exquisite embroidery at the Hobart Botanical Gardens

I saw this wall hanging produced by the Hobart Embroiderers' Guild to celebrate Hobart's bi-centenary (in 2004), and it knocked my socks off...It's full of detail and richness, and the volunteer who let me into the room to show me, gave permission for me take these photos.  I told her I was going to blog about them, and she said it was ok.

So my little discovery has become yours too!

It was a group project undertaken by 26 members of the Guild, called 'A Walk through the Gardens’, it 'provides the viewer with a feeling of the ambience and beauty of the gardens'...

What little discoveries have you made lately?

This ol' gardener carved from wood, stands outside the visitor's cottage where the hanging is displayed.

Every time we pass him, we try to to figure out why he's wearing this attire for gardening.   It looks at though he's wearing his Sunday best.

Can anyone guess?

Happy weekend all

♥

this HAS to be the dinkiest garden I have ever seen

I love this idea.  A plant in a bottle cap!  We're sprouting seeds at home this month, but nothing quite as tiny as this.

These kits come from Merry Shop in Japan, but you could easily do the same at home, just with some cotton wool, or potting mix, and some seeds.

Which proves you don't need a big space to have a garden.

And what a great way to upcycle those caps! 

Love it!

♥

Ethical supermarket shopping guide

I have just picked up one of these guides, and I can tell you it's the best $6.00 I have spent all year.

You can buy one from here or here. 

You'll be sad, you'll be mad, but you'll never shop the same.

♥

feeling quite quiltish & quitting {a job}

Boy, I can't tell you what a whirlwind of emotions it had been here a couple of weeks ago. 

 I applied for a job which involved a major portion of weekend time.  (Am I an idiot or something?) To my surprise I got the job. (Then I realise THE mistake.)

After much turmoil and debating which took the better part of a week (could have saved myself and my hubbie the grief)....I decided I wouldn't take the job.

(BIG relief). HUGE.

I felt so relieved in fact, that an ENORMOUS wave of peace and energy has been reigning over me ever since.

I feel so very, very blessed to have a husband who doesn't put any pressure on me about anything, and laughs gently at me putting pressure on myself.

I feel to grateful have "re-gained" my precious family time, that every moment at the moment is being savoured. 

This wave of energy knowing that I had released myself from a job I knew I would hate, (even before I began), opened up a world of opportunites for me in my mind.

I thought, I just want to make some stuff now, so a quilt top was started.  The itching to make a quilt has been lying dormant in me for a while now...and I've been stashing fabric (as if you would never know!) Then I saw this...over at Cathy's.  Thanks for the inspiration Cathy x.

Oh, my I thought I have this fabric in a jelly roll, and some other bits...I can do THIS.

I've still got to put a top and bottom border on.

Now I would like to make three tops by winters end, and somehow I am wondering...maybe this is an ambitious project? I have only ever made one tiny cot sized quilt before, yonks ago, and oh, the devastation that quilt caused - it faded DRAMATICALLY.  It had left me wounded to ever want to quilt again.

But I like jelly rolls, I like the sound of them, and I like how modern and easy they make quilt making.

I got a tonne of books from the library, but in the end they all seemed inappropriate and somewhat fussy, plus I wanted the fabrics to speak for themselves.  So I chopped and arranged, making the most of the jelly roll that I had left (I had used some in a skirt for my daughter - oops), and so far I'm loving this process.

I am gonna cheat and get a long arm quilting service to quilt it. then I'll tackle the binding ...then I can get on with the other two, eh?

Happy days indeed.

♥

I ♥ my job

It's funny yesterday that I was writing about passions, and then today one of my bunting sets has been featured in a 'bunting passion' treasury on Etsy.   So nice I'm not the only one who loves to make bunting, something fun.  I am truly blessed to do what I am doing.

Have a great day everyone.

♥

What are you really passionate about? This is my list...

Hello.  I've been trying to find my blog voice again, and pondering it's direction.
What to include, what to leave out, what the heck I want to write about.  Should write about.  Or what on earth you might like to read about.  At the end of the road, I just saw what I need to write about are those things that really drive me, the things that make me want to change to world, the things that keep me up at night, the things I love.  Predominately I need to write for me, and if you like any of it, I'll be chuffed.
This is my list so far this morning, and it's in not in order of importance:  

MY.LIST.OF.PASSIONS.

:: Encouraging children to create, so many ways to lure them away from those screens.
:: The importance of play for both adults and kids.  Family time together.
:: Good children's nutrition, good food for all. Not vegetarian, but sustainable, good food. Food that still resembles it's origins.
:: Nature, the seasonality of life...like bringing little bits of nature inside the house, whether that's a nature table, or wooden toys for the children.  I just love things of stone and wood.
:: Forgiving myself for not being perfect, as a mother, a wife, or a friend.  Forgiveness all round, really.
:: Human rights: especially children who suffer neglect, abuse, kidnapping/trafficking / 3rd world water crisis / homelessness.
:: Being outside, in a park, or a garden, or the beach, or visiting a friend's farm. Breathing in fresh air. It really bugs me when my kids have been inside all day.
:: My little home-based business, that I have dreams and hopes for, and yep, I'll admit it, sometimes I'm a little bit proud of.
:: Making and growing in so many guises...I get cranky if I haven't produced something.
:: Creating a nice, warm cosy home environment.  Yep, I'm the master of the still life.

Well that's it so far...I liked sharing it with you.
What's your biggest, biggest bugbear?...and I don't mean the never ending chore list, and the price of tea in China, unless of course you're someone like Verity, who knows so much about tea, you would expect her to be passionate about that.  What's that thing you could do all day, and love it again tomorrow?
What about you? What pushes your buttons? What bubbles your boiler?
One thing I noticed when I was writing my list, is that I got a little tingle from it.  I hope your list gives you goosebumps, that's a good sign you're really passionate about something!

♥