Bits and Pieces

I've been:

Knitting for a pay-it-forward challenge on facebook.


Nervously cutting up an embroidered tablecloth...


...to make a Mexican-inspired  blouse.


I've been:

Picking and cooking.


Picking and eating.


Tidying.


Creating garden whimsy.


Taking time to find treasure in unexpected places.

The Obligatory Pinterest Policy Post

There's no such thing as bad publicity, right?  If the old adage is true, the folks at Cold Brew Labs must be very, very happy at all of the 'free' publicity on the internets right now.  Money couldn't buy the kind of coverage they're receiving.

As a concerned citizen of the www's, I've been picking up on the various conversations doing the rounds.  I won't repost a lot of links here as what has been written is a lot more succinct and perhaps has more legal standing than I could present to you.  But if you've been under a rock or if your eyes are starting to glaze over when you see the "P" word, then here's a quick summary as I see it.

Copyright and intellectual property rights are the main issues.  Issues as old as the World Wide Web itself.  Some photographers are not happy that their pictures are being pinned at all.  Some craft sellers are not happy that their creations are being posted, with or without attribution, especially if there is a caption that reads something along the lines of "I am so going to make this!!"  Some people are very worried about the Terms in regards to licensing and ownership of material on Pinterest. The terms 'fair use', 'visual collection', 'attribution', 'commercial purposes' as opposed to 'personal use' are cropping up in the discussions.  People are 'tearfully deleting their boards' and leaving Pinterest. In response to some of those concerns, Pinterest has produced a line of code that can be added to websites to prevent Pinning from the site.

It's complex, fraught with controversy and ultimately, very much open to interpretation.  But as usual, there is an element of sensationalism arising.  Only a little searching and common sense tells me that some website owners are more than happy to have their posts, recipes and articles bookmarked publicly with the proper attribution.  Some blog owners are very happy with the increase in hits that they can trace back to someone Pinning a picture from a post.

So here is my own personal Pinterest policy.

I will not be taking down my boards, tearfully or otherwise!  I will be going over my pins with a fine-toothed comb.  Each picture I've saved will be checked for it's back-link.  If the original site has buttons that allow Pinning or posting on other social media sites, I will Pin them.  If there is a specific Pinterest policy on the site, I will respect it.  If the author of the site is a photographer, ie. photographs are their end product, I will probably not Pin, or I will contact the site owner and request permission.

I will only Re-Pin if the picture links back to an original site and it fits all of the criteria as above.  There will be no more Pins from tumblr or Google image searches in my boards. (Applied retrospectively as I sift through my boards over the next few days).

I will not be making anymore 'Recently spotted on Pinterest' blog posts a) because you're probably already viewing them there, and b) they're an indication that I don't really have anything original to say so I should say nothing at all and c) they could be 'Pinned' by someone else and link back to me whereas they should link to their originator.

Out of respect to crafters and creatives, I will try to refrain from indicating an express wish to make the same item or similar.  Having said that, I think this is an issue that predates the internet by centuries and it's perhaps being a wee bit precious to get up in arms about imitation that is done for personal use.  Certainly, copying for commercial purposes is a no-no.  But being inspired to use things I have on hand to create a similar item will not cause me to lose sleep.  I've been in the craft business and I recognised long ago that fellow-creatives will often desire to recreate something they've seen that inspires them, rather than simply buy it.  But realistically, (lack of) time and (lack of) ability to achieve a similar result will keep me buying Other People's creations and thereby keep the universe in balance.

As for my blogs, I will write a sharing policy for them but until then, images may be Pinned so long as they link directly back to the original blog post.

Lastly, I've re-read the Pinterest terms and satisfied myself that I can work relatively safely within them.

It is interesting to contemplate that within a very short space of time, the majority of website owners will have to contemplate where they stand on the issue of Pinterest.  Not a bad start for the 'new kid' of social networking!

New-To-Me Bloggy Goodness

I've added quite a few blogs to my reader lately (because I just don't have enough to read already!!)  Here's the latest I'm loving:

Resweater - a repurpose blog focussed wholly and solely on new uses for old sweaters.

Stella -  vintage lace that makes me weak at the knees!

