blue

peace sisters

today i had a taste of what it may be like next year when Amelie joins her brother and sister at school. 6 hours alone. i closed my eyes to all that surrounded me and tried to print something from the archives in my brain where most of my ideas sit. for a long time. until they dissolve.

and disappear.

so anyway .. i printed for awhile. feeling mostly frustrated. because im a crap printer. and because a gocco has its limitations. thoughts of ink and spindles nice long print tables sprung to mind as i muddled my way around the tiny bench. i think i like the random, dodgy , old looking print...or maybe i just think that because i cant do the metres of perfectly placed and printed prints, with a little gocco, in my little house.

anyway... blah blah... so i cracked it in the end and packed it all away... thinking im going to get someone else to print for me.

and then the phone rang. hello amanda? do you still do henna? um....no i dont sorry.

many years ago i listed myself on the net somewhere as a henna do-er...you know...pretty patterns with beautiful henna , temporary tattooing, mehndi?.. and whilst i l o v e henna and still do it often on myself or my family or friends....i havent done it for strangers for a long time. but maybe that call was the universe speaking (god i sound like my sister) maybe thats what i can do next year when i have more time. i can be the henna lady. farmer boy suggested i find myself a nice bollywood inspired name. heheee.............now that could be fun.

no title

printing christmas prints

eating chocolate and oranges and green curry and strawberries. not all at once

trying to catch up on some sleep

loving my garden

making a new vegie garden

drawing with henna on hands and toes

talking about trees with the kids

listening to the kids talk. argue. laugh. sing

listening to veda compose songs on the piano. so beautiful.

swearing at mother nature when she spits just a few drops of rain on us.

but also understanding why she would do that.

trying to move some stuff out of this house. right now its the only way its going to get any bigger

need to try harder on that one

tomorrow is my mums birthday

tonight i spoke to melinda and hana on skype

i hate skype.

i love the honesty of children.

and i think i may belong somewhere other than earth. maybe im missing my former mermaid life.

and in the mean time. surely obama is going to win the election. and hopefully he will do the right thing once he has.

garden and printing

print

i was going to say its hard, but really...if i had to walk 10 kilometres to fetch some clean water to drink...that would be hard. but trying to find some physical space, some good ideas, some free time, and some extra energy is just a bit tricky right now. nevertheless...i did do some printing today with my last two gocco screens. never fear... i ordered some more today and they are on their way. the first screen was a bit of a flop in my opinion. the little top above did come of the first printing session this afternoon though. and its okay i guess. nicer than a kmart top. which is a good thing in case you have no idea what kmart is. not that i have anything personal against kmart either. and the second printing session which began after tea tonight ... i shrunk a babushka print.. the one at the top of my blog that says hello to you each time you visit here.... and i printed that and also some tiny bird shapes. and tiny dots. it was more of a success. the problem i have is that i ordered too many big tops....like adult size for girls...and not enough little kids tops. little kids tops are so much more fun to print on. and little kids are so much more fun. and im having a slight panic as to what i will do with so many tops. im assuming im going to be able to sell them. a big assumption i made. late at night. i shouldnt make decisions at midnight. note to myself.
so anyway.. tomorrow i will play with Amelie.. all day. shes in desperate need of a play date. the poor lonely third child she is. she talks all day. non stop. and all day she asks what is everything made of. its her favourite question. and one i often cant answer very well. i wonder how much of my answers she is taking in. what is fire made of? what are leaves made of? i need to have google in my pocket so i can give her some better answers. google is lighter than an encyclopedia. not as nice as a big old book though.

hey baby

17 days i will be in japan. its lucky im so busy doing everything else that i dont have so much time to anticipate what might be. i guess that may be why im having weirdish dreams. i dont need to anticipate anyway...i know its gong to be an amazing time.. hanging out with my sister and her gorgeous sparkly daughter in tokyo :-) equals so. much . fun.

