I will call her Hortensia and she shall hang on the Christmas tree.

Pattern from this brilliant book, slightly tweaked. I suspect there will be more crocheted creations to come. Holidays are for craft not writing lectures.

I knew stamp collecting was cool!

Iconic british design on stamps?...thank goodness i didn't throw away my stamp albums. More stamps here.

Paris vs New York....I can't pick

Fantastic work by graphic designer Vahram Muratyan. There are so many more comparisons up on his blog - you must to go check it out. I want them all up in a big frame on my wall.

need to get me some chalk...

I'm loving this album right now. It has just the right amount of mellow head-bobbing to get me through  my data analyses...

bright new faces!

A little weekend reupholstering project - i remember these chairs from when i was little and they were covered in brown vinyl (late 80's fabulous!).
Recently dusted off and donated to me by my Dad, they have their bright new faces on and are ready for visitors! (perhaps my co-author would like to drop round for tea?!)

meow meow ding ding

 

Source: http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com/

election special

"All that twitters is not gold"

A great article by john birmingham on today's smh:
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-election/in-cyberia-all-that-twitters-is-not-gold-20100813-1239q.html
absolutely brilliant title and a really interesting read too.

tower power

Observation Tower on the River Mur by terrain:loenhart&mayr


love! more pics and info on dezeen

sure can dance

WHEELS!!

bike project is done, and here's the proof...


went for a ride and it didn't fall apart = greatest triumph of the whole process.
project complete!

daily drop cap

the "daily drop cap" project by Jessica Hische sees her creating a hand drawn letter every day. some delightful examples are above, or check out http://dailydropcap.com/ for more!

"63 eggs laid at the Barbican"

i have just been reading about an installation by French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, where the barbican gallery was converted into an aviary, and filled with musical instruments and zebra finches, whose movements and landing upon siad instruments created a soundscape within the space. i'm sure there's a john cage/birdcage joke in there somewhere... but i will spare you and instead provide a link to a sweet story from the guardian (and a slideshow).

i wonder about the ethics of using the birds in such an erratic sounding environment, but i do think that there is beauty in the work, especially given the small and delicate nature of the birds, and by contrast the rather harsh heavy sounds that result from their tiny movements. i wonder if it is intended as a comparison between the difference of scale between actions and their consequences? for me this disparity and imbalance creates both a tension and a curiosity about what will result next..

(on a more frivolous note, it also reminds me a bit of this short animation from pixar!)

bike rebuild: progress so far

i have recently become enamoured with the idea of being a person who cycles, and although i do see great merit in both the environmental and fitness benefits (and if questioned i will claim these as my key motivations!), secretly the real reason is because I imagine that when I am riding along I will look something like this:
however, the reality is a lot more complex than that, as i am finding out now (week 3 of bike rebuild project)!

I have a vintage frame which i have dutifully taken apart, cleaned, derusted and largely reassembled (complete with new hand grips as of today!), but now i am into the business of replacing parts that look like this:
...and it is proving rather complicated (guess who took this all apart and now isn't entirely sure how it goes back together!). the reality of being a person who cycles, it seems, is that for the moment most weekends i look less like audrey and more like her confused and dishevelled cousin.

my thanks must go to Gerry Lauzon of http://www.howtofixbikes.ca/, who book has been a great starting point - i am really enjoying the project,and it really helps to have some advice from someone who know what they're doing. next post i'll add some pics of the bike itself - hopefully near completion by then!

squares

mary, mary, quite contrary

hopefully my little garden will grow happily in its new home - a great set of plastic kitchen bowls that came to me from my grandmother via my mum (thankyou! x)

in hindsight, winter probably not the best time to be encouraging new life/cultivating expectations of prospering foliage.. but they seem happy enough for now!

stay tuned for proud reports of horticultural progress...