Feelin' groovy....

Well, not quite. I still haven't quite recovered from my [apparently] jetlag induced lethargy from my lightning trip to Melbourne last Friday - Melbourne, Melbourne, I love Melbourne. It's the closest thing to Europe we have here in this country, and I love it. I love the lanes, the fact that a person of the female gender, on their own, can go out for a nice meal, get a good table at the front of the restaurant where she can see the nice man playing the guitar, watch the nice people having their passeggiata, eat nice food and drink nice wine, and nobody bats an eyelid. Nobody hits on her, nobody bothers her, except the waiter to make sure she's got everything she needs, including the salad that wasn't on the menu but which they made specially for her... I love it. I left a fairly hefty tip, trust me.

I also did a spot of shopping whilst I was there, I gave in to my apparently re-growing devotion to all things red, and bought a nice light linen jacket with a very groovy shawl collar and three-quarter length sleeves, some seemingly randomly placed pieces of cotton twill tape for funk, and a thing at the back I can't think of the name of, that we last saw on safari suits and tweed jackets. Leave it with me, I'll dig out both editions of the my Fairchild's Dictionary of Fashion and look it up, or better yet, I'll ask my mother.

Her grandfather was a Master Tailor, and she'll know, because she knows all kinds of useful stuff like that. I saw a lounge suite (boy how old does that make me sound) at a garage sale once covered in some weird looking fabric which was part flat and part raised, in patterns, with the raised bit being made up of tiny weeny loops... she knew instantly I described it to her that it was called 'moquette'. Amazing. Even more amazing, she knew exactly what colour it was. Yucky olive green. Psychic powers or what?

I nearly succumbed to another red handbag, too, this morning - how many is too many? I already own five, four from Italy (Venice 1, Florence 1, Volterra 1, Rome 1) & one I got in the MLC Centre in Sydney, from the nice shoeshop man who is closing down very very soon - this newest one was very groovy, square, with links and a bar clasp going across the bag as the closure - it was also reversible, with camel coloured suede on the inside.. it was very nice, but my conscience stopped me... sadly.

In case you were going to say "Five handbags isn't many", That's five red ones. I own a bundle more than five... I was going to list them all but decided that probably isn't a good idea. I don't them trundling the guillotine into my front yard just yet, thanks.

Anyway, my wonderful mother-in-law (henceforth known as WMIL) has asked me to make 8 small pouches to give to her tapestry group for easter - she's going to fill them with eggs & a tiny chicken [toy], and then they can use them for whatever... and I've already made two, plus the two I made today trying to get the sizes right. These two are going up to Etsy for sale... if everybody isn't already pouched out. I sold my third Miss Muffett to a lady in Mexico, and there's only the orange one left. Didn't really think I'd sell that, but hey, it was worth a try. I'm delighted that I even had the opportunity to help the bushfire appeal by selling the ones I did. Anyway, pictures upcoming, and so, to bed. I can hardly keep my eyes open, which is, hopefully, a good sign!

Night night!

Another one bites the dust...

Does anybody except me see a theme here? Oh well, never mind. I sold what I privately considered to be the nicest of the jewellery pouches today, to a lovely woman in Grose Wold. That's in NSW, Australia, rather than some 'other worlde- sci-fi' place. Sounds great, doesn't it? I'm going to look it up in a minute so I can pay homage to it (and my very generous buyer) just like I did for Conyers.

Anyway, picture attached, then off to bed. My goal here is to get to bed tonight before 11.00pm, the day starts at 6.30am & it's way way too long to be still trying to write coherently at 10:42pm.

However, a small rant, before I go: If I said to you "we are going to be doing away with a surplus of something, and here is the document which deals with the disposition", would you know I didn't mean "as in 'sunny'"??? Sometimes I despair of my colleagues. I'm going to buy a thesaurus for the office (oh, sorry, that's a big book full of hard words, for the benefit of the overpaid professionals with the vocabularies of 7 year olds, with whom I work...) & see if having a "hard word of the week" helps out. Rant over. Although, she says, not being able to contain herself even that much, did you notice how I couldn't help myself & had to work hard not to end that sentence with a preposition, did ya, did ya, huh, huh? Man. Go to BED!

