Oops, I did it again

Yes. I spent money again. Working really hard, earning money and seeing my bank money grow a little resulted in me telling myself, oh you deserve it! And viola, a new pair of clogs! Oops.

Sorry wallet. But you see, these clogs were too beautiful to walk away from. Besides I have been eyeing on a pair for a while now and was researching online for the most affordable pair. I even checked ebay! Gosh. And the only ones I found that came in this style were the Swedish Hasbeens. They were beautiful but way too expensive for my liking. So I had to just dream...

Until yesterday, when I was randomly walking past this cute shop in Prahran and I saw you! You were calling out to me. And you were the only pair left and in MY SIZE too! Talk about affinity! I think we were made for each other. It was love at first sight so I ended up bringing you home. Even Darren thinks you're cute and doesn't mind my love affair with you. He's a good guy. He sure is. ( I think he might be ok with it cause he has his many pairs of shoes too. ) Anyway, there you go. My new pair of clogs.

I was taking photos this morning and realised how I'm such a shoe person. I have SO many pairs. And they're all nice ones. Pom Pom-my flowers, checkered, floral, vintage, leather, gingham, frenchy, chic... etc. So perhaps in the next day or two, I might introduce you to all my lovely shoes!

That's if you're interested!

Happy legs

Pauline, Lucy and myself modelling Monolog's super cool new skirts ( which double up as harem pants?! ), along with some funky tights. Indie will be having a big launch party at Harvest workroom this Friday! I am so excited to see what she has up her sleeves in terms of decking out the room. She told me she's painting the window?! Crazy woman. Crazy but aaaaamazingly talented! You should all come see what she has in store!

PS: Can you guess who's legs are whose?

New Yarn

My oh my. Look at how delicious this beautiful yarn is?! The lovely Kylie Gusset from Ms Gusset so generously gifted me this huge skein of hand-dyed, soft fluffy merino yarn last Friday while I was doing my first artist talk. I was so so beyond nervous that day and Kylie and her gift totally made me feel a whole lot better! I didn't even know Kylie was attending the talk. When she came up to me and said she had a present for me, I just went ' awwwwww! '. She's so cute! Thank you so super much Kylie!

Anyway, this yarn is seriously so nice and fluffy. I don't even like the colour purple! But this was so sweet, I instantly fell in love with it. I even gave it a colour way nickname - Sugarplum fairy! Well, it just reminds me of nice pixies and magic fairy dust. I think because I just wanted to make something perfect out of this delicious ball of yarn, I ended up unraveling my knitting close to 8 times! I even taught myself the old shale stitch and did quite a fair bit ( seen up there ) before deciding it wasn't perfect enough.

So after what seemed like 200 cast ons, I've settled on the basic but cute looking moss stitch. I'm teaching myself how to make a little ascot. Something like this one. But with a 'dead knot' instead of the loopy thingy. I'm not using any pattern and am just making it up as I go. Lots of logic and reasoning as I knit. I've even taught myself how to add and decrease stitches by experimenting. Hmmm. I'll show it when I'm done! So far, I'm about 30 % done. Still a while to go!

I hear from Kylie that she's currently restocking the shop with more fluffy goodness, so yes, do keep a look out and check out her little shop whenever. You never know, new woolies might just appear anytime now!

By the way, if you were wondering, the talk went well! I was so nervous and needed to pee so badly but it went ok. I was able to hold my pee till I finished my last sentence and I got used to the nervousness while speaking. I was shaking all the way though and lost my thoughts along the way. But I reckon it was ok for a first time! Thank you to everyone who came along and encouraged me along the way and of course, to the best ever Craft Victoria! You guys are awesome! x

Gruffalo Part 1!

Gruffalo home art class with Hugo! Week 1 last week and we spent an hour in the morning making a giant forest ( which will be added and filled with nice things each week ) and of course the clever mouse! Hugo had so much fun gluing what he called rocks. They were actually random grey felt pieces that I cut into circular shapes. He kept saying ' More rocks more rocks! '

He even drew a stream after that. Hahaha. He's a funny one!

