Sunday 12 February 2012

Friday night too drunk

That's part of a movie title, you know, Gentle Readers.  I think it's an excellent title for this post, which explains quite a lot about my weekend.  I wasn't really too drunk, just pleasantly happy.  MBF Deb invited us up for homemade pizzas, and boy, were they delicious?  Yes, of course they were.  She's a fabbo cook, far more interested in the creation of beautiful meals than I'll ever be, and she knocked up the pizzas in about 20 minutes flat, making it all look so easy.  Mind you, there was a very small amount of pre-work eliminated, in that she used pre-made bases, but, hey?  Who cares?  Is there a pizza-base police in the house?  No indeedy.


I woke up on Saturday morning with a bit of a headache, easily fixed with two aspirin & a bowl of cereal (aspirin in a glass of water, not the cereal.  Things weren't that bad).  I spent a slightly uncomfortable half hour at the beautician, remembering all the while the story my mother used to tell me - when she was a girl, she had long, thick, beautiful hair, and one of her great-aunts, of whom there were a number, according to the family tree, used to comb it with a fine tooth comb, and say "you must suffer in the cause of beauty".   Ouch.  No wonder she wouldn't let us have long hair as children.


In other news, I got very inspired to make the cushion covers long promised to Miss Lyndsey. I threaded up the machine with white cotton, cut, pinned, stitched and got all the way to the final stitching of the side seams before it dawned on me that I needed to make buttonholes.  I whipped an empty bobbin out of my jar, filled it with lemon yellow thread and dragged the buttonhole foot out of the drawer, and off I went.  Well, kinda. 





First of all, the machine thread snapped.  Then the bobbin thread got tangled up in itself & I had to take the whole bobbin race out to get it clear.  Then it did it again.  And again.  Then the needle started making funny noises.  So I got a new 90 needle out of the magic box, and popped that in.  Nope.  I rethreaded the machine.  Nope.  I tried sewing something apart from buttonholes.  Nope.  Eventually, and ever so slowly, Gentle Readers, I thought, "perhaps this is not the right bobbin?".  Yep.  Took it out, moved all the thread to another bobbin and rather quickly tossed the old bobbin in the bin.  And guess what?  Sewing like a dream, aren't we?   


There's a lesson in this, Gentle Readers.  Rethread machine, change needle, rethread machine, check bobbin, rethread bobbin if necessary, toss bobbin if all else fails.  Actually, if all else fails, walk away & have a nap.  That's what I did.  Next blogtime, I promise pictures of the finished cushion cover.


That's it for me.  Work tomorrow, then Tuesday off - upholstery school Monday & Tuesday night, with Lucas.  Thank the Upholstery Ghods for good teachers.  We're starting on some cushion making, so I expect to learn where I went wrong with the one I haven't finished yet ;-p


And now, I think I might even go & finish it.  It's only 9.30pm & I'm not really watching the cricket, and now that I know what the problem is... who knows?  Maybe pics tonight?  Wow.  And... ciao!











Wednesday 1 February 2012

That list again...


List Update:

1.  Pouch for Anne-Marie (18 months ago)
2.  Cushions for Mr Golightly's Big Sis (17 months ago)
3.  Cushions for Lyndsey (6 months ago)
4.  Seat covers for Mrs Autrey (at least 9 months ago) Finished, just waiting for the Post Office to re-open.
5.  Dog for Effie in Canada (only Monday) Cheated just slightly & sent her nephew the one featured on the blog.  Hope she doesn't mind!
6.  Pouch for MBF's children's piano teacher (3 months ago) Let off the hook, she'd forgotten too & bought something.
7.  Pouch for MBF's children's dance teacher (ditto)
8.  Cushion for MGF Kaz (who knows, so long ago I've forgotten)
9.  Dolls for the children of people in my team (2 months ago). Finished, see previous blog post.
10.  Christmas Scarf for Clare in the UK.  Started but nowhere near ready.
11.  Christmas Gift for Gill in the UK.  Not even started.
12.  Welcome gift for Mrs Autrey's baby (knitted but not wrapped or posted).  Wrapped & waiting for the post office to open.
13.  Welcome gift for Clare's baby (not even started).
14.  Kris Kringle gift for friend at lunch on Sunday*.  Lavender bags X 3.  Time?  20 minutes.  Easy.
15.  Kimono dressing gown for Arthur (1year ago).  Mum & I made mine & hers, I made Kaz's.  I'm sure Arthur's is coming soon...

As for #13, I went through my box of knitted stuff & found the following, all perfectly suitable for a new baby:





plus a bunch more I don't have photos of.  I think I need to start knitting again (after I cross off a few more numbers!)

Ciao!

Sick. I'm fully sick. Really.


Actually, in some cultures, Gentle Readers, that actually means "I am unwell".  Amusingly I had a phone call from Miss BlueLambb this afternoon enquiring if I was actually still employed by the August Institution, as I haven't been there for a week (Thursday was the Australia Day Holiday, Friday was swapped for my regular Tuesday off, as we had a half-day offsite thingy scheduled for our whole team & my lovely Boss wanted me there), and today is apparently Wednesday.  So.  

I have acquired some stinky virus, which has given me a nasty wheezy cough, which is happily producing **TMI ALERT** yellow-greeny slime, a headache, pounding sinuses and lethargy.  That's definitely the highlight.  I'm still in my PJ's, (not too unusual, I hear you say...) for the third day running (that's the unusual bit - how did I get to the Doctor?) apart from a brief sojourn in real clothes so I could go to the doctor, get anti-biotics for the (wait.  Is that hyphenated?  Antibiotics.  Anti-biotics.  Who cares, really?) chest infection, and ... oh bugger, I've lost the thread.  I'm sick, y'know.

Anyway, before all this happened, we spent a lovely relaxing weekend in the Hunter, and MGF Kaz and I took some nice pics.

Kaz's Sunday morning sunrise:

 Strawberry?


Sit up nicely!


Who, me?  On the furniture?


Gimme five!


On Saturday morning these guys were pictured having a bit of a sleep in, in next door's paddock.  Quietly, oh so quietly, I tiptoed round the verandah in my LLBean slides so I could get a quick pic... obviously not quietly enough.


Hello?


Did you hear something?

Quick, let's go...


On another note, I took absolutely no sewing with me, which was a bit silly in hindsight, because I'd promised Master H that I would make a pouch for his mother's birthday (29th January, oops) - you can tell I'm sick, can't you?  I just split that infinitive right down the middle.  I promised Master H that for his mother's birthday, I'd make a particular pouch.  It's still on the sewing machine.  I started it before we went to the Hunter & tried to finish it when we got back from the Hunter, but due to an earlier-than-usual dinner start time, and the incipient virus, it's still sitting there.  Very soon now, honest.  Mr Golightly pointed out two rules of sewing that I broke trying to get it finished in time - measure thrice, cut once; and, don't sew when you're sick/tired.  Very nasty.

Anyway, if only I'd taken it all with me, I could have had it made before I got sick, I wouldn't have let Master H down, and he could have given it to his mother for her birthday (29th January, did I mention that?  Oh yes.  I'm sick, you know.)

So, no sewing, no work, no fun, no sin, no you, no wonder it's dark.  Anybody recognise that?  Me neither.  I'm sick.  Ciao!

PS Thanks to the Peppermint Penguin & the Chairy Godmother for the moral support.  I'm still here, for now!