Vintage Home - a real eye for pretty things.  I could Pin(terest) just about every picture posted there.  (Of course I don't, I just re-visit the blog when I need a pretty-fix.)

Button Floozies - loves me a good button. :)

The World's Largest Collection of Smalls - small pieces of needle work from many contributors.  So many, in fact, that there is The World's Largest Collection of Smalls TOO.

Leaving craft for a minute, we have Going Anyway. An awesome story so far of courage, adventure and the powers of parental intuition.  I'm looking forward to following their travels on their blog.

Mia's Landliv- gorgeous country living in Norway!  Beautiful there is the same as beautiful here- who knew?!

Legend and Lace - which is really about quilting.  To remind me of those unfinished and unstarted quilts that are patiently waiting for my knitting obsession to fade a little.

I hope you find something to enjoy in that lot.

Changing Spaces

They say a change is as good as a holiday.  Well, I'm not so sure about that.  It's been a while since we had a holiday and there are days I feel the need for a break in the routine of home life.  We have a few ideas for short breaks later this year.  But while we're speaking of home, we'll soon have lived in this one for five years- the longest we've lived in one house in our entire married life.  Looking around, the walls we painted could do with a new coat and the carpets we put in need professional cleaning.  It doesn't take long, does it?

If you've moved a lot, you may find that you develop a very 'eclectic' decor.  Unless, of course, you make a clean sweep with each move.  We don't.  Pieces of furniture bought to meet a need or fit a space in one house don't quite 'go' in the new house.  Colonial style furniture we bought for one house now has to sit side by side with modern black iron framed shelves that were in a completely separate office at the previous house.  It's all good.  I don't need to live in a copy of Home Beautiful to be happy.  I do, however, need a change every now and then.

I've rejoined Pinterest.  I know, I'm weak!  I needed a place to gather images on a theme, okay?  This time, I will use it as a handy tool and not waste precious hours.  To prove it, I've used some Pinterest inspiration to begin reorganising my decorative spaces.  Rather than an expensive, time-consuming make-over, I'm using what I have in new and (hopefully) creative ways.

Here's the inspiration:

Source: homeklondike.com via Joanne on Pinterest

And here's mine (disclaimer- there isn't much flowering in the garden that isn't sun-damaged at the moment):

Detail:



Grouping things on a theme also led me to do this with my pretty pastel glazed pieces that were previously all spread out in the house:


A beautifully worked thrifted chicken-scratch cloth came out of storage and is now covering the little table that our is our battery-charging station.


It's quite amazing how little changes can freshen the place up.  The only cost was a relapse in my knee pain getting up and down off a chair a few times but it was worth it.  I've still got a few places and spaces to reshuffle so I'll be having some more fun this week.

Marking Time

In the broadest sense, the first of January is just another day to me- the day after December the 31st.  No big deal.  But as a marker of time, it does signify an end to one block of time and the beginning of another.  It seems impossible not to take some kind of review of what's past and contemplate what is yet to come.

From The Homeschool Files

Above- Homeschool get together at Serendip Sanctuary with our new-found friends

In many ways, 2011 was a great year.  Family life and homeschooling cruised along quite nicely.  The boys continued to grow into likeable young men.  Some difficult personal  situations seemed to settle into the background, rather than being in constant focus.  New friends were made and these friendships will deepen with plans we have for 2012.  The garden grew.  Sam settled into an almost mature and almost responsible grown-up labrador. :)

From Feathered, Furry or Finned

There is one area of my life though (well, at least one!) that needs some attention.  2011 has been my sickest year since childhood.  Since August, I've had one thing after another after another.  Hmmm, do you think my body is telling me something?  The illnesses have not been overly serious but I'd be silly not to see the signs that my immune system is not what it should be.  After the illness chronicled in my last post, I wind up the year with a mystery illness that is causing arthritic pain in most of my joints, fatigue and weakness.  So as my family jaunt off to the pool this afternoon and the beach tomorrow, I contemplate sitting out most of the summer.  It's very frustrating; this 'down time' was going to be a very busy and productive, yet recreational break from routine.  Well, the routine is certainly broken but not in a way I'm happy with.

Still, there are many a lot worse off.  I'm not bed-ridden.  I can do things in little bursts and DH has a couple of days off work across the public holidays so he is taxiing the boys to their various social activities.  I'm glad they're not missing out.  Actually, a few days ago, I couldn't have sat here and concentrated this long on writing this post so perhaps I'm improving.

