Oh Canada!

Do you remember, Gentle Readers, how dubious I was when I first put that Feedjit thingy on the bottom of my blog, yes, yes, it's still there, tracking how many times I go & re-read my own stuff to make sure I haven't put 'decorted' in there again (prize available for first person to spot it & report back when I did it...), but it also tracks other people who come to visit!  And (sentence starts with preposition, must be important), Gentle Readers, it does!  I've had some visitors from Canada!  And America!  And London!  And Sydney!  


Hello!  Welcome!  Come in, sit down, no, not there, no, that's my chair, sorry, that's actually my chair, would you mind not sitting in my chair, get out of my chair, fuck off, go on, get out, go home.  Ooops.


Hello!  I don't know who you are but you're very welcome.  No, really.  I don't care where you sit.  If you're lucky, you'll find a seat not covered in magazines, or fabric, or 3-day old cereal bowls, or old newspapers.  Some days.  Good thing we don't have a cat, isn't it?


Anyway, I've been reading some new blogs, and leaving comments, as you do, and I suspect these lovely visitors, who aren't sitting in my chair, are from there.  It's a nice incestuous world, the blog world.  Everybody seems to know everybody else.  I went from Gerald Gee, who puts the most fantastic 1930's music & fashion on his blog, to Tooting Squared, to Mr London Street, to Whoopee, to Meetzorp.  I feel like I've made a whole new bunch of friends.  Which is not, of course, to say that you lot are on notice, oh no, not really.  The people who let you into their lives via their blogs are the best kind of friends, because, for the most part, you never meet them in the flesh, so they can't find out really how uninteresting you are  I am.  


Anyway, in keeping with the vain attempt to link this blog to some crafty stuff, which was one of the reasons for its existence, here's some pics of how I've spent most of Tuesday & Wednesday:

The journal cover was custom made to fit the journal I bought from this absolutely fantastic new shop in Mona Vale, Little Paper Lane.  I also bought beautiful wrapping paper, ribbon and card, for Miss Nelly's birthday, which was Tuesday, but which I won't be celebrating with her until Friday - she's the lucky recipient of the Quilt, but I also made her the bird, which is stuffed full of lavender... here's the birthday pile:

Beautiful, huh?  I love how LIttle Paper Lane's signature colour (almost duck-egg blue, almost turquoise) is the same as Miss Nelly's.  


And, Gentle Readers, I promise the next post will be the tutorial on how to make the journal cover to fit any size journal... and now, it's raining, so I'm hopeful of having Miss Nelly's mother, My Best Friend, round for coffee because she doesn't work in the rain, and you know what?  I'll even clear off my chair for her.  


Ciao!

Introducing Elliot Casper...

Mr Elliot Casper R* has been delivered, both physically and metaphorically.  I believe his new owner was delighted, both with her colour choices and the outcome, which I think was pretty spiffy; small problem in that I got his eyes every so slightly out of alignment, but hey, there are no straight lines in nature!

So, here is Miss Nelly with Elliot Casper (and we had to have a secret ballot to determine his name) - I thought Felix and Gilbert were pretty spiffy but it became clear quite early that, true Sagittarian that she is, although she asked for opinions as to the name of this pooch, and quite a hilarious time was had flicking through the baby book, she had already made up her mind and was not going to be moved from Elliot, but she did compromise in the best Sagittarian fashion by allowing the unexpected introduction of a middle name.
   

Now all we have to do is make him a collar & he's done.  The nose, in case you're interested, was a 10-year-old's stroke of genius (no pun intended), it's made of flannelette, and is extremely touchable.


Also, yesterday I lent a neighbourly hand to My Best Friend (aka Mother of the Kidlets) who cracked a bone in her spine, get this, when she was in the wheely bin, tamping down the garden weeds.  The bin toppled over with her in it, and she landed on her back.  Lucky she wasn't crippled, if you ask me.  Anyway, much pushing of trolleys, nipping in and out of shops and consuming of lunch was done yesterday whilst the Kidlets had some fatherly interaction, and then I nipped home to check on the Weeding Wonder and her progress.  OMG.  The garden looks amazingly messy, but it's because all the Trad is now in piles throughout the garden, along with various other piles of things she's collected, which need to GO.  

After that, I made a pouch, based on this pattern, but which I have amended slightly to make it a bit easier - I do like the way she's cut the corners out before sewing up the seams, but if you want to vary the corner sizes, of course you need to do your calculating beforehand & it's not as accurate as the original method but it is probably quicker.  Probably.


Anyway, these are gifts, one for my lovely Ma, and the other for Tonee, who is coming to Bali with us, on Monday.  

And that's it for me, for now.  If I get a chance, Remaining Gentle Readers, I will post from Bali, but no promises.  I fully expect to be working on my tan *snort* and drinking G&T by the infinity-edged pool, rather than burning up the bloglines.  See you soon!


Ciao!

Woof!

He's here!

Delivery date is Friday.  I don't want to spoil the surprise in case the lucky owner happens to read this (unlikely, she's 10 & has no internet access on her PC) but I feel I should wait until he's been handed over before doing the big reveal.


Today, Remaining Gentle Readers, news from the West is good, with a positive outcome from the latest visit to Specialists, so I'm a bit happier.  Also, Mr Golightly & I are jetting off to Bali on Sunday, where we've never been, for some quality time with lovely Ma & Hank, and we're staying here, which should be amazing.  I intend to return with the tackiest souvenirs I can find, for distribution amongst family members and friends, so if you're one of those & you're reading this, watch out.


Today I will also go to the post office & post off the frogs I made for Alix & Claude's wedding, which was rather a long time ago now, but they're going to double as a birthday present for Alix, which I know is rather cheating, but hey, they're handmade, so all should be forgiven.  I'll include some nice smelly things too, to make up for it.


I'm also going to be knitting frantically to finish the scarf I'm making for my friend Gill, in Brighton; her birthday was in September but that kind of came & went - I was only knitting on the bus, but of course that's gone by-the-by now, so I'm busily inflicting tennis elbow on myself by knitting at night, during the lunch break, anytime really.  Ouch.


I also spotted this on Tuesday morning:

Rather gorgeous, with all the sun on him. Sadly the web didn't survive the arrival of the Weeding Lady, who used his home to shift all the weeds - she did an amazing job removing all the Trad (Tradescantia albiflora) [also known by a rather pejorative name which I won't repeat here] from the garden, and is coming back on Friday to do the same with the other weeds - I love having a garden, but I'm not a gardener.  It's a bit obvious, really, when you see the weeds! 

That's it for now.  I am going to get dressed & wash up, and then go & work on the Sydney Pies.  Yum!

Ciao!