Oops I did it again

 Well, Gentle Readers, I've done it.  I've resigned from the day-job at the Big Bank, and I probably won't be going back, well not to that one, anyway.  Things have been ...interesting... and I took a break in February to support The Elusive Mr Golightly while he went through some really unpleasant medical stuff... but we're coming out the other side now, and I'd decided that I didn't need to go back to the office.  Having a purpose that pays is good, but it's just as good to just have a purpose.  

Anyhoo, plans change, right?  I got a call in mid-August that sounded intriguing, and basically I was offered my dream job, with hours & salary entirely my call.  Was I interested?  To be honest, apart from all the medical shit, I was very happy being retired.  I had the usual days of lockdown blah, but I've deliberately given myself lots to do so I didn't ever get bored, and I had lots and lots of things on my to-do list for when we got out of lockdown... but an opportunity like this doesn't come along every day.

I worked for this company a few years ago, enjoyed it very much & was quite sad when my contract finished & they decided to rework the structure to eliminate my role.  Funny that here we are four years later & they've been told they need the role back to be really effective.  Hah.  Coulda told 'em.

Anyhoo, I didn't even have to go for an interview; when the guy in charge heard I was available, he just said "offer her the role"...  and so hopefully I'll be starting next week.  

In other news, I've rescued a quilt, with help from the fabulous Jayne Rennie at Quilting Finesse (@quiltingfinesse on Instagram).  My mother made me this quilt as a doona cover in 1988 (as you did then???), and I think it was one of the first she made, because to be honest, it was pretty rough - within a year the seams had started to split, the stitch size was tiny (1.4mm?), there were various coloured cotton threads, and the colours weren't my thing at all, but it was made by my mother, for me, for Christmas, so I didn't feel I could just dump it!  As time went by, and I acquired more, beautiful, better made quilts made for me, in colours of my choice, this one ended up further and further towards the back of the cupboard.  We don't have a doona/duvet, instead using quilts layered to give us the perfect amount of warmth.  So it became redundant, and was relegated to an ugly ball in the back of the linen cupboard.

Cue Lockdown!  I had a big tidy-up of the linen cupboard, and took a pile of worn out sheets & towels to the textile recycling bin, and rediscovered the quilt.  First job was to remove the sheet that was the back of the doona cover. and then have a look at the blocks.  Most of them were stitched onto old hospital pillow cases (did I mention My Lovely Ma was a nurse?  Never let a chance go by oh lord):

Then I had to work out how to remove the bulk of the backing without compromising the integrity of the blocks... in some cases the seams were so tiny (1/16") that the whole block had to be taken apart & restitched.  I also ditched the entire strippy border, but I did manage to salvage some bits of that for another project.  Then I squared all the blocks up & made them a standard size, then I restitched it together using a tiny sprigged print in a rich cream... totally my mother.

Then I took it up to Jayne Rennie at Quilting Finesse & she quilted it using the Baptist Fan pattern, and it looks amazing (if wonky (my fault, not hers!)!)!

Now I have to bind it (it's going to join the Snake Trail Surprise which is in the cupboard waiting to be bound) & I have an idea to use some French General creams & beiges to do it.  I think My Lovely Ma would be very pleased.

 

Wait! It's November?

Sometimes I really hate computers.  I wrote a whole long post yesterday about all the sewing I've done in October, put in loads of pictures, clicked 'save' multiple times, and then tried to publish it, but would it?  Oh no.  So I wandered off to do other things (more later), and now I'm back to it... and everything except the first two paragraphs is gone.   Gorne!  Arrgh!!  Anyhoo...let's do it again.

Can you tell me, Gentle Readers, where October went?  I'm pretty sure mine went into the bowels of my sewing room (did you even know it had bowels?  What a disturbing thought!!)...

I've been very busy making stuff for this market, which seems both terrifyingly close, and frustratingly far away - I can't even confirm until 19th November that I've even got a stall (unless they confirm first, which might happen, and it might not, my initial impression being that these people are not quite in the 21st Century (bank cheques, I ask you - but that's another story)...

So... sewing...

More bilbies, including some that look disturbingly like others I have already made:

And some new friends, as of last night:

I've also got bunting made, a stack of fridge magnets which I'm pretty sure I covered off in tiny detail in the last post, or the one before, and I've got lavender bags coming out the wazoo - MGF Kaz & I had 53 when we were last in the Hunter, and I'm just waiting on the supply of more lavender from the lovely Christine at Ratho Lavender Farm so I can stuff some of them & send them off to her... (Christmas orders in nice & early, gotta love that!!)... what else?  I have a few pouches made a long time ago in nice linens, and I made a few turtles, before I realised that the pattern is for personal use only & I can't sell them at the market:

And I've added in a few of these really cute guys, in dark reds, ideal for Christmas decorations or table centres, with cloves in them so they smell really christmassy.

