Gone, all gone

All my bits for Crafthope have gone, and I was very happy with the outcome of Sunday's efforts with the japanese linen & red spots:

The colour combo was just right, good size, zip went in beautifully... a slightly different experience to the original combo.  Obviously the god of sewing wasn't keeping her eye on the original pouch.


I have a bag of disasters, in the small but perfectly formed room, where I keep everything I've started to make but which has gone horribly wrong - I don't know why I keep them, they don't teach me anything except to perhaps be more careful... 


Other items of note in the Golightly Garden - the flowering gum is:

They're just like aliens, aren't they, waiting to burst forth from their pods... but very beautiful.

And the Crepe Myrtle, also flowering but on its last legs - it's been so pretty this year:

I was trying to be a bit artistic here and get right into the flower with my digital macro lens, but it was windy and do you think I could get the wind to stop blowing when I wanted it to?  Obviously the god of wind wasn't paying attention when she should have been either.  That's my excuse for the blur.

And we have a visitor in the garden - who is very welcome, even though I'm not that keen on them per se, and I don't like them in the house, I love seeing them in the garden because their job is to eat mosquitos, which means the mossies don't eat me, and that's got to be good!

And yesterday was my friend Deb's birthday... she's had a torrid few months, lately, what with one thing and another, so I've pushed the boat out a bit for her birthday - but still in keeping with the handmade vow, I got her this:

from the lovely DiTerra, in Minneapolis... and I didn't make her anything.  Is that good or bad?  Who knows!

Call me UnAustralian, but...

I'm beginning to wonder why we need to spend today waving the flag, wearing the flag & having the flag painted on us - the need for overt displays of patriotism always worries me as perhaps underlying something very ugly - like those cars displaying stickers saying "Australia, love us or leave us" - surely everybody has the right with disagree with aspects of the national character, or state of the nation, regardless of where you were born?


I love this piece of writing:


I confidently trust that the American people will prove themselves … too wise not to detect the false pride or the dangerous ambitions or the selfish schemes which so often hide themselves under that deceptive cry of mock patriotism:  "Our country, right or wrong!" They will not fail to recognize that our dignity, our free institutions and the peace and welfare of this and coming generations of Americans will be secure only as we cling to the watchword of true patriotism: "Our country—when right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right."  Carl Shurz, 1899.  


Interesting, isn't it, that some things do not appear to have changed in 100 years, and that the sentiments could apply to any country?


Ah, John Lennon had it so right... "Imagine there's no countries, it isn't hard to do, nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too..."*


Ah, dreams...

And then there were three...

All of the things I donated to Craft Hope have now sold!  And now, I have to make them!  It's a bit naughty to sell something that doesn't exist, but I'm thinking its only fraudulent if you don't intend to make them - I spent this morning making one of these:

But I couldn't find any more of that pink, red, blue & white stripe (any ideas where it came from?  Nope, me neither, I'm thinking maybe Spotlight?  Ooooh, scary!) so I used Sandi Henderson's Farmers Market in this:

Which looked surprisingly good, I must say.  I hope the generous purchaser likes it!


Then I had to make a box pouch, so I thought I'd go with the nice japanese linen with the green flower on it, lined with fantastic owls:

and I cut out and appliqued one of the owls onto the front, and then, when I was sewing it up, I realised I hadn't caught the end tab in properly, and when I tried to fix it, completely screwed it up.  So, from being 99% done, it was 99% screwed.  So I had to start again, from scratch.  And I said the big F word, really loud.  I'm sure I shocked Mr Golightly, who doesn't normally comment on my swearing, of which there is often quite a lot (but of course, only when really justified, (yeah right)...) but he did check if I was OK... kind of- he yelled from the study "did you break something?".  If I'd been lying on the floor stabbed through the heart with a pin it would have been too bad, eh?

Anyway, I've given the owls up as a bad job, and gone to this combo instead:

 , 

which I must admit I quite like... so I'm cut out, pellon bonded, zip inserted, top stitched & rearing to go.  Tomorrow...  

And christ, it was hot today.  We took the 'shut up the house' option & kept the doors & windows closed, until the southerly whipped through at about 4.30 - just enough to lower the temperature by 18C, thanks, and to make us rush outside to get in the remnants of the washing in from the big fat rain drops... which lasted just until we'd got the washing in!

