Goosey

Yep it's a goose

This is Goosey, she's the latest addition to our household. 

She arrived for an extended visit yesterday and if she fits in she'll stay 

and perhaps we'll give her a slightly more original name !

But in the mean time she's gradually getting used to us and 

her new surrounds. Our doggies are still trying to work out who 

she is, but I'm sure in time they'll all be good friends.

A Little Excited

I have to say, today I am a little excited. I've spent most of the day photographing and listing items in my very own web shop hosted on Big Cartel. And.... I now have my own domain name www.iheartcharlie.com.au

I've only listed a few items but I'm so excited that I have to share it with you

yet another step towards the iheartcharlie empire.
and now I'm off to list some more items :0)

A Year of Good Things 5/366

Well so far I haven't been doing such a great job of posting everyday and maybe  I need to let myself a little bit off the hook on that one. As long as I keep you updated then it's ok to be a day late with a post. So every now and again you'll get a double whammy of 'good' on one day, that is as long as you don't miss me too much if I miss a day...... but I'm sure you'll be fine! 

5/366

"what no photo" you say in utter astonishment, "not even a dodgy one!" Well day 5's good thing is a little different, it's quite simply that after a long day at work I turned the computer off and gave my best friend my full attention last night. Normally I sit on the sofa with my laptop beside me scanning the internet and my emails. On the nights I'm not sewing I'll check on facebook countless times, hang out in the etsy forums, check my email, and in the last week update my blog. That's fantastic when I'm home alone cause with all my online friends I'm never lonely, but not so great when my best friend is home and he's trying to talk and I'm trying to type!! So last night, I sensed that my friend needed a little more than my attention in between forum comments and websites, so I briefly checked cyberspace when I got home and then I turned the computer off and spent some quality time with my friend.

I cooked us a really tasty meal and then we watched a documentary on SBS and had a lively but agreeable discussion about it.

So not only was this a good thing for my friend but it was also a good thing for me.

A Year of Good Things 3/366

Day 3 : 3/366

This post is a little late, last night when I was feeling inspired and ready to post the internet went down! Perhaps it was the universe telling me that 11.45pm at night was way too late to be contemplating being online. But it as a hot and humid night and as sleep wasn't going to come easily I might as well have been doing something constructive! Anyway what was my good thing for day 3 you ask?

I did a good thing for my puppy...... seeing as it was hot and humid Charlie was feeling rather uncomfortable in her long coat... so she had a late night bath

this is charlie happily rolling about drying her face on the towel

looking slightly damp but somewhat happy with the cool down

A Year of Good Things

I've decided to be a 'Do-Gooder' and join Pip Lincolne from Meet Me at Mikes in  her 'Year of Good Things' project.

Here's what it's all about

"Every day of this year, do a Good Thing. It might be something good for yourself. It might be something good for your pet. It might be something good for a stranger, or your boyfriend or your wife or your child. It might be something good for your friend or the mailman or a neighbour or the lady at the bank. It's up to YOU.

The great thing about this project is that you already do a Good Thing every day for someone. I know that you do! We're just trying to slow things up a bit and take notice of the things you do."

You can even do a good thing for your local community or even the environment. Once you've noted your good thing you can document it on your blog, facebook page, your iphone, or even just your personal journal it's up to you. Pip explains it a bit better here

Pip is 11 days up on me on this project, but better late than never ... I'll start today.

I remembered that I did something good yesterday so today will be more than one Good Thing

Day 1: 1/366

Wednesday 11th January

After the recent fires in my town the Local Shire and SouthWest Catchments Group put together a brochure to educate people how to help our coastal vegetation recover form the fire. I work at a local resort and after discovering the brochure at the Shire Offices I thought it would be a great to have it available to help educate the tourists at this busy time of year. My sister kindly acquired some for me and yesterday I put them on display at the front of our brochure stand. so although a small thing it's a good thing as it's my part towards helping with recovery

So day 1 was good for the environment


Day 2: 2/366

Thursday 12th January 

When I got home from work I made my best friend and myself a yummy Nespresso 

That one was good for our taste buds and our tummies, and my friend really enjoyed it. We sat on the front porch pondering life while enjoying the wonders of Nespresso


and as a bonus good thing for the day........


Good thing 2.5/366

Today I left the lights off........ all day!!

