Thank you for all the support & well wishes that have poured in over the weekend, you guys are truly wonderful. Something else I’ve wanted to share for some time are these 3 lovely features in 3 of my new favourite independent magazines. First off is the beautiful spread in the latest Anthology magazine. It features never-before-seen photographs of our petit bateau vert (little green houseboat) in Amsterdam. I took these images last year and saved them especially for this article. Above is an image of our tiny boat loungeroom. Last year, Romain spent the year composing his first guitar album, and that exact setting was his office! Meanwhile, I sat at the desk just 2 metres away writing and editing images for My Heart Wanders – it was a special year that we will always cherish, and was the perfect ending to our 3 years of life in Amsterdam on the houseboat.

Below is an image of the bed, covered in a mosquito net during summer, and a view of the living room space, looking down from the kitchen…

It’s a really special feature written by Anh-Minh Le, with lots of info about what life was like living on the boat. This image below is also from the article, and is one of my all-time favourite photographs from inside the boat. Over the course of a year or so I’d taped flower stems to one of the walls and watched them strike their natural, deceased pose. The muted shades, textures and unique characteristics captured my imagination each time I gazed at the wall. The little Dutch sailing boat I found at a market that Leslie and I visited, and I made the sail from scraps of linen, tea stained cotton and lace…

I’m in the midst of recreating another wall like this here in my new home in Sydney, I’ll be sure to show you once it’s complete.

The next sweet feature is in the latest issue (issue 10) of Canadian-based magazine, Uppercase. This one is written by lovely Christine Chitnis, who you may recall was also a recent guest in the (blog)house (here are her fab posts on life in New England). In this article Christine captured my thoughts, ideas, ideals, and ambitions in the most elegant of ways, and included one of my intimate poems from My Heart Wanders . I hope you can find yourself a copy of this issue, there are loads more great articles “for the creative and curious”…

And the third sweet piece is in the newest issue of peppermint magazine, an Australian-based publication focused on sustainable style. It’s a terrific mag filled with eco-minded articles, products and fashion trends. In this article, written by Frances Frangenheim, I talk about my ‘natural’ tendencies, all that inspires me, and my sustainable goals in life and work…

Just before My Heart Wanders was launched here in Australia in April, I decided to get some publicity portraits done by Olga Bennett. Although I was nervous and awkward in front of the camera, Olga managed to grab some great, relaxed images, many of which have since been featured in editorial pieces around the world. I want to thank Olga especially for letting me use these images for publicity. Please visit her fab blog here, and to see more of her photography, please click here.

In other news, I’ve managed to update the stockists page for my books, click here to view. My friend Heidi said she saw big stacks of both Paris: Made by Hand and Amsterdam: Made by Hand in the Seattle Anthropologie store, which is wonderful news. So from what I’ve heard, Anthropologie now stock both these books throughout their USA stores  – thanks Anthro!

I also heard that My Heart Wanders was nowhere to be seen for a while in Europe and the UK, and apparently it was because there was no stock left, which is also terrific news. But even better is that another print run has been completed and sent to stores in Europe, the UK, and restocked throughout Australia.

As many of you have become aware, the book won’t officially be released in the US until Spring (April/May) 2012. But I have something special in mind for those of you who would love to receive the book for Christmas – I’ll post about this next week.

Have a beautiful week mes amis.

I took this photo the other day on my phone. It was dusk, I had just woken from a late afternoon nap, and this was what I saw as I opened my eyes.  I lay there and watched the scene as the sun set behind the curtain, it was one of the most beautiful impromptu nature performances I’d seen in quite some time.

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There is something else I want to share. Something rather wonderful. Many of you have noticed that I’ve been absent from the airwaves over the past few months. I’ve been very ill, but for the very loveliest of reasons:  I’m pregnant.

I’m now 5 months along. Indeed it’s an incredibly wonderful surprise, something I’ve only ever dreamed of, not truly believing I would actually experience it, but always hoping. On the flip side, it’s been an incredibly rough ride. Unfortunately due to the severity and consistency of my symptoms I had to cancel my work commitments, shoots, book events, and travel which included the fabulous workshop in Canada.  Blogging, emailing, and anything of the sort, has also been out of my reach. At first I was confused, anxious, and worried but my doctor informed me there is a small percentage of women who experience intense symptoms throughout the entire pregnancy. In my life I’d never met anyone who had experienced the symptoms to this extent, so it was a shock to me. But the good news is that over the past few weeks I’ve been having some moments of reprieve from the symptoms, so lets hope those moments turn into days, and maybe even weeks.

Aside from all that, it is pure magic. I am now experiencing lots of movement, and when I rest, I rest knowing  – and feeling – there is a life growing inside me, I am mesmerized. Romain and I are both so happy, and I couldn’t be more nurtured, I feel blessed, regardless of the difficulties.

