Thank you Ireland

I've always been much better with email than postcards while away but on our trip I decided to give postcards one last chance. I was very dedicated: buying postcards in each city, writing on them during train trips and storing them safely until I had a chance to get to a post office. Unfortunately I never got as far as the post office and half way through the trip I lost all the postcards I had written on, I'm still unsure if I left them on a train, in a hostel or at some random city site.
You can imagine my surprise when a month after we flew home (2 months after losing the postcards!) people started thanking me for their postcard. I immediately assumed I had some sort of memory lapse and actually did enter a post office although I had no recollection of doing so. After racking my brain I had to see one of these postcards for myself to be sure. It turns out my memory was fine, each postcard was sent from Ireland, a country we didn't visit. So, whoever you are out there thank you for finding my postcards and taking the time to send them.

Back to the light

Yeah, I know it's been a while but all with good reason. We've been home for a month now and it's taken me that long to get back into the swing of things. I'm still adjusting to the light back in Brisbane - up at 5am and by midday it's so bright my eyes burn.

I have so many things to write about so expect sporadic posts here and there over the next few months about what inspired me the most of the 17 cities we visited (the thought of that still freaks me out). I continued to write every day of the trip, just not on the blog. Here's the final run down of our itinerary:

Singapore
Frankfurt
Kassel for Documenta 12
Berlin
Munich for Oktoberfest

Vienna

Budapest

Bucharest

Istanbul for Istanbul Biennale

Athens for the first Athens Biennale

Rome

Venice for Venice Biennale

Nice

Barcelona

Paris

Amsterdam

Rotterdam

Frankfurt

Singapore

...and home. Documenta and the Biennales were really inspiring but more about that later when I collate my list of visual highlights. With the weight of the exhibition catalogues the only thing I don't miss now is my beast of a backpack.

I should be ...

I should be packing my bag for Europe ...

but I can't stop playing with my new camera

I should be paying a pile of bills ...

but I'd rather anticipate fabric stores like Nunoya in Barcelona

I should be cleaning the house to make life easier for when we get back ...

but at least I finished the cover for my sketchbook. Now I'm definitely ready to go.

Following Up

In my last post I said I would give a more detailed description of Ruby Doll's home and accompanying book. She lives in the front pocket of this library bag.

Once at the library she likes to sit back and read her book, it's filled with stories about tulips, cats chasing fish, and ducks.



Ruby Doll is very excited about reading lots of stories with her new Mum on 21 September.

On the travel front I'm treating myself to a new camera this afternoon so we can all enjoy better images and videos with sound! I'm so pleased with my decision to finally bite the bullet and get one.

Much of a muchness

After much deliberation I finally decided on these books for my travel reading. I think it's a pretty good selection and maybe I can trade them with other backpackers for their books when I'm done with them.

The Lonely Planet also received a bit of a make over last night, hopefully this will make us look a little less like tourists when we need to whip it out. Oh yeah, it's previous life was as 2 placemats.

And I'm finally getting there with the pre-sewing madness for the birthdays while I'm away.

This is Ruby Doll and you can whip her up in no time using the pattern at http://oneredrobin.com/

I had to add a skirt because she was looking a little too bulbous around the hip region. And because she's going to a bookworm she has her own little book to read which also doubles up as a brooch (details in the next blog entry). She'll have a home in the front pocket of a library bag but more about that later too.

Days are flying by ...

Tonight was all about choosing fabric for a sketchbook cover

Drafting the pattern

and wondering if I have the patience to attempt this (from knitting daily)

Four sleeps to go ...

Counting down the days ...

It's now 10 sleeps till we leave and it couldn't come sooner. I'll be pumping the creations out over the next week.

Have you been to Wee Wonderfuls? If not, you must! It has great patterns for making gifts for wee people as well as gorgeous embroidery kits. These butterflies were made using the new hand sewing for fun patterns. Yes, it was fun and super quick.


I often feel an urge to make little changes as I go along, that's why they have little smiles. Oh yeah, and their heads are sewn on sideways.

When I get back I'm planning on ordering a kit for the kushu kushu scarf from habu. I originally saw it on Kirsten's blog. It only took her 2 weeks to knit up. The rate I go with knitting projects it could take longer but it would so be worth it!

Why are pirates pirates?

Cos they arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr


Yeah, I know it's a lame joke but it's in the spirit of the most recent gift I gave which was a pirate doll James and I collaborated on for his nephew for his naming ceremony. The pattern's inspired by Claire Garland's Toys to Sew.


It's 2 weeks today before we leave for Europe. I have 3 sewing projects on the go. Just finished cutting the fabric for all of them. You see, one of the problems with planning a big trip is that you also have to plan the presents for birthdays while you're away so there's been a crazy mad dash to create as much as possible in a very short period of time. And no, I'm not thinking about the one month count down to christmas when I get back. It will all be worth it though.

It's the first day of Spring today in Australia so I'm leaving you with this image of a hibiscus flower in the bottom of a freshly poured glass of champagne from a recent celebration.

Just hanging out

Cats, originally uploaded by edwardandlilly.

It's been a busy week planning our trip and catching up with family and friends before we head off. Only 3 weeks today till we leave. I believe I'm at the awareness/shock stage now where I've realised in 3 weeks time I'm going to have a 2 month holiday. I think the next stage is panic/chaos but it will be worth it.

So, before I go there are a number of projects I need to finish off including gifts for birthdays that fall during the time we are away, a book cover for our lonely planet so we don't look completely like tourists, a scarf for James and a knitted headband on order. Could be tight.

This week was an online extravaganza. I joined Indiepublic which is the best creative answer to My Space ever and Facebook where I caught up with some old friends.

These little felt kitties were made for Leila and Ava so they had a present to open on Chloe's birthday. Both kitties received kisses and a day out at Movie World. The pattern is from Craft Issue #3.

Chloe Apron and Miss Buttons

I've been working so much lately and finally had a weekend off so I finished an apron for my niece Chloe for her 4th birthday.
The details are really cute and she just planted her first camellia so I think she'll like the garden theme.





When I was in Melbourne in April I came across the Miss Buttons pattern http://sewyourown.com.au/patternskits.aspx
It is the easiest soft toy ever to make so I whipped one up with the scraps from Chloe's apron so she'd have a little friend to cook and garden with.





It's just over 4 weeks till we leave for our 2 month escape to Europe. I have loads of things that need to be designed, sewn, knitted etc before we go so I'll be moving along quickly over the next month.

One final thing to share is this flickr group http://www.flickr.com/groups/embroideredstuff/ Be warned though, it has the potential to consume hours of time ...