Gone to Gowings?

Well, not quite, but gone just the same.  The Really Stinky Lavender Bags, that is.  Sold. Dunno who too yet, because I haven't had an email from the conveners of the Etsy shop, but when I do find out (and I will, Gentle Readers, I will), you will be the second to know.


Anyway, I've sent off another listing to the lovely peeps running the shop, so there'll be another lot available in case you wanted some & missed out.  I haven't actually made them yet, but when I find out where & who, I will.  Following?


In other extremely exciting news, I have made the first 5/8 of the quilt top that's been languishing as a Layer Cake in the Small But Perfectly Formed Room since August 2010:

Part The Second is to turn it 90° on its head & do the slashing & sashing thing again, which I think will make it look really nice - and since I worked out that the foot with the little red lines on my sewing machine is an actual quarter inch, things are a lot more accurate.  Well, that and the fabulous new cutting out table Mr Golightly whipped up for me - did I mention this before, Gentle Readers?  

I'm 5'6"/168cm, but the dining table is just 4"/10cm too low for me to cut out on.  I get a sore back just looking at dropping the cutting board onto the table.  So, in a fit of the genius that reminds me why I love him, he cut out four 4" square feet, made brackets, and attached it all to a custom sized sheet of MDF.  Then, we attached the 24"X36"/940 X 640cm cutting board to the MDF with liquid nails, and there you are, Bob's your Uncle.  Best part?  The feet pop off so I can store it upright down the side of a storage unit in the SBPFR*.

Anyway, it's now super easy to cut WOF fabrics using a proper quilting ruler on a big cutting board, which was the downfall with the first version of this I made - I tried to cut it by eye, because I couldn't find a big enough space to do it properly.  I feel like a real quilter now.  L'Orrore!

You can also see that I was super careful to match up the blocks this time too:

That sashing isn't really bendy, it's just an optical illusion.  Honest.

What else?  My Best Friend and the Kidlets have returned from the damp North, with tales of food wastage and the intransigence of supermarkets.  Turn away now if you're prone to fits of righteous anger... This is the story - they wanted to buy two onions.  There were two loose rotting onions.  The only non-rotten onions were in a bag with one rotting onion also in it.  When they asked if they could open the bag & buy the non-rotting onions, the supermarket responded by throwing away the whole bag of onions, because one of them was rotten.  Too bad if that had been the last onion in the world.  

How did we get so tangled up in rules and regulations that we can't think "oh, there's a shortage of food items, there's some onions available in that bag, let's break it open & sell them off to people who only want one or two".  No, we have to throw the whole lot away, good onions and all.  Honestly.  It's enough to make you cry.  No pun intended.

And that's it for me, I think.  It's been a sticky day, but the sun is going down and the air has cooled sufficiently such that I think I might sleep tonight.  Yeehaw.  I hate Summer.  Did I ever mention that?

Ciao!

*Small But Perfectly Formed Room

And in other news of unparalleled excitement

I have sent off an item to the Australian Etsy Disaster Relief fund, so if you're feeling generous and have A$18.00 to spare, you can have 3 beautifully stinky jumbo lavender bags, posted free to anywhere in the world.


These be they:

Ribboned up & ready to go.  Come on now, don't be shy, it's a great cause!


If you can't find my item in the Disaster Relief Etsy shop, all profits from everything sold out of my shop in January & February are also going to this great cause - when you make a purchase, send me a note that you're buying something for the flood appeal, and I'll refund your postage.


Back to the sewing machine!


Ciao!

Lost something?

Dinner last night at the Dinger's.  White wine in fridge, cooling.  Beer in fridge, ditto.  Red wine on bench/counter, waiting to go into cooler bag, and then into car.


Get phone call, Mr G is on the ferry.  Put wine into bag, put beer into cooler bag, hit the road.  Collect Mr G.  Hit the Dinger's house (not literally, of course), seek out white wine.  No sign. Mr G helpfully says "Bottle was in bag when beer went to ice". Seek out white wine.  No sign.  Go to laundry room where soft drinks sit under ice. Seek out white wine.  No sign. 

Greet other friends, nibble, chat, drink Host's white wine (called, distressingly "Cock and Bull",  tasted OK but not my beautiful bottle of 2008 Chestnut Grove Verdelho).  Eat, drink somebody else's red wine, soft drink, chat, chat, chat, resume discussion of missing white wine.  Turns out Mr G only saw the red wine in the cooler bag.  

Betcha any money white wine is still in fridge!


