Easter weekend

Mr J enjoys a babycino at The Collingwood Children's Farm Cafe

 

 

 Architectural details of Abbotsford Convent

We've just enjoyed a lovely Easter long weekend, with one of the days spent visiting the Collingwood Children's Farm.  I've been to the farm once or twice before, but it is certainly a very different experience visiting the farm through the eyes of a toddler.

Our 20 month old beautiful boy was just so excited to see chooks running around, cows being milked, farm cats lazing about, sheep shading under tree's and happy to be stroked prodded, guinea pigs to pet, and goats to be fed.  Combine this with lots of space to run around, pigeons to chase AND a babycino and muffin at The Farm Cafe - and he was one happy little boy.

Abbotsford Convent is right next door and is always worth a visit to admire its imposing structure.  The Children's Farm and Convent are fabulous places to visit, and a perfect mini escape for a few hours.  They feel a million miles from the city, despite being just a few kms from the heart of Melbourne town.

Penguin vintage classics wallpaper

I received my latest copy of UK Elle Decoration magazine (my most favourite magazine ever) and inside I spied this fabulous new wallpaper by Osborne and Little.

Osborne & Little have teamed up with Penguin to produce this vintage classics 'Library' wallpaper - the collage style design features literary classics by Orwell, the Bronte sisters and DH Lawrence.  Love, love, love!!

Update:  This wallpaper reminds me of the fabulous papered door at Lark, made from collaged vintage 'Ladybird books'.  (see original post here) Such a cute idea!    

  

Animal Farm

 'Animal Farm' children's bedlinen design

The last time I sat down to write a blog post it was the end of summer, and it was hot.  And now in a few short weeks Autumn has well and truly arrived here in Kyneton.  The leaves are turning yellow and dropping from the tree's, mornings are cooler, and my hoodie has made it out from the back of the wardrobe for snuggly evening comfort.

I've been flat out working on some freelance projects, and overseas visitors have also arrived to visit us the grandson, so we have been out-and-about visiting local shops and cafes, markets, and seeing the sights of the Macedon Ranges. 

At one local market we visited, a lady was selling some children's clothes and toys that her son had grown out of.  As I walked passed I spotted some fabric I recognised - it was a children's bedlinen design I created about 3 years ago.  The design is called 'Animal Farm' and not surprisingly given the title, depicts some little farm animals.....cows, sheep, a hen and her chicks, a doggy, cat, duck and some piggies! 

I picked the quilt cover up for little Mr J, I'm not sure whether to save it for when he's a little older and in a big bed, or make him something out of the fabric.  Either way, it's nice for me to have one of my designs that I can use for him - and he might think he has a clever mummy one day!          

Inglewood - a collectors treasure trove

 

One of the many second-hand and collectable stores jam-packed with old wares

vintage furniture, books, kitchenware, kids toys, ceramics etc.......

     Some of the decorative signs, window and doorway details on the historic buildings

 

Inglewood...... it's a tiny little town north of Bendigo and there aint' much going on.......HOWEVER, what it lacks in size and population it certainly makes up for in its concentrated selection of antique, vintage and collectable stores. 

 

Once a small gold mining town, Inglewood is a great example of a Victorian Gold Rush town demonstrated with it's period architecture.  But most importantly I'd heard it was a great place to visit for finding second-hand paraphernalia, and it didn't disappoint!

 

There are at least 4 or 5 large shops filled to the brim with all-sorts of vintage, retro, antique, second-hand and collectable items - from ceramics, kitchenware, tins, old packaging, furniture and books, to childrens toys, clothing, machinery and tools.  Phew!  

 

It's well worth a visit for an afternoon.....take a bag......take some money.......and take your time to browse, fossick, hunt and collect for a few hours.  

yellow.....orange.....green

 some recent 2nd hand purchases in accidental colour groups......yellow,orange and green

A few weeks ago I was visiting Daylesford - and it's impossible for me to visit Daylesford without a trip to the fabulous Mill Markets to see what second hand, vintage or retro bits-and-pieces I can find.

It was only when I got home and unpacked my goodies, that I realised I'd unintentionally purchased in colour groups!  My little second-hand lovelies were all yellow, orange and green.

I picked up the very cute retro melamine cup (love the square shaped handle), saucer and plate set featuring a yellow rose pattern, which sits so happily on the ceramic plate with the orange and grey geo pattern on the rim.  I also picked up 3 jugs; a small English jug with a yellow and green floral pattern, the larger orange melamine jug, and finally the large green and white polka-dot jug (which I think is Australian).

And lastly I found an old English 'Mackintosh's' tin, with an over-scaled daisy pattern - in orange, yellow and green!    

