Oh Sunday, my friend

To celebrate the Sundayness of today, the sun, the lack of wind, rain and cold, I arose at the crack of 9am, having dragged my breakfast back to my cave and spent some quality time with Michael Connelly and a view of the mirror-like harbour. 

With no specific plan for the day, I started with some of yesterday's random purchases.  My workspace at home has been completely out of control, and some drawers found yesterday at a garage sale needed a quick facelift but were exactly the right size to sit on top of a wooden box which has been sitting outside the back door since it came home on a long ago Saturday.  A bit of sorting, a teeny bit of throwing out - you know my policy on such things- and its all looking terribly organised.  I even finished off a couple of unearthed projects as they surfaced.









 Buoyed by this success, I finally finished off a funny little cupboard - although I'm not wholly happy and will change the fish trim at some stage- which has gone to live on top of the fridge.




There was spare time for washing and for a tricky fish jigsaw, a bit more reading in the sun.  I also finally dragged a chunky wooden 'planter' which I bought at a garage sale indoors and transformed it into a bookshelf by laying it on it's side and stuffing books in it. ( I grabbed a book on Thursday morning and almost died in the avalanche. Something had to be done.)

That big flat thing will be the floor, then.  I am a domestic archaeologist.

I found an old and quite manky cushion at the op-shop on Friday, but I loved the design.  When I took it apart it was handmade tapestry, on vintage linen, and intact but grubby.  It was backed with a pretty little brocade, unfortunately with two holes.  Luckily, the piece was big enough to turn around and so after hand washing, re-blocking, and reconstruction, it's come up beautifully.  There's something special about saving something that someone has put so much energy and care into.  Just what I needed, another cushion.    
I keep thinking I should have a garage sale, but I can't find anything I really want to get rid of.

Post modern modern - Old is the new new yet again

Who knew, when all those record shops closed, and all the people selling records at markets finally gave up and switched to flogging cd's and dvd's, that retro would bring back vinyl?  My pathological aversion to letting go has once again paid off in spades as I have dug out the hi-fi gear, dusted it off ( and I do mean that quite literally) and excavated the record collection.  I note, in passing, that spending the extra way back when and getting the top of the range paid off.  O ye - who pointed out that Throbbing Gristle (a grunge band before grunge was even a genre) were wasted on electrostatic headphones - of little faith.  True, I gave away the TG album, which did indeed sound as though it was recorded on their manager's dictaphone from the back of a gig, to a friend for his 40th birthday, but I still have the headphones. (He was thrilled, by the way, with the gift.)

I can tell that you're dying to know - the single from the album in question was 'Discipline'.  I'd quote some lyrics but it's true, they were a bit indecipherable and haven't made it through the filter of almost 30 years.

Some unexpected treasures this weekend - some glorious 60's/70's fabric - John Kaldor and what looks very marimekko-like barkcloth in stunning black, white and grey. Some interesting satin-y fabric, intended for a quilted throw. Some glasses (for the eyes, madam, for the eyes).  Some interesting wooden boxes, jewellery bits.  A metal starburst black metal and brass clock - I know its 70's, because its engraved.  A funny little mirror. Some small picture frames.  This and that.  A walk on the beach, a Denmark pie.  3 local avocados for $2.   And a bucket of brilliant beach detritus, including a fabulous delicate dried seahorse.

I'm still busy knitting beanies, sometimes from the warmth of my electrically blanketed nest.  News this week, though, that a friend literally quite physically bumped into Johnny Depp last week, in London - six degrees of separation dramatically reduced.  I'm led to believe that when her ability to speak coherently returns she will have quite a lot to say.

What is it with men and maps??

A friend got in touch last week.  Haven't caught up for oh, 30 years.  He's travelling about and passing through and we thought it would be nice to catch up, do dinner, compare child horror stories, exchange 'whatever happened to...?' information, and so on and so forth.  I began to get nervous when he mentioned that he was catching the train.  We have no rail service.  I asked a few pertinent questions - did you mean to type 'plane'?  He assured me he had counted the wheels and there were far too many for a plane.  Be there soon. About 3 hours later - to quote him - the penny dropped.  Yup - wrong town.

My permanent acquisition program has been slowed by inclement weather (even for me!), a bit of a head cold (now passed), and lack of funds (post-holiday). I've spent some time sorting through more holiday finds and have included a couple of the fabulous and quirky vintage postcards and photos which seemed to just jump into my hand.
 

I also spent some time mounting prints of some of my original drawings, for listing in my Etsy shop.  I must admit that selling drawings is a bit like selling your children...and far more personal than selling jewellery. Strangely, the same images on a card are not so personal, and I will be making up some cards and postcards in the next few weeks.

 
I also found a copy of the 1965 'Red Book" for cars in an antique shop in Ulverstone, in Tasmania - along with  oh-so-many picture frames, which totally had to be left behind, to my pretty much eternal regret.  With it, I bought some 1920's and 30's copies of my high school magazine, one of which has an uncle of mine on the staff and contributing articles.  This stuff is really, really going to annoy my children one day.   

The cooler weather has re-awakened the urge to knit, luckily I maintain a stash of yarn for just such emergencies.  I revisited Ravelry for inspiration and downloaded some truly wicked hat patterns for free. If the dearth of truly interesting hats continues I may have to go back to making them- now where were all those hat blocks?

The winter of our warm content....

Back at home, back at work.  Cold, wet, cold, cold cold.

I gave in, after many a year. I weakened and bought an electric blanket.  O, so snuggly warm when the wind is howling and the rain is pouring - and I do mean pouring. How did I manage without it?  My next challenge will be to drag myself from the warmth and face the working week - tomorrow morning.
The rain did put a damper on the garage sales for the weekend, and the end of financial year meant that my opshopping partner was delayed.  Really the only score for the weekend was a vintage steamer trunk, snatched from a garage sale after 1pm on Sunday and dragged back to my lair to join its cousins.

With my travels a dimming memory, I did think I would share a couple of the trinkets I bought for myself along the way - a lucky cicada from the 50's/60's, lucite with just a touch of silver, and a glorious bug-on-a-bar brooch in sterling silver.















 I have finally bitten the bullet and opened an Etsy shop:   at http://www.etsy.com/shop/travellingbeautifull

Here are a couple of the things which are presently listed.


I have listed a few pieces and will be listing more as time goes on.