Late....

It's late, and I'm sitting up with my laptop, just a quick post before bed. I can't fall over now, the second-to-last day of Blogtoberfest. Not after the superb cake-roundup, Nana's cool shirt, or the pattern goodness with delightful envelope drawings. You - we - have all put in so much effort, written so many interesting and thoughtful posts, and made some new connections.

Everything has gone quiet, and there are fewer trains, just the occasional car, and the sound of seed pods popping on the tin roof as they fall. Today's fierce wind is gone. My latest mini-quilt is a saturated wet square hanging on the line in the dark, wild man of the forest painted, eyes black and mouth spouting leaves. An early Hallow's Eve sprite; an old man of the woods, Jack in the Green.

Tomorrow it all starts up again: work, play, talk, organising, doing, being, out and about. An all-night craft-a-thon midnight pyjama party with my crafty gang, we're going to dabble in the art of stichery witchery. But for now, I'm off to bed to dream of leaves, moss and quiet things.

B

Tea... pots!

I'm playing along in the Veg About going on over at Bellgirl at the moment. My planting progress this week has been a leetle slower than I'd like, but here are a couple of shots of the new residents of my garden.

First to hit the decks and be planted: twelve tiny basil plants.

Grow, kiddies, grow! Youse all gonna be pesto.

Then, this got the dirt good and grubby under the nails as I prepared these pots for the veggies and herbs that await them: tomatoes - 6 roma and 3 tom thumb tinies, coriander, and the strawberries are already in and have been vetted by Mr. Blackbird.


If I have a large pot left over, I'll plant one potato plant, probably kipfler, known as Hattifattners in our house, after our favourite children's books of all time. And I found a self-seeded tomato that looks strong enough to leave it in and see what it comes to.

Finally, if there's only one thing I know about gardening, especially in a pot, it's that vegges really like a nice cup of tea.

They like it strong. Sun-brewed, no milk.

That's manure tea, right: 3 large handfuls of manure, warm water, mixed well and left to sit in the sun all day. Pour it on when the sun goes down (less evaporation, good water wise-ness), and let the plants soak up the muck. Not too often: once every couple of weeks sounds right for me (anyone know for sure? Leave a comment - I could do with the advice!)

More fun over at Bellgirl, where you'll find a list of lovely veggie-planting bloggers, including fun from Life in the Dome and Bowerbirdz. Go enjoy some hunting and gathering!

- B

Blogtoberfesting, country style....

Guten Morgen, meine Blogtoberfesteren! (?)

Today we are out and about, looking for creative inspiration. We smile through clouds of bees - in between sneezes. We search for zee seeds of zuper-crafty art ideas!

Ah, I see it now.....

Inspiration is dawning....

I see a range of....

Yellow Quilts!
Yellow bags!
Tissue holders!

(Back tomorrow, I'm just out and about today.)

B

Red roses and resident blackbirds

Paperweights, preserved moths, beetles and shells. (ROM museum, Toronto)

I'm sitting in the window of my front room, looking out at red, red roses glowing in the sunshine. I don't know how it happened, but we have a bumper crop of roses all of a sudden, and they are a real joy. Even to a girl who isn't a huge rose fanatic and who loves eucalyptus flowers, bottly-brush grevilleas and all of our spectacular native flowers.

This is not my garden, but every girl can dream... (South island, New Zealand)

After yesterday's big blog rant, I am uninspired today. Perhaps I burned up all I had to say for the moment. Your comments and emails were much appreciated -- isn't it funny how we're not alone? I spent most of the day working on a freelance contract, but when the sun came out, I just had to dash out into the garden to get some soil prepared for the veggies. I'm participating in the Veg About over at Bellgirl: are you?

Our resident blackbird Papa and Mama perched on the fence and kept a wary eye on me, occasionally darting into the ivy. Whenever I found a slug or an earwig, I put it on top of the garbage bin next to me, and although I didn't see or hear the birds come past me, the offerings disappeared at a regular rate. I've got seven large tubs ready to receive tomatoes, strawberries and coriander, and I've left them for the birds to pick over the soil before heading out to plant one or two things. I do love spring!

