just manda.

my new print. a manda tag that ended up being as big as a postcard. and then found itself upon fabric. i wanted a little card to hang on the pieces i make. oh well. now its a big card.

how i love to print fabric. if you could see me doing it you would have to laugh. i wonder what my fabric printing would look like if i had big screens and lots of long tables to print upon. i do love just placing the little gocco screen wherever i want to though... second by second.

i think i will make another little bag, a friend for bird bag. and also a girls dress. maybe a skirt?

next a manda tag for sewing on ... i tried and tried to find a word, a name. a something. i ended up back at manda for now.

its just manda and the things i make.

and hooray for my sister. she just got a great job and im soooooo happy for her. shes the coolest.

draw

i asked sindri what he did in art at school yesterday. he said he did colouring in.

the blood rose in my head.

a group of 6 year olds in an art room. and they do colouring in? ha? surely there was something more to it that he didnt tell me. i hope so.

im thinking about asking his teachers, instead of giving the kids colouring ins to do, rather, to give them some blank paper and say go for it.

its only april and im finding it really hard to send the kids to school. this feeling usually comes later in the year. oh dear. maybe we could take autumn/winter holidays? at home?

bird

pale lemon bird bag.
bird bag, bird linen dress, lemon bird pants, darker linen bird pants.
bird connection
linen bird dress .

here is maybe what i could call a tiny sample range. four bird pieces. simple shapes, nice linen/cotton, blue/black handprinted bird.
this autumn weather makes me so happy. its not yet annoyingly muddy, (although all the farmers around here would like it to be i guess..) but it is cold-ish and grey with sometimes sun and sometimes rain, with following rainbows. and there's pretty autumn trees and a bit of flowering wattle and a bit of gum tree flowers. my idea of nice. if i cant have beach, i can be happy with autumn at home.
i love grey. with a bit of yellow.

little precious moments

i woke with the sun

harry potter was on television last night. silly me let veda and sindri watch it. veda slept in our bed for the night. on my pillow . this morning sindri was so proud of himself. he managed to sleep peacefully he said, by telling all of his worries to his worry dolls. he truly loves them. they live under his pillow. and this twisted creature i once made him lives there too with his worry dolls, and that is his favourite worry doll. so i woke (almost) with the sun rise. it was pink and hot and beautiful.
the kids used some new fabric textas i got from this nice place to decorate some hemp and cotton bags that i got from the same place. im trying hard to rid our lives of plastic bags. i kick myself often because my memory is so bad and it shouldnt be so hard.
and with the quiet sunday morning, a new print was printed. . .
and then soon after.. the sunday got much louder . . .

FOUR

it gets hard to be grumpy with a (just turned) four year old by your side . shes a rainbow in disguise.

too grumpy with the world to talk.... this is what i would like to wake to each morning. a walk on a beautiful beach.

i need a holiday.

or a change of life.

babushka gum girl

i dont think i will ever tire of gocco printing. i need to plant a forest to make up for all the paper i will use as i gocco my little heart out. this is my babushka gum girl, printed amongst the activity that is a friday afternoon with three hyperactive, joy-full (and forever hungry) children.

Veda love

last night Veda and I and my friend and her cute little girl went out for a sweet night together. We had a quick dinner at our favourite thai restaurant and then went to see Nims Island. How very nice it was to be snuggled up in the cinema with just Veda in my arms. The movie was a nice story for her to see. Perfect actually,.. for my adventure -seeking, book worm, daddy smooching , animal loving girl.. And me, I just want to go live on a deserted island with my boy and our kids. sigh.

happy birthday kisses all the way to my sweet sister in Japan. i'll imagine im eating birthday cake with you and then lighting some fireworks :-)

good morning

i'll call it morning tea, beacuse i cant admit that this is breakfast today.

i planted a pistachio tree today, its leaves are about to turn a brilliant autumn red. im an autumn baby. i love autumn trees.

i also have lots of bulbs to hide in the soil. crocus, freesia and miniature daffodils. and more sweet pea seeds, in case the others dont sprout. you can never have too many sweet peas.

i feel like im eating a peace dove when i eat these biscuits. nice.

new moon

make a wish. its a new moon.

