Today I’ve been given the marvelous pleasure and honour of guest posting over on Maken Art.  It’s my first guest post ever, so I was rather nervous.

Maken Art is run by the uber fabulous Jess.  Jess describes Maken Art as

“… a place to create, try new things and not be afraid (or embarrassed) by the end result. Maken Art is a place to participate in projects and connect with all the wonderfully creative people on the interwebs. So pick up a pencil, get paint on your hands, and start Maken Art!”

Jess and I attended the Problogger Event, but alas didn’t meet.  We did however meet via Twitter just after the event and it turns out that Jess is in Canberra as well and shares so many of the same interests.  Sometimes the internet is such a small and fabulous world!

Anyway, you can check out my guest post here – it’s about my top 8 artist crushes.   Leave me a comment as I’d love to know what you think about the post and whether you found a new artist to love.

It’s not often I sit and gape at the television, but this week on Top Chef I did just that.  It was a wonderful piece of reality television.

For those of you that aren’t familiar with Top Chef it involves established chefs battling it out in cooking challenges to become the Top Chef.  So unlike Masterchef the contestants in this show should know how to deliver when it comes to food.

This is season seven of Top Chef and it’s being filmed in Washington D.C.  The location is providing some great visual accompaniments to the series.  It’s also show casing the role of the American Public Service.  As someone who lives in the capital of their nation it’s great to see what life is like in another nation’s capital.

But back to the show.  We’re up to episode nine in this series and it’s been a good series up to now, but this week it got juicy.

Reality television is addictive because it relies on human nature and interaction.  However, I prefer reality television that delivers more than just human interaction which is why I prefer the cooking, design and skills based shows to a format like Big Brother.

It’s inevitable in each show that there is a target player.  A target player is a person who is living with a target on their back, whether from their own actions or from the editing in the show. They are the person we all love to hate, and they make us tune in.

The only downside to having a target player is that statistically that player ultimately goes home without the title.  But while they’re on the show they make for some great television and viewer engagement.  It’s usually just down hill for viewers once that player leaves.

Image source: Bravotv.com

In Masterchef Australia the target player was Joanne.  Her target was set by the audience through the editing of the show.  In this season of Top Chef the target player is Alex.  Unlinke Joanne Alex has set the target himself and it’s been wonderful television viewing.

It started a couple of episodes ago with ‘pea-gate‘.  In a nutshell, pea-gate happened when a fellow contestants pea puree went missing and Alex was the only contestant to plate pea puree.  The show was edited to give it maximum drama and it started the roll against Alex.

This week saw the challenge that separates the real chefs from the wannabe chefs, restaurant wars.   The contestants are split into two teams and tasked with setting up their own restaurant.  They’re responsible for the menu and front of house.  In past seasons it’s been the biggest source of drama and often the one challenge where the most mistakes happen.

This season the restaurants performed well and there was minimal drama in the actual restaurants.  The contestants waited until they were under the pressure of judging to lose the plot.  It was beautiful.

The team with Alex made the decision to keep him out of the kitchen and limit the amount of cooking he was involved in.  They made the decision to put him in charge of front of house.  Which provided an insight into Alex‘s character that has not been seen before.  He can be a bit of a pr*ck.

Image source: Bravotv.com

In the end the decision paid off and Alex‘s team was safe from elimination.  However, that didn’t stop the team up for elimination from throwing Alex under the bus.

It was a beautiful piece of reality television.  The team up for elimination decided that Alex should be up for elimination because his team carried him.  Unfortunately the team acted within the rules and therefore couldn’t have Alex up for elimination.  That didn’t stop it from making some great television viewing though.

The way the team turned as one and crucified another contestant was magical.  It just goes to demonstrate that people under pressure can find a scapegoat when they need one.

It has however set up next week for an amazing episode.  There’s been anger and accusations and those things will come home to roost.  Needless to say, I can’t wait for next week’s episode.

