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something fishy

Audrey turned six last week. My little girl, not quite so little any more! She's been asking for fish since the beginning of the year, so over the weekend Nibbles, Flappy, Bubbles and As-Yet-Unnamed joined us. It's a terrible photo, I know - the tank, while quite lovely, has a curved outer edge and reflects everything. But you get the idea. Fish!

So we have been talking lots about fish care, and the dangers of over-feeding. Every time we do, I'm reminded one of my favorite childhood books:

"When you feed a fish, never feed him a lot. So much and no more! Never more than a spot, or something may happen! You never know what."

This is the dog-eared, sticky-taped copy my brother and I read when we were young. Audrey and I pulled it off the shelf and have been enjoying it again lately. Mr Carp is, I think, one of the under appreciated legends of modern literature. ;)

Happy birthday, Audie!

handmade home

I've had my copy of Amanda's wonderful new book Handmade Home for a couple of weeks now. It will be no news to any of you, I'm sure, but this is a beautiful, inspiring book, full of projects that look not only fun to make, but that will mean something to you & your family, too. 

There are a ton of beautiful ideas in here, but as soon as I saw the pattern for the sweater hats, I knew that it would be a keeper. An old felted cardigan of mine and fifteen minutes later, Henry has a new hat. Perfect for the freezing, wintery walks to school and back we're taking at the moment. As an extra bonus - he's actually keeping hats on, now (hallelujah!) - as if I needed any extra impetus to make any more (Audrey has one lined up, as well). I think this pattern would work equally well using an old t-shirt for a milder Spring-type hat, too.

Oh, and the arrival of this book was doubly exciting as one of my cat dolls is on the cover, hugged by sweet Adelaide, none the less. Yay!

garden inspiration

Last week I was clicking around the internet, doing a bit of fantasy shopping (where you don't click 'checkout' at the end) and bemoaning the state of the Australian dollar. Right at the top of my wanty list was a couple of the gorgeous Paumes titles. The next day, I saw Claire had been doing the same thing, and I was thrilled to then discover through a comment on her post that a few of these fantastic Japanese books were now available in Australia through Lark. A couple of red wines later, the 'checkout' button had been well and truly clicked.

London Gardens is as inspiring as I'd hoped. 

Those fantastic white chairs seem to pop up everywhere in the book. And check out that garden studio!

More Paumes here, here and here, too.

homespun harold

 

Lookie what's at the newsagent's today - the December issue of Australian Homespun with one of my creatures on the cover (squint! he's the giraffe there on the left!) There's an article inside, including a pattern to make Harold, as well as this nice spread of him.

 

I put this pattern together months ago, and Harold arrived back on our doorstep a couple of weeks ago. An old friend.

 

So, to celebrate his publication and, more importantly, as a small way to say thankyou to you for taking the time to stop by here, I'd like to give Harold away to a new home. Just leave a comment on this post before 9pm, Friday December 5 Adelaide time. Leave a favorite link, a hello - whatever, and I'll use the ubiquitous random number generator to choose a winner. Fun! And thankyou again. I'm so very grateful for all the like-minded, kind and incredible people this blog has led me to these past (almost) five years. Please, comment away!

smitten (again)

Today, I'm smitten with this girl's bedroom from the new edition of Inside Out magazine. This is pretty much how I'd like my kids' room to look (project kids' room is still ongoing) - from the chalkboard table (love that idea, next weekend I'll be painting our tattered old ikea children's table top with chalkboard paint) to the hand knitted blanket at the end of the bed. And the poster! I've just looked online for a reproduction of that gorgeous vintage poster for Audrey. All I can find are the originals, which start at about $1200. Yikes! So that's not going to happen, but what a great poster.

On the same note, I'm finding Blosem' Kids series, Open House, so inspiring when it comes to decorating with kids in mind. I would need very little encouragement to set up camp in Eliza Gran's beautiful home. No problems at all!

wednesday

Working from home. Carrying my wip basket around with me to steal some time handsewing in the sun. Walking past the fridge, smiling every time at Audrey's artwork (that's me with the baby in my belly!) Thinking about the weekend (including dinner with friends and the Royal Adelaide Show - we have one very excited little girl on our hands). On Saturday at 4pm, Carly will be hosting a wee party at Nest Studio (18 Elizabeth Street, Croydon, SA) to help launch Softies, the book recently released by Penguin Australia. Among many of the beautiful toy patterns by amazing designers like Kristina, Sarah, Myra, Carly, Abby and Sooz is one for my monkey, Albert. Copies of the book will be available from Nest on the day, but can also be purchased from all good local bookshops or online here. Come and say hello if you are in the area!