willow, weep for me (part 1)

I grew up with blue and white transferware. Because it comes in so many different patterns, it is easy to build up a dinner set's worth from disparate pieces. When we came to the US that is what I went shopping for at the thrift stores. And of course, thrift stores being what they are here I had plenty to choose from.

My favourite transferware design is, I think, the classic 'Blue Willow'.

I did feel a bit, well, childish, reverting to exactly what I had grown up with and the plates don't really go with our contemporary cutlery. But then I came across an awesome and wonderful book that put all that to rights -Wary Meyers' Tossed and Found: Unconventional Design from Cast-offs. (I highly recommend this book. I borrowed it from the library, then I bought it.)

It turns out that Linda and John Meyers, the super-creative folk behind Wary Meyers, also like Blue Willow (yes, silly that I need a book to justify my crockery choices but oh well, whatever works for me) and have done some great work with the concept, including this chair. I would never have imagined a graffiti-esque, Posca-pen version of the blue Willow design, but fortunately they have and I love it. (Complete aside - anyone else recall the advent of middle-class white private-school boys with their Posca pens 'tagging' the seats on public transport in 1990s Melbourne? Groan, I do.)

Anyway, I am filled with a renewed and newly justified love for the Willow pattern so when I saw this kitsch little brooch at Goodwill on Mother's Day, I just couldn't resist. And it fits perfectly on my newest knit, but more on that next time.

ps - Wes Montgomery, Willow, Weep For Me.

marie seznec

A year ago or so I wrote about growing up and going grey. At the time I was unable to find any photos of my favourite grey-tressed icon, Marie Seznec, who used to model for designer Christian Lacroix. When we were recently home in Melbourne I unearthed some magazine pages that I had kept from circa 1991.

Fabulous, fabulous hair.

Reading the article in the (now defunct) British Women's Journal, I realised that she would now be 50 or so, and I am the age that she was in these photos. I'm not quite as grey as she was; I wonder if I am as grown up?

abebooks

Have I mentioned abebooks before? I love abebooks.

We visited the Bellevue branch of the King County Library Service on the weekend. I could hardly carry the pile of books that I found there - books on knitting, on quilting, on trapunto and Period Needlepoint for Antique Furniture by Madeleine Jarry and Maryvonne Dobry. Translated from the French - who in 1976 thought that this book was worth translating from the French? I love them too.

Of course, as often happens with fabulous library books, I fell in love immediately and dearly wanted my own copy. I had a quick check on abebooks thinking that if it wasn't too expensive, $5 or so, I would grab my own copy. Could I be so lucky? Yes, even luckier - $1.88. I ordered it about an hour ago and it has already been shipped. I love abebooks.

ps - If you want your own copy, be quick! The next cheapest copy is $1.91!

imagination

Today baby bear told me that this is her telephone.

Love it.

kulta!

That's Finnish for gold (according to the online dictionary - if you're a Finnish speaker, please correct me). Yes, today I struck gold at Value Village - Marimekko!

Brasilia - definitely enough for some children's clothes.


Kioto - again, kids' stuff.


Lumimarja - my favourite, possibly enough here to make myself a dress!


I am absolutely delighted with these finds! (Can you tell?! Can there be more exclamation marks?!) I have a genetic connection to Marimekko (apparently there was a Marimekko shop in Melbourne in the 70s and that's according to my mum, who worked there) and I love their designs.

I'm also quite fascinated by Finland. I spent a couple of weeks there about 10 years ago (ten, already??) and really enjoyed it. I also really like foreign languages and would love to try Finnish. Did you know that Finnish has some fifteen cases (that is, form of a word to indicate its function in the sentence)? It's a member of the Finno-Ugric language family and is most closely related to Estonian. It is not a Scandinavian language which is why, I have heard, Finland is not part of Scandinavia. Again, please correct me.

this is ... what gives me goosebumps

Goosebumps are a funny thing - a bit like blushing. Not something that you can make happen just by willing it to, something that you can't stop from happening when it comes along. What actually gives you goosebumps is also unpredictable, and I don't think necessarily causes them every time. For instance, I was chatting on Monday with someone about Australian cinema and she mentioned Rabbit Proof Fence (fantastic film) and there they were - goosebumps. I saw RPF several years ago when I lived in Sydney and have heard it mentioned numerous times since and never before has it caused goosebumps. So, there you go.

