rosey garlands // rosey cheeks //

Last weekend we made some garlands with the petals from our roses. The roses were nearing the end of their blooming beauty, and some had begun to let their petals tumble onto our table. We thought this would be a great way of remembering the velvety roses and having some fun as well. 

The garlands themselves were very simply stitched with a needle gently through each petal, and threaded onto some variegated embroidery thread we had. The kids decided that they wanted head garlands as well as one necklace for Ari - it matched his t-shirt better!

What fun they had in the garden. Running and giggling and being silly. They do love posing and playing up for the camera. And with lush green grass and vibrant colours as the background I just snapped and snapped as they kept on posing and moving and giggling and finding new props. I'm so glad our beautiful cat Lou-Lou made it into the photos too - even though he wasn't the most willing model. 

Tomorrow is Mother's Day. I think these photos perfectly sum up what I wish and hope my Mother's Day to be. My beautiful babies enjoying living in the same place that my beautiful mama (and dad) raised me and my siblings. Exploring and discovering treasures in our forest. Sitting still and watching little birds with fascination and joy. Running and laughing and being children. And all the while making this mama's heart sing through the pure joy they are experiencing. 

Oh yes. So it is. Happy Mother's Day to all you Mamas out there. 

{and extra big hugs to all those of you who are missing your mama today}. 

E xxxx

changes {Spring in Autumn}

I've been slowly updating and making just a few changes to my blog. Nothing big, but a cleaner and crisper feel. I haven't messed with the template or html as that's too big for me at the moment. Making pretty labels and sidebars is where I'm at! 

Prettiness all around!

If you normally read this in some sort of reader thing (do you? What do you read it in? I'm really curious.... I never read blogs in anything other than at the blog home - I like visiting that way), do come and check out the new-ness.

I found this image from last Spring, in my files. Oh isn't it beautiful. The blossoms. It's Autumn here now, and while I'm loving all the foliage turning yellows and reds and oranges, I'm also loving seeing all the blossoms on Instagram. And imagining our blossom trees that grow near to where we're building our home. I'll be able to see them from my bedroom, and from my kitchen table. And for that reason, I can't wait for Spring!

Is there new-ness happening around you?

Or are you making it happen?

Are you snuggling in ready for Winter?

Or is are you watching the last of the snow and dreaming of those little green buds?

Wherever you are, on this rainy Autumn evening, happy mid-week to you. 

My friends xxxxx

the jewels on a web

If it weren't for spiders, we wouldn't have spider webs.

I took this photo on Sunday morning, and upon posting it to Instagram I wrote these words to go along with it. One of those (rare) times when real wisdom comes out of my mind without me overthinking it. 

But it has got me thinking. In fact, I've been thinking all since then about the fact that if it weren't for the hard, ugly, difficult, challenging things, then the beautiful things wouldn't be as beautiful. Or that if we didn't have those hard things we wouldn't have the beautiful things. 

{Before I go further, I want to say that I like spiders, and find some of them beautiful and amazing and intricate, but they're not something I love - and they still make me feel a bit icky}.

So, remember the next time something is harder, more challenging or real life is uglier than you'd hoped; for jewels to sparkle on a web, we need spiders to build those webs. 

{and that's your bit of wisdom on this Autumny Tuesday evening!}. 

{sunset} what do you wish for?

as the sun set on the final day of the year, we gathered at the river's edge to spend time with family. with the cousins. and my sisters. we missed my brother, who lives so far away.

we had a simple meal of hot chips, and fish (for those few who eat fish). a perfect way to see out the see and think about the new year. a swig of sweet cider. the kids running and playing and climbing trees. me with my crochet work in my hand. a blanket spread on the grass for all to lounge and relax and chatter.

we went home after dark. after watching this most glorious of sun sets across the river. the colour changing each single split second of a moment. more glorious and vibrant and amazing than any photo editing program could enhance. we did not watch fireworks - who needs coloured gunpowder shooting into the sky after a display such as this!!

we drove home and climbed into bed, much earlier than mid-night. and awoke with a new day beginning. a new year beginning. new dreams and plans and wishes and intentions beginning.

