addictions, collections and moral dilemmas

Well, hello!

My name is Hannah. Did you know that already?

I am coming clean today. You see, I have an addiction... ah, a collection. Well, let's be fair, a couple, but I'm not talking about the fabric stash kind. I'm talking about vintage books. Vintage childrens' picture books in particular. It's all about the illustrations, which I just love.

Illustrations like these:

I see these books, and I just can't stop myself. Perfect condition, drawn in, split spine, completely and utterly falling apart - if they have illustrations I find quirky, funny, really just so ugly I am amazed they ever got published, or beautiful, they're popped in my handmade tote, coin purse lightened and off I go. To the next op (thrift) shop.

[Sigh.]

So I was looking at some of these in less than fabulous condition the other night, and thought I might need to take out a page and frame it for my boys. But it does feel wrong to extract a page from a book. Particularly one that has had at least one previous owner - I almost feel as though the book is just on loan.

But this would look gorgeous on the boys' wall, wouldn't it?

What do you think? Is it criminal to tear pages from a book? Or ease pages from a split spine? Or slide out a page wedged between other loose pages? Is this why colour copying and printing were invented?

These are the dilemmas I ponder when everyone else (hubby included) is in bed. Perhaps I need something to do, like folding some washing. There is plenty of that.

Chat soon xx

ps. i'm playing along with a month of home  - are you?

distractions

Okay, I am a lot less productive than I would like to be on the crafting front. And today's post is really just a chat about nothing much - cute toys on the internerd, new books on the shelves....
However, big news!!! We have decided to move (again) --- this time to the country. The Southern Highlands of NSW beckons, so we are working out a way to be there by January next year (in time for the new childcare/working year). We are a restless bunch.
The boys are growing. The Gherkin has discovered Patti LaBelle and is in love (his spontaneous dancing to her album this week was amazing), and Little Pickle greets his dad by singing "Daddy, Daddy Cool". Too funny.

Oh! and The Gherkin met the lovely Justine Clarke at a recent concert. They spent their time after the concert comparing outfits. The Gherkin is a shy wee thing, and she gave him loads of time to warm up - we were very grateful.

I have found a cute cute cute site that translates text into old school library catalog cards --- here's a fun one made up for the hubby. Not sure how I might be able to use this, but...

Have just noticed I got our wedding date wrong! Hilarious (only out by four years...)

On other distractions, I have also found the site (that probably everyone else has, too) Two of Us. Heard of it? If not, the concept is, you take an image of your smile, send it over the internerd and instantly get one back from a stranger. That's it. I thought this was a really cute, fun idea, until I tried to send a photo of my smile... apparently my smiles are not convincing?

 

--- this looks like a genuine smile to me?

Perhaps I have struck a problem for people with gummy smiles? I remember some years ago when my brother and I were getting professional photos taken for our mum and dad, we were told by the photographer to "turn down the gums", as our gums were "reflecting the flash" and "ruining the photos". This led to many year of awkward fake smiles in photos... only now am I getting my real smile back.

Perhaps for Two of Us I should try a smile with low levels of gum exposure? It's just too sad offering up your real smile and getting back: "we're using a fancy machine to make sure you're smiling, and it appears you are not. Perhaps you should try again?"

My gummy smiles were returned as unsatisfactory by the machines (five times) - perhaps I will try with my mouth shut...

Really, all this smiling at the computer - I really should have been sewing!
Here are the books I have been reading this past fortnight - hooray for a great local library!!! (And at least I have been reading).

  

Chat soon lovelies xx

ps. for those interested, the closed mouth smile didn't work either... that said, it was a shocking fake!

wally, i love you.

[sigh]

Went to see this wonderful man last night at the Opera House. And he was wonderful. Just wonderful. (Okay, am very aware I have just used wonderful three times, but, well, he was.).

Also exciting of course was the fact that Mr Pickles and I were out and minus children (!) and had an overnight stay in the city. It was the first time we had been alone for an overnight stay in over three years. Too long. So lovely to spend some time with my man in our new city.

Oh! and because we saw Gotye (aka Wally De Backer, who was, by the way brilliant and rhythmically awesome, in the true sense of the word), we also saw the 'support act' which was Shaun Tan's The Lost Thing short film (based on one of my favourite books). And just as moving onscreen as it is in the book, perhaps more, as there were live musicians playing the score live, too...

What a great night out. And such a brilliant change from study!