So, for this week's topic I've gone with quite a literal interpretation and, after all, extreme cold does often and reliably cause goosebumps. And really, I was just waiting for an excuse to tell you about my current preferred form of extreme cold - Snoqualmie icecream (and gelato and frozen custard!). Sooo delicious and the only ice cream that I could find in our supermarket freezer that doesn't contain high fructose corn syrup.

Things have been a bit quiet around here on the blogging front this past week or so. It is no reflection of what is actually going on here in real life. Or rather, it is not for lack of anything to say but having too much to say. I have any number of partially composed posts floating around in my head, getting entangled with each other, petering out, crystallising, coalescing ... individualism, thrift shops, traffic, cross walks, accommodation, uni, deferred exam, invigilator, library books, Amy Butler, sewing, knitting, pattern drafting, reverse engineering, block printing, parking tickets, 'no parking' signs, convenience, Department of Motor Vehicles, social security number, Department of Homeland Security, over-engineering, property rights ... in no particular order.

this is ... my favourite outfit that expresses my individual style

This is slow fashion, somewhat akin to slow food where you eat what is in season and locally available and plan your menu from there. Everything in this outfit was purchased at the op shop and that's my personal style. You take what you find, what fits you and that you have a need for and that's it, it becomes your personal style.

blouse - Salvation Army, Malvern - The label is Rusty, a streetwear brand that I doubt I would ever otherwise have encountered; less than $10. I love this blouse - it truly is a favourite.
jeans - Salvation Army, St Kilda - Vicious Threads which I had never heard of before. The waist is a bit loose but fine if I wear a belt (which I do anyway). I bought these at one of their 'designer sales' so they were a bit pricey ($50) but are very similar to my other pair of jeans which cost four times the price.
sneakers - Sacred Heart Mission, East St Kilda - White Puma Roma leather sneakers, not smelly when I bought them, $12. I wouldn't usually go for white sneakers but they were in good condition, exactly my size and I'm happy with them.

What I particularly love about slow fashion is that you become the style that the clothes you find present you with, rather than shopping your heart out for the other way around. It actually takes some of the pressure off and you get to try out things that you otherwise wouldn't have considered (eg bottle green velvet MNG trousers - they're great and at $4 I could afford to give them a try). All of the details on Melbourne's op shopping scene are of course available over at I op therefore I am.

the magnificent seven

Stephanie over at Spices for Violet - curious name for a blog, I should tag her back and ask her to explain - has tagged me to share seven things about myself, some random, some weird. So here goes:

1. The name Amelia means industrious and striving. If I may say so, this suits me to a T. It is derived from the Germanic word for work. I know that the German word for work is arbeid (same as Dutch) and I always wondered how on Earth Amelia was derived from that. I later learned that the Germanic word for work (as opposed to the modern German word) is amal. Now that makes more sense.

2. I like to paint my toe nails. Deep red, or dark blue or silver sometimes. But I only ever paint the first three nails because my fourth nail is a bit, umm, misshapen and I don't want to draw attention to it. Painting only three of my five toenails draws attention to my feet nonetheless - can't win.

3. I'm not musical, although I am trying. I have dabbled with the recorder (compulsory, primary school), the violin (primary school, short lived) and the piano (ditto). For my birthday last year Tim gave me half-a-dozen singing lessons which is one of the best presents I have ever received. I've always been self conscious about not being able to sing in tune and just two lessons so far have made a world of difference. I have to book the next ones in pronto.