Like a lot of women, I've never been comfortable spending much time on my physical self.  I'd rather read a good book than have a manicure; knit a sock than sweat it out at the gym; prune a fruit tree than have my hair done at a salon.  The fit, healthy me of 20 years ago was accidental- a fairly frugal diet in our single-parent household and walking everywhere as I didn't have a license until after I married.  Putting time into my own health is still something of a foreign concept.  So as I mark time until I'm strong enough and well enough to get back into the swing of things, I've got time to think and plan the battle strategy- the battle being a tendency to slip back into old habits once I'm feeling better.  

I don't believe in New Years resolutions.  That's not to say I never pledge to make changes- I pledge and break pledges to myself on a regular basis.  But I think that long term changes are made by waking up each day and making the myriad little decisions that move one in the right direction.  This health scare has made me more determined to cut out a lot of the processed food in my diet, especially sugar and white flour.  It's not easy.  I can't count on my family doing this with me- that's been my excuse for years.  I need to do this by myself, if need be.  I also need to make exercise a daily part of my life, come what may.  I don't want to spend what amounts to the second half of my lifespan in the doctor's waiting room.

From Work in Progress

Gratuitous picture of newest knitting project.

Wishing all of my readers well and that your daily decisions are taking you where you need to be.

December Already!

We all know that time goes faster the older you get, right?  But this is getting ridiculous! December already?  In the off chance that anyone has been wondering what happened to me, I'm still here, caught up in the whirl and blur that is life as we know it.  Our homeschool year will be finishing this week followed by a few social activities next week and then we'll slide into holiday mode.  We're holidaying at home this year which suits me just fine so long as I don't spend it all on housework.  Long days in the garden would be good.  Long days at the craft table even better.  Throw in a few long drives and balmy evenings watching the sun set in some lovely natural setting and all will perfect.  Must get the camera out of mothballs.  And 'process' or rather, edit and file, the photos on my PC that date back to March!!  Okay, so 'holidays' could be just as busy as the rest of the year has been.

It's been something of a sick winter around here.  I usually only get the one cold a year, you know the only one mums are allowed.  This year I've had a cold, followed by flu, followed by another cold and lots of allergies in between.  I guess I'm run down.  We've also slipped a little with processed food and I haven't done purposeful exercise since the first time I got sick. Naughty, naughty.  Summer should help get me back on track- warmer weather for walks, fresh salads and summer fruit.

I've just put in a big week planning our home ed program for next year.  The planning I did last year got us through the whole year so Planning Week has been a resounding success.  The boys and I have had a really enjoyable year together.  We've tapped into some community resources and made new friends.

Craft is still happening too- that pretty much goes without saying.  I love having a craft table- I can leave projects ready to go and spend 10 or 15 minutes on them at a time.  That might frustrate some people but it's how I get most things finished.  I have reading piles in most rooms of the house.  I really have to stop getting interested in new things- I envy you focused types who start and finish one thing at a time.  At them moment, I'm pre-reading The Undercover Economist that I'd like my eldest to read for school next year.  A bit of light-hearted historical fiction in Simon The Coldheart. A Charlotte Mason-inspired ebook on Habits; can't remember where I got that one so I can't link to it.  Pendennis is on my nightstand but Thackeray requires more of my brain and by the time I get to bed I'm past attempting it.

Some recent blogs I've started following:

The Blog of Bruce Bradley A former Big Food executive exposing the tactics they use to get us to eat processed foods.

The Textured Leaf Lovely craft and decorating inspiration.

Hand Embroidery From Sadalas A gorgeous mix of traditional and ethnic (to me) needle work.

And a couple of photographic blogs by people I know in real life:

{artifex} photographic media by John & Tom

Photos 4 Real

National Home Education Week

November 21st- 25th is National Home Education Week here in Australia. 
We are relative newcomers to homeschooling with our boys having spent their primary school years at regular state schools and both beginning home education as they started high school.  What started as somewhat of an emergency plan because of health issues has become a lifestyle choice that we are really enjoying and seeing the benefits of.
I'll be hosting a Park Meet at a local playground for past, present and future homeschoolers to get together.  Park meets are happening at many locations around Australia on Wednesday 23rd November.
To find out more about homeschooling or to join in any of the activities happening across the country, the following websites will assist:

Home Education Association (HEA)
The HEA's flyer for National Home Ed Week (pdf)
Australian Homeschool Network (AHN)
AHN's week of  online info sessions and workshops
Home Education Network (HEN); publishers of Otherways magazine for the homeschool community.




























