Happy Friday and scenes from...the garden

Happy Friday!

Since I usually post some greenery on a Friday, I thought it would be a good opportunity to show you some scenes from the garden. It's funny, I never did this consciously, but I realised when I started thinking about it that I actually think about garden beds in the same way as I think about shelves or corners inside - as places for little scenes! And sometimes even individual pots make little scenes of their own with a combination of plants and the pot itself becoming part of the picture. I like playing with shape and scale, texture and colour with my plants...and it's always fun to see the sometimes unexpected twists and turns of nature and to find beauty in those imperfections (much like the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi, which you will have heard me ramble about if you've been at one of the kokedama workshops!).

For this week's tune for your weekend, I've chosen a song from Swedish band jj. James introduced me to these guys a few years ago and I love everything they do, so I was excited when they released a new EP recently. Called High Summer, it contains five new songs and you can download it for free here if you like. This is the opening track, also called "High Summer" - enjoy!

I hope you have some fun weekend plans! James is arriving from Canberra tonight for a few days (yay!), then tomorrow I have part two of this fantastic knitting workshop, and on Sunday I'm having a backyard brunch picnic as a sort of farewell/catch-up with friends. Should be fun!

Today is my last official day working in the shop, but I will still be popping in a fair bit over the next couple of weeks or so, and there will still be blogging aplenty going on, so I'll see you soon! :)

New opening hours!

From next week, these will be our new opening hours! We'll be closed on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but open the rest of the week (so that means Sundays!). Our hours on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays will remain the same, and on Sundays we'll be open from 10am-3pm.

Hopefully you'll like the new hours, but if you can't make it into the store, you can always shop online at any hour of the day or night :) We usually ship online orders the same day so they will arrive on your doorstep before you know it!

Scenes from ...elsewhere

A few more scenes from various spots around our house...

Scenes from...the living room

Our living room is definitely my favourite space in our house. We've done a lot to transform it over the years and it's my favourite spot for displaying my collections, and of course lots of greenery! I like to change things around on the ladder from time to time - at the moment there is sort of a nature theme going on. I love the fun decals on our wall, too - James and I bought them in Paris and had fun putting them up together, and their bright colours make me happy!

Scenes from...the bedroom

 
There are only a few weeks left until I leave for Canberra, so I'm in the process of packing up our house at the moment. Customers quite often ask me whether my house is like Mr Sparrow, and I guess it is in that there are little scenes everywhere, and stuff on every surface - things that I find beautiful and that have meaning for me. I used to feel guilty about materialism but I've recently realised that I genuinely love all these objects and find great joy in looking at them each day - it's not just meaningless consumerism to me. I think if you subscribe to the notion of buying well rather than buying lots, there is nothing wrong with surrounding yourself with beautiful things that make you happy (this blog post from Kasia of Laikonik sums it up nicely!).

I thought since I was packing them all up I would share a few little scenes from our home here...starting with the bedroom.

This is my last week at Mr Sparrow, but I will still be popping in a lot before I leave, and of course I will be here on the blog all the time :)

New post on givemakewrap

There's a new post over at givemakewrap today!

*Image by Manufactum

Happy Friday...and a tune for your weekend!

While picking up workshop supplies last weekend I spotted some cute potted poppies and had to pick one up for myself. I love poppies but I gave up growing them a few years ago after watching the plants sit looking like weeds for months on end before finally producing some pretty blooms! I picked one with three unopened buds and a few days later one had opened up into this bright and crinkly beauty! I'm now eagerly watching and waiting for the other two...

Now for a tune for your weekend! Soul legend Bobby Womack recently released a new album called The Bravest Man in the Universe, which is, interestingly, produced by Damon Albarn. It's  an unexpected collaboration but it absolutely works and I've really been enjoying this album! This track, "If There Wasn't Something There" is one of my favourites. I hope you enjoy it!

Have a great weekend!

Harriet Goodall

 

Harriet Goodall weaves incredible baskets, lights and other beautiful sculptural pieces. She harvests natural materials such as feathers, pods, cocoons, bones, nests and quills from the surrounding bush, coastal gardens and beaches, and combines these with salvaged industrial detritus like rusted corrugated iron, machinery and wire. She then weaves them into objects of textural beauty and function for modern spaces.

I discovered her work online recently and it completely took my breath away. After seeing some incredible basketry by indigenous artists at the MCA and the National Gallery recently, I have become a little obsessed with basket weaving and have been trying out some coil basket weaving at home. I particularly love the bowerbird nature of Harriet's work - gathering bits and pieces from nature, and other discarded objects, and combining them into something new and beautiful.

And the best bit? She runs workshops! I popped my name on the waiting list a while ago and have just signed up to a weaving workshop at the beautiful Glenmore House near Camden in NSW. It's not till October so I'll be in Canberra then, and Camden will make a lovely weekend trip! The workshop includes a seasonal lunch prepared with produce harvested from the Glenmore House kitchen garden, plus an introduction to basketry, the opportunity to gather materials for your own basket, and of course hands-on tuition in weaving your own sculptural nest-like basket. I am so excited about this!


Here is a little bit about Harriet from her website:

"My creations reference both the ephemeral beauty of nature...and the detritus of industrial manufacturing. Basketry is non-machinated, therefore it eschews manufacturing and consumerism. I look for broken or discarded remnants from industrial or agricultural manufacturing and make them significant again weaving in elements from nature. Inspiration comes from the delicate tonal colour changes in the Australian landscape and the form and patina of the materials available in the season or place. The practice of weaving is meditative, drawing from the timelessness of ancient knowledge and women making remarkable functional objects without tools."

Hooray, I can't wait! :)

*All images by Harriet Goodall

Inspirations, challenges and dreams...

The lovely Angy from Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With String has posted a bit of an interview with me over on her blog today, along with some lovely photos she took of the store. Angy has been a fantastic supporter of Mr Sparrow for a long time and it's meeting people like her that has truly been the best part of my job.

She asked some really interesting questions about my inspirations, challenges and dreams, so please pop over and take a look if you're interested (and take a wander around Angy's beautiful blog while you're there!).

Thanks so much for the opportunity to prattle on about myself, Angy! :)

*Photo by Angy Braine

Win a jigsaw plate (and lots of other lovely things)

 
We Love Perth have something really exciting going on over the next couple of weeks! To celebrate turning one year old they are having a huge lucky dip giveaway with some fantastic prizes, including one of our beautiful ceramic jigsaw plates! There are 16 prizes in total, and all of them are beautiful. All you have to do to enter is head over to their website and follow the links to fill out a quick survey.

I really wish I could enter this myself! I would love any one of these prizes! The competition closes on 31st July so make sure you head over and check it out before then...

*Image by Page Thirty Three

Terrarium Workshops

Sunday was terrarium day! Once again, a lovely bunch of clever, creative people turned up (including our first little person! :)) to have fun making their own terrariums. It was wonderful to meet them all and to see all the unique and beautiful terrariums they created! Thanks so much to everyone who came along. There are lots more photos on our facebook page so take a look (and if you have any more photos from the day that you'd like to share, please send them my way!).

This rounds up our Winter Workshops, but stay tuned for a really exciting announcement in coming months about a whole host of new workshops to happen at a pop-up location in November...