4. I cannot stomach bananas, licorice or coffee. I love ice cream.

5. Motherhood has taught me many things, including how to fall instantly into a very deep sleep. I lay down for a quick nap at about 5:30 the other afternoon and woke at 6:10 - instant panic, phoned the childcare centre to assure them that I hadn't deserted baby bear. The phone had rung a few times already when I realised that it wasn't a childcare day at all and that she was in her pram in the hallway, still asleep from our walk an hour or so earlier.

6. Craft heresy I know but I loathe softies, particularly the deliberately ugly ones. Not endearing, just ugly.

7. As of tomorrow, I'm a uni student again. I have enrolled in the Graduate Certificate in Health Economics at Monash Uni, just one subject to begin with 'Introduction to health economics'. It's taught through distance education (which suits well when you work part time and have a child). I've done some distance education subjects before through another university and so far I am impressed with the efficiency and organisation of the Monash course.

The image above is a detail from the woodcut from lesson twelve in one of my all-time favourite books, Orbis Sensualium Pictus (The Visible World in Pictures) by Joannes Antonius Comenius. It was originally a German/Latin textbook with some hundred and fifty lessons, each page a different topic illustrated with a woodcut and with two columns of text, the German and the corresponding Latin. It is apparently credited as being the first picture book for children. I have a facsimile of the third London edition, an English/Latin version, which was published in 1672 (the original that is, mine is Sydney University Press, 1967.)

friday

"Monday I have Friday on my mind/Gonna have fun in the city" Easybeats, 1967


I'm so pleased that it's Friday because that means that it's the weekend and Tim will be home and there will hopefully be some time to recoup. I feel so drained at the moment. My mum has been visiting for the last couple of weeks which has been lovely but she left yesterday and that's always emotional. I don't like goodbyes. Baby bear came home from childcare on Wednesday afternoon with a cold and slept for only about four hours that night. Subsequently I slept only four hours that night too. There is a well of tears which I can't quite realise just lurking there in my chest and I find that really draining. I just need a good cathartic sob but can't quite trigger it.

Anyway, my Freitag bag is one of my favourite things. Actually, I think that Freitag was one of the earliest examples that I came across of making things out of recycled materials in an innovative way - used truck tarps, used car seat belts, used bicycle inner tubes re-emerge from obsolescence as bags, wallets, i-pod holders, each one visually unique. So cool.

And I did have fun in the city this evening. I headed in just after 5:00 to the launch of issue 3 of mixtape at Sticky in the Degraves Subway. The atmosphere was quite electric as the end of the working week flowed past, eager to catch the train home. it's "a zine about making time for the small things! mixtapezine is a collision of craft, eco-cool and pop culture kitsch!" I believe that bollewangenhaptoet even got a mention back there in issue 2 (thanks Martine!) so that gives you an idea of just how great it is. It was also great to be out and about, part of the (underground) life of the city. I love Melbourne, everyday.

genesis

In the beginning there was a load of washing. By the afternoon it was hung out to dry. In the evening it was brought in to be folded. The next day the whole process started all over again.

Early on baby bear was what is termed a 'happy chucker' - immediately after feeding, half an hour after feeding, a bit later on as well. Given how often she chucked up, you can imagine how thankful I am that she did so happily. I changed not only her outfit several times a day but also mine. This is how it comes about that my washing machine - a Simpson Genesis 505 - is one of my favourite things. Basically, I would be lost without it.

I got it when I was 19 from my grandmother's house, after she passed away. I don't know how long she had owned it for but it must be a good 15 years old and still going strong.

One of the liberations of motherhood for me, I must say, has been the discovery that there is no such thing as hand washing. In the past I would have had a separate pile of things to be hand washed - special detergent, gently agitated, thoroughly rinsed, carefully wrung out, laid out to dry - which, needless to say, rarely actually got done and as such also rarely worn. But not anymore. Silk cardigan? Woollen handknit? Vintage dress? All of it, in the wash (albeit in a laundry bag - also a favourite thing).

noritake

This wonderful dish, bowl and cup set was originally Tim's and is now used by baby bear. It is made of melamine, is by Noritake and dates from around 1974. I find it very interesting that Japanese tableware should have featured a kangaroo that many years ago.