Tomorrow, it's back to my volunteer job, and I'm looking forward to it. It's exciting to get to flex these new editing skills and the writing muscles in aid of a cheffy-foody charity that you admire. Hurrah, I say! And another interview. And a talk at the Victorian Writers' Centre in the evening. Busy, and all good.

I'd better plant some tomatoes. So much for having nothing to say... I'll file this one under "Rambles"!

B

This is.... Something I'm surprised I like

I haven't come across Earl and Cookie before now, but they've chosen a good challenge for the week! Click 'This is' button at the right for more....


The thing that surprises me is that I like getting up and about. No, please don't laugh! I've never been the sporty type: I was the one whose glasses were knocked off in soccer, whose glasses were smashed away in volleyball, whose glasses.... you get it. And who eventually took to enacting wildly silly parodies of gym sports with my best friend in class, thankfully with a teacher who encouraged us to laugh and jump around, even if we were playing badminton with no birdie and claiming scores of 72-zillion to 58-billion. "Who cares," I can see she was thinking "As long as they are moving".

For much of my life I've been overweight, and I know the creeping shame and embarrassment, self-loathing and malaise that comes with feeling that there must be something wrong with you, that losing weight is a mountain you can't climb. I still haven't climbed all of that mountain, and I honestly don't know if I have it in me to climb the rest of the way. It really does take an incredible amount of mental energy and anguish. It's not just a case of deciding or not deciding, or being strong or not. It's harder than that.

Last year, I shed 10 kilos with the help of an extraordinary, kind, warm bunch of women at my gym. I'm not a gym kind of gal. I didn't think I would like it. I never - never never ever - thought I would sign up. But I was lucky enough to walk into a supportive environment that told me I should respect myself FIRST, whatever size I am, and dance my heart out, because music is what I love, and the rest - that is, the capacity to make the effort to really work hard to lose those kilos, tiny bit by teensy tiny bit - will follow. I'm only halfway there, but I get up, put these shoes on every single day, and I am continually surprised at how much I love it.

Gosh.

Well, there you go! I'm going to file this one under "Rants"! (big laugh)

B.

EDITED:
PS - I really wasn't sure whether or not to post this, so I scheduled it for an hour later, to think about it. It's a bit scary to say these things, you think you'll be judged. I'm going to go ahead though, not because I want compassion or reassurance, but because I'm trying to say that all the pain about weight is all sort of.... irrelevant now. It's over. But for so many people I know it's not, and I think it's important to say that it is possible to start to move on from that place, to put on those shoes and dance on out of there into a spot where it's just good to be up, and about and alive and moving. That's all.

I guess that makes this a double rant! (This gal got something to say, stand way back!)

Sketchcrawl Melbourne - some pictures!

Yesterday I went along to the much-anticipated (by me) event: the Sketchcrawl! If you are asking yourself what a Sketchcrawl might be, check out my original post, or the global Sketchcrawl blog.

It's damn fun, that I can tell you! There were over 50 locations participating yesterday, as people slowed down to look around and draw (or record) what they saw.

Here's a little story of the day, in sketch and photos.


As my tram inched up Swanston St., I wasn't sure what to expect. How many people would be there? Would they all know each other?

I was even looking around, checking for people carrying sketchbooks, and when I got to the State Library, they were obvious: a cluster of almost 20 people carrying sketchpads and cameras. All ages, some obviously old hands at the sketching game, others with new small notebooks and a pencil tucked in a pocket, and some - like me - waking up rusty old skills.

Several photographers joined us, and my friend Annie raced off to get thin paper and some pastels so that she could do better rubbings of decorative textures. (She found some fabulous art deco lettering by the end of the day.) Janice, aka Jen, who organised the day beautifully (thank you Jen!) handed us our itineraries. Let the Worldwide Sketchcrawl begin!

