:: Quotation

And she was so simply his love, his girl, watching him approach as if she were memorizing him and his walk and those flowers and this moment, and he wanted to ask her what sound a heart made when it broke from pleasure, when just the sight of someone filled you the way food, blood, and air never could, when you felt as if you’d been born for only one moment, and this, for whatever reason, was it.

Dennis Lehane, Shutter Island

Phone Boox

Take one unused red phone box. Add shelves, books and sign to make random community book exchange. Equals Awesome.

James Econ, the maker, explains: “I guess the point is you don't have to 'be' anything to make things happen. I'm not a designer, I'm not a bookworm and I'm not a carpenter. I just had an idea, and without really caring whether it would be 'a success' - more just wanting to see what would happen - I got on with it. ... That is exactly what I like so much about it; Socially Beneficial Creative Vandalism. Manifestation to deployment in one lazy Saturday afternoon.”

Phone Boox via springwise

can you help?

This house caught on fire on Wednesday, and half of it turned into ashes. The burning released some asbestos in the building, so the whole house needs to be demolished. Darn.

Rochelle and Tony are the couple who lived in this house. They have two young children, Braydon (14 months) and Mackayla (4 yrs old). Everything they own is in the house, and they have lost it all.

I'm helping to collect anything that might help this family, like linen, manchester, cooking utensils, clothes, kids clothes, toys. Do you have some spare things? Or maybe you could make a toy for the kids? It sure would help these guys. Could you reblog this and help us collect essentials? That would help too.

You can drop off your spare things to the Pepper Stitches Studio (508 Oxley Rd, Sherwood, Brisbane). I'll be collecting this week (until Saturday 4th June). I know the crafty bloggy community is really generous, and I'm hoping to collect lots of things. If you can help, that would be ace!

flea market finds

New op-shops to explore in my new suburb; I've been holding back and looking in just one a week so far. This week I found an overnight bag, framed stitched koala and cub, some patterns and a giant canister for tea bags. Perfect.

You can see more Flea Market Finds over here on Sophie's blog.

Sophie also writes lists like this one. I like lists. I am borrowing this list.
This weekend I am;

Buying: collared shirts to turn into superhero capes
Enjoying: the possibility of pancakes for lunch
Loving: jaffas, how yummy are they?
Reading: science magazines
Writing: a letter to my friend and to-do lists for the week
Drinking: Sarsapiralla
Listening: to Sunken Foal

blog love- hyperbole and a half

Have you read this blog? Do. Do it now. It is hilarious. This is one of my favorite posts, how a fish almost destroyed my childhood. And also this is why I'll never be an adult. Oh and you must read The God of Cake. And if you have a dog (or not, actually), don't forget dogs don't understand basic concepts. Just read it all.

Allie, you rock my blog world.

Warning: do not drink hot liquid or operate heavy machinery while reading. Explosive laughter may result in injury. Seriously.

friday link love

via

Possibly the cutest kids birthday invitation ever

A lovely list of lists to write. This list of lists made it onto my list.

A great idea for buying and selling fabric scraps

painting monster rocks and hiding them to inspire children's creative writing

Like to create? Join a crafty hottie challenge

Amazing photos looking into the past on everyday streets

Have you seen these 'Like' and 'Dislike' stamps?

Get great deals on etsy loveliness every day


Happy Friday x


(ps. I did a guest interview on The Creative Beast blog today! Yay!)

today

:: Quotation

(via)

I believe in kindness. also in mischief. also in singing, especially when singing is not necessarily prescribed.

mary oliver



(I collect quotes, I love to read them; they make me laugh, expand my thoughts and inspire me. I'd like to share some of my favourites. Post a quote that makes you smile, or cry, or see the world differently, got you through a hard time, or something funny your friend said last week. Pop in your link below. That would be lovely. )

new stockists! Georgie Love, Breathing Colours Gallery, Meet Me at Mikes

You can now find Pepper Stitches at Georgie Love, an online store of handmade pleasures. There are lots of lovely things there, really truly. Be warned, your morning might slip away while you peek at the shelves.

You can also find Pepper Stitches at Breathing Colours Gallery (top photo) @ 446 Darling St, Balmain, Sydney 2041, and some bearded folk men dolls have made their way to the Meet Me At Mikes shop @ 63 Brunswick St, Fitzroy Melbourne 3065.

