Moving

207.365., originally uploaded by brian.r..

So this week it's all about moving. And I'm freaking. I'm not sure why. I keep having anxiety attacks that immobilise me and feel that I just can't do anything on my own. Luckily my parentals are helping with moving the big stuff on the weekend, so that's good. But I'm not sure why I feel this way.

ANZAC Day

As it's ANZAC Day, I thought I'd share a bit of family history of you, courtesy of my sister.

She says:
"This is Great-Uncle George ( Snowy ) Porter, WW1 photo. As part of the 8th Battalion, George took part in the Gallipoli landing on 25 April 1915, landing at North Beach at 8am as part of the second wave of troops. He was badly wounded on May 8th and reported as dead by mistake to his parents. George went on to serve in France where he was wounded 3 more times , including being gassed. After the war he lived at Echuca and lived to be in his 80s."

Garden musings

GWL - secret garden, originally uploaded by aaroscape.

No, this is not a pic of my garden...but it is representative of the light and feel of the front yard of the new place. This morning I was bemoaning the fact that I'll miss my orange tiles and looking at the bay when I wheel my bins out. And then I realised that while the new house is small, it does have a nice pleasant garden for Hubert and I to play in. And build some raised vegie gardens. And have a worm farm again. And have green things and flowers that will make me happy. So it's all a trade off I guess.

PS. Plus it's Earth Day, some good practical suggestions here.

Well it was for us yesterday, but living under my rock, didn't realise until Google told me this morning.

Swap -> in

Yesterday I picked up my parcel from the post office, containing a lovely swap from Meagan.
Here's my pressies:
Thank you so much! Meagan says my pincushion is made out of 100% thrifed and recycled materials. Very thoughtful and very me! Doiley recycled into pincushion, an embroidered pillowcase, flower seeds, thread in my favourite colour, fabric and felt, and look at the little mushroom pin... Hurrah!

PS. I hadn't stumbled across Meagan in blogworld before, but her blog is definitely a great read. Lots of sound eco-ideas, yummy food, and parenting topics. I chuckle when I wonder what she must have made of my blog when we were matched up as swap partners.

Sew...

A-ha! You thought you could escape me gentle folk attending Sew It Together! But I'm in, so if you're going to the Saturday session, I'll be there, drinking all the tea. You have been warned.

Pincushion swappy - out

As my partner will get her pincushion pressie soon, I thought I'd put a couple of pics on the blog. After pondering hedgehogs, pears and jar pincushions, I ended up going for a simple rectangle, as my sewing mojo is still lacking and when faced with the machine now, anything too taxing ends in cranky pants.


At the moment you get the back view of the pincushion as the front will give the recipient's identity away.


And the little sewing kit is fashioned out of an recycled choccy truffles tin from yonks ago, with bits and bobs stuck on by yours truly. I've also included some chocolate and a little bag of random cutesy stuff. True to my stash bust, I didn't buy anything new for this...besides the chocolate, obviously.

Hope you like it Ms Swap Partner!

PS. I haven't forgotten that I promised someone a bundle of desk-ish stuff as a result of my desk drawer post from a few weeks back. While I'm on a roll, I'll do that later this afternoon.

Woofy

This morning I got an email with pics of one of the grandkids... here's Barney, the puppy I was orignally going to keep out of Ozzy and Lola's 2008 litter. I hope my Stiffy Staffy will grow up as handsome as Barney.


And there's a whole lotta love going on here.

Tea'n'things

I am a grumpy bum this morning, I'm blaming my hormones and Monday-itis. So hooray for the power of happy Flickr photos. I wouldn't call myself a "shabby chic-er" but florals and vintage are so happy-pretty!

Wood's Ware utility china - Jasmine, originally uploaded by the vintage cottage.

I have a little collection of Woods Ware - Beryl (the green) and Iris (the blue)...one day I'll have a whole set.

Handiware cake tin, originally uploaded by the vintage cottage.

Oh how times have changed, cake never lasts long enough around my place to make it into a tin!

Afternoon Tea, originally uploaded by fleamarketstudio.

Colour of the teacup of course.

And now, I think I need a cuppa.

Spot of op

As my new real estate agent's office is around the corner from Savers, of course I had to drop in yesterday afternoon. And I'm glad I did, for it was rather yielding in kitchen related items. I often wonder why someone like me that hates cooking loves kitchen paraphenalia so much?


I think these are my favourites - a Pyrex dish in my favourite colour (White Daisy pattern) and some very cute vintage cups and saucers. They are marked underneath "Roslyn fine bone china, Made in England." The stamp dates it from 1958-63. Might be time for a tea party soon.

Normally I don't worry about buying stacking mugs, but this was rather special. And the iphone camera totally failed in picking up it's real colour, which is a lighter washed out aqua-blue.


I think this pattern must have been very popular in the 60s/70s as I often see it about...not really my cup of tea though, but I loved the blue so grabbed a cup and saucer. (English - Staffordshire Potteries Ltd.) [Check this pattern out, how groovy!]


A funny new Japanese sugar jar for 2.50, can't complain about that. "Flour" was there too but I left him for someone else. Visitors to my place are always looking for sugar, so I figure if I fill this one right up, everyone will be happy.

And the piece de resistance, some lovely art glass. I saw this and went "Oooh!!" ...and then thought what a lovely pressie it would make for my friend Nat, who is developing a nice little collection of pink and blue mix art glass. You know I want it for myself, but the fact I got it for a good discount (!) told me that it's meant to go to Nat as a thank you pressie for looking after us with her rental property. Plus it will look stunning in her lovely home.


I also grabbed some vintage teatowels and doileys, and a big crochet tablecloth that's become a bedspread. I'll give you a pic later when I've finished washing linen and remaking the bed.

