A little piece of Britain

Ah, dear readers, the gentle and unspoken pressure of your expectation. Blank pages to fill for you! Thoughts to make into flesh!

Now that I am blogging again, I feel my sewing inspiration returning as well - because what is blogging without pictures? What is blogging without new projects to display? What, indeed?

And thus it was that this morning I put together a beautiful little cushion made from a 100% Irish linen vintage British tea towel.  I love the really vibrant colours and the bold illustrations of this beauty. I found it up the road at a local op shop, and it was just crying out to be turned into something wonderful. 

I know the tea towel in its original state was already both functional and beautiful, but I would have felt it a waste to just dry the dishes with it. Plus, My One True Love has this habit of wiping up coffee grains with the nearest tea towel to hand, and I couldn't bear to have this one stained. It's too pretty.

So now it's a gorgeous cushion cover; perfect for a boys' room or to remind you of that amazing year you had over there in The Old Country. My favourite bit is all the names of the stations in the London Underground.

I'm half-British, though I never spent a gap year there myself (actually, I never had a gap year at all), but somehow when I look at this one I just think of home.

It's because of the banana

It's been six weeks.

The world has turned on its axis. Seasons have changed, from summer to autumn and from winter to spring. Thousands of miles have been traversed, and travelled back again.

Earthquakes have shaken us. Nuclear reactors have wept into the sea.

I've returned to Australia and left the Middle East uprising behind me. I have a new job, in a new industry, and for the first time in my life I'm working outside the CBD. I'm a bridesmaid in a very special wedding.

Boot camp is a constant. A baby has been born.

Today, I bought a banana for the first time in a very long time. It cost me Three Dollars And Fifteen Cents. For a single banana. Just the one.

And I thought: this online silence cannot continue! I must speak of this!

I have found my voice again.