Thursday, March 24, 2011

Florence + The Machine - Dog Days Are Over (2010 Version)



I know this song has been out a while now. We've had the album for about a year, but I only saw the video for this song a few days ago.
Costumes and makeup etc all great. Really suit the song. The make up makes me smile a bit because I used to be a make up artist and can remember doing similar make up to this years ago on different occasions.

I'd love to see this band live sometime. This woman is an incredible singer and songwriter.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Thursday Theme : Handbags

I was never much of a 'handbag' type girl. When I was a teen I liked to travel light and wore the house key around my neck and any cash I had got tucked into my bra. But then as you get older and acquire more bits and pieces ( usually this ties in with needing a place to stick wet wipes and  baby booties that keep falling off) and less Tank Girl approach, a handbag becomes very, 'handy'.

I like a big bag I can chuck everything into, with a few pockets for supposed ease of finding keys, cell phone and loose gold coins for supermarket trolleys.
Mine these days resembles my High School Blazer pockets. Full of all sorts and needs a regular clean out.

But a big hold all shoulder bag is not really a good look if your heading out for a nice dinner.

I decided I should probably get something for those sort of occasions and was stoked when I came across this at a car boot sale last October. I got it for about a $2 from memory.  It needs a bit of spit and polish (which I have not gotten around to yet) but I reckon its got potential.  The woman who sold it to me said it was her mother in laws who had it her whole life and died a few year back aged 90 odd.  She thought it may have come from Holland but was not sure. I had a look inside and a google and saw that it was made in New South Wales. I think it may be from the 20's or 30's.






This next one I have had since I was a small girl. It think I remember being told it was my mothers evening purse for a while when she was a teen. I'm not sure of anything else about it. It looks Victorian to me. Hand embroidery detail on the front is a special touch. The wrist strap is worn where it attaches, and I have never been too sure how to fix it, so it's just stayed as a nice thing to look at. 






If you want to join the Thursday Theme meme linky it is open to anyone. Go to ChickChat and follow the  directions.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

It's not just Big Brother watching you...

My husband sent this to my inbox today.
Click the link to read about privacy sabotage on ETSY!

Etsy users irked after buyers, purchases exposed to the world

What do you think?
Personally I hate how so many sites feel they have to try and 'connect' us all up. Facebook drives me nuts sometimes with some of the things they do. Really, I'm not interested in seeing so and so made this comment on some other persons wall that I don't know. It's not my business but they are making it mine. And if I leave a comment on someones post, it's for those in that conversation. Why invite eavesdroppers?
As a blogger, I'm sharing enough about myself, but I still choose a certain anonymity. We just do not need to share all with everyone. Time and place for all things :)

Thursday, March 10, 2011

SALE TIME!

My Madeit Store has been neglected.


I have so many ideas of things to make such as quilts, felted items, mobiles, boy and girl clothing etc. But time has filled with preparing for Number 3 and starting to get some rest in while I still can!

Most items have been marked down in price for the next month.

It could be a while till I am back on my feet and getting a little production line going again. Hopefully I will be able to restock later in the year.




Thursday Theme : Home

Big M when he was a Little M
at our old house.



This weeks Thursday Theme  is "home".

I almost didn't want to post on this subject because I find it quite a difficult one, but figure the challenge is good and might be somewhat cathartic... or something...
Anyway, I struggled for years to know where my home was and I thought I had made peace in recent years with having my heart in a few places. But I think the earthquake in Christchurch New Zealand last month has brought up some rawness for me so maybe that is why I was reluctant to write on this topic.

I was born and raised till 12 in the deep south of New Zealand. It was a good place to grow up, with regular visits to family and friends who lived on farms and cold dips in rivers and the beach. We had lots of rain and cold down there but there is something hearty about that. I have heard people say New Zealand is like a 1950's England. I'm not sure about that, but I do think the town I grew up in was about 20 years behind everywhere else. Possibly still is.

At 12 my parents moved to the UK and settled in a lovely place in the county of Hertfordshire. It took me years to appreciate it because I was always longing to go back to NZ, but I ended up having a great few teen years there and had experiences I treasure, and know that I could never have had if I stayed in New Zealand.

During my formative teenage years in England I also had a bit of a turbulant time and left school early and my parents house soon after. I stayed with a friend and her mum for a while but then moved to another friends with her dad for a few months until I left there and ended up (somehow) on a canal boat. The boat became my base and the rest of the time I was traveling around festivals. It was during this time that I met some good people who had an old 1978 Bedford truck that converted into a stage. They travelled from festival to festival with many bands playing on that wooden fold out deck, and were very well known amongst the New Age traveller scene of the 80's and 90's. I loved being with these guys. The boaty canal people I was living with were not so great but The Stage people and who I met through them were very special to me.

