365 -The Month of May

I don't know how I stumbled on the 365 - photo a day idea but it is one of the best things I have done ever!!

This is a mosaic I have made from the May highlights.

The stories of my month in both Beijing and UK (1 week)

Rufus balancing a basket, 

modelling the new PTA apron design 

keeping neighbourhood watch. 

Buying a house in Suffolk

Remembering dear Uncle Ralph who died

Welcoming my son Jesper and friends to Beijing

 Mum in hospital with a broken leg

An unexpected sail home from Holland when ash grounded planes

A crane upending in a neighbours garden

making soup with Cathy

delicious desserts

beautiful blossoms

Fun with my 365 Bj group

They say a picture paints a thousand words and this mosaic certainly paints a few hundred!

I feel like an advocate for starting 365 groups on Flickr.

You just don't know how much fun life can be with 365!

How many of you can guarantee you can smile or laugh within a minute of opening your computer?

This is what 365 can do for you.

Let me tell you a story..... 

about how I went about it and then see if you want to try it for yourself.

Back in February 2010 I came across a 365 group, probably on Flickr. 

I googled '365' and found all sorts of groups doing just this. Some huge. 

I wanted something intimate with people I knew - but what I didn't know was who would want to join me. 

Well I knew my eldest daughter Astrid would and she was the first member but who else?

So I decided not to try guess - just send the same email to all friends and family in my address book.

There were challenges for people - 

anyone in China would need a VPN site to circumvent the great firewall of China!! 

Some people would need coaxing to get started in Flickr 

and many needed encouraging to make time.

I wanted as few rules as possible, not wanting to scare anyone off

Take one photo a day

for one year

starting February 14th 2010 (The start of the Year of the Tiger)

Don't use photos taken previously

don't post more than one for any day

Retrospective posting is ok (not more than 6 uploaded per day)

If you miss some days no worries - either take 2 on the following day or miss 

Add the date to your photo in the title or description

Have fun

 This is not a competition

 Comment on others photos

Optional : make a mosaic at the end of the month with all the photos together in one.

Maybe I just have the most incredibly funny and insightful, creative friends ever (yes they are really)

But we have so much fun with comments, 

 themes for the week and silliness

but also artiness, 

 technique sharing 

and general looking out for each other 

(when someone doesn't post for a few days everyone else is concerned are they ok)

The common denominator is me

I know everyone

but they may or may not know anyone else.

 It doesn't matter 

because we are like one tribe, family, bunch ... 
whatever you want to call it ...

It is just the best.

We are spread over the world -

USA, UK, Denmark, China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam

The great thing is with all these time zones, someone is always posting

whatever time of night or day you look.

35 people signed up to join the group and maybe 18 post regularly

with about 10 diehards who have one for everyday.

 It all works.

 Even if you only post 5 a month , 

I guarantee it is 60 photos more than you would have had at the end of the year.

It is a bit like meditation...

the first few times seem hard... 

What if it's 9pm and I have forgotten to take one?

Just the snap the film you were watching on TV - or in my case Rufus again!

The practice of not missing a day makes it all ok. 

Afterall I am not trying to sell these photos.

 But I love what they mean to me.

That is what I remind everyone 

at the end of the day 

you are doing this for yourself...

not to win praise or prizes

If you would like to see more of what we have been doing go here: 365 -year of the tiger

If you need help setting a group up just let me know.

I have a passion for this and would love to help

P.S. Just double click on a thumbnail if you want to read the comments

The most treasured gift - I never received

This morning in my email box was a lovely message from my daughter Astrid and a beautiful photo of a quilt. This is what she wrote to me on my birthday - "It was my first little quilt... supposed to be a Thai temple dog at sunrise for your Chiang Mai apartment! Anyway, sorry it never made it to you, but I wanted you to know that my first quilt was made for you!"

I feel this is the most treasured gift I received today - but didn't.

Sadly the chinese post is very unreliable and things often don't arrive... but this is the hardest thing to lose. 

But the thought that went into this makes me so warm inside.