so in the mean time... the making has been in the garden. i have a new hate. irises. which kind of hurts to admit...because i do like purple irises in a vase, but cream irises in my garden, well they spread like .. butter? they often dont flower (from lack of water i guess) ..and make it near impossible for me to dig a hole where ive pulled them out becasue of their bulbish roots. god. i had a workout yesterday trying to plant my new (pink) magnolia. and this was at 7.30 am after i was awoken by my sweet (wet) amelie. lovely. in my bed. :-)

i went on a bit of a tree shopping binge (sorry melinda i know im meant to be saving for japan...) but buying trees doesnt feel like im buying for some reason. its more like adopting.

so i have two crepe myrtles a hot and pale pink, planted amongst some eucalypts...which is nice to have some colour there...they are looking very pretty with their frilly flowers dancing in the (wild) wind.

and ive got two giant ash? trees that will be brilliant red in autumn. these grow dinosaur size so they will be outside the fence line im thinking...wisely . often i dont think and just plant. which is not often a good thing to do.

and ive got a few beautiful natives like a banksia and protea and red devil.... and they are all flowering of course... i always buy flowering ones just to make sure they work, and at least i get to see them flower before they possibly die from my poor gardening skills .

so there went all my energy before midday.

but..in the afternoon i managed a new gocco print of baby babushkas. i wish i had some plain tops or some cottton or at least some nice card to print on.. instead i grabbed whatever paper or fabric i could find. . but.. i do like the print on this old floral fabric. im thinking it will become a bag soon. when i get out of the garden.

and to finish the day off we had jamie oliver oops i mean my little brother.. cooking tea on a fire outside. aaaaahhhhhh so nice.

bits of this and that

such nice green i took the veda babushka gocco screen to some calico i had. now what will i do with them? i might first wash them and see whether they disappear ..or not. my little rainbow girl on a grey day.
the clearing sale on our farm this week.. look at the men.
strange creatures.

it is so addicitvely fun to burn rubbish..and wood..and anything else that

gets in your way .

august angel

she followed me around in my mind yesterday, this morning i drew her and tonight i printed her.

phew, thats one less thing in my head.

now i shall go paint my nails red.

and then put my body into bed.

fridge

veda's fairy wren gocco print. i love it.

fuzzy sunday

veda love
hana-pie

i could have easily spent the day on the couch soaking up the warmth of our wood heater, dreaming and snoozing. i didnt though. instead we went out and ate delicious pasta and pizza for lunch and then went ten pin bowling. i like sundays alot. a funky market filled with old treasures and nice handmade and grown things and i would have been in heaven.

and then the afternoon was a bit like.... are we really moving? really?

and then tonight i got a call from my adorable aunty anne. it was a surprise. a nice surprise. i wish i could have given her a big hug down the phone line..or invited her over for a coffee. :-(

she reminded me about being sure about the place we are going to move to. its something i worry about, but then i think we will know when we find it. im not moving until i know its right. can you remind me of that? ive waited long enough to be moving to a place where we both want to be.

i know i said to my sister no more gocco-ing because seriously...it could take me 6 months to pack up this place. but i have a drawing on the table calling me to print it. its midnight. dont be silly manda...go to bed.

i didnt go to bed. you want to know what i did? i got caught up looking through my photos on the computer and after seeing my sweet hana-pie i then went to the cupboard and brought back to the computer with me a block of caramello chocolate. comfort eating . yes. did it comfort me about the fact that they are in japan and i am here? no. did it taste nice? um. yep.

windy

today while the wind blew wildly..and it still is blowing madly outside... i played in the kitchen with my gocco. i printed so many pictures and some fabric also. i was in that space of gocco printing bliss that i have come to love. the possibilities continue to grow.

i hope the wind is blowing some wonderful changes our way. it seems by the end of this week we may be looking for somewhere else to live..or maybe re-organising the way we live here?. there is so much unknown. but all the things i do know are the things that matter.

this is my painting i'm working on, playing with.

