Well, not necessarily a glossy day outside - the wind is howling and it’s bucketing rain! So I am at home with the girls and catching up on some lovely “glossies“:

The new Frankie features an interview with Jenny Hart with pics of some of her amazing embroidered artwork. You’ll also find a quick interview with Sarah Blasko, spotlight on Allison of Lark, toy art My Little Ponies (who knew?!), and a really cute wall art project by Pip.

In the new issue of Peppermint there is a well-written and enlightening article by Tess Curran on DIY/Made with Love focusing on the online craft community, sustainability in craft, and crafting with a conscience.

She interviewed a range of designers and crafters for the article (and I was fortunate enough to be one of them - thanks Tess! There’s a pic of my Ze Bun-buns just above the pic of Allison :-)).

Here’s the list of those she interviewed:

Remember Patience?

Well, after waiting patiently for a few months :-) Patience has made her debut in the latest issue of Handmade Magazine (Vol 26 No12) -

All instructions and pattern pieces to make your own little Patience are in the magazine.

I received my official results from the Run Melbourne yesterday and I did a little dance - I actually beat my personal best time for a 5km and had a new personal best!! I was so surprised! But now, looking back, I guess it makes sense as I was struggling so much throughout the whole run, it must have meant I was really pushing myself :-)

By the way, I just found out that we now have until JULY 30 to meet the $1000 goal for Mirabel! Yay! Donations can be made via this link.

It’s been a wonderfully relaxing day at home. I think I am ready to start sewing up some softies tonight :-)

Phew! It’s done! I am relieved more than anything else - and knackered! You’d think I had done the marathon! But boy did those 5km wipe me out today.

I think it was the (unexpected for me) number of hills on the route, and also probably the cold/sore throat I have been fighting off since last weekend, and lack of sleep this week due to the youngest having a chest infection (with some vomiting thrown in too). Thankfully she is so much better now.

So I really struggled with this run and am pretty sure I didn’t beat my personal best for this distance (also forgot to turn on the timer on my watch - d’oh!) but I gave it my best effort and am happy that I crossed the finish line . . . without gagging - yay!! :-).

It was about 8°C when we lined up at the starting line but the sun was out in its glory. There were HEAPS of people. It was so lovely to see Mums and Dads running with their kids, some of the older folk giving their best (and some were kicking my butt!) and couples crossing the finish line hand-in-hand :-) I am trying to talk my hubby in to running with me in an upcoming fun-run ;-)

Thanks so much to all of you who have donated towards fund-raising for the Mirabel Foundation. You have donated $750 in total which is an awesome effort! I hope to run for them again in next year’s Run Melbourne.

Despite feeling just a tiny bit deflated about this run, I am planning to do a local fun-run in about two weeks time (as long as it doesn’t rain - I am a wimp about running in the rain!). And then I am hoping - hoping - that I will be ready to do the 10km run in the Melbourne Marathon event in October. There should be plenty of time to train- and this time I’m going to purposely train on some hills!

My parents kindly slept over last night and then took the girls out to Church this morning, and then to lunch. When I got home to an empty house, I found this note left by my 5-year-old.

It reads :”Dear Mum, have a lovely run“. Made me a little teary :-) Their support is priceless! (Although the first thing they asked me when I picked them up from my parent’s house was, “Hey Mama, did you win??“).

Have a lovely week all!

I am so excited - I have one whole week off from work! Yippeeee!

Thanks so much for the fantastic advice and words of wisdom on the last post!!! So good to know that we all go through this and really, in the whole scheme of things, it’s just a tiny pot-hole in the road and we all, sooner or later, get back on track. So I am taking your advice and just focusing on other things for a while - the mojo will come back in its own time :-)

And thank you also to all of you who have supported the goal to raise $1000 for the Mirabel Foundation through the Run Melbourne. I can’t believe the run is on tomorrow - already! The forecast is for some rain and moderate-strong winds, so it should a very interesting challenge! It also means that there is only one day left - today - to hit the target. Currently it’s at $725 (yay!) so there is only a little way to go.

Do you think you can help to reach the goal? Any donation of any size would be greatly appreciated. If you can help, please click here.

