Once a Squirrel….always a Squirrel….

My op shop Squirrel lamp - he sealed the deal!

 Have you ever heard of the theory that each person has an animal totem in terms of personality traits? Most of my life I have thought of myself as a cat. I have always had pet cats (whom I have thought of as my babies) and I am a Leo born in the year of the tiger. Increasingly however I have realised that I am also very much a Squirrel! And a crafty one at that!

Over the last few weeks in Ballarat I have managed to pay a visit to many of the fantastic op shops that are to be found around town. And what riches there are to be discovered! During these times of searching and gathering treasures I have been hard at work trying to think of a good name for my new shop…lots of names have popped into my head, been road tested on my family and friends and then discarded for one reason or another - until the day I came up with ‘The Crafty Squirrel’. The whole family said ‘Yes!’ and the more I thought about it – the more I knew it was right. So ‘The Crafty Squirrel’ it is!

Some lovely girly squirrels from one of the Squirrel books I found.

Of course the day I truly settled on the name I went out op shopping and found 3 squirrel related items – 2 books and a little squirrel night light. I knew I was definitely on the right track and ever since I have been finding all sorts of wonderful vintage haberdashery items to sell in the shop!

When I researched Squirrel totems on the internet – this is what I came up with…..it was slightly too close to home really….but maybe that is a good thing!

The gathering power of the Squirrel is a great gift. (That’s what I think J) It teaches us balance within the circle of gathering and giving out.  

They remind us that in our quest for our goals, it is vital to make time for play and socialising. Squirrels teach us to conserve our energy for times of need.  

If your totem is Squirrel or a Squirrel has recently entered your life - lighten your load of things that are unnecessary – things that you have gathered in the past and may be cluttering your life – thoughts, worries, and stresses. (Sounds like a plan…)

Squirrels are also the totem of action. Ask yourself - are you too active, not active enough, afraid of enough, hung up on accumulating and collecting. (ok, ok….maybe just a little….thank goodness I am opening a shop! Then everyone gets to benefit from my squirrel ways!)  

Squirrel people tend to be a little erratic – trying to do many things at once. (No…really!?) Take the time to stop and listen to your inner self – and don’t forget to play! (AOK!!)

This is just a small collection of my amazing knitting needles for the shop.

I couldn't believe my luck when I found this...original box and all!

A small selection of vintage haberdashery from my travels...

Grow your own

An apple a day...

Well I lived to tell the tale – of the girl who moved with so much stuff it took pretty well 2 weeks solid to pack it and 22 hours straight to move it! Just between you and I….I won’t be doing that again in a hurry – no siree bob. Definitely NOT my idea of how to have a good time….still as this blog is about things that make my heart sing as opposed to those things that don’t – I am going to rejoice in the fact that I now have a much larger garden and the best part of my much larger garden is the fact that I already have some very lovely large wooden boxes with pre-planted goodies (the previous owners bless them asked us what we would like them to plant for us so it would be well on its growing way by the time we moved in).

The garden currently has growing an apple tree, lime tree, lemon tree, plum tree and nashi tree, beetroots, lettuce, tomatoes, strawberries, corn, basil, oregano, rosemary, parsley, spring onions, mint, silver beet, blueberries, zucchini, pumpkin and garlic chives.

We have already been eating from the garden and are looking forward to really harvesting some more and enjoying the sowing, nurturing, growing and of course more eating (that is the best bit) that will come with the seasons ahead.

This is a blessing that Kitty said everyday at school before morning tea – I thought it was a nice one to thank the garden for its abundance –

For the golden corn and the apples on the trees

For the golden butter and honey from the bees

The fruits and nuts and berries we find along the way

We praise and thank Mother Earth every day.

And this one before lunch –

Blessings on the blossoms

Blessings on the fruit

Blessings on the leaves and stems

And Blessings on the roots.

Grow forth and prosper!

A pumpkin in the making...

Ear have a cob of corn...

I thought it was a passionfruit..but not sure..

Hey pesky snail...leave my beetroot alone...

Captain Kitty is on the move

A Rand McNally Storytime Book

Well as I mentioned in my last post…we are well under way in terms of making a very large tree change. ‘VERY LARGE’ being the operative words because as you may have worked out previously…I have the most enormous amount of STUFF…ridiculous really that a girl could collect and squirrel away so many treasures.