I have been crafting too... more crochet, and have cut out the pieces for a dress. More next time...
xx

crafty books for kids

Hi again!

The pickles clan took a wee trip to the library yesterday, and picked up a great couple of crafty books for the gherkin (and for me too).

Joseph had a Little Overcoat is a 1999 book by Simms Taback, and is all about the art of reuse and refashion. Joseph starts off with an overcoat which then becomes a vest, a tie, a hankerchief etc... and in the end turns the whole experience into a story! It is a lovely read (based on a great concept), but of course what first caught my eye was the gorgeous illustrations.

Crafty of course because of the story. And check out the back cover... buttons - yippee!

Another of the books is by Clare Beaton, whose multimedia (mostly felt applique it seems) illustrations are just gorgeous, and have been a favourite with the gherkin since I bought him one of her books as his first ever book (before he was born)

This time from the library we have picked up Mrs Moon. One of my favourite illustrations would have to be this one, although this nursery rhyme still completely freaks me out...

I love the fabric choice for the tree! A lovely read with my boys and a bit of inspiration for me, too.

Do you find yourself picking books "for your kids" which are actually for you? Or are you (as I was pre-kids) an avid childrens book collector? What are your favourites?

I'll pop back later with my fab opshop finds for the toy kitchen and just because, a bit later.

Chat soon xo

crafty adventures... (aka back in the saddle!)

Hooray! the life of an attention deficit crafter has returned! It may not always be classic/"true" crafting, but at least it gets some creativity and handiwork going again.

And what fun we have had over the past few days in our new home... together the boys and I have:
* made (and eaten) apple necklaces (thanks kidspot for the idea) - hint: dental floss works really well as the "string"
* started on my second ever quilt, borrowing inspiration from this book (ooh! and I bought my first rotary cutter.... heavens above, there's no going back to the old scissors!)
* made a brilliant dinosaur tail (even if I do say so myself... I guess I could post a tutorial but it was really easy...) using the fabric the gherkin and I spray painted with a squirty bottle a couple of weeks ago
* created so many caves  (which the gherkin calls cages - Daddy: "what did you do today?", Gherkin: "mummy made a cage") from fabric, furniture, cardboard boxes etc etc etc
* made bibs, bibs and more bibs for the Little Pickle in our lives...

Good to be back. I will post on the quilt soon - I need to do some more sewing, and then I will provide a progress report. I am doing all the piecing at the moment (like the lingo??? --- I have actually been reading this book, not just looking at the pretty pictures!), and no doubt will then have to pop in somewhere to ask how to do binding, though it does seem to have pretty good instructions in the book itself....

Chat soon lovelies! Have fun, xo

what I did with my first day of maternity leave

day 1 maternity leave, originally uploaded by summer pickles.

1. got up way too early (7.30am) after an early breakfast wake up call from james brown at 5.30am
2. had brekkie - strawberry jam and peanut butter on toast and a mandarin (i love mandarins at the moment! would have been sardines on toast if I hadn't run out yesterday)...
3. read some of this incredible book...
4. had a lovely chat with my favourite mother-in-law in Sydney...
5. checked out some of my favourite blogs... am incredibly behind!
6. did a load of towels
7. enjoyed a phone call with the very gorgeous G in Sydney... not long to go now miss!
8. did another load of towels...
9. had a visit from an electrician... all bad news...
10. cleaned up a james brown accident in the loungeroom with much stressing about permanent staining to the new timber floors....
11. finished this amazing book - Cafe Scheherazade by Arnold Zable.... just incredible...

What's still planned for today...
1. have a visit from electrician number two for the day...
2. go to the shops for some real dog food...
3. buy some new smoke alarm batteries (i know, it's exciting stuff!)
4. sew sew sew

Have fun x

ps. I have been sewing! will have to post some pics... next time! x

books for kids... hooray!

Okay, I am not meaning to turn this blog into an account of my pregnancy or the upcoming birth of our first born (and there are some serious crafting questions and show and tell items once I can get some good photos), BUT, I am soooo excited about having another excuse to buy children's books at the moment!

Think it has something to do with my history... in a past life I was a speech pathologist, specialising in working with children, and kids' books were my favourite tool of the trade. So I have started my kids' book collection already. Usually, I am immediately sucked right in by a good illustrator, but if the narrative is terrible, the love affair doesn't last long.

