So there is this guy, his name is Lenny, and amongst other things he loves to comb beaches. With his findings he makes the sweetest little boats…

…are they not the most fabulous things you’ve ever seen? Anyway, he inspired Jeff from booooooom to host a community event in Vancouver this past Saturday where anyone and everyone could come along with their box of found beach/forest treasures to  make little drifters and set them sail on Trout Lake Beach. The event was then featured in The Vancouver Sun…

The little drifters featured here are all Lenny’s, but check out booooooom and The Vancouver Sun to see what everyone made on Saturday, they are all awesome.

I also thought this could be lovely inspiration for those of you participating in poppytalk’s collecting nature flickr pool. Wouldn’t this make a great project? I think I don’t even have to ask, or answer,  that question.

I have to do a summer clean up inside my houseboat this week because it’s just getting too cluttered, perhaps with my dried up flowers and collected bits of wood I can make some little drifters and send them off on the canal. If I do, I’ll take some photos to post here in the (blog)house – that idea is pretty much the only thing inspiring me to tidy and clean.

xx

PS I had a really great weekend, I hope you did too. I’ll tell you about mine a little later, for now I’d just like to daydream some more about these little drifters.

PPS I found out all of the above from dear Erin at Design for Mankind. She always knows about the good stuff.

photo courtesy of rachel khoo.

It’s been awfully quiet here in the (blog)house this week, perhaps a little too quiet for your liking, my apologies. I’ve been on deadline and was really in the zone, writing day and night, night and day. And when I did manage to lay my head on my pillow to catch some zzz’s, I was editing and writing in my sleep. Right now, my brain feels like it is melting from the inside. Not a good feeling but I’m hoping it will all be worth it in the end.

In not so quiet news, I’ve been wanting to tell you about some super cool events happening down under this month…

photo courtesy of rachel khoo.

Do you remember a few months ago I wrote about the fab rachel khoo and foodie partner in crime frankie unsworth’s edible immigration tales in sydney? Well this month they are embarking on a new adventure in edible story telling, this time of the tapestry kind…

photo courtesy of rachel khoo.

Frankie and Rachel will be creating a series of dinners at the Australian Tapestry Workshop – an amazing space specialising in hand-woven tapestries (click here to read more about it).

photo courtesy of australian tapestry workshop.

For the past few months rachel and frankie have been busy making all sorts of edible weaves and hand dying edible threads (like saffron dyed homemade pasta, for .e.g. miam!). They’ve been testing out all sorts of other edible tapestries in their Paris and Sydney kitchens, skyping the results to each other. Rachel is now on her way there from Paris as I type. I can’t wait to see what they come up with for these special dinners –  if I was samantha stephens, I’d bewitch myself over there in a flash.

The six-course dinners will be held over 3 nights – friday, 23 July, saturday 24 July, and sunday 25 July –  as part of the state of design festival. The tickets are $110 per person. There are limited places available still for the Friday night and a couple on the Sunday night (saturday night is sold out). To make a reservation email rachel and frankie by clicking here.

For more info about the event, click here, here and here.

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photos by me, pjb, from this post.

And in Sydney this Sunday, at the ever-lovely vaucluse house, there is a special event called colonial gastronomy: the lost art of ‘potting’. It sounds awesome, here is the blurb from the events page:

“Potted, collared and jugged foods were standard items in the C19th larder. Rediscover these lost arts, from a time when a well-to-do Victorian breakfast table would be graced with “neat little white pots, with a crust of yellow butter suggesting the spicy treat beneath, beef, ham or tongue, handiwork of the second or third kitchenmaid…” Elizabeth David, Salt, Spices and Aromatics in the English Kitchen. Potting was a method used to preserve and extend meat and shellfish, traditionally served on toast for breakfast or supper. In this hands-on workshop you will make butter in the dairy and your own potted treat to take home.”

photo by me, pjb, from this post.

The workshop is from 10:30am-12noon this Sunday, July 11. Cost is $35. there will be another session from 1:30pm-3pm as well. I’d really love to be there so if you go, please be sure to tell us all about it.

Also on at Vaucluse House at the moment is a display by guerilla knitting group Knitting the House. They have infiltrated the house and knitted up a storm! Have a look-see at this little video to have a sneak peak of some of the knitted pieces on display. What a fabulous idea.  The display will be on throughout the house until July 18.

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And then there’s one more thing I noticed while perusing the historic houses trust website: at the Museum of Sydney there is an exhibition on at the moment called skint!making do in the great depression. It might sound depressing, but it’s far from – it’s all about how people in the 1930’s survived the tough times by finding thrifty ways of reusing and recycling commodities, growing vegetables, raising chickens, bartering, sharing recipes and resources. The exhibition runs until July 25th.

