So I guess I have hit the region of “mid-thirties” today :-)

What an unexpected year of change it has been. Thank you to my truly wonderful family and friends for their endless support, encouragement, exhortation, prayers, and love; for their patient and listening ears; for all the laughs; for the memorable meals together and hospitality; and simply for just being there for me. I know I am blessed to have all these people in my life.

And thank you to all of you who drop in on this blog – for your friendship and support both online and offline. I hadn’t noticed until today that this blog also celebrated it’s 4th blogiversary a few weeks ago! How time flies! Thank you for motivating me to keep creating and making and sharing :-)

Despite everything that has happened over this last year, I have discovered that: “In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” (Albert Camus)

Onward and upward!

* Thank you to my Youngest for the photo above!

Trying something different (for me) in softie construction. The result is a new Piggy that is slowly coming together:

Eyes and collar are just pinned in place for now as I experiment with different shapes and sizes.

Also, I’ve been admiring my daughter’s new shoes (gifted by her grandparents from a recent trip overseas) . . . is it too weird to be slightly envious of your kid’s shoes? :-)

And how’s this for creativity? My cousin-in-law painted this gorgeous woodland scene as a gift for my girls!

Bad weather means I can’t seem to take a good picture of it – this photo seriously doesn’t do it justice. The detail up close is stunning. Just have to find the right wall to hang it on now. Thank you Ariadne!!

Please drop in on Kirsty’s to find more creative spaces.

Yesterday’s public holiday and fine weather meant a day out to the Healesville Sanctuary for the girls and I. It was my second visit but neither of the girls had been before, so they were excited about seeing all the Aussie animals (except the wombat – my youngest is quite afraid of them for some reason!)

The girls and I agree that our favourite part was seeing a Barn Owl up close (well, as close as you can get in a packed little outdoor theatre!) and swooping above our heads. What a beautiful, stunning creature! I was also hoping to see a Barking Owl – sadly there are only about 50 pairs of Barking Owls left in Victoria.

Seeing that Barn Owl yesterday reminded me why I do love owls in general and inspired me to recall some of my favourite Owl softies from talented crafters and artists. Here are a few of them:

Credits:
1. Untitled, 2. chillingworth , 3. owl, 4. Boreal Owl and Hawk Owl, 5. Ozwald Owl, 6. Mr. and Mrs. Hootie, 7. Ollie, the Owlet, 8. Woodgrain Owl 3, 9. Owl (this one didn’t turn up in the mosaic above but please click the link to see it!)

Of course, if you simply search the term “owl” in flickr, you will also find a huge amount of amazing owl photos like this one and this one.

Any Owl-lovers out there? :-)

It’s amazing what an immovable, non-negotiable deadline can do :-) This Bubbly the Owl sample was whipped up over two nights, which – judging by my recent low levels of productivity – is a new record for me!

It will be joining my other softie samples in the Pattern Press booth at the Spring Quilt Market next month in the USA. I wish I could travel with it! I keep telling myself one day . . . one day I’ll get to experience the awesomeness of those massive Quilt Markets in the USA. All those new designs! All that gorgeous fabric in the one place! The possibility of meeting and chatting with the designers! It’s definitely on my list of goals.

Be inspired by more creative spaces to be found at Kirsty’s here!

I know this is completely non-craft related and quite random, but I just wanted to share this with you because I am very proud of my little brother (okay, not so little anymore).

Back in Uni, I used to play the guitar and one day I came home and found my guitar missing. I eventually uncovered it in my brother’s room. As it turned out, he had been teaching himself how to play when I wasn’t around. I also discovered that he had been writing songs and had formed a band with friends from his high school. And soon, I was watching him at gigs.

He and his band, Carnation, have been together for a few years now and have been working hard. My brother is on lead vocals (but also plays a few different instruments) and writes most of the songs. They will be launching a new EP this month and have just filmed their first music video.

Here’s the official video:

If you like it, please do spread the word :-) It reminds me of a quote I read today: “Talent is like money; it only grows when you put it to work.”

Way to go Josh!

More details on Carnation (and more of their music) here.

Finally, after what seems like a really, really, loooong time, I’ve actually finished up some softies! :-)  You’ve seen a couple photos of these bunnies already over the last few weeks, but here they are all done and ready to travel to new homes:

These are large dolls that are about 56cm/22 inches from their feet to the tops of their ears. I had a lot of fun choosing different fabrics strips from my new and vintage fabric piles for their bodies (which have also been quilted). Their limbs have been made of either wool or wool blend flannel. I’ve used faux fur for their heads, despite my sewing machine protesting many times :-)

Each one is one-of-a-kind and you can find them in my shop now (in addition to some fawns that are also awaiting new homes :-)). You can find my shop here: One Red Robin Shoppe on etsy

I’ve got one more week of leave left before I go back to work. It will be an interesting week – a deadline looming on Friday, I get to test-drive and review a family car for a few days too, plus I’m working on a very cool giveaway for crafty kids :-) Hope you enjoy the new week ahead!

