Bee Friendly Urban Permaculture Nursery
This weeks front page picks on madeit will be based on Film titles ! Hooray!
I am looking forward to the seller suggestions & seeing what films people love.
My favorite film these days is
- "Dear Mr. Vernon,
We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole
Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. What we did was wrong. But we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling
you who we think we are.
You see us as you want to see us... In the
simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found
out is that each one of us is a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess ... and a criminal. - Does that answer your question?
Sincerely yours,
The Breakfast Club."
What does a craft maker do when she finds herself at the end of a long & drawn out break up that shattered her heart? Well ... she could resign herself to becoming a blithering mess on the floor, or she could focus her energy & create something new - for herself.
So that is what I have decided to do ... create something new, just for me.
As a maker of crafty things & a seller on madeit, I don't often make things for myself [not including building a house of course] - In fact I can't remember the last time I made something crafty for myself to keep.
I have had lots of ideas over the last few years of things I wanted to make for myself - A selvedge quilt is one thing I am really looking forward to creating, but I have a little while to go yet before I have enough selvedges saved to satisfy myself.
I taught myself to crochet late last year with the help of some wonderful youtube videos [Thank goodness for the digital age, eh?] Then last week I saw a crochet blanket that was made with 'a granny square a day' - for a year! Brilliant! I have been wanting to make a blanket for my bed for quite some time in brilliant cherry red wool, [but I had purchased 5 ply wool by mistake, so it never really took off.]
Then yesterday my mum came to visit. She had bought with her some red 8 ply wool to swap with me for my 5 ply stash. Mum is a brilliant crocheter, but she prefers the 5 ply, so swap we did.
Last night I used my new 8 ply wool, that mum had picked up in Bendigo at the Woollen Mill, to make my first granny square ... & so the project has begun.
I love making granny squares & it was admittedly hard to not make another straight away - but this is a year long project, I've got to stick to the rules! This is a project about healing, love, & giving back to myself, blah, blah, blah ... & anyway, I think 365 days [364 now] should be long enough time for my heart to recover ... So this time next year I will have a lovely new blanket on my bed to show for it ... just in time for winter :) I figure I will do them all in red, but just using different granny square patterns ... kind of like a sampler.
I found some lovely granny square patterns on pinterest last night that don't look too complicated for an amateur crocheter like myself, [again the wonders of the digital age.] There is a lovely collection of them on a Czech website ... & although I can't read a word, craft translates across all languages does it not? If you are interested I have linked the website here. & with thanks to my mum, I have the most beautiful Australian wool to create them with!
If you are into knitting or crochet, or some other type of yarn based craft, I can not recommend enough the Bendigo Woollen Mill. They do mail order [great if you don't live near Bendigo like me] & they make the most beautiful wool I have ever used! & it's cheap! What can be better than Australian pure wool, & shopping locally? Give them a call & ask them to send you a colour chart, it has little samples attached & is a very cool thing to have.
So here is my first square. I won't bore you with a new one every day, but I will keep you updated now & then on how it is going. Stay tuned for Easter next year when I will reveal the finished project ... & a much happier heart ... hand made with love <3
xx
P.S Wikipedia says ~ An amateur (French amateur
"lover of", from Old French and ultimately from Latin amatorem nom.
amator, "lover") is generally considered a person attached to a
particular pursuit, study, or science in a non-professional or unpaid manner. Amateurs often have little or no formal training in their pursuits, and many are autodidacts (self-taught).
That is me alright ... an amateur ... a lover of creating & all things crafty!
This weeks front page picks on madeit.com.au, have been based on Book Titles.
It was a real joy to read some of the sellers suggestions, & getting to know some of their favorite books.
So far we have had '50 Shades Of Grey', 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar', 'The Lord Of The Rings' & 'About a Boy' ... Who knows what tomorrow's last day of Book Week will bring?
I have chosen some picks myself to share with you based on The Old Curiosity Shop, by Charles Dickens.
If I had my own Dickensian curiosity shop I would be sure to include these little lovelies ...
