'm making the most of the holiday to spent time with the family, listen to the radio, make lamingtons with the boy child and work on a quilt for my new nephew, who is far off in the USA. I hope you're all having a lovely day too, wherever you are.

lazy days

We're coming to the end of the summer holidays. They have gone so fast. We've had lots of playdates, trips to the beach and the zoo and the museum, some cooking & crafting and hanging out at home. And just as we've got in to a routine, they're coming to an end. But I think we're ready for the start of term and some new adventures. I'm excited about having a little bit of regular child-free time, for the first time since Milla was born. Maybe I'll finally get to tackle some of the to-do list.

pyjamas

Why have things been quiet around here?

a) I'm still obsessed with The Killing, and because it's subtitled I can't play on the computer at the same time.
b) When not watching The Killing I'm trying to finish 1Q84, which I'm finding really gripping.
c) The laptop suffered an unfortunate encounter with a cup of coffee and is now sitting in a bag of rice
d) All of the above.

The answer is, of course, D.

If anyone has happy stories about MacBooks that had liquid spilled in them & lived to tell the tale, please share them.

Despite all the above I have done a tiny bit of sewing - some pyjamas from the Oliver + S bedtime story pattern for Ali. I bought the fabric from Spotlight before Christmas - it's a Japanese cotton / linen blend, and I have the pink/yellow/purple colorfast in the same prints. I shortened the arms and legs for summer, but apart from that followed the pattern for a size 5. It came together without any trouble, and the front of the top sits nice and snugly - I wondered if the overlapping bits might flap around but they don't.

I want to make a matching pair for Milla (terrible, I know) but I only have this pattern in 3-6, so I'm going to use the Habitual kimono pattern for the top & improvise some shorts or bloomers. But that will have to wait until the laptop dries out because that's where my copy of the kimono pattern is saved.

recharge, renew (and ramblings about movies and books and food)

We stayed at the beach from Boxing Day to New Years Day, and it was so good to have time to relax together*. I didn't knit, sew or play on the computer. Instead we got up early to paddle in the rockpool, swam in the ocean, saw some movies, watched The Killing on DVD**, I read books and lounged in the hammock. It felt good to have time with family and to think about the past year and plan for the new one. Now we're home, M is back to work and today is the first day of a month of Ali, Milla & I hanging out together before the term starts. Ali has helped me make a big "things to do" list,  a mixture of making things at home, visiting museums & galleries, playdates and activities outdoors (if you are in Sydney this site and this one have lots of good ideas). I think it will be fun. I'm very aware that this is the last year before my baby starts school, so I want to make the most of the time together, and the days seems to go so much smoother for all of us when we have some kind of activity out of the house planned.

*Relaxing actually began on Day 2 of the holiday, after we purchased baby gates. Day 1 was spent chasing Milla up and down stairs.

** The children did not watch The Killing on DVD. Obviously. Or go to the movies.

--

The movies I saw were:

Melancholia - thought provoking, beautiful to look at, but profoundly depressing. And it frustrated me that Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Claire (Charlotte Gainsborough) had such wildly different accents even though they were supposed to be sisters. Although perhaps I am petty to be concerned by such things in the face of a rogue planet heading towards the earth.

Midnight in Paris - pure escapism, and wonderful to look at. I loved it, and it's made me want to read "A Moveable Feast" again, since so many of the characters from it were featured. The costumes in the 1920s scenes were beautiful to look at, but I couldn't work out why Inez kept wearing horribly unflattering shirt dresses in the contemporary scenes. But perhaps this was meant to contribute to her unsympathetic demeanour.

And I read:

Design*Sponge at Home - a birthday present from my mother-in-law, this is lovely to flick through. Just like a print version of the site, really.

Homer & Langley - my brother gave me this for my birthday and it is great, although again hardly a feel-good novel. It is so beautifully written though, and its brevity stops the subject matter from being overwhelming. Definitely one to read again.

Seam magazine - another present from my brother, this is the start-up issue. Lots of good stuff inside, and beautifully photographed.

Monocle magazine - my brother, who is obviously the source of all good reading material, gave this to my dad for Christmas and I borrowed it. It is interesting & beautiful to look at & full of inspiration. I am tempted to buy myself a copy of the same issue just to keep for reference. Or subscribe, but it's quite expensive.

1Q84 - I was forced to buy this for myself when I ordered some Christmas presents from Amazon UK and needed an extra item to qualify for free postage. So far it is fantastic. I know Murakami isn't everyone's cup of tea (a friend complained that he read The Wind Up Bird Chronicle when home with the flu, assumed that the strangeness was due to his high fever, and was shocked when he re-read it sans fever and found it equally hallucinogenic) but I love his style and am really enjoying this one.

Homemade and Food Safari - I don't spend much time looking through cookbooks these days, which is a shame because trying new recipes makes the grocery shopping and cooking much less of a chore. I found Homemade at the library, and it has lots of tasty and not-too-fiddly recipes. Last night we made lamb burgers with blue cheese from it, which werea nice change to the regular homemade beefburgers I make. Food Safari is based on the TV show and each chapters features a different national or regional cuisine, including lots that I enjoy in restaurants but have never tried cooking at home. This year I want to get out of my cooking rut; we eat way too much pasta. A few years ago I got in the habit of menu planning at the start of each week, pulling out a cookbook, picking 5 things and then putting the ingredients down on the shopping list. Since Milla's been eating solids I've been doing much more basic cooking, to try and make one dinner that we can all eat (hence the pasta) but I'm lucky to have children who are fairly adventurous eaters and it isn't the end of the world if I have to make a separate meal for Mark and I a couple of times a week. If anyone has suggestions for good weeknight cookbooks please let me know.

And up next on the bookshelf, for when I finish 1Q84, are The Marriage Plot and Autumn Laing, which I'm looking forward to. And I'm really really tempted to order the Colette Sewing Book and A Moveable Feast, but will wait until I've sewn from some of my unused patterns and finished the books I have on the go now.

goodbye 2011

Goodbye 2011. You were good fun. Thank you for introducing me to Amsterdam, and for turning Milla from a squarky newborn to a hilarious bundle of mischief. And Ali from a quiet almost-toddler to a lanky, noisy almost-schoolboy.

I always do this thing at the end of December when I think "I hardly made anything this year" and then I look through flickr and realise that actually I did. I'm excited about having some more time in 2012 for creating and other adventures.

2012 is already off to a good start, with a swim in the ocean and time pottering at the beach with the family. Wishing you all, wherever you are, a very happy start to the new year.