Sunday 20 March 2011

News of a varied kind...

Gerald Gee, who was one of the nicest people I've never met, has passed away.  He was a follower of my blog, and his occasional witty comments always made me feel like somebody was reading this stuff.  He often had film clips of beautiful singers from the 1930s and 1940s, and he had witty little cartoons, paintings he'd done on his Wacom tablet, and fabulous black & white photography showing a bygone era in London and the surrounding countryside.  




Here's one of my favourites from his website.  Vale Gerald.


In other, weirder news, we had a visit from a Bush Turkey.  Although I don't believe in ghosts, angels or devils, I sometimes wonder when Mother Nature pops visitors up in your garden after something like this happens... but I don't know that Gerald would like think his spirit was contained in a bush turkey!




I did a bit of sewing - currently I'm taking three rulers to school, one of which is a metre long - that's just over a yard - and it's a nuisance, as all three have to go into a hand which is also trying to carry my toolbox and inevitably, something of Natalie's.  We both abandoned the handbags after the first week (no lockers, nowhere to keep anything off the floor, any questions?) and are using backpacks, but she carries a coffee keep-cup in the mornings & doesn't have a free hand, and I do, so... 


Anyway, I made a wrap-y thing to put them in.  It works a bit like a knitting needle roll:


RESERVED FOR ISABELLA GOLIGHTLY

(pic courtesy of Sarah Kincheloe, from whom I have bought three knitting needle organisers) with the rulers sitting in the middle but poking out the ends, and Mr Golightly is madly trying to convince me that I should have made it the exact shape of the rulers... which would have been slightly ridiculous, as they are all different shapes & sizes, but I'm not entirely sure that I'm happy with it.  Pictures when I am...

In happy news, it's Miss Mandy's birthday today, Happy Birthday MM!  I made these for her (and can finally show you!):





A little bit like the bush turkey, but not too much - this little guy is completely filled with stinky lavender!  And I made another beautiful treasury of vintage shoes and bags, which I will put up today.  Of course you can always go to Etsy & have a look at all of them in one place, in case you feel completely deprived by missing one or two...


The child's chair is progressing well (which is a good thing, considering we're supposed to finish it tomorrow!), and I made the seat border & seat back piping & attached it to the respective pieces yesterday - tomorrow I have to:


Put the calico on the seat
Put the seat fabric on
Put the seat border on
Backtack the seat border
Finish underneath the seat border
Attach the outside back at the top
Backtack the outside back at the top
Attach the piping down the sides
Attach the Ply-Grip down the sides
Attach the Dacron to the outside back
Pin the back to the piping
Attach the outside back one side at a time
Finish the bottom of the outside back
Put calico on the bottom of the chair.


Not so much, really.  I've got 8 hours.  I'll be fine.


And that, Gentle Readers, is it for me.  I can feel the lure of the television, and as I've only had five hours of naps this weekend, an early night.  Ciao!