its finished!

My husband is an artist and he started this deer painting loosely based on the old well known 'A Highland Stag' for our daughters wedding gift. I suppose its that time old adage of 'a builders house is never finished' etc. dont quite remember how it goes.

Well. Its finished!

 He finally finished the long overdue painting on the weekend. She came down and demanded it. She and hubby have celebrated their second anniversary and had a baby since he started this.

My favourite part. I dont know how well you know me yet but I simply love trees and plants and leafy things, hence my blog name. Love is an understatement. Obsession fits.

His favourite part. Remind you of someone?

 

A certain dog by the name of Rustico? He loves that dog.

my creative space

We made a couple of shirt dresses for Mali in my creative space for this week. 

From different sized check flannies. Nice and cosy for winter.

I kind of got sidetracked bathing baby and forgot to take more photos of the finished dresses, oops!

 

 

Be sure to check out Kirstys for true inspiration!

where ive been

before and after of the lounge, (kind of)

This is where ive been. 

Hopefully this wont be too boring a post for some of you but im kind of astonished that

this kind of thing is achievable in less than a week.

Mum had settlement on Monday last week and we started work that same day. We planned to get the floor coverings removed and walls and ceilings sugar soaped and painted by the end of the week. Has anybody else done this? Its really exhausting. She had ordered the carpets ahead of time and they were being delivered by Friday and were to await installment for the following/this week. The floor sanding guys had a tentative booking for this Tuesday (yesterday).

We were as organised as we could be. 

And we did it!

Just. 

With an hour to spare!

before and after of the kitchen, the cupboards will have to wait for some attention

before and after of a bedroom. It was dark but the curtains were making it seem so gloomy and they now lie in the front yard along with the rest of the carpets and rubble.

 

Its was grotty but mum was happy to have her new place, she got stuck into the cleaning.

Zja and Dan finally able to start painting after two days of cleaning and preparing. They got the fun jobs while mum and I tackled the floors until late into the night. The old lino was stuck down so hard it took us three hours to pull up and we woke up sore the next day from that alone.

But they definitely had to come up, dont you think?

 a corner of the kitchen with all of its tiled, jigsaw-cut lino glory

 

 cobwebbed curtains and the more beautious real spidery sculptures.

 Did I ever tell you that I housed spiders in my childhood and fed them flies? This amazing story may have to wait for another time .... I named him Sultan. He was fast. And black and beautiful. Probably your average garden variety but he was my friend.

the tiles that are no more because the grout was non existent and I know how to tile thanks to my hubby and therefore they didnt need to stay one moment longer

The toilet had to come out to get rid of the smell and the tiles just fell off the wall.

That'll be a job for next week, now. Oh! and we had to take out the walls in the lounge because the wallpaper was going to take so long to remove it wasnt funny.

 We did a two foot square in half an hour, for example. As in two of us.

 Theres no way we wanted to spend two days just doing that.

Mums darling, Dan, (mum got married last November at 73). They have so much fun together. Im told they giggle into the wee hours of the morning. Nice hey?

In the time its taken me to post this ( is there a new format for the upload photos or have I pressed the wrong button by mistake?)  ive done dinner, had extra teenagers here doing homework, dropped dvd's back, done some tidying (pointless), welcomed hubby home from work and the AGDIdeas conferences and we're now in a deep conversation about all things artistic. Also his recently revisited life-drawing classes with a best friend that he's enjoying so much.

Wait! Im being given a present.

He brought this home tonight.

I didnt know anything about this. He never said a thing.

He started painting this a year ago. For me.

He chose to bring it home tonight.

I cried.

I feel as if it is he and I rolled into one image.

I dont think even he knows what this means to me.

He and I will decipher it in years to come.

There are no words worthy of this image . Yet.

Only a feeling.

the winner is...

Ive raced home....
Ive quickly used Malis boot for the big draw which was the nearest thing to me that would make it even stevens. All that pink fur came in handy.

Everyones name but Gina (she graciously declined another pin-cushion) was in that tiny little piece of bad Barbie footwear extravaganza.

I know im a whole, entire, day late ladies with announcing the winner.
Im truly sorry but it couldnt have been helped. I got stuck in the country last night with a last minute hiccup with the renovations at mums. Things went a little bit sideways out there in the last few days and I needed to do a quick trip back to keep things on track. In my hurry I left the computer home! OOPS.

