Crafty Goodness today

Tori and I are up bright and early as there is much to do today. Tori and Andreas fly off to Germany next week and there is lots to pack and organise ..

If you are in Melbourne today there is no excuse to be bored as there is so much on!

Taken by my gorgeous Husband at Docklands, Melbourne

Craft Expo is on at the Old Exhibition Buildings. I hear you groan "not another craft expo", we are a bit blessed with expo's that happen every 2 -3 months. But this seems to be the last one before the Christmas madness. I hope that they have some interesting Christmas ideas.

Finders Keepers has it's first market on today in Melbourne, previously a popular Sydney event. It's a two day event, but the good stuff will probably be all gone today! There are lots of local bloggers and designers on show including Yardage Design, and my favourite local silversmith Victoria Mason.

Sisters Market is on at the Brunswick Town Hall. I know that Mecino will be there with her lovely jewelry. I always get a comment when I wear her creations to work.

And if that is not enough, check out Whitehat for listings of more markets in the South Eastern and Outer Eastern Suburbs.

Tori and I are going to hop on the tram and wander down to the Craft Expo to give Dadda some "me" time before he has to spend 2 1/2 weeks with a 3 year old continuously ..

Friday Finds

Every once in a while my inner geek comes out and I go-a-searching for yummy handmade things to quench my nerdy thirst ... it was very hard to limit this list to five things only. But now I have lots of lovely Christmas present ideas!

1. Tardis T-shirt from the vortex trading company

2. Gamer Cufflinks by qacreate

3. Circut Board Necklace by Mechanimation

4. Retro Rocket invites by Pivx

5. Computer error message pins by Vikinator

Too much to choose from! Is it too early to start buying Christmas presents?

Centrefold

This is the life ...

"What am I" ... Wednesday

I love to do these memes once in a while, it gives me a good idea of where I am going and when I read back where I have been. So join in and add a comment so I can read what you are up to.

What am I watching ...

Really enjoying "Lost Girl" at the moment. A Canadian attempt at a sci-fi supernatural series with two really tasty co-stars. So far they have screened 4 episodes in Canada and each one has me hooked!

What am I reading ...

Just finished the book by Valerie Brownings, Maalika, about her life in Ethiopia. A definite read for anyone who thinks that our government, health care and education system is sub-standard.

I was privileged to meet her a month back when she came to Melbourne and after listening to her or reading about her, you can't help but want to donate to her cause when you hear about the conditions in Ethiopia.

What am I listening to ...

I am operating on auto pilot at the moment, but when I get a chance, I love to listen to a podcast of Clockwork Cabaret. An hour worth of music which I have no control over!

What am I making ...

Finishing off quilts, bags and make-up rolls to go over to Germany in a weeks time. More pictures to follow!

What am I playing ...

Plants vs. Zombies on the iPad .. addictive is the only word for this game. Tori takes great delight in clicking on the little suns when they appear on the screen. The iPad version seems to be different to the one that I have on the PC. I am also looking forward to the school holidays when I go and purchase my World of Warcraft game card for my fix during the non-teaching period.


What am I cooking ...

Having just come out of gastroland, we are cooking high carb and starchy foods. Potato's, rice and pasta. Nothing fancy, just survival food at the moment.

What am I wearing ...

With the gorgeous weather, I wore a short sleeve shirt to work today *gasp*. Hoping to make some summer skirts in the next few weeks.

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Are you playing along with Blogtoberfest? If not, hop on board and see what everyone is upto!

Lion sleeps tonight

In between all the school and book stuff I have been doing, I have been trying to get this quilt finished so that it can go to gGrmany next week. A baby quilt gift for my husbands cousin.

The middle "feature print" is a Japanese medium weight bought from Purl's Palace in Daylesford. The surrounding material is scraps from a scrap pack bought from The Rabbit and The Duck at one of the North Melbourne markets.

I'm starting to do the stippling ... and have decided to do it horizontally with a line of hand stitching inbetween each row. This time I have also set the stitch length at 3.5

The plan is to do some more machine stippling in between working tonight and then the hand stitching tomorrow during our "calm time" at school.

I might have a go at doing this one again, but next time not using 1 1/2 inch strips. Very fiddly!

Spring Colds

Every second blog I read talks about gastro or the flu. With the change of season there seems to be an epidemic in Melbourne at the moment. It hit me last week, then my daughter, then my man ... so I thought I would post this ...

Things are starting to settle down at our place, I actually got some work done last night which has been a first for about a week. My to do list is overflowing, but now that I don't feel so violently ill, I know I will get through it. If only Pivx still sold their cowgirl "to do" lists!

Interested in Blogtoberfest? See who else is joining in! Other bloggers are doing giveaways, see the list that Curlypops has on her blog.

Long live the film photo booth!

We have had an outbreak of gastro at our place and the latest casualty was my poor husband through the night. So today armed with the best chemicals money can buy, I am on a cleaning mission to kill whatever bug has taken up residence in our household.

I am coming across all sorts of things in my cleaning adventures, including these old pictures that I thought I would share. Every once in a while Andreas and I end up at a cinema that has an "old fashioned" (read film) photo booth there. When we can we get a pic taken, three in a row .. some good, some bad!

Far left was taken in 1990 (taken in Dandenong "Hub") when we had first started to date, I was 19. Middle picture was 2005, far right picture was early 2008 after Tori was born (still carrying the fluid from several blood transfusions and definitely breastfeeding).

I know that we have better pictures of us, but I love these photo booth pictures, they are raw and weathered and if you are lucky you get just one good picture out of the three. Reminds me that it is about time for us to do another picture.

Long live the film photo booth!

Fringe Festival Home is where the craft is

This afternoon I wandered off with Mum to visit "Home is Where the Craft is" as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival. Hosted by the wonderful Ms Cate of Polka Dot Rabbit fame.

Given the gastro epidemic that is happening at my house at the moment, I didn't think that I would actually make it to the exhibition. The original plan was to visit Friday afternoon, the last day of my "holidays" .. but I was too busy vomiting.

I love the idea of alternative or radical cross stitch and looked forward to seeing what people came up with.

I like the idea of pushing the boundaries of embroidery using unconventional materials and patterns.

Ms Curlypops had her range of re-crafted crochet objects on display.

Out the back there was Polly Pratt with some of her creations for sale in the pop-up craft market that they held today. She has an online store opening, so keep an eye on her blog.

How was your sunday?

My Green Room

The hubby was attacking some folage today with a chainsaw in a hope to regain some control over our overgrown green room.

The front yard is doing well with the flowers distracting most onlookers from the untamed weeds. Out the back however, is a different story.

The cherry blossoms are finally blossoming two weeks later than they normally do starting with our weeping Alba, but the ornamental pear out the back blossomed earlier this year than last. The seasonal indicators are all over the place. The bee's were doing double time on the Lavender today.

I had hoped to post this sooner, but my poor daughter has been throwing up all afternoon and well, she needed my attention not the blogosphere ..

As the light was going down I grabbed the camera and headed out the front to capture the essence of my Green room.

Did you get out in your green room today?

Welcome to Blogtoberfest

Last year I was a relative newbie to Blogtoberfest and I watched each day as posts streamed by from friends about the interesting things they were upto.

This year *gulp* I am going to join in ... hosted by the wonderful Tinniegirl.

So stay tunned for some musings, some observations and hopefully some giveaways if I get my act together.

But I might just start off by congratulating the wonderful Mrs Beckinsale on her latest project. Can't wait to meet Miss Amelia! All the best to your family.