Frida Khalo wannabes!

The kiddos from Do Re Me experimented with soft pastels and did their very own Frida Khalo-ish self portraits yesterday! Nice work guys! Self portraits are such a difficult thing to do. Especially when your'e a kid and you're learning all about those axis, lines and points on the face... I must admit, even I myself am not very good at doing one. I can teach others how to do one, help correct them along the way but no matter how hard I try, I just cannot do a realistic looking one of myself. Haha. Weird! I did one for the kids to see and they all thought it looked like me though. So well, maybe I'm just too hard on myself!

Next week, we'll be looking at Georgia O Keaffe's amazing floral pieces! I look forward to seeing what nice things the kids come up with!

Press

For those of you not living South side, I was featured in the local Port Phillip/ Caulfield Leader Newspaper! Ah. I miss teaching those grade 1s already. My time at St Michaels was probably one of those best things that has happened for me this year. If you've been reading my blog, you would have known that this year has been such a crazy roller coaster ride. You can read about my teaching adventures here, here and here. Thanks so much Allison, for scanning and sending me this!

Oh and the official countdown begins. In less than 30 hours, I will be doing my first artist talk ever. Thanks to Craft Victoria for this awesome opportunity. I will be at the museum tomorrow, and will be talking about my art and social media. I will be quite honest. I AM FREAKING OUT! I am so scared and am panicking, hoping I won't stutter or mince my words tomorrow. Less than a year ago, I was still in school, in a dark classroom with 5 of my other classmates. We were doing mock artist talks. And in my head I thought to myself, ah won't be doing any artist talk just yet, not for a while at least. I so wasn't paying attention and was just slacking around. Whoops! Like they say, you never know when's your turn really! Ah... Fingers crossed all goes well!

Harvest modelling

Not that I make a really convincing model. Oh definitely no! But when the super lovely Harvest ladies need an everyday normal person, oh yes, we all get roped in! Here are a few shots by clever Emma. It was so fun and hilarious posing for these shots. First up you have me tying a scarf and wearing a turban. Oh yes. For those extra fancy moroccan nights, a turban might be something you would want to wear? The fun-loving Indie from Monolog will teach you how to design, print and create your own versatile fabric! Imagine a piece of fabric that can be made into a big sling bag, a mini lunch bag, a scarf, a turban and a cushion cover. Woah. Talk about 5 in 1! Sign up for her class here!

Next, Harvest Textiles has just launched their new totem collection and lucky me, I got to cuddle and surround myself with all those cool squishy pillows. My favourite of the lot has definitely got to be their cloud cushion. Their in-house mini model's totally rocking it! Hmm... pillows anyone? I'm sure your couch will love you for introducing a new friend!

Maddie's 4th arty birthday party!

So another arty birthday party! This time it was Maddie's 4th birthday. It was cupcake-themed and we all did cute cupcakes, topped with lots of chocolate chips, strawberry sprinkles, buttons, bits and bobs. Mummy Michelle also ordered a lovely chocolate giant cupcake. Ah. Chocolate cake. My favourite! I think Maddie really loved her cupcake party. She kept telling me ' So many cupcakes!...I'm eating a lot of cake. Look at how big my tummy is now! ' And boy did she have lots of fun gluing and covering her entire cupcake with sequins and bits. Most of the kidlets were all excited about the eating bit. But Maddie, she was all quiet, on her own, walking around collecting more bits to stick onto her cupcake. Cute! All in all, it was a happy bright sunny day, with no tears, lots of laughter and sweet treats!

Happy birthday Maddie and thanks Michelle for inviting me over!

Harvest studio bits

Oh Harvest Workroom, you are seriously amazing. All your lovely makers, talented folks and pops of colour happening in all nooks and corners. Sure, to some others it might be mess. But I love it the way it is. Beautiful, colourful and exciting mess. So glad I'm part of this awesome space. Best studio ever!