Little Pouches

I made these little pouches to use up left over crochet cotton and wool. They are similar to my large one, just more simple. I crocheted the base first, sewed the fabric tube (leaving a gap in the side seem for the ribbon before hemming the top and bottom seems) and then stitched the two parts together by hand, threaded a chain-stitch crochet ribbon through and voilá!

Sunday Scribblings #42 - I have an idea.

I am often heard saying "I have an idea!". The look on Erich´s face usually says "Oh no! What is it this time?" but he patiently asks "really darling, what is it!". The ideas I have are usually for little face-lifts around the house, which require drilling, building or painting (by Erich) or a trip to Ikea. But there are other times when people I know have asked me for advice on decorating, sewing, cooking, buying or making a gift for someone, an idea for a party or song lyrics. I always have an idea. Sometimes it jumps into my head straight away and sometimes I say I´ll think about it and get back to them and I go about my day and suddenly the idea will come to me. Not just vaguely mind you, I can see, smell and feel the idea, I can picture it in all it´s detail and my enthusiasm can be overwhelming because I get impatient when I describe the idea and the other person can´t see it, or when someone wants to work on my idea and change it so I say "just trust me, it will be wonderful!" and it always is. I love to pass my ideas on to other people and see them work.

Ideas for my own creativity seem to be endless at the moment and although I´m concentrating on the projects in The Crafter´s Companion, new ideas pop into my head all the time. I made a collage last year called Meine Kleine Welt (my little world) by covering a styropor head (used to display wigs) with magazine clippings and it´s like my head inside out - full of pictures, full of words, full of so many ideas. Will I ever be able to harness them all? Will there ever be enough time to accomplish everything? I don´t know but I´m going with it because this is what really makes me happy, seeing ideas in my head and then watching them become real things, things that can be touched, things that please, soothe and warm and things that motivate other people to have new ideas. Ideas make the world go round!

More Sunday Scribblings here.

Lots of ideas here, here and here.

On My Table

On my breakfast table this morning...a vintage glass plate (thrifted), a polish milk jug (bought at a local shop), a vintage Edelweiss butter dish (flea market) and a plastic strawberry sugar bowl(a swap gift from Jessica). Jamie wrote about watching for signs over at Create a Connection, Try Day and I have my eyes open. What really speaks to me is COLOUR, it can take my breath away and make me almost giddy. There is such beauty in orange, aqua is energizing, pale yellow soothes me and I can get lost in red. . I also love the beauty in useful objects like dishes and jugs, especially when they have a history. I often imagine where my flea market finds have been and who they have belonged to in the past.

Sunday Scribblings #41 - Kissing

The faces that I like kissing the most.

INSPIRATION : The Crafter´s Companion

Erich bought me this book a while ago after I´d seen the list of contributers and wouldn´t stop raving about it. I was so excited when it arrived and read it from cover to cover within a few days, it was even better than I expected and I recommend it to anyone interested in people and crafts. It´s full of inspiring tales, workspaces and projects - new ideas and viewpoints aswell as a lot that I can relate to. I´m going to make everything in the book, with my own personal touch - here´s the first project completed...This Zakka-Style Pouch (below) was inspired by Alison Brookbanks, an architect from Sydney whose blog is called sixandahalfstitches and whose pages in the book are so beautifully written.
I knitted the grey fabric from Australian sheep´s wool I received from my mother and felted it myself following Alison´s instructions.The bottom and the ribbon are crocheted and I lined the bag to give it extra strength. The drawstring ribbon is sewn onto the base of the bag so I can wear it as a backpack or throw it over my shoulder and it´s big enough to hold my knitting, a book, a pencil case and a journal aswell as my ipod, wallet and phone. Thankyou Alison, I really enjoyed making this!

Sunday Scribblings # 40 DESTINATIONS

I don´t know who said it but I agree that

"OUR PATH IS OUR DESTINATION"

One year ago I decided to try my hand at writing a blog. I had found Swirly Girl by coincidence after looking for women artists on google and after looking through her links I realised that there was a whole world out there that I hadn´t known existed...bloggers on a path to write, share and encourage each other. I ached and craved to be a part of this movement so I set up a blogger account and started writing. After a few posts Jamie found me, Megg, Alexandra and Laini soon followed and I am so grateful for these and all the other connections I have made here.

One of my first posts was about getting organised and I have truly managed to accomplish this during the last year by organising, simplifying and giving away things and taking steps to being a more conscious and creative consumer. That´s what 2006 was about for me, reducing to make space and time for the important people and things in my life.

In July and August I was able to go back to Australia for a holiday and it opened my eyes to a lot of things. Spending time with my parents and my brother showed me that the greatest gift I can give my children is unconditional love and an acceptance of who each one of them is as an individual with thoughts and feelings that should be respected. I believe that I recognise this because I didn´t experience that kind of love myself and that it was a lesson I had to learn.

In 2006 I turned 40 and I feel like I´ve made progress, I am more caring and forgiving towards myself, I am more grateful for all that I have because I have seen my world new through this blog and through the eyes of those who come here, I am more disciplined and I will continue on this path to play, discover, enjoy and experience. HAPPY 2007!

Sunday Scribblings #39 - Change

I look around me and see plenty that I´d like to change but I see a whole lot more that I wouldn´t like to change. That is certainly something that´s changed.

See other Sunday Scribblings here.
See Wikipedia´s page on CHANGE here.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

To all my friends and everyone who reads this blog, Merry Christmas!

Weihnachtzeit!

Thanks for your wonderful comments everyone...after numerous days of thinking, crying, contemplating and relaxing I realise that I was tired. Tired from working 3 days a week, tired of seeing my kids tired, tired from not sleeping enough and tired of the direction the masses are letting themselves be directed in - usually these things don´t get to me because I can deal with them one at a time but for a short moment they all came together at once and it was like a kick in the guts. I am so looking forward to us all having 2 weeks holiday at home between Christmas and the 6th of January (3 Königs Tag). We can sleep in, go skiing and sledding(yes, it finally snowed again yesterday!), cook together, have friends over for Christmas biscuits and sit around the fire reading or talking.

Above are some photos of a Kristkindl market that I took part in, this one was indoors (in my office) and although I sold quite a few things, it was disheartening to see that many people don´t appreciate "handmade" and often compared our prices to those of "made in China" products. When we make things, we put our energy into them and pass this energy on when we sell or give away something we´ve made with our hands. When I see and use things I´ve received from other bloggers or bought from artists it enrichens my life and reminds me of all the fabulous people out there who are using their talents and sharing their energy and love. Now I´m off to paint some cups, bowls and plates for Erich´s nephews and if I have time I´ll sew place mats to go with them...I feel well again, I have energy again, I am learning.

I´m losing it!

I am trying to retrace yesterday´s steps to pinpoint the moment when I lost the plot.

Things were going great, it was cold but the sun was shining, I drove my son to school and was looking forward to 2 hours to myself in the city to do some Christmas shopping before work and I think that´s when it started. The shops weren´t open yet so I sat down in a café for a drink to get out of the cold and caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror and realised how old and tired I looked at that moment. I found it difficult to find something positive about my appearance.

I bought a watch for Markus and afterwards I went to a phone shop wanting to buy mobile phones for my 2 oldest sons for Christmas. A brochure came in the post last week and I had already chosen 2 affordable, user friendly phones BUT then the salesman explained all the extra costs involved and that I hadn´t read the fine print and I was dissappointed. He and the other 2 salesmen acted as though it was normal for parents to buy their children expensive cell phones, then spend numerous dollars every month for the fees and that every kid these days needs a phone with a built-in camera, video function, MP3 player and entertainment package. 90% of the kids that go to school with my boys have these mobile phones, how on earth can their parents afford it? The rest of the day the world around me seemed shallow and superficial. I felt like an outsider - like the world is moving in a direction that I just don´t get! I wanted to pack my bags and move far away with my family, to a place where work and money aren´t so important, where school is fun and early morning starts, homework and marks don´t make my children tired. I know it seems ridiculous that a cell phone shop would trigger these feelings off but I think they were already lying under the surface, waiting for the right moment to catch me off guard. Sometimes it all seems too much, like we are caught up in some sort of flow that´s dragging us a long. When I told Erich about my feelings he gave me a hug and said, "tomorrow´s a new day". I wish I could be more like him.

Today IS a new day and I feel drained. I´ve been going through drawers and cupboards, cleaning and putting up some Christmas decorations in the hope that my positive outlook will come back. I´m taking the boys out for lunch after school and when we get home I´ll make a fire, drink a coffee with Erich and hopefully, by then I´ll feel better.

Christmas ball # 2

For this one I used sequins, long pins (with small silver heads) and tube-like glass pearls (for jewelery making). Once again use a toothpick (pushed into one end of the styropor ball) to hold your ball more easily. Cover the ball with a thin coat of water based glue. Push a pin through the glass pearl then the sequin, dip into extra glue and then push it into the ball. Continue doing this, overlapping sequins a little, until the ball is completely covered. Stick the toothpicked ball into styropor and let dry overnight. Use a sequin and a needle dipped in glue to attach a piece of ribbon to the end of the ball where the toothpick was, let the glue dry and the ball is ready to hang on the Christmas tree!

Christmas Tree Decorations

A few years ago I bought 150 styropor balls on sale and over the next few days I´ll be showing you how I´ve decorated them. The ones pictured here are patchwork Christmas balls. When I make bags and pillow covers lots of fabric scraps are left over - this is a great way to use them up. I use wallpaper paste (which I always have mixed and ready in glass bottles), a small paintbrush for spreading the paste and a 5x5 cm (2 inch) cardboard template to cut my fabric squares the same size. The balls are easier to handle if you put a toothpick in one end, then you can hold them without touching the actual ball and pierce them onto a styropor board for drying. Cover the whole ball with paste and position fabric squares onto the ball, slightly overlapping, until the whole ball is covered with fabric. Brush over the fabric squares carefully with paste so as not to move them, this stops the squares from fraying and gives the balls a nice shine when they´re dry. Leave the balls to dry overnight. Cut short lengths of ribbon, overlap the ends and attach to the end of the ball that the toothpick was in by dipping a needle in water based glue and sticking it through the ribbon and into the ball. Make sure you use enough glue so the needle stays put and use only a water based glue, anything else will eat away at the styropor leaving a big hole. HAVE FUN!!!

3 1/2 weeks until Christmas!

I´m getting things ready for Saturday´s "Christkindl Markt". Baking and packaging Christmas cookies and slices, putting the last coats of paint on Good Luck stones, quilting table runners and filling tissue holders. I´ve managed to get so much finished this year even though I´ve been working 20 hours a week teaching aswell. I am more organised, more motivated and more positive than last year - last year´s frustration is what led me to start this blog almost a year ago and I am amazed at the difference it´s made!

What´s my creed?

Jamie got me thinking about this again after I read her recent post. There are rules we all live by...rules we were brought up with or taught along the way and rules we make for ourselves. I was born into a catholic home and I learnt about the 10 commandments at an early age. My family went to church often and I listened to what the priest had to say about loving thy neighbour and Jesus being our saviour but within my family I didn´t find the unconditional love that was preached about. I tried to be a church goer again after my children were born but I didn´t feel at home and after my marraige broke up, most sermons had me feeling like a loser.
About 2 years ago I found a book called "Message from Forever" by Marla Morgan. It´s a story about finding yourself and finding your roots. At the end of this book there are 10 "you should" commandments that the Australian Aborigines live by. I do my best to remember them and live by them and although I don´t always succeed I know that they are right for me. Here they are:
1. You are to express your own creativity
2. Recognize that you carry responsibility
3. Before your birth you consented to help others
4. You are to attain emotional maturity
5. You should be entertaining
6. You should be a good manager of your energy
7. You should enjoy music
8. You should strive for wisdom
9. You are to learn self discipline
10.You are to observe without judging
There are explanations for all of these and if you want to know more, I encourage you to read this book.