Lucy all at sea by Annabella67
Glass Pendant With Antique Sydney Map by Dew Studio
Steampunk Cufflinks by Flights of Fancy
The wonderful madeit.com.au seller Mozzie & Mac have compiled their own picks list based on the 'Enchanted Wood' by Enid Blyton, you can see it here.
Now ... go read a book!
xx
Sitting alone on this day of St Valentine, watching the clouds roll in, [hoping we are in for a summer thunder storm] my mind is thinking of all the best things ... After all, there is no point in wallowing in the fact that there is no lover here - even if I am surrounded everywhere I turn, by images of love, red roses, & love hearts that are all conspiring against me, & trying so hard to make me sick on such a day.
Instead a beautiful line from a pop song has been playing itself in my head - "The stars are blazing like rebel diamonds cut out of the sun" ... along with many thoughts of self-fulling prophecies over the last days. My favourite of which, is a story I wrote when I was about 10 years old.
My best friend did the illustrations & the teacher typed it out on the type writer for me ... I am sure I still have it somewhere. It was a book called 'The day I went to London'. It was a story about winning tickets to see Culture Club & getting to meet Boy George at his house. I wrote details about needing injections before the plane trip [oh the naivety] & the old lady who I had to sit next to on the plane who spilt her tea on me ... but I did not care about spilt tea - I was on my way to London to see Boy George! We got to the concert a few minutes early & so of course we got the best seats right up the front... hehehe ... I had never been to a pop concert when I was 10 - I had no idea ... I only knew that it would be awesome & that it was all I wanted in my life. {My parents were kind enough to let me stay up late & watch the Culture Club concert on telly, that would have to do me for a few years yet.}
But a few years back I did just that - I had fulfilled my own dream / fulfilled my own prophecy, written when I was 9 or 10 years old. And although the band had changed & I did buy the tickets myself [before even owning a passport] - I went to London to see Blur play in Hyde Park. And it was indeed the best day of my life! No complications, no hassles of the heart, or anguish over love - just pure joy!
I took my daughter & we sat in the sun all day under union jack umbrellas, watching many a band [including one of her favourites at the time, Crystal Castles - so she was happy.] Meeting lovely people from all over the world who were all there for the same reason ... All waiting for the evening where sixty thousand of us could sing - "It really, really, really could happen ... yes it really, really, really could happen .. when the days they seem to fall through you, well just, let them go ..." - in unison, with tears flowing from our eyes. Truly a magical day & night ... that I got to share with the one I love most in this world - My little girl <3 ... who insists on growing up very fast! {And lucky for me, as an added bonus the gig was put on dvd, so I can relive it when ever I need … although I tend not too because it is just too much emotion to deal with when it is not shared with sixty thousand other souls.}
I may not have got to have tea with Damon Albarn at his house, like I did with Boy George in my primary school story book, but I did get to say hi & thank him for the best day of my life a few years later in Melbourne & share a smile ... & that is kind of the same ... because we should never meet our hero's anyway.
Anyway … Many of you who 'like' my face book page, or buy my creations on madeit.com.au, or are whom I chat with in the made it sellers group, don't actually know who I am or what I look like ... It is pretty hard to find a picture of me on this here intrawebs, & it is very easy to remain anonymous when you sell on line ... Plus I am pretty shy about such things, & I suppose it's because I make fabric things for babies & I don't really seem like the type - I have too many tattoos & stupidly long hair! So I don't want to give off the wrong impression ... Books & covers, & all that.
But this year I have a lot of things to work on, & lots of things to go through ... & me thinks that this here blog would be a good place to start [because maybe no one reads it at all, & I am not really exposing myself to anyone. At least that is what I will end up telling myself so as not to delete any of this, & to keep myself as real & raw as I can.]
So here is to a new start, a new beginning, & a new way of doing things … And here is a picture of me & my girl at the Blur concert in London … on the best & happiest day of my life! ... Look I am almost smiling! :) hehehe
With much love to all the lovers & not fighters out there on this night of love ... St Valentines day <3
