All the colours of the woollen rainbow

The old ladies who work around the corner from me are craft wizards creating glorious masterpieces from their rapidly clicking knitting needles. I can't sew a button on straight but I can appreciate the skill and devotion that goes into these cushion covers. Delicious delicious craft. 

I wish I could ...

Although it's been described as a 'gay Eastern European stripper dance' I still wish I could shimmy my hips like Friendly Fires lead singer Ed Macfarlane, I was recently lucky enough to witness the moving and shaking in the flesh at the Isle of Wight festival on the weekend and it did not disappoint! The man can MOVE!

Dreamscapes

Judith Dekker takes these dreamy shots, all soft, creamy, sultry focuses and palettes, jealous much?

The greatest

Wordsmith

John Cage

Composer

Philosopher

Artist

Mushroom collector

Poet

Music theorist

Print maker

Mastermind

Cat mania

It seems cat mania has gripped the imagination of the people. They are every where I turn. On TV, the internet, even crossing the road! This weekend I went to 'Cats Galore', a shop dedicated entirely to cat paraphenalia in Petone. It's heavenly. Cat umbrellas, cat pillows, cat mugs! I think I will still be frequenting the joint when I am a 60 year old spinster living in my cat themed house - perhaps I should leave those fears for another day.

My own cat, Tim, died when I was a teen after eating the string tied around a roast. A victim of his own greed he went out quietly to our river bank and died a painful undelicious death. He was a bit of a sassy bitchy cat and never sat on my lap or showed me affection. All the same I loved his tyrannical and moody ways. That's one of the best things about cats, you have to take them on their terms, not yours, they're not afraid to show a bit of sass and their personalities are as diverse and interesting as humans.

Plenty of cat glory can be found at

Cat Party

Cat Paint

Fashion Loaf

Dream cats

Cats that look like Hitler

I wish I was ...

Hvass&Hannibal

Their work is why I studied design and realised I just don't have it, their work makes me choke with jealousy and yearn to possess even an ounce of their creative talent, swoooooooooon

Type envy II

Mike Perry is a man after my own heart with his playful typography, psychedelic palette and are those felt tip coloured slices of cake? Swoon

I wish I was ...

... Stevie Nicks' top hat. If that hat could talk ...

Hedi

How I would love to enter the mind of Hedi Slimane, no doubt it is a creative wonderland. Designer for fashion, furniture and fragrance as well as photography he is the kind of person that has no boundaries creatively. You can view more of his photography from his photo diary here.

Piss elegant

I love a bit of tizziness, a bit of piss elegance. It is a dangerous genre to play with, as ultimately the ethos is 'so bad it's good', 'print on print on print' and 'more is more'. Confidence, irony and a dash of ignorance are required. The ladies of Kath and Kim, Strangers with Candy and Gummo serve tizz elegance inspiration with their lashings of pleather, PVC and pussybows.

behold!

I was ecstactic to stumble across Ashley Lande today ... when I should have been otherwise doing work ... her illustrations instantly filled my entire being with immense jealously for I love her work so! the characters in her illustrations appear to be bewildered primitives awed, terrified, and absurdly curious about the gods they behold, like naive children trying to make sense of a new toy. I physically ache, the line work and colours are ah-mazing. sigh.

Uuuuuuuugh

Uuuugh I also came across Aidan Koch, another stunning illustrator whose work has me convulsing with jealousy ... she creates the kind of work that inspires me to spend half my pay check on paints and felts and paper and coloured pencils ... swooooon

I wish ...

I wish I lived in a Wes Anderson film.

Crazy lady

"You're not well enough for the story they've planned".

Isabella Blow

"It was not so simple, not so easy to come up with this way of living that I've had. I was given a sad life by fate, but I think I won a happy life. Not one day has passed when I didn't think of suicide, but I'm very glad to be alive now. Most people are so preoccupied with their illness, sickness, and they live a very ordinary life. I was so involved and so engrossed with painting, and knew from my childhood that it could help me to overcome unhappiness."

Yayoi Kusama

 

“I always wear my sweater back-to-front; it is so much more flattering.”

Diana Vreeland

"Peace. it does not mean to be in a place where there is no trouble, noise, or hard work. it means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart."

Lady Gaga