And in news that's kind of come round unwelcomingly quickly (ooh, that's an ugly mouthful), it's two years tomorrow since the death of My Lovely Ma, and I thought some more of her work deserved an outing:

I still miss her everyday, especially when I go to things like Urban Stitches, which I know she would have really enjoyed.  I don't have any friends who craft, and so it was lovely to be able to ring her and talk about the latest disaster, triumph, hideous fabric I'd seen and beautiful things I'd seen on the internet... 

And that, Gentle Readers, is that.  Now that I have a little more time on my hands, I will endeavour to post more frequently.  What's that?  Why do I have more time on my hands?  Let's just say that things have changed.  

On that mysterious note, I will say only... ciao!

My, how time flies...

So... Gentle Readers, last Monday was the first anniversary of my Lovely Ma's death.  Blah.

 We went to the lovely Hunter Valley last weekend, and I gave myself a frozen shoulder by sewing a mazillion lavender bags...which MGF Kaz helped me stuff - we filled half a kilo's worth...

In other news, I have finally left the August Institution after five interesting years, putting travel, managing people and all the other managerial bullshit behind me.  I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from me, and I'm really enjoying being back in town, shopping, ducking and weaving through the pedestrians, and standing in a queue for a bus.  A bus!  Did I mention I'm not driving the 40kms each way to work any more?  A bus!!

This guy doesn't get a bus either.  

In other creative news, I made a cat. I hate cats.  I made it as a favour to one of my former colleagues... first and last time ever.  The dogs were easy - four parts.  The cat - 16 parts.  A complete pain in the ass.

But... a little cute, yes?

I made some Christmas reindeer, too...

This guy has already gone off to Singapore... and this guy... was a gift for the daughter of a colleague, somebody I've known for years and years, and who I've left behind at the August Institution.

And because I'm now working back in town, I can open my Etsy shop up to the big wide world again... the post office is 100 steps from my new building... 

And we saw this amazing sight last weekend:

Weird.

4.53am

So, Gentle Readers, here we are again.  4.53am, a big day in front of me and the elusiveness of sleep running round in my head like a trainwreck waiting to happen.

In happier news, the very lovely Miss Blue Lambb sent me a photo of the huge success that was the eReader cover:

Edited to add:  Found it on my tablet.  Told you it was worth waiting for, didn't I?

Yes, it's somewhere in the ether.  Either on my tablet, my phone or at work.  It looked really good though.  Honest.

What else?  The chair progresses, slowly, presumably the threat of being covered in lighter fluid and set on fire has spurred me on to being close to finishing the damn' thing:

Don't get too excited, it's only pinned.  Next week, all things being equal, I will hand stitch the top on, then staple the underneath, then cover that with calico, and then I will cover it with lighter fluid and set fire to it.  Just kidding.  I think.

In news of slightly less exciting-ness, I'm off to Perth tonight, on the good old 1750 QF587, and Mr Golightly is following on Friday.  Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me, Gentle Readers, as we deal with medical madness once more.

And now?  Breakfast, I think.  (And in case you were thinking you had it all under control, here's something to consider - 2 months today is Christmas Day.  Yeehaw.)

Ciao!

Where do you go to my lovely...

Tell me, loyal Gentle Readers, have we had that one before?  I think we may have.  I like to recycle my titles every now and again, just to see who's keeping watch.


Anyway, I'm posting this one today for all the blogs that are no more... when I started out reading other people's stuff, I was completely in awe by how funny, and clever, and creative they all were.  I got inspiration for crafty projects, links to other interesting blogs and even made some new friends and an enemy or two, but hey, it's all good.


And now, some of my favourites are no more.  I feel like I've lost old friends, or that one of my favourite authors has died much too young (RIP Sara Douglass), and I don't like it.


What're the options?  Well, I do go through from time to time and remove the interminably cheery ones, the ones that always make me want to puke with their nauseating 'everything is lovely in my world' vibe, and the ones where the person writing it is just posed over the razor blade waiting for Australia to lose the Rugby so they've got an excuse to slash their wrists.  


I got rid of 'diary of a nutjob housewife' before she bored me to tears with her tales of woe and how they couldn't afford to eat anything except hot dogs but they could afford a subscription to Fox... and I miss Felicity from All Toile and No Reward, and I wish she'd come back.  Or somebody would tell me what's going on!  I miss Gerald Gee, who used to put lovely 1930's music on his blog, but he's gone to the great Artists Studio in the sky and he won't be coming back.  I miss Baino and her eloquent endless supply of 'useless as ...' sayings.  I miss Sara from Streaks on the China, although I know she reads this from time to time, and is kind enough to comment, but I liked her writing and I miss it.


So... where does that leave me?  Out looking for new blogs to read and enjoy.  If you have any suggestions, I'd be happy to hear 'em.  I quite like House on Hill Road but I think she might be a bit too foody/quilty/kids-y for me.


And in news of the other kind, I took some nice pics of My Lovely Ma's garden whilst in Perth (Oh, I'm back, btw, did you notice?), and spent most of yesterday asleep.  Jetlag will do that for you.

And now, back to my knitting. Ciao!