But soon after turning 18 I had a moment of inspiration to save some money and go back to New Zealand, so I did.
After a bit of back and forwarding between different towns and countries, and visting some new places I settled into Christchurch and met and married Sam. I stayed there for 10 years and then we moved to Melbourne. Which is where I am typing this. This place is my home now, just like those other places I have mentioned are home, or were.

I don't feel anymore that the place I grew up in is home. Though it will always be of special significance. Sam & I plan to take our kids there one day (as part of a South Island tour to show them where our ancestors arrived on ships and set up towns etc). But I do not have family there any more and only minor contact with friends. I have moved on.

I still think of the area my family live in England as home. And I feel comfortable there. Culturally it's a big part of me. But its has been a long time since I lived there too. And now with us being (almost) a family of 5, it is too expensive to go back for visits. I wish sometimes that I still lived there, but reality is I have a southern hemisphere family now and I am the only one who can easily get in and out of the UK. And as much as I love Britain, I don't want to raise my kids there.

Although I was of 'no fixed abode' during my mid teens, the time I spent with travellers and festival people was home to me. Those people felt like family and so much of how they lived and their values resonates deeply within me still.

Christchurch is home. I have family and friends there and I lived there in that one city for longer than I have anywhere else except for those first 12 years of my childhood. I even owned my first 'home' there, and had my first child there. It is also a beautiful place and I have learnt that the enviroment around me has a lot to do with how at peace I feel. But we did decide to leave it with the possibility of never living there again.

Now we are in Australia. And I do not know for how long. The option of moving back to Christchurch seems to be out of the question. Not impossible but probably not a good thing to do anytime in the next few years.
We could stay here forever but I'm not sure we will. I miss New Zealand.
This is where I want to be right now, but I would like some things to be different. I like it here but I don't love it.

Time will tell.

Although it bothered and confused me for years I guess I'm not so bothered now with needing to know where my home is.
It comes down to is that old saying "home is where the heart is".
And mine right now is here in our house with my fellas.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Guildford Lane





Don't worry. He's 'discussing', not touching!




On the weekend we got into the city and visited a couple of galleries on Guildford lane.
Guildford Lane Gallery had it's last day of GLGNYE and there was some really nice stuff on the top floor by Argentinian (Aussie resident) artist Cristina Palacois.
Loved the colour! Some really fine detail on some of her prints and drawings too. Nice:)



The gallery owner showed us the vertical garden outside in the lane way. Looks great doesn't it?!

Friday, March 4, 2011

Thursday Themes: Textures

Do you remember that Seinfeld episode when George got in trouble because he could not resist the urge to touch a strangers clothes?
I was a bit like that up into my teens (when I learnt that it's just not appropriate to go feeling everything). I had to touch and feel something to understand it better. I love texture. I love textiles especially.
I think it is often the mix of texture with colour that is most captivating. You can have interesting textures without being able to see them, and touch is the physical feeling you use to explore texture but for me the way light enhances the visual aspect of textures is what makes things so beautiful and interesting.
I love natural forms and synthetic. Nature produces some of the most amazing textures. But man made items can also produce texture and colour combinations that get my senses and emotions going.

We've been having a bit of trouble with the cameras, computer and iPhoto recently (and Blogger is doing something funny and I can't upload side by side today), so here are some previous pictures I have on file that I have taken - simply for the love of the texture, pattern and colours. Excuse the huge quantity of photos, very hard to stop when I start. Like I said I love this stuff!

Double click to bring up better size photos for seeing the detail/textures.

Grass.

Quills

Dog scratches on frozen lake.

Vine

Smashed Bus Stop Glass

oops upside down - you can still see the wood looks like skin (or a shaved cat perhaps?)

Tree Bark

Tree bark

More Tree bark

I use to do a lot of rag weaving.

This is from a rag weave I started when I was about 14.

These next 3 are close ups from a piece I exhibited a few years back.

Enlarge this one to see the mixture of fabrics and raw edges mmmmm, good stuff!

Thursdays Themes @ ChickChat


Toni at Chickchat started a linky theme a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to join it from the start but it's been a crazy couple of weeks for me and am only joining in now. Each Thursday post based on the given theme (she will post on her blog up to week in advance for you to prepare). It's a real creative fun idea, with the past 2 themes being "art around your home" and "tools of your trade".