I know that you can't keep everything but every now and then you do and it is so wonderful. Thank you to Tim's mum for having looked after this for nigh on 34 years.

New year knitting is proceeding well - I have a finished project! Alas, it is a gift project so it won't really be complete until it has been wrapped and given and that won't be until later next month. Now only one more finished object required before I can cast on for something new - yippee! I think that it will be the tomten, if only because that is my next closest-to-finished work. And what shall I cast on for then? Had I mentioned the three skeins of Noro Kochoran (shade #17) just waiting to become the next tomten? Then there's the Grignasco Bambi that's ready to become Lynda, not to mention two more pieces of gift knitting. Truly, I am so excited.

the incredible mr tulk

Mr Tulk - such a strange name for a cafe (or licensed cafe espresso bar as the case may be).

"Who is Mr Tulk?

The cafe is named for Mr Augustus Henry Tulk, the Library's first Chief Librarian. He was appointed in 1856, and worked with Redmond Barry to build the foundations of the Library’s collections. He led the Library for 17 distinguished years."

I do love libraries but, surprisingly, have not spent a lot of time at the State Library of Victoria. There was an ill-fated tutoring excursion when I was at uni (didn't have change for the lockers, didn't know my way around, didn't know what I was doing basically) and I have made a couple of visits for myself, once to look at a rare book which was quite an exciting experience. It was brought to me on a pillow and I had to wear white cotton gloves to leaf very gently through it. Unfortunately, it wasn't at all what I was looking/hoping for, so I leafed through it in a matter of minutes which didn't seem to befit the circumstances at all.

Anyway, Mr Tulk is the licensed cafe espresso bar at the SLV and as it is but a brisk ten minute walk down Little Lonsdale Street from work, I expect that I will be going there more often. An odd floor plan but good dimensions, dark wood and white walls, midsummer light streaming through the windows. I have just ordered yet another copy of a library book that I coveted to the point of purchase. Imagine what would happen if I got stuck into the SLV collection ... I think that I'll have to keep my lunch breaks short.

elna

I think that I may previously have mentioned that I have an overlocker - well here she is, my elna LOCK (they must have gotten a consultant to help them name the model, that's what I associate that out-of-place italicisation and capitalisation with). It's been a couple of months since I bought it, but only yesterday that I actually used it for the first time. Hooray! I'm so happy with it.

The Elna lock (we'll drop the consultant speak) was one of my early ebay purchases. I think that I was very lucky that I happened to be the only person in the market for one at that time who was in the right place to collect it because it only cost me $25.00 - bargain. I did also spend $82.50 to have it serviced but I have no idea how one fits together and was afraid of causing damage if something was out of alignment. Turns out that it was all in good working order. Ah well, the price of peace of mind.

What took me so long to get around to using it? Oh well, you know, finding the time, getting it down off the shelf, learning to thread it ... yes, I was a little afraid of it. In the end I got Tim to help me out (being a mechanically minded bloke and all) and it turned out that the problem with my previous threading efforts was that the needle was not properly engaged.

Yesterday and today I have been starting out with some small projects. Baby bear is a very good independent eater but she also loves to throw her food over the side of the high chair's tray table. At a friend's suggestion I made a pile of multi-purpose cloths out of an old towel that I can use to mop up her hands and face, then wipe the tray table and the floor. The old towel is one of two that I bought for my first trip to Europe when I was 20. That was in 1995 so the towel has lasted well (not sure where the other one is) and now has a new lease of life. I can think about baguettes in Paris and appelgebak in Amsterdam while I mop up baby bear's soggy weetbix.

scanlan&theodore

I have a thing about Scanlan&Theodore. I remember when (oh, here I go again) the company opened their first shop on Chapel Street, South Yarra. I think that I was about 14 ... so 1998? Heavens, almost 20 years ago. I remember the large square label with a wreath on it that was their original tag and am sad that I don't own anything from that early on.














