Arrgh, get on with it!

Even though I am desperate to get the final tree finished today, I can't seem to get away from the computer.  I spent an inordinate amount of time uploading photos to my Flickr account today, into the Arches in Architecture group, because, as you know, Gentle Readers, I love a good Arch.  Check out the group.

Now, I'm fiddling around with Mozilla, Greasemonkey and Etsyhacks because I'm too lazy to recreate my fridge magnet listing for all the entries I want.  Everytime I go into the sewing room, another PC lightbulb comes on & I'm back in the study.  Arrrgh.

Anyway, good news that there's a re-finished Amy Butler tree for you to admire:

 And now I really must get on.  I'm expecting an influx of orders for Fridge Magnets and I need to get the gnomes working... or is it elves?  Back to that tree!


Ciao!

Life List - Thanks but I'll pass

1. Go to England with less than $1000 in my pocket when the exchange rate was $1:33p.
2. Have Gastric Flu.  Coming out both ends.  TMI?  You bet.
3. Spend 6 months unemployed in the Midlands, UK, in the 1980's, where unemployment was running at 28%.
4. Borrow money from a parent.
5. Find out my new chap was married to a woman called Sharon who lived in NZ.
6. Learn shorthand.
7. Go skiing.
8. Rupture my ACL skiing, hence #7.
9. Wait 2 years for an ACL reconstruction because I didn't have private health insurance.
10. ACL reconstruction.
11. Second operation to fix something they missed in #10.
12. Get married.  Have a wedding** 
13. Put on 3 stone (19kg) after #12.
14. Watch the arches in my feet collapse after #13.
15. Have the police knock at my door to tell me a parent had died.
16. Work as a Secretary.
17. Start anything new in a year ending in -9.  
18. Lose a friend to Breast Cancer.
19. Lose a friend to Lymphoma.
20. Lose a grandparent to Emphysema.
21. Lose a friend to AIDS.
22. Lose a friend to Suicide.
23. Go to a funeral.  Any funeral.
24. Take Mr Golightly shopping.
25. Lose a beloved parent-in-law to Alzheimer's.
26. Fart in the office.
27. Have an accident of the menstrual kind in the office.
28. Almost have an affair with a married man, in the office.
29. Be sexually harrassed by a crazy ex-footballer.
30. Move house.  22 previous addresses (that I can think of) is plenty, thanks.
31. Do data entry for a living.
32. Leave my camera in a taxi and never see it again, Olympics pics and all.
33. Live in Leicester, UK.
34. Work in a library.  It really is like "The Librarians".
35. Let myself be bullied.
36. Convince a doctor I didn't want children.  No, I really don't.
37. Share a one-room flat with anybody.
38. Live in a one-room flat with outside toilet & shower.  Those winter mornings really bit.
39. Fall off a motorbike at speed.
40. Be a passenger in a car which rolls.  Still got the dodgy shoulder from that one.
41. Shoot a sitting duck.  Shame on me (I was 16, does that ameloriate it a little?).
42. Shoot anything.
43. Drink too much white wine from a flagon.
44. Vomit said white wine all over the bathroom floor.
45. Cleaning up #44.
46. Drink cider.
47. Spend 9 weeks on crutches, courtesy of #11.
48. Spend 2 weeks in a caravan on 'holidays'.
49. Share a house with 3 unrelated blokes.  Can you imagine the soap?
50. Take a dog to the vet and come home alone, knowing you'll never see the dog again.
51. Have a neighbour steal your dog when she left her husband and 6 fox terriers behind.
52. Be poor.
53. Live in a foreign country with no support network & no friends.
54. Algebra.
55. Statistics.
56. Wait until I'm newly married before discovering the one thing I want to really do in life requires me to go & live in another city 300km away.
57. Spend November and February in England.  Freezing cold.
58. 
    
59.  

**Edit to clarify - Mr Golightly is perfectly safe, but I never want to go through all the stress, hassle & bad behaviour weddings seem to engender.

Welcome, Newest Gentle Reader

Did I mention, Remaining Gentle Readers, that I was happy to see a new Gentle Reader join your discerning ranks?  How nice it is to have your company, ArtyGal, and how inspired I was by your running blog (not quite inspired enough to get off my lardy arse & join in, but inspired nonetheless!) - I gave up running after item #14 on the Life List of Things I Never Want to Do Again, Nosireebob - running is way too hard with fallen arches & pronating feet, you just keep falling over.  

