A truly beautiful Minxy mix of charm, inspiration, practical advice, and pretty projects to simplify and beautify your life and home. - Jane Brocket, The Gentle Art of Domesticity
Trench-tastic
Reinvented Burberry coat for AWW
My friend Shauna gave me this fab Burberry trench from the seventies, picked up on a charity store jaunt in Boston. It was a bit worse for wear with its much-abused lining, falling-off buttons and dirty hem from jumping one too many mud-filled puddles, but it had potential.
You might remember that I found some divine silk fabric from Ginger & Smart not long ago, as well… I ripped out the signature Burberry check, replaced it with the silk, and bought a set of shiny raspberry-coloured buttons from All Buttons Great & Small to affix before snipping away the grubby hem. Voilà – you have yourself a reinvented trench.
See the July issue of Australian Women’s Weekly for instructions on re-creating your own.
Kirstin Ash jewellery
Kirstin Ash pendants
Jessica of Coco Repose visited last week for morning tea, and was wearing the most amazing necklace by Kirstin Ash. This is really beautiful vintage-inspired jewellery, made with rare papers and prints from earlier eras. I’m definitely buying… the only question is, how to choose just a few pieces, or even one? Seriously gorgeous.
Heart & wishbone pendant by Kirstin Ash
Various Kirstin Ash pieces
The clever woman herself
The motherhood juggle
Actress Rebecca Gibney for Sunday Life
Motherhood pushes me to the absolute limits sometimes, and it’s hard to remember what life was like when I only had myself to look after, but it’s made me more motivated than ever to write and be creative. It’s because having Olive has thrown into stark relief what is, and what isn’t, important these days. I meet women all the time who say the same thing: children really focus the energies.
My gorgeous & supportive friend Jacinta interviewed me for this Sunday Life piece published last weekend – it’s a look at eight different women and their take on juggling career and motherhood.
I often read Mia Freedman’s columns and blog, and always appreciate her humour and sanity… Mostly, I just really appreciate it when women can be real, and admit when things are a challenge. All we can ever do is our best.
* Image of me and Olive taken by photographer and working mum, the lovely Amanda Prior for Sunday Life.
Antoinette Fleur
Speaking of illustrations, I’ve been investigating the work of Antoinette Fleur, a French artist my friend Olivier introduced me to through his blog, Dossier 37. Olivier tells me her drawings are published in all the top French magazines and super-popular in Europe.
I haven’t seen her work before – at least, I wasn’t aware if I have – but think there’s something so free and spirited about Fleur’s fashionably illustrated girls, don’t you? I am loving them.
Charmingly naïve
A couple of hotties
I made these the other night while watching one of my favourite films, The Royal Tenenbaums (because, just like the cobbler with holey shoes, I didn’t have one when the temperature dropped, having given all mine away).
But back to the film – it’s one I love so much, it warms my heart every time I see it. And I thought the same thing last time I watched it: I must dedicate a wall to family pictures, just like Etheline did (the Tenenbaum matriarch, played by Angelica Huston). Naive prints in texta, pencil and paint, in different-sized frames.
I’ll start with a painting of Olive, on a postcard-sized canvas, and maybe one of our home with its shiny red front door, open in welcome. No need to be precious – they’ll be simple, just whatever I can manage. And we’ll add to our collection over the years with all her artwork and ours. Yep, that’s what I’m going to do.
The Tenenbaums' picture gallery
Margot's room
Artist Cayce Zavaglia
'Sophie' by Cayce Zavaglia
I really feel as though the line between art and craft is becoming more blurred than ever. You might remember the Vicious Threads workshop I went to last year at the MCA, during the Louisa Bufardeci & Zon Ito exhibition. It struck me then, as it does now, how much craft skills are gaining recognition in art circles, and how craft has also crossed over into the field of high design. Especially when I see something like these portraits by Cayce Zavaglia.
Cayce is a mother of four who lives in St. Louis in the US. Here’s what she has to say about her pieces:
“My own love of art and craft began as a child growing up in Australia. This current series of embroidered portraits came about as I thought back on a crewel embroidery piece of a sheep station I had done as a child. I studied painting in college and graduate school, so I wanted these pieces to continue to read as paintings. Although the medium used is crewel embroidery wool, the technique borrows more from the worlds of drawing and painting. Initially, working with an established range of wool colours proved frustrating. Unlike painting, I was unable to mix the colours by hand, but over time I’ve created a system of sewing the threads in a sequence that gives the illusion of a certain colour or tone. The direction in which the threads are sewn has to mimic the way lines are layered in a drawing to give the illusion of depth, volume, and form. Over time the stitches have become tighter and more complex, but ultimately more evocative of flesh, hair, and cloth. My work unabashedly nods its head to the tradition of tapestry and my own love of craft. Using wool and embroidery in my work has allowed me to propose a new definition for the word ‘painting’.”
Feel free to leave a comment – I think they’re amazing. For more of Cayce’s work, visit her gallery online.
'Sophie' detail by Cayce Zavaglia
'Martina' by Cayce Zavaglia
'Dad' by Cayce Zavaglia
'Mum' by Cayce Zavaglia
“Sophie” 2007
14″ x 35″
14″ x 35″
“Martina” 2009
17″ x 40″
“Dad” 2007
14″ x 39″
“Mum” 2001
14″ x 21″
All hand embroidery: crewel wool and acrylic on canvas
Some Home Truths
Lovely tulip image by Germaine Leece
Last Thursday, journalist Germaine Leece visited me at home to share a cup of tea and a chat about our home for her website Some Home Truths. It’s a lovely blog about the importance of our living spaces and the comfort they bring… I urge you to stop by for a leisurely read. And if you’re interested, here’s the interview.
My favourite spot to read - the club lounge armchair in our bedroom
My vintage silk crepe cushions from the Rozelle markets, with new fillings
And gutentag again, mein lieblings!
The German cover for The Crafty Minx
Well, dear readers, you can imagine how totally over the moon I was to see this for the first time. Yes – it’s The Crafty Minx in German! Love it. Christian Verlag, I could kiss you.
For more info, click here.
Freestyle craft at Shearer’s
Emma & mum Jodie crafting together
Here’s some snaps from yesterday’s workshop at Shearer’s. I had such a great morning wandering about and chatting to everyone as they stitched and got creative. I suggested people make brooches or fridge magnets, à la some of the pieces in the new book, but as always it was great to see the variety of ideas people came up with after such small direction. It made me itchy to sit down and try some new techniques I picked up from those crafters with different skills to me, like this cute & tiny blanket stitch below.
Lily pad
We also had a few kids on board, which was lovely to see – there’s nothing nicer than watching mother & child lost in making something together.
Emma's flower brooch
There's that crazy sixties silk again... scraps will be kicking about forever, it seems
Un peau paisley
Jake sleeps while mum Victoria makes a pirate shirt