Arrival.

This morning my lovely chickens FINALLY blessed me with an egg. HOORAH. Not only was the egg deliciously smooth and creamy clad, but it was left delicately balanced in the roosting box. Miracle of miracles. There was no scrounging under the bushes bound for disappointment today. One simple lovely egg in its right place. What a calming effect it has had on my day.

Deliberation

In my HUGE four hours a week of childfree time, this week I am going to take stock and deliberate. My overlocker is broken and all my projects seem just too difficult without it….what was life like before I had machines? Lots of slow hand stitching and spinning…..deliberation while I sewed. Deliberation has become somewhat of a lost art in my household since I have had children. I can’t seem to wake up early enough to beat the rush of weetbix and yoghurt, I can’t seem to settle long enough amidst the endless endless questions of the day, and I can’t seem to raise my eyelids without my eyes crossing after 9pm. (deliberation with my eyes closed?  Heh heh deep meditatve slumber more like) So today, I am focusing on arriving home. I landed, unpacked and washed over two weeks ago. I have been snuggling with my husband and children for a fortnight, and yet only yesterday did I begin to feel like I was actually home. I have settled a little, my feet are beginning to reattach to the roots under the floorboards. I had a wonderful journey in China. It was amazing to visit a country with such a rich and vast history of people. Chengdu is beautiful and ravaged and sad and hopeful all at once. It is in reflecting that I guess the full impact of this incredible place will begin to seep into my being and settle with me at home. Ah, to journey and come home again. To let the land pass through me and leave me richer and more blessed where I am. I loved China. I love China. I love its people. Going there has reminded me of how precious we all are. Underneath the surface- without the distractions of language and culture- we all long for the same things, even if we can’t put a name to them.                Ellen

The GREAT Wall

 

It’s always surprising what you find at the bottom of your bag. I have a bit of a Mary Poppins bag myself. It seems to be able to hold the endless array of bits and bobs that I carry round. Only trouble is I’m constantly losing and then finding stuff again and often things don’t come out the way they went in.

I made this felt ipod cover for my husband and it’s come in handy for the scrapes that seem to befall the ipod. Who knew it would also be useful for collecting the eucalyptus lollies that were roaming freely around the bottom of his bag quite forgotten after the sore throat had gone?  

     

I hadn’t thought of lollies as an art material but I must say I like the look of the ipod cover with them rather than without. If it could sit on a shelf as an art piece I think I’d leave them on but alas this is a machine in high use and the eucalyptus lollies don’t add to it’s usability so I took this picture instead.

 

Cheers

 

Amanda

A home owner at 20 months

The highlight of Jasper’s week – a new home just for him and his babees. Renovations by Dadda complete with Jasper’s apple tree .

Cheers,

Amanda

Letter Box No. 2

Whilst on an attempting to get Jasp to sleep mission I drove past this unusual letter box standing unobtrusively amongst shrubbery. I thought it worthy of a letter box posting -ha.

It’s all about slimline post with this one. The gap is seriously 1cm wide. I can’t quite work out the logic of it with the small hole at the top. It’s almost like a key hole? Rolled up papers wouldn’t fit through? Intriguing I must say – I have never seen one quite like this – I like it.

cheers

Amanda

Meow

Late last night our new little friend emerged from the fabric of my society! Due to some emergency babysitting he didn’t make it up here this morning. He is ready with open arms for lots and lots of hugging and sleeping with our little nocturnal possum. 

I ended up deciding on a cat for Jasper as he gets so excited about Biscuit the cat next door and one of his first regular words was Meow!- (can’t decide whether to put some whiskers on – hmmm)  He also loves round things hence the spots and I have a significant fascination with stripes.

I think I made it more difficult for myself in deciding I didn’t want the pattern to be symmetrical!  I drew and cut separate pieces for the legs, arms, ears and made the body and face slightly lopsided with a friendly half smile – Being an art therapist I have been wondering why I was so bent on spending so much time, care and serious attempts at making it handmade and unique – I guess I wanted something that I am hoping will provide some comfort and nurture in the night time and that will remind him of our cuddly and special getting back to the lovely land of sleepy time. I am not sure why I am calling it a he! I’ll sit with it – we’ll see who he/she turns out to be – I’ll let you know as her character develops?

So I’ve been rocking Jasp to sleep with the material on my shoulder for a week. Hopefully he likes the new form the material has taken. I showed it to him today and he called it a “babee” and kissed it (scuse the blurred moment photo), we’ve just finished putting it to bed with the smurf pillow and a blanket. He isn’t a soft toy kind of kid so we’ll see how it goes

 

Sweet nocturnal moments to you,

 

Amanda

A picture paints a 1000 words..

 

Untitled    oil on canvas         120mm X 180mm 

Sometimes I really struggle to find the right words. While having another little clean out attempt in the art nook (still a work in progress), I came across this very little painting I had done a while ago. She first appeared in one of my drawing books as a sketch and made her way to canvas as a little study one afternoon. Although I don’t think this is her final formation it does capture something of where I am at right now – two weeks into long service leave! Need I say more?

Cheers,

Amanda

Some crafty creations for a new creation

Yesterday we gathered for stitch and bitch whilst the fellas looked after the little ones. We didn’t make much as we were clucky and distracted by Gracie the newest creation – all I can say she is so bubbalicious! New babies smell so good. This bib, singlet and beetle was Sarah, Amanda and Marcia’s crafty creation for Gracie the new creation which I forgot to post at the time.

 The  pattern  for the beetle bug came form the book SOFTIES 22 Friends for you to sew, knit and crochet. The pattern was designed by Carly Schwerdt. You can find her at neststudio.typepad.com. Very inspirational stuff

 

Cheers and Beers,

Amanda

Mother’s Day

Sometimes living in the bigger smoke gets me down – I have to be reminded to enjoy the smaller moments when overwhelmed by the bigger ones – thankfully I have some good little reminderers (a new word for our glossary). They bought me these happy walkers on Mother’s Day – be gone seriousness, how can I not have fun in these?

Cheers and fun beans

Amanda

 

 

Weaving

 I have decided that camping with children is a winner. Invest in one super michilin man suit for each child and do not take it off them except to sleep. Ignore the grot and you are set for a wonderful week. Children love being outside when they are little. Rocks are especially exciting.

Whilst the kids were proccupied with exploring (eating) their surroundings, I tried my hand at some basket weaving. I collected some beautiful grasses and vines and just had a go. Varying degrees of success ensued. The greatest success being that I loved it! Maybe one day when I am wealthy with spare time I will invest in some lessons. A few hints wouldn’t go astray. Until then, nothing is sacred in my backyard and there will be many wonky baskets to choose from in which to collect the chicken eggs…

Ell