The Owl and the Woodpecker

 

 

 

I was really chuffed to come across this Brian Wildsmith book The Owl and the Woodpecker in the
second-hand section of my local bookshop the other day.  Not in the best condition, however at $4 I wasn't complaining!   

The book (published in 1971) tells the story of an owl and a woodpecker who live in a far-away forest.  The woodpecker lives in a tree where he sleeps all night and works all day - however - in the tree next door lives an owl, who likes to work all night and sleep all day!  All the animals in the forest get together to resolve the disagreement between the angry birds, so that peace can return to the forest.

It's the fabulous illustrations by Brian Wildsmith that captured my attention - Wildsmith has created a series of lively, expressive and frenetic animal illustrations to accompany the story.  Painted in what appears to be layers of gouache, oil pastel and the occasional use of collage, the multi-textural illustrations are playful and portray a sense of movement and energy on each page. 

I love Brian Wildsmith's freedom and relaxed illustrative style, and these colourful animal illustrations are really delightful (the photographs don't do them justice)..... and they make me want to rewind my life by several years and go to study illustration at college! 

There are some more examples of Brian Wildsmith's work on my blog here and here. 

Vintage tableware...melamine designs....help!

Fancy a Cuppa

 

I'm having a bit of a dilemma with what to do with my Vintage Tableware melamine plate designs..... The three designs currently in the range are Fancy a Cuppa, Tea Party and High Tea (as seen above and below). Fancy a Cuppa and Tea Party are definitely the most popular designs, with High Tea not selling quite as well.

Tea Party

 

High Tea

So, I'm wondering whether to delete High Tea from the range and replace it with another design using the vintage cups and saucers.  I've mocked-up a new design below featuring the yellow rose cups with a saucer and a teaspoon, with a working name of Time for Tea

I like the simplicity of the singular teacups design which contrasts the busier teacup patterns in the other plates, but it still works as a mix-and-match coordinate to the other two designs.

New design (mock-up only) Time for Tea above, and shown with the other teacup designs below

Anyway, I'd love to get a bit of feedback if anyone out there in blog-land cares to share an opinion! So, let me know - should I keep the original teapot design, or replace with the new teacup design....

 

Retro coffee pots....and diamonds

 

I think I'm a very easy person to buy presents for...... pretty much anything ceramic, second-hand, vintage or retro - I'm guaranteed to love!  No diamonds, pearls, emeralds (OK, I do like emeralds - my birthstone and favourite colour), but really, I'm not one for expensive gold jewellery or fancy gemstones, so I think Mr B has it pretty easy when it comes to buying birthdays and Christmas gifts.  

 

He did particularly well this Christmas when I received these two rather funky retro coffee pots!  The gorgeous teal coloured coffee pot is marked as 'Sadler' England, and the other pot is a 'Kathie Winkle' design by Broadhurst, England.

 

I can't find much information on the Sadler design, but it's a really beautiful colour and features an embossed geometric pattern and stripes on the body, with part of the geo design echoed on the lid.  The Kathie Winkle pattern is called 'Roulette' and features her trademark stamped black outlines with green, orange and light blue hand-painted detail, dating from about the 1970's.  The shape of the Roulette coffee pot is the same as another Kathie Winkle design I picked up recently.

 

So there I was on Christmas day, one happy lady with two second-hand ceramic coffee pots - and no diamonds!    

Sunsets....Kyneton style

We've had some amazing coloured skies and fantastic light effects during sunset over the past few weeks here in Kyneton.  Mother nature at her finest - and all this spectacular viewing right from our veranda.  Beautiful!       

Up, up and away.....

Towards the end of last year I was commissioned to create a range of young girls and boys coordinated designs for ceramics and bedlinen application.  These sweet children's designs have an old-fashioned flight theme, with hot air balloons and vintage air planes.  

 

The designs were originally drawn in black ink, before being scanned into the computer for adding the colour.  This results in the artwork retaining a hand-drawn feel, but making different colourways very easy.        

 



The Big Brown Bear - book & record

The Big Brown Bear - a little golden book and record!   

Well, here we are.... one week into the new year and January is already racing by with lightning speed!  I managed to find time over the festive period to have a rummage in my local charity shop, and found this super-cute 'Read and Hear' Little Golden Book AND record! (a 45 RPM for those old enough (like me) to know what this means).

The story is written by Georges Duplaix and illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren (copyright 1944, 1947) and tells the story of a naughty bear who gets stung on the nose after stealing some honeycomb from a beehive, whilst he was supposed to be out catching fish for his dinner.

It's been a mighty long time since I've seen a 45 RPM record, and it reminded me of the little portable orange record player I had as a child. Sadly, I no longer own a record player so I can't actually play the record, but I still thought the book and record set was too good to resist!