What was I thinking?

Well, apart from the social obligations, Gentle Readers, sometimes it's nice to get completely out of your comfort zone and go to somewhere you've never been and will probably never go again, just to have lunch with somebody.  My good friend KP is working out at somewhere I consider to be a true AEON*, took me an hour to get there, four motorway/freeway tolls and a deepening conviction that everybody who lives out there is completely nuts.  Here's a picture of the Google Maps directions from Newport (Point A) to my destination (Point B):

That's further than I've been on holidays, some years.  Of course it wasn't the distance (70km each way) that makes me think they're all nuts, it's the temperature.  It was 38.5°C/101.3°F out there, with a hot wind blowing right off the desert, at 2.00pm.  No sea breeze, no prospect of a coastal southerly to cool them down.  OMG.  


So, needless to say, I was very glad to get home & ventilate the house, and joy oh joy, a cool(ish) breeze whipped through about 5.00pm.  Some sleep is in order tonight, I hope.  I also got up into the roof (don't even ask me what the temperature was up there, please!) to get the other fan down, which is noisy but effective - but the way we've been sleeping this week, I'm quite sure the sound won't be keeping us awake.


In other news, I was delighted to see a whole gaggle of visitors from foreign climes (not foreign as in 'strange', but foreign as in 'not living in Orstraya'... hello to all you lovely lurking Gentle Readers in Oxfordshire UK, Garfield, NJ USA, Southsea, Hampshire UK, Philadelphia The City of Lurve, Pennsylvania USA, Hockworthy, Somerset UK, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (or Tronno, as we say here), and good old Wenty, somebody from Wentworthville, NSW, who drops in from time to time but never delurks, that I know of anyway.


I'm wondering if my visitor from Hockworthy, Somerset, is the lovely LucyWithaY from one of my favourite blogs, Lives By The Woods?  Come on, 'fess up if it is you.  You know you want a froggie.


In other, makery type news, I have today found out what a comprehensive PITA** it is to sew PUL***, but how much easier it is with a walking foot - first time I've used it on this machine, and after having to get the book out to work out how to put it on the machine, it was dead easy.  That stuff is so sticky, it gummed up the rotary cutter something fierce, so that's another trap for young players...  anyway, I, who am the master of the boxed-bottom pouch decided that it was a bit disgraceful to keep going on visits with a toilet/cosmetic pouch held together with a safety-pin, so I made myself a new one.  I used that gorgeous Echino Birdsong linen, and kept the nice purple bit at the bottom to match up to the zip.  Shame I couldn't find a zip that colour, but hey, it's close enough.

Also, I found out that if you're careful enough, you can put a zip in using a walking foot.  No zip foot required at all - the topstitching is a little bit close for my taste, but the pouch opens & closes without any dramas.  Also, the label is in the wrong place.  I still can't work out exactly where to put them to avoid them being swallowed up by the box-bottom, but again, it's only for me, so who cares.  It was a bit of a conceit putting the label on it anyway, but you never know what may come of it... commissions from Ma's friends?  Stranger things have happened!


So.  Pics?  You can just see the label there at the bottom left.  Bah.

The absolutely best part is that I can get all the crap I need for a week's visit to my lovely Ma, with room left over - 

And hopefully the PUL lining will keep it nice & clean.  I'm tempted to offer them for sale, 
but suspect the market is flooded already (no pun intended).  What pun?  It's a waterproof lining.  Honestly.  Anyway, any thoughts on the viability of selling them, very welcome, as always.


In other Etsy related news, my lovely Toile lavender bags have been featured in a treasury, again (so excited!), so if you're bored & want something lovely to look at, check this out.  I love treasuries, I really do.  There is some absolutely amazing stuff for sale on Etsy, it never ceases to amaze me what you can find.  I think that might be the theme for my next one!  


And that's it, for me today.  Mr Golightly is wending his weary way home from another very long day, and the dinner sits in the fridge, staying cool.  I hope that wherever you are, you're safe, and the weather is kind to you.

Ciao!








*Arse end of nowhere
**Pain in the arse
***PolyUrethane Laminate(d Polyester).  Dunno why they don't just call it 'PULP'. 

Life

Sucks sometimes, doesn't it?  It's 4.42am.  We had people round yesterday (12 adults, seven children), it was so hot (hottest Australia Day in 20 years, apparently) & humid I felt like a damp rag all day, I couldn't even stand the thought of earrings (and if you know me, you'll know how serious that is) and I changed clothes twice before the guests arrived because I was a damp and floppy mess.


So, the thing is that I'm really tired - all the prep required to feed 19 people, the organisation, getting everybody to eat some salad (go Ryan!), the cleanup... but they were all gone by 6.30pm, mostly because today is a work day (for nearly everybody) & I fell asleep on the sofa afterwards until the cricket finished (we lost) and Mr Golightly dragged me to bed (by the hair, whoo hoo).  


So, if I'm so tired, why am I up at 4.46am?  I'm up at 4.46am because somebody said something thoughtless to me (no, not one of my guests) and it's churning rounding in my brain, and stopping me from sleeping.  It's one of those things that you can't bring up with the thoughtless person to discuss, because that will just cause angst and unpleasantness, at a time when those two are definitely unwelcome in our houses.  It's one of those things you just have to leave churning, wait for your brain to process it, and catch up on your sleep later in the day.  