Okay, you’re probably thinking “So what does the post title have to do with this post?!“. Well, I was reading Beci Orpin’s recent post on her eBay addiction and I giggled along, relating very closely to what she had written. I’m sure most of you would too! I purposely stay away from eBay these days because I know it is a temptation I simply am not able to overcome - I always end up buying stuff I don’t need and “just one look” can last for hours!

Then my cousin directed me to this video by Weird Al called “Ebay”. I couldn’t stop laughing. It’s dedicated to all you eBay addicts :-)

Lyrics are here.

Hope to be back tomorrow with news from the run!

{image credit*}

Eh.

I think I have hit the proverbial Wall with sewing/making/general craftiness. This past week I even contemplated shutting this blog down, selling the sewing machine, and getting rid of all of my fabric stash! The inspiration is still there somewhere in the distance, but the motivation and willingness to actually work on something has been missing for a while now. I’m wondering where it has gone.

At first, I was thinking that it was because of the running but the running has actually given me more energy and is done first thing in the morning before anything else that is scheduled for the rest of the day. So it’s not taking up time that was put aside to craft. I think the Mojo may have silently but steadily wandered off when I started back at work full-time - suddenly, almost every night (when I would usually craft) is filled with non-craft stuff I used to get done on the two days I used to have off. This means craft time has been whittled right down.

These days I look at the shelves of fabric and feel no excitement whatsoever. Same with the sewing machine - in fact, I actually let out a big, grumpy sigh the other day! I was asked to submit a project to a magazine and despite thinking about it for days and days I have come up with absolutely nothing. I am also behind on the blog reading (and commenting) and have completely missed everything that is going on in Twitter land.

Sorry, I didn’t mean for this to be a whiney post but I just wanted to be honest about how I’m feeling at the moment. Hopefully, when I am back in to the swing of it again I can look back on this post and know that it was just a small phase. Thankfully I have the WHOLE of next week off from work (yippee!). I am looking forward to spending whole weekdays with the girls again (double yippee!) and cutting my crafty To-do list down to half of what it is now. That’s the plan anyway. Now, I just have to figure out how to woo that runaway Mojo back home to me before the weekend . . .

* I know the photo is completely unrelated to the content of this post but when I searched for “large wall” on Flickr, this came up - it was too cute to ignore :-)

I am certainly starting to miss the 2 extra days I used to have off when I was still working part-time. They were my catch-up days - not just for crafty stuff but domestic stuff too :-) I really have done nada, zipadeedodah this weekend in terms of the To-Do list. The upside being that it was a very social weekend with kids parties to attend, including a party for my Little One who turned 3. Three! Not a baby anymore :-(

Here we are at her party:

Besides the birthday parties, the two other highlights from the weekend included making a hearty beef + chorizo sausage casserole stew/soup thing from scratch (I am so not a cook so this is nice little win for me! :-)) and discovering that soaking clothes in a mixture of white vinegar and baking soda overnight really does get the stink out of them! Exciting stuff eh?

Before you turn away, bored to tears by what I have written so far, here are some recent good finds to share:

New additions to my blog feed reader:

>> Senorit Pil: She creates such beautiful characters, capturing them in perfectly whimsical photos.

>> Rachel Powers: Author of “The Undivided Heart” has a blog too and I have really been enjoying her thoughts and musings on motherhood.

>> The Sartorialist: Can’t quite pinpoint why I like this website since it is about documenting fashion on the streets and I am really, extremely, unfashionable - except that I love the composition, colour and clarity of the photos, especially the recent ones taken on Governor Island (there are a few posts on this - refer to post titles to see them all). I am thinking there is inspiration in there for some softies :-)

Blown away by the work of Helen Musselwhite . . .

. . . and Brady Mcferrin:

Plush goodness by Abigail Brown (via Dawn):

Adore this bed by Attila Design (via Jaime):

Did you know that it is only 6 days until the Run Melbourne? I am doing my best to fight off a cold that I know is coming thanks to very sore throat. I am really excited about the run - very much looking forward to it! We are inching closer to the goal of raising $1000 for the Mirabel Foundation - the current total is $665! Just a little bit more to go until we hit the goal.

