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!

Talk about...

Working my fingers to the bone.  Well, kind of.  My very rude friend Ms Creek had the nerve to suggest I was a lazy cow now that I wasn't working, and perhaps my last post about the joys of lunching whilst somebody else (and a man, to boot) cleaned my house, might have led you to believe (especially some of my newer readers, welcome, welcome, sit down, no, here, sit here, have a drink, ice?  Biscuit?  No, I didn't make them, sorry about that.  No, really.) that I was a lazy cow, but you, Gentle Readers, know better.  You know that under this slightly tubby, slightly slovenly** exterior, is a workaholic.  Well, a sew-a-holic.  Well, more of a "I've got to be doing something with my hands-aholic".  


Just as an aside, Gentle Readers, don't you think that there should be a better term than '...aholic' to denote somebody who needs to be doing stuff, all the time?  I don't like that it is derived from 'alcoholic', knowing a few of those, unhappy souls that they are, I don't like it at all, and I want a better term.  I know that the Oxford English Dictionary is looking for people to adopt words that are in danger of dying out through lack of use, and I personally have adopted 'Traboccant', which means 'super-abundant'.  It's kind of appropriate for me, in that I have super-abundant amounts of fabric, ribbon, books, CD's, DVD's, buttons, dust... you get the picture.


Anyway, I'm thinking of digging out the Thesaurus to find a better word than xxx-aholic, and when I do, rest assured I'll let you know.  I know that you'll be worrying until then, but don't fret.  I'll sort it out.


Right, where was I?  Oh yes.  We went to the beautiful Hunter Valley and I made a panoply of presents... (see, big word slipped in there, but more about big words later, perhaps next post?)

And the weather was exceeding kind:

and we had visits from all different kinds of birds, some successful, and some, not so much:

Poor little fire-tailed finch crashed into a bedroom window - how beautiful his plumage is...

And these blurry specks are the local eagles, we saw two breeding pairs yesterday, floating round on the thermals about the house:

And finally, the Jacarandas are magnificently in flower, all over the district:

And now, Gentle Readers, lunch is calling me, and I must then away, away to the sewing machine, for some traboccant Christmas gift-making.


Ciao!


**Slovenly - defined in my book as somebody who buys her clothes from catalogues, and only goes into shops when she has to go to a wedding, funeral or formal function.  Yours?

Just for the Peppermint Penguin

This is what the seam in the lining of the boot bags looks like when finished:

Not too shabby, methinks.  You can't even tell where the turning hole was, and I guess that's all good!

It's Sunday morning, Mr G is wrestling with the washing machine (our 17 yo Hoover Electra 540) & I'm still in my PJ's, trying to find some inspiration.  I've been through all the whiz-bang new sewing books I own (you know, '999 reasons to sew again', 'I've reinvented the spinning wheel and you should all be grateful', and my all time favourite, '300 ugly and useless things to make with little or no fabric' and I can't find anything I really want to make.  

I've knitted scarfs, gloves, jumpers, cardigans, lace, beanies, neckwarmers and suits for dolls. I've embroidered tray cloths, cushions, samplers, collars and Christmas decorations.  I've cross-stitched samplers, bell-pulls, nifty little bags, pin cushions, hand-towels and bibs for babies.  I've mastered the fully lined box pouch, the zippered flat pouch, the boxed bottom make-up bag and the pencil case, I've made felt dogs and fabric dogs galore, I've made birds from that lovely and oft-stolen pattern from Spool Sewing, boot bags, shoe bags, lingerie bags and lavender bags, aforementioned Christmas decorations and far too many frogs to even discuss, and I want a challenge!   

Suggestions?