I know, I know! You've been waiting *all year* for another instalment of vintage craft! Well, I try not to disappoint ;)

"Creative Needlework" (1974) by Jo Springer is another gem from my Mum's collection. It has some fantastic retro styling that is quite on-trend at the moment.









But then it starts getting a little iffy ...





Until eventually - dear God, won't someone please think of the children!?!?





Luckily, there are a couple of dapper chaps playing with model trains to rescue us all at the end ;)...
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Ever since our last #blogeverydayofjune adventure I've been meaning to post another instalment of vintage craft :)

Last time I blogged about one of my favourite vintage craft books, "Crafts for Fun and Profit". That book is part of my own craft book collection, but originally belonged to my Mum. Today's book is one that my Mum has hung on to - I took these photos when I visited at Christmas.

The book is called "Celebrity Needlepoint" (1972) by Joan Scobey and Lee Parr McGrath. It doesn't have a...
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The wonderful and oh-so-talented author Diana Wynne Jones passed away earlier this year on 26 March 2011. She'll be sorely missed. Her works will live on in the hearts and on the bookshelves of her readers. I am one of those readers, and this post is my small way of thanking her for enriching my reading life.

I'm actually not a big fan of either fantasy fiction or young adult fiction. But the most notable exceptions to the rule are, strangely, where the two genres intersect. Some of my favouri...
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My second attempt at digital storytelling for #Octshowntell was made using Storybird. Storybird is a website where you can use high quality (and gorgeous!) illustrations to create stories, and publish them in a visually appealing digital storybook format. I encourage you to give it a go, the site is a real pleasure to use.

I wrote a simple little story about a helpful librarian (in the guise of a green fairy) answering questions about finding books and information. The artwork is by the very t...
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Well, I missed another #blogeverydayofjune post yesterday due to illness. I don't know if I can make up for it in the few days left, but I'll do my best ;)

I love flicking through vintage craft books. Occasionally I will buy one to add to my book collection, but there are so many out there that I have to restrain myself! I try to only collect books that have continuing appeal, but I must confess to having picked up a so-bad-it's-good book from time to time :)

This book is one of my faves. It wa...
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I first discovered Georgette Heyer's books when I babysat the children of a family friend. I can't recall now whether she loaned me some of the books, or whether I read them at her house after the children had gone to bed, but I do vividly remember that she had a whole shelf full of them, and I thought it was wonderful!

Once I started reading Georgette Heyer, I couldn't stop! I absolutely devoured her books as a teenager. The Regency romances were my favourites, but I also enjoyed her histori...
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Sometimes I joke that collecting is in my genes - after all, both of my parents were avid collectors. But really, I was *taught* to collect from an early age. I learnt from the example set by my parents, and I was also encouraged to begin my own collections.

As a child, I collected:

• stickers
• anything related to Snoopy
• badges and pins
• Avon perfume bottles
• novelty erasers
• Princess Di memorabilia

At University I got hooked on science fiction and Star Trek, and began collecting bas...

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Oh how I heart thee, Book Depository!

• Your prices are so cheap, even after converting them into Australian dollars
• Your postage is free worldwide, yes *FREE*
• You have a wide selection of books that I would have great difficulty finding in Australia
• You include a free bookmark with every order
• Your books always arrive in Australia, all the way from the UK, within a week or two of ordering
• You politely say "Thank you ever so much for placing an order with us" :)

This is not a sponsored testimonial, bu...
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Man, oh man, oh man! It really has been ages since I last blogged!

Whilst I won't go into all the reasons why I've been a bit quiet online lately (let's just say I tend to withdraw from the world when I'm under stress), there have been a few changes in my life lately ...

Our long-anticipated move north is on hold (again), this time due to family circumstances. We may still be looking at moving in July/August, but it will very much depend on what else is happening at the time. We'll just have to...
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The last month has very been stressful for me and my family, especially this last week. This isn't the place to go into further detail, so I'll just leave it at that. But perhaps it will explain the lack of blog posts - my mind has most decidedly been somewhere else!

I've got a backlog of half-complete posts waiting to be finished about VALA2010, the Tour Down Under, decluttering, and an assortment of topics inspired by Twitter conversations. Hopefully they will appear soon. In the meantime, t...
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Today's post is super-quick, as I've got to finish a job application tonight :)

Tim and I bottled the home brew last night and have 54 bottles of beer to show for it. We had quite an efficient production line going between the two of us as we sterilised, rinsed, primed, filled and capped all of the bottles.



We also had an electrician come around this morning to fix some lights and install an extra powerpoint in the study. Hopefully that should put an end to some of the power-related computer pr...
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Tim and I decided that we have time to make a batch of home brew (and maybe even drink it all) before we move north. So today Tim dug the fermenter out of the garage and got started. He's sterilising the fermenting vessel and assorted paraphernalia as I type.

Once the ingredients are combined and the brewing process gets underway, we'll be ready for bottling in a week or so. It will be all hands on deck to sterilise, prime, fill and cap the bottles. A couple of weeks after that, it will be rea...
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A few years ago, while holidaying in Darwin, I got chatting with another hotel guest in the pool (as you do). She told me about the book she was reading, Lance Armstrong's auto-biography It's Not About the Bike, and recommended that I read it. That afternoon, I saw Dodgeball at the cinema, in which Lance has a cameo role. It was a sign, I thought, and when I saw his book for sale after my return to Melbourne, I bought a copy.

I'm not usually interested in athletes' biographies, but Lance has a...

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A couple of weeks ago, my mum and I took a trip together to Hobart, Tasmania. I figured I'd better write a blog entry about it now, while I have access to a working computer :). I've also uploaded some pics to my Flickr account.

We had a slow start, with fog in Melbourne delaying take-off for almost 3 hours. But happily that did not foreshadow any further problems! We stayed at Hadleys Hotel in Hobart's CBD. This historic hotel was built in 1834 by convict labor, and we found it to be well lo...

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- It started out with a terrific client training session in the morning, out at the clients' office. It was an excellent 2-way conversation and learning experience. We covered the library's services and resources, and much more besides. The session lasted just over 4 hours!

- After the training session, I took advantage of the inner city locale to visit a couple of interesting-looking bookshops. Yes, I found some lovely new treasures.

- I then enjoyed a very nice lunch at an atmospheric veget...

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Righto, I'll start with some information about myself...

I currently live in Melbourne (Victoria), Australia. I've lived there for most of my life, with the exception of four years spent in sunny Canberra (Australian Capital Territory). Later this year, my partner, Tim, and I will be moving to tropical Darwin (Northern Territory) - a place we've always loved.

I work as a librarian, and think it's a terrific profession to be a part of. I really enjoy helping others find information and resourc...

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