Return home.  White wine in fridge.  Apologies issued all round.  Peace.


Ah, our life is soooo exciting.

Apparently

It's Friday today.  Not quite sure where that week went - My Best Friend comes back from Mackay, in Queensland, (pronounced mah-kai) tomorrow, They've had rain in Mackay but no flooding, thank the Goddess.  I've been popping by her house to collect mail, real and junk, from her mailbox, and I think part of my malaise this week has been because I've really missed her company - being on your own all day is no fun, really, even surrounded by boxes of fabric and great music.  


I've been distracted by the stories from the floods in Queensland - my heart just goes out to those poor people.  Such devastation - like Italy or Germany immediately after the end of the World War II - and because we've been asked not to send stuff, I have decided that any money I make from the shop during January and February will go to the Queensland Flood Relief Appeal, so now would be a good time to buy lavender bags, doorstops and Froggies, Gentle Readers, or anything else you want.


In other, more cheery, news, my lovely friend Auds, who is from Mumbai, has asked me to think about joining her on a trip to a wedding in Mumbai in mid-February, as she's not taking Mr Dingers or any of the (not-so) little Dingers'.  I must admit that I've been a bit inspired by the very lovely Flickety-Splits' photographs of India, and think that it's the opportunity of a lifetime, to go to India with somebody who was born there, knows it and loves it - much more interesting than a group tour, or wandering aimlessly with Mr Golightly, each saying "where do you want to go", and "I don't know, where do you want to go", as so often happens on our holidays...


Anyway, I can get a return fare to Mumbai for about $1300, and given that it appears I will be returning to the August Institution in March, I think I'll take advantage of the opportunity and go.  More info will be gathered tonight at dinner with the Dingers family... so stay tuned.


In crafty news, I have finished both pillow cases.  I got off my lardy-arse yesterday & whipped up the second one in about 10 minutes flat; isn't it strange how the first one of anything takes so long, but the second and subsequent items, exactly the same pattern, take a fraction of the time?


Anyway, here:

I was very happy with the way the zip flap turned out, next time I make a dress I'm going to use the sandwich method - very neat & tidy, no effort at all, but I did think afterwards that I probably should have put these in the back of the pillowcase, but I don't think anybody is going to poke their eyes out on this:

French seams throughout the pillowcase, no raw edges of any kind.  Nice job, Mrs G.


And for today, I think I'm going to indulge myself and make that Owl.  What a hoot!  (Ouch.)  


Ciao!

It's been a nothing day today

And that's what I've done, Gentle Readers, exactly nothing.  For the first time since I've been off, I've felt like doing nothing at all, but not in a good way.  I couldn't settle at the sewing machine, the three-quarters finished pillow case is yelling at me from inside the Small But Perfectly Formed room but I've walked passed with my eyes averted all day.


My former boss has passed my resume onto a potential new boss & I need to ring him about a job, my friend Auds has asked me to join her in her trip to India in February, I have a bagful of fabric from the Homewares store on the floor of the Small But Perfectly Formed Room which needs to be made into things, the washing is piling up, I promised Mr Golightly sausages to go with his ham and salad for dinner, and yet... blah.  I feel definitely apathetic about it all (and I didn't get the sausages, either).


Although, I did do one thing, and that was to dye the laundry room floor streaks of red - in early December, when we went to Perth, we had a small accident with a load of washing, and a black and white shirt.  We forgot the washing was in the machine, the black dye in the shirt ran onto everything else in the machine, so we bought some colour remover and very successfully removed all the unwanted dye from everything, but it also removed all the colour from my favourite coral-coloured t-shirt, which was reduced to a shadow of its former self except in coral-coloured blotches.  And it has sat, in my drawer, waiting for me to buy dye.  


Yesterday I bought a packet of Dylon Scarlet dye, thinking that it would cover up the coral-coloured blotches.  And it kind of did, but not really.  The dye did manage to spread itself all over the floor, the walls, the tumble-dryer, the window, the door handle... and I wiped it off the floor with paper towel, and it's left lovely pinky-red streaks all over the laundry room floor, which may wear off in time... maybe.

I washed the newly dyed t-shirt with a pair of Mr Golightly's trousers (navy, so it wouldn't show if it ran (and it didn't, but the pockets, facings and every other white part of those trousers are now pink), a green towel (still green) & two cream towels, which are now pink.   So now I have a coral-coloured splotchy t-shirt, which I think is destined for housework, instead of being my favourite going out in medium-good company-shirt.  Damn.  No wonder I'm down.


Meh.  Ciao.

I can't believe...

Gentle Readers, that I went to IKEA yesterday.  Mr Golightly's sister (who, in fact, I knew before Mr Golightly, and who actually introduced me to Mr Golightly, in a very roundabout way), had a day off yesterday, and together with Daughter/Niece Miss Milly-Melly-Mel, the beautiful blushing bride of last year, who is a teacher, and therefore on holidays, we traipsed out to Rhodes.  No, not the Greek island, but the suburb of Sydney which is in close proximity to my temporarily former office...


I got to Mr Golightly's sister's house at 10.09am, we picked up Miss Milly-Melly-Mel at 11.00 from her residence in Glebe and we were at Rhodes by 11.30am.  We did not leave until 5.00pm, and I arrived home at 7.09pm.  Phew.


And, I hear you wondering, why couldn't you believe you were going to IKEA?  Well, Gentle Readers, because I usually hate going - it's packed with people with no goal in mind, no lists, no idea - and a zillion screaming children.  Even though it's school holidays, and raining, yesterday was actually bearable.  We managed to avoid all those 'no idea' people by arriving at lunch time, waiting until 2.00pm to have our own lunch, and ducking out periodically for coffee.  Much more bearable.


And what, pray tell, I hear you asking, did I purchase?


Well, I had my eyes on a few big things:

But purchasing this would have required re-organisation of our whole living room, as it's currently configured to have the other sofa/couch/lounge at right angles on the RHS - so that wouldn't work - it would leave our guests sitting looking at the piano, rather than out at the garden, as you would want, particularly when it's looking so nice and green:

Looking North(ish)

All their other lounges have low backs, which I hate - I want to be able to put my head on the cushions when I lean back - and our house is not particularly modern in style - way too much clutter to be fashionable - so it needs to be 'cottage-y' without being twee - any suggestions?  I did look at the Moran range, and although the fabric on this one makes me want to roll on the floor foaming at the mouth, I did quite like the general shape and size, but I think I'd have to sell a kidney or two to get it and a matching two seater... maybe I should just have the old ones reupholstered & recushioned (again)?

I was also interested in TV stands, the perennial quest for a television stand that isn't completely f*ugly goes on and on - they're all either too modern or too chunky - and I think I'm going to have to give in & pay somebody to make me one.  

In other fascinating news, I bought a square wastepaper basket to store my christmas/birthday/gift wrapping paper, as per Chez Larsson, a new washing-up brush (see, told you it was fascinating), 12 tumblers (six medium size, six large) (at a huge $6.99 for a pack of six, that's $1.00 per glass, people), two packs of square cork mats (those are invaluable for protecting the Jarrah bench in the kitchen, which Mr G gets all thingy about, a water bottle so I can put cold water in the fridge, and finally, a 35c carrier bag.  It's huge and perfect for the sewing room rubbish.

My trusty companions purchased things along the same lines, but Mr Golightly's sister came across a bargain in the 'As-Is' section - an Expedit four section shelving unit for a bargain price, which, because I had my handy-dandy tape measure with me, we figured out we could get in the car & take home - and to loud and increasingly annoyed cries of "you won't be able to shut the boot" from both companions, I closed the boot on it quite happily, leaving Sister-in-law and Niece standing open-mouthed in awe of my spatial acuity.   Ah, sometimes it's good to be King.

Ciao!

More Urban Jungle... (it's a spider, so look away now)

This morning we had a visitor:

That's Mr G's hand, right there (safely on the other side of the screen).  She was pretty big, I have to say...

but she looked to me like she'd just shed her skin & was still hardening up... 

In other nature related news, the sole remaining palm in our back garden does what it does so well, which is self-clean, bringing down a few plants, tealight holders and pots in the process with a huge crash in the night... we think the possums were actually to blame, because they've been going nuts in our backyard over the Lillipillies, which are seriously in fruit, and I think they got a bit carried away & pushed this out of the tree:

The tree is at least 10 metres high.  No wonder the crash got us out of bed!

And the fruiting Lillipillies, I hear you say?

Apparently the early settlers used these to make Jam & they are quite safe for humans to eat... if you can beat the possums to it!

That's it f53kHVmCYQDDc2lMaX_zKCQMVjMxJHN8O6amp; have breakfast (it's 11.38am), iron that beautiful red French fabric and make pillow cases.  More, later.  Enjoy your day!

Ciao!