:: Quotation

And she was so simply his love, his girl, watching him approach as if she were memorizing him and his walk and those flowers and this moment, and he wanted to ask her what sound a heart made when it broke from pleasure, when just the sight of someone filled you the way food, blood, and air never could, when you felt as if you’d been born for only one moment, and this, for whatever reason, was it.

Dennis Lehane, Shutter Island

friday link love

via

Possibly the cutest kids birthday invitation ever

A lovely list of lists to write. This list of lists made it onto my list.

A great idea for buying and selling fabric scraps

painting monster rocks and hiding them to inspire children's creative writing

Like to create? Join a crafty hottie challenge

Amazing photos looking into the past on everyday streets

Have you seen these 'Like' and 'Dislike' stamps?

Get great deals on etsy loveliness every day


Happy Friday x


(ps. I did a guest interview on The Creative Beast blog today! Yay!)

today

:: Quotation

(via)

I believe in kindness. also in mischief. also in singing, especially when singing is not necessarily prescribed.

mary oliver



(I collect quotes, I love to read them; they make me laugh, expand my thoughts and inspire me. I'd like to share some of my favourites. Post a quote that makes you smile, or cry, or see the world differently, got you through a hard time, or something funny your friend said last week. Pop in your link below. That would be lovely. )

new stockists! Georgie Love, Breathing Colours Gallery, Meet Me at Mikes

You can now find Pepper Stitches at Georgie Love, an online store of handmade pleasures. There are lots of lovely things there, really truly. Be warned, your morning might slip away while you peek at the shelves.

You can also find Pepper Stitches at Breathing Colours Gallery (top photo) @ 446 Darling St, Balmain, Sydney 2041, and some bearded folk men dolls have made their way to the Meet Me At Mikes shop @ 63 Brunswick St, Fitzroy Melbourne 3065.

Meanwhile, it is a misty cool morning, and I'm going to go make some more tea and start sewing some teddy bear super-hero capes. I might listen to the Audreys.

Happy Monday everyone!

Hooray! Pepper Stitches Patterns!

Oh it is just so very exciting. Now you can make your very own Antler Boy or Girl, Woodland Fox, Soft Giraffe or Telephone Animal (bunny, mouse, bear or squirrel)!

All patterns are PDF files and $8.50 in my etsy, madeit and bluecaravan shops.

A giant thank you to the crafty peeps who tested these patterns before the launch, and gave me excellent feedback. Sophie (*shinelittlelight), Thouraya (Amelie & Atticus), Karen (Weathergirl and Me), Bek (Red Chocolate) and Natacha (PiouPiou Kids).

I couldn't have done it without you. You rock.

share the love! and gift voucher giveaway

do you have a photo of you and your Pepper Stitches? I am looking for photos of you, or your loved one or kidlet with a Pepper Stitches plushie, toy or cushion for my online 'share the love!' album.

Email pepperstitches@yahoo.com with your pic and I will be super happy, plus you'll enter the draw for a $30 Pepper Stitches gift voucher to any of my online stores!

Hooray!

(ps. be sure to 'like' the Pepper Stitches facebook page and I will tag your photo too)

make do and.. spend?

via

So I was in a shopping centre yesterday, and I walked past a Sportsgirl store with a giant poster in the window. As they do. This proclaimed in big letters MAKE DO AND MEND, with some suitably young model types holding wool and looking, well, young and crafty and model-ly, surrounded by crochet blankets and other suitably handmadenessy stuff.

Which made me stop in my tracks, and stand there, a little confused. Isn't it the antithesis to use that phrase as a marketing campaign? It's like punk being fashionable; it's the polar opposite of what the whole thing was about.

'Make do and mend' came about during war rationing and having a whole lotta less. It’s about using what you have, learning skills to make things, going without, mending where you can. Not about consumerist spending on fashion clothing and accessories. Not at all, actually. This is not even handmade or ethical clothing, but mass-produced pieces made in large quantities in overseas factories with dubious labour practices.

After I was confused, I felt a bit affronted. Sportsgirl have no interest in making do or mending, they want to sell more stuff, and think they can target a new market with crochet hooks and buttons. How dare they offer up with a price tag the very thing that generations of students and artists have pieced together with their own hands, wits, skills; and generations of householders and struggling mothers before them. Making the best of what you have, using traditional skills to provide for your family, using your own ingenuity; now on sale.

It makes me cranky.

(ps. some peeps in the interwebs seem to think it's a good thing, and others think it not-so-good. If it is making more people learn to knit, is it ok then? What do you think?)

::Quotation

The most important thing is to create; nothing else matters, creation is all.

Pablo Picasso

(I collect quotes, I love to read them; they make me laugh, expand my thoughts and inspire me. I'd like to share some of my favourites. Post a quote that makes you smile, or cry, or see the world differently, got you through a hard time, or something funny your friend said last week. That would be lovely. )

hello there

I haven't said hello in a while. Not properly. Hi. How are you? What's been going on? I've had lots going on. I moved house, and set up my new studio, and have spent lots of time arranging things and exploring my suburb and visiting my family who are now just-next-door it feels like. I have been planning and pondering and I have been finishing some orders and working on patterns and such, too.

What have you been doing? I missed you, I haven't had time to read blogs and chat much. I will try to do it more, now. I'm a bit nervous about making new friends. I know I will, but feels just a little like starting a new school. I have so much I want to do, I keep turning around in circles. But here I am. It felt so far away, but it came so fast, at the end.

Thanks for sticking around. It's only getting more exciting, from here.

my week in (black and white) pictures

my niece Elsa had her first birthday party, in the park with balloons and cake and a bbq too

possums came into the kitchen overnight and left half eaten apples strewn across the floor

my family came over for mothers day dinner and the kids watched movies in my room. It was the first time everyone has been to my house, ever. It was lovely.

more folk men, I do love them so.

I bought a dictionary and learnt new words on the train like quasar and obsequious; and found old favourites like piffle and canoodle.

Plus I went to my first Brisbane Brown Owls meeting (Samantha taught me to crochet, and I met Stacey and Julie too.) I was a bit nervous and possibly talked too much, and completely forgot to take a photo, but had a lovely time!

hope you had a great week too x

my creative space- grrantlers

I received an email this week requesting a grrantler- the little fellows snuck out while I wasn't looking and visited a style website on the other side of the world. Sneaky.

I'm working on the next generation now, but can't help but change them. I'm thinking waistcoats with shiny buttons. Perhaps a bow tie?

see more creative spaces here

made my morning

OH! I think perhaps I am a visual person; I already love this song; but add those amazing little bubbles (simple but oh-so-effective) and I am entranced. Watch it, do.

Thanks Quincy!

:: Quotation

"The indispensible first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want."

Ben Stein

etsy love- hello house

home sweet home poster, hello recycled wooden sign, little polka dot house, mobile homes, passport cover little houses, big wood pin brooch house in the suburbs, howdy greeting sign, sweet vintage floral cushion

I am busy meeting my new house but I will introduce you soon (I know you'll like each other) and be back to regular posting faster than you can say snippetty-boo!

my week in pictures

I hope you had a good week x