Sindris Art

my boy Sindri draws pictures that totally amaze me. He is so cool.

PEACE SKATER GIRL

my first set of 20 prints, a roller skating peace loving young lady.
you can find them in my etsy shop.
lets see where this adventure leads me.

them

wednesday

its hard trying to take a photo of a dress. i need a mannequin. or maybe i want one...
i really like the shape of this dress..especially the top half. the bottom half is a bit pregnant- looking , but it may just be because i didnt do the sewing exactly as i imagined i was supposed to.
remember ..japanese instructions.




woke up today feeling off. sore head. sore stomach. and the phone wouldnt stop ringing. who is it? i growled. a fax trying to come through. i never knew there was fax junk mail. now i do. so i dont answer faxes unless im waiting for one. that doesnt solve the phone ringing problem when im in bed with a sore head.

anyway. im awake now. having had two panadol and a coffee im feeling a bit better. ive lit the fire because the in house weather man..(my boy) told me its going to be a wild stormy windy day. lovely for me because i will be inside on the couch in front of the fire, drawing, reading, watching my children have picnics on the floor and turn the house upside down into new worlds.

we went to bendigo yesterday...my substitute for the trip to melbourne im wanting. i found some nice books for us.. didnt get to the library, though i probably should have went there first. would have been a lot cheaper. i bought keri smiths wreck this journal too. shes funny and clever.. its a good idea. veda especially liked it and urged me to buy it. maybe i will give it to her to wreck. i thought about making a colouring book for kids where you have just tiny pictures on the pages and they have to colour out of the lines.

i tried to buy veda some clothes. i always know that is mission impossible because the girl, who is 9 , has impossible tastes to satisfy. we managed to find two short sleeved tops. yes im thinking that will keep her warm as the weather is cooling down. maybe shes secretly planning a trip to see melinda in tokyo.

i have new paper. nice new paper. and yes i know i have a problem. i collect paper and fabric and badge making stuff.... and ... and...the list goes on........ i really need to do something with all these things and stuff and creations.
instead of visualising this perfect ideal little place in my mind, a place to sell my creations... maybe i should just do the etsy thing too for now. to start. ive had an etsy place made for awhile now...its called mandapop.
one day soon i may put my drawings and clothes out there for the world to see.

its ok. i saw this on someones blog..and i dont remember where because theres too many and my brain is too crowded. but to read about - its ok - go to here . i liked the idea, yesterday our its ok came in the mail. i gave it to my boy. sometimes its ok is a hard thing to believe. but i think its a good thing to keep telling yourself.

this way

if only i could step inside my computer screen.

my brother flies to japan tonight. im so excited for him..... aahh it feels like ten years ago that i was there. it was only 3 and a bit weeks ago. sigh.

another new dress was sewn here today. the pattern was too tricky to work out without a translator.. so i improvised , a little scared because i used my favourite piece of new fabric..... i thought there was no way it was going to fit me, being a japanese pattern...and i have italian genes.... but. the easter eggs havent had such an impact yet...and it did work out . its niccce. i like dresses. with my boots. fun. the kids were tired after a fun filled crazy weekend..so they lounged around the house while i sewed.

tomorrow i think we need to get outside . . .. or just out of this house....... melbourne would be fun but i dont think i have enough energy stored up. i want to find some new nice books for the kids. its quite depressing not having a nice library nearby. actually dont get me started on the local town and its lack of goodness. huff.

the builder is coming on wednesday to see me about the renovation. all fingers crossed for some more space for our family at minimal cost and maximum beauty. for some reason i really want to paint some yellow in our house...or maybe i need a pair of yellow shoes. not need. want. i am definitely over the red phase i was going through. thank god for that.