too much thinking

on the weekend we saw some very friendly kookaburras and lots of wrens. they like to eat coconut did you know? a plate of coconut outside and there were wrens coming to it all day. blue wrens...so very beautiful.and here is another gocco print (disaster). it would make a good bag for oats i thought. i do like the word hello though. i will make another hello print i think. think thought though ..ha? too much thinking.

the beginning and near the end

i made sindri a top from the fabric which is a combined print of mine and sindris ideas. i love that. and sindri loves it. i've ironed the print hoping that will be enought to set the print. i might iron it once more and then nervously wash it today.
this is a red print of a little red gum girl on some shimmery gold cotton fabric. i think it will make a special gathered skirt or maybe a kaftan / smock type top for a little girl.
i have squeezed some printing of fabric into my life..somewhere between being awake and breakfast time, or at midnight while the world around me sleeps. maybe it can show that i have squeezed it in. prints that aren't so perfect. colours that i wouldn't choose if i were sitting in the daylight in some other situation. but this is what it is for now. i really love being able to get an idea out of my head onto a piece of fabric. almost instantly. it may take a while for me to get to the ideas where i actually love what i see before me, but i have to wade through a lot of backlog in my head. so i'm having to be patient with myself, and my family are being patient with me.. food takes a bit longer to get into their mouths.. the washing pile is taking over the floor space in more than one room!!! but the kids are as happy as ever and my boy doesn't complain. so the tidiness of this place really mostly just affects my mental state. and if i'm having a good time in my little corner of happiness then it's all o. k for now.
the auction for our farm is this week. its a strange thing. everything could change dramatically all in a day. im trying to trust that everything will work out perfectly.
im also trying to remember that the people who challenge us in life have something to teach us about ourselves. its much easier to look at somebody else rather than ourselves.
so anyway, veda hasn't received her surprise if you are wondering...the time hasn't been right yet. i'm saving it for the perfect time...i will know it when it is here.
and now i must go enjoy the rest of this freezing cold sunday in front of a hot wood fire.

monster sunday

yes the fun continued today...last night i wrecked another screen. .gee that hurts. so i was holding onto the last screen i had...but...today i found three more in the BOX ..hooray :-)

so it was Sindri's turn today....(i ruined his screen last night)... we had lots of monster-y fun with one of his drawings.. and whenI accidentally overlapped an image...oh wow ...another corner turned. we made pictures that look 3D. very cool.

I could lose myself in printing.. next...... fabric.

oh my gocco goodness

Veda could not wait. Understandably.

it's early saturday morning, and i have to say...i am bursting with excitement. it's like we have been lighting fire crackers in the kitchen...that sort of joy.... but no...what we have been doing is playing with our newest family member. a print gocco.

i bought the gocco off ebay and i was so lucky, when the BIG box arrived ( god i love getting mail) i opened it to find something like gocco heaven. not one but TWO goccos and TWO fabric stampers and heaps of ink and everything else i need. i don't need two of course....but now I can give Veda one to have forever... hopefully they will keep the gocco alive. I need to join the save gocco movement because my goodness....it is sooooooooooooooo fun, sooooooooooo exciting and soooooo addictive. We had the best time printing- after we worked it out. We wasted two bulbs because we had the print facing the glass the first time. oops. And we used the gocco pen to draw our pictures and it worked so so well. Its so much cooler than I imagined. Can you tell Im excited lol.

So Veda has printed a zillion beautiful fairy wrens that she drew. Each time we added different colour ink we got a surprise when we looked at the print. The excitement!!

My girl print was quite boring really he hee.... but the possibility of printing on fabric.....oh goodness...if it works i'm going to seriously burst.

Our Saturday morning has been wonderfulllll- a new little world has opened up.... the only problem is that we have to stop to eat...and that we will soon be out of screens and light bulbs.

And we also now have to leave the house...yes that's right, leave the warm cosy gocco nest...to go to the vet for one of Murrays cows. It has mastitis. And we can't have that can we?

I guess we could get some cardboard to print on while we are in town at the vets? yes...good idea. ok..off we go.............