What stash?

We've just returned from a school movie night, watching "Where the Wild Things Are" under the full moon and stars. Only here could you walk to the car and have a kangaroo bounce across your path. We still find that pretty amazing ...

Anyway ... I have to tell you about this darling little book I borrowed out of the library to take on holiday with me. It's called 'Hooked for Life - Adventures of a Crochet Zealot' by Mary Beth Temple. It's a collection of mini 'essays' on the history of crochet, how to control your stash, habits of crocheters and everything else you ever wanted to know about crochet enthusiasts. It even includes a pattern to introduce each part; I am so going to make the Goth Princess Toilet Paper Doll.

It is a lot of fun, and makes the reader feel secure in that they are not the only craft zealot in the world - there are millions of us out there! Yay! Here's a small extract about the inevitable yarn stash we are all guilty of having/hiding. It kept me smiling for quite a while!

"Okay, I am going to clean out the stash today ... I will condense, I will combine, I will find room in the stash closet where none existed before and this time, this time, I will not fill up the newly created space with random yarn purchases (which are not my fault because as we all know, nature abhors a vacuum and you can't fight physics)."

I feel so much better knowing my weakness is a scientific matter. You just can't argue with it, so the stash remains!

Grapes of warmth ...

I've just checked the weather forecast and for the next week temperatures are going to be in the high 30's/low 40's. Have I ever told you I hate the heat?? :) So I am bracing myself and whispering Eckhart Tolle's maxim 'this too will pass' constantly to myself, hoping that it will give me strength to carry on as I begin to wilt!

When I know I'm going to have a tough time (I really am a wimp in the hot weather) I try to be thankful and find something positive amidst my negativity. In this case it's grapes. Yes, seriously. Just look at them, they are gorgeous and off our own little vine which grows on the back of the house. They are also very precious as there are only 3 bunches this year (the first crop we've had and we've been here 3 years). These are truly the best grapes I've tasted, they are juicy, sweet and taste of the sunshine. Wish I could let you try one ... but as it's not possible, I'll have to eat the lot myself. Though I suppose there'll be a supply of helpers here ...

What is creative about this blogpost? Don't know really, it could be the dodgy title - it's good that I changed 'wrath' to 'warmth' as the hot weather does make me cranky and warmth does imply comfort. Or it could be the fact that my head feels a little less maudlin about the upcoming hotness after associating sun with yummy fruit - that does take a lot of work and creativity to change my thought process! Better keep eating the grapes ...

Things that make you go mmmmm ...

Okay, I need to try really hard to get back into the habit of blogging after being away on holiday. It was a nightmare blogging whilst we were away as my laptop decided it needed a holiday too and wouldn't work properly, eating up huge chunks of text (usually when I'd written something terribly witty and so unique it couldn't be recalled) or made the cursor disappear and turn up somewhere else in the body of the text. Consequently I wanted to give the laptop a flight of its own and chuck it out the window, so I stopped blogging!

But now I am back in my snug little office with my PC and have no excuse really for not writing. To make it easier I thought I'd start with a few lovely treats I've had over the past few days.

Gorgeous cupcake and pink spotty pencil - who could resist when it's from a place called 'Speckle Farm' (certainly not me)

The first is a true delight - just look at that beautiful colourful cupcake. Hm, hm. If you haven't tried the cakes at Little Miss Cupcake in Kalamunda then you don't know what you're missing. It's such a hard decision trying to chose the one you want to take away in it's own little noodle box, so that you can ritually unwrap it as you sip your cup of tea. Yum, yum, yum ... And the best thing about this treat is that I was on my own, and I didn't have to share it with anybody. Ha ha! All that sumptuous icing and crunchy red flower to myself. Oh joy! Mmmmm ...

The treats didn't stop there ... on Saturday I spent the morning crafting with my Saturday craft buddy, both of us sitting at the kitchen table making patchwork and sipping tea and chatting. Then to complete the day a friend of ours cooked dinner and we shared it with friends and a good bottle of wine. Mmmmm... Sunday morning brought more creativity when I walked across the road to my very arty friend who has a studio under her house - we sat together at the workbench, each with a cuppa and a slice of clay and made a plant pot and a platter. The clay was rolled out, then we made impressions in the clay with various 'natural' stamps, e.g honky nuts, she-oak seeds, fern leaves and cut out pieces to line a terracotta pot which acted as our mold. I was called over later in the day when the pots had dried a little and could be taken out of the mold and stand under their own weight. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera, but I should be able to take some pictures when they come back from firing later this week. Goody, goody!

My Spotlight hoard - I bought eco-friendly yarn to make a hoodie, 8-ply to make an afghan for our bedroom (it will be a product of the 'granny a day challenge', a light to clip to work I'm doing, some pretty quilting pins and a plastic pot which has a lid with a hole in the top; it's for putting your yarn in so it doesn't get dirty. Fabulous. The dark tubular thing in the background is my wrist support which I've taken to wearing when crocheting.