Meanwhile, it is a misty cool morning, and I'm going to go make some more tea and start sewing some teddy bear super-hero capes. I might listen to the Audreys.

Happy Monday everyone!

vintage tupperware tea party

Do you live in Brisbane? Would you like to come to my Tupperware Party? We’ll have scones and jam and cream, and chat a bit, and meet nice people.

We're going to make chocolate brownies, admire doilies, talk and gossip, and generally have a good time. And drink tea. Or champagne. Possibly both. You can bring your knitting and crochet, too. Feel free to pass this on to others who might like to come, and you can bring a friend; that would be lovely. Please leave a comment, or email pepperstitches@yahoo.com if you can come along. I will have a tea cup ready.



Have you been to a tupperware party before?

my week in pictures (and words)

We built our first raised vege bed with some spare planks under the house, wooden stakes, and grass clippings. See the neighbours chickens? They come under the fence to visit (and then I pretend that they're mine.)

I have named her Pat the Possum, she who breaks teapots and takes bites out of all my apples, and scampers through the house like she just-don't-care. (Note to self- must close back door before sunset..)

My first cafe breakfast in aaaages, with my sister in New Farm. It was very good indeed.
Indeed.

I joined the library! Hooray! Lots of books (including Handmade Nation) and this very cute picture book ('A Bit Lost' by Chris Naughton); "Yes, please" said Squirrel, "biscuits are our favourite thing."

Walking through New Farm I saw the inside of a house, on the outside, with old newspapers glued to the walls. Why? I don't know.

We have furniture coming to the house next week. I know! Last week we upgraded to metal cutlery, and now furniture! I shall have a bed, and we shall dine on a table, with chairs and everything!We shall live like kings, I tell you, like KINGS.

Hope you had a great week too! x

my happiness project

From the 2011 Brisbane Ideas Festival, these are my favourite entries to the My Happiness Film Project, asking people to document what makes them happy. These short films made ME happy today, aren't they ace? Especially that first one. I like lots of things that Sophie likes. I think I'd like Sophie an awful lot too. What a champ. And spinning around? Well that's fun any old time. And pigtails. They're great too.

You can see more entries here.

my best friend is getting married

I am so very, very excited, and so very, very happy for her. Her fiance is the sweetest.man.ever and they glow with happiness. Just look.

I've already written my speech
(and made myself cry, it's so beautiful!)
they're getting married in Spain
(he is Spanish)
which is even more romantic, I think
They are going to be very happy together
and have little Spanish-Italian-Australian babies (imagine!)


Congratulations Ruth and Carlos!
xx

Hooray! Pepper Stitches Patterns!

Oh it is just so very exciting. Now you can make your very own Antler Boy or Girl, Woodland Fox, Soft Giraffe or Telephone Animal (bunny, mouse, bear or squirrel)!

All patterns are PDF files and $8.50 in my etsy, madeit and bluecaravan shops.

A giant thank you to the crafty peeps who tested these patterns before the launch, and gave me excellent feedback. Sophie (*shinelittlelight), Thouraya (Amelie & Atticus), Karen (Weathergirl and Me), Bek (Red Chocolate) and Natacha (PiouPiou Kids).

I couldn't have done it without you. You rock.

share the love! and gift voucher giveaway

do you have a photo of you and your Pepper Stitches? I am looking for photos of you, or your loved one or kidlet with a Pepper Stitches plushie, toy or cushion for my online 'share the love!' album.

Email pepperstitches@yahoo.com with your pic and I will be super happy, plus you'll enter the draw for a $30 Pepper Stitches gift voucher to any of my online stores!

Hooray!

(ps. be sure to 'like' the Pepper Stitches facebook page and I will tag your photo too)

make do and.. spend?

via

So I was in a shopping centre yesterday, and I walked past a Sportsgirl store with a giant poster in the window. As they do. This proclaimed in big letters MAKE DO AND MEND, with some suitably young model types holding wool and looking, well, young and crafty and model-ly, surrounded by crochet blankets and other suitably handmadenessy stuff.

Which made me stop in my tracks, and stand there, a little confused. Isn't it the antithesis to use that phrase as a marketing campaign? It's like punk being fashionable; it's the polar opposite of what the whole thing was about.

'Make do and mend' came about during war rationing and having a whole lotta less. It’s about using what you have, learning skills to make things, going without, mending where you can. Not about consumerist spending on fashion clothing and accessories. Not at all, actually. This is not even handmade or ethical clothing, but mass-produced pieces made in large quantities in overseas factories with dubious labour practices.