Ah well.  At least it wasn't humid, hey?  We'll sleep tonight, whoo hoo.  Flanellette PJ's here we come!

Nice work...

Well, good news on the Craft Hope front... two of the three items I listed have sold, which is fantastic, and sold to buyers in the US.


Thank you, whoever you are, I hope our small contribution will help MSF do some good in Haiti...


And tonight, I'm going off to make the items I've sold!

One of these, and some of these:

And I'll be putting a post on my Facebook page - if you haven't popped over to see me, please do - I feel very 'underfriended'...


Ciao! 

Hunter Valley weekend...

So, we had our first visit to the Hunter Valley since Zeb.B.Dog went off to Doggie Heaven, and I have to say it was a bit hard... I kept looking for her every where I went, and of course, the house was lot quieter without her.  Poor Zoe Dog was also a shadow of her former self, off her food, drink, off her game, slinking around looking for Zeb everywhere she went...


Next time we're up there I will go & visit the spot where she's buried, but this time I couldn't face it.... give me a month or so.


In the interim, I made a couple of cushion covers for Kaz, who was looking to cheer up her living room a little.  I used up some of my nice Joel Dewberry Deer Valley from here:

and co-incidentally, I had a piece of Amy Butler Home Dec weight from here:

and the colours were amazingly in synch - needless to say Kaz was very happy with the cushions - and they were a nice easy birthday present - Happy Birthday Kaz!

Well, this is probably a better idea anyway...

 Given that I already donate on a regular basis of MSF (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders), I wanted to do a little more, in light of the horror that is going on in Haiti.


Anyway, I'm going to send a bunch of listings to this shop, which is doing a sterling job in raising money for Haiti by selling crafty things made by people like me... please consider making a purchase or a donation for those poor people.

Ch Ch Changes...

Well, this could be embarrassing... (how is it that focusing has one 's' and embarrassing has two?).  Oh yes, where was I?  Embarrassing.  I added a new widget to the bottom of my blog from a site called "BlogFrog" - with a name like that, how could I resist?  It's supposed to be a form of social networking for bloggers, which might be nice, for those of us who can't go to things like "BlogHer" (but, I have to say, why would you want to?  Isn't cybercontact enough, already?)  Ooops, I digress again... and of course it's supposed to show you when people have read your blog.  I could be sitting there waiting for the pot to boil for a long long time.  


No, I know there are a few hardy souls who read this drivel through thick & thin, which is encouraging...


Did you also note I'd changed the banner?  I think sometimes a new look is good, even though none of my gentle readers could tell me how to add a background to my blog... I found instructions, I read them, I tried, I really did.. but some things just elude me - it's like long division, algebra and programming in C++, you know, they just go in one end and out the other.   Mr Golightly was no help either, even though he's the compleat geek, he was too busy fixing his toilet.  That's a whole other story I'm not telling. 


Weather-wise, it was nice having a day of 40C/104F yesterday, because it reminds us all how lovely it is to have a day of 29C/84F.  I was out west yesterday, and ventured out only once, to buy lunch, then returned to the slightly overheated damp cave I work in... no wonder I feel a bit odd today.


Oh yes, did I mention?  I feel a bit odd today.  Sore throat, sore ears, glands are up, eyes feel very sticky, head feels very cotton-woolly.  It's 10.50AM & I'm still in my PJs.  Not at work, in case you were worried.  


And on the supplies side, these arrived yesterday:

And these:

I loved the red and blue so much I thought I'd give the turquoise and coral a burl - they are very nice, I must say.  What a talent that nice Mr Dewberry is.

And in other news just to hand, I've been invited by my lovely friend Fluid Pudding to join her Flickr Group "Tide Whiff Wise", which is another way of saying 2010 is "The Year During Which I Finish What I’ve Started (TYDWIFWIS).  As the proud owner of many UFO's*, I'm determined to finish the lace scarf I started for my lovely SIL** two (at least) years ago, before her birthday.  When is that, I hear you saying?  Oh, if you must know, it's in October.  But that doesn't mean it'll be done in time - I just can't knit in summer because it's too hot, we're away for all of April, May, June, July & August are prime sewing months because its cool, so it'll have to be September.  Don't expect to hear from me then!

And now, back to bed.  I've exhausted myself with all this typing and I need to rest.  I'm so precious :-)

*Un-Finished Object

**Sister-in-Law