Bed, sleep, dream, snore, bed, bed...

A big thank you to Conyers, Georgia!

Where the hell is Conyers, Georgia, anyway? I had to go & look it up, and now I know. It's in the north-west of Georgia, near Atlanta. And why, I hear you ask yourself, do we need to know where it is? Because Elizabeth D from Conyers, Georgia bought the toilette bag I donated to the Bushfire Appeal shop on Etsy , and I posted it off to her this morning. I love the idea that somebody halfway across the world can buy something I made (and for a good cause too, that's the best bit!)... I have to confess that I sent out some "good cause spam", something I would otherwise never do, to all the people in my Contacts list I consider approachable, and also to some of my Etsy suppliers, asking for a little "pay it forward", I s'pose, by way of "I have a listing, it's a good cause, go & look" kind of thing.

Interestingly it appears to have worked, albeit on a bigger scale than I was imagining. My friend Kaz, who lives in the beautiful Hunter Valley bought four, yep, four things, although two of them were already destined for her house anyway. The other two were a bit of a surprise, so my gallant efforts to fight off the Jetlag Lethargy that gripped me on Saturday, by sewing madly were nearly all for naught. Well, kind of. The whole point is for people to buy what you've made, so stop whining.

Anyway, I had made Bruce the Twin Bro', to go with the beautiful Blue Boy I made a couple of weeks ago, and a couple of other nice pouches apart from the ones already going to the Baptist Ladies Auxiliary Sewing Circle & House of Good Work, or whatever it's called, and poof! All gone. So I set to & made a gorgeous box pouch using some of that lovely Sandi Henderson Ginger Blossom range - and poof! Again! Sold to my good friend Mary. Man, I need to give up IT & do this all the time. Really.

I also donated three of those Miss Muffett Pouches Mum & I made when she was here - I thought $8.00US was okay, they're all nicely made but not of particularly exciting fabrics, except for one. Unless you're a fan of orange, of course. Check em out here.

And the earrings arrived right at the front door - Angela left me a nice note to say thanks for the mention in my blog, but really, they are so gorgeous her shop deserve lots of advertising, and when the other niece has her birthday, I'm sure I'll be raving again!

Hope she wasn't put off by the spiders & things growing round our front door - MWH & I are firm believers in letting spiders do their thing, especially when it comes to eating mosquitoes... except when the Mummy Huntsman comes into the house & lays her babies in our pantry/laundry room. Then they're all over the ceiling, in the sink, on the ironing board, in the pantry... man. They're tiny though, about half the size of your little fingernail, and spidery. Of course, there's nothing (much) for them to eat in our house, so they're all going to die... I don't know why she does it, this is the third time she's come inside to have her babies. First time was one NYE when we were having people over to stay the night & I had to run around like a crazy woman with the vacuum cleaner trying to suck them all of the ceiling... then it was my bathroom, where I just left them to fall into the bath. I will just sweep these guys up as they fall prey to Nature... because who really knows what baby huntsmen eat?

And finally, it's my lovely friend Clare's birthday, check out her blog here. Happy BIrthday Clare!

All pouched up & ready to go...

So they're done, finished, packed, sealed & waiting to be posted. I must admit to some indolence yesterday, I bought MWH the first series of Stargate Atlantis as a Valentines present (after both swearing and declaring that neither of us would buy gifts, of course, Valentines Day being up there with Mothers, Fathers, Ugly Sister and The Pumpkin Coach Association Day as simply opportunities for 'Greetings Card Manufacturers' to make money...) and then promptly sat down to watch it myself.