First stop, State Library of Victoria

City centre, sun worshippers, students, high-rise dwellers. Tourists, trams and groups of men in dark suits, being led first one way and then the other, appearing several times with their guide. Hmm.


After warm-up sketches on the lawn of the State Library, I followed the photographers who were hunting art deco delights, street art and swanky buildings. Here are two of them, Karen and Jenny, in action:


Don't look now, but there's a big green alien above you!

Oh, it's just RMIT.

Then, with the day heating up, off we went through the lanes to... The Queen Vic Market!

Now, anyone who knows me, knows that this is my spiritual home. Food, chat, people, colour and mess - I love it! All the world is at the market.


Even the Mango Mafia were there, debating the share price of mangoes (down, definitely down).


Fabulous flowers - a profusion of shapes and sizes!


I'm in love with my new, pink, brush-tipped pen. It's just the colour to remind me of...

Cool watermelon on a hot, dry and dusty day!

I wondered if there were any big, hairy spiders hiding in all those boxes of bananas...

... but I did not go closer to investigate.

And we dined like kings on cheese, bread, and donuts from the Polish Deli, mmmm, those donuts!

Last stop: bing! bing! Bourke Street!

Teens and tourists, buskers, bikers and fashion-victims, families, friends, and lots of hot, tired people waiting for trams. We settled on the cool steps of the GPO in prime position to sketch them all.

Six Sketchcrawlers, sitting on stone steps.

Jen, our intrepid organiser, is in the front of the photo and I'm at the bottom (with my newly-made blue and white linen shirt). You can see some of Jen's sketches on her Flickr site, or on her blog, Friperee.

There were about 20 of us at this time, and it was amusing to see people walk past.... stop, look, and then ask "Hey, are you guys a sketching class?"

There were some excellent buskers who serenaded us as we drew, and lots of hot and tired shoppers, not moving much:



By this time in was past 3PM, and - can you hear it? That little call? Could it be? Yes! A cool seat in the Block Arcade, tall drinks and lots of water, conveniently located across from Haigh's chocolates.

A round of lemon myrtle chocolates for all, and thank you Annie for introducing me to another gorgeous Australian delicacy. Mm! Food, friends and drawing: it was a whole day of playtime for me!

Photos of my new shirts

Hi again,

Earlier this week, I wandered down to my local op shop, and picked up three shirts for $9. That made me happy!


Two of them are going to become stencil-shirts, and the third one went straight in a dye bath.


It came out a little darker than I intended, but I like it! This is a light cotton/linen blend that will be great for hot summer days. The rose print that was on the white has been well-covered by the dye and is now just a subtle mottled pattern.

Then yesterday I finished the other summer shirt I've been making. This one is linen, and it's only the second shirt I've made to a pattern, so I was feeling proud as punch when I finished it, tweaked the fitting a bit, and liked it! Whew.

Here it is next to my dyed op shop shirt:

Neckline:
Ties on the back:
The pattern is New Look 6515 and I made option E. I had to modify the neckline slightly, as the neck was too wide and the V came down past my bra in the front, but that was easily fixed with a bit of trial and error.


What shall I make next? It's a bit of a dilemma: I want to finish off the summer quilt, because it's been languishing for a week or two, but I'm also keen on sewing clothes and bags.

I feel that the job hunt is nearing an end, and I'm glad of that, not least because we need the money, but also because I want the challenge. It's been a long process to examine my skills and decide to make a change in direction, and soon (hopefully very soon) I will re-emerge not as a marketing person, but as an editor. I know that there will be a lot to learn, and that it will be exhausting for the first couple of months so that my time to sew and craft will become limited and very precious. So I've sorted out my sewing supplies and desk, and put all of the unfinished projects into one large box in the hope that I can finish off a few projects before I lose this luxurious sewing time. Wish me luck!

B