Poppalina

Mosaic Monday

1. Atlantic Wind Dryer, 2. MO(neco) 4, 3. melt, 4. April Fool wip, 5. Untitled, 6. Branches, 7. Yarn bowl, 8. blue giraffe and cart planter, 9. Crafting365: day 30: Multicultural dolls (start), 10. Alice in Wonderland cookie cutters, 11. flower buds, 12. Untitled, 13. Untitled, 14. Untitled, 15. house #1, 16. penguin and egg, 17. Molly's work in progress, 18. df-12 mala1, 19. in sink..., 20. spring, 21. Crafting365: day 31: Zebras strike again, 22. kindergarten 2, 23. Berry Buttermilk Cake, 24. titania, 25. two heart strings

1. Tamar Mogendorff, 2. Untitled, 3. tulips, 4. Ethiopia, 5. Untitled, 6. kitchen window, 7. hello kitty, 8. silent, 9. coop, 10. IMG_4782, 11. Feasting...yummy!, 12. Milly, 13. owly, 14. Chicken Gatherer, 15. American Gothic, 16. night lady, 17. felt rose, 18. swell by urban chicks, 19. Buying and then eating the cake was a necessary good, 20. Molly Sue, 21. from little things big things grow, 22. Abstract art, 23. Today I will not go the beach...., 24. Comfort, 25. images of broken light which dance before me...

Party On, Dude

Without me.

I have intensives till the end of the week.

In the meantime, will you all, please, raise your cupcakes to Miss Pen, for the Grande Opening of her new shop, Cottage Industry.

Yo.

Mosaic Monday

1. babycake, 2. Bear with me, I'm resting, 3. Untitled, 4. easter cabinet, 5. red-haired beauty..., 6. Rainbow fat kitties keychains, 7. black sesame bread, 8. welcoming spring, 9. Untitled, 10. Untitled, 11. Untitled, 12. morning routine - 3, 13. Untitled, 14. Zero Hora, 15. hippity hoppity, 16. Orange Daisy, 17. Elroy, my little sleeping Angel ?, 18. Circle 4, 19. Layers of reality, 20. Untitled, 21. Snow Crown, 22. When words escape, flowers speak., 23. Hanna, 24. Washington, 25. circling the moon

1. WAWAYAmiitoo#19#20, 2. two chicks, 3. Johnny Cash, 4. Holy Week in Malaga, 5. Future Suits, 6. At a Crossroads, 7. ramblin', 8. best, 9. hm hm!, 10. bread & breakfast, 11. WAWAYAtaotao#24, 12. Forgotten Worlds, 13. pour faire plaisir à madame Gä, 14. Payday, 15. Untitled, 16. detail, 17. Love, 18. Scrap quilt, 19. saartjres bootilicious, 20. vintage rug, 21. this will cheer me up when i'm grumpy, 22. days gone by, 23. pulpy orange?, 24. Soft Beauty, 25. Rain or Shine

The Easter Bunny Cameth

I had nothing planned for Easter Sunday. I was thinking maybe a day in bed with a book was a Good Idea.

Until the skies opened and rained gifts on me

In the form of free tickets to an evening of live entertainment. Shows so irresistable that I was obliged to drag my arse into the shower and actually put my face on.

First up, excellent seats at the Atheneum to see the Kransky Sisters, thanks to Marjorie and Annie. Only an idiot would pass this up. I sat amongst total strangers, and we laughed so loud and long together that by the end of the show we were all best friends. God help me, these women are funny.

And, as if that wasn't enough, I was also given tickets to Mavis Staples, one of my favourite singers in the Universe, thank you Judi and Ian.

You can feel the love just by being in the same room as Mavis. Or I could, anyway. The passive aggressive who wanted me to move somewhere else and pushed me in the back so hard and insistently that I had to turn around and get in her face didn't seem to be feeling it at all, and the people throwing ice at Susannah's head for being tall seemed to missing out on the love as well. How people could be this ugly in the presence of one of the greatest gospel singers of all time is beyond me.

But we rose above it, treating the Love Killers with all the disdain that they deserved, ignorant fools that they are, and had a Great Time.

As Mavis would say, "Happy Easter, y'all".

Living With a Creative Genius

The Quest:

To create a birthday card that brings Great Joy to a Most Revered Elder.

The Ordeal

To walk through the Fires of Creative Agony.

The Challenge:

To Find the Theme.

(with a 6pm delivery deadline putting even greater pressure on an already burdened artistic temperament)

And so the afternoon ticked away, relentlessly. Heads were scratched, hopeful dogs with balls thrown outside, and all auditory distraction strenuously discouraged.

As the Deadline of Doom approached, tempers flared, hair stood on end and tears threatened to flow.

And then, as the Experience of Utter Despair loomed imminent, a miracle occurred.

The sounds of Heavenly Chorus filled the air as Lo!, in a Blinding Flash of Divine Inspiration, a blessed recollection of the recipient's Abiding Passion for Car Racing occurred.

