Twenty down...

Forty to go.  I couldn't get any more Momo Wonderland, it's like Hens Teeth, despite the valiant efforts of Miss Scurvy at the Craft show on Friday - but anyway, my lovely customer has kindly agreed to let me use up the last bits that I had, and I'm making pairs of complementary colours, which makes it easy:

I'm a bit sad that this is the last of the Wonderland fabric, it was very pretty - I understand why manufacturers stop making stuff, I really do, but why does it have to be stuff I like?  Why is it nice stuff, when you can still buy hideous crap like this?

and I'm very disappointed to say that I absolutely hate this stuff from Erin McMorris!

 

what was she thinking?

Oh well.. I'm going to re-read Lois McMaster Bujold's "Komarr" tonight, Mr Golightly is in his PJ's already & listening to the football on his beanbag - his beloved Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are playing just now, here's hoping they win this week.  I couldn't stand another loss, the renting of garments, tearing of hair, gnashing of teeth and wailing is all a bit hard to bear... 

Ciao!

Twenty!

Sets of lavender bags!  Twenty!  There's three to a set.  You can do the maths.  (Don't get me started on sport vs sports and math vs maths... I don't understand why people on that side of the pond have sports & math, and we have sport & maths.  I won't get it.  I also don't get why Channel Nine, which I watch so rarely that the sight of it being tuned in on the TV at home is like the sighting of a rare, endangered white rhino in full flight on the African velt, has gone from "Sport" to "Sports".  Where do they think they are, Florida?)

Anyway, I think I'm going back to "you can do the sums".  No controversy there... and so... my Etsy customer wants to know if I can make her 20 sets of lavender bags, what price I can do them for & how much postage to Taiwan will be.  Well!  


There's good news and bad news in this, because, firstly, she wants Wonderland, by MoMo, but only the butterfly fabric, and the twiggy fabric, which are both out of print as far as I know... lucky for me my lovely friend Miss Scurvy is going to the Craft Show at Darling Harbour tomorrow & is going to look some out for me... and I'm obviously going to have to pop back into Cottage Quiltworks to see if they've got any - see, this is why I buy fabric & hoard it, because you never know when you're going to need it.

The good news is that if she buys all 20 sets, I can still make a profit by doing them for $7.00 a set, plus I get nice exposure to the Taiwanese market.  All good, I think.

And on the new day-job front, so far it's been quiet, friendly, enjoyable.  I'm sure it's going to turn into 'busy, friendly, enjoyable' very soon, but for now, leaving at 5.30pm is a treat, especially when there's a 8.45am start in there.  I feel like I've had a holiday!


But now, off to bed!

Busman's holiday

Blogspot seems to have made it a lot easier for non-nerdy* types like me to make changes to the appearance of their blogs, so I did.  I'm using this as an excuse to give Rusty a bit of time off, and to give Miss Petronella a bit of an outing.  I'm not entirely sure about the colour scheme, but I do love Miss Petronella.  She's a big show-off, so it's nice for her to be able to strut her funky plastic-and-lavender filled stuff occasionally:

I have to say that this is one of my all-time favourite fabrics, and I would never part with Miss Petronella simply because she's too gorgeous.

I bought some great fabric when I was in Perth, very simple cotton, but vibrant and colourful, and super cheap.  I love the designer fabrics (surprise!) but when you find something good for $7.99/m, you just have to go for it.  Also, my friend AJ sent me a link to eQuilter.com, which really fired up my post-holiday fabric buying gland.  You know the one, it sits dormant for a while and then goes 'wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, must have fabric'.  

I popped into here, where the lovely ladies are always happy to see you, and picked up some fabulous stuff - and a nice book, too:

  

which has some gorgeous projects I'm looking for happy recipients for... and I also made these little cuties:

Anyway, this is a truly terrible photo of the birdies I made with said super-cheap fabric, each slightly larger than the other, and all stuffed with lavender, with hand-sewn buttons for eyes and a hanging ribbon.  Anybody think they're sellable?  I'm thinking of adapting the pattern to make a bird head doorstop, too.  Somehow or other...

What else?  Oh yes, I start the new job tomorrow, and had to ring my new colleague to find out if I was out at the Ars*e end of nowhere or in town - as luck would have it, we're back at the AEON, (and I'm sure it'll seem like an eon), but I can cope.  I'm tonka, as Mr Golightly always says.  That's "Tonka Tough", for those of you who didn't get that advertising campaign when you were five, or six, or whatever.

And finally, thanks, Mrs Mountbatten-Windsor, for the day off.  Even though it's not actually your birthday, even us diehard Republicans** still enjoyed it, and the vision of two of my old favourites, Rampaging Roy Slaven & HG Nelson (A man simply called "bald"), getting a gong in the QBHL***... was a wonderful one, and all because too much sport is barely enough!

Ciao!

*I'm a geek, not a nerd.  There's a big difference, y'know.

**That's "people who don't want to be ruled by a queen", rather than "Not Democrats"

***Queen's Birthday Honours List (she gives us medals to make us feel better about being a dumping ground for ignorant sunburnt backpackers.  Or something.)

Ah, bliss

It was warm, you know, and sunny, and above all, dry!  It was quiet, and peaceful, and I did a spot of bird-watching...

and a spot of garden watching...

and a spot of dog-watching...

