break
warning: don't drop your really expensive SLR digital camera or it might break.
do, however go on a lovely holiday and take some pictures before you break it.
justin
india
david
mike laurence isobel and liar dice
trucking
one of my favourite things about pakistan is the transport. everything from cement lorries to taxis are hand painted in the most amazing designs and adorned with tassles and bells and a huge tiara shaped headboard on the front; also painted and tassled. beats eddie stobart hands down.
sisterhood
I am lucky to have two wonderful sisters who came to visit yesterday and eat all the biscuits I had made that morning. lovely to see you both - and your (noisy) daughters. the quilt that was left drenched in babybarf has washed clean you'll be amazed to hear.
look at this beautiful clock by maria kristofersson, found through bibbi forsman.
which reminds me. I am late. I am going to miss my flight.
bookworm
this weekend I attended a bookbinding course, run by lucy schofield and hilary judd. sadly I missed day one thanks to good old british airways, but day two more than made up for it. excellent teachers and lovely girls, hilary and lucy provided us with new knowledge (of the concertina, japanese and 4th century coptic kind), inspiration, endless cups of tea and the best homemade date and walnut / lemon curd cakes I have ever tasted. I can't wait to get me a bodkin and a bone folder and get making. guess what everyone's getting for christmas this year?
and whilst on the subject of books, yet again julia rothman has practically forced me to buy another. the big fish by aoi huber-kono and available from corraini is a distinctly japanese children's book with amazing line drawn illustrations and a bizarre story about a mysterious boat that threatens a bunch of island folk's fishing routine until a big storm arrives to make the fantasy boat disappear and life return to normal. whilst washing up a large empty(?) fish. I like it a lot.
local produce
been too busy sewing and growing to blog for a while...
blueberries are ripe (all 7 of them), gardener's delights just beginning and that's the first harvest of ulster chieftains of the year. yum.
locally produced t-shirt for kids from hug.
local shop for local people: rob ryan's new shop, ryantown opens this sunday.
thrift
one of my favourite passtimes is rummaging in charity shops. I seem to have amassed a small library of books, an entire wardrobe including a 1970s diane von furstenburg dress for £5, various pieces of furniture and about 120 cups and saucers. had I gone home to visit my parents yesterday I may have added to this stash, as it usually entails dragging my mum around the charity shops of cranleigh. it just so happens that chris evans' clumsy removal man took the wrong box of belongings to one of these very shops and I could have potentially secured a signed damien hirst spot painting for a handful of beans.
I will have to console myself with the slightly dampened joy of finding these three franciscan woodlore bowls from 1954 for $6 in phoenix last week. and maybe muse upon the idea design sponge posted about making lights from mason jars - a much cheaper option for our kitchen than the tom dixon beat and stout lights that I would have been able to afford if I had found that spot painting. (yes our kitchen has been finished for nearly a year and we still have bare bulbs hanging from the ceiling.) (and actually I would have had to phone up chris evans and give him his picture back.)
it seems I'm barely home before I have to leave again - josie I'll be posting this pattern for you from seattle tomorrow... let me know when you get it and we can have a transatlantic girly style wardrobe sew-off.
mr and mrs holland
sunday was a deliciously sunny day to celebrate the wedding of mr and mrs charles jeremy stjohn holland.
bride, groom and bridesmaids all looked stunning; great hair, great shoes, great frocks. roses, confetti, cupcakes, knickerbocker glories and bunting all added to the 1940s/50s feel to the day, topped off nicely with a guilty pleasures disco.
I love the confusion over charlie's middle name and I love that jenny keeps a tin of cat food in the fridge in case she meets a stray cat who might be feeling hungry.
congratulations guys, thank you, and have a rocking time in cuba (polka dot dress and cadillac, anyone?).
old vs new
the toughest thing about girly style wardrobe is the fact that it is all in japanese. when I bought this dressmaking book on one of my first trips to japan, I remember leafing through and thinking to myself 'cute dresses/looks pretty self explanatory/how hard can it be?' and then it sat on my bookshelf for a couple of years. when I recently added it to my pile of projects and finally opened the large pattern sheet in the back I nearly fell over. information overload. in japanese.
I love a logic problem and having navigated my way around the double-sided, multilineal, double-bed-sized sheet of nightmares, I traced pattern 'd' and cut it out of three linen tablecloths from the business class of a world favourite airline. it took less than an hour today to fathom out the instructions and make it:
I like it a lot and now I want to make everything in the book. but as I once advised a friend, it's important to finish the humongous pile of jobs that were once started in earnest before being unashamedly cast aside when something brighter and shinier came along. old versus new. It's like I'm dangling a (carrot) craft project in front of myself as a reward.
alternatively I could just treat myself to these wall hooks from salendro design, found through design sponge.
the zone
I'm back in the zone (the craft zone)...
bloomers to go with birthday dresses from McCall's M4755 (which I re-sized) and a shirt from Style 2380 (which I should have re-sized). Astrid says she remembers her mum wearing elasticated sleeves like that at dinner parties and having marks on her arms at the end of the evening where the elastic had nearly cut off the blood supply from her elbow down. I'm hoping to keep my hands in good working order and have kept the elastic pretty loose.
Incredible fisherman photographs from Corey Arnold, of the deadliest catch.
san francisco
two days break from the incessant rain in london. two days in san francisco equals enough time to ride the BART for the first time ever, wander round the shops of valencia/gough/market streets, and immerse myself in a book.
Valencia, home to little otsu and numerous thrift/vintage stores selling furniture, clothes and old crap.
Market, home to Flax art store and Rare Device where I found amongst many treasures the new edition of lines and shapes and a splendid exhibition by betsy walton.
Gough, home to Rose and Radish and tartine, my favourite french cafe for healthy omelette and buttery cake lunch.
Eat, pray, love, by Elizabeth Gilbert, recommended by Josie and commented on by many. I read the first section (Italy) in bed at 3am (jetlag); the second section (India) over lunch; the third section (Indonesia) in starbucks. The author, in her early thirties, takes her life and shakes it upside down, trying to find things she had lost, and throw out (or file) things she no longer needs. she made me laugh out loud and brought tears to my eyes. I loved the descriptions, "Before dawn the roosters for miles around announce how freaking cool it is to be roosters. ("We are ROOSTERS!" they holler. "We are the only ones who get to be ROOSTERS!")" and I loved the insight into another life that bears the odd parallel to my own.
next?