I just loved Scanlan&Theodore, I was totally besotted with their design aesthetic and longed to be part of it. Every season I searched for something that I could afford; I certainly didn't buy as much as I tried on but a few things here and there - a long ago favourite pair of straight black trousers, a black stretchy knit dress that I still have, another black dress, a dark blue pinstripe shirt, some t-shirts, a scoop neck black top, a red woollen jumper.

My thing is mostly a nostalgic one - I hardly shopped there when we were living in Sydney and when we returned to Melbourne I found that their prices had taken a market shift, upwards. Recent purchases are a pair of cream linen trousers and this print cotton skirt - Sacred Heart Mission $7 and Hunter Gatherer $34 respectively.

black velvet

"Black velvet with that slow southern style/ A new religion that'll bring ya to your knees/ Black velvet if you please"






















Heavens, what is it about some (awful) songs that just stays with you for ever? Alannah Myles, 1989, apparently about Elvis. Anyway, moving back along to a decade earlier and again showing the influence of growing up in the 1970s - I love printed velvet.

The fabric above is from skirts that I have bought at the op shop with the intention of adjusting them to fit me. The skirt on the left consists of four tiers - I have removed the top tier which was plain black velvet because the waist was way too small. I already have a new tier cut out from some black cotton velveteen, the skirt just needs to be sewn back together. Somehow this seems like such a huge job though - I need to break it down into very small activity chunks. I don't plan to put in a zip but to crochet a strip of braid with button loops from black cotton and sew that along the side opening, then on the other side some maroon, vaguely heart-shaped buttons. Again, this is a ploy to avoid facing up to buttonholes or zips. I love the floral tier and the cross-stitch effect frieze on the bottom tier.

The skirt on the right is just the one piece of fabric, about a third longer than shown here. Originally the skirt was quite full and unattractively gathered at the waist (which didn't fit me anyway). So, off with the waist band and perhaps some darts will do the trick on this one.

On both of them I just intend to face the waist with a length of black grosgrain ribbon instead of a brand new waist band. The only thing about removing the waistband is that you often also remove the label which is one of the fun things about second-hand shopping (well, at least for me). When you second-hand shop a lot (and I do) you come across now defunct fashion labels time and again. And I love the design of them, and the daggy names, and the concept of leisurewear. This is the tag from the skirt on the left. When I finally get around to sewing it up I'm going to sew the tag back in, for old times' sake.

lieveheersbeestje

Today baby bear turned one. Happy birthday sweetiepie - hip hip hooray!

Ladybirds are one of my favourite things and I love the word in Dutch:

lieve = dear
heers = God's
beestje = little creature

lieveheersbeestje = dear God's little creature

What better leitmotif for a dear little girl's life? (Umm, yes, that is a container of Betty Crocker's ready-made icing in the background which I guess just makes me a ready-made domestic goddess.)

gattica

I remember when ... oh dear, am I really old enough to be saying things like that? I have lived here in Balaclava (with a couple of side trips) since I was 14, so that's almost 19 years. I do remember when the only place you could get a beer or glass of wine on Carlisle Street was the pub. And a cup of coffee? Ah, no.

Now the dilemma is not where to find a coffee (I use the term 'get a coffee' here loosely because as previously declared, I loathe the stuff) but where can you get a table. There are now more cafes on Carlisle Street than I can count and on weekends they are all packed. There are also a couple of bars and quite a few restaurants that serve alcohol. Hooray.

The issue for me though is where to find a good hot chocolate. What makes it good? Well, that it is hot and that it is chocolate. While these may sound like two self-evident features of a hot chocolate, it is amazing how many are a lukewarm cup of milk atop a layer of gluggy chocolate powder.

But not this one, this one is my favourite. It's served at Gattica (223 Carlisle Street, Balaclava; tel. 9525 8282) where you can also get good food and friendly service. The trick seems to be that they make a uniformly chocolate milk and then warm that thoroughly - yippee, no sediment. You'll have to ask someone else about their coffee though.

janome 720

My Janome 720 sewing machine was purchased from Grace Brothers, Parramatta on 3 November 1983. Not by me, obviously, because I was nine years old at the time and at primary school in Melbourne. It was acquired by me some time when we were living in Sydney on hard rubbish night. Well, the day after hard rubbish night actually.

