Keeping myself busy and entertained in Winter

Today I had a haircut and then I thought I might treat myself to a movie before I do some grocery shopping.  I really am getting old, I can't read my iPhone easily without my glasses and I was exactly a month early for The Fault is in our Stars movie!  Not happy!  I know my friend in Perth, Western Australia saw it last weekend!  I read the book early last year and I'm ready to see it now!

This was my most recent movie treat and I really loved this film.

Saw this one with Dear Husband and it was an odd film but very entertaining.

I'm missing my Downton Abbey fix.  Might have to start watching the four series all over again, I must have missed things!

The second series of Mr Selfridge has just finished here in Australia and I quite like this one, love seeing all the fashions of the early 20th century.  

Sadly, this series has just finished too!  Really love the characters and story lines, set in Poplar in the desperately poor East End of London in the 1950's.  What am I going to watch?  It won't be the World Cup!

I finished Bella's Run today and it was an enjoyable read but a little bit too predictable.  I have started reading again after almost 12 months of not reading novels at all.  A couple of months ago I dug out my Kindle ereader and downloaded a book and just started to read and now I'm wondering why I ever stopped.  I love reading, it is pure escapism and a nice reward at the end of busy days to just read and relax before nodding off.  Do you read paper and ink books or are do you use an electronic reader?  I personally find my Kindle so easy to hold and read in bed I'm a convert.  Having said that I do still buy books that I seek out at our three local independent book stores and we do have a whole room in our house that is a dedicated library room, which is sadly in need of a good sort out!  

Really enjoyed this quirky book about man with Aspergers, efforts to find himself a wife.

Another great easy girly read.

I've finally read this book that everyone has been talking about for a long while and I did enjoy it.

I popped into my local book shop this week and thought this novel by a great Australian author Bryce Courtenay looked like a book I would enjoy reading.  It is set in the Riverina and apparently is based upon a real woman.  UPDATE 28th June - Book finished and I really did like this novel but the ending what you would imagine while turning the pages as fast as possible to find out what becomes of Jessica.  

This book very much appealed to me, I love eclectic decorating and the use of natural fibres, handmade furnishings and lots of wood was really appealing.

Saw these great quilting books too!  Quilt Me had some fabulous ideas using vintage linens in her quilts.  Right up my alley! Quilting Happiness was just that some lovely bright modern quilt patterns.

This wonderful pile of vintage linens was gifted to me last week and there are some absolutely gorgeous pieces of handmade goodness in there.  Lucky me!

I don't mind winter time at all, gives me an excuse to watch movies, enjoy television series, read  good books and get creative in my sewing room.  

Starting to find my creative mojo again..........very happy about that!

I bought a new book last week and it has so many great small projects.  I've started with this small buttoned pouch with a hand crocheted flap.  I did it all by myself!  I can actually read a crochet pattern fairly easily now and it makes sense!  Hooray!  I plan to use vintage linen scraps to make the pouch.  Stay tuned for completed project photos.  Book available at Steph's Fabrics in Moruya.  

These are my felted slippers that I made way back in May 2010, they have served me well but in the last week or so I found they were threadbare in three places on the sole.  As the tops were still in great as new condition and my inability to locate the pattern I have got out my grandmothers sock darning mushroom and set to work.  See the freckly patches, I also couldn't find the matching wool so used a darker shade of the same brand and wove horizontal and vertical threads and then chucked them in a good hot soapy wash and felted them up again.  They now 'like new', I'm sure they'll last a few more seasons, maybe by then I will have found my pattern!  

This is my project that I've been plodding along with, since late January.  I took it to New Zealand as their are only two rows to remember.  I bought 150g of this Australian Wangaratta Woollen Mills 3ply laceweight pure wool on a cone at a thrift store for $1.50.  I had no idea how far it would go but a triangular shawl/scarf just keeps growing, I've used almost 100g now so about a third of the way to go.  I just have to decide when enough is enough and then do the border design and hopefully not run out of wool.  This pattern is called South Bay Shawlette and it's a free one from Lion Brand, available on Ravelry.  It can be crocheted out of any sort of yarn you have and is a really easy pattern to read and decipher, there are both row by row written instructions and a great diagrammatic pattern which I find the easiest to follow.