Thankfully Mum dedicated a whole 3 days to assisting me with the packing – and was very polite when she mentioned a few times – how I seemed to have quite a collection of little ceramic jugs or indeed ceramic treasures of one sort or another.  Box after box after box has been filled and stacked ready for the impending move day.

We sailed and sailed for over a week, and followed our noses by day.

After a solid week (and then some) of sorting and wrapping, packing and taping up boxes I feel like the end is in sight – well the end as in the day the trucks come to take it all to our new pad. Thankfully the new pad has a slightly larger studio for me (with plans to renovate it to an even bigger space – YAY!) with a separate shed for all those garden tools, the mower and bikes etc that took up space in my current studio and the really super duper exciting bit for me is that next to the house – right on the corner is a shop for me to make my own!

I think the shop has been a long time in the coming really. Lots of the treasures and then some that Mum has helped me pack are destined to go into the shop – not all of them mind you…some are too dear to me, but still over the last few days I have said – “oh, that is for the shop”…or …”I was thinking that could go in the shop” quite a number of times. 

My husband Sam very carefully this morning broached the subject of us trying to keep the new house a little less cluttered. My response was that most of my stuff was destined for the shop – but of course we all know – once a bowerbird always a bowerbird!

A fun part of packing up all my stuff has been re-discovering things I had forgotten I had….or perhaps realizing how many of certain things I do have. Children’s books from the 50’s and 60’s seem to be one thing I am particularly attracted too and so have collected quite a few. Captain Kitty (1957) is amongst them. I just adore the illustrations and the story……

Oh, Captain Kitty, where have you been?

I’ve been sailing the ocean blue – And Tabby went as my good First Mate, and Pearly and Mew were the crew.

We sailed and sailed for over a week, and followed our noses by day, and when the stars came out at night, we followed the Milky Way.

The breezes carried us on and on till we came to the Tropical Isles, where the warm winds blow, and the palm trees grow and the natives wear sweet smiles.

I'm glad you like them, said the queen. I'll order some for you!

We saw the Queen all covered with pearls, we saw the King as well. And on his head in place of a crown he wore a big pink shell!

And Tabby said ‘Good queen, your beads are pretty and elegant, too!’ ‘I’m glad you like them’, said the queen. ‘I’ll order some for you!’

She clapped her hands and the divers dived to the bottom of the sea, and gathered twenty oyster pearls, as white as they could be. 

Then the King led the way through the jungle gay where up in the highest tree, ten little parrots the colour of carrots were having a spelling bee. 

‘Your jungle is charming, but very alarming!’ said Tabby to the king. ‘But I have been wishing that we could go fishing if you think we could catch anything!’ 

Your jungle is charming, but very alarming! Said Tabby to the King.

What a hulla-ba-loo when Pearly and Mew caught a prize all wet and shiny – they pulled in a whale by the end of his tail, and threw him back into the briny.

We dined on fish and coconut milk till the ending of the day. The cat with the fiddle played Hey-diddle-diddle to while the hours away.

‘Dear King and Queen and people, said I, the sun is getting low. We’ve really had a lovely time – alas, it’s time to go!

And now at last, we’re back again in Catville-by-the-Sea – We’ve been away, but I must say that Home looks good to me!’

Celebrating our tree change with Mirka

Front cover of Mirka Mora Exhibition Catalogue

Yesterday - when I was supposed to be attending to the fifty million things I have on my 'to do' list - I took myself off to Heide Museum of Modern Art to spend the afternoon with my husband and NO children!

               The reason was twofold - one was to visit the Mirka Mora exhibition that is currently on there and two was to celebrate our impending tree change!

Untitled (Big Bad Wolf) c.1975 mixed media 46cm x 80cm

Mirka in her studio with soft toys - photographer Rennie Ellis

You see - the next chapter of my creative life is about to begin in the rather large and charming regional city of Ballarat. My husband Sam and I have bought a lovely old Victorian house (built 1885) and shop where I will have my working studio and eventually a sweet little shop where I can sell my work and the work from others that I love and also a vintage haberdashery of sorts with lots of gorgeous vintage fabrics, buttons and trims and more modern things like craft kits and wool felt supplies.

We arrived at Heide at 2pm - just in time for a wonderful guided tour of the exhibition which brings together a selection of paintings, works on paper and soft sculptures (these were without a doubt my favourite part) that covers a thirty year friendship Mirka shared with John and Sunday Reed (the founders of Heide).

