Where has the time flown? I've been so busy and always tired, that I rarely spent time on the PC anymore in the evening. I hope, you all are enjoying a wonderful holiday at the moment - merry Christmas to you all, who celebrate it! Over here the sun is shining the whole day, so I went for a walk on the lake before lunch. I'm not alone with the idea. Many people were enjoying the sunny day too - alone, with the family, with the dog(s),... sitting, walking, jogging,...




Even the swan family enjoyed the day ;) From the distance I first thought, they were some man-made sculptures, since they had all their heads under the water LOL




I took my camera, but forgot to check at home - no SD-card inside (and this is not the first time it happened to me lately - arghh!). Luckily I got the iPod with me. The quality is of course not the same, but at least I could show you what a beautiful day it was ;)



I'm wishing you a grand start into 2013 and may the new year will bring you health, luck and happiness!

Phew, two months silence. My life was pretty stressful in
July. The vacation was then well needed. It started (and
ended) with a not so great experience with the train. But the
sky was amazing that day - through the tainted train window
it looked nearly surreal.

And (much) later, we saw a rainbow circle. I'm literally
over the clouds!



In the first week I had to struggle with jet lag - couldn't
sleep or getting awake in the middle of the night. Even in
the second week I was still very tired. So, we only did
some day tours around Melbourne - Great Ocean Road,
Melbourne Zoo, Ballarat, Olinda (yummy pie!), etc.



My brother drove us around patiently (thanks, dude!) and
since he knew, I love art & craft, he took me to the
craft shows at St. Kilda and at the Melbourne Art Centre.
Craft Cubed was also on going when we were there, that
I got the chance to visit some studios during their open studio
time - e.g. this studio showed us, how they print on their
Heidelberg machine. They even handed out the results to
the guests. I was excited - you know, how I love letterpress
prints. This studio gallery got some lovely print works and
they kindly pointed me out to the next gallery too. Actually,
some days later I came back to Fitzroy, because there are
many interesting smaller stores around.



Once we went to the city too. I didn't really like it though -
too crowded. The only good thing was these guys. Look
at this video - how could one not like them ;)



But the best of all is at my parent's home. My mom and my
sister in law spoiled us with Indonesian food. My son, who
loves fruits, could eat different kind of citrus fruit from the
garden - kumquat, lemon, lemonade, etc. The chili and some
other ingredients for cooking are also from the garden. And
of course there are orchids, succulents and other plants. My
father has a very green thumb.



I really enjoyed the vacation. It's a balance between relaxing,
crafting (yup, got my fingers on mom's sewing machine :))
and action. If you are interested, please check my gallery for
more photos.

I hope, you all had (or are still having) a great summer too!

BTW, Maki has posted the result of her Japan project and
reported her visit in Japan. The project is still on-going.

I finally found this video again.

When I first saw it back in 2010, I thought he's SO right.
At least it applies to me (not only in creativity, but in many
cases of my life - with or without my real effort), but I know
this doesn't necessarily apply to others.

It's getting better. With the illness as well as with the knife.
Not really good yet, but better. There's a perspective, right?



Wishing you a lovely weekend!

As I'm not really working on any creative projects lately, I
rarely post anything here. Most of you have probably followed
me because of one interest - creativity. Not talking about
creativity but anything else feels almost like spamming LOL
But well, the ".. and about anything, that comes across my
mind in my everyday life"-part in my introduction has been
there forever, so I guess, you might also have known the risk
before ;-)

Today I want to show you my new tools - a Japanese knife
(most left) and a digital voice recorder. Spectacular, no? LOL



The four knives from the right have been accompanying me
for about 22 years and served me well in my daily kitchen life.
I mostly work with the smallest one - it cuts nearly everything.
The fifth one was bought by a friend, who came for a visit and
couldn't deal with any of my knives (I on the other hand cannot
really deal with this new knife - we must have different way of
using a knife?).

Anyway, for weeks my hand asked me for a bigger knife
whenever I was cutting something. So two weeks ago I finally
bought one. Working with a big knife is so different than
before. The movement comes from the arm rather than from
the wrist, which is great. I'm cutting less accurate (which was
the reason why I never bought one before) and less speedy,
but that's not really important for me at the moment. It's the
flowing movement that I love - almost like a dance...