Also, there are times when trying to explain or clarify just makes you look defensive, and when the person you love most in the world assures you that it wasn't your doing, you realise you don't have to defend or explain.  You just have to let it go.  And that's hard, sometimes.  Especially when you thought you'd reached a place where the thoughtless remark would no longer occur.  And that's why life sucks.  Because no matter what lengths you go to, what extremes, how much you put your own life on hold, how selfless you are, the thoughtless remark will always do its evil work and reduce you back to the role of 'not quite good enough'.


And that's why I'm awake at 4.58am, still trying to be good enough.  Now, back to bed, Gentle Readers and try to sleep. 


Buona notte.

Time flies

What a day and what night.  I'm pretty sure I've mentioned once or twice or three times how much I hate summer.  We went to Morpeth on Sunday, just to wander the streets and look at the interesting architectural features:

and I got sunburnt.  Even though I had a hat on, I'd forgotten the sunblock.  I have now officially developed what Mr Golightly so charmingly refers to as a 'Westie Tan'.  You know, Gentle Readers, the sort of tan on those people who work outdoors, or who don't get to the beach much, so that it starts above the sockline, stops at the shorts, starts again at the neckline up to the face, and all the arms which aren't covered up.


I wouldn't mind so much, but I've got a bunch of white spots (absence of melanin) on my arms, and with the combination of brown skin with white spots and white skin with sandfly bite scars, I look like some kind of alien.


What else?  Sleep was hard to come by, even with the southerly sweeping through at about 9.30pm, but eventually I went off, but today I feel like I usually do after a bad summer sleep.  Crappy.


I have lots to do today, shopping for food for the Hordes** who are descending tomorrow, and maybe, in the afternoon, a spot of sewing.  I'm going to start on a dressing gown, I think.  Mine first, so I can iron out all the bugs before I make the other two.  The fabric?

And for Az:

And now, Gentle Readers, much as I would love to crawl back into bed for an hour or so, the siren song of Woolworths is too hard to resist, and I must away, away to the supermarket.


Ciao!

**Quasi-Annual BBQ for the Friends.  Usually fun.  Usually.

Gone to Gowings?

Well, not quite, but gone just the same.  The Really Stinky Lavender Bags, that is.  Sold. Dunno who too yet, because I haven't had an email from the conveners of the Etsy shop, but when I do find out (and I will, Gentle Readers, I will), you will be the second to know.


Anyway, I've sent off another listing to the lovely peeps running the shop, so there'll be another lot available in case you wanted some & missed out.  I haven't actually made them yet, but when I find out where & who, I will.  Following?


In other extremely exciting news, I have made the first 5/8 of the quilt top that's been languishing as a Layer Cake in the Small But Perfectly Formed Room since August 2010:

Part The Second is to turn it 90° on its head & do the slashing & sashing thing again, which I think will make it look really nice - and since I worked out that the foot with the little red lines on my sewing machine is an actual quarter inch, things are a lot more accurate.  Well, that and the fabulous new cutting out table Mr Golightly whipped up for me - did I mention this before, Gentle Readers?  

I'm 5'6"/168cm, but the dining table is just 4"/10cm too low for me to cut out on.  I get a sore back just looking at dropping the cutting board onto the table.  So, in a fit of the genius that reminds me why I love him, he cut out four 4" square feet, made brackets, and attached it all to a custom sized sheet of MDF.  Then, we attached the 24"X36"/940 X 640cm cutting board to the MDF with liquid nails, and there you are, Bob's your Uncle.  Best part?  The feet pop off so I can store it upright down the side of a storage unit in the SBPFR*.

Anyway, it's now super easy to cut WOF fabrics using a proper quilting ruler on a big cutting board, which was the downfall with the first version of this I made - I tried to cut it by eye, because I couldn't find a big enough space to do it properly.  I feel like a real quilter now.  L'Orrore!

You can also see that I was super careful to match up the blocks this time too:

That sashing isn't really bendy, it's just an optical illusion.  Honest.

What else?  My Best Friend and the Kidlets have returned from the damp North, with tales of food wastage and the intransigence of supermarkets.  Turn away now if you're prone to fits of righteous anger... This is the story - they wanted to buy two onions.  There were two loose rotting onions.  The only non-rotten onions were in a bag with one rotting onion also in it.  When they asked if they could open the bag & buy the non-rotting onions, the supermarket responded by throwing away the whole bag of onions, because one of them was rotten.  Too bad if that had been the last onion in the world.  

How did we get so tangled up in rules and regulations that we can't think "oh, there's a shortage of food items, there's some onions available in that bag, let's break it open & sell them off to people who only want one or two".  No, we have to throw the whole lot away, good onions and all.  Honestly.  It's enough to make you cry.  No pun intended.

And that's it for me, I think.  It's been a sticky day, but the sun is going down and the air has cooled sufficiently such that I think I might sleep tonight.  Yeehaw.  I hate Summer.  Did I ever mention that?

Ciao!

*Small But Perfectly Formed Room