Every time I do one of these posts I worry if I'm too materialistic? And God bless Hubert, who had to listen to me boof on about vintage Pyrex last night when I was filled with post-purchase excitement. As one of my mates said "He's a keeper."

Eye Catching Date Blouses

Eye Catching Date Blouses, originally uploaded by pressurechief.

For your Friday night out?
They may well put someone's eye out. Pointy.

Indulgent

Okay so indulge me for a minute here people. I finally did a post on Stitchy Britches this morning, which involved a pic of me... and I was struck by the random positioning of the picture on the page:



Am I tripping, or do Mrs Stitchy Britches and I look a bit similar in the face? Am I morphing into an imaginary blog personality? Or am I just a knob?

Probably the latter.

Buffalo gals

Clicking via blog to Etsy store, I found these two pieces of clothing. As I have no money and even if I did, these wouldn't fit me in a million years, I decided to make note to self to make "prairie" type skirt. Oh yes, I have the requisite boots somewhere.

Obviously these are not my photos ...go here and here if you like and want to buy.

As an aside, here are two of my new favourite blogs:
Gatsby and me
Mary Van Note
go visit them, I know you'll be in love.

Rockwiz loves Lee and Nancy

So

, originally uploaded by Locace.

My house hunting can cease for the next 10 months or so, as one of my best friends is letting us rent one of their investment properties which happens to be vacant. And while it doesn't have orange tiles, it is secure and pet friendly. So watch this space for tales of me filling it with my retro clutter...and beasties.

1919 ~ Striped Bathing Suit

1919-Striped Bathing Suit, originally uploaded by ozfan22.

Following Pip's suggestion to try and get me in a good mood this morning... Enjoy this pic. I did.

Like...want

Available here. I'm buying one, when the money fairy is back in town.

Five faves

Time for Pip's Five Faves meme, so here's my latest faves:

1. This blog. I find this stuff fascinating...I think because of the historical context, rather than being interested in crime. Especially the 'Accident Music' posts, including this one:

2. This photo. Just because.

Table of 50's collectables, originally uploaded by yewenyi.

3. This version of a song you all probably know. By the man who (I'm guessing) wrote 99% of that song. But don't sue me anyone, that's just an opinion.

4. This rather lovely journal made out of a recycled book, which I plan to buy from Etsy here when I have some money.

5. All things houses are on my mind, so this drawing appealed. I particularly like the happy cat.

[source]

Sunday Musings

I've been a bit of a shut in this weekend. And I confess I don't mind it at all...since I got home from the doctor on Friday, I haven't been out at all (unless hanging the washing on the line counts.) Lara used an expression this morning which I liked - she said "it was good to have some mental space." I can totally relate. I usually have so much stuff buzzing around in my head that a couple of days away from having to interact with real live people has been great.

What have I been up to? Besides sleeping, drinking and bad singing, I've been trying to clean and tidy up a bit for the impeding arrival of Hubert. I miss him so, and I don't really understand how anyone can successfully "do" any sort of distance relationship. Ugh. As well as Hubert, I also have another fella coming to live with me soon.
Meet Burton C. Bell:
Well how could anyone say no to that? Burton is currently still with his kitteh mum in Benders, so my sis and I will go up and get him one weekend soon. The extra kitteh situation highlights my need to find a house soon though...the bathroom here is groaning with litteh boxes already. Plus Stiffy Staffy is already sooooo big...I feel like I've missed half his life already. I went to look at a house on Friday and while the house was okay (although overpriced so I don't want it), the tenants were still there. I feel awful going through people's houses, it's so intrusive. I also find it hard to visualise my "life" in a house when it's already full of someone else's. So my hunt continues. And I know I'll be pining for my orange kitchen tiles, wherever I go.

Speaking of renting issues, one thing I really dislike is not being able to hang pictures. (I understand not ruining the walls with holes, but doesn't mean I have to like it.) I am completely jack of those sticky 3M picture hangers, as they tend to just fall off the wall at random intervals, sending your picture or decorative thingy crashing to near death (I've been pretty lucky so far) . So this morning, to get away from wall boredom above the couch, I did the old trick of "using embroidery hoops to hang bits of fabric for instant decorative appeal". And blu-tacked the damn things up...'cause my heart can't stand much more of surprise picture crashings.

Five faves

Today's faves:

1. Blog posts:

I loved this post about a fabulous girl.

This post made me cry.

2. Giant freckles. For the win.

3. Mackenzie Chloe, born 6.4.10 to my friends Bec and Chris. I like it when good people make babies, it gives me hope for the human race.

4. Facebook - I know it cops a lot of flak, but where else can you whinge when you're having a bad day and have friends both new and old say kind/funny/cheeky/caring things to make you feel better?

5. This picture. Via here.

Go see Pip and play along here!

Humpy

I don't know what I want to say today. This is the spot where I usually do a Hump Day crafty round up. But not much has been going on because of Easter. All I've done is played around with this a bit:

So in lieu of a crafty post you get some randomness ~

Meatloaf is one of my most disliked musical artists ever.

I'm missing Hubert terribly.

Does laughing my arse off at this make me a bad person? I was going to write a sentence qualifying why I love this so much, but feck it.


Real Estate is still making me cross.

This post just made me cry. Not that I care about wallpaper enough to cry, but the relationship analogy got to me.

And I won't even start whinging about work. Off to FB to do that.

Doing this

Saw this via Betty Jo, and decided to play along:
"For the entire month of the April, let's pledge not to buy any new craft materials, tools or supplies for the April Stash Bust!"

Happy Easter

Hope you had a great break!