Last night I was glued to my iphone following updates on Twitter about a possible Australian Labor Party (ALP) leadership spill.  ALP spills are nothing new in the history of Australia, this one however had major ramifications.  The leader of the ALP was currently the Prime Minister of Australia.

At 9:30am this morning a change of leadership did occur and Australia had it’s first female Prime Minister sworn in at 1:00pm.  Julia Gillard became the first female Australian Prime Minister.  Amazing.

Regardless of which side of the political fence you sit on you have to take notice of the historical significance of this moment in time.  For the first time in our history we will be governed by a woman.  For the first time in our history we will be governed by a single person.  For the first time in our history we had a Prime Minister lose his leadership before the end of his first term in office.  A big day of firsts.

For many people it was also the first time they realised that under the Westminster system of government they don’t actually vote for a Prime Minister¹ and therefore the Party could decide to have a change of leadership which would lead to a change of Prime Minister.

Today again reinforced to me the there is no amount of money in this world that would see me take on the responsibility and the scrutiny that comes with being a politician.  I admire all those that have decided to serve their nation in this manner, regardless of their political persuasion. It takes a level of courage that few of us will ever need in our lifetimes, and I’m thankful that there are people out there willing to stand up and be the voice to our nation.

While my opinions about the previous Prime Minister had been waning, my heart did break for him today when he made his final address as the Prime Minister.  I think people tend to forget that he lost his job today, and for anyone that’s a massive blow.  It would be a hundred times harder to lose that job while the nation is watching and commenting.  I admired him for the professionalism and dignity he showed in his final speech.  I think it showed the level of his character to be so gracious under what a lot of people would acknowledge was an unusually hard way to lose your position.

For what it’s worth, I think he made the right decision to not contest the role.  Stepping aside has left him with the option of being able to step back into a pivotal role when his party needs him without having the “numbers” from the vote hanging over his head.  It also allows the party to keep a unified front and not display to the public just how fractured they may be.  Something the Liberal Party would do a lot to learn from.

How will Julia Gillard fair as Prime Minister? That’s for the history books to decide; but she will do as good a job, or as bad a job, as any man would in that position.  The fact that she’s a woman should not be the defining legacy of her leadership.

As one voter in this mighty fine country I wish her well and thank her for standing up and taking on this responsibility when she was called on.  I’m proud this day to have voted for the Australian Labor Party, and I’m equally as proud to be an Australian with a female Prime Minister.  I look forward to the day when it’s no longer of historical significance what the gender of our leaders are and I believe this is one small step towards making that a reality.

¹  The Prime Minister is appointed by the Governor-General, who by convention under the Constitution, must appoint the parliamentary leader of the party, or coalition of parties, which has a majority of seats in the House of Representatives. – http://www.aph.gov.au

On Monday one of my bestest friends in the world gave birth to her first child; Amber Rose.  I don’t think I’d be biased at all in saying; she is perfect!  Just see for yourself…

I was so excited about the arrival of this little lady.  (And I still am!)  It totally blows my mind to think that M has her own child now.  It’s so wonderful.

When they did the scan that would have allowed them to know the sex of the baby little Amber had her legs crossed (ever the lady) and so the radiographer couldn’t confirm the sex.  It’s been a waiting game to find out and now that we all know for sure I’ve decided it’s time to do some baby inspired spending to celebrate the arrival.

Here’s the top 6 items that are on my current shopping list for little Amber…

1.  Chunky Monkey Crochet Beanie – Winter is well and truly here in Canberra so every child should have a beanie and this one is just too cute!  I love the bright pink colour and the nice white flower.  I’d love to crochet one myself, but at the rate I’m going Amber would be graduating her Masters by the time I was done!

2.  The Virginia – How adorable are these booties!  So sweet and they look warm enough to deal with the below zero weather being thrown our way at the moment.

