Go-Go-Gocco!

Words and Pictures - A Long Drive

Inspired by an evocative Sonia Hartnett piece, which was published in the Sunday Life magazine recently, I thought A Long Drive would be a great theme for Words and Pictures this week. Do with it what you will, lovely people!

Things you need to know :
Within the theme suggested-
You can post something you've written or something you've drawn or an image
You don't have to write beautifully or perfectly.
You don't have to write a lot.
Also, you don't need to be an amazing photographer or artist
But rather, just post something about the theme. Words or pictures. Or both. Just have a go. Simple.
Perhaps you might post some distant memories, or a story you made up, or an old photo, maybe tell us something you once read about the theme, write in rhyme, detail a snatch of overheard conversation, you might recount an anecdote... it could be anything really.
Just some words. Or some pictures. Or both.
Like I said, nothing fancy.
Just do it your way.
Just for fun.

Sign up below, if you would like to join in!

xx Pip


Words and Pictures Previously:
School Lunches - 37 stories
Cosy -30 stories
Little Things - 48 stories

Book Launch Photos!

Wow! What a fun night we had last night - and tucked up in bed by 10pm too!

Some thank yous:

Thanks so much to Hardie Grant and Metropolis for doing a kind of launchy dance which resulted in books and cake and cups of tea for all!

Thanks so much to Jo Walker from Frankie and Dancing About Architecture's Clem Bastow for the crafty chat and general fun times!

Thanks to the crafty contributors who came and signed books and smiled and were absolutely the stars of the show!

Thanks to all the lovely people who came and listened to us rabbit on and bought books and let me write indecipherable things in them (especially YOU Anna - what DID i write?!)

Thanks to my friends and my family a big huge lot. You are ace. Sigh.

xx Pip

Stuff The Kid's Been Doing...

Ari's own laneway festival: Drawing on a sunny day atop the blue stones, on an old bit of board found out the back of the Rob Roy Hotel. Great.

xx Pip

Stuff We've Been Doing...

i




Finding coffee pots and mugs and tureens at the market this morning.
Printing Cards with the Gocco Printer.
Making Wallets - some Robert Louis Stevenson ones and some Faraway Tree ones.
Going out for lunch with Cam and le boys.
Listening to Cam make dinner - Sausage Ragu with Papardelle and Steamed Pudding.
Planting peas that we grew from seed and cleaning up the garden.
Getting ready for the book launch tomorrow night!

xx Pip

Little Things Again...

little things, originally uploaded by youngdoo.

Words and Pictures - Little Things

Little Things:

I like to save things up. Little moments of kindness or sweetness are my super-faves. They make me feel lucky and confirm that every day really is a gift and if we just keep our eyes open, there's plenty of good stuff floating about the place. Maybe you could collect some little moments too?

Here are some of my favourite little snippets from this week:

A mother bent over a pram on the street slowly fanning her baby with a huge Autumn leaf. The baby, giggling and gasping, blinking it's eyes with expectation everytime the leaf fanned down. The father was smiling too.

A girl with her hand up to her mouth, trying to cover the smile that was spreading from her lips to her eyes, as she flicked through an envelope of freshly developed photos.

A boy throwing a ball with all his might, far from his lightning fast dog, then being thrown backwards, laughing onto the dewy, morning grass as the dog returns the ball with a flying, licky leap into his arms.

An elderly man on the tram, taking a nervous girl by the elbow and steering her gently away from the ranting, raving, unhappy fellow making the commotion in the doorway.

I think the little things are the things that matter most. They give us the courage to aim for the bigger things, I think. More little things here.

xx Pip

I Could Do That.

via morenewmath.com
just posted at design for mankind
tipped off by Kootoyoo
moral : whatever you want to do - just do it! (and be sure to celebrate the success of others too!)

Red Instead...

Here's what we've been doing...

I've been reading this very great book 'Grow Your Own, Eat Your Own' by Bob Flowerdew.

I've been pinning things on my pinboard -like the Mario's postcard. We went to Mario's this morning for breakfast. I've had the flu for a week and been soldiering on - and I felt crappy this morning, so it was off to Mario's for eggs and bacon for me. Whilst we were there, Red Symons walked in and had a coffee. After my ABC Canberra radio interview yesterday, when I didn't even run into Stubbsy down at ABC Southbank, I thought it was funny that I bumped into Red Instead! Just my luck! But contrary to popular opinion, I do LOVE listening to Red on the ABC, so go figure!

That's Ari's embroidery from Brown Owls on Monday night - courtesy of a Sublime Stitching transfer - go Ari!

And there are our celery plants meeting our spring onion plants!

And also - the Betty Crocker 'Good and Easy Cookbook' and two Hamlyn All-Colour Paperbacks 'Animal Migration' and 'Seashells'.

That's what we've been doing. And being sick. And filling up the shop with good stuff. And selling a few early copies of our book! What have you been doing, I wonder?!

xx Pip

Blowing My Own Trumpet...

Big things are happening in my neck of the woods. It's all a bit much and I'm sipping a very strong drink a ce moment to settle my nerves.

1. Cover of The Age M Magazine on Sunday - an article about how great craft is!
2. I turned 40 on Friday!
3. A pile of our book spotted today about to go out on the shelves at a city bookstore!

Hope your week is going just great!

xx Pip

Oh Bunnies!

Oh a green bunny sounds like the perfect idea to me! And to Katie too, as you can see, because she not only bothered to make this bunny, she shared the pattern at her lovely blog! Excellent work, Miss Katie!




Jenny from Allsorts shares how to make this adorable Bounding Bunnypins for Easter! You can make it as a tiny softie - or you can sew a pin on the back and pin it to your Easter best frock!




. Oh of COURSE you want to have a go at making Little Cotton Rabbit's teeny tiny knitted bunnies! You can find the instructions here. And some other patterns (strictly for non commercial use here). Some people are very generous with their craftiness, I think. Julie's beautiful blog is over here, if you have somehow missed it


You can find the pattern for this plump bunny over here at Friperee. Jen's blog is a bit quiet at the moment - but you should still check out her lovely sketches and the things she made at her pottery class and the other crafty things going on over there. Give her a prod and she might even come back!



San Francisco crafting super-girl Jess Hutch has a pattern for this adorable bunny on her blog! Go over there because there are gorgeous drawings, softies and photos too - just dig a little bit.



And lastly, I really like the finger puppets (spot the bunny!) they made over at The Good Life. No pattern, but plenty of inspiration - why don't you have a go at those?!

xx Pip