An invitation to join a book club.........

.................and this was the book they were reading this month.  I had read Breath when it was first published and it had stayed in my mind, it is a very thought provoking book by one of Australia's leading adult and children's fiction writers of these times.  I didn't have time to read it but I did download the audio book and I listened to it over the weekend, a very good way to enjoy a great book again. 

This book has central characters that all love extreme activities and the most often surfing, so this book for me being the mother of my own Surfer Boy was so easy to get into, many descriptions seemed so familiar.  The book isn't a surfing story it's a story of pushing oneself to the limit, part coming of age and the consequences this coming of age has upon ones adult life.  It is beautifully written and a book you will never forget.  I have now downloaded a book of Tim Winton short stories which are equally as enjoyable.  If you haven't already read his most famous book Cloudstreet then you must!

I haven't as yet formally joined the book club but I think it will happen.  Our next book is Mrs Cook, I've started it and so far so good.  Mrs Cooks husband Captain James Cook discovered our great continent more than two centuries ago.  

When I was at the local library last week the librarian told me I was very lucky to be invited to join a book club in this town, apparently it's very difficult to get a place, members just stay for years.  The woman next to me at book club had been in that club for 24 years!  I really enjoyed myself even if some of the discussions felt a little like being examined at high school!  The company was great and the homemade blueberry crumbly cake was very good!

I haven't been very settled for the last 6-7 months in my new home and my reading has suffered.  I usually try to read at least 20 books a year and I have a little book in which I record every book I read, I've kept this record since 1981!  This year I've so far only managed to read ONE book!  I've started a few but not been able to get into them.  Not sure why?  I've always loved escaping with a good book but sadly I think I've lost my reading mojo somewhere.  I did buy a pile of books earlier in winter but I have only started one of those.  

Anyway the one book I have read was Rotten Gods by Greg Barron.  Why?  I was curious about this book.  The author was once someone very special to me way back when we were both university students.  Rotten Gods was released July 1st, 2012, I have been a bit slow getting it read.  His second book Savage Tide was released July 1st this year, I have a copy ready and waiting.  These two book are the first two in a trilogy and the central character is a female and although not the fiction book I normally read I did really enjoy the story, it kept me turning the pages and I'm keen to read his next offering.

Here we are in the mid 1980's, young and relaxed.

Cutting fine figures on the beach.............so long ago.

So what have I been doing instead of reading you might ask.  I've become a bit of a movie buff.  It started late last year when I visited Dear Husband out here not long after he took up his new position.  I visited the local library and they had a collection of books bagged up with their movie and the display was labelled, 'Don't judge a book by it's movie'.  I joined the library and began working my way through some of these sets.  I always read the book first then watched the accompanying movie and thoroughly enjoyed all that I read and watched.

This library also has a great collection of DVD's so once I moved here I have begun borrowing and watching a huge number of movies.  We also have a good internet plan so I do watch a lot of movies online both on my laptop in bed and also on our smart TV.  So good watching movies with no advertisements on a big screen at home.  I've only been to the cinema once, there doesn't seem to be many art house style movies shown at the local cinema complex, something I loved when I lived at the coast.

You want to know what I've seen this year?  I have a list can you believe that?  I think I have a few OCD tendencies when it comes to lists.

