These Friends Of Mine.

Well, this week has seen us struck down with an 'aul dose' as we say, four of us are at various stages of a stinker of a cold, and my ears pricked this morning as The Smallest headed out to school with a suspicious sniffling. It seems he will be the next to fall.
But next week is mid-term, thankfully, so I anticipate lots of lazy pyjama days, slow breakfasts, and maybe a walk or two, once we are all well. Though there has been a flurry of snow, and more to come, they say, so we shall see.

babaá - no.7 - Flame

Regular readers here know I love the seasons, I love weather of all kinds, and although, unusually for me, I am finding this winter particularly long, let me just ignore that and talk about something I love about winter, which is Winter Woolies! One of my great loves in life; all things knitted. It's the first thing I look for when browsing in shops.
With four children, we have gone through a lot of clothes, throughout their growing years especially, and I have found that it is often the hand knitted goodness that I fold away affectionately, into the box of Keepsakes, like tender memories I am afraid will disappear. And there they wait for the next child who will wear it, who will add their memories to it, as though knitted into the very fabric of it.
How many of you are lucky enough to have had items from your childhood to put on your own children, when the time came?
I love this weave of threads through our lives, the continuity, if we allow it.

babaá - shop

And so, this brings me to Something Lovely. Something new and lovely, and I hope, regular, here on Milkmoon. As I said in my last post, I am bringing back an old Milkmoon model of regular, themed posts, that somehow fell by the wayside over the last couple of years, but with a new spin on it.
To start, I have a lot of very talented family members, and friends, and I just can't help myself, I want to share their goodness and creativity with you. So, introducing a new tag, to sit side by side with my Something Lovely tag: These Friends Of Mine.

babaá - shop

Given the wintery weather we are having, I would like to begin with someone who, while is not officially my sister, is like a sister to me, whom I first met when she was the same age my daughter is now. She was 14, and I was 22, and unusually, in spite of the age difference, we became instant friends. And have remained so to this day.

Ciara and Marta
Dublin - 1993

Marta is now living back in her native Madrid, and has recently launched her children's knitwear label; babaá, and yes, you can immediately see one reason why we get on so well! These are definitely Keepsakes. Timeless, but quirky, with just the perfect balance of functionality. (Is there anything more wonderful than someone you love creating something, and it turns out that you genuinely love it?) You can read here what babaá is all about, and you will see exactly why this gorgeous knitwear is destined to become family heirlooms. And while you are there, take a peek in her shop, (there is a sale on) especially if you have any small people in your life who are growing up before your eyes, and you long to hold onto a little longer, and items like these are perfect memory making additions to your Keepsake Box.
And all these babaá photographs are by the exceptionally talented Clíona O'Flaherty, my lovely sister-in-law, who will also be featured here over the next while.

babaá - jumper no.4 - Coral

I am making my order for one for my Smallest, as we speak, because almost all his keepsakes already have a history to them, and I want to have one that begins with him.

The Wildness of Things.

I began this post a week or so back, a post about the arrival of autumn, of the sudden profusion of posts online about leaves and rain and weather of all sorts, of lighting fires and digging out ones winter woolies, and the pleasure of it all. But now, in the midst of Sandy, that part of what I wanted to say all seems so irrelevant. Of course we have not been affected by it here, but I am put in mind of the times we do experience the Wildness of Things, and how it shakes us to our bones, reduces us to the tiny things we are in the grander scale of bigger things, and just how vulnerable we truly are when nature rages and heaves itself up out of its bed, and towers over us so terrifyingly.
Here in this little temperate island of ours, storms on the scale of what the US is experiencing right now are extremely rare, but living practically on the beach, and with our house at sea level, it is something I think about on a regular basis during winter months, when we lie awake in bed, our little house rocked by howling winds as the sea booms and thunders outside the windows.

As I sat up stitching, into the small hours last night, I was thinking about my sister in Virginia, and all those people out there who are being affected by the storm.
Times like this, things have a way of slipping neatly into perspective, don't they?
At the moment Jay is away again, this time he is down under in Sydney, and as per usual there has been the usual litany of minor 'disasters'.
Car trouble, check, internet gone, check, people sick, check, cold snap and no fuel brought in, check.
But as I said, everything is in perspective, and my inner Pollyanna is well and healthy.
And so, in the midst of all this stress and mayhem I sit and stitch, and count my blessings as I do, forever grateful for this moderate, nonextreme country I have found myself in.