And there was Great Rejoicing.

I hereby give thanks for blu-tack and the remains of our Kinder Surprise collection.

Mosaic Monday

1. Breakfast 15.3.08, 2. peteena, 3. Reading, 4. tentacles, 5. Yellow green + sage, 6. come lets sail away in orange boats..., 7. street musicians, 8. Mr. Handsome 2, 9. boa sorte Maria de Luz :), 10. Old Window, 11. Shhhhhh., 12. smoking baby, 13. Vintage Holly Hobbie Deer Dress, 14. Lumi #4, 15. New home for the Yoga mat, 16. OAM52898-52909, figures, wood, SVI0900 web, 17. spring colours 7, 18. wastwater2, 19. garden party, 20. Untitled, 21. vanilla ice cream, 22. SNOWED IN!!!, 23. Nicole's dragon, 24. Hidráulico. Hydraulic, 25. Pea in a Pod

1. Ethiopia, 2. dyeing - brown results, 3. sea shell ring 1, 4. more flowers, 5. cross process blossoms 2, 6. Club Woman, 7. locked, 8. my homemade graham crackers., 9. Studio window, 10. Nap time., 11. running on empty, 12. Tangy, 13. collection :: brooches, 14. gnome_deer, 15. Fleur the Jack Rabbit Love=Creature, 16. surfers of gloom, 17. herói de bolso (201), 18. lone, 19. In Memory of Nakal, 20. Froooot, 21. angel, 22. #108 sold, 23. flowers, 24. Untitled, 25. Chester

A Very Chocolate Milkshake

Breakfast Sunday

For those of you unsure how to satisfy the chocolate craving that is a 13 year old,

Mym has most graciously supplied her chocolate milkshake recipe, along with my whereabouts for the next week, for the benefit of humankind.

Chocolate fingerprints at no extra charge.

Approach on an empty stomach with extreme caution.

And remember, lots of mik, and don't forget the grape. It goes in last, for the amusement of others when it plugs up your straw without warning and gives you a brain aneurism.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, it's hot

Nothing left to do but drink these, with a double shot of espresso,

And faff vaguely about the kitchen, the one cool room in the house (upstairs is just incredible. We can forget about sleeping up there for the next week).

Try not to go out if it can be avoided. It was 32 degrees (or 90 degrees Farenheit) when I left for yoga at 5.30am.

Spend an afternoon musing on the possibilities of a silk/cashmere interpretation of Alison's Sumidity.

Hmmmm....

So, let me get this straight: yoga in the morning, drinking iced coffee and browsing knitting patterns in the afternoon.

As my mother often reflected, reclining on her own, personal tanning rock on the Yarra, in the days when bathers were redundant and the sun still felt good on your skin.....

I wonder what the rich people are doing?

Watch This Space

What's the point of having a blog if you can't brag on it occaisonally?

It's a small thing, but I was chuffed. The kind of chuffed I will be if I ever make it up into handstand. It wouldn't mean that much to anyone else, but I'd walk taller, I'm sure.

I was invited to accept my images for review here, via a comment on flickr.

So I did, and not only was I accepted, but half of them were marked 'editor's choice', and I was bumped up to level two pro photographer.

I must confess, I was inordinately pleased. I wish my Dad were around to see it, him having been a photographer and all. He'd get drunk and play far too much Clancy Brothers over that one.

And you never know, one day I might even sell something. Make my fortune. Do the rustic tree change thing and leave this city madness behind. End my days in a perfect handstand, smokin' weed and watching the river flow.

Please address all future emails to Shushu Groovy Inc, Outrageously Cool Level 2 Pro Photographer.

A Secret Garden

I promised Victoria I would post the finished version of this.

Of course, a person could well die of old age, waiting for me to keep a promise.

But if they can manage not to, sooner or later I'll deliver.

I am Decidedly Unhappy with the quality of these pictures. Silk is a bitch to photograph, and needs more light than I have in my whole house. But the Gift of Questionable Merit has been handed over now to the Happy Couple, so that's that.

Trust me, this is all much more interesting in Real Life.

It all started by taking a piece of my mother's floral chintz and playing with some machine embroidery over the print.

Many hours later (or days, maybe, who can say), I was looking out a window into a beautiful garden.

Or so I like to think.

Somehow a fistful of kids snuck in and planted themselves as well. Not sure how that happened. Sometimes a work gets a mind of it's own, and you just have to run with it.

Truth be told, the outcome of these free-form embroideries have bugger all to do with me. I might start with a sense of control and purpose, but am invariably swept into a frenzied, psychotic vortex of cutting and sewing. I don't eat, don't sleep, can't talk, and CANNOT STOP until it's done. Afterwards, I'm often surprised, sometimes shocked, and occaisonally horrified by the results. And it's rare for me to even remember the process, much less document it, so don't hold your breath waiting for a tutorial from me, not in the whole world, ever. Quite impossible, and it would probably only scare you anyway.

I swear to God, if it weren't for craft (and yoga), they'd have put me away years ago.