(To be explained to those who like 'talking houses' in a later post with pictures and all.)

Without further ado the winner is Jane from the land of Blogger but she has not yet begun her journey. ie no blog.Hope that doesnt sound silly but Im a bit lost for what to say or do, you see. I hope you pop back in here, Jane, to see that youve WON as there are no contact details for you on your profile page as yet. Plus, I need an address to send your pin-cushion to.

Meanwhile....Does anyone know who Jane is?

100th blog post pin-cushion giveaway!

Hey! Everyone who feels like they just must have one more pin-cushion, Im having a giveaway to celebrate my getting to 100, mostly useless, silly ideas that are yet to come to fruition, never really helpful but might have made you laugh, sometimes to become Etsyed, things mostly on the backburner here at Textured Leaf Central.
 If you liked this one that I made for Kates Pin-Cushion Swap then just leave a comment for me to read while Im taking a break and am off to renovate my mums house for the next week. Ill announce the winner next Monday!

P.S If you have a favourite colour Id like to know.

101 birdtales shop

 

Have you seen this lady's beautiful offerings? 

Her shop is simply lovely.

Check it out.

seasonal happenings

I love the change of seasons. Change is good . I get a kick out of updating my homefurnishings seasonally.

It makes me feel like cleaning even when its not Spring.

Time to update my lounge cushions ready for Winter.

 I didnt make it in time to do something for Autumn.

 I havent even put up my curtains since the move yet. Hello neighbours *waves

yes.. im on the computer again *shouts

 This is how our lounge looks now. 

I have pretty much always felt the need to do things by the season, but it wasnt until I recieved this book

from a close friend a few years ago that I truly indulged my senses by way of over the top colour infusion and tying it all in with the outside landscape that is everchanging.

I wont make all completely new ones because that would be wasteful but ill use

 some of the ones I have stored away from last year

 and then make a couple of fresh ones to inject new style.

 The ones you see here are different ages. One is 8 years old and one 5, the two matching are only 1 and the pale quilted one is the one I blogged about here.

Meanwhile the house has been tweeked and trimmed into shape with a few choice artworks and well placed ornaments. Nothing too fancy, just some regular op-shop finds.

Whats that?
You want a close up of that amazing green artwork down the hall?

It was a gift from our lovely and arty ex-neighbours!

how nice is that?

This vase was only $3.50 from BigW of all places! I only mention the price and place so you make sure to scan the less obvious shops. This is one of my favourite pieces Ive ever had the pleasure of owning, you see.

But I added the glass stopper that I got from Camberwell Market for $4.00.

It holds our beach finds.

Ive managed to keep it scandanavianly minimalistic in the dining room. Oh, I dont think I mentioned that when we moved in my husband made me promise to give him the sole decorating rights to one room of the house. I gave him the lounge.....

I knew hed still need some cushions...... designed and made by me....

so I didnt really, truly, in reality, just hand him over the room.

come on...im not that easily swayed.

Are you a seasonal woman?

my creative space-tonights episode

I just thought id post an update with the finished dresses.

My son came home with the flu halfway through the day so 'my' day got delayed.

I couldnt get a totally full length shot and after trying 20 or more times had to do two.

I used one of my home made bias bindings for the straps and hem

as the colours on the cloth were quite unusual,

and the yellow dress did get black lace on the bottom to 'darken' it up.

Off to do some much needed housework.
Ive pretty much got fabric scraps right through the place after this weeks to-doings.
Oh and my son just messaged me and said hes feeling much better!

Have you updated your wardrobe lately?

my creative space

Ive been meaning to make myself some dresses for a very long time so... today is the day.
This green dress is the one I reach for alot. In summer its great by itself, or over jeans and with a jacket and scarf in colder weather. I made it for our overseas trip to Europe last year to wear to an Irish wedding but it doesnt necessarily mean its a dressy dress. So im making some more just like it.

This one is on its way it just needs hemming perhaps in a black lace to make it less colourful.

I spliced a mexican doiley in half for the back detail because to me, the dress looked overtly mexicano anyway  with all the gaudy yellow and big roses.

This has nice embroidery at the top, just a couple of napkins.

 

and this one is still in pieces.

Take yourself over to Kootoyoo to see what everyone else is up to.