After I was confused, I felt a bit affronted. Sportsgirl have no interest in making do or mending, they want to sell more stuff, and think they can target a new market with crochet hooks and buttons. How dare they offer up with a price tag the very thing that generations of students and artists have pieced together with their own hands, wits, skills; and generations of householders and struggling mothers before them. Making the best of what you have, using traditional skills to provide for your family, using your own ingenuity; now on sale.

It makes me cranky.

(ps. some peeps in the interwebs seem to think it's a good thing, and others think it not-so-good. If it is making more people learn to knit, is it ok then? What do you think?)

::Quotation

The most important thing is to create; nothing else matters, creation is all.

Pablo Picasso

(I collect quotes, I love to read them; they make me laugh, expand my thoughts and inspire me. I'd like to share some of my favourites. Post a quote that makes you smile, or cry, or see the world differently, got you through a hard time, or something funny your friend said last week. That would be lovely. )

hello there

I haven't said hello in a while. Not properly. Hi. How are you? What's been going on? I've had lots going on. I moved house, and set up my new studio, and have spent lots of time arranging things and exploring my suburb and visiting my family who are now just-next-door it feels like. I have been planning and pondering and I have been finishing some orders and working on patterns and such, too.

What have you been doing? I missed you, I haven't had time to read blogs and chat much. I will try to do it more, now. I'm a bit nervous about making new friends. I know I will, but feels just a little like starting a new school. I have so much I want to do, I keep turning around in circles. But here I am. It felt so far away, but it came so fast, at the end.

Thanks for sticking around. It's only getting more exciting, from here.

my week in (black and white) pictures

my niece Elsa had her first birthday party, in the park with balloons and cake and a bbq too

possums came into the kitchen overnight and left half eaten apples strewn across the floor

my family came over for mothers day dinner and the kids watched movies in my room. It was the first time everyone has been to my house, ever. It was lovely.

more folk men, I do love them so.

I bought a dictionary and learnt new words on the train like quasar and obsequious; and found old favourites like piffle and canoodle.

Plus I went to my first Brisbane Brown Owls meeting (Samantha taught me to crochet, and I met Stacey and Julie too.) I was a bit nervous and possibly talked too much, and completely forgot to take a photo, but had a lovely time!

hope you had a great week too x

my creative space- grrantlers

I received an email this week requesting a grrantler- the little fellows snuck out while I wasn't looking and visited a style website on the other side of the world. Sneaky.

I'm working on the next generation now, but can't help but change them. I'm thinking waistcoats with shiny buttons. Perhaps a bow tie?

see more creative spaces here

made my morning

OH! I think perhaps I am a visual person; I already love this song; but add those amazing little bubbles (simple but oh-so-effective) and I am entranced. Watch it, do.

Thanks Quincy!

do you like me?

(Pepper Stitches bow tie bears in etsy and madeit)

Pepper Stitches now has a facebook page! Yep!

There are photos and conversations and nice people there, and I'll pop special sales and things on there too.

You can go over here and like me. That would be nice.

If you like.

Not to sound too insecure.



But you know.

that would be nice.

(you can also find me on twitter!)

:: Quotation

"The indispensible first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want."

Ben Stein

etsy love- hello house

home sweet home poster, hello recycled wooden sign, little polka dot house, mobile homes, passport cover little houses, big wood pin brooch house in the suburbs, howdy greeting sign, sweet vintage floral cushion

I am busy meeting my new house but I will introduce you soon (I know you'll like each other) and be back to regular posting faster than you can say snippetty-boo!

for mum

Thanks for the hugs, and kisses, and notes in my lunchbox
Thanks for the haircuts, and hand me downs
(I know I didn't like them at the time)
Thanks for the tuna casserole, and fried eggplant and carrot juice
Thanks for dropping me off at parties, and picking me up at midnight
Thanks for putting up with my nonsense sometimes
Thanks for being there for me, all the time
Thanks for the dancing, the singing, the silliness
Thanks for the camping, the road trips, the adventures
Thanks for reading to me, banning television, and shooing us outside
Thanks for teaching me to never stop asking questions
Thanks for your never ending encouragement and support

Thanks for being my mum
Happy Mother's Day
xx

my week in pictures

I hope you had a good week x