The idea of buying a digital voice recorder came on the same
weekend. I had a long walk and one idea after another came
flowing. At home, as I wanted to write it down, I only managed
to capture a small percentage :-(

Right now I'm still practicing in using it. Technically it is not an
issue - I could even do everything with closed eyes. But from
my experience with microphones, I know, I'd act different -
insecure, low voice,empty head,... - as soon as I have to speak
into a microphone. Also, I always thought it is odd, whenever
I saw people talking on the phone using a microphone - looked
like as if they're talking to themselves.

So, I'm recording a lot of nonsense at the moment and replay it,
just to make me use to the microphone and my own voice. I'm
taking it with me everywhere. I also have to learn dealing with
people's reactions, thinking I was speaking to myself (which I'd
indeed do in this case LOL). I hope, the next time I have to
record an idea, I'd be able to speak to it just as I was thinking
in my head.

How do you capture your ideas on the way?

season's greetings

Time flies and 2011 is coming to the end.
Although I'm not really here anymore, I don't want to miss
out sending you my seasons's greetings.



The ornament is one of the very few Christmas ornaments I
owned. I guess, the older I get, the lazier I become with
decorating. I grabbed them out only to take the photo (to
tell you the truth, I didn't even remember I own them! Geez..).
But hey, next year is a new chance, right? ;)

All my best wishes to you! xo

new chapter

When I closed my shops at the beginning of September, it was
because Etsy has done something, I was (and still am) not
agree with. I communicated my concerns clearly to them a few
times, which got ignored. I can't change Etsy's mind - which
is fine -, but I can change my own mind and so I quit Etsy.

It was quite funny. After I closed my shops, I went to the
forum. On that day Chad, Etsy's CEO, has started a thread
about how to find courage. My answer to Chad was kind of a
goodbye statement to the Etsy community. I answered him,
that it's like when you jump from the high (swinging) swing
as a kid. You simply know - you feel it, when it's time for it.

It was like that when I started on Etsy and it was again like
that when I quit Etsy. I didn't know what would happen next -
will I land safely or will I break my bones -, but I knew, I have
to do it.

Sometimes life has another plan ready for you before you even
realize it.



So here I am to start a new chapter in my life - a new chapter,
I couldn't even imagine four weeks back. For this new chapter
I will be stepping back from glasfaden for a while.

I don't know, if I will be posting here every now and then or
when I will be back again, but we'll see ;) Anyway, keep in touch, friends!

All my best wishes,
Devi xo

edit:
Haha... when I link this post to the photo on my Flickr, I saw
the previous photo and remember, what I said in my last post
"I need something chic for some (probably never occurred)
occasions". Well, it seems, I'll get lots of opportunities to wear it now!

fauna & flora

I told my son, we should open up a pet shelter ;) One day
after Ella's visit, Franklin came to visit me. I wondered,
what would happen, if they met each other. Each of them
alone is the gentlest dog and cat, but together? Not sure
about that...


right: Franklin's waiting for me to let him out and go
back home

Last year I was excited, when I read this recipe on Etsy blog.
I went immediately to the garden, but it was too late - the
purslane were no longer looking good. So, I'm excited to see
them coming out again - I simply love edible weeds!



I also harvested the red currant and the strawberries. We
got lots of red currants this year (those in the bowl is 2/3 of
them - I left the other 1/3 to give the birds a chance to enjoy
them too). Last year the flowers fell off too early because of
the rainy weather, so only some few were left to fruit. Last
year's strawberries were bigger than this year's. Well, that's
probably my fault, cause I didn't give them fertilizer nor much
water in this dry weather (my philosophy is what survived fits
the climate and gardening should be fun, not only work - now
ask me, why I want to plant banana in my garden then LOL).