I was exceptionally lucky today to spend it with friends, husband and younger daughter - beautiful gifts and warm words. 

Just what I needed to start the next year of my life.

Thanks to everyone who made the start of my next year a special one.

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. --Leo Buscaglia 

Josef Frank and Astrid's chair

"The home does not need to be planned out in detail, just put together by pieces its inhabitants love."

Josef Frank

That lovely quote is a lead in to my show-and-tell today...... the fabric I bought last week to cover our version of the Astrid chair, which is pictured below. I searched and found nothing in the furnishing section, until my favourite cotton stall had one roll of this gorgeous fabric winking at me. I just felt it was a Josef Frank wannabe.

I loved his fabrics 22 years ago when we lived for a few months north of Stockholm. But at the time I could not justify the expense of buying a few metres. Now at 1290 swedish krone ($180 or £120) a metre I wish I had bought some as an investment!! 

My fabric is not trying to be a copy but is more in the spirit of. 
I think it will look stunning on the Astrid chairs, don't you?

Here is the chair again to remind you!

Josef Frank was an Austrian/Swedish architect, who though born in Austria, moved to Sweden in 1933. For more than 30 years he was the main designer for the renowned Swedish furnishings firm of Svensk Tenn. 

He advocated a more humane form of Modernism than was popular in the 1930’s, believing that designs needed to respect people’s needs and allow for historical influences. I think eclectic is the perfect word to use to describe his designs which are colourful, imaginative, modern yet look back to a more poetic time. They really are timeless.

"There's nothing wrong with mixing old and new, with combining different furniture styles, colours, patterns. Anything that is in your taste will fuse to form an entire relaxing environment." Josef Frank

Cost is not everything but it does give me a warm feeling inside to know that I paid less than £2 or $3 a metre for my fabric at Beijing's fabric market. In fact maybe I should go back to buy the rest of the roll in case any of you would like some too!

I love how Svensk Tenn describe his fabrics as "concealing a wealth of details to help restore a feeling of harmony and well being."

I think that will be the rationale behind my next quilt!!!

 "Every human needs a certain degree of sentimentality to feel free." 

Josef Frank

What a great thought to leave you with for today.

Fabrics galore

What a great time I had yesterday at one of my fave places to shop in Beijing - Mu Xi Yuan  (the fabric market). 

This little mosaic captures a few elements of my day. Never a dull moment... whether it is the offloading huge bales of fabric or the sweet little boy all wrapped against the icy temperatures (that is a lollipop in his mouth!)

Just a few of the fabrics that came home with yesterday and yes I did find a wonderful fabric to cover Astrid's chair with... more of that later.

Been very busy all day sewing - a surprise that will be revealed on Friday.

When you come to Beijing and have seen the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, this is the next wonder to behold. It stretches for acres and even though they keep knocking parts down there never seems to be a day that I can't find fabric to buy.

I just wanted to say how much it means to me to see friends faces as followers - thankyou. You make my day .... everyday. Have a great one.

Astrid's Chair

Wow!

When I opened Anthropologie's latest email, the name "Astrid's chair" caught my eye.... my eldest daughter is also called Astrid. So I had to click and see what chair Astrid should be sitting in, and this beautiful chair appeared on my screen - just perfect for my beautiful daughter.

Now take a look at these chair frames -made by our very talented friend "Mr Summer"- a chinese master craftsman in furniture. Do you see a similarity? Well obviously they are waiting for me to find the right fabric to cover them in!

So they remain undressed at the moment - just waiting for me to venture to my favourite place in Beijing - the fabric market! I don't think I will find orange dahlia's - but who knows? Maybe next week the temperatures will rise enough to make it bearable to be outdoors browsing the thousands of bolts. I'll keep you posted!

This is the original french antique chair that provided the inspiration - seen better days.

Take a look at Anthropologie's spring preview. Just wish they were in Beijing! Still I see they have their first store in Europe in London - so maybe we can visit them when we are back in February!

Enjoy the weekend - great day for staying inside and looking forward to a thaw!

Check out Astrid's gorgeous blog here

photos: Anthropologie and Ingrid Duffy