Sunburn and serenity

The relentlessly sunny and warm weather continues. It could be described as pleasant beachgoing weather and the front veranda has been getting a proper workout. The chink of champagne flutes was heard.  The term 'clement' springs to mind. Ah, the serenity.

Yesterday, on one of our extended scavenges, I managed to get my nose sunburned - I was focussed on the 100 year old glazed oregon windows we'd found, apparently, and not on staying out of the sun. It was one of those cases where you had to sit on the things to stop other people grabbing them, even after they were paid for.

Luckily, I have hoarded some of the best anti-burn ointment ever, and by today, no remnant of red.  What is this magic cream, you ask?  I'd tell you but then I'd have to kill you.  It's been removed from sale for a couple of years now, but I made sure I kept a small stash.  When my son fell against the pot-belly stove at 3, I put it on his hand, no scar remains.  When my friend's son accidentally walked on some hot coals as a toddler, she put it on his feet, no trace of scarring.  When a teenager was badly sunburned - (Don't forget your sunblock - yes, Mum - riiiight )  I used it to almost instantaneously take away pain and redness and it worked. (I should point out that this was not just one tube of the stuff but many over many years, and that I did let them suffer with the sunburn for a wee while first, to remind them that I'm always right.)  

I don't know why it was removed from sale but I do know I don't have very much left and it's carefully stashed, because the stuff on sale now simply doesn't work nearly as well.  Perhaps it's like some glue I saw, which says on the pack that 'residents of California are warned that this product may cause cancer'.  Luckily, I don't live in California. And my nose won't peel.

And the Oregon windows?  We're thinking cabinet doors and picture frames.  In case you were wondering.

I suppose I should thank those who gave and were given electronic readers for Christmas, as there has been a solid flow of good secondhand books to gather.  I've tried to intersperse the shallower but gripping crime fiction with some mind-improving fare and have ranged from Krakatoa to LA to London just this week.  All grist for the front veranda and I've enjoyed my Christmas gift of the New Artisans.

The Christmas tree has been demolished and stashed in a suitcase.  Market wares have been reduced greatly in number and stashed away.  A bit of spring cleaning (better late than never) is in progress.
I've put away the winter clothes and installed the summer wardrobe within easy reach. I left some jumpers out because - well, I live here.  I'm an optimist but not a fool.

I've commenced experimenting with some new things and today's was a birdbath, made using a white glass platter, part of a light fitting, a metal bird and some metal rod.  It looks nice in the garden and so far seems to be doing the job.  Work on the trunk from Fremantle is scheduled, although not too much is really needed.  I have new Christmas gift drawing books to fill, projects to work on, fish to draw, charts to draw them on and jewellery to experiment with.

I have to go back to work on Wednesday.  Damn.  I don't have time for that.

Ransacked chic is the new new.

Well strictly speaking, old is the new new, but it's only 2 weeks till my main Xmas market, so my house is less a home than a loosely co-ordinated pile of - OMG.  If someone actually broke in they'd have an attack of deja vu or think it was Groundhog Day. I'm trying to sell myself on the 'ransacked chic' style of homemaking.  This was the last week for actual making (apart from a couple of special commissions I'm working on) so that now I can tidy up, price, display, record, package and pack.

Riiiight.
Note to self:  buy tomorrow - milk, eggs, self-discipline.

I did work on the trunk table I had planned - there was a bit of restorative work before the whole leg thing could happen.  I like the outcome. Not entirely sure I can part with it now.....I shall be strong. Annotate note to self: skip the eggs and double the self-discipline.

I did locate the kitchen bench and I'm pretty sure there is a kitchen table under there somewhere. Small patches of floor are emerging, slowly.

I still have some original drawings to frame and pack, and some Christmas cards to work on. Do I really need ALL those vintage items? 

It's going to be OK, because I made a list. It's a very long list and I only crossed 2 things off but there's a whole 2 weeks to go. I may have to resort to Plan B, which is really just Plan A with an element of panic.

I had my eyes tested and ordered new glasses this week.  I was about 6 months overdue, but still have the eyesight of a woman 3 weeks younger than me.  The nice man cleaned my existing glasses while I was there and wow - a new perspective - detail!  I've ordered nice new round frames, to replace my current round frames  (I'm obsessed with round frames).  They should be ready in a couple of days. I suspect I may be able to see dust I've been ignoring for quite a while...

Where did I leave that note?

 

Einstein said, amongst many other pithy things, that creativity is the residue of time wasted.  If that's so, then I've wasted a lot of time....I spent a long time today photographing things I've been making because it's that market time of year again.  There are a lot of things.