I used to enjoy it, when I was a teenager, out with the dog(s) every day (only one at a time, sadly, we had Honey first, and after her (hit by a car), Chocky (came to us because her family was temporarily living in a caravan park & couldn't keep her)... pictures?  Sure:

Taken in 1973.  See, I knew how to take pictures even then.  Joke.  Honest.

I'd love a dog now, but Mr G quite rightly says it isn't fair to be out of the house 12 hours a day & leave a dog on its own, but MGF Kaz is working on convincing him that two dogs (Remember that great joke, the punchline of which is "why do you ask, Two Dogs Fu**ing?") would be fine together (No?  Ask nicely, I'll tell you it privately)... he's not convinced.  Maybe I would be better to dedicate some Sundays to spending time with the waifs and strays at Monica's Doggie Rescue???

And back on a crafting note, I have finished the four small trees, and I did a few gussying-up thingys on the Amy Butler one which I will post at some point today.. I showed them to two separate yet equally biased audiences yesterday, and all audience members seemed to think they were just the ticket, so hopefully Kerry The Beautician will be equally pleased. I plan to do nothing more complex than a little sparkly beading on the Japanese balls, as it is glorious enough already... but as always, suggestions welcome.

And that, for now, is it.  I'll be back when the sun is up, and after a pleasant cup of coffee with My Best Friend this morning.  Enjoy your day!

Ciao! 

Is the server doing what it should today, hmmm?

Yes, indeedy.  Fridge magnets as promised.  I'm going to put some in the shop.  I was thinking 3 for $7.50Aus, but price suggestions welcome.  


Final christmas tree:

It's a bit plainer because that Amy Butler fabric is pretty much a decoration in itself.  This is  the back:

And this gorgeous Japanese cotton is going to be the biggie:

And this interesting coral print is going to be the back:

I think they look pretty good together:

What do you think?

Ciao!

Life List - Not today thank you...

1. Go to England with less than $1000 in my pocket when the exchange rate was $1:33p.
2. Have Gastric Flu.  Coming out both ends.  TMI?  You bet.
3. Spend 6 months unemployed in the Midlands, UK, in the 1980's, where unemployment was running at 28%.
4. Borrow money from a parent.
5. Find out my new chap was married to a woman called Sharon who lived in NZ.
6. Learn shorthand.
7. Go skiing.
8. Rupture my ACL skiing, hence #7.
9. Wait 2 years for an ACL reconstruction because I didn't have private health insurance.
10. ACL reconstruction.
11. Second operation to fix something they missed in #10.
12. Get married.  Have a wedding** 
13. Put on 3 stone (19kg) after #12.
14. Watch the arches in my feet collapse after #13.
15. Have the police knock at my door to tell me a parent had died.
16. Work as a Secretary.
17. Start anything new in a year ending in -9.  
18. Lose a friend to Breast Cancer.
19. Lose a friend to Lymphoma.
20. Lose a grandparent to Emphysema.
21. Lose a friend to AIDS.
22. Lose a friend to Suicide.
23. Go to a funeral.  Any funeral.
24. Take Mr Golightly shopping.
25. Lose a beloved parent-in-law to Alzheimer's.
26. Fart in the office.
27. Have an accident of the menstrual kind in the office.
28. Almost have an affair with a married man, in the office.
29. Be sexually harrassed by a crazy ex-footballer.
30. Move house.  22 previous addresses (that I can think of) is plenty, thanks.
31. Do data entry for a living.
32. Leave my camera in a taxi and never see it again, Olympics pics and all.
33. Live in Leicester, UK.
34. Work in a library.  It really is like "The Librarians".
35. Let myself be bullied.
36. Convince a doctor I didn't want children.  No, I really don't.
37. Share a one-room flat with anybody.
38. Live in a one-room flat with outside toilet & shower.  Those winter mornings really bit.
39. Fall off a motorbike at speed.
40. Be a passenger in a car which rolls.  Still got the dodgy shoulder from that one.
41. Shoot a sitting duck.  Shame on me (I was 16, does that ameloriate it a little?).
42. Shoot anything.
43. Drink too much white wine from a flagon.
44. Vomit said white wine all over the bathroom floor.
45. Cleaning up #44.
46. Drink cider.
47. 
    
48. 
    

**Edit to clarify - Mr Golightly is perfectly safe, but I never want to go through all the stress, hassle & bad behaviour weddings seem to engender.

Spiders are people too!

This is what’s happening in my mailbox right now.