Picture taken at the 2011 AHN CampFest at Lake Wymah.

Spring Cleaning

Spring is finally here!  It is so nice to wake up to blue skies.  Apparently our winter was not particularly cold but it was dull- lots of low, grey, depressing cloud.  So it's quite wonderful how warm sun on the skin and bright blue skies lift the spirits.

While it might seem the most natural thing in the world to head outside and spend as much time in the garden as possible, instead I have the urge to spring clean.  This is motivated in part by the growing stack of 'things' in boxes on my spare table that will be stock for a garage sale soon.  I just know there's more in the cupboards that I need to get rid of.  Then there are the shadowy corners of the house full of dust and mysterious downy feathers.  (How do budgie feathers migrate to the most remote parts of the house, behind the heaviest pieces of furniture?)  Yes, it's time to clean under the beds and behind the shelves; empty out the pantry shelves and wash them; sort the kid's wardrobes to eliminate the too-small and worn out items; see what lurks at the back of the linen press.

We're starting school holidays early- no formal lessons this week.  The boys can help out, especially when I get to their rooms.  They can help me price their own items as we get them ready to sell.  I almost couldn't be bothered with the garage sale; the last one I had a few years and a previous house ago.  A lot didn't sell and it hardly seemed worth the effort of preparing, getting up early, lugging it all outside and lugging it all back in again to sort it for the op-shops.  But I recently attended a convention and twice over the course of the weekend, people were simplifying and mentioned 'having a garage sale' to raise a few dollars and get rid of excess stuff.  So I took it as my cue to go ahead and have our own.

I was so eager to start the clean up that I began yesterday with the 'pantry' shelf.

From Inside and Out

When our 1950's weatherboard home was revamped about 20 years ago no-one bothered to add a pantry, despite the fact that they had plenty of room to work with.  It's not possible now to add one without pretty much redoing the kitchen which isn't in our budget.  So I make do with various cupboards for food storage.  This shelf originally held my 'pretties'; china, antiquarian books and the like.  Gradually, as I started to cook more from scratch the shelves were taken over by dry goods.  Yesterday I took everything out, wiped down the shelves with my citrus cleaner, found jars for as many plastic packets as possible and put it all back in, trying to store like with like.  I've even catalogued the dry goods in an exercise book and am planning to prepare a recipe once a week or so using something from the catalogue so that it doesn't get forgotten.  Like the juniper berries- now what did I have in mind when I grabbed a packet of those?  I know I'd seen them in a recipe somewhere but do you think I can remember now?  Red lentil soup is on the menu for tonight...how did I end up with three 500g packs of red lentils?

I did  have to throw a few things out that were way past their use by dates.  Old, faded herbs; a pack of burghul- I'm sure I intended to make something with that back in 2007!!!  Black-eyed beans with evidence of mouse-tampering.  Eeeuw!  Hence the effort to find jars for as much as possible.  It's almost enough to make me want to get a cat.  Almost, but not quite!  Don't worry, I love cats but they don't love me- I get horrendous puffy eyes from cat allergy.

The pantry shelf is in the dining room so once that was done and dusted (literally!), I moved on to the dining chairs.  They got a wipe over with citrus cleaner too.  The chair pad covers have gone to the laundry.  The kitchen dresser didn't need work as I had cleaned and sorted it fairly recently.

Today I move on to the linen press which is in the area adjacent to the dining room- I never know what to call it as it's all one big room really.  Some would use it as a family room or sitting room- that was our original intention but now my sewing table is set up at one end.  I won't be tackling the sewing area yet; instead I'll move through the doorway; tidy the entry hall and move on to the bedrooms and bathroom.

Phew, it's exhausting just thinking about it.  I think I'll have one more coffee and then get started.

Do you get the urge to spring clean?  Have you started?  How's it getting on?