Why, I think it may be autumn!

best looking toadstool I've seen in quite some time

ornamental grape

I took the kids to visit family this week. A beautiful little property near Gembrook in the Dandenongs. The air was brisk, the fire was cranking and we drank a lot of tea, ah the good life!  

One day........

Dark Side of the Loom

Welcome, to the Dark Side of the loom! Created by my friend, weaver Milly Formby, Dark Side of the Loom is home to one seriously spooky menagerie of hand woven 'Milly Monsters'. 

Taught to knit, sew and crochet by her mother as a child, Milly developed a love for textiles that would see her go on to major in Tapestry as part of her fine art's degree. For the last 10 years, Milly has been working as a professional weaver for the Victorian Tapestry Workshop,  collaborating with artists to interpret their work into large scale tapestries.


Milly also has a great love of animals and the natural world and is currently doing a zoology major at the University of Melbourne. Animals greatly influence her art as does Japanese anime, graphic illustration and comics.


Milly will be holding an exhibition of her work at The Mill Provedore & Gallery in Launceston, Tasmania from next month, so if you're local, why not take a trip to the Dark Side of the Looooooom!


The Mill Provedore & Gallery
2 Bridge Rd, Launceston TAS 7250
+64 6331 0777‎ – (03) 6331 0777‎


or if a trip to the Apple Isle is a little out of your way you can always visit her esty shop here!  

The Big Five O!

I'm having a mini celebration tonight to mark a small blogland milestone, my fiftieth post! It's raging here right now, cup's of tea are getting spilled, the neighbours have called the cops, it's totally wild! I wish you could all join me.  Seriously, I'm on to my second cup of tea and I just freebased six anzac bickies, like I said, wild! 

I'm starting to feel like I might actually have a place in blogland! I've got me some followers (Thanks folks!) and it feel's good to know people are reading my posts. It's still early days yet, and there are lot's of things I would like to tweek and change, but for now I'm happy just to have somewhere to put down my ideas, have a rant, or a gloat and share all the good bit's! So...if you're reading this, thank you, you make my day!

x

Thomas Wold Design

(all images courtesy of Thomas Wold Design)

Master of the 're-purpose', Thomas Wold is a multi disciplinarian who creates the most beautiful and odd bespoke furniture. The top image is from a project he did for Ready Made magazine made entirely from found objects! Iv'e been seeing a bit of his stuff around recently (check out his sneak peek for Design Sponge here) so I thought I would share it with you!

Now I'm feeling all inspired to get the hack saw out and start 're-purposing' some of my own furniture, it just smacks of disaster waiting to happen doesn't it!

for mosaic sake

Is more than two a collection? If so, then this is my collection of vintage mosaic home wares. From top to bottom we have a trivet, a dish and a decorative wall plate. I'm rather fond of this little collection and am keenly awaiting the opportunity to expand its ranks! I once found a lovely pair of pastel mosaic lamp bases at Chapel St Bazaar, at $400 for the pair I was happy just to look at them, but I would love to find something like that again, a real statement piece!

I don't know much about the history of these items. I haven't been able to find any information on the web and there are no makers marks or signatures on the backs of the pieces. The large plate above did have a 'made in Italy' sticker on the back and I wonder if they weren't produced for the tourist market.

Do you know anything about this stuff? Let me know! 

some promises are very hard to keep.

I bought a new lounge suite on the weekend, one I've been eyeing off for almost two years! It's a big, long, low line, modular one with lot's of  cushions and room for the whole family to sink into and watch tv, read stories, feed babies and have tickle fights! I hadn't actually planned on a large scale purchase before we moved, but sometimes fate intervenes with a different plan. I say fate because my couch was not bought from the store where I have been ogling it online for the last two years, my new couch was bought from my local Salvo's in brand spankin' new condition with not a mark on it, for a tenth of the original $4000.00 price tag!!!!! Op shop score of the century, quite possibly.

The problem with this unplanned purchase was that Andrew is quite happy with our original couch and didn't really see a need for a new one, and so a deal was struck. In order to negate the cost of this unplanned acquisition I have promised to make absolutely no unnecessary purchases until after we have moved in mid June! Not a bunch of flowers, no books, no traipsing the shiny marble floors of some enormous shopping centre eating food court sushi and drinking smoothies, no clothes and the hardest of all, no op shops or markets, OUCH! Like I said, some promises are very hard to keep.

The thing is, I tend to post about the crap I find, it's part of the fun, sharing your good fortune with other people and comparing notes. So what now? maybe I will have to focus on the stuff I already have and just 'make do'!

at least I can console myself with the thought that when I can start shopping again, it will be in a whole new area, with lot's of new place to explore, op shops to find and markets to hunt in!

I Heart Pinny's!

Sarah from Red Gingham is hosting 'The Great Apron Swap', I love an apron (or ten) so I'm quite excited to take part. If you want to get a fancy apron made just for you and are up to the task of making one just for someone else, why don't you pop over to the Red Gingham blog and sign up! Be sure to get in before April 25th though, registration closes then!