Dreams

Dreams are so important aren't they?  I have many.  No different to the next person.  They keep me going.  I get excited at the prospect of them becoming a reality. At different times they take over my mind.  Want to hear what currently occupies my mind?  I keep conjuring up pictures in my mind of me living my dream.  I'm in situ constantly... floating off to sleep, daydreaming on the job, googling images and pinning away.  One day it will happen, or it may not, if by then I have a new dream.  But this one has long been with me and it comes and goes in its vividness. Right now it is all consuming, and I'm working out the fine details in my mind.  I can smell it and taste it.  I can feel the water, cool and refreshing.  I can feel the sun touching my skin. I can see the colours around me.  I can hear the distant natter of voices in a foreign language. I can taste the crisp cold wine I sip whilst watching the sunset.  I can see the supper of fresh fish and salad.  I can see the fishing boats resting in the harbour, that caught the fish i've cooked that very day! I hear a bell - around the neck of a donkey or goat clattering as they move.

My days are spent painting, reading, writing, walking the hills around me, crafting and swimming. Soft white curtains billow at the open doors. Days of coffee and friendly locals. Afternoon siestas whenever I need them.  I imagine feeling so strong and healthy, not a care in the world, blissfully happy and relaxed.  Finally feeding the creative me that yearns to be.

Welcoming visitors to share my slice of heaven.  Seeing them relax and recharge whilst there.  Lots of laughter and times shared. Crafty groups coming for week long stays and working on quilts and grannies.  My quilts adorning the beds and walls - alongwith artwork. Spending several months of year - my European summer home. 

I'm loving my dream right now, watching it grow and blossom in my mind.  Heaven.

Excitement

I feel a wonderfully creative weekend ahead of me.  I'm so excited. Tomorrow I pick up 3 quilts - yes 3!! from my machine quilter.  I don't know if I'll sleep tonight :))  It's like Christmas Eve in quiltland. I can't wait to see them. They transform so much at each stage of the process.

I'm in the middle of binding my aqua blue and chocolate quilt and it is finishing it off beautifully.  I am falling in love with the quilt all over again.

I'm also off to buy the sashing for my Russian Doll quilt.  After years in the making it is a step closer to becoming a real live quilt top!

Last night I bought my first copy of Mollie Makes - love it!  Treat yourself if you haven't already.  I'm not sure how readily available it is in local newsagents here is Aus, but I found a lone copy of issue 17 at my local newsagent (complete with free crochet hook on the cover), so snapped it up....  and DEVOURED it!

I'm thinking a subscription on my Christmas list......

Stay tuned for wonderful photos of my collected quilts over the weekend.  Hopefully my iPhone camera will do them justice xx

I love donkeys

You may remember me waxing lyrical about donkeys in a previous post when I bumped into one on Mallorca last year, but just in case you're a new reader/visitor and don't know ........ I lurve donkeys. 

So this dress brought a smile to my dial when I stumbled upon it on the Anthropologie website..

Now I don't want to own it - it wouldn't suit me - I couldn't carry it off and do the donkeys justice.  But I am really excited by it.  There are obviously other people out there that share my love and appreciation for these gorgeous stubbon creatures, cousin to the glorious horse.  Now I did know that there are like minded souls who share my love, but to think to take it to this level?  A chic silk shift!  Fantastico!  Bravo!

I'm pretty certain all the elegance of the garment would be lost if I was to wear it (I would just look like Major Frumptown),  but if I did adorn my body with it ... I think high heeled brown boots and a scarf tied at the neck may well complete the look.

I'm going to google donkey fabric and see what I find.......

Coco Chanel

January is close to being over.  I confess to all you amazingly productive creative peeps, I haven't spent any time on any creative projects, but immersed myself in summer pursuits instead.  Lots of swimming at the beach and in the pool at our villa in Bali (yes we had a luxurious week in Seminyak) - so soul renewing it was fabulous.  I indulged in massages, manis and pedis, sundowner drinks by the ocean or pool, great food, snoozing, day spa-ing, some shopping, some tailor-made cowboy boot shopping, people watching. Absolutely divine.  I feel like a thouroughly pampered pooch! I would head back to Bali any time.  I now understand why people love it and go there over and over again.  It was hot, really, really humid hot, with lots of drenching downpours that simply soothed away the heat with their noise and smell.

The heat back here in Perth has been absolutely stiffling, without the relief of rain, so lots of flopping watch movies over the weekends has happened!  I'm sure I've watched more in this last month than I have in the entire past 2 years.  Evenings at Somerville, the outdoor movie theatre that shows foreign films from December to April.  A different one every week.  It's a highlight of summer in Perth, sitting in deck chairs under the stars and rustling pines, soaking up foreign films, preceded by a picnic if you choose.  DVD's etc on the couch at home

I became engrossed in a TV series called "True Blood" about mainstreaming vampires living in Louisiana.  It is hilarious.  Not usually my style at all.  It's great watching an entire series at your leisure, without ads and episode after episode so it really flows.  I don't watch commercial television, apart from cricket and tennis occasionally.

Anyway the real reason I was inspired to post was the movie  "Coco Chanel" with Shirley Maclaine and Barbara Bobulova.  I saw it for the first time on the weekend and loved it.  Watching her creative journey was really heart-warming and if you haven't seen it and if you're a fashion history fan, I thoroughly recommend the movie.  There are scenes where she is working on hats and then putting herself on the line, right out there with her creations and believing in herself.  In another scene she is asked "why hats".....I can hear people thinking out loud when they see my bags..."? why bags" ...who knows why we're drawn to specific mediums, we just are us creative peeps.  And we can jump from one to another to keep exploring and learning and buzzing!

I love hearing, watching other people's creative journeys as I just so get it.  Fame follows some like Coco, however, fame didn't drive her, her creative passion did.  Fame and fortune don't drive any creative people I know, their passion does.  And I love that at that base level we're all the same.