It was a quiet day in the office so no one was ever really going to notice and it's actually quite light in there. It was my contribution to reducing our carbon foot print for the day...... and that's definitely a good thing

Mmmm wonder what 'Good Thing' I'll do tomorrow

Happy 2012

I know I'm a little late, but I've been having issues dealing with the fact that the new year is not only upon us but also past us ! And I'm sure I'm not the only one whose head is spinning wondering where 2011 went. So as a belated welcome to the New Year I thought I'd share with you my favourite photo from 2011

 and I'm guessing that it's absolutely no shock to you all that it's a photo of Charlie, but perhaps the most candid photo I've taken of her since she was a puppy.

In looking back on the year that was there are a couple of stand out moments......

#1- it was the year that our dear sweet Tootsie chose to move on from this world.

just 3 weeks short of her 15th birthday it was time to let her go. We miss our girl but we're so happy and thankful for all the wonderful years with her and the love that she gave us. 

#2 - Montage Collective was born and with my iheartcharlie label I had the opportunity along with some very crafty and talented friends to delight Perth shoppers with our wonderful creations, in a series of 'pop up' shops

these are some of my crafty creations on display in the first Montage 'Pop Up' shop in Fremantle.

#3 - I finally decided to join the rest of the world and get an iphone and now have absolutely no idea how I ever managed to live without it or the hipstamatic app.   

 

 And no surprises as to who my screen saver is ........

#4 - I had my very first 'iheartcharlie' stall at a market. Just prior to Christmas I was at the Margaret River Handmade market and had a great day for someone who is  very much learning about selling her wares in a market environment. Here's a couple of dodgy photos I took of my stall. I was a little nervous on the day and appear to have left all photographic skills at home, but they give you an idea of how I presented iheartcharlie to the market shoppers

and last but not least

#5 - At the end of November  along with the  rest of Margaret River I experienced the very real threat of losing my home to a bushfire. The fire came within  5km of the town site which was thank fully  saved by a wind change and some very savvy fire fighting. The true heroes of those days were the many volunteer and professional fire fighters. And while some families out on the coast did lose their homes and part of our coastline was decimated no human lives were lost.

 These photos are of the view from my work, looking west, at lunch time on Wednesday 23rd November the first day of the fire. I've recently learnt that when these pictures were taken 11 homes had already been lost

The coast line looks barren at the moment but some late rains have brought with them the start of the rejuvenation. It’s sad to see it now but with time the scars of the fires will be replaced with the lush green that our region is so well known for

 this photo is only a glimpse of the devastation. To the right at the back the once green River Mouth bush looks like a barren waste land, in the middle just jutting above the river line is what remains of the historic Wallcliffe House. Once home to the Bussell family it was one of the original homesteads in the area, it is now a burnt out shell. And to the right of where this picture was taken is where the homes were lost on the first morning. The fire skipped and jumped there are areas that are now barren and others that were spared.

And onward into 2012 we go...... after a year of good, bad and sad I'm looking forward to seeing what this year has to offer. 

So a happy belated New Year here's hoping that 2012 will be an exciting and rewarding year for us all. 

 

It's that time of year again !

Wow how did Christmas come around so fast ? It seems like only yesterday that I was sharing with you the adventures of Santa out on Jindong Treeton Rd.  I'm happy to report that he's back again and is indeed on his way, well that is if he can unwedge himself from this situation!!

Lunar Madness

It's been a weird week in my world... it started last Sunday with an encounter with a Kangaroo on the back roads of Margaret River. The poor Roo came off second best and this is what happened to my car

I can fix my car but I can't fix the poor Roo and it left me feeling very sad. There's been all sorts of random things going wrong this week which has left me wondering if the full moon has been playing a part. I've checked the lunar charts and it should be over in the next few days!!
In the mean time while my car is off getting repaired I've got a new toy to play with.

My new Epson R800 printer... I can't wait to start creating some goodies to sell with this baby.


Oh and the repair bill for my car you ask.... $3900 (Au) just as well I've got insurance. And it did such a good job of protecting us that I'll be hanging on to it. But maybe adding a Roo bar just in case!!

More Montage Press

With just over a week left Montage has received more press coverage. This time in the local Fremantle paper

 

Pretty Things

Yesterday I called in to an op shop with my sister and found an amazing stash of doilies. Here's what I found

 

this one is my favourite

mmm what shall I do with them????

