weekend fun...

Next week sees an event of great sadness for Adelaide, at least in my opinion. One of our stunningly talented immigrants will be leaving our shores to go study in England. Humna is a henna artist, and I have been blessed to know her and her amazing work.






Just before my son was born 1 1/2 years ago Humna created a stunning piece of henna art on my pregnant belly. It was such a stunning way to spend an afternoon, snacking and talking about stories and children and religion and faith and the world.

silk threads for a new project I'm working on

So, to lighten her load she held a garage sale on Sunday. I collected a few gems for myself and my Mum but really enjoyed the opportunity to play some music with Morgan and then also with Shell Kira and Dylan James of The Wandering Minstrels. It was lovely to be surrounded by music, fruit trees and children paying while Humna's students gave henna tattoo's to all who came. To top it all off the weather was perfect!

some stunning pieces of fabric for my Mum :)

You can see more of her amazing work here -
http://www.diyastudio.com
 and here -
http://www.hennacraft.com.au




You will be missed Humna!

Wednesday Wishlist

Custom Circus Ruffle Bustle by wickedharem

I've been checking out bustle designs lately for a friend who makes herself costumes from upcycled fabric and well, I've got a bit obsessed myself. Here's just a few of my faves -

full length organza bustle by TPF Faerie Wear

The Mosaic by Wandlung

Fringe Recovery

I said I would share with you my thoughts on the shows I went to see as part of the Fringe this year. It was great to get to go see a few shows, rather than just performing and following Morgan around to his shows.

This year was a bit surprising, mostly due to the unseasonably wet and cold weather. So bad that the parade on opening night was cancelled... and severe storm warnings issued for most of the state! It was rescheduled but I for one didn't get to it. By the sounds of things, it was a bit of a flop.

Cantina

It's rare that the most promoted Fringe show is actually the best. (so promoted there was an advert on the Virgin in flight magazine when I went to Perth earlier this year.) But the highlight for me was definitely Cantina, in the Spiegel Tent. So good in fact that I went to see it twice! Its so hard to categorise the performance, but it was kinda like hanging out in the wee hours of the morning in a Berlin nightclub frequented but acrobats and exhibitionists in 1935. And it seems the reason it was so good may well be the extraordinary production company behind it.


Strut & Fret have been behind such shows as the Kransky Sisters, the Happy Sideshow and the Secret Death of Salvador Dali, with current works include the Tom Tom crew and pyrophone.

Their work is amazing and diverse, working with the artists and venues more than trying to create to a production company bi-line.

Next up was the beautiful and inspiring Amanda Palmer. Once again in the Spiegel Tent, the only thing that this show suffered for was being too short. One hour is just enough time for her to really get going, but luckily she continued the show in the Garden after, with the assistance of Jason Webley.

Sometimes its hard being a mum, I really wanted to go see her the next night too and follow her to Tuxedo Cat for the Ninja gig. But its just not possible at the mo. Can't do everything I guess but the next time I pay money to see AFP will be somewhere like the Gov again, where she can give a 2 1/2 hour show.

Lastly was the Harry James Angus Band. That's Harry from The Cat Empire and man was it smokin! Lots of old school jazz and blues, post war tunes. My favourite by far was 'Just a Gigolo'. 3 of the members of the band were guys Harry has been playing music with since high school. The Cat Empire are back in Adelaide in April.

Sale time!

So, as promised I'm having a sale for the next 2 weeks. It's a big 40% off for all my twitter, facebook and blog follower's. To get it, just enter the code 'fandiscount' at either my etsy or artfire shop at the checkout.

Summer fun

Have you missed me? Probably not, as no doubt you have been just as busy as me.
This is just a quick post to say hello and to let you know why I haven't been blogging.
This weekend sees the start of the festival season here in SA, and we party so hard the rest of the country must think we spend the rest of the year sleeping it off. I'm going to be seeing a few fringe shows and I will do my best to let you know what I thought.
Next weekend is my youngest sister's engagement party, last month was my little brother's engagement party and next month in my other sister's wedding in which I finally get to be a bridesmaid. So as you can imagine, life has been very busy. I hope to be able to share with you all some of the wonderful things my family and I are making for the wedding, it seems to have become a project for all of us.
I hope to get back into the swing of things soon, new clay work and beading to do, and starting next week I will be having a sale in both my shops as I will need to make room so watch this space!
Until then, back to the dance :)

a change in the air...

The rain is coming in as I write this... the tension in the air pressure right now is Divine. I love a good change. Even a bad one is ok.

I am transitioning my shop from etsy to Artfire. Its a big change for me, but its going well and I already feel quite at home there. Artfire is a delightful site to work with. I hope you will come visit me and give me some feedback :)

Life is very full at the moment, lots of performing and dance lessons and chasing after Wren, who has learned to run. If you are around, you can catch us this weekend at the Adelaide Vegan Festival.

So, hopefully all of this means more things to share with you and maybe even some more productive internet time, if we're lucky.

love love.

Ferret Fridays

For some time now my partner-in-crime Morgan and one of his oldest friends , Simon aka Ferret, have been getting together every Friday for coffee. A few years ago it became having tea together too. And about a year or so ago Ferret started cooking. Turns out, he's very good at it.

So far, he has made us Sushi, Lamb Rogan Josh, Turkey and Corn soup, Rosemary Barrimundi and a few other strange things he has found the recipes for on the net and just thought he would try.

And now, its still Ferret Friday, but we make it more of an open house, with people bringing something to add to a shared meal, sometimes we even have everyone cooking in our kitchen! It works great for us, as we love to socialise but have found it much harder to leave the house as often as we used to now Wren is up and moving, and we love food too. And shared meals are such a great way to learn about other people.

What is your favourite dish for sharing with others?