1 All I Need is Love - Cinema at the coast

2 Monsieur Lazhar - Cinema at the coast

3 Lolita 1997 - DVD

4 Rabbit Hole - DVD

5 Oscar and Lucinda - DVD

6 The Namesake - DVD

7 Arthur and the Invisibles - TV broadcast

8 Inventing the Abbotts - DVD

9 Great Expectations (Gwyneth Paltrow) - DVD

10 Notes for a Scandal - DVD

11 One Day - DVD

12 The Great Gatsby - Cinema in the country

13 Burlesque - DVD

14 Three Dollars - SBS Demand

15 Changing Sides (French) - SBS Demand

16 Valentines Day - DVD

17 The Descendants - DVD

18 Temple Grandin - DVD

19 Mother and Child - DVD

20 The Help - DVD

21 The Weatherman - DVD

22 Saturday Night Fever - DVD

23 Quinceanera (Mexican) - SBS Demand

24 Mona Lisa Smile - DVD

25 My Afternoons with Margueritte (French) - DVD

26 Boy (New Zealand) - SBS Demand

27 The Yellow Handkerchief - DVD

28 The Fringe Dwellers (Australia) - SBS Demand

29 The Song of Lunch (England) - ABC iview

30 Beneath Clouds - SBS Demand

31 Emma's Gluck (Bliss) (Germany) - SBS Demand

32 Careless Love 2012 - SBS Demand

33 Barney's Version - SBS Demand

So maybe joining a book club will be a good thing.  I need to find my reading mojo before it completely escapes me.

Movie watching has been very good for my crocheting!

Are yo a reader or a watcher or both?  Any good reads this year?  Any movies I need to keep an eye out for?  

The cold weather has arrived.........time for knitting and reading

I really miss our wood fire heater in this weather but I'm keeping myself busy with a bit of winter knitting for the shop.  I'm enjoying doing a little bit of simple cable knitting on this thick and chunky scarf that will be finished with buttons so it's fits securely around your neck.

I finished this mohair scarf/wrap/shawl last week and it's so light and warm.  It looks lovely wrapped snuggly around your neck or draped over your shoulders.  I finished it with a slightly ruffled edge and the whole thing only weighs 150g.  It's for sale at Kindrawares!

I went book shopping this afternoon, hopefully this selection will keep me entertained for a few weeks.  A very mixed bunch of titles but they all looked interesting and I can't wait to get started on  the first one tonight.

New books and new mags too

I couldn't resist this wonderful French style cross stitch book, so many great little two colour designs, really want to start stitching some little projects.  I really like the Making magazine, so many simple modern sewing projects, look for it at your newsagent.  The other Mollie Makes magazine was a gift from a dear friend and it even included a little kit to crochet the cute cotton crochet flower brooch, still can't fathom the pattern, remember I'm a beginner crochet worker.  This is a gorgeous magazine and my friend has the whole set which I'll have a browse through one day soon.  Not enough hours in my days lately.  Picked up this wonderful secondhand book all about collecting Chintz china, the patterns are gorgeous, they remind me of Liberty tana lawn fabrics. 

Quick Kindle cover

From the sleeves of a thrifted and previously felted 100% Shetland wool jumper I whipped up a very easy protective cover for my Kindle reader.  Literally it took 10 minutes and it was done and it fits like a glove and will protect one of my favourite gadgets when I'm out and about.  Since I had surgery on my right index finger almost 2 years ago I find holding books in bed very difficult but my Kindle is so easy to manage I'm a very happy convert.  I bought 3 new books this morning so I've got plenty of reading to keep me busy over the next week or so.  If you are going to sew felted knit fabric I would strongly suggest you use a walking foot on your sewing machine, it makes it feed so beautifully and copes with the bulk very well. 

Who uses a ereader?  Where do you buy your books?  What are you all reading at the moment?  I'd love some recommendations and new authors to inspire me to read a bit more than I have been lately. 

Knitters heaven

Look what I found today at my local book store,  The Principles of Knitting, the only copy they had, so I'm very lucky indeed.  This is the best knitters reference book every published, the first edition was released in 1988 and this completely revised and updated second edition was released in February 2012.  A true knitters bible written by June Hemmons Hiatt, it is a five star textbook of handknitting.  So many methods and techniques all in one book, love it!  If you are a serious knitter who loves to learn all you can about knitting to improve your finished product and your joy when knitting you need this book.  It is full of great written instructions, photos, diagrams and drawings so you can learn everything you will ever need to know about knitting.  Can't wait to takes this big tome to bed and read and read and read.  Are you all jealous yet.  You should be.  Here is the Australian publishers page about this book and you can even peek inside. 