Thank you for all your lovely, caring emails and comments over the past few months, I apologise for not being able to respond to all. Although I can’t commit to much else at this stage (i.e. consistent blogging or normal work schedule), I strive for it every day. In the meantime, your continual support in my work, my books, and my photography is beyond words, I’m so looking forward to getting back into the thick of it – for now, it’s one new adventure at a time.

xx

“camping in the living room”, all photographs in this post by Pia Jane Bijkerk

Do you remember a while ago I talked about Victoria’s exhibition in London, called Other People’s Houses? (click here to read my original post about it). Although I’m months behind I wanted to show you some of the photographs I submitted for the exhibition which you can now view in full, online.

I took these photographs back in April when we had just moved into our new abode, relocating from Amsterdam to Sydney. Of course this new abode is very different to the little green houseboat, and it’s taken quite a while to get used to, but we are slowly settling in, and slowly getting into the swing of life in Sydney. A lot has changed inside the house since I took these images: for one we’re not sleeping on the lounge room floor anymore (as seen in the above photo) and two, all the boxes from Amsterdam have been unpacked.

“peeking through the kitchen window” and “it still wanders”

“memories and boxes” and “hallway of sunlight”

Over time I’ll show you more snippets as I progress in making this house a home, but for now, I hope you like these photographs.  I love – for those who own a copy of my book, My Heart Wanders will already know – creating double exposures, so for this project I chose to combine two or more images within several of the photographs as my heart and thoughts were very much  in two places at the time – Amsterdam and Sydney. So you’ll see some images have soft exposures of the Amsterdam winter combined with ‘real time’ stills of my surrounding interiors.

“the green wall”

“the worlds we create” and “the chair”

For more information about the images and the exhibition, please click here, and if you are interested in purchasing any of the images you can contact Victoria directly, details are here. There are 10 exhibitors in total, so be sure to check out all of their images too – it’s like peeking through people’s windows at night, but all over the world at the same time. Fascinating.

“temporary office”

I realise my posting has slowed dramatically over the past few months. There is much I’d like to share with you, and I hope to be able to catch up over time. Thank you so much for your patience, support and loyality mes chers amis.

xx

This winter I’ve had the time to do some knitting, something I haven’t done in years. I’m not an experienced knitter by any means – I know the basics, I can knit simple shapes (such as squares and rectangles)… the idea of making a piece with curved edges, patterns or with multiple yarns is an adventure I’m not quite ready for.

To my delight, talented knitwear and textile designer Nikki Gabriel has come up with something fabulous for beginners and advanced knitters alike: a unique series of knitting patterns that are designed to be made in stages by simple knitting shapes. Called Construction kits, Nikki has cleverly designed 3 in total so far, and each kit comes complete with instructions for making a number of super stylish garments –  from simple scarves to vests, sweaters, and cardigans…

“Each shape is simple to knit and like a building block system, you can begin with a one-ball of wool construction; your first block. Knit one ball creating a garment; then add another knitted shape with two balls of wool building on the first garment. So begins your construction.”

I’ve been working on Construction No. 3 which is based on just one knitting shape – a square. In this kit, you have 7 garments to build on – a shrug (which consists of 3 squares), a sweater, a sweater with sleeves, bolero, cardigan, jumper and jumper with cape. Each garment is a stage built on the previous one. I decided to make the cardigan, which builds on the shrug and bolero, knitting 9 squares in total…

Nikki has also designed her own yarn called “Wooli” – a delicious mix of recycled factory fibre remnants like wool, alpaca, silk, and cashmere. The result is a wonderful mix of thick, lush yarn that feels soft and warm, and comes in colours ‘greige’, ‘burgundy’, grey and black. I used the black yarn to knit my cardigan as you can see below…

I’m so happy with the result. Creating the garment has been a lot of fun, and I love the way the garment feels to wear – it’s so warm and cozy.  This is a project that can easily be done over a weekend, or a series of weeknights  – for me each square only took about an hour, but if you’re an experienced knitter I’m sure it would take you no time. My cardigan is going to get a lot of wear for the rest of winter and into spring when there is still a chill in the air. Now, I can’t wait to make myself another garment… next up I’m thinking the bolero from kit no. 2 will be perfect for the months to come.

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+ To purchase a Nikki Gabriel Construction kit, click here.

+ To purchase Wooli and Nikki’s ebonised knitting needles made from recycled Rimu in New Zealand, click here. And for more info on Nikki and her creations, click here or to read her blog, click here.

Thank you dear Nikki for allowing me share your beautiful work here in the (blog)house.

xx

Spring is already in the air. Jasmine is also in bloom and the sweet scent is heavenly.