3.  Buddha Baby Bodysuit & Old School Microscope Baby Bodysuit -  I love these screen printed images.  Amber’s Grandma is in Thailand so the Buddha seems appropriate and I can just tell she’s going to be a genius so it’d be nice for her to get her first microscope when she’s still in nappies!

4.  Hand Painted Wooden Letters – These are so bright and cheerful.  I’m a big fan of having the child’s name in some form in their room and these would be perfect.

5.  Reversible Pinafore Dress -  I had the great pleasure of talking to Sarah from Madi and Me while I was at the Handmade Markets on the weekend and she’s as wonderful as the items she sells.  She wooed me into her stall with her gnome cushions, but then had me over the barrel when it came to her fabulous clothes and quilts.  Unfortunately at the time we still weren’t sure what sex the baby was so I didn’t purchase anything.  However, now that Miss Amber has made her arrival I’m going to be ordering up one of the reversible dress and bloomers sets.  They are just so special!  Sarah was telling me that the pattern is one that her Grandmother used to make for her Mother to wear when she was a baby.  Gotta love a family tradition!

6.  Etch A Sketch T-Shirt - What better way to immortalize this awesome childrens toy than with this funky shirt.  The message is simple but true.  Love it!

Last weekend I had the immense pleasure of attending the Handmade Market with Miss Alivicwil.  I did a little bit of browsing and a little bit of splurging.  It was lovely.  There were so many wonderful things that I wanted to get, but I was on a limited budget so I had to behave.

I did however manage to squeeze in a little purchase from the wonderful Michelle at Poppy, Bean and Bloss. I purchased a fabric covered button hair tie.  Not the most practical purchase given my hair is still trying to recover from the post surgery hair-loss cutback, but I just couldn’t say no to the cut little ducky!

So for the past few days I’ve had the little duck sitting on my desk while I ponder what to do with her, then it hit me.  Yo-yo!  I could use the yo-yo skills I learnt at Brown Owls and make a cute little brooch.  So that’s what I did!

I’m rather chuffed with my made brooch skills.  I feel like Michelle and I have collaborated on our first ever project with great success.  It’s rather cute and is currently dressing up the lapel on my red winter coat.  I just love it!

I had another little success this week with the arrival of a coffee table book that I made using Apple’s iPhoto application.  Using the photo’s from our recent camping trip I put together a little thank you present for my folks.  I’m really happy with how it’s turned out.

Now if I can just get my butt into gear and get it into the post for my parents I’ll be even happier.   The photo on the front of the book is one my Dad took and I think it looks stunning.  He’s got such a great eye.  He was the whole reason I got into taking photos and it’s great now to be able to talk to him about the photos he’s taking and the little tricks that I’ve learnt.  I just hope he gets a little thrill from seeing his images in print.

I’m so happy with how they’ve come out that I’m going to go back and make books of our trips overseas and some family based books.  It was so easy to do and really quite cost effective.  The only downside was that it took three weeks to get here from New Zealand.

♥♥♥♥♥

Want to peek in to other peoples amazing and wonderful creative spaces, then head on over to Kootoyoo!

I was watching the final episode of Selling Houses Australia for this year and I was captivated by this big bowl of lemons that were put in the kitchen to add some colour and jazz it up a bit.  I don’t know what it is about lemons but they always seem to bring sunshine indoors.  Now that we’re really into winter I could do with some sunshine indoors.  So this weeks Friday Fancy is inspired by lemons.  Enjoy!

1.  Vintage Salt & Pepper Shakers 2.  Lemon Still Life Oil Painting 3.  Dangle Earrings 4. You Are My Sunshine Typography Wall Art 5.  Bright Sunshiney Day 6.  Peakaboo Bunny in Yellow

P.S. Those of you that are in Canberra this weekend, don’t forget that the Handmade Markets are on Saturday 5 June at the Kamberra Wine Company.  I’ll be there, will you?

1. Orange as any orange on a tree, 2. Orange muffins, 3. cara cara oranges, 4. Orange flavour

I’m crushing on orange at the moment.  I think it’s because so many of the trees in Canberra are swiftly moving through their autumnal colour spectrum. It’s beautiful.  It makes the gray days bearable.

