Gorgeous Taiyo yarn knitted into a Quant

Noro's Taiyo yarn is a rainbow in a ball of yarn as you can see here. I found a pattern for a basketweave quant, loved it so much I knitted two for friends. They make a nice alternative to a beanie.

Blu and White china ATC swap

The theme for this swap was 'composed completely from a magazine using cut outs. It was an excuse to buy some gorgeous lifestyle magazines and dream for a while! I have collected blue and white delft since I was a young girl. Like all my fine bone china and other trinkets, they are all packed away now. I wonder if I will ever put them all out on display again?

Some of my recent swaps with Flickr ATC friends in USA, Denmark, Holland, UK, Australia - kind and talented friends across the globe.

I started making Christmas cards last night. Couldn't resist another cup of green tea in our new Moroccan tea glasses this morning as I contemplated my creativity thus far.

I got a bit carried away at the end of last year when a local scrap book store was selling off her stock and also bought up big at a craft fair with their tempting sales. I justified my purchases by saying they would do me for the whole year!

I am not sure if I was kidding myself or was just carried away in the moment (probably both!), but I have been slowly working my way through the 'stash', not as quickly as I would have thought. We shall see how many cards I get made now that I have started the project! I made a lot of cards when I had my enforced post-op recouperation time earlier this year and had a lot of fun making cards for all occasions. It has been so nice to have a handmade card for every occasion during the year from my 'stash'.

After steady rain this Spring, we are officially out of a 9 year drought in all areas of New South Wales. The grounds of Stud farm, Upper Hunter Valley, my workplace, is looking particularly attractive as I look out my office window. The rains have spoiled the proliferation of climbing roses, but their delicate apricot hue still reminds me of their beauty.

From the Common room area where we sit to eat our catered lunch each day, I am drawn to the magnificent escarpment into the distance. It feels so ancient and I never tire of this scenery.

A day in my pantry

I have been wanting to clean out my pantry for 12 months now. I used to do these Spring cleaning jobs with monotonous regularity earlier in my married life but in recent times I have way too many interests, commitments and obligations, so my Spring cleaning suffers. Life gets too busy... Oddly enough, I miss those Spring cleaning Saturdays!

Yesterday was a bright and clear sunny day and I spent a happy time cleaning out my pantry, listening to tunes through the iPod dock. To the songs of Eva Cassidy and Peggy Lee I sang my heart out, rehearsing for the next concert at the Sydney Opera House whilst I sorted and cleaned, and scrubbed and sorted some more.

I don't sort my spices into alphabetical order anymore or line the knives and forks up like soldiers in the cutlery drawer, but I do still like everything to be in neat Tupperware stacks! Phew! I hear you say? I have a life! But there is nothing more pleasurable than opening your cupboards to find them clean and orderly.... life gets in the way... as I, like so many others, try to cram so much into my day with working full time, hobbies, study, interests, committees, community activities.

This is my dilemma... being 'houseproud' as my Nan and mother would approvingly comment on someone they met probably in the 1950's, having everything in order, or jettisoned into living a very full life and squeezing as much in as you can to your day.

Lunch in the Hunter Valley

Last Sunday we went for a drive in the Lower Hunter valley, NSW. The craggy mountain backdrop to the acres of vineyards, cattle and horses grazing with plenty of green is very soothing to me. Crops of calves and foals tell me that Spring is on its way. We stop at our favourite cafe and have a platter of assorted desserts and a pleasant glass of wine! A nice treat. It's still chilly, but the wattle is beautiful everywhere. Winter is behind us now I hope.

Unravelling time

Oh dear! A whole month's worth of knitting disgracefully unpicked and lying there waiting, waiting patiently to be knitted up again into a sample wrap. I can't bear a mistake and it would be so obvious in this pattern. See pattern here on MadelineTosh website.

The variegated yarns of this shade of Noro Silk Garden sock yarn is a little too contrasty for my taste, but once I put a deep frill on it, it may change the whole look. I love the knit fabric of garter stitch which shows up the blending of colours in the yarn so well. (I will have to find some more Austenish good movies to watch and knit by this weekend!)

My first fabric ATCs

Some ATCs traded with swap groups in July, August. The fabric ATCs were scraps from a Sunbonnet Sue quilt that I was making maybe 10 years ago! I kept the piece of patched 'fabric' wondering if I would ever use it! I can't think of a nicer way to use up bits and pieces. Once you start thinking in miniature, you see possibilities everywhere and start dreaming of creations. I will never look at a lifestyle magazine the same way again! All those lovely photos of flowers, home decor... mmm...

I have been having a lot of creative fun with ATCs since being introduced to them March 2010. Collage with pretty papers, magazine images, now experimenting with zentangles and watercolour and fabric. After all, I have been a fabric a holic for nigh on 25 years now! So I hope to slowly use up some of my fabric stash and ephemera. As these miniatures are just that, 2½" x 3½", I can't see the stash disappearing in a hurry, goodness only knows our lovely rumpus room table has become a casualty to collage and ephemera, with nowhere to put all this lovely stash.

