Fabric Swatch Book

Ok, so it has been a slow few weeks for drawing, sewing or anything-ing for me. I have done a few things which were fun,

• The entombed warriors at the NSW Art Gallery - amazing. I am always thrilled by the fact that you can still see things that were made by people more than 2000 years ago. I just stared at the statues thinking, "there was someone who looked just like that alive once."
• Soap - I love acrobatics, so it was really fun for me. If that doesn't really do it for you, then avoid. I think it's pretty cool what the human body is capable of.

So when I went to the Art Gallery, I also browsed the gift shop and I saw this great fabric swatch book. I was too cheap to fork out for it there and then, but I still may buy it (I mean I am still thinking about it, days later) but I thought I should at least try and make my own, you know? So I've been saving scraps of fabric and noting down their composition and care instuctions to put into a binder. Yeah, it's all pretty messily slapped together at the moment, but when it's nice and pretty, I'll post a photo.

Hello, Cohabitation!

So here is my quick and dirty sketch of what I thought would look nice in our future living room. For now, I'll be moving into a rented apartment, with white walls and ceilings (with pink cornices) and salmony pink carpet, but when we get our own place, I'd love moody grey walls with a stencilled fleur de lys motif in matte silver. Then I'd get this rug and a floor lamp to brighten the area up. We've both been dying to get a chesterfield sofa (I love cushions - maroon and pale blue) and I love rocking chairs (he already has a recliner, but secretly I love this one) This is his existing coffee table, which I like anyway and I'd decorate it with a cute vase and a souvenir from our Paris honeymoon (but the one in the blue rectangle is from here)

What do you think?

I Am Not A Photographer

So I have this not-very-good digital camera, that I always have trouble taking photos with - I remember once I chose to bring my polaroid camera over it to a wedding (not so good in hindsight, they're actually very loud in a quiet room, especially when everyone else is in complete silence.) But shame on me, I've never really bothered to read the manual, I just leave it on auto and hope for the best. Last week I finally hunkered down and actually learnt what the settings are and how to focus it and I tried taking some photos.

I know, it's just a top on a mannequin, and this is actually the least blurry of the bunch. But you know, the colours are true, and I followed the advice of the blogging sages: never use flash! My parents gave it to me for Christmas (cool!) so I sketched out a little outfit design for it:


I like that something so sweet and elegant can look sleek and tough with the black leather cuff and ankle boots. I want to make the tuxedo pants myself, I haven't made a pair of pants in ages.

Christmas Is Over, But The Tree Is Still Up.

On Monday I went out and bought things that I wanted but didn't get for Christmas (not that I'm ungrateful, seriously - I made a killing this year). My brother got me a drawing course and I went to get supplies, like proper drawing paper, a sketching board (I was going to also get an easel, but really, I don't paint that much) and some pencils, charcoal sticks and erasers (I lurve kneadable erasers - in my mind they're magic, probably because I was never allowed to get them when I was a kid so I had to use bits of bread). But then I couldn't control myself and got some nice coloured pencils. They're the best medium for me, cheerful and quick.

I also got a couple of books, this one (mine is translated from japanese, yay!)

I know that I probably won't make designs as unusual as this to wear, but I figure that having the skill to do it will be useful.

This other book I only got because it was 6 dollars and I can't walk away from a bargain.

It was a good read, anyway.