Pink-a-licious

Let's talk about pink

Love it or loathe it if you have a child in your life of the female variety it seems impossible to avoid it.





Believe me I've tried. I feel like I've been suggesting "other colours" for five years. And then some where along the line I kinda gave up and figured I had better just go with the flow.





But there is pink and there is pink right? For instance if pink is paired with certain other colours I seem to find it rather pleasing. Which is how I felt when I first saw this gorgeous Liberty print and which was why I felt I had to purchase quite a bit of it when I saw it in London last year.

Not long after that trip I happened upon this gorgeous quilt on Flickr and knew instantly I wanted to do something similar for my pinkaliscious girl.*





And I got a head start at the Sunday Craft Room get together where not only did I get to cut and sew for more than five minutes in a row, I got to finally put faces to names (the lovely Sheridan and Amy) as well as meet some great new people!

So I say let's embrace (certain shades and combinations of), PINK!

* A very weird (and excellent), thing happened when I went to the Craft and Quilt Fair. Armed with the photo of my intended quilt I stalked the fabric stands in search of similar fabrics (in particular, the brown with the large pink dots). When I approached Cathy at Kelani and showed her the photo she declared, "That's my quilt!" How's that for random excellence?!

Whirlwind weekend

So the weekend started with a firm declaration by me that I was going to the Sydney Quilt and Craft Fair BY MYSELF. A lot of very ernest pre-empting then took place to convince Mr two-and-a-half year-old-stuck-to-my-leg that he would indeed love a trip with Dad and sister to the Powerhouse Museum. Especially since Mummy was only going to be looking at boring old quilts (I fear I may have put him off any burgeoning love of the art of quilting).

And so it was that I did indeed find myself ALONE at the fair. Well, if you don't include the billions of excited women (and perhaps a sprinkling of blokes), all elbowing each other out of the way. I will admit to a tinge of unexpected sadness thinking of my whirlwind trip to the fair this time last year but I was determined to at least go and visit Kathy and not burst into tears all over her as I did one year earlier*.

It was a good excuse to saunter by a few other stores to say hello to friends ...



And to make some new ones (more on that to come) ...



Ok a few of the goodies I found in amongst the socialising





Before I had time to unpack the rest and drool all over it we were off to a party



A cupcake decorating party to be exact



Lord. I get a sugar hit just looking at this little beauty.

How was your weekend?

*I did NOT cry but came really close!

my creative space :: playing catch up

Gee whizz you'd wonder if I had a blog at all with the almost non-existant updating.

But what with the constant baskets of laundry (one of which I just stopped folding to write this ... funny it does not seem to be folding itself as I type), a non-sleeping-during-the-day-anymore toddler and taped episodes of Masterchef to catch up on the poor old blog is getting put on the back burner.

That was of course until I had finished my latest knitted thingy and am pretty happy (and warmed) with the results



Yep, feeling pretty grateful round about now that I've downsized the photos. And admittedly this isn't the best shot of the feature of this beauty which is the stomach-cramp inducing dropped stitches creating the ladder effect. For a better shot (minus the nose) go see Tania who first made me gasp with the "I must do this and I must do it now's" upon seeing her version. Pattern and yarn details can be found here.

So while you're here I might just flash up a few other bits of homemade goodness that have come in to and out of our house of late. Ok? Cool.



Another fail safe, always met with a smile On-the-go Art Satchel for a friend turning six.



Ok make that two On-the-go Art satchel's. A belated shot of one I made for Sienna's fifth birthday.



Also for Sienna's birthday, this gorgeous Neighborly vest knitted by my bestie, Antonia.



A red corduroy dress with little flower detail I made for my niece's second birthday.



And speaking of flowers this amazingly delicate, gorgeousness made by Cathie arrived in the post on Tuesday thanks to a very uncharacteristic for me win on her recent giveaway. I can't begin to tell you how much I love this work of art.



Ok and finally (are you still there?), this cushion I recently finished for Max, son of bestie (of the previously mentioned Neighbourly fame) who recently turned two. It features a bit of embroidery I was working on a few creative spaces' ago, the owl and the pussycat, a free pattern from Follow the White Bunny. As my first foray into embroidery I was pretty happy with the result. Admittedly it's mainly pretty simple backstitch but you know, baby steps.

Right then, back to some laundry folding.

Now if you have any reading ability left I strongly suggest you head on over to Kirsty's place and make your way through the ever growing list.

here comes the sun

I woke up yesterday morning to these scenes in my backyard ...











After three solid weeks of rain it was so very nice to see. Never underestimate the power of sunshine to one's state of mind!

I hope the scenery is "sunny" where you are too. 

p.s Thank you for all the kind, supportive, "go gently" comments on my last post. It was like receiving a nice warm cyber-hug!

the post that isn't going to write itself

So I have been a tad on the quiet side lately. I'm not sure why or more to the point, I'm not sure if there is one reason or if it's due to a collection of many reasons.



Nothing to write about. Not feeling particularly inspired. Don't have a burning desire to do this or that. Sick children. Birthday parties. Rain. Rain. A bit more rain. Too much clutter. A very clingy two-and-a-half year old (read: sleeping with me, needing to shower with me). Not much time to myself. House hunting in Sydney. Lots of solo parenting due to the Mr's work travel commitments. Too many late nights. Oh and the kicker this week has involved me getting a case of impetigo (google it but make sure you're not eating at the time). And since this blog is meant to be my "happy place" I didn't really feel like giving a voice to any of those tricky bits and pieces of life.

Problem with that is I can't seem to blog about anything else until I get this out. Does that make sense? Perhaps it has been causing me a creative block NOT writing about these things.

Back in December I vowed to myself I would not blog about my miscarriage again. Not because I wanted to pretend it never happened but, you know, this space was never meant to be about "that" kind of stuff. And not that I mind reading other people's blogs that discuss these types of issues because I do (it kinda makes me feel like I'm not the only one you know?) but I just felt it was the last time I wanted to deal with it in a public forum.

However I'm guessing lately that my "ho-humness" with life in general could be related to the fact that it was around about sometime this time last year that it all happened. I say, "sometime around this time" because in the ultimate dose of mother-guilt I have no idea of the exact moment that poor little baby's heart stopped beating.

So for now I am trying to be a bit gentle with myself in other ways. I'm spending time tinkering around with bits and pieces of furniture in an attempt to make my space a bit more inspiring (for everyone)









 I'm trying to take the time to sit down when I have a cup of tea in my hand




 I'm trying not to feel too guilty about flicking on the tv for the kids every now and then and I'm taking the time when I can to visit blogs even if I'm not writing one.

So we shall see what comes of that.