Wednesday 10 November 2010

Bend the rules, bunting

So today I had a haircut, had lunch with my good friend & breast cancer survivor KR, where we agreed we never want to go back to the August Institution which employs us both, and I made some 'bend the rules bunting'.  What exactly do I mean by that?  Well, every other bunting I have ever seen has almost religious devotion to a single shape, cut precisely, corners poked out, trimmed off, ironed to within an inch of its life and in some cases, waaaaaaaay over-engineered:




Don't get me wrong, I loved making this for the wedding of Mel and Urby, but it's kind of amazing to think somebody believes they can hold the copyright on rectangles and binding, all stuff which has been around since Adam wore short pants... but I digress.


As part of the fun for Sunday, I made some bunting which was the easiest cheat-y thing I could come up with in a very short space of time - I took 4" & 5" squares, cut some flag/pennant shapes out of my scraps box, made some long skinny strips and used up the leftovers from the binding from this lot of bunting, and pinned it onto this, from Holland Fabric House, and this is the end result:






Quite a different look, isn't it?  Kind of random, kind of messy, kind of funky.  I didn't have to cut anything much except the pennant shapes, and in my spare *snort* time tonight between bouts of stuffing & stitching, I will pink the edges of everything to make sure it doesn't look too tacky.


And now, Gentle Readers, I am off to make Mr Golightly's favourite dinner, which doesn't involve the microwave, bread, baked beans or a raw onion.  


Ciao!

Falling off the wagon

Well, Gentle Readers, that didn't last long, did it now?  Although the eagle-eyed amongst you may see the time and think "what in hell is she doing up at 2.57AM (ESDST)"?  I'm thinking that too.  I'm getting a little tired (absolutely no pun intended) of waking up in the middle of the night, so maybe I need some pharmaceutical help.  Maybe.


Anyhoo, in other parts of the world, I have two lovely new followers, one of whom you may recognise (if, like me, you waste creatively spend time browsing your followers' profile pages and the blogs they follow), the very lovely Felicity, from All Toile and No Reward, and Carolyn, from somewhere in the wilds of NSW (that's New South Wales to you furriners), whose blog is called 'Ordinary World'.  She has the most beautiful banner, all pink hisbicus (hibiscii?  hibiscuses?) and ferns, and each page is graced with a butterfly and more hisbicuists [joke].  Gorgeous.  And of course, like every blog, her world isn't really ordinary, it's special, because it's hers.


In other news, this blog appears to have been found by the [presumably] Chinese spammers, who left a message advertising:

"spy products, self defense products, gsm baton, spy pepper spray, spy gsm phonestun gun, Stun Baton baton, gsm bug for spy



on my blog, and a link to something I didn't even go near, all of which I have promptly deleted.  If this keeps up, I'm going to have to introduce comment vetting.  Next thing you know it'll be Nigerians with offers of cash & Russian brides seeking husbands.  I'm tempted to offer up Mr Golightly but I'm pretty sure he'd be sent back PDQ once they find out he can only cook three things, one of which involves baked beans, raw onions, bread and the microwave.

In happier news, work on the market stall produce races ahead, I spent a very happy & productive three hours with My Best Friend yesterday punching holes, tying ribbon, popping items into bags, arguing about prices and even a spot of sewing - I made one of these:




from Joel Dewberry's new book 'Sewn Spaces'... I didn't do the blanket stitch thingy round the outside the wings, and my pattern appeared to be missing half the markings, but the end result was cute enough - but making one of these took me the same time as it took to make two doorstops.  All those curves to pin & carefully sew around, I s'pose, plus the individual-ette wings to be carefully handstitched on.  I promise to post a picture after the market madness is over.


I've also made another christmas tree, this one jumbo size & decorated with bells, going off to a secret destination after the market (ditto on the photo).  And now, I'm tired, which hopefully means I can go back to bed & actually sleep, as I have a busy day tomorrow involving haircuts, lunching, more sewing, more packaging and bunting!  


Ciao!