I'VE spent a glorious weekend outdoors. I've made so many plans in my head of things I want to do and places I want to go this coming spring and summer that I just wish it would hurry up and get here.


THINGS TO MAKE AND DO: If you're bushwalking or beach combing, you need big pockets to collect smooth rocks, sea glass or pretty fallen leaves.

THINGS TO HANG ON THE WALL: And here's what you can do with all those scavenged pieces of broken driftwood or pieces of fallen gum you've picked up from the bush track.

#flashback: This time last year I was just pretty pleased to be home.

WE are less that a week away from the shortest day and to spinning back toward summer. I can barely believe it, we just haven't had enough cold weather. There's been a week of using heating at home, if that, and I've had to fill a hot water bottle on only a handful of nights. Spring will be upon us before we know it.

In the meantime, I'll rug up when I need to and enjoy the mostly sunny, blue-sky winter days to chase the light.

THINGS TO MAKE AND DO: I need socks bad. Like undies and bras, all my regular socks have become threadbare all at once. I do like a cozy sock and won't say no to a pretty pair. Of course, I'll only be devoting time to embroidering them once I've finished with this.

THINGS TO HANG ON THE WALL: My grandfather's and grandmother's cameras have been passed down to me. They're beautiful, well-cared for pieces of technology and I've been experimenting with them. There's a roll of film in a vintage Canon and I am yet to source 120 format film for a vintage Kodak, but I will, and promise to show you the results - if any. In the meantime enjoy these lovely hand-drawn vintage cameras.

#flashback: This time last year I was musing on my world view, and though it's not penned here, making big decisions about my future.

MORE time at home means more time for craft projects. I finished the boyfriend hat from the last 'pinning things' post and cotton string is on my shopping list to start making these coasters. Love autumn. It's the perfect season for some cozy crafternoons.


THINGS TO MAKE AND DO: No fancy looms, just a piece of cardboard, some string and wool. Why I am having flash backs to primary school art classes?

THINGS TO HANG ON THE WALL: I've been making and mending, crafting and creating and I feel an itch to get the lino print tools out.

#flashback: This time last year I was home from one overseas trip and packing my bags for two more.

I AM in multi-tasking overdrive, but in a good way. I have projects on the go everywhere - in the garden, on my sticks, in the mending pile. I am hunting down new recipes. Trying new exercise routines. Exploring new cafes. I have a stash of books on my bed and am backtracking through unwatched favourite shows. What's so good about all of this is that none are remotely related to my work.

I posted an article about Rushing Women's Syndrome this week and it resonated with readers, friends and family. Two friends even mentioned it when we spoke on the phone, all of us agreeing we had to do something about it.

I feel like I have. I took the brakes off a crushing daily work commute and removed myself from a tricky work environment to reset and refocus. It's been healthy. I was worried sick about leaving a well-paid, full-time job when my partner and I started talking about it more than a year ago. Now that I've made the leap, I'm thrilled. It's offered me new opportunities and new insights. I've booked a trip to Sri Lanka later in the year, applied for things I never thought I'd have the opportunity to do - and am now doing- and signed on to do more training. I'm even thinking about post-graduate study.

Autumn's a good month to be quiet and potter away at my many projects and ideas, all the while thinking and plotting for the future.

Are you thinking about stepping back, or are you already in hibernation? How's it going?


THINGS TO MAKE AND DO: I have seen enough blog posts and Pinterest pins now to suggest that potpourri is making a comeback. The stuff permeated my late 1980s teens. It was everywhere. My mum made it and sold in her nursery gift store, often with my sister and I stuffing drawer and wardrobe hangers and sachets. I'm not sure I can stomach another round of the loose stuff, but I do have a soft spot - along with embroidered handkerchiefs - for the sachets.

THINGS TO HANG ON THE WALL: Speaking of slim line pants, they'd look even better if my legs - or anyone's legs - were this long. I do love me a vintage retail poster or advertisement.

#flashback: This time last year I was preparing to be away for three big months of travel. Gosh, was that only a year ago. So much has happened since then.

I HAD the best night's sleep last night. A cool night to pull the donna up and snuggle under. It won't be long until a hot water bottle is needed.


THINGS TO MAKE AND DO: Purl Soho's Boyfriend Hat is a perfectly shaped beanie. I just need to flush out 4ply, or fingering weight, yarn from the op shop and get knitting.