And here is what I have been working on while Holding The Fort (I do like that expression!)
Inspired by the looming winter months filled with nights I have just described, this little piece has, as usual, taken forever to finish.
I have this notion that if I ever actually take to making things on my machine then I'll get loads done, but that is not likely to happen any time soon, and anyway, is likely to be a complete fallacy. I hand make my small things because usually, my studio is my car, or my kitchen table, in between a myriad of other appointments and tasks throughout my day. They are made, literally a stitch at a time, and at times it feels like a meditation, at others like a muse, with ideas flowing through my head as I work, stories unfolding in a dreamlike manner, hints and voices and realisations, all tumble together into a tangled weave of something with potential.

So I stitch and sew in the dark hours, and I send heartfelt thoughts and wishes to all and any of you who have been affected by the weather these last few days.
May whatever help you need come your way on swiftly wings, and with it the return of things to As They Should Be.

What Is Hidden In The Garden.

This years Sculpture In Context exhibition is taking place at the moment in the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin, Dublin. This wonderful annual show is in the most lovely of settings. There is something reassuring about botanical gardens, don't you think? The sense of order and symmetry, peacefulness and even discipline appeal to my inner control freak! And it's not just the neatness of the gardens, but that satisfaction of nature and plants knowing just what they need to do, and everything being efficient and logical. Ah yes...

And so it is a delightful wonder to wander and discover unexpected hidden gems of creative explosions, some of which have no bearing or relevence to their environment, and some of which are like marvelous imaginings of the garden gods who have taken a moment of madness and thrown caution to the wind.

Vertical Garden
by Deirdre Judge.

I am particularly thrilled to bring your attention to the above glass piece that was made by none other than my mother, Deirdre Judge! A delightful representation of my parents abundant, bounteous garden that is bursting with life (and flavour!) and here rendered as a gorgeous wall hanging.

Specimen 3
by Michelle Brady.

Redwood Spore Drip
by Andrea Cleary.

A Match Made In Heaven
by Joanne Murray.

The above piece by Joanne Murray thrilled me beyond words, seeing immediately the Julie Arkell influence which is a guaranteed lasso around my heart. Gorgeous work, and I do hope to track her down at some point and feature her in a long overdue Something Lovely post.

If any of you are in the vicinity over the next few weeks, do take an afternoon to wander these most lovely gardens. We didn't even see half of the exhibits, I am sure and feel the need for a return trip while these mild days the summer forgot to take linger on...

Away We Go.

It's sad to say, but the weather has been quite autumnal here the last couple of days. Across the country there's been crazy rain and flooding. The school holidays are nearly over and it feels as though we've hardly had a summer. I could count on one hand the number of sunny-days-at-the-beach we've had.

But we're hopeful. May and September are generally the best months of the year. There is often a frenzy of beach days in September when they are already back at school and there weather turns golden and we just can't let them pass us by.



But in the meantime, the knitting has started again. And socks are going on in the evening, and I find myself eyeing the fireplace. But not just yet. No. I'm holding out for an 'Indian summer'. (Why is it called that exactly?) And most importantly, we're heading west for a few days. In Sligo, we'll be meeting our newest family addition, Thomas, for the first time and, oh, the excitement! And then we'll be heading down to Galway to see some more cousins, and we just know fun will be had. And we'll have Jay with us, and there'll be no distractions of work.

So, I'll be back blogging on Monday, or maybe Tuesday, and until then I hope you all have a wonderful end-of-week, and weekend!

Something Lovely.

I just couldn't wait until Wednesday or Thursday to share this with you. My latest discovery is this wonderful website called Reprodepo.com. They specialise in fabrics including Marimekko. I just love this one which dates from 1950. My kitchen needs it..!



They have a gorgeous range of Japanese imports, like this children's range which I agonised over and will just have to buy some of. The question is which ones!





There's Amy Butler patterns, and these sweet aprons, and wonderful books.

I could go on... sigh...

It's an extensive and beautiful range and is gone straight onto my favourites list.

Something Lovely.

I recieved an email from lovely Marta today, with an article about the wonderful textile magazine, Selvedge magazine. I am just a sucker for anything textile-y and earthy and warm, and this is packed full of just such items. Below are just a few favourites I spotted.

This beautiful work apron and skirt by Fog Linen.



Gorgeous cushions and blankets by Jonathan Adler.



These stunning felt hats by Angelika Klose. I can't decide which one I love best and am thinking one for each head in the house... well maybe not at £70 each, but one can dream.



And these. Oh my, Marta you know how to get straight to my heart. These are simply perfect. Perfect...
Sophie Digard baby and coyote.