I open a drawer and  discover a little collection of things I've put aside...and completely forgotten about.  Kind of like Christmas, but every day.  Ridiculously, I panic every year that I won't have enough stuff.  I do, I promise you.  I have enough stuff.  Really.  Truckloads.

The house is really full about now, festooned with bright shiny vintage jewellery, stacked with framed drawings and prints, and all the vintage bits and bobs that I can bring myself to let go.  Some things, which I mean to take to a market, are harder to let go of than others.  A while ago, I found some 1930's Australian matchbox labels.  No worries, methinks, this would look nice in a little frame...and so it does.  A bit too nice - I propped it up to photograph it and it looks so good just there...damn.  Luckily, there were others.

Of course the cataloguing of work uncovers unfinished and intended projects - I have a collection of  pics of the girlchild since she was quite small, I mount them on 8"x8" blocks.  Some are more elaborate than others - handcoloured black and white pics, and so on.  They are testament to a child who wholeheartedly embraced the 'selfie' at a very young age. I finished these two today, to add to the wall.

Even worse, is the dreaded new and bright idea...I was working on something new at about one this morning - sleep is for the weak and the uninspired - or those who are not completely obsessed.

There's also the need to display items for sale - I have trunks of that stuff too.   I saw this on Friday and thought it would come in useful.  It was covered with butterfly stickers and needed some TLC but it's come up quite nicely.  I'll just put it with the others.

We also finally unloaded the big workbench I bought a couple of months ago.  It's big.  It's gorgeous.  I totally have no room for it.  The wood on the top is all hand cut and still has the marks of the saw. I love it.

I'll make room, somewhere.

The red leather skirt and the unexpected shortness of being a Sunday

If there is nothing so sweet as the Sunday of a long weekend, then there is definitely nothing so short as the weekend after a long weekend.

It's school holidays and the opshops mid week were full of parents who misread 'opshop' for 'playground for overly energetic and badly behaved children'.  It's very tiresome that they think its OK for the children to go completely feral while they browse at their leisure.  It was nice to see that my unhappy mummy scowl still works, even on those who aren't mine.    And here's a hint - if I (and everyone else) can smell your child's dirty nappy, it's a fair bet you can too.  Do something about it. Or everyone in the shop will talk about you when you leave - and it won't be in a nice way.

before...

and after.

The weekend 
went in fits and starts.  I decided to finish my daughter's chair on Friday.  This was one I picked up at the Denmark tipshop a few weeks ago, in good condition, just needed an upholstery update.  The red leather was once a skirt (not mine!), and the flannel plaid was destined for a quilt.  The remainder still is.

I sorted out my frames, with the intention of framing some drawings and prints, but experienced unplanned brain fade and a crisis of commitment somewhere between the sorting out and the actual framing.  This caused me to retire to the veranda with a cup of tea and a book for a while, while I recovered.

I finally succumbed to that long postponed imperative, and got out the jewellery making stuff.  So far I've put the components for different projects in glasses on the window ledge and had a jolly good play with colours and stones.  I've covered the kitchen table with jewellery bits and made some plans.  With one's aging eyesight, it's necessary to sort out the colours in daylight, as in the night light bad things can happen. The window ledge looks nice, though, as long as no-one needs a drink.

Hopefully, by next week I'll have some more new things to show you.

You know it's really been raining when ducks take refuge on next door's roof.

So much sunshine, so little weekend.  Quite a few things to show you this week.

You know it's been raining when the ducks take refuge on next door's roof.

 

I weeded garden bed #1 today, in preparation for planting.  I've hired a new lawn mower man, who managed to cut the lawns and trim the edges without making a huge mess or doing my head in. He seemed to grasp that the lawns are to be cut once a month and not whenever he's short of cash - the reason for the demise of the previous arrangement.  So far, so good. (Relative) garden normality has resumed.

Various outgoings this week: one of my fave fish drawings went to live in Tasmania, in an unexpected but pleasant symmetry.  Handed on some clothing to a friend for use or re-purpose, depending on her mood.  A glimpse of the spare bed, with less spare clothing storage.

I made some Mad Men-type necklaces - really a quick re-purpose of some vintage finds into a more wearable length.  I also found some finished pieces which I'd forgotten I had, while sorting out the 'in progress' drawer. I found a positive pile of sterling silver jewellery this week.  Some of it will no doubt surface later on this page.

I found, repaired and repainted a bookcase to match one I had - thus reducing the tottering tower of acquisitions. It wasn't a big job but not bad for 50 cents.

Before...

Sometimes I find something that just wins my heart, and this week it was a dear little hand carved rustic boat, and an old sieve, which I found in the rubbish pile outside a house where there was a garage sale.  One man's sieve is another woman's hanging shadow box.      I. Love. This.

There were a few other must-haves which arrived this week:  glass squirrel bowl, anyone? 