i asked my family what they wished for this year. all three of them said the house built / a bedroom for myself. me? i wished for world peace! ha - actually i wished for family peace and contentment.

what do you wish for?

stitch still life

i stitched these little pieces up this morning.
cleared away the mess on our table and set myself up with some thread, a needle and these scraps of hemp / organic cotton (which do look like linen, don't they).
vague notions on Shibori stitches - though of course, nothing at all like the intricate reality of Shibori. perhaps one day - maybe never. maybe will always be my inerpretation. i think that's ok. actually, maybe that's better.

these two little pieces had a quick photo shoot and then into the jars of dye outside. i had intended on having a cabbage purple, but it had turned brown (i put a rock in it to weight some other fabric down, and it must have had it's own colouring in it! ah well - red cabbage is on the shopping list). they both went in the rusty / eucalytpus leaf solution. a deep dark intense grey. we'll have to wait a few days to see if the stitches worked their magic, as i've imagined or not.....

i'm hoping next week may be a bit less busy (though i doubt it!). perhaps some more stitching and dye experiments.
mind you - i just love the look of rough stitches on raw folded.pleated.tucked.manipulated fabric

what will you be doing this weekend?

{ps - i forgot it thursday, which means it's creative spaces play day}. 

new monkey-play (with easter eggs in pretty foils)

Can I tell you how sad I was to find out that Picnik was packing up it's pretty little rug and shooing away the ants. I relied on Picnic to make my blog headers and other little bits and pieces for online editing. Was easy, simple, quick and do-able with no long training videos or downloads.

So - it was with much excitement that I read on Kimono Reincarnate's blog about a new site called PicMonkey. I jumped straight on to have a try. EASY easy I tell you, and fun and so much excellent stuff there.

Currently there is no collage option, which is what I liked about Picnik, but they say coming soon. So I can wait.

Go check it out for yourself. These are some of the fun edits I did - the heart / arrow one being my favourite, probably because I don't generally go in for that myself though *heart* it when someone else does it....

{sun}day-ing

What glorious sunshine. So good. It warms the soul and lifts the spirits.

I can't believe how much I love love love these sun images. I took them from the moving car (it's okay - I was the passenger!), with the full afternoon sun streaming through. The trees cut the sun into slivers of shafts of light. The iphone works for some things like that as the camera is so slow at taking photos (often I miss the shot I'm after due to the slow shutter speed), but it worked so well in this instance. I want to print some of these - once we have a wall to put artworks and such on!

Of course there was some crochet work happening. I am working on a small collection of these - planning (perhaps) to sell some. What do you think?

Also - my 10 things I love for this Sunday at up on the Hey Maker! blog if you want to check it out.

overview

a small selection of images i've snapped (on my phone) lately.
a small selection of life.
from top -
1)the boy wanted to have a sweet biscuit, i said no sugar, so he crossed out 'sugar' on the ingredient list. i so so so wanted to give him one, just to let him know how fantastic he was, and how much i love the way his head works.
2) a scene driving into town. afternoon. sun setting after the briefest of rain showers. heading on my own, out to dinner + a play with my sister.
3) on our window sill this morning. collections that Sam + the kids brought home from school athletics carnival the other day (which was held near the beach, hence the beachy type plants).
4) on the window sill - blossoms from our stone fruit trees. never any success with the fruits, so i think it's okay to pick and enjoy the blossoms.
5) as #2
6) the bees from HoneyWorld. school excursion yesterday. was quite amazing standing a room with all those hives - a most delicious sweetness of honey-smell.
7) a little piece of coral set into the stonework of the wall in our kitchen.
and below) is a fuzzy shot of those bees. i love the "mess" of their wax. and the colour. i'm so curious about the wonderful, complex world of bees - what an interesting, important creature. do you know much about bees? we have a native stingless beehive at our house (my brother put it there). they don't produce much honey (about 1kg per year), so i'm considering another hive of imported bees so we can maybe 'steal their honey'. i have to do the research about how imported honeybees might attack / take over from the native defenceless tiny little bees.
[talking about bees, look at this amazingness! what a lovely mama bee, making baby nests inside flower petals.].