A bolt from the vintage fabric blue...

Wow - what a work of art, to me. I have had this around me while I work for some weeks - I just love looking at it. I got a very old piece of cotton on this wooden bolt and couldn't help but capture it's age for all you vintage fabric lovers to enjoy. It originally had light-as-a-feather paper around the middle, but it just crumbled as I unwrapped the fabric, unfortunately...

I wish we still got divine fabric on pieces of art like this. It makes the fabric seem ever so much more loved, to me.

It's not the tallest or the longest...

Organisation is, indeed, key. I took this photo on a whim, have no idea why - sorry it's a little shabby. This is part of our vintage fabric storage...ahem...yes, a small part. One day I will show you it all...I'll have to warn you not to fall off your chair first, though. This is not the tallest or longest aisle! This is what I did last February when I went on a big declutter bender...and it's still sitting there...waiting...waiting...

Dating the fabric in your stash...

As I slow down I am hearing a little voice hint things to me. Simplify. Minimize. Pack up differently. So I am heeding these little messages and working with them. Even though the work room is now worse than it was two days ago it is also strangely better - there is a different light at the end of the tunnel and I just have to walk towards it.

I put up a part of a collection from a lady who dated her fabrics when she purchased them - either with a year, a cost or the actual receipt. The fabric above is one from her collection, purchased in 1970 from Woolworths for $2.85. It's a totes great idea to date when you purchase your fabric - that way your stash will have a story and a history...

The message is...

...simplify and minimize. Yep. That's what I am hearing.

Happy birthday little man...

Happy birthday sweet little man. Today you turned four. You got up at 4am and told us it was your birthday and you haven't stopped since petering out tonight at 8pm.You wanted lots of Smurf things and lots of Lego and lots of cars and tracks. You don't much care for the cake (never have), so that was the simple part of the day. But you loved getting the angry bird when we went out to dinner and loved all of your new trashies (The Trash Pack). More pressies and more family tomorrow, Mr Lucky One.

Most of all - we love you....

xxxx

Arrive alive

Sorry for today being a kind of serious post , but I was taking photos of this truck fabric today and all I could think about was all of the recent road fatalities that we've had here in Victoria - and so many of them seem to be young girls and boys. I am continuously saddened by this - it just seems to senseless to me...what a waste of exciting lives. I would be devastated at losing my boys in those circumstances. Now there is a move to teach driver education in our secondary schools - and I want to second that right here in the public domain. I used to be of the 'it won't happen to me' age group, too - and now that I am in the 'heck, it could happen to me - any day' I feel it's important to try and education these kids as much as possible about cars, traffic, weather and driver distraction - not to mention the drugs and alcohol that may be involved, too! There is education about drugs and booze - so why not driving? It can be just as dangerous...

*steps off soap box*
*thank you for reading*

A change for the better - or worse?

I have been quite the organic gal of late. Eating only grass fed lamb and beef, organic vegies, free range eggs and free range chicken. No seeds or legumes. Minimal fruit and nuts. It's a primal thing and it seems to be working well with my body. More movement. Less boring sitting. More life. More good fats, more protein, less junk and seeds and wheat my body can't seem to tolerate!

We are going through a strange Spring in these parts - it appears like Southern Australia is now tropical, whereas a generation ago it was dry heat. So now I am experiencing fierce winds and high humidity and rain and electrical storms when usually it's a mild 23 degrees and you can sit and read in peace. But everything is change, isn't it?

I am currently loving the organic strawberries I pick at a local strawberry farm and organic dark chocolate sweetened with agave. I am loving crisp salads and my roast pumpkin soup or turnip and cauliflower mash. We eat to the sounds of tropical thunderstorms, wearing Summer clothing and Birks, all the while wondering where 2011 went and how fast bloody Santa is coming.

But it's all good. Life is bloody good.

Have you got your tartan on? Heel, kick...heel, kick...

I am coming up for air. From constant Christmas orders (thank you, lovely customers!), new fabric arrivals (some day I will stop buying fabric, I am sure!) and this awful humid Spring, these current days are just...well...flying by in a silent whooossssssssshhhhhh. I am trying to make myself gear up for Christmas - very unsuccessfully, I may add - and think of presents for my own loved ones. Why is everything I want for them hideously expensive? I don't have expensive taste, that's for sure...so perhaps they do! Bah. Anyhoo, when I feel some fear coming on I'll have a look at these old oatmeal bags I have and the dancing duo never cease to cheer me up. Wouldn't you love to get your oatmeal mix in a bag as lively as this?

Checking in....

I decided to have a little fun on ebay yesterday and uploaded these lovely bolt ends for auction. Why, you ask...why oh why would you put those lovelies up on ebay, that monolith of corporation and greed??? I have no idea. I just wanted to have a little bit o' fun and I felt like doing it yesterday. Strange, I know.

In other fun news, I have given up wheat and legumes, processed sugar and basically processed food...it's all meat, fish, chicken, pork, eggs and vegies and fruit...as many organic and grass fed animals as possible. I am working on cutting the meat down, but the protein is great for my body, at the moment. And, man, I feel fantastic...absolutely fantastic. And in other fun news...we want to build out own BBQ and get off the grid for our eating. Big call, I know - but what a challenge. And we want more chickens so we don't have to get rid of the ol' loves that don't lay as much, anymore...after all, it's not their fault they are entering menopause. And we're attempting to train Syd the Whippet to be a fully trained dog. It's very interesting, but we have had small successes.He doesn't seem to be eating as much furniture anymore...thank the furniture gods...

And...

I am reading - and loving - the final Millenium trilogy book. Go Salander, I say.
I am doing exercise. Yes, I just choked, too.
I am studying nutrition...and, man, I am learning a lot.

That is all...just wanted to check in :)

xNess