 

Montage

iheartcharlie will be appearing alongside 11 other wonderful designers at a pop up shop in Fremantle, Western Australia from the 8th  February.

Blast from the Past

This evening I was looking through some slides of some of my old textile work from the 1990's and I came across these 2 slides. They are a little bit of Western Australian History courtesy of my Dad's camera lens in the 1960's

 For those who've never seen it and those who just can't place it. This is the Barracks Arch at the top of St Georges Terrace in Perth,  in all of it's pre-freeway glory. Only the arch itself now remains as the rest of the building was demolished in 1966 to make way for the Mitchell Freeway.

I've always loved these 2 slides, even as a child I was fascinated with them and always a little disappointed that so much this lovely old building was destroyed in order to build the freeway.The arch has always looked a little lonely standing there on it's own....

Birthday Girl

Yesterday was Charlies 3rd Birthday and in honour of the day I thought I'd share a couple of photos. I brought her home  on the 10th October 2007, she was only 8 weeks old  .....
                                 that was then....

cute  as a button

                                  and this is now ....

she's a big girl now !

                                    Happy Birthday sweet girl

                                                                     xxx Mum

Beach Baby

One of Charlie's favourite things it to hang out at the beach with her best friend Ruby. Yesterday my sister and I took advantage of some finer weather  and took Charlie and Ruby to the dog beach. Some of my best photos are of Charlie at the beach. Here's a few snapshots from yesterday's outing.

I love that she always looks so happy when she's there

There's nothing like the sand between your toes and on your nose,

 something to explore,

somewhere to dig,

and a friend to share the fun with

Black and White

Time to share some of my black and white designs which have been an ongoing body of work over the last 15yrs. One of my fascinations is with pattern and my black and white designs were born out of a time when I did not have the physical space to be creative so they were developed in A5 & A6 visual journals. I have several journals full of them and over time I was able to upscale to canvases.   I hope one day to translate some of these designs to fabrics.


These are a few of the ones that made it to canvas in 2005.

  This one is titled "Beach Party" it was one of my entries for the 2005 Margaret River Rotary Art Exhibition

 untitled 1 2005

untitled 2 2005

untitled 3 2005

All of these designs have been drawn freehand and the concentration that each one takes can be very therapeutic.  "Beach Party" takes pride of place in my living room along side my other entry for the same exhibition. I hope to share that with you too some time soon

Early Days part 2

 In 1989 while I was studying Textiles at Curtin Univeristy in Perth we had a very lovely Indian Lady visit the Art faculty from Rajistan.  With her she brought an amazing collection of Indian Textiles which were hung in the halls of our building and she also held several Indian Textile workshops. The one thing that grabbed me in all of this was the amazing stitch work.

These are the works that were inspired by the workshop with a little added inspiration from some of the work of Vincent Van Gogh.

 This one was my first piece and was a homage to 'Starry Night'. It's my favourite and all of the others follow along on a similar theme.

Early days

Recently I've been looking through some of my early work seeking some inspiration for future creations. It's all been packed away and I've decided it's time to share some of it with you....

These pieces were machine drawing samples when I was studying textile design

These were created on my old Husqvarna 2000. I think it might be time to put it into the repair shop and start incorporating machine drawing into my work again. I seem to remember that it was a lot of fun

I'll share some more early work with you again soon

Great ideas come from small things

After a weekend of creating journals  I've come up with some great ideas. It all started with a simple idea from my sister, cut a strip of fabric gather it and stitch it down.... here's the result

I added some buttons and my own artistic license to the idea and voila ..........The Tuxedo Ruffle A6 visual journal slip cover.

This got me thinking about the gathering strips so I tried another one with different denim... that wasn't as successful so out came the quick un-picker and I headed off in the direction of pleats but this time with a twist, I added a zippper and the Zip It A5 visual journal slip cover with fully functional cover pocket was born.

I followed the path I was already on and the Pleated Denim A6 Visual Journal cover was created

Then finally the pleated panel evolved into a pin tucked pocket  for the final cover of the weekend

The Belt Up A6 visual journal cover, the pin tucked  panel is a pocket and I've added the button and belt closure for a little added detail.

All of this had led to some great ideas for bags. I've just finished a new tote bag. Which idea do you think was my inspiration?

All will be revealed soon.............