Happy Royal Wedding Day

How beautiful was that dress?

A couple of weeks ago I decided it might be nice to watch the Royal Wedding.  Today I was so happy I did - the couple looked deliriously happy and Britain was united in celebrating the happy event.  Being away from home it made me realize what I love about my home country, all that pomp and circumstance, how unique it is in the world.  So I love my life here, but I love my British-ness too.  I guess a girl can have it all  :)

A Creativity Quote

I've just finished reading "Knitting Through It: Inspiring Stories for Times of Trouble" compiled by Lela Nargi.  It's a collection of essays and stories by people who use knitting as a way to connect with others, to get them through tough times, to evoke memories, amongst other themes; and if like me, you love to share stories and hear other perspectives on life you will love this book.

One quote stuck with me and I'd like to share it now:

"Everything we create - pies, paintings, songs - resonates with our deepest needs as human beings, as creative beings, to make things of beauty and worth.  It's this act of creation that allows our souls to breathe, enables us to activate our spiritual selves and connect with nature."   
(From the essay 'Knitting My Urban Escape by Barbara DeMarco Barrett).

At the moment I'm working on another afghan, crocheting for all my life is worth.  When I'm feeling a bit scattered I've realized that crochet makes me feel as if I'm in control of something, I'm creating something that is real and I have a creation - if only a single square - in a very short time.  It keeps me grounded, and I like the structure it gives me when my mind is wondering off chasing my own original creative ideas that I can't quite grasp for the moment.  And you just thought crochet was good for keeping warm :)

Stash-busting

This is a pic of me when I was mucking about trying to take a shot for my profile photo.  I prefer the one I'm using at the top of my blog, but in this one I look quite happy so I like it because of that.

It's not really relevant to today's post, apart from the fact I was very pleased with myself because I fixed my gluegun!  See, I can make a link from anything - creativity of a different sort :)  The gluegun had been lying in a box in a sunny place through the summer (oops) and the glue had melted inside and all over the gun so that it wouldn't work properly.  We try to fix things first in this family before going out to buy more; less clutter, less waste.  So I had to have a try!  I removed the glue with an art knife, which required patience but now I have a properly working tool. 

I'm trying to be very good with my dressmaking too, going to my stash when choosing a pattern, rather than rushing out to buy more fabric.  To be honest I've got enough fabric to make clothes for the entire family for another couple of years.  Some of it's vintage I've had it so long! 

Finally - completed another project from squares made in the Granny a Day Challenge 2010!

Oops - this should have been posted yesterday - must have got sidetracked!

Yesterday passed in a blur - myself and the Little Man had a cold and even the dog was ill.  I'm not sure who was the worst patient ;)   So, I waited until today to post the photo of my prize winning afghan!  It's petite but beautifully formed, and Little Man spent a good part of the day snuggled up underneath it, which I'll take as a vote of confidence!

Catch up time ...

Oooh - I've been away for a bit.  I had a small panic about finishing things off for the annual Kalamunda Show so have been rushing to complete a jumper and throw all week.  Caught myself getting stressed and was very sensible and decided not to enter the jumper after all and felt enormous relief as soon as the decision was made!  And I did OK - won some certificates, among them first prize for the evening dress I made for my daughter - we were both pleased with that :)  I'll post a photo tomorrow, I feel sooooo tired at the moment and I still have my ironing to do, so I WILL NOT stress myself out by trying the find the camera and somewhere with good light to take a photo.  I've just finished reading a book which told me to take a step back before making a final decision; resulting in less stress and more awareness of what's going on in your life.  Seems like good advice to me!

I've also been decluttering today - changing round the linen and art cupboards, and seriously, I don't know why it's taken me so long!  The art supplies are so much happier in the ex-linen cupboard and I can pile linen much higher in the ex-art cupboard so there is a home for everything in the same place.  That feels good too!  I enjoy decluttering - it's strange how much clearing a cupboard and organizing things makes one feel so much lighter in other areas of life too!

So that's me - what have you been up to?

Windmills ...

Autumn.  Dog walks in Jorgy Park.  Getting ready for the Kalamunda Show this weekend.  Having lunch lovingly made for me.  I love my Monday!

Crochet-a-Rainbow update

Yesterday I sent off another package of granny squares for the Crochet-a-Rainbow project - taking it quite literally this time - look at the fantastic array of colours!  The project is on for the remainder of 2011 so if you feel like using up your stash of scraps, give it a go - you can make as few or as many as you like.

A Quote for Thursday

Hello.  I've just finished my monthly data entry job.  My favourite. :)  And I've got a cold which means I'm not too inspired tonight, but I did want to write something.  So I've found a quote I like and hopefully you will too.  Goes quite well with my last post.  Enjoy.

"No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit."  - Helen Keller

No to tower!

Sorry for the erratic nature of my posts lately - I've been feeling rather discombobulated for the past couple of weeks.  Some of the topics I was going to blog about were actually an excuse for a whinge and weren't particularly positive - I don't want to be a negative blogger, so took the stance that it would be better not to blog at all if all I could do was moan.

Well, I'm feeling a lot better now, and one of the reasons is due to the Council's Planning Committee meeting held last night, when they recommended against approval for planning consent for the Optus mobile phone tower.  The entire council voted unanimously against the proposal!  We still have a way to go, but the first hurdle is over.  There were a few unthoughtful comments by some people for the tower, somebody even accusing our little activist group of being in a 'frenzy' and not seeing the 'wood for the trees'; but when I woke up with my little boy beside me who'd come in to our room for a hug, I knew we'd done the right thing.  All this protesting and lobbying the council has been for the good of my child and all the children at the school. I can take a few insults for a cause like that.