The room divider will be a work in progress, I suspect.  The girl child has already remarked that she would like it in white in her room.  It needs some TLC on the improvised hinges but otherwise is in good condition, if a little over-varnished. It goes to that vintage 60's/70's decorating theme.

 

But stop, what are these interesting round ceramic plates marked "Edison", I hear you ask?  I'm glad you noticed them.  They were the tops to Edison battery jars, and will make nice trivets.  There was also another old wooden crate, to go towards a larger crate construction in the planning and development stage.

I found a tin of wooden puzzle pieces, destined for re-purposing for jewellery and other things, and a friend who collects kitschy religious pics will just love this one in 3D.

Don't forget Father's Day is fast approaching and you can find my original art for sale here.

How to knit a shotgun from a crucifix and other useful skills.

                                A big week, a big weekend and an even bigger weekend next weekend.  I really don't know how I keep up.  The annual mouse cull is proceeding apace - it's them or me, they're really pushy. Luckily, I'm an experienced hunter.

Anzac Day on Wednesday, a day off on Thursday (puppy-sitting) and a day of op shop trawling on Friday.  After 3 op shops I had only a DVD to show - Constantine with Keanu Reeves. I'm not a huge fan of young Keanu,but any comic-based demon hunter who carries a shotgun made from a crucifix is worth a couple of hours of my time, and coming up to winter I can watch it while knitting.  Slightly ironic - knitting and demon hunting.  Who thought those two terms would be used in the same sentence? But I digress...

Things were looking pretty darn grim till, virtually empty handed, we got to the last oppie - where lots of goodies leapt into my $5-a-basket.  A lion's head (I already have a paw, it seemed appropriate), the cutest 50's/60's 'made in Japan' doll, a stack of good books, a Mela Purdie top - gotta love a good sale.

 

Saturday morning dawned cool and misty.  Well, actually it dawned quite clear but by garage sale time the drizzle had commenced.  That's not a bad thing, as it keeps the crowds down.  

At the first sale of the day I found something I've been looking everywhere for - a metal locker for the back veranda.  And this one is not only in really good condition, someone had already put nice shelves into it.  Those who have visited regularly may know that I am something of a packrat and I need to be able to stash some collections.  To celebrate the incoming, this morning I removed a very tatty old set of shelves, broke them up with the axe, and put them on the firewood pile (see above reference to oncoming winter.)

This a) made space for the locker and

     b) was kind of fun, in a violent recycling sort of way.

We proceeded to a fete at the Lions' Daycare Centre - where instead of designated parking for motor bikes, they have parking for mobility scooters, with the cutest little spray painted icons.

There were some brilliant recycled frames, lots of great books, all sorts of good stuff and the prices were great.  Note to fete goers:  it's NOT good manners to scrabble between other shoppers' feet as they are shopping.  You risk serious injury to your fingers and possible social embarrassment.  Note to fete givers: PLEASE don't put books on the floor, under tables.  People get crazy. 

In between, I've been busy preparing for the Mother's Day market at the Vancouver Arts Centre in Albany next weekend.  I've put jewellery on display boards, priced, packed, and even given some thought to stall setup.  Not many sleeps now.

Dr Who, Mummies and how Lucy took over.

The arrival of little Lucy in our midst has caused all about her to go 'ooooh'.  She's my daughter's first puppy, she has attitude and is very, very cute.  Even Obie seems quite taken with her and is teaching her how to play puppy-style.  Lots of growling and chasing and batting.  Lucy's busy re-arranging everyone around her and will be running things with an iron paw before very long.  We made her new bed from a re-used wrought iron something - it's been here for ages without it's origin being clear.  Now it's a puppy bed.

 

This weekend I found one of the things I have been looking for forever, just hanging there on a hook at a garage sale.  As someone at the sale said, "Are you my Mummy?"  For non-Dr Who tragics, a vintage gas mask.  I turned it over expecting to see an outrageously high price, and was so excited to find it not only within my price range but an absolute steal.

Some other little treasures, all in a lovely old pine crate.

 

Some Saturdays it's worth turning up in the cold and the drizzle.

With Mothers' Day coming up I've been finishing off some little projects, and getting ready for the Market at the Vancouver Arts Centre.    As always, more than is needed, I've packed up some more brooches and pins, and I'll do the pendants and necklaces this week.  This Toybox is finally complete.

  And I almost forgot - new power tools, new table.  Once a tatty bit of wood on the verge, now a coffee table with vintage iron legs.

It's been a while since I've had a chance to make it to the local tip shop, and a quick visit this weekend was less than productive.  But a short and unexpected outbreak of sunshine and a spare minute to record the graveyard of gas bottles let me record something I've meant to for ages.  I'll come back to them sometime, I'm sure.