Jach and Celia. This is the only photo of my maternal grandparents on their wedding day, so I thought it was worthy of embellishment. I included an Australian postage stamp with bridal roses. It is a mystery as to the flowers Gran may have carried on her day, or perhaps, none at all in lean times and being one of 16 children. I will have to find what year this was! Maybe early '20's?

This photo used to hang suspended from a very high picture rail in their tiny poorly lit loungeroom mostly devoid of ornamentation, encased in a very big oval wooden frame. I often used to stare at this photo as they stared back at me, frozen in time. The couple in the picture seemed to bear no resemblance to the hard working grandparents that I knew in the '50's, '60's and '70's. Gran always in her 'pinnie' and beanie, milking cows on the freezing cold mornings just a smidgeon past dawn, in Bullarto Sth Victoria; scrubbing and rubbing clothes on the wooden washboard until she got a new Pope washer with a hand wringer.

I have fond memories of hanging the washing on the line on a wire propped up on a pole working with Gran. Not the most sophisticated clothes line, but serviceable. Like everything my grandmother had. Their married life was all about hard work on a dairy and produce farm, thrift and recycling as much as possible.

The end of my 8 week rest

Reading 'The Friday Night Knitting Club' in hospital.

It's time to go back to work after an extended post-operative recouperation time. I have done everything that the doctor prescribed and will now reap the benefits of rest and creativity. Whilst I was mostly confined to home, I was not lonely or without company.

Thanks to the social network of sms, blogs (Thanks Roz, Diana and Britt-Arnhild et al from Armchairtravellers group and fellow Artist Trading Card artists), Facebook, Yahoo groups of fellow artists and friends and emails from friends from all over the world, it has been a time of connectedness and 'virtual' support. These connections have become an important part of my daily life in the past few years and helps stave off homesickness for friends, to say nothing of news and inspiration I gleen vicariously!

In this recouperation time, I had a chance to read without guilt, having been banned from doing housework. I read some enjoyable books.

My favourite 'reading' application has become MP3 downloads to iPhone or portable MP3 books from the library. Being so portable, it allows me to read *and* play with ATC's, knit, cook or do the ironing! As they say, time flies when you are having fun! More and more I can see myself converting to this medium to 'read', but of course nothing will ever take the tactile place of a book book!

I try to always be a conscientious reader and purchase downloads from official sources and I am a keen supporter of our local library, particularly for audio books.

During March and April I read:

The Friday Night Knitting CLub by Kate Jacobs (SlimInk)

Me by Charles (Bud) Tingwell (CD)

The Thief Taker by Janet Gleeson (PLayaway)

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (SlimInk)

Down under by Bill Bryson (playaway)

Rules of Engagement by Anita Brookner (Book mooch)

The Boy by Julian Davies (borrowed from Kerrie)

The Georges Wife by Elizabeth Jolley (Bookmooch)A

Where Rainbows End by Cecelia Ahern (playaway)

An Atlas of Impossible Longing by Anuradha Roy (library)

The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows (SlimInk)

The Blind Assasin by Margaret Atwood (MP3) (F2F bookclub)

The Road to NAB End by William Woodruff (Playaway)

The 19th Wife (SlimInk)

When purchasing physcial books I try to be a conscientious buyer and source from independent bookstores. It is very tempting to buy books so cheaply from big department stores, so when yielding, I try to buy one for one (i.e one from independents and one from Big W). It is important to be a patron of your library also, as stats prepared from visits and borrowings support future funding.

I am a keen Bookmoocher for the exchange of used books and many titles I have on my shelves are from Bookmooch.com. I also rent books online from Slimink.com.au and look forward to my monthly exchange of latest titles.

I have resisisted buying a Kindle to date. I don't like the thought of being restricted to Amazon.com for downloads. But as with everything, I will have to do some more research to see who owns websites such as Audiobooks.com and others that I currently favour for purchase of downloads.

Certainly ebooks in audio or electronic reader form are the way of the future. For me, the chance to read audio books is the chance to enjoy more books than I would ever have time to physically read. I am restricting my e-choices to fiction and non fiction stories. My already groaning bookshelves hardly have room to fit a mouse, let alone more fiction and bio books so this is a good option for me! And imagine the whole moving house concept sans books, or rather, minimal books. These two factors make enjoying eBooks a pragmatic choice for me in the future.

I do however love my reference and text books and coffee table books and could not imagine replacing them with electronic copies. I must admit more and more if I want a recipe I will first look online if I don't have the recipe. I have not bought a recipe book for many years, but then in saying that, I do have some beautiful classic cookbooks which I would not part with.

I will always have bookshelves groaning with books of all genres. And borrowing or exchanging eBooks? Hmmm... nothing will take the place of real books it seems...

ATC's - Roses

Graphics and photos from IClipart and Rubys Blossom.

ATC's - corrugated/Metallic

A sample of the swap. Tim Holtz lock andkey, Webster scrap paper, Itkupilli letters, Kaiser scrap paper, stamping etc.

Heat emboss ATC's using stamps from Clearly Vintage (Etsy), V&A new stamp collection.

Tea and coffee ATC swap

ATC - Tulip and Vintage art swap

Having fun, making friends, dragging out beloved art materials, downloading public domain vintage photos, drawings... whiling away the hours...more time off work... creating ATC's seems like good therapy?