I washed and dried each berries and then put them in the
fridge. My son and I love to eat them pure and frozen
(although those strawberries from the first harvest were
turned into strawberry curd cheese - also yummm....!! :)).

weekend

We had a visitor this weekend. She had visited us once.
This time she stayed overnight. Since it's quite warm here
(we live under the roof - the heat of the house is gathered
right here and sometimes it feels like in the oven, sort of...),
it must be quite a torture for her. She slept most times. But
when she's awake, she nudged me to pet her by slipping her
nose under my elbow or brought me her toy :)


The plush ladybug (was once a lavender bag from the junk
food chain with the double yellow arch - yes, sometimes we
eat junk food ;)) is to distract her from grabbing other stuff,
as she loves anything plushy and shoes.

Hope, you had (and still have) a good weekend.

a disaster

Three days ago I was about to finish a post about the
illustration I made for the project One Thousand Wishes
after I saw it listed in the shop. I wanted to write about
my inspiration - the shoots I showed you in my last post.


wrongly titled "nasturtium" - oops!

I was writing, when my thoughts wandered to the seeds
I had in my pots now and also to the plants I grew nine
years ago. Some of the seeds I use are that old and to my
luck most of them grow! I was comparing the shape and
colors of the different shoots, when I suddenly got the
feeling, I might mixed something up.

It was so funny to watch the red roots coming out of the
seed and lifted it in the air. It looked like a little brown
monster with three red legs :) When the empty capsule
was then fell off, there come three lovely shoots. The
leaves look particularly similar to the coriander sprouts
leaves. Only the red stem make the difference (it's been
a long time since I grown my own red chard - I wonder,
if the shoot looks similar..).
[ from my dropped post ]

I quickly looked up in the paper bags, where I keep my seeds,
and double-checked it on Google. Aargh - I indeed made a
mistake! A BIG one, since I only realized it two days after Ali
listed it in the shop :( What a disaster!!



I made a new illustration right on that day - with the right
title this time (not in the shop yet, as far as I knew, so check
the shop often, if you are interested. Well I hope, it will be
listed after this disaster). While I made the first one out of
my memories, the details in the second one was based more
on observation. I'm learning from my mistake...


***


I collected the buds of the chives for cooking this morning
and while the rice was cooking, I couldn't resist to style them
for a photo.

before


after


Didn't took the time to make a photo of the dish (fried wild
rice with carrot, chive buds and scrambled egg), because
we had to hurry with lunch. My son had to catch the bus.


***


Happy Easter, friends!

Hey, spring!

Remember the weed I took into the house the other day?
Here's a close-up. Those fine hairs amaze me.


Meanwhile the nature has start to bloom everywhere, in-
and outside the house. I picked these flowers from the
garden.


And the hoya bella started really early this year. I hope,
the flowers will last longer than last year.


The (sun)light in the past days really helps the early blooming
everywhere. Hey, spring!

patterns

I haven't been in town just for fun for ages. So yesterday
I took my camera, went to the older part of the city and
took pictures, with patterns and textures in mind.

My first stop was Münster, the cathedral.











Later, I strolled around between the houses.









At home I saw the weeds are already all over the places
again, awake from the winter sleep. I took this one to be
a model for my drawing.

I got this maneki neko last month from a friend. She brought
it from Japan - her homeland - and said, it should bring me
luck.



I'm glad her family in Japan is fine. And so far everyone I
know are okay as well. Sending my thoughts to those in Japan.
I hope, no bigger catastrophe is coming.

If you care to help, you could donate through Paypal without
any percent cut. Etsy seems to hinder a fundraising shop this
time :(

before after

Found myself taking photos of (almost) the same objects
from (almost) the same position again and again lately.
Therefore.. here some before-after..


Feb 20th, 2011 : Feb 21st, 2011


Feb 20th, 2011 : Feb 21st, 2011


Feb 16th, 2011 : Feb 22nd, 2011

P.S. love those tulips, as I don't think I ever had some which
smell so nice before!

a start

Finally a new post, in the second Monday of the new year.
Hope you had a good start.


[fooling around in the train]

My son and I have spent some lazy days in Holland. In a
whole week we only managed to go to Amsterdam once
(and there during a boat tour my son got cold, I think),
otherwise we stayed in (my sis') house.