The next movie I'm going to see

I grabbed this Nicholas Sparks book, The Lucky One yesterday so I can quickly read it before I see this film.  I'm sure I'll be seeing this on my own, there is no way Dear Husband would be dragged along to this chick flick.  My sister told me the movie is coming out very soon, I hadn't heard of it but as I loved Message in a Bottle and The Notebook I figured I need to see this one too.  This story is about a US Marine, very apt while I am the mother of a Royal Australian Navy sailor.  I've only read 3 chapters this morning so I'm not reading any of the movie reviews just yet.  Here is a the official movie trailer but I'm also not watching that as I don't want to spoil my read.

Escape to the movies

One of my very favourite things to do is going to the movies on my own.  So this week I did just that.  On my designated housework day I powered through 4 loads of washing, dusting, vacuuming and mopping then skidded into the cinema with 5 minutes to spare and saw the most beautiful movie, I loved it from start to finish.  I hadn't known a thing about this movie other than the three superb English  actors; Dame Judi Dench, Bill Nighy and Dame Maggie Smith and several other well known actors in this movie.  The movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was based the book These Foolish Things by one of my favourtie authors Deborah Moggach.  It is set in Jaipur, India and the colours and culture are just superb, they fill the screen and keep your attention throughout this wonderful film about a group of aging English retirees who are drawn to this new hotel for the elderly and beautiful.  I very much like this review, Nathan writes much better than I do.  Treat yourself and go and see this great film.  Here is the review by ABC At the Movies with Margaret and David. Here is the official trailer to tease you.

Books, books and more books

Bibliomania bib·li·o·ma·ni·a - An exaggerated preoccupation with the acquisition and ownership of books.

I have this problem and fortunately we now have a library room in our house.  When Surfer Boy left home to join the Royal Australian Navy we decided to swap some rooms around, paint and lay new carpet.  Darling Daughter of course claimed Surfer Boy's old bedroom because it was the biggest!  I moved my sewing room into a room double the size of the old one, it's the best room in the house!  Full of light and a much better amount of space for all my creative ideas.

The bookcase above is in our new library room and it is 2 metres high by 1.6 metres wide and it's full of just my craft  book collection!  On the opposite side of the long narrow library room are bookshelves from IKEA that are 4.5 metres long and 2 metres high, and they hold a LOT of books, our fiction, non-fiction and reference section.  We've culled our collection, donation to our local charity and we still have books in big boxes in our garage.  Finally got rid of all my very old put of date nursing textbooks and you know what?  Darling Daughter returned from an open day at a nearby university last week and announced "I think I might do nursing". 

I've put two comfy sea grass chairs in the library, a sheepskin in one and a cosy quilt on the other, still need to hang the artwork and then I'll photograph it and show you what a wonderful addition to our home this room is.

You might also notice I've added some of my favourite craft books to the sidebar of my blog.  I found a new website for buying books.  I know, I don't need any more but I would like a few of the latest quilting and knitting ones I've spotted!  If you click on any of them you will be taken the page for that book on fishpond.com.au, they don't just sell books either.  The prices are listed in Australian Dollars and shipping is free in Australia.  They have a great variety of titles and a really easy to use search facility.

 

Taking a breather

I love the escape that reading a great novel brings so this week I've read Breath by Tim Winton, this book won the Miles Franklin Literary Award for 2009 recently. I'm unsure how I feel about this coming of age novel. DH bought this book when it was first published and he never said whether he enjoyed it so after the recent award was presented I decided I should read it. One of our local librarians described it to me as "the perfect novel", maybe I'm not learned enough to say that about it! It is well written but I think the last third of the book is disjointed and not enough detail for me, the first part of the book introducing the characters and overall theme is fabulous but it just feels like the book didn't go anywhere for me. Anyway it was an enjoyable but not satisfying read in my humble opinion! We have a few Tim Winton books in our collection, one being a signed uncut hardback edition of Dirt Music (Miles Franklin Literary Award winner for 2002) with the accompanying cd of music which is a good book but not as good as Cloudstreet (another MFLA winner) which is my favourite Tim Winton book of all time.

I've been told by a local authority that Tim's uncle lives locally so one day we might see him visit our area which is on the opposite end of this great continent to which he lives in Western Australia. I'd love to hear this man speak about his writing, his life, and what inspires him. He appears to be a very interesting Aussie character who has added to our world so creatively.