THINGS TO HANG ON THE WALL: I need to clean my gutters of the falling tibouchina trees and  am already sweeping leaves from the back patio. These cooler nights are heralding a change of season.

#flashback: Last year my Pinterest pins were all about planning a New York trip.

HOW quickly things can change from one month to another. My January post had me back at my old job for the start of the new year, and this post has me starting a new job. I'm not kidding you that when I leaped, I really leaped. I was making plans to leave my former job. I commuted four hours daily and my directors were aware I was looking to leave the early starts, long days and inflexible hours behind in 2016 - at least for a little while.

Rather, one phone call was all it took to set me on the path of an opportunity close to home, working with a grassroots community organisation moving from organic growth to strategic growth. I'll be setting down a communications strategy and implementing processes and ways of working that the small, already busy team and their customers can work with. I can't wait to dive in. The contract's for six months and I've got my eye firmly on what needs to be done while preparing for what comes next.

This is going to be one busy and, hopefully, fulfilling year. I'm ready for it.


THINGS TO MAKE AND DO: Maybe if I start on these this month I should be able to wear then when the weather turns cool. I am a fan of the leg warmer.

THINGS TO HANG ON THE WALL: I actually think this would make a stunning, if not over the top wallpaper of furnishings fabric. My partner and I bought a delightful mid-century single rocker for $50 at the op shop last week. The fabric on it is great but needs a clean up. We're also thinking about reupholstering and something like this would be on my short-list.

#flashback: I was trying to keep the summer holiday glow alive, without success.

I'M back at work this week, but I enjoyed a week of taking it pretty easy. I don't want things to slide from slow to "whoa", so I'm trying to stay organised and keep on top of stuff. January and February are shaping up to be busy months.


THINGS TO MAKE AND DO: I am running a fabric printing course for teen girls later this month. We'll be using cheap and easy techniques that pack a lot of visual punch, and I've been collecting a little inspiration.

THINGS TO HANG ON THE WALL: Ola Liola's beautiful flowering gum print is sold out but what a gorgeous permanent reminder of the gums coming into bloom right now.

#flashback: It was all about summer colour this time last year.

OKAY. Nobody panic. We might be days away from Santa and his elves noticing that things are not peaceful, full of joy or even merry, but we can salvage this. We can. No, seriously. We got this.



THINGS TO HANG ON THE WALL: I am guessing if you're this disorganised, you probably have done nothing about writing Christmas cards and are feeling a little awkward about those you have received. No worries. Hang them like this, Instagram it and tag your friends with a 'thank you, love the card, yours is in the mail'. Forgiven.

#flashback: Damn it. This time last year I had one Christmas card. This year none. Is it me? 

I WAS on the phone to my sister over the weekend, checking her plans for Christmas, where she and her lot will be. Christmas lunch will be at ours but there will be visitors and visiting to do before then. As manic as this time of year can feel, I do like baking and making for friends and family.


THINGS TO HANG ON THE WALL: Oh, the expectation when you know someone special is on their way. Print by Natalia Moroz.

#flashback: Much the same this time last year, planning for Christmas, planning food to share and thinking about travel, particularly our booked New York trip.

A FEW hot days and I start thinking about summer holidays, and Christmas.


THINGS TO MAKE AND DO: Every year I make a tree decoration for each of my four step-children, all of them now grown. I have been looking for something I can stitch on the train during the commute home. This will be it, but I better start stitching soon.

THINGS TO COOK AND EAT: Christmas will be at our house this year and we've decided on a Christmas lunch. It's usually salads and cold meats, a pavlova and fresh fruit. I like the look of this take on a warm potato salad.


THINGS TO DROP DOUGH ON: We live on the coast, so a trip to the beach either before or after lunch is on the cards. Cool, pretty and I won't need to change. I will have to watch out for turmeric stains from that potato salad though. I am a shocker at keeping whites stain-free.

THINGS TO HANG ON THE WALL: And this will be us for a portion of Christmas Day. I love the energy of this woodcut. It's so full of joy.

#flashback: A move back to colour, light and the return of warm days. Clearly not as warm as we've just had.

I ONLY saw the colour themes here when I uploaded my collages, but I am rather chuffed. Orange and purple, and turquoise and pink: colour combos I think I'll explore a little more this spring.

THINGS TO MAKE AND DO: I don't care that these stained glass look-a-likes made from paper are the kind of thing you might make during a primary school art class; they're pretty and colourful and make you smile.