You know, Increasing Gentle Readers, that although I have worked in IT for a number of years prior to my current sojourn, it was a particular form of IT, and not one that's particularly useful around blogs.  I keep trying to link to other people's posts and just end up with this link in my post, and nothing on their post.  What am I doing wrong here?  I know, I could read the online help.  Revelation.


Second revelation:  It's the international Year of Biodiversity, hence the link to the lovely Fluid Pudding's spider related blog post - if you were so inclined, you could visit here, and sign their petition to try & save the planet's remaining Whale population.  Of course, you might not be so inclined, but it's worth a try.  See, they are so too related.




Third revelation - I have discovered how to avoid chocolate - if I give Mr Golightly the bar of chocolate, and he asks me if I want some, it's very easy and painless to say "no thank you". if I have the bar of chocolate, I'll just sit and eat it till it's gone.  Genius.


Fourth revelation - I quite like making Christmas Trees, and here's the photos of the ongoing project:

then there's the fridge magnets, mine this time, not the kidlets:


Once the server stops playing silly buggers I will post the other tree & the fridge magnets... honest.

Life List - Nosireebob, never again...

1. Go to England with less than $1000 in my pocket when the exchange rate was $1:33p.
2. Have Gastric Flu.  Coming out both ends.  TMI?  You bet.
3. Spend 6 months unemployed in the Midlands, UK, in the 1980's, where unemployment was running at 28%.
4. Borrow money from a parent.
5. Find out my new chap was married to a woman called Sharon who lived in NZ.
6. Learn shorthand.
7. Go skiing.
8. Rupture my ACL skiing, hence #7.
9. Wait 2 years for an ACL reconstruction because I didn't have private health insurance.
10. ACL reconstruction.
11. Second operation to fix something they missed in #10.
12. Get married.  
13. Put on 3 stone (19kg) after #12.
14. Watch the arches in my feet collapse after #13.
15. Have the police knock at my door to tell me a parent had died.
16. Work as a Secretary.
17. Start anything new in a year ending in -9.  
18. Lose a friend to Breast Cancer.
19. Lose a friend to Lymphoma.
20. Lose a grandparent to Emphysema.
21. Lose a friend to AIDS.
22. Lose a friend to Suicide.
23. Go to a funeral.  Any funeral.
24. Take Mr Golightly shopping.
25. 
    

Oops, I did it again...

So, here we are again, 2.29am.  I swear it's not because I'm crawling off to bed every afternoon at 2.00pm for a nap, nosiree bob, that's not happening, even though I have desperately felt the need for the last few days - having this coldy/flu-y/sinus-y thing is making my sleep pretty damn patchy, that' s for sure.  Mr G keeps waking me up telling me I'm snoring, I keep dreaming the weirdest things and now, again, I have indigestion & am wide awake.  Personally, I blame last night's culinary marvel, which I preceded with half a bag of Red Rock Deli Sea Salt chippies (curse you, Red Rock Deli, curse you!)...


Anyway, I spent a very productive day yesterday contributing to global warming by drying sheets, towels & shirts in the tumble dryer, but made up for it by putting everything else on the racks to dry - I still didn't get any info from you, Remaining Gentle Readers, about our US cousins and their obsession with the tumble dryer.  I must admit to a modicum of disappointment, but hey, I'll live with it.  


I also made three (yep, not one, not two, but three!) Christmas trees for Kerry the Beautician, only one small one and the whopper to come, which I should be able to knock off on Wednesday, today being profitably spent having lunch in town with former colleagues, dragging Mr G to the bank to sort out exciting things like Life Insurance and Credit Cards, and travelling on the L90 bus.  Fun all round, really.


So, Remaining Gentle Readers, tomorrow (or even later today) I will post pictures of the Christmas Trees for your delectation and review.  I promise.


Now, however, I am going to update the List of Things I've Done and Never Want to Do Again.  See?  Being up at 2.43am does have some advantages.  Really!


Ciao!

New Life List Possibility

Suebob's Red Stapler: New Life List Possibility

You must read this. I'm going to do one of my own, realsoonnow. Mine will be endless. Yours?


Ok, so here we go - things I've done & don't ever want to do again, as at 25 October 2010.

1. Go to England with less than $1000 in my pocket when the exchange rate was $1:33p.
2. Have Gastric Flu.  Coming out both ends.  TMI?  You bet.
3. Spend 6 months unemployed in the Midlands, UK, in the 1980's, where unemployment was running at 28%.
4. Borrow money from a parent.
5. Find out my new chap was married to a woman called Sharon who lived in NZ.
6. Learn shorthand.
7. Go skiing.
8. Rupture my ACL skiing, hence #7.
9. Wait 2 years for an ACL reconstruction because I didn't have private health insurance.
10. ACL reconstruction.
11. Second operation to fix something they missed in #10.