It's good, I have to say. I like the idea that they have access to interstellar ships which will fit through the gate (I could never work out why SG-1 didn't just rock up on quad bikes, y'know?), so they aren't stuck on their little rock, but can also explore the surrounding galaxy. I like the fact that the person in charge is a woman. I like the fact that the woman in the team is kick-ass tough, and her hair is that amazing colour, Titian. I like the fact that Dr Rodney McKay is Canadian and doesn't feel obliged to say "zee pee em" but can say "zed", like the rest of us in the English speaking world. That's 'UK-English' or 'Australian-English', or, in his case, 'Canadian-English'.

I like the fact that either J P Rowling or the makers of Stargate Atlantis borrowed the bad guy's hair from each other - maybe Draco Malfoy was a wraith in another life? Hmmm.

Anyway, I spent an inordinate amount of time watching TV yesterday, which is not really something I do normally, but hey, it was cold, raining and I was jet-lagged. That trip from Melbourne can be a stinker, y'know? More on that later.

But, in between episodes, I made these two, and yes, I know I said I was going to use up that blue & white swiss cotton, but it's a bit, oh, I don't know, dull. So I went Amy Butler instead. No dull there, that's for sure. Also, I found these on Etsy, and promptly bought them for my niece's upcoming birthday. Check out Angela's store, she has beautiful work (and the best thing - she lives right round the corner from me. Small world, huh?).

I also sent an item to the Etsy Down Under Street Team for inclusion in their OzBushfireAppeal shop - if you have some spare cash, please check these guys out & purchase something - all shipping is free & all proceeds go to the Australian Red Cross's Bushfire Appeal.

How can we help?

I've been very reluctant to post these past few days because I usually try to ignore what's going on outside, in the big world, because most of it is so horrible. Sometimes, however, things happen that you can't ignore, no matter how self-absorbed or disinterested you are. This is one of those times.

I've already made a monetary donation, in keeping with the fact that we make enough money for me to feed my obsession with yarn-related products (spun or woven, I'm not fussy) and to give us a very comfortable life. But my lovely defacto step-sister-in-law (got that?) sent me a very prescient powerpoint the other day, full of comments like "isn't it amazing how we're so asset-rich but time-poor"... anyway, fitting squarely into that category means that every time I sit down at the sewing machine, I'm doing something important, because of all the other things I leave undone (like ironing, cleaning, darning ), for example. Does anybody darn anymore?.... So, making something for the Bushfire victims means that donation has a lot more worth than the money I've already given.

And, as is often the way, my mother was the source of this good idea - she belongs to a patchwork group, in a community group run by the Baptist Church, on the other side of the country. Now, Mum and I are both atheists of the completely sceptical kind, but I have a sneaking admiration for these ladies - they charge a fee to attend their group, classes, quilt show etc etc & the money raised goes to buy sewing machines for women in India who would otherwise be destitute, enabling these women to earn a living by sewing. I think that's the kind of work that anybody interested in practical help for the underprivileged would approve of.

So, these guys are putting some care packages together for the Bushfire victims, and Mum has asked me for a Toilette Bag, for her to fill with the really useful things you don't miss until you don't have them - nail file, nail clippers, little scissors, sewing thread, needles, that kind of thing. So I will be making two today, one from her & one from me, and I will be using these:

Weather thou goest...

Hot. Too hot. Too horrible to comment. Roll on July.

How do you go about your normal routine in the face of something like this? I was going to write a buzzy, chirpy page about all the sewing I did today on my new machine and I just can't do it, it's like singing "Nearer My God to Thee" as the boat goes down. Some stern words about people denying the effects of global warming on our planet are appropriate here, but that isn't going to bring back the people who've lost their lives down in Victoria.

Anyway, pictures of the day's work follow... hopefully the southerly tonight will bring some rain...

Guilty as charged...

That's better, the font-y thing appears to have restored itself to "normal" so somewhere along the line I must have run into the "Drink Me" label...