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That’s my news for you oz birds down there. Up here in the north, the city of Amsterdam is gearing up for Sunday’s football final – Holland vs Spain. The past few weeks here have been unbelievable already – while I’ve been tucked up inside my little boat, writing my heart out, I have heard the city roar at random intervals. When I look outside during the match, the streets, apartments, canal is deadly quiet – there is not a soul to be seen. But then, all of a sudden, there is this all-mighty roar and that’s when I know they’ve scored a goal. It’s insane. Even though I haven’t been watching the games because of my workload (but also I’m so not the sporty type – remember, piano and reading books was my thing as a kid), I will make the effort to watch the game on Sunday. It would be unpatriotic of me not to do so.

I hope you’ve all had a terrific week. Enjoy your weekend, mes amis.

xx

PS it is stinking hot here. I love it!

As many of you know, I have quite a number of wonderfully creative and talented friends. I’ve featured them here in the (blog)house from time to time, some have  stayed as guests, and some are by my side when I have special events. These fabulous people inspire me daily, and Leslie Oschmann is one such friend who never ceases to inspire me. For those of you who already own a copy of Amsterdam: Made By Hand, you will know that Leslie is one of the incredible artisans featured in the book (please turn to page 55 for reference).  For those of you who don’t yet own a copy of the book, click here to read a bit more about Leslie’s work and background.

one of Leslie’s reclaimed objects made new, click here for more examples of her work.

Leslie’s work consists of reinventing and manipulating found objects. One of her recent series was “oil paintings on chairs” – a collection of old chairs made new by covering them in vintage oil paintings. Her juxtapositions are stunning, the effect: spectacular, and her chairs have not only featured in magazines around the world but were bought by renown retailers Anthropologie.

Last year Leslie made an incredible window display at Restored (also featured in Amsterdam: Made By Hand, page 19)  – her chairs were hanging from the ceiling by dozens of ropes, cascading down to the window ledge.

The other day at lunch, Leslie showed me her latest creations and I’m thrilled to be able to share them with you here today – consider this an exclusive “seen here first” peek at her new collection…

Made with vintage oil paintings, Leslie has fashioned a series of beautiful carry bags with leather handles. Each one is unique and handmade, and each one, I can tell you, is exquisite…

A combination of portraits, landscapes, and still life vignettes juxtaposed with patterned paper and fabric inserts (as seen above).

I’m smitten. I love every single one of these bags and I know they are going to walk out her door (almost all of these shown above are already sold!).  Leslie is in the process of making more so if you would like one (or ten for your store), email Leslie directly for more details.

Thank you Leslie for giving us a sneak peek at your latest work. I can’t wait to see what you create next!

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all photos except for the first and third are courtesy of Leslie Oschmann from Swarm. The other two are courtesy of me and The Little Bookroom, for Amsterdam: Made By Hand.

…nikole’s gorgeous home recently featured on design*sponge (you already know how much I adore nikole’s blog and her spoons, I can never get enough of her beautiful work)…

… marie’s stunning necklaces – which she is kindly offering one as a giveaway on her blog, le voyage créatif! Make sure you write a comment on her giveaway post here.

…and fanny’s inspiring world, complete with pissenlits, poisson d’avril, and voiles d’été. Her blog, les contours du silence is one of my “blogs in the spotlight” this past week.

Enjoy!

xx

At my impromptu booksigning in Sydney at the beginning of the year, the lovely Stef from newspaper taxi brought me a sweet little parcel. One sniff and I knew it was delicious soap so I kept it wrapped up, brought it in my suitcase and have not opened it until this morning. Why, you might ask? Because I like to savour things. I’ve been like this since I was a little girl – while friends and family around me wondered in june how it was possible I still had christmas candy to devour, or hadn’t yet spent my pocket money, or why I hadn’t already tossed away an old, tattered dress, the answer was always the same – I like everything to last as long as possible.

And even more so when I am faraway. Here in my little boat I have a collection of treats that I brought with me from Australia that are yet to be opened – Stef’s soap being one of them. This morning, we were out of soap and so it became the perfect time to open this special parcel. While I watched the swans clean themselves in the canal outside my window, I unwrapped the package and was delighted when I saw that the soap was handmade & handcut… it is the colour of the sea and in the shape of a beautiful rolling ocean wave, about to break onto shore –  it was a little piece of sydney. Thank you Stef! I will enjoy it immensely and think about the beautiful sydney seaside each time it lathers up.

xx