Another reason is that I’ve branched out into a new venture with Bonnie Gravy. She and I are creating a new line of old stuff, up-cyled and restyled and slightly remodelled. We have called it Mona’s Wardrobe and we are launching it this Sunday at the Rose St Artists Market where we will be every second Sunday for the next couple of months. We will also be at the Blackbird Market in April.

Cottage Nerd has been a little neglected I must admit………but it won’t be for long as I have some plans in the pipeline and will keep you posted.

Its on this Sunday and in aid of their delicious fifties revival feel I have made some new skirts out of this great retro fabric I found on-line.

I have loved this Parisian style of sketch design since I found it in op-shops in the eighties. You don’t see much of this sort of thing any more which is why I pounced on it when I saw it and bought its co-ordinating fabrics as well because I couldn’t resist. Now I wish I had bought more of it because I think it will be popular.

These tiny photos don’t really do it justice but you get the general drift.

Today it is the cutting for the new patchwork skirt I am dreaming up. It is something that has been rolling around in the vault for a while, so I have applied it to the need I have to make a long summer skirt. There is no denim in this one, the palette is pink and blue…..very girlie, and it introduces a new size. The old size Large will become a Medium Large and I will slide a size between the old Large and the XLarge. This is because a lot of customers trying on the skirts fit somewhere between the two.

I would love to pop a bit of lace in there somewhere but that could be going too far, yeah?

A few years ago when I had an infant that slept in the morning and the afternoon I started to paint.

It wasn’t the first time but it had been a long time. It was because I was suddenly inspired by Babushka dolls.

Maybe it was the time of my life, but I sort of fell in love with them, their kind faces and round motherly shape. Their eyes seem to hold so many secrets.

I felt that their nesting attribute represented the mother within, in the sense that the mother that I was becoming was emerging from having been mothered.  The child that had been within brought with her the mother that was in me when she came out.

Also that the mother that I am, for good or bad, will be a part of the mothers that my girls may become. We hold these women inside us and nurture them for good or bad, the mother from the past and the mothers of the future.

It is a process that presents us with many thousands of decisions every day.

A friend of mine, Rebecca who doesn’t yet have children of her own, says that for her the nesting attribute represents the layers of the human soul, like Shrek says ‘Ogres are like onions Donkey, they have layers’.

Anyway I had this strong desire to represent them, so I began. I ended up painting quite a few pictures and giving them away, making necklaces, brooches and a couple of cushions. Eventually I appliqued them on to skirts. I thought I would show a few photos from time to time for those out there who like them too. Some of the photos are of actual dolls that I have been given by various kind people, women of course.

Its very interesting what people say about this idea of a photo of where they do their thing. It seems to be always apologetic. “its only a tiny room….there’s no beautiful sunlight…..its very untidy…..its only the dining room table and then I pack it away….’

Begs the question…is that what we are looking for when we long to gaze into the inner sanctum? Of course a stream of sunlight is the classical symbol of inspiration but we all know that inspiration for each of us is something different and very personal. Looking into someone’s creative space is not looking into their brain or through their eyes but maybe its the closest we are going to get.

I love the thought of entering something in the Royal Melbourne Shoe. Its so Melbourne, historical, big country townish. I bet a lot of bitching and fighting goes on. Do I want to get involved in all of that? Do I have to? Isn’t it the point sort of? getting along with everyone, rubbing up against people causing friction and then resolving it? I’m in the situation at the moment where I work pretty much on my own. I have ‘colleagues’ like the Squirt and other marketers but we work along side not with, which is quite different. There is a lot of cameraderie in the market scene. But I think this set is definitely older and wiser. For instance when I was taking these photos some of the crafters were a bit stroppy when I said I might blog about it. Some were really interested and happy. It takes all kinds? Well no matter where you go you have to deal with people and they with you.