With 6 days left to donate, are you able to help? If so, please click here - thank you!

{image credit: “A Brand New Day” by Thomas Hawk}

I left the house at about 5:30am today, jolted awake by the 3°C temperature, and went off for a slow run. I ended up running the longest distance I have ever run in my entire life - small beans by marathon runners - but I never thought I would be able to go that distance. It feels good to know that I am slowly, slowly, inching closer to my goal of running 10km by the end of the year.

I have mentioned previously that I was never the athlete or the sporty one (still not) but I have been wondering why this running bug has hit me so hard. I sucked at competitive sports - competing with other people was never my thing. It didn’t motivate or thrill me, and neither did beating people (which was a very, very, rare occurrence in any case!).

But running is different - you are only competing against yourself, you have tangible goals to work towards, and in the process you are improving your health including and beyond the physical. Since I started running regularly I can see changes not only in my physical make-up but I feel a lot more positive these days, I can handle stress better, I am more patient, and have been more resilient in areas of my life that are not going so great.

Funnily enough it has also made me much less afraid of the dark (except the time when an insect jumped onto my neck, bit me, and I sported a nasty red rash along the side of the neck for the next week).

Plus, it feels good to be able to relate to many of you who run on another level apart from the craft/mamahood level - to have another thing in common :-)

I stumbled across this gem today. It’s so well written and communicates so clearly what I have been feeling about running. Hope this encourages you runners and walkers out there!

“There’s a stretch of road that I run on that is long and straight and seems to go on forever. I used to hate it, but now it’s my favorite place. See I don’t have to do anything, just run. I don’t have to avoid dogs, dodge traffic, or encounter potholes. It’s just me and the road. Breathe in, breathe out. Last night while I was on that stretch I began to think how powerfully simple this all is.

We ask our body to run and it does…at first not far…but then over time it becomes this machine. A simple perfect machine. Breathe in, breathe out. One foot and another. An endless repetition of a series of moves that propels you further and further along. And the miracle of the human body is that it responds by carrying you further and further until one day you show up at work and say, “I ran eight miles yesterday” and all the jaws drop. Yes…you did. Something that your co-workers consider positively superhuman. You did it. You may not look like a superhuman, but at that moment you are.

My mind flashes back to a conversation I’ve had about running. Every run is a test; a test to see what you are made of. Do you have it in you today? Here on the road there is no way to cheat. It’s simple, you either run it or you don’t. Either you win or the road wins. And no matter how sick you are, no matter how tired you are, the road still asks, do you have it in you? Even if you had a great run yesterday, the road is still out there today and today you have to prove what you are made of. Breathe in, breathe out.

The road doesn’t care if you are good looking, smart, young, old. The test is the same. What do you have in you today? Some days you come home glowing with accomplishment. Other days you lose. You feel fat, heavy, out of shape, tired. Well meaning friends say “why do you do that to yourself?” but you know…you aren’t doing it TO yourself, you are doing it FOR yourself. You lose the stress of the day. No matter how bad your day is, you sweat out all those problems on a long run. You shut off the voices. You silence the chatter. Just you and the road, alone. Breathe in, breathe out.

I know we all have goals. Five K goals and marathon goals and negative splits. But on your next run let me encourage you to just run and enjoy the simple pleasure of running. No watch, no time limit, you’re not going anywhere, you’re not getting anywhere. You just are…a simple lone runner…on a long stretch of road. I’ll see you out there.”

(Found via here, who found it here).

Happy Friday all!

. . . I’m finally making a small dent in my To-Do list:

And patiently waiting for some newly arrived and just washed linen/cotton blend fabric (received from here) to dry:

More creative spaces over here!

Thanks to Cindy for this week’s theme! My perfect invention is not very original - I am sure many of you would agree with this one . . . a time machine!

{image credit: “Time Machine” by Dyche}

And not a time machine in the sense of going backward or forward in time, or even squeezing more time out of a day, but a time machine where I could either decelerate time so that I could actually get more done in one hour or make the most of the time I have with the girls after work, or accelerate time (like, for umm . . . work meetings :-)). I try to sharpen my time management skills, but really, the older I get, the more it becomes apparent that time is passing by much faster than before.