♥♥♥♥♥

If you’d like to see more flickr faves head on over to ArtMind!

1. Memories of Winter (Explored & Front Page), 2. Winter’s Coming, 3. Winter Day, 4. the hounds of winter

Winter is well and truly here in Canberra.   Last year I struggled through winter.  It seems so dark and horrid, but for some reason I’m really enjoying the onset of winter this year.  The days are bright and crisp and the city seems to be coming alive as it moves from autumn to winter.

I wonder if my opinion about winter will change once we’re in the middle of it.  When the days are short and dark.  I’m not going to think about it, I’m going to concentrate on enjoying the lovely days while we have them.

♥♥♥♥♥

If you’d like to see more flickr faves head on over to ArtMind!

A few months back I was listening to Triple J on a Friday morning and I heard this song on the way to the shops.  I feel in love with it, but as is sometimes want with radio stations I didn’t manage to get the name of the artist nor the song title.  Wah!

I tried in vain that Friday to find the song but alas the internet gods were not with me.  So imagine my happiness when I stumbled across this song while window shopping in iTunes.  Rock on!  And I could finally put a name to the song: Dan Sultan

I immediately purchased the album and have been grooving to it ever since.  Gotta love it when the internet brings you a little bit of joy!

Best thing ever is that he was in Canberra on Saturday night!  Tickets were so ridiculously cheap it would have been a crime to not to go and see him.  The concert was great.  He was so full of energy, which is so rare these days.  The sound was great and he didn’t disappoint.  I even managed to get off my butt and groove a little – which is a big sign of brilliance because I was feeling like poop on a stick.

In a completely rare turn of events his support acts were great too.  So good in fact that I ended up purchasing Gin Wigmore‘s album, ‘Holy Smoke’.   (In a strange turn of events her album cost more than the ticket to get into the concert…)

Anyways, I hope you enjoy today’s music.  If you really do, go and buy the album! Support Australian music, you won’t regret it!

Edit: I have spent all day today dancing at my desk to Gin Wigmore‘s album, ‘Holy Smoke’ so I thought I should share some with you. It’s a BRILLIANT album!!!

After having the pieces cut out and ready for assembly for nearly a year I finally finished sewing together my patchwork quilt.  The pattern is based on a pattern I picked up at Addicted to Fabric; I just picked the fabrics and away I went.

Shame it’s taken me so long to put it all together.  I had purchased all the equipment to hand quilt it, but after I finished pinning it all I decided it was way too hard to hand sew as my first quilt.  (It measures 210cm x 210cm)

So I’ve decided to send it to Altogether Quilting to let them do the actual quilting for me.  I’ve made the back pieces and I’ve got all the batting, so it should be a walk for them to do it on their machine.

While I was back in Addicted to Fabric buying the finishing touches for my quilt I took the plunge and signed up for the Prints Charming book launch and stitching session.  I’m so excited to be going. (There’s even Prints Charming fabric in my quilt top!)  I can’t wait to meet these talented ladies in person and see what wonderful stitching treats they’ll be bringing with them.

I’ve been working on a little something for the Rainbow of Stitches competition that’s being run over on Feeling Stitchy. I’m under no misconception that I’ll stand a chance at winning, but I’m loving the challenge that working in only one colour is giving me.  I also love this old school vintage design which I found over on Stitchy Britches.

I’ve been playing with different thickness (number of strands) thread.  Trying to give the piece a little depth through the lines.  I’m not going to go nuts with the stitching – plenty of back stitching.  I’m hoping it turns out well, but it’s all about the journey at this stage.

I’m hoping to have this design finished and posted in the flickr pool by the end of today, so if I want to hit that goal I need to get off the internet and stop drooling over the other Creative Spaces on Kootoyoo.  But you can still keep looking – so go, check it out!