And just before you think things couldn't get any better, the mmmmmmm factor went into overdrive with a visit to Spotlight, the two vouchers I received for my birthday burning a hole in my pocket. And yes, I spent the whole amount and have a huge mountain of yarn to knit and crochet, and a couple of things I wouldn't normally buy but wanted, to show for it. Bliss, bliss, bliss ...

Back to the real world tomorrow with decorating the house and starting my monthly bookkeeping. But I don't care because I have more than enough 'mmmmmm' to last for a good few weeks yet!

Birthday travels

As a birthday treat I was whisked away on holiday to New Zealand by my lovely husband the day after my party. He's such a star, he knows I'm scared of heights so he took me to the Sky Tower for dinner! Actually after I got over the shock of going skywards in a turbo lift with a glass floor, and the fact that the tower was swaying slightly I really did enjoy myself - it's not everyday you stand above the traffic and tall city buildings. It was fabulous and I embraced my creative side by taking lots of photos.

Standing 190 metres above Auckland - if you look carefully you can see a car on the road. These glass tiles are 3.8 cm thick and as strong as the concrete floors in the Sky Tower apparently. Believe you me I was gripping the handrail very firmly! It took some courage for me to stand on the glass floor ...

... here I am trying to look nonchalent about standing on a bit of glass - if you look closely you can make out my white knuckles

Just as we arrived at our table the sun was setting - don't think it was arranged in advance, but the timing was impeccable!


Back on terra firma - Sky Tower from the ground :)

My birthday ...

The dress ...


wearing my party dress ...


A beautiful keepsake

I had the most amazing birthday! Helped by some very creative people from a friend who dropped by to do the food (he's a chef too!) and who patiently showed us how to help as well as cooking, to the people who made me beautiful cards and a pinata chocolate cake! It had to be seen and eaten to be truly appreciated, but take it from me, it was gorgeous, yum! And just look at the beautiful card made by my friend Amanda - she is such a talented and creative lady, and very modest - what a lovely keepsake of a fabulous day shared with friends and lots of telephone calls from my family in the UK! I felt very loved! It was a great day in other ways too - I never celebrated my 18th or 21st birthday with a party. I wasn't bothered at the time but have regretted it as I've grown older, so this party was an extra special way to mark a milestone in my life. It also gave me the excuse to do some dressmaking, which I haven't done for quite some time - until I decided to make my party dress that is. I'm quite proud of it - it's made with a soft cotton, which has been in my stash for a few years, using a pattern I bought 10 years ago - you see, I take a bit of time to get around to my projects!

Thanks to everyone who left messages for me, telephoned me, came to my 'do', and for all the lovely gifts - a special day made all the more special by special people. xxxx

Sneak peek ...

The beginning ...


A tiny part of my new banner - I may even print this pic off and stick it to my fridge as a reminder!

I was absolutely determined to finish off my banner for my new look blog before my 40th birthday and I managed it - yay! In between washing up and putting away the shopping! Due to time restraints I went with the creative flow rather than thinking too much about the end result, the result being that I was really pleased with the final creation. The time passed quickly too. Sometimes we think too much and muck things up - it is better to go with intuition and follow your heart at times.

It's my last day of being 39. Feeling quite peaceful about it all really; the past year has been quite hard at times, and I've had to face a few personal demons which is always scary, but I survived and do feel a lot better for tackling my 'midlife issues' (when what I really wanted to do was run screaming in the opposite direction!) Thank you to my support team of family and friends who helped me get this far, you're all superb and I love you heaps! The journey has been so much more fun with you for company. xxxxxxxxxxxx

What's happened to our potato?

In the chaos that is my kitchen a visitor appeared. I think he's rather gorgeous and couldn't resist sharing him with you. The joy of creative kids xxxx :)

No blogging today ...

It's that time of month again when I have to do the data entry for bookkeeping (how exciting!) I suppose it's creative in a funny sort of way - putting things into order and getting organized. Hmm ... I'm yet to be convinced!

3 days to go ...

February already ...

It's just a quick blog tonight, been a busy, busy day as it always is when we're all getting back into routine. I've been busy making a party dress for Saturday, the big day. Nearly finished, minor details left like the hem and a bit of embellishment, might be able to show it off tomorrow.

For now you'll have to make do with my two granny squares which means I have 7 squares for week 2 of the granny a day challenge. You could be mistaken for thinking this is a crochet blog now, but I like to embrace all kinds of creativity and crochet is in the spotlight at the moment. I'm hoping to do some drawing next week as I'm being taken on holiday for a birthday treat and will have time to relax and contemplate life at a slower pace. As ever I'm being creative in a myriad of ways - cooking, sewing, baking, fixing uniforms, blogging, making up stories for the kids - just as the rest of you do everyday. Aren't we a creative bunch! Let's not limit ourselves to thinking that only someone who is called an artist or craftsperson is a true creative soul - we all have that innate creative ability.

To celebrate creativity and because February is such a good month to turn 40 in, I'm going to challenge myself to use the word 'create' (or derivative thereof) in every post I write. Should keep the old brain ticking along ...


Manual countdown says: 4 days until my 40th birthday!