Anyway, I bought a new sewing machine today. Now, note well that there's nothing actually wrong with the other one I had, but I wanted a better one. I guess I was a bit jealous of my mother who has one of those (actually, she has 2 sewing machines, a quilting machine and an overlocker/serger all on the go at the same time, so there's absolutely no contest there [and don't even get me started on the custom-built sewing room in her yard]) fabulous whiz-bang ones that just start stitching when you put the material up to the presser foot... no pedal or anything. Whew.

Anyway, my Brother Super Ace III has served me well for 4 years (how time flies when you're having fun!) but I saw this one & thought aha! Also, the health fund which has been happily taking our money for the last 10 years has been bought by a competitor, and thanks to the rules surrounding mutual funds, a large cheque came my way last week. So, the planets were obviously aligned, and it was meant to be. Not that I believe in fate, or anything, you understand, but it did seem a bit propitious that the two things happened in the same phase of the moon... so today I went out in the heat, 34.5ºC, thanks for asking, up to the shopping centre which houses not one but two of the three haberdashery, fabric and yarn suppliers round where I live, (the other one being the fabulous Fenners, at Mona Vale, Hello Mr Fenner) to check it out.

My mother did recommend the Brother Quilters edition, but I have to say, I wasn't that taken with the very busy look of the thing - all the stitches were shown on the front of the machine in pink, and it did have a lot of them, and it made it look quite cluttered (who needs all that distraction, honestly? We're just trying to get our seams straight here...) and where the thread spool sits was under this really tacky looking opaque plastic pink cover - why, oh why, do manufacturers think they need to make things PINK to attract women. Sorry for shouting. It makes me so mad - "let's make it pink & the girlies will love it". Well, actually, they won't.

Anyway, I bought the Singer Quantum 9940, instead. Reasons to be cheerful, part 3:

1. It was $100 cheaper than the Brother.

2. It has a reasonably good-sized LCD display which allows you to adjust choose stitches, and adjust stitch width & length without having to slide or turn or jog or do anything much except press 1 button (allowing for excellent accuracy), and you can save words or phrases you use a lot (like "Handmade by Isabella Golightly").

3. It had a really plain front, with nothing but 3 buttons (needle up/down, reverse & slow speed) on the front, & all the rest controlled by the 'compass rose' next to the LED screen.

Reasons not to be so cheerful:

1. New bobbins. Why, oh why, can't manufacturers of technology agree on standard 'anything'? I also note phone chargers, memory cards for cameras and phones, and camera batteries as things which could be standardised without too much trouble, except that it would make less money for manufacturers.

2. Feet are mostly plastic, with some metal ones. I like the solidity of the Brother's feet, which, although they are the 'drop off the bottom' kind, are all metal. Plus I have yet to see if the Brother's feet will feet on the Singer. Anybody want to have a small wager with me? Prize: 3 lavender pyramids for the first respondant who correctly predicts if they will or won't...

3. I now have to find a new home for the Brother

4. I bought something I didn't really need.

Which of course brings us right back to conspicuous consumption. To assuage my guilt somewhat, I'm going to find a charity program with absolutely no religious affiliation and donate my other sewing machine to them. My lovely defacto step-sister in law (got that?) is going to take the Brother off my hands, I believe. What other sewing machine, I hear you say? Ah. Yes, well, up in the roof is a Bernette something or other, which I bought in 1994, just after the urge to create bit me. So this is actually my 4th sewing machine, just not all being used at the same time (see note about Mother, above). The first one I bought at a garage sale in 1993 when the urge first really bit me, for $60. It was very old, and the needles had to go in sideways, a fact I only discovered after I broke an entire packet trying to get it to work. I think I donated that one to charity, so the pattern has been set.

Now, after that little conscience clearing effort, I'm off to the sewing room. It's cooled down a bit now & I got some lovely fabric from here in the week, and I can feel a box pouch coming on. Oh yes, and I finished the DUST Craft Swap thingies, check 'em out! The theme was 'lurve' (did I mention the Barry White moment? Oh yes, I'm sure I did), hence the hearts, hand appliqued. Hope she likes em!