This is Gus.  He's very funny, sitting right in front of the fire, even though he has a mat only 5 feet away from the fire.  He's just small enough to fit there, and Jarrah, who's the other Dog of the House, is very jealous, but too big to fit right there!


Note the big chunks of wood?  That's Jarrah.  People like me pay lots of money to have beautiful furniture made out of this wood, my kitchen bench in particular...

(Please excuse the mess but you get the idea) and over in the West, they burn it.  Amazing.

What else?  A nice lunch out here, a spot of sewing (pictures to come, I promise), and a spot of fabric shopping.  I feel very relaxed.  Well, I did till Tuesday, when the madness started again... however, only one more day of whining from me, and it's all over, back to 'normal'.  Can't wait, I have to say!

When I finally unpack the sewing I did in Perth, I'll post some pics.  And in the interim, I collected this from the post office this morning, from here:

and this:

I can't wait to trim something!

Ciao!

There's nothing like a few days off...

to make you feel better... so I'm off visit my Ma & lovely Hank for the long weekend we didn't even know we were having (it's actually next weekend, where we live, but this weekend where they live)... we got nice cheap flights, and I'm very happy not to be going into the office until next week now...


And the good news is that I've managed to find myself another job, working for the same monolithic megacorporation... but *voice squeaking in excitement* in town!!!


I'm finishing at the arse-end of nowhere on Friday 11th, and will be starting my new job after the 'real' long weekend, so I have three weeks in a row with less than 5 days (and hopefully less than 50 hours) in it!


All so exciting.  Not quite as exciting as lovely Felicity's adventures in Broome, but still enough to make the tunnel, and its associated light, a little closer!


And in the meantime...

I'm thinking about these... some of my favourite colours... nice combos, very tempting... being strong.  For now.

Have a great weekend, back soon!

And now I'm really annoyed

So... for a while now at the August Institution that employs me, I have spent the nanosecond that is laughingly referred to as a "Lunch Break" by reading some blogs I follow, and some I don't .. it's a harmless way to waste a bit of time, and I have even, on the odd occasion, posted a note here from the office.  There's no harm in it, as far as I can see... however...


They have now blocked access to blogs, particularly those which are hosted by Typepad, Blogspot, Blogger, LiveJournal or MySpace.  OK, so I understand about the social networking sites, I really do.  But the blogs?  What possible harm can there be from reading about Felicity & her ongoing adventure in the Kimberley?  What damage can Sharon Lee & Steve Miller possibly do to a huge filthy rich multi-national August Institution?   I'm cross, gentle readers, very cross.


Of course, my cross-ness may have something to do with the 51 hours I worked there last week, but then again, perhaps not.  I might just be a cross person who's found something new to whinge about, but I don't think so.  I like to think I'm generally upbeat & cheerful, but I'll admit to being quite vocal if I'm unhappy about something.  I am not like a lot of Aussies who will suffer stoically, internalising all rage and taking it all out on the cat/dog/child/spouse/ colleagues/opposition leader/football referees.  Really.  No, really.


Anyway, on a happier note, these were waiting for me when I got home - I love to come home to a parcel of fabric on the doorstep!

And the second best thing about buying from Japan?  6 days turnaround.  Fabulous!  When I've made something gorgeous with this, I'll post some pictures.  Honest.

And now, gentle reader, I am going off to the Small But Perfectly Formed room to finish the pouches for my WMIL*.

And I have news, exciting news, but I can't tell you yet.  Although, given that where I work has blocked access to blogs, maybe I can**!

*Wonderful Mother-In-Law

**I'm moving to work in the City!  Shhhh!

Spending the day in your pyjamas is...

very enjoyable, actually.  Sunday, it was cold & rainy.  Fascinating details of my day follow, so you may want to tune out here & come back some other time...


I got up early (7.00am), had breakfast, read Saturday's paper, did a bit of pottering to clean up from Saturday night's dinner with Nephew (and friend), went back to bed & read a bit, then got up again & tidied the Small But Perfectly Formed room - there's a limit to the amount of mess I can stand, y'know?  I can live with it for a while, but then, BAM!  I have to clean up.  I bought a bunch of magazine boxes (what are those things actually called, anyway?) from Ikea a while ago & started to sift through the two large piles of magazines on the living room floor, I moved all the crap off my sewing table, I even shifted some fabric around to make room here and there for the accumulated Holiday treasure...


Then I sewed.  I made the previously discussed pouch for Miss Jerry, using this from here:

And this, from here:

with a co-ordinating blue zip, and blue ribbon, just to keep it from being too 'dark'.  She's only seven!

And then I took it to work for the lovely buyer, without taking any photos.  Oh well, you get the idea.

I also cut out two flat pouches from this, which I love:

 oh, now, see, blogger is doing that stupid thing again where it won't put the pictures in the middle.  I hate this. 

Anyway, I'm lining the pouches with this, from here:

, which, amazingly, is the exact colour of the turquoise on the linen.  Nice, huh?  Pictures, I promise. 

And now, gentle readers, because it is 2.57AM, and I have to be up at 5.30AM, I'm going back to bed, for another attempt at sleep.  Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye...