greenolive

a walk on the beach

this is why we moved...

Drew took all of photos as I ambled along the shore line looking for shells, pebbles and treasures.

sewing cards

   

  

I've always loved a bit of collage, its my favourite medium. And I've been itching to do more collaged cards ever since vintage prints was established almost a year ago.

A chance discovery of a vintage early 1950s sewing book on a weekend treasure hunt was the catalyst for the design of this range of cards. The book was filled with fabulous black and red line illustrations of all manner of sewing terms, techniques, construction methods, patern drafting – the cards almost designed themselves. Paired with a matching red envelope the look great and are perfect for the sewer in your life.

And once these cards were created, it was obvious what to do with an old copy of a sewing guide. Filled with page after page of mustard yellow and black line illustrations, it was just the thing for more collage. This time the cards became a little more elaborate, and luckily the pages were large enough to make an handmade envelope as well. A really special card for a sewer or crafty gal.

Both styles are for sale in the online shop. A gift set of four cards will be available soon. The gift sets would be a great birthday or Christmas present for any sewer or crafty gal.

We are also working on a matching journal – just the place to pop all the notes and scribbles you make as you plan and record sewing or craft projects.

I'm thinking about making garlands or bunting as well, they would be perfect for decorting a craft or sewing room. What do you think?

reprieve

Today I should be at the hospital, being admitted for surgery. But instead I'm at home, I have a reprieve.

I listened to my little voice and asked for a postponment. Just a month, til Wednesday 24 August. A reprieve, just enough time for me to be physically and mentally ready for the surgery and to knock our beack shack into shape so it will be a comforting environment for me during my recovery period.

The sun streamed through the windows in the bedroom nook this morning, even with the blinds down. It's going to be such a lovely spot to sit and snooze and read and knit with I recover.

While its not quite finished, the bedroom nook is functional enough at the moment. Its amazing how different it looks from when we moved in. 

We plan to make a long bedhead out of whitewashed tongue and groove boards with wooden crates for bedside tables and a shelf for display. Our landlord has some really nice old wooden packing crates (the shell oil kind) and I want Drew to attach them to the bedhead to form floating display and storage units.

Sorting out the lighting and plants is also on the cards. At the moment we have a candle on his side and a lamp without a light bulb on my side. Drew always seems to end up on the side of the bed closest to the electrical switch or fuse box and this house is no exception. A few tall succulents in an equally tall vase are doing their best to combat any bad feng shui.

We also need some pictures or artwork to go on the wall. I've had this painting since the mid-1990s when I bought it at an art gallery in Brisbane. It tends to find a home in the bedroom no matter where we live, but I want to add some other work to the wall, in shades of grey, and black to compliment its colours. At the moment I'm calling the style vintage beachcomber – let's see how it ends up!

One of the reasons we moved to our oversized double garage was because it was just a hop, skip and jump from the beach. Not a beach on the bay, but a real beach on the coast. A beach with surf and waves where things wash up on the shore. When I reflected on what made me happy, I realised that walking along the beach, stopping to pick up shells and stones was one of the few things that made be happy, calm and content. 

A very long walk (I forgot my pedomoter, but it took 1.5hrs) along the beach yesterday afternoon yielded the treasures photographed above. I also found a cowrie and some light blue sea glass – perhaps they'll make it into another photo. But the best bit ablout the walk? I didn't think about the surgery once.

 

seven days to surgery

I found out yesterday that in just over a week I'll be in surgery. Wed 27 July to be exact. Now, before you get too excited or worried, its nothing life threatening – rather a relatively routine surgery, of the "female" kind.

I had known it was coming. But until yesterday I hadn't known exactly when.

I was referred by my Doctor last October and on the waiting list at the hospital since late February, but in my mind I'd relegated the surgery to sometime in the future, knowing the time would come one day but not quite believing it really would!

Now it was really happening. OMG!! I'm not ready. We've just moved house! I've got so much stuff to unpack and sort. A studio to set up and organise. A major market to prepare for. A trade event to visit. Products to design and make. Stockists to find...SO much to do.

I now have just over a week to do all the stuff I had planned to do over the next month. And to prepare myself physically AND mentally for surgery AND the recovery period. Five days in hospital. Four to six week recovery. No driving for four weeks.

I'd better find my wool stash asap and plan some knitting asap!!

I wrote those words on Tuesday, and since then I've sat with the feelings I expressed and really tried to listen to them. I suppose that's the benefit of writing things down, you can express and acknowledge stuff that you might not otherwise express and acknowledge. 

I'm not ready.

I really feel rushed, not ready. I will come back from five days in hospital to a makeshift home, one that is not as comfortable and nurturing as I'd like it to be for my weeks of recovery. I also haven't found a GP down here, one that will work with me for post-operative care.

I'm not ready.

I attend a pre-admission clinic at the hospital today, three to fours hours of meetings, tests, questions and planning for the surgery. I'll get to meet my surgeon too. I'm going to ask if the surgery can be postponed a month. 

Then I'll be ready.

 

nat geo journals now in shop

I had intended to put these journals in the online shop but the move got in the way.

Now I've found the box they were packed in I've been able to pop them in the shop. Priced under $20, they are a great gift, especially if you can match the publication date (eg Oct 1978) with someone's birthday OR the cover subject with someone's passion (eg photography).

Each journal is a one-off, they can't be repeated unless we are able to source another copy of that particular issue.

We have these issues up in the shop:
September 1974
November 1974
February 1975
August 1975
October 1978
January 1979

If you have a particular issue date or subject in mind, email us, we might just that that nat geo lurking in our stash of vintage yellow spines! I bags the May 1967 issue though!

 

swapping the trees for the sea

It's been a bit quiet here on the blog front, but that's only because lots has been happening in real life. We've swapped our treechange (up on the "hill") for a seachange (the south coast of Victoria).

Once again we packed up our house and stuff and moved. It took one week, 3 large truck loads, countless car loads and approx 2,400kms of driving. It was a 300km round trip from the old to the new place and back – you do the maths.

Once again I vowed to sort and cull the stash but once again I didn't. We now have a 8.5 x 3m storage shed full of furniture and stuff. I have vowed to sort and cull stuff now, over the next few weeks – lets hope I do!

This time we have downsized – going from a 2 bedroom log cabin to a small open-plan, one-room flat. I call it the beach shack, but really there is nothing beach-shacky about it. Its a brick box in the back garden of a larger house, with double doors and double windows facing east, a courtyard, a small garden, a little garden shed and a paddock out the back.

In a former, earlier life it was a very large double garage we think, one that has been converted into a granny flat cum art studio. (The current landlord had used it as her pottery studio, before letting it to a local chef.) But it has white walls, lots of light and we can make it into a home.

Its going to be a busy few weeks ahead: cleaning, moving furniture, unpacking, sorting, organising, gardening...I'll let you know how we go.