I have blogged before about Mirka Mora and my LOVE of her whimsical colourful style of work - what I hadn't ever fully appreciated or in fact seen up close were her soft toys. Mirka hand paints her design for each unique and individual toy on to canvas and then she cuts them out, sews them up and stuffs them. They are the most wonderfully magical creations – really really special and it seems that she has been creating them for at least 40 years – so there must be an amazing array of them that have found their way into the homes of Mirka fans and I would imagine many that have stayed close to Mirka in her studio.

All inspired – I am gearing up now to pack up my collections and to make that long awaited tree change. Nervous, excited and slightly overwhelmed I am looking forward to the day when I can finally say – the shop is open – come and play!

The window Mirka painted at her exhibition at Heide Museum of Modern Art

Mirka now with some of her amazing creations

Magazine Junky

  I have a confession to make. I am utterly and completely addicted to magazines. The pile by my bed grows each week with my regular magazine subscriptions and the ones I have collected in my travels from Mag Nation, Borders and various newsagents.

The thing is - I just LOVE reading them. When I get the chance to that is. Little snippets of inspiration, new sewing techniques or crafty tips and tricks, ideas for decorating the house, following trends on colour and design and just generally keeping track of themes in what people are buying, creating and loving.

A few favourites of late are the brand new Anthology magazine, definitely SPACES - I am totally loving that, the french Marie Claire Ideas and also a big LOVE for me is Selvedge.

At the moment I have about 20 magazines waiting to be read on my bedside table....a sign of the times perhaps? You could say I am somewhat time poor at the moment and unfortunately by the time my head actually gets anywhere near my pillow I am already asleep standing up, talk about living life to the fullest.....my dream at the moment is to find one whole day where I could just lounge about and stay in bed drinking cups of tea, eating delicious morsels of yummy things and reading magazines for a whole day - uninterrupted! Actually - that would be my idea of the best Christmas present ever at the moment. Perhaps if I am really good all year - I may actually get this gift next Christmas in 2011. For now I'll just have to settle for my magazine fix - in little hits here and there in between my here and now.

Sydney

Off we go.....8am flight......

Arriving at Finders Keepers in Sydney

On Saturday in the name of ‘living life to the fullest’ – I jumped on a plane (with Mum by my side) to set off on a little day trip adventure to Sydney. The itinerary was pretty simple – straight to Finders Keepers (FK) to visit my crafty pals, check out the amazing local talent and generally have a good old sticky beak at the original FK and its amazing Carriageworks venue. Then off to EXTINCT the Dinosaur Designs outlet store where it is best to book an appointment so you get their FULL VIP attention and then off to have a meander around the old school craft market on Oxford Street – Paddington Market.

Well I certainly wasn’t disappointed – the FK venue was amazing, the crowds meant I had to be a savvy shopper and jostle to get a look in and the general vibe was definitely one of the who’s who in the cool craft world. 

Thankfully unlike my visit to the Melbourne FK – I knew less stallholders so I was able to do a bit more shopping and a bit less talking! You know me – I like a good chinwag and if you get me going – well the whole day just slips away…..

Highlights from FK were meeting up with the lovely Lyndsay from White Pixels (and Made by White & Candy Stripe Cloud) – who is my number one star when it has anything to do with my website and graphics and her equally lovely sister Kelly who designs and makes the sweetest range of plates and products under the name Storybook Rabbit. Another super highlight was meeting the fabulously talented Cat from Cat Rabbit. Her work is AMAZING and wonderfully cool – these 3 girls definitely make my heart sing!

Other highlights from FK was seeing Christina and her stand Made590, the tissue paper workshops, music and general vibe. You could definitely make a day of it at FK with the line-up of music, great food and general atmosphere. Hopefully you will see me as a stall holder at the next Melbourne one in 2011.

Time for us though, was of the essence – so off we went to EXTINCT for a serious spot of shopping. If you are a Dinosaur Designs fan like me – you will be in heaven at this place and I can highly recommend paying a visit there if you are ever in Sydney. Thankfully the two girls on duty in the store were able to pander to my ever changing decisions on what I was actually going to buy! Boy – was it hard…when you see it all piled up like that – you just want a bit of everything. At the end of the day though – I realised that there is only so much jewellery a girl can wear – and I do have a LOT – so in the name of interior decorating I managed to narrow it down to three lovely vessels to adorn the mantle place in the living room. I am still recovering from the fact that I managed to purchase three items all at once from Dinosaur Designs and not just one as would normally be the case!