THINGS TO COOK AND EAT: We're moving away from stews and curries, soups, bakes and casseroles and savouring a move to stir fries, risottos and noodles: Bangkok coconut curry bowl noodles, to be exact.



THINGS TO DROP DOUGH ON: Jodi's ALAS giveaway is well and truly closed but that doesn't mean you can't covet a pretty new pair of PJs. My PJs are pretty daggy - skull and crossbone flannel pants, bought, I think from Coles and from the menswear selection, and an old op-shopped tee. I could definitely do with a refresh.

THINGS TO HANG ON THE WALL: Thank goodness for Pinterest, because of all the social media platforms I use, it is the best for introducing me to new makers, artists, dreamers and doers and Ophelia Pang is one I've been stalking since discovering this lovely piece.

#flashback: I'd lost all sense of colour this time last year. In hindsight, it was a reflection of a bad time and place.

CAN you feel it? It's starting to thaw out. Winter is being chased away by the spring. Sprinter is here, and with it, a return to the great outdoors.

THINGS TO MAKE AND DO: Days are deceivingly warm but the nights are still cool, even cold, in my neck of the woods. My family called these jumpers sloppy joes, but maybe because sloppy and 'slobby' sound the same to me, or because I equate these things with school sport uniforms - both bad - I've never, of my own free will, owned one of these cotton pullovers. Perhaps that needs to change because this would be perfect for hiding the grubby hallmarks of camping, or 'glamping', if that's more your style,


THINGS TO COOK AND EAT: If I did have a sloppy joe, or three, I'd be donning them all to sleep out on the lawns of Taronga Zoo with about 1000 Girl Guides at the end of the month. You walk in wearing the clothes you'll need through the night, a bare minimum of gear and a meal that requires the simple addition of hot water. Done and done.

THINGS TO DROP DOUGH ON: I hate flip flops, rubber thongs, jandals, whatever you choose to call them. Hate them. Between the thongs and sloppy joes, I am a clothing snob - more so if I am to confess loving Birkenstocks. I own one pair and it'll take just a few more degrees Celsius before it makes an early Spring, or Sprinter, appearance.


THINGS TO HANG ON THE WALL: The heavy lines of Andrew Pavitt's linocut evoke what it is to camp and tramp at this time of year: rugged up against icy winds but braving it all to escape the confines of the city and winter's walls.

THINGS TO MAKE AND DO: One of the things I try to do when I travel overseas is visit a local Girl Guide unit. I didn’t manage to visit an actual weekly meeting or camp, but I did go to the Girl Scout HQ in New York. It’s a bit of a nerdy Girl Guide thing to do, but I always like to have a little gift from Australia to share. Australian Girl Guide supporters make felt birds and Aussie animals for our intrepid members to pack and give to their international counterparts and new friends. I’m going to whip up something like these to share next time one of us is off on an international adventure, which actually happens quite a lot. Girl Guides Go Places, don’t you know. It’s even a hashtag: #girlguidesgoplaces

Speaking of the US Girl Scouts, did you see the awesome crowdfund venture of one Girl Scout troop? Talk about living by their Girl Scout Promise and Law: this was a brave and ethical decision. Makes me so proud.

THINGS TO COOK AND EAT: What’s more Aussie than a pie? How about a pie that is a nod to our colonial roots with squishy peas, our post-World War II migrant intake with a smidge of Italian parmesan and our more worldly multicultural mix with a side serve of sumac and labneh? That’s my kinda pie. If I could infuse it with a little Indigenous-inspired bush tucka, it’d be perfect.


THINGS TO DROP DOUGH ON: I have a pair of good old Clarks Desert Boots bought at an op shop for a song. They’ve served me well but they’re pretty beaten up now and I’ve been hunting around for a similar looking pair of boots but with street smarts that I can wear on more casual dressing days to work. Clarks Desert Boots are an English-made boot, but I still associate Clarks with the school shoes I wore through much of primary school. You?

THINGS TO HANG ON THE WALL: I’ve had a lot of small artworks, and one big one, framed. They’re all mementos from overseas travel that have been sitting around in folders – some for years – waiting for that “get ‘round to it” moment. Well it came, and I may have very little wall space once I work out where they’re all to go, but should I be adding to it, this one would remind me of home for sure. No beach near here would be complete without a seagull, or a few hundred of them.

#flashback: The big blue skies I'm enjoying right now were a feature of this week last year too, as were things hearty and solid.