Thanks to Cindy for hosting this weekly meme. Also, if you have kids you should take some time to read what Cindy and her family have experienced this past week. The whole thing will make you feel ill but it is a timely reminder. I definitely held on to my girls tighter this past weekend and kept a more vigilant eye on them when we were out and about.

Speaking of the girls, they have certainly been a lot more creative than I have this past weekend! I have cut out a few softies but haven’t had the chance to sit to down and actually sew. Birthday parties and family get-togethers took up most of the weekend.

The girls had a little bit of time to play with paint and a kit I picked up from the craft shop, which included a range of foam stamps:

I went for a longer run than I usually do this morning and it went well. My legs are aching now but I keep telling myself it is good pain :-) Hard to believe that the Run Melbourne is only 2 weeks (14 days) away now! I received my running number in the mail on Friday so there’s no turning back now :-)

So far, $470 has been raised for the Mirabel Foundation (and thank you to all of you who have donated!). If you are able to help get the total up to $500 or beyond, please click here - thank so much!

It may be quiet over here over the next week as I play catch-up on the To-Do list. Hope you have an enjoyable week ahead and I hope to be back here on the weekend!

{image credit: stevacek}

I think I just might be getting into the swing of this running thing :-) I went for a run at 5:45 this morning with this as my running partner. It was dark, cold, and f-f-f-frosty. My hands tend to go numb when the temperature dips so I wore some woolly gloves and it helped heaps. Plus it’s amazing how much warmer my body felt just by wearing them.

This was the first time I actually didn’t feel like vomiting at the end of the run - seriously, I have been gagging at least twice every time I have finished a run, including the Mother’s Day Classic last month. Classy. I run 3 to 4 times a week so that’s a fair bit of gagging. But this morning - no gagging at all! That’s got to be a major improvement, right? :-)

So I felt quite good after the run for a change. I think my body is finally getting the message . . . despite the fact that when I leave the house, I am dressed very badly, with eyes half-open, and wearing yesterday’s make-up, a la Pip :-) But it’s so dark, I don’t think anyone would notice (BTW are you moving like Mike?).

I’m excited to actually be reading a book just for the pleasure of it again. I can’t seem to put it down - I steal a few pages away at every spare moment like when I’m waiting for the lights to change so I can cross the street. It’s called “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running” by Haruki Murakami.

Murakami is a critically acclaimed writer of both fiction and non-fiction. This book is a memoir on his preparations for the 2005 New York City marathon, which brings some wonderfully fresh and insightful philosophical reflections on the similarities between the disciplines of running and writing. I never ever thought I’d enjoy a book about running (but then again, I never thought I would ever get up at 5:30am of my own accord to go for a run!). The book is most likely not everyone’s cup of tea but I highly recommend it if running and writing are two of your passions.

Oh yes - and sewing! Almost forgot that this is what this blog was originally about :-) There has been a little softie-making this week. I finished up the final samples for now: Cheery Chimp and a patchwork Seahorse (had fun working with the Autumn-y palette for the seahorse) -

Next on the list are mock-ups for two upcoming projects and a few extremely-late-it’s-embarrassing gifts :-)

Hoping you all have a fantastic weekend!

On the top shelf of my study desk sits my little collection of handmade softies created by wonderfully talented people (bought or received in a swap). I love sitting at my desk and occasionally looking up to see this small gathering, reminding me of how fabulous it is to be part of this craft community and being able to experience the result of some one else’s vision and talent first-hand.

The latest addition is a limited edition (only 8!) screen-printed Folkster doll by the amazing and so-inspiring-it-hurts Hillary Lang :-) She is simply delightful.

Left to right: Mini black-&-white softie by Amy, pink cat by Carina, striped cat by Melly, goat by Holly, bird by Dawn, little pink rabbit by Holly, Hillary’s Folkster doll, rabbit by Sayaki Imai, and doll by Wawaya. Also, in the foreground on the left: a small green owl from Japan gifted by Nikki (of Hudson), an owl pin-cushion by Tatiana, and a sweet little spotty bird made by a close friend.

More creative spaces to see over here.