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

Sheer genius

What's this?  Two posts in one day - it's been a while, so I thought I'd spoil you all.


We got this beauty in the mail from my mum on Monday;

It matches the one she made us for a belated birthday gift:

I think she's so clever - I love the pair of them - but there were 'vigorous, full and frank discussions' around the fabrics that went into these - Mum is very traditional, and she really struggled with the bright modern florals that I love, but, she's a professional, and the job she did was fantastic - even to the extent of hand-dyeing cotton batting to make her own felt!

I love them both, I have to say.  What do you think?

Warning, Small bragfest follows

So I finally finished making MaddieGal's pouches, posted them off to sunny California (where the weather has to be nicer than it's been here for the last week) and can sit back and brag about it. I'm thinking of putting together one of those brag books, just so I can carry it round in my handbag & whip it out when somebody wants to show me their kids, dogs, cats, grandkids, small stinky aliens they found in the backyard, whatever. I think it's perfectly reasonable to do this! Anyway, I've built a mosaic over at BigHugeLabs & put it in here for you to enjoy:

I missed out on breakfast this morning with my friend Deb and her two lovely children, because I'm still infected with the filthy cold - and of course I've also infected MWH*, who is not quite so wonderful when he's sick, let me tell you. It's a sure sign that he's sick when he gets up & immediately puts the fire on (at 9.30am) - usually it doesn't go on until about 4.00pm & that's only after we've put extra jumpers, socks and scarves on. I blame his Scottish blood...


Anyway, I now have the most exciting task of sorting out the 2 foot (60cm) high pile of papers acquired over the last year, some of which relate to last year's tax, which I am about to take to the accountant in the vain hope of getting some money from the government... hah!


Think of me kindly, gentle reader, as I may never be seen or heard from again...



*My wonderful husband

Holiday? What holiday?

So, at 6.28am, the clock radio switched itself on. My side of the bed, no less. Then the light came one. Ditto. Hmmm. Who's having this holiday, anyway? Then his nibs decides to get up at 7.00am, and by then, of course, I'm wide awake, so I reach for my book, hoping in vain for a cup of tea and toast from the 'working one'.. ha! Get it yourself, you're on holidays. It's no wonder I have the lawyer's number on speed dial. But that's only because he's actually a friend of mine. His. Ours.Anyway, I eventually staggered out of bed at 8.40, only, note you, once I had finished the book. It was good, I must say. My WMIL* lent it to me yesterday & I stayed up very late reading (because I'm on holidays, did I mention that?) and couldn't wait to find out what happened! Of course, I never doubted for a minute that she was innocent... ... ... that might be enough about that. Don't want to spoil it for anybody else!

Other things - little trip off to the stainless steel shop for the carabiners with the ring in them that nobody else in the known universe seems to sell, he had 23 hanging in the shop & I took 20. Didn't want to be greedy.

Also bought some stiff interfacing, they must have used it for wimples & veils in the 11th century, it was so stiff - I made a single pouch with it, but no more. It was so stiff I could barely turn the damn thing inside out - it actually made my hands sore, trying to manipulate it for the corners. I peeled it off the other

fabric I so efficiently ironed it onto this morning & have consigned it to the rubbish bin, to be fallen upon by builders looking for material to shore up falling down buildings, or maybe repair the space shuttle. Waaaaay too firm for me! Anyway, I've fallen back on the pellon & interfacing option, which gives a nice firm finish but is still soft - hopefully that will be okay with Miss Carmen, for whom all this effort was!

Other pieces of effort in the same burst:

And then this:

I have to say I love this combination of grey & rusty brown - I've never considered that they went together in real life before,

especially when you see a middle-aged man with a combover wearing a grey suit & brown shoes, but this definitely does not pop up that mental image! I'm really happy with the combo, and the lining just finishes it off nicely:

Very swish, and for sale, of course, here.

That's it for now, more tomorrow. Holidays are fun!

Sometimes I'm sooooooooooo stoooooooooooopid

And other times I'm just brilliant, but yesterday wasn't one of those days! After more consulting with MWH* about the size calculator, I made up the second 5 X 3 x 2 Pouch for my lovely customer Carmen, and it was perfect! Size, shape, everything. Then, last night, I posted it up for sale here, only to have a note from Carmen this morning saying I'd made it in entirely the wrong colour. Damn, damn, damn.

So, of course, now I don't have enough of the lining fabric to make it in the right colour, and as is still the case referred to so fleetingly in my last, somewhat tired and emotional, post, I am waiting for the ship to come in, with my supplies!


Lucky for me Carmen is very kind and understanding, and seems to be holding off on sending round the men with baseball bats, but boy! I am so irritated with myself it's the most I can do to be in the same room. I've also made her a small surprise, but I can't show you pictures because I know she reads this!


On a happier note, my WMIL* has procured orders for me to make not one, not two, but three, yes, count them, three, spectacle cases a la the one I made for her - colours designated but fabrics of my choice! Nice!


Did I mention the size calculator? I'm sure I didn't. MWH has put an excel spreadsheet together which will work out the perfect size fabric to cut for a given finished size of box pouch - so if you want a 5 X 3 X 2, put in those numbers, and it will calculate exactly what size to cut. It also allows you to change the size of your seams, so if you're doing 1/8" seams but want to make really sure of something by doing some zigzag over the stitching, for which you might need a bit more room, you can change the seam size to 1/4", and it recalculates.


Anyway, I made another one of these yesterday, as a bit of an escape from box pouches, and it came out nicely. Next thing will be a handle, I think, or a d-ring, or even a lobster claw? Or both? Whoo, lets go really overboard.

Those Erin McMorris 'Wildwood' fabrics are really versatile - they all seem to go together so nicely. She's pretty clever, isn't she? I must go & check if there's a flickr group for this fabric & I'll let you know if I post anything.


Ciao!
*Wonderful Mother-In-Law
*My Wonderful Husband