Entertainment

Just home from taking the girls to see one of my all time favourite stories.

I loved the 1970's version a whole lot and was very excited at the prospect of seeing this years adaptation, with the added bonus of it being in 3D.

NOT disappointed one little bit!
It still made me laugh & cry with the addition of some gasping & jumping, due entirely to the outstanding special effects - I found during the flying scenes that if I focused just ahead of the characters, instead of on them, it was as if I was flying with my heart in my mouth the whole time!
They had the trailers for Alice which I hadn't thought I'd be as keen to see - that was until I experienced the excerpts today with the 3D glasses on!
WOW!
Then I find out that they've made a Toy Story 3 in 3D!
Needless to say my newly acquired border-line stylish 3D glasses are securely stashed.

A note to those that think I'm one of those that races out the moment a new movie is released regardless of the content - I'm one who is quite happy to watch a newly released movie 2yrs after its release date on dvd in the comfort of my own home - especially Disney movies! I object to sharing confined space with chip crunching objectionable children having just forked out the equivalent amount as could have been a part payment on a really nice pair of shoes only to sit in an extremely uncomfortable chair while chastising myself for being stupid enough to do it again!
I'm pleased & relieved that none of those thoughts crossed my mind today and I'm confident they wont for the others I've mentioned.

One out of the box!

I found her this morning at 6am making her own lunch (not the first time)

Having wrapped her sandwich in paper she'd secured it with sewing thread because she couldn't find any cellotape (I've never used either!)

To those that know her and that have been touched by her I know you will understand.

My friends are TOO cute!

Kylie in her newly fashioned Wasamba costume looking like a funky flapper fairy wench!

We baby-sat Millie while Kylie took part in the Pride Parade which if you click here you'll see Kylie in action- she's the one spinning at the end!

Morning Walk

'Fashion Textile Expert'

(click here for larger image)

I laughed when I read 'textile fashion expert' - thankyou Sue & Margaret, maybe now my girls wont question my authority next time I tell them they're not going out dressed like that!
This is a huge new adventure!
The talks I've done before, however never to this scale - every half hour for 5hrs over 3days and to a potential audience of thousands!

Making

Someone is teaching me how to make jewellery every Monday for the next 9wks and

after my first 3hr lesson I have decided I DON'T want to be a Jeweller!

I have in my mind a specific something I would like to use in my creations so doing this course I hope will be a means to an end.
If nothing else it will be good for my fine motor skills 'cause it turns out I'm the 'truck driver' of jewellers, breaking more saw blades than the rest of the class put together!

Last day...

of the school holidays was yesterday so a few of us met at the beach for a catch-up.

(kids looking toward Africa from Woodies Point)

Over the weekend I managed to finish the gate.
It was an old screen door (the bottom section which I sawed off) that Reb and I rescued from the local 'throw-out-ya-dead'.
It was the w'end we were heading off to our lunch & workshop commitments when we spied it in a pile on the side of the road so with one either end of this thing we lugged it back to the car - I'm sure we looked as stupid as we felt.
At the time I had no idea what I was going to with it, just that it was too good an opportunity to pass up. I said to Reb as we're hunched over, driving home to hurriedly drop it off, "I bet Dan's going to say, WTF do you want with a door" - he rarely lets me down!

I also fenced off another little vege garden as it gets great morning sun and the dog has recently decided this particular part of the garden is a favourite place to lie and watch the world go by.

So along with happy, productive chickens the Mulberry Tree is dripping fruitand soon we'll have Strawberries

and a proliferation of tomatoes

along with Rainbow Chard, Snow Peas (if whatever's gnawing them will stop), Lettuces, Beetroot, Cucumbers and Capsicum - yum, yum!

~oooOooo~

An up-date on the fence and gates.
As you can see all has been replaced

Looks a bit like the entrance to 'Fred Flintstone World' - come in, the dog wont bite!
Yay - my Red-flowering Gum survived!

Jump back on!

I fell off the blogging wagon for a bit however I've jumped back on!

Seems my time hasn't been my own more than ever lately and life just got in the way.

• The school holidays were for the most part spent going insane as I tried to make an imovie of Stellas end of term school play - happy to say it's done and I'm pleased with the result.
• I've almost finished the gate for the vege garden - one more trip to Bunnings!
• Sewed for and shopped with friends.
• Conducted workshops and talked about talks.
  

Ummm what else...oh yeah I made this top yesterday.
It was a piece of suiting fabric which I cut in half, printed on (first time) and then manipulated with darts and folds into this wrap Apron Top. The printing thing is new to me and I'm very excited about the prospect of printing doilies on everything!

Family is away for a few days so going to make the most of my free time making stuff!

Nuturing Creativity

I'm always amazed at what comes back when I put it out there.

From lusting after a certain expensive designer labeled dressing gown then finding a better one in an Op-shop, to trying to figure out the meaning of (my) life when Elizabeth Gilbert pops up - YAY for blogging!

Her insightful interpretation of the creative mind & its processes is (in my opinion) definately worth the 20mins. it takes to listen.

A sustainable weekend

Reb rang to remind me that the Sustainability Fiesta was on this weekend so Stella and I headed over to Sth Freo for a look.

So glad we did!
I'm not a fan of wandering around markets for the sake of something to do - they're soooooo boring! This one wasn't - it was all about community and what can be achieved when people rally for the common good. In this case sustainability was the catch cry.

It wasn't all talk either as the whole street was participating in a variety of events from the kid 'singing' his neck massages for $1.50 to residents selling their pre-loved treasure, along with the bloke selling his wifes range of organic skin care to a bevy of locals preparing organic hotdogs & homemade lemonade. There were those set up under the side walk trees talking about sustainability on a small scale, with a lady showing off her personal worm farm & another the life cycle of chickens, to a forum under the marquee discussing how to change the world! All presented in a friendly hands on sort of way.
The sense of community was made all the more evident by the generosity of the Hulbert Street residents who opened their homes, studios & gardens for all to wander through!

Stella had visited the Sustainable House last week on a school excursion so was bursting to show me through - they should hire her as a guide!We were excited to get home to start planting our vege garden. So far we've planted strawberries, lettuces, TOMATOES, cucumbers and flowers, which with this rain & the promise of spring will be flourishing in no time.
It's not finished however I've used up all the usable garden-bed-making-trash around the yard and with the cost of 2 trailer loads of soil & mulch the rest will have to wait.

The most important part of the whole vege garden building process was always going to be moving the red gate that leads into the chicken pen. I'm not going to give you a blow by blow run down on how I managed it all I will say is that a power drill is better than an electric one!

All in all a very rewarding weekend.

Now I've go a shit load of sewing to get on with!