I always love hard rubbish night – it’s a great way to acquire pre-loved stuff and always fascinating to see what people are getting rid of. Disappointingly, City of Port Phillip these days has a system whereby you can book in to have your hard rubbish collected for free up to four times a year so there is no longer a hard rubbish night as such. There’s a wonderful film called The Gleaners and I by Agnès Varda in which the director discusses (the French equivalent of) hard rubbish night with a young man who simply considers it to be a shopping night of sorts.

Back in Sydney on this particular evening we had a very enthusiastic gleaning friend staying with us and went on a shopping tour of the neighbourhood. He found lots of computer cables but not much else. It was the next day when I came home from work that I saw a sewing machine case on the nature strip outside the block of flats next to ours. Really, my heart rate went up. And lo and behold, it had a machine inside - a Janome 720 - along with a box of accessories, the manual and original warranty card. I was a bit reticent at first and spent a good 10 minutes waiting for the owner to come back for it; perhaps someone had driven away, accidentally leaving it by the side of the road? Perhaps not.

The machine didn’t work of course but that same enthusiastic gleaning friend is also an electrical engineer and was able to pinpoint and remedy the difficulty which was a bent pin in the plug. Runs like a dream, not that I can actually claim to have used it very much but I do have many plans.

botanic gardens

Ah, it's been a busy weekend, none of it spent at the St Kilda Botanic Gardens unfortunately. These gardens are one of my all-time favourite places and particularly since baby bear was born I have spent a lot of time there.

I have played scrabble games here, hung out with play group, walked every path, just plain old lazed on the lawn, a bit of knitting. Pre-pregnancy this is one of the places that I would run to before breakfast (how pre-pregnancy). I was so proud of myself that I could run the whole perimeter without stopping. I came home and measured the park in the Melways to check just how far that is but can't recall the actual distance now ... it's that hazy! Port Phillip EcoCentre is also located in the gardens and they have a children's singing and music session on Tuesday mornings in term time. It starts at 10:30 and goes for an hour.

I have been working on my sewing projects, slowly but surely. I went to Clegs (did you know that they stock some Rowan yarns now!?) on Sunday afternoon to buy a pintuck foot for my sewing machine. The sales assistant wanted to know whether I had a low-shank machine or not - all I could tell her is that I have a Janome. I ended up buying two feet - one for a low-shank machine and the other one. For your information, a Janome 720 takes a low-shank foot. Have I told you the story of how I acquired my sewing machine? Ah, next time.

festooned dress

A while ago a girlfriend bought a lovely musk pink dress at St Vincent de Paul op shop with the idea in mind that baby bear could wear it first and then her daughter who is six months younger. Alas, the dress didn't fit baby bear very well but I thought that I would decorate it a bit before returning it.


I do love striped grosgrain ribbon (and a quick iron does make a difference). Here's a close up of the ribbon, the stitching and, oh look, matching thread:

I bought the ribbon from a wonderful little shop called Specklefarm (111 Bridport Street, Albert Park; tel. 9696 2477; T-F 11:00-5:00, S 10:30-3:30) which is conveniently located opposite Woolbaa - aaahh, knit heaven. Specklefarm is a little shop with a delicious array of grosgrain ribbons in a multitude of stripe and colour combinations, as well as some accessories including self-covered buttons made from the grosgrain ribbon. Very pretty. (There is also a small selection of striped grosgrain ribbon at The Button Shop, along with everything else under the sun.)

Specklefarm is also a couple of doors down from the Uniting Care Southport op shop (T 11:00-4:00, W-F 11:00-5:00, S 11:00-4:00). I have bought some wonderful things there, including the blue-green caftan top that I plan to shirr this afternoon - ok, I plan to practice shirring on some spare fabric and see how it goes.

(I've also posted about the pink dress across at Wardrobe Refashion - have a look at what people are making!)