So, I was catching up on one of my favourite all time blogs today - book by its cover ... if you love books you must visit this site! - and thought perhaps this was my opportunity to do a bit of a show and tell, too.



Here are some of my favourites:
Henry and Amy is sooo delightful and is probably one of my favourite books, for kids or for adults, of all time. It is essentially a book that suggests that it is absolutely ok to be different, and that our differences sometimes come together to create something truly wonderful (like Henry and Amy's amazing friendship). Everytime I read this I get teary at the page "and together they learnt how to fly". [sigh] This is a beautiful book. Oh! And the illustrations are gorgeous, and so much fun to look at with kids who really get a kick out of all of the squiggly details.

Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day is a gorgeous and fun book. I actually keep this one on my desk at work for when I am having a less than fabulous day, to remind myself that I have the choice tomorrow to start again, fresh from all of the stuff of today. It is also a fabulous book for those of us who are really not morning people. Probably my favourite part is the very beginning ... "I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day." Gorgeously written and simply illustrated in black and white, I love this book.

This one is not a complicated book at all, but is another one I have on my desk at work. The message is essentially what you would expect... "it's all okay" (and in the background there are some messages perhaps about tolerance and openness). Kids love the illustrations (some seven year old girls I used to work with would just laugh themselves silly when we got to the picture with the girl who has a fish in her hair), I don't know that I am that fussed, but the colours are great, and this is probably not (in my opinion) destined to be a great classic or anything else, it is just a nice, easy, good book, that can be enjoyed.

The Boy and the Tree (1978) is a lovely collection of translated Yiddish poetry. Stunning illustrations by Victor Pivovarov, which are a bit dream-like (sorry, have a science and linguistics background, so can't use any art terms here!). But just lovely. And the poetry is so lovely to read out loud, beautiful rhythms and sounds. I wish you luck finding this one, I managed to pick it up thrifting (one of my best opshop purchases ever), but it could be tricky to get your hands on. It is, though, well worth the effort!

Other fun books to read aloud include Wombat Stew - "wombat stew, wombat stew, ooey gooey munchy chewy wombat stew" and of course Peepo. I have just bought Peepo this past month for our new arrival-in-waiting.

So many fantastic kids' books, so few posts on this blog! (so far...)

Now, time to share and delurk... which children's books are your favourites?

xo

published!

Exciting news... it is released! Many of you may not remember that I was approached last year by Affa to show and tell summerpickles necklaces in her DIY craft book. Well, it has been released! And very soon there will be a copy of this book travelling its way all the way to Australia so I can ever-so-casually pop it onto the coffee table... so exciting! Some of the creations within the book look just beautiful... I am truly honoured to be a part of this book!

Thanks Affa x

So, now I am feeling well, inspired and crafty again... where are those buttons???

great new book finds

Hi again and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Last month I was so behind with my posting that I didn't even get to show you what I bought with my birthday book vouchers and $ (thanks Mum, Dad and Auntie Mill). So, here is my show and tell of great new book finds (new to me, not necessarily new books).

At our local (beautiful) secondhand bookshop The Stray Dog Booksellers, I found this gem of a book, which some of my flickr friends have mentioned in numerous chats, The Readers Digest Complete Guide to Needlecraft. I was very excited to buy this book for only $22 (plus a couple of books I sold to the bookshop). I can't wait til all of the boxes (of fabric, beads, craft items etc) are unpacked again and I can play!

In Box Hill, I found these two beautiful books, and had to buy them from Sharon immediately! 500 Handmade Dolls is a book I get completely absorbed in, and is a real inspiration! I only hope that after many more years and many more classes I will be able to produce dolls which are half as stunning as some of these! Softies is probably a book that many of you are familiar with, as it features some of our favourite bloggers and softie makers, including Soozs, Two Little Banshees, and hop skip jump.

The Best of Handmade I found in an opshop some months ago in Dandenong (but since I am showing and telling my books, I have included it here), for the bargain price of only $5. This book was published in 1994, but to me has a strong late 80s feel about it - it is filled to the brim with Australiana. As it is an Australian book, it includes many of the classics you would expect - a folk art painted milo tin of an outback homestead scene, knitted and crocheted koalas, Australian flora cross-stitch and a brightly coloured Australian animals mobile.

Looking forward to sharing the craft that is inspired by these books, and I hope that some of you may be excited enough by this post to track these books down, in an opshop, secondhand bookstore, library or shop.

Have a fabulous week! x