[the windows are so dirty, i didn't take any photos - those
above are shot by my son]

I looked back in my archive. I didn't make any new year's
resolution last year *phew* I took stock of what worked,
what didn't, what I missed, what is too much and I came to
this conclusion, which will be my kind of motto for 2011:
there is no "no time" - you can always take your time.

That would mean, I'll have to be honest to myself (and
others), either I want to do something or not, put it on
priority or not and execute it or not. Instead of saying
excuses to myself and others "I have no time for it". So,
I'm hoping to be able to balance things better than in 2010
(hard time is coming ;)).

I wish you a great 2011. Have a nice week!

tragedy

Today is a sad day for my city. We lost one of the
historical houses in the middle of the city. This morning
I saw the fire department and police working there and
the pedestrian area was closed spaciously, but I didn't
see fire or smoke (the sky was pretty foggy since last
evening). So, I was shocked to see (from the end of the
street) that the house on the corner (where I used to buy
shoes for my son) was already collapsed, when I looked
at that closed area after work in the afternoon. This and
any other tragedies always remind me to be grateful for
what I have.

Hope, you all stay safe and healthy! *hugs*

review

I used to sew a lot for the kindergarten and also sew
some trousers for my boy as he was younger or carnival
costumes. But I never finished any project for myself
except for a pair of trousers, which didn't really fit. Yes,
fitting is one of the problems sewing things for myself.
My old sewing machine is the other problem. The zigzag
stitch doesn't really work properly (so, yay for my new
serger! :)).

In the last two days I managed to sew myself a dress for
the gig (of course after days of procrastinating :P). It's a
bit rumble-in-the-jungle way of sewing, as I didn't have a
pattern for a dress. I started with a vague idea in mind,
a T-shirt pattern and my black skirt as a model. The result
is far than perfect. I accidentally cut a tiny hole into the
top (which is luckily double layered) and I left the serger
stitches uncovered along the armhole. I didn't mind those
imperfectness since the dress is meant to be worn under a
black shirt anyway.



The gig itself went well. It was quite relaxing to have a gig
with another choir, as we had only to sing 10 songs (plus
three more as encores) instead of 16 as per usual.

Now it's time to slowly closing the year 2010. Except for
working, no more extra activities. My son is at his dad and I
will have time to review the year. Also to prepare our trip to
Holland. Finally visiting my sister again. My son and I are SO
looking forward to this! I'm still not sure, either I should
put my shop on vacation or not (there's not much activity in
there anyway lately ;)).

This might be my last post this year. So, I'm wishing you
Happy Holidays, friends! Thank you for catching up with me,
even if I was not really active at any online spaces this year.
I'm hoping to get all thing better managed next year. See you
in 2011! xoxoxo

a trip

I visited St. Gallen yesterday. It was my first time, but I will
go back to discover more. I only had the time to visit the textile
museum (some of the antique embroideries are to die for!!) and
to stroll through the city a little bit (next time I will surely go
into this gallery to take a closer look at the lovely paintings).



Wishing you a lovely weekend :)

higher and higher

Are you afraid of height? I love height, that's why I
love flying (in an airplane ;)). I love to live upstairs,
to sleep in a upper stage of a bunk bed and the list goes
on and on... But I wonder, how would I feel if I had to
stay on this balcony. The view is amazing, but I'm
pretty sure, I'd crawl on the glass floor as my knees
would tremble badly at first before I could enjoy it LOL



Last week we went to this park with my sis and her
family. This time my knees were not acting like jelly as
they did when I was there 5 or 6 years ago with the choir.
It was my first time and I was really nervous at first.
You have to concentrate yourself to clip and un-clip the
two carabiners. And with my short legs, I had difficulty
straight on the first stop of my first track. In front of me
there was a lady with her kids. I think, the boy was 11
and the girl 8 y.o. So if she could make it, why couldn't
I? I clenched my teeth and.. yayy :) The other stops
were easier as one get used to the clipping and unclipping.

If you had any chance to go to a ropes course park, I'd
encourage you to try it - it's such a great feeling to
overcome the anxiety that you might have at first! At
the end of a track you'd want to start the next till your
hands and brain finally got tired.

I hope, you aren't tired of my necklace though... ;)