That'll do for today.

Button it up, baby

I had a lovely day yesterday at My Best Friend's house, helping the kidlets with a school project - I cannot believe what they want 10 year olds to do these days - they have to come up with a product, write a marketing strategy, do a presentation to the board, design a logo, then make the products, cost and price them and them sell them at a profit... they're ten years old, forchrissakes.  Anyway, the Kidlets decided to make fridge magnets, using 1 7/8" buttons and some squares from my 5" stash - they had a lot of fun:

Then we had a bit of fun choosing a new collar for Elliot, and we had Mia to help us - 

Mia has a bit of a ribbon fetish... as do I!

I also found a new button supplier on Etsy, who has all the buttons I ever wanted, and who is here in Australia!  Yay!  I lurve being able to get things locally...

What else?  I bought a lovely book by Joel Dewberry, "Sewn Spaces", which had a lovely birdy pattern in it, and hooray!, you can sell them items made from the patterns!!  I'm going to make some birds & see how they go in the shop - maybe a set on ribbon?  We'll see.  I've got to finish the Christmas trees for Kerry first, but progress is being made - but not today - I'm feeling a bit crap today so I spent most of the day as a horizontal zombie - so nice!

You're doing what???

Yes, Remaining Gentle Readers, I am up at 3.09am blogging, but as usual, there are sound reasons for this (you know I can justify just about anything, don't you?)... I've had a very sore throat since returning from Bali, probably thanks to the four-year-old screamer on the plane who kept everybody else from sleeping - poor little mite, his cough sounded like he could do with cutting down to 60 a day, no, really -  so I trotted off to the Doctor today, and have been dosed up with antibiotics and antihistamines.  In addition to the hayfever and sinusitis, I have something called 'glue ear', which my lovely Ma tells me is what little kids get, and yes, I am too old to have grommets.


Apparently.


Anyway, these antibiotics have some interesting side-effects, one of which is the inducement (is that a word?) of heartburn.  I've done heartburn.  I don't want to do it anymore.  I spent months taking Nexium, sleeping upright, not eating after 7.30pm (very boring if you want to go out for dinner & have more than one course!), keeping the pack of chewable quickeze by the bed, in the handbag, in the desk drawer, and I don't want to do it any more.  Did I just say that?  Oh.  Well, it is 3.14am.


The other factor could well be that I made an amazing thing for dinner (and note the date and time, Remaining Gentle Readers, because I am going to talk about cooking here), with sausages, sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn and a jar of Butter Chicken sauce.  The rest I leave to your imagination, but suffice it to say, I ate too much of this culinary marvel, and the combination of greed and antibiotics has me up at 3.16am.


I have spent some quality time this morning reading other blogs, including the lovely FlickettySplits, who is now in Bahrain, working on her jetlag and in training for the Bahrain Marathon, the end result of which will be me being mentioned in her will, and the arrival of lots of fabric on her demise, which we both think will be part way through afore-mentioned Bahrain Marathon.  


What else is there for me to tell you?  I am working on some stuffed christmas trees for the lovely Kerry, who is my beautician, to put in her window (and I mean 'stuffed with fibrefill, not 'rooted'*), and the lovely lady who runs one of the nicer homewares shops in our small town has said she will look at my handmade wares (once I  get over being sick) with a view to selling them in her shop.


What's driving this?  When we went to the Southern Highlands we saw a rather nice shop selling some nifty things, but the prices were unbelievable - a doorstop for $80.  Matryoshka dollies stuffed* with fibrefill and with a bell inside, for $21 (each) and felt badges for $25.  Now, Remaining Gentle Readers, I know what you're thinking.  If they're in a  shop, they must be good, right?  This comes right back to the argument about handmade funky versus mass-produced funky, and the reasoning behind paying exorbitant amounts of money for funky stuff if it's in a shop versus on, say, Etsy, or MadeIt, or some other online store.  


Anyway, I figure if somebody can stuff* a Matryoshka doll with fibrefill & a bell & sell it for $21, I can sell a set of three dollies stuffed* with lavender for $15.  So, all you readers with money and more sense, go to my shop and buy from me.  It's much better value!  

Now.  It's 3.32am.  I am going to attempt to return to