Therapy with Dr Seuss

I took MissM to the movies for the first time ever yesterday. (Not counting babes-in-arms sessions before she knew what was going on.)

We saw Horton Hears a Who! and boy oh boy did I love it! I laughed, I cried, I recited (in her ear). The tears were streaming down my face, and I clung to that warm little body on my lap as the clover with the speck descended towards the Beezle-Nut oil! I nearly howled when they said the "no matter how small" line!

Aaah, I'm a sucker. It's great.

MissM was cool with it. Just her way.

Mo' 'broidery

After farting around with Corel Draw and Photoshop I finally cracked it* and used the old-fashioned texta-in-hand method of drawing this chart for a Swedish Dala horse.


Then I farted around a bit in Photoshop to make this image, which is how it would look (roughly!) when embroidered on linen. (Oops, just realised I missed a bit of white around the head decoration...sorry.)


This is the original image from which I designed the chart.



Hope you like it!

*"it" being the shits.

Embroidery!

I've put my hand up to take part in Floresita's Week of Embroidery over at Meet Me At Mike's. Here is my first offering. It is Polish embroidery, for embellishing shirts -- more specifically, the part of a shirt which goes over the shoulder (there's my sophisticated sewing terminology again) in a traditional Polish costume shirt (the part is called the "przyramek" in case you'd like to Google it!).

You could put it anywhere you like, though. Around the edge of a short sleeve, or along a neckline of a smocky type shirt, a skirt hem.... I envisage some very pretty Anthropologie-type pieces! I love the colours in it.

Yes, it is very full-on. But it is so pretty I really wanted to share it. No, I have not attempted it!

I promise my next offerings will be simpler.

Happy Easter to You

Hope it's relaxing, fun, and filled with yummy food.


This is a picture of the traditional Polish Easter basket, which we duly took to church today to be blessed. It basically contains a piece of food from all the Polish food groups (i.e. meat, salt, bread) (doughnuts don't fit), coloured hard-boiled eggs, the "lamb of God" (in our case a vintage one we used since I was little), and some green sprigs (not sure what they symbolise, but in they go every year). I also put in a couple of salt-dough painted shapes we made yesterday.

The idea is that all of this represents your food supply for the rest of the year, and is thus blessed.

It's about tradition rather than religion for me.

Tomorrow we go on an egg hunt in the morning to find choccy eggs, and would usually have a big traditional brunch, but I am working, so we are having a big traditional dinner. Featured on the menu are: too many cold cuts to name, salted herrings, "zur" (a soup based on sourdough starter, smoked sausages, and loads of dill), vegetable salad (cubed cooked vegies and apple in a mayo based dressing), and usually bigos (meat, wild mushroom, and sauerkraut stew) but mum is gallivanting around Europe, so isn't here to make it.

We have baked Polish cheesecake and Babka for dessert -- can't wait!!!!!! I will take pix of the spread, and post them soon.

Happy Easter/holidays to all.

Happy Bloggiversary To Me

One year since I started, and I have finished the front and half the back of that little angel top, which my daughter has most likely grown well out of! I became lost in stockinette wasteland.

This little blog of mine seems to have failed as a motivational tool for knitting, but I don't mind. It is serving its purpose of allowing me to share tiny bits and pieces of my creativeness, and making me feel a small part of the amazing lively on-(and off-)line craft movement -- this burgeoning wave of creating, sharing, inspiring, slowing down and looking around, communicating....

My life is certainly richer having been able to share in all the incredible people's blogs I have come across so far, so here's to them, me, and all of us taking part in all this good stuff.

Welcome to Eastcape!! (Or I'm On Etsy!!)

I have finally bitten the bullet and started up my Etsy store!

Woohoo!

Head on over HERE and have a quick look!

Imbecile Friday

I just can't help but share THIS with you (no, not the pic). Call me immature, call me what you will, but it made me laugh a lot.

My Lucky Day

Today I narrowly avoided a car crash when someone pulled out of a parking spot as I was driving past, forcing me into the wrong side of the road, where there happened to be a gap in traffic.

I also found out little MissC's very large head is full of perfectly normal and healthy brains, not blocked fluids or a tumour. Thank you, powers that be.

Flickr photo credits: 1. Lucky You, 2. The Lucky Bar, 3. Lucky Cats, 4. Lucky

New soap

Here it is ready to cut. It's a special order for a lovely fellow craft blogger. Earthy heady blend of patchouli, lavender, cedarwood and sandalwood. Now I have to think of a name!

I have decided to set up an Etsy shop to sell my handcrafted soaps, lotions, and bath goodies. I have had a few requests lately, and it's something I love making, so I thought I'd plunge in! Stay tuned...

Just another wee vent...