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'. 

See, the problem is...

That the minute I sit me down to write a blog post, I get distracted by all the shiny things in our house (being the total geek-fest that it is), and I forget my original purpose... when I was much younger (in my feckless 20's), I used to have lists of things to do each weekend, so that when I found myself re-covering shelves with wallpaper just before guests arrived, the beds were already made and the fridge was full of food, instead of unmade and empty... but that good habit has gone by the wayside, sadly, along with the desire to do all my ironing on a Sunday night, and the urge to dust.  Twice a year is plenty, I think.  I'm sure I've mentioned before how one of my favourite authors, Sharon Lee, of "Lee and Miller" fame, also believes twice a year is not too often.  


Although, gentle reader, it must be said that after the Invasion of the Coffee Machine by the evil forces of Antdom, I did act quickly to locate the source of Ant Enticement that had appeared in my Small but Perfectly Formed room, this afternoon.  Apparently some kind supplier of 'something' in my dim and distant past had provided a lollipop, similar in shape and form to the sort consumed by Kojak, which was sitting behind my magnifying lamp... ants must have an incredible sense of smell, yes?  Anyway, after moving the small bookcase holding 237 years worth of Threads magazines (anybody want 'em?  Free to a good home, postage only), a small collection of buttons *snicker*, and a half-torso store dummy, I found said lollipop at the back of the bookcase behind said lamp, carried it with its attached lodgers outside, and left it in the wilds for nature to take her course.


So... shiny things.... I have ignored the clarion call of the blogs I have left unread all this weekend, in order to fulfill duties of the creative kind to my loyal and devoted audience.  Actually, I believe my mum (Hi Mum!) is about to start reading this, so I thought I'd better tidy up a bit first.  You know how mothers have that long-distance x-ray vision about the state of your house... 


I've spent this weekend sewing, having spent the week in some kind of whirling dervish trance-like state where the days from Monday to Friday just went in a blur... I was determined not to let this weekend go by without making some stuff, so here it is:


My lovely DSSIL*, Miss Mandy, had her birthday on Saturday:

 And she wanted a purple pencil case, with her initials on it, so that was easy.  Shame it wasn't there for Saturday, but after the week I've had, (which I am quite sure you don't want to hear about, seeing it was the same as the last week, and the week before that, and so on, ad nauseum), we should all be grateful I'm still crawling out of bed on Saturday mornings to sew, rather than just hiding under the covers like I wanted to!  


Then Miss E, Mr Golightly's middle niece, has her birthday tomorrow.  She lives in the fabled city of Melbourne, lucky girl, where there are markets galore, culture, lanes with bars, restaurants to die for and lots of lovely shopping. You've never been, I hear you say? Well, it's as close to Europe as you'll find in this wide brown land, so if you get the opportunity, go, for the love of craft!  This is what I made her:

It never ceases to amaze me how well the oddest combination of fabrics go together - whoda thunk that Erin McMorris's Pebbles in Lime would go with Echino's Scooters?  Well, after I went rummaging for something that particular slime green, I did!  Hope she likes it (I did press it before it went into the packaging, honest)!


And finally, for the lovely Jenifer in Massachusetts, some MoMo Wonderland jumbo lavender bags:

And now, gentle reader, I am going to lie on the couch and pretend I don't have a pile of clothes as big as a mountain on my spare bed waiting to be folded, sorted and put away (but not, you'll note, ironed!), that I don't have to go to work tomorrow, and that my big fat European holiday is only 9 working days away... oh wait!  It is!


Ciao!






*De-Facto-Step-SIster-In-Law