After all this shopping – a spot of lunch was in order – so into another cab and off to Oxford St it was. The rest of the afternoon was spent meandering around Paddington Market (the original market at which Dinosaur Designs started at) and a few treasures were discovered amongst the mix.

The day was over before we knew it and we were back at the airport and on our way home. Sydney is so easy to get around for a day like this because the airport is so close to all the action and everything is close by to each other…..a little nanna nap on the plane and we were home sweet home.

Lyndsay from Made by White, White Pixels and Candy Stripe Cloud
- the girl of many talents and impeccably good taste

Lyndsay's Apple Shadow box - too cute!

Kelly from Storybook Rabbit

Storybook Rabbit - it was so hard to decide what to buy!

Made590

Made590 - love the giant rabbit head

Cat Rabbit selling her amazing creations

Giant tissue paper pom poms

How to make a giant tissue paper pom pom workshop

Mum entering Dinosaur Designs heaven

Dinosaur bangles

More Dinosaur bangles....

Dinosaur bowls

The lovely and ever so helpful Dinosaur girls

FINALLY - my purchase :-)

Giant Apples

I have been dreaming of giant apples for a while now. What I actually want to do is make a really giant one as an ottoman type thing…stay tuned on that one…..for now though I spent a small part of my week-end conjuring up this quite large…well ok…giant apple cushion. I’m very happy with how it turned out – in fact it is just like my normal apple pincushions but BIGGER.

It’s funny isn’t it how creative ideas come into your mind and stew around there for a while and then you will be out and about somewhere and you will see something either exactly like what you were dreaming up or down a similar vein. It’s what I know as the collective unconscious. I feel like we all tap into similar ideas and then we go away and come up with our own interpretation of it. It seems very hard to be original these days and I think that is why there are just so many copy cats out there who just haven’t got what it takes to come up with their own ideas. The worst thing I think is when something is directly copied - it is NEVER as good as the original.

Recently when I went to Finders Keepers I saw some lovely giant pears cushions by Moose and Bird. They stopped me in my tracks of course as I mentioned earlier – it’s a collective unconscious thing. Giant fruit….who would have thought!!

Anyway…if you are free this week-end please come and visit me and my giant apple at the extra big Maribyrnong Makers Market (over 75 stalls across two venues) on Saturday 20 Nov and then on Sunday 21 Nov at the extra big (over 120 stalls) Mathilda’s Market at Caulfield Racecourse.

Sometimes BIGGER is definitely BETTER!

Rosewater spray

Part of my daily ritual is to spray a little mist of Rosewater on my face. I love the refreshing feeling and I love that it is my small moment in the day when I stop and smell the roses.

Do you take the time to smell the roses in your life? Or, are you so caught up with everything else that is going on that you simply don't have time to smell them?

Life truly is a blessing.  In my own life - I try to take a minute each day when I can just be. A minute where I can be calm and reflective. A minute when I try to be grateful for where I am, where I live and for my family and friends.

I am so grateful for what I have in my life and the abundance that is all around me. The fact that I get to live my life – in my own way, using my creative energies and skills to support my family and for the joy my children and husband bring with the words of love and arms full of cuddles I receive every day.

Remembering to take the time to stop just for a moment each day to thank the world, appreciate your blessings and love those around you - is smelling the fragrance of your life.

I choose to stop and smell the roses. Do you?

Reggae

For my eleventh birthday Mum and Dad gave me my very own stereo. I was without a doubt totally stoked to have this boom box. I already had a number of very cool records like Thru the Roof ’83, Throbbin ’84 and Hits Huge ’85 (remember those!) and I had earlier discovered Mum and Dad’s record collection and so was into making mixtapes of songs from the various records I liked. Being able to play music in my room with the door shut though was very very cool.

Part of my early discoveries in the quite diverse record collection of my parents was an album called ‘Kaya’ by Bob Marley & the Wailers. What a discovery! I’m not sure which parent was responsible for that particular purchase – but I was thoroughly hooked!