5 weeks ´til Christmas!

Lots of Christmas crafting going on here.

We woke up to snow on the weekend and it had everyone jumping into action. We had the tires on the car changed from the summer to the winter ones, cleaned up the garden and put away all the summer toys, I went through all our snow and ski clothing to see what still fits and made a list of what I need to buy and I started thinking about Christmas craft markets. I will be taking part in 2 this year, the first one here in Reichenfels on the 2nd of December and the second one in Wolfsberg on the 9th of December so I´ve started making Christmas decorations and will then move onto some mini photo albums, cushions and tweed bags. Before I saw the snow I didn´t realise how close December is!

As for my list - Markus has new curtains, his room has a new layout and the ugly wardrobe is gone, the mirror is hanging in the hallway, the bathroom has a new curtain and a new plant and I´m still adding to the box of 50 things. Photos next time -the rest will have to wait until the Christmas crafting is done.

Nesting

It´s raining outside but there´s plenty of colour in here! I received a lovely gift this week from Mirre in Holland - a beautiful pocket wallhanging which has now been placed on the side of my work bench and it´s perfect for scissors, pencils, tapemeasure etc. In the next picture you can see some bags which I´ve made for a swap - more on that another time, it´s still a secret. I saw Hanna´s lovely postcards and thought I´d make some of my own...I then covered them with contact plastic and hung them on my kitchen door as inspiration. They catch my eye whenever I sit down to drink a coffee and endless ideas pop into my head so I´m usually not sitting for long. It was a big harvest week in the garden this week...we dug out over 10 kilos of wonderful potatoes and we picked the last of our tomatoes, onions and capsicums. I cooked letcho with them and the smell had me dreaming of long Italian summers.

Busy, busy, busy!

This is the amazing autumn sky I woke up to this morning. I love living in a house with a view.
I´ve been busy with my list and although it´s taking me a little longer than planned I´m getting there. I´ve also been busy crafting - a new bag, pin cushion, scarves and my first zippered pouch. Most of these things will be for sale in my Etsy shop soon. I wish you all a productive and happy day! (P.S three books have been given away and will be heading for Canada but Goodnight Nobody, Fabulous Nobodies and Housekeeping are still up for grabs!)

Book give-away!

If you would like to have one of these books just leave me a comment telling me which one - postage is on me, all you have to do is send me an ATC in return.

Spring cleaning in Autumn

I made this a while back to remind me of what I want my house to look like. Things are quite organised around here BUT there are lots of goals that I have yet to reach...most of which I wrote on my list of 101 things in 1001 days. I´m going to try to strike as many of these off my list as I can over the next week.

1.Give away 50 things that I own to people who will appreciate them more than I do.

3.Take apart the ugly wardrobe in Markus´ room and cut it up for firewood

9.Rearrange the furniture in Markus´ room.

13.Sew a new curtain for Daniel´s room

14.New curtain for Stefan and Markus

15.Paint a mural on Markus´ wall

24.Hang up a mirror over the chest of drawers in the hallway

39.Paint the upstairs hallway

55.Put another 50 things that I´m not sure whether to keep or give away, in a box. Write a date on top (6 months later) and if I haven´t opened it to take something out by the date, give the whole box away without looking inside.

89.Buy a plant for the bathroom corner

90.Put up a new blind in the bathroom

Anyone want to join me in doing some things around the house???