production line

as mentioned in my last post i've been busy working on my first line of stuffed animals, mostly bears. here are some lined up ready for their faces. they're based on this dog i made back in march for little A. i'm hoping to have them finished in the next week but we'll see how things pan out.

please excuse me

i know it's been a while since i touched base but a little thing called my 30th got in the way for the month of april. the theme of the event was hollywood and there will be photos up on my flickr of the extravaganza shortly. in the meantime here is a costume detail from my attempt at tippy hendry from alfred hitchcock's the birds. they're looking a little exhausted after spending a crazy night pinned to me.


and some shots taken by J the next morning of the brisbane skyline mid-autumn.



i'm very busy sewing my first range of children's toys at the moment but more about that later.

what happens when you give a 3 year old a camera

i like watching kids draw. they have no inhibitions about what they're doing. it doesn't matter what it looks like. it's simply their take on the world. i love the way their drawings look totally abstract to me but make perfect sense to them. that's what i love about these photos taken by my niece. a record of how she saw the world that day in the park. total abandon for how a photo 'should look'. it inspires me. i'd love to get back to that creative state of mind again.

vienna

the lonely planet describes vienna as the "wedding cake of europe". the thought of that makes me cringe, it really doesn't do this breathtaking city justice.










next time you're in vienna spare an hour for the butterfly house, it's divine and the tranquil surroundings are a very relaxing way to end the day.

random musings

i went to the launch of the queensland festival of photography last night and opening of the annie hogan exhibition at mob. the exhibition is quite good although some of it is poorly framed, not so good for photographic work.

we went antique shopping on the weekend and mum bought me this gorgeous cabinet for my birthday later in the month. i love it so much and it has solved some of the major storage issues at our place.


her birthday is 2 days before mine so i've made her these cushions for her couch. they'll look much better at her place, for one thing her cushions are bigger so they won't look all floppy like they do on my little cushions and her couch is a beautiful shade of blue.


this guy landed on little L the other weekend (that's good luck right?), he/she has inspired a future project to add to the millions I have jotted down in my notebook.


and finally, this is what the sky looks like at the moment just before 6pm in Brisbane (view from our balcony). it only lasts for about 5 minutes but if you catch it you'll witness the most amazing contrast of blue and orange.

better late than never right?

I know easter has well and truly passed by now but i've been a bit busy and just wanted to share a couple of things ...

mum's hot cross buns which also doubled as a birthday cake for my wonderful man.




mmmm... they were good


the easter chicks went down well, little L even wore the brooch I made for easter last year


yeah, there was big love for them, i think she may be pretending her little brother or sister due in november came out of the egg.

one night in munich

the view from our window


my first visit to munich was all about a beautiful city, its galleries and irresistible food markets. this time it ws all about oktoberfest.

happy easter

sharing

this is a sharing post as opposed to a showing post because although i have been working on easter creations they're not ready to post about yet.

so, i'd like to share the following:

- this review about the Pricked: Extreme Embroidery exhibition in New York also featured on the Craft blog

- this detail of a fountain in Vienna which reminds me of the way my sisters and i used to fight when we were kids


- Sophie Calle who had the best work by far at the Venice Biennale. I first experienced her work in 2000 in a gallery in Munich and have never forgotten it. Not only is she a brilliant photographer but i love the voyeuristic feeling of experiencing one of her bodies of work. I have 3 of her published works which i'll post about some other time.

tagged

I've been tagged by Vi who has the sweetest blog. So the rules of being tagged are:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share seven facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

so my 7 facts:

1. My friend and I went to Girl Guides when we were kids but because it was a little uncool at the time we referred to it as 'swimming club' in front of our other friends.

2. During the day I work for a contemporary visual arts magazine.

3. I'm a vegetarian although I do eat fish. Sometimes people get offended if I say I'm a vegetarian but I eat fish so instead I say I don't eat red meat or chicken, of course when I say it that way the response I get is "Oh, you're a vegetarian".

4. I have a wonderful partner who I've been with for 8 years next month :)

5. I grew up on the Gold Coast.

6. I have 2 sisters.

7. I bought a hoola hoop last summer and still love it.

I think tagging 7 people is a little much but here are a few picked randomly from the ridiculous amount of blogs I read:

one girl
udder
feeling stitchy
octavine illustration