Back from our short break. Don’t worry, I won’t bombard you with too many holiday pics :-) But it was definitely a great little holiday of sorts and came at just the right time.

The girls and I flew up to Sydney and spent most of the time catching up with good friends – friends I’ve had since Year 7 (yup, that’s just over 20 years ago!); friends who have stuck with me and supported me through good and bad times.  I feel very thankful to have been blessed with such enduring friendships and am hoping that all of our kids will enjoy that kind of friendship with each other.

The girls and I stayed at the Sebel in Parramatta. I secured a good deal a few months ago and highly recommend the hotel. Nice/clean digs, helpful staff, and a whole lot of places to dine-in on Church Street, just outside the front door. Here are the girls testing out the beds :-)

Thanks to my BFF, the girls and I also got to experience Wicked at the Capitol Theatre on Saturday afternoon. We had amazing seats – 6th row from the stage and centre! I really loved every moment (though the girls were slightly freaked out by the Wizard’s big golden head and booming voice). I hope I’ll be able to watch it again if it ever comes back to Melbourne. The cast were fantastic and I shed a few tears especially during “Defying Gravity” and “For Good.” I had to take the CD home with me :-)

(Thanks Czar for this pic!)

Lots of eating, laughing, and chatting makes for a very good time away and definitely lifts the spirits!

And now back to reality. Hope to catch up on blogs, emails and comment-replies this week – and get stuck into some much needed crafting.

Hope you are all having a great week too!

In my creative space today there are the three Woodland Girl bunnies that are just about done. All I need to do is sew some buttons on the other two and I think that should be it. I think these bunnies have taken the longest to make (apart from the life-size Woodland dolls I made 2 years ago) – so many distractions and a lot of indecision as to what to do with them. So it feels great to know that they are almost done :-)

I’m preparing to move house soon and there has been a lot of sorting and throwing out/giving away over the last few days. I dropped off a whole heap of stuff at the Salvos yesterday with the intention of doing just that and then getting on with other errands. But I just couldn’t resist and stepped inside – and I came away with a few goodies for the girls!! My sweetest find for me was this cute little vase -

By the way, every time I step inside the Salvos shop at Deer Park, there is least one beautiful crocheted blanket (about 1.5m x 1.5m big) in excellent condition hanging in the bedding section. I actually found two yesterday but didn’t take them home with me as I think I have enough already :-) But seriously, if you’re looking for these kinds of blankets, visit this store – amazing at only $8!

The girls and I are heading off interstate tomorrow to hang out with a bunch of wonderful, long-time friends. I CANNOT WAIT!!! We’re also excited about watching Wicked on Saturday :-) So this blog will be on a little break and I hope to be back here mid-next week.

Now off to enjoy a few of these :-)

More creative spaces over at Kirsty’s here.

Joining in on Pip’s new meme today and posting up Fives Faves from the long weekend.

1) Painting & Writing & Drawing: It’s nice having a break where we don’t have to really BE anywhere (except church on Easter Sunday). So the girls and I have been hanging out at home and spending the hours painting and drawing and writing. The girls are currently into writing and illustrating their own little ‘books‘. They get so much joy from creating them and I get so much joy from reading them!

2) Afternoon Naps: So under-rated. Squished into bed with the girls + afternoon naps three days in a row = Awesome.

3) My 3-and-a-half year old’s growing love of picture-taking. Here are a few she took from the weekend:

4) Running in the morning. Due to various reasons, the only time of day I can fit in a run these days is after work, and with the end of daylight savings, I’m not looking forward to running in the dark! Holidays mean I can leave the girls with a family member for a while and venture off for a run in the morning. Morning runs are the best.

5) Chocolate. Yes, we have indeed received our fair share of Easter eggs over the last few days but I will admit to shunning such eggs in favour of enjoying my very own little box of this :-)

More Five Faves over at Pip’s!

. . . Woodland Bunny #2 in progress, whilst Woodland Bunny #1 waits patiently for the rest of her outfit to be made and for her bunny friends to emerge . . .

I was hoping to have all 3 Woodland Bunnies done by now but I’ve been feeling so ridiculously exhausted and just bleh this week. Thankfully, I’ll be on a few weeks leave from work starting tomorrow – it could not have come at a better time!

To those of you who celebrate this time of year, I wish you a happy and safe Easter – a time to celebrate new birth, second chances, un-merited grace, and enduring hope :-)

Happy long-weekend everyone and enjoy those Easter eggs!

More creative spaces to be found here.