Fast forward a number of years and that easy skanking reggae LOVE was truly embedded. My 21st birthday brought a special 4 disc book set called Songs of Freedom which spanned Bob’s entire musical history. To this day it has been played and loved and played some more. Many an afternoon has been spent sewing and singing my heart out with Bob. 

What a man! Gotta love that reggae groove!

Red Hair

The story goes that I was born with a bright red spike of hair all over my head. My Nanny Kuia nick-named me Mor-kina (Kina meaning sea urchin in Māori) and thought that perhaps I was a patupaiarehe.

In Māori tradition patupaiarehe are fairy-like creatures of the forests and mountain tops. Although they have some human attributes they are regarded not as people but as supernatural beings. They were seldom seen, and an air of mystery and secrecy still surrounds them.

Apparently redheads were common in New Zealand when Captain Cook visited their shores, as were people with blue-green eyes. It seems that it is a common practice to classify all people who were in New Zealand when Captain Cook visited as “Māori” and to assume that all were of Polynesian ancestry. Yet, there is ample evidence that far from being branches of one people, there were many varied lines of peoples who sailed to and from these shores in antiquity. Perhaps this is where the red hair comes from….

As I grew older – my hair colour changed and eventually became mousey brown – or as I would say fairly non-descript. When I was old enough to colour my hair – tones of ginger red came back and have loitered around for a good 20 years or so. For the majority of my 20’s I also had a fuchsia pink/magenta stripe that ran down one side – you certainly could not have missed me in a crowd!

Now when I see or meet people with the real deal – I am truly besotted. Real red-heads are rare – perhaps that is why I am so fascinated.

Ranunculus

Last night my husband Sam gave me a bunch of flowers just ‘because’. He is like that - quite the romantic really and I sure am not complaining – in fact I feel completely blessed to have found such a man to share my path.

I got some prior warning from our daughter Kitty who had just been picked up from her Ballet class by Sam.

“Where’s Daddy”? I said to her when she had appeared in from the car and he was nowhere to be seen 10 mins later…. “I saw flowers in the car Mum” she said.

Eventually in he came soaking wet from the rain with this gorgeous arrangement that he had gathered from our garden and worked in with a lovely bunch of my favourite Ranunculus.

I just LOVE them. Thank you Sam xoxoxo

Recycling

Sewn to Scale Quilt by Morgan Wills

Recycling or ‘upcycling’ you might say – where one man’s trash becomes my treasure, keeps me very, very busy.

My creative inspirations primarily come from the woollen jumpers and vintage household fabrics that I find in my travels. But what really gets me going – is the colours of these materials. I just love working in monochromatic shades of one colour – or mixing it up with tones of a colour across various hues.

Recently my focus has been somewhat preoccupied with making a quilt. As I look around me – there are certain things that I begin to see in repetition. Sometimes it will be things like Babushka dolls – which seem to be everywhere and on everything and at other times it will be a certain pattern repeat or colour.

The fish scale pattern for months seemed to be jumping out at me – wherever I went. I had and have become somewhat obsessed with it and its manifestations across all number of things, such as placemats and table runners, fabric, scarves and toys.

Green Pockets by Maruja Fuentes

One gorgeous example of the fish scale pattern that I came across - were these little pocket planters – called ‘Green Pockets’. They are interlocking wall tiles’ resembling little porcelain sinks – which you can plant herbs or flowers in. 

Made from recycled materials they were designed by a Puerto Rican designer - Maruja Fuentes and were presented at the Milan Furniture Fair in 2009. I just LOVE them.

I was so inspired by the fish scale pattern - that I decided to use it as a basis to make a quilt.

The result of my efforts is called ‘Sewn to Scale’ and is an observation of the natural world - exploring the repetition of pattern and the harmony of colour often overlooked in our daily life; yet ever present in nature. Made entirely of recycled materials (woollen blanket, jumpers and a vintage sheet which lines the back of each scale) – the result actually reminds me of a Maori cloak in that when I wrap it around myself – it has the same weight and the scales shimmy and flap as do the feathers on the Korowai Maori Cloak.

Detail of Sewn to Scale by Morgan Wills

Detail of Sewn to Scale by Morgan Wills

It was a labour of love – and many nights I was up past midnight – sewing scales. 142 individual scales in total.

When I stand back and look at it now – I can’t quite believe I made it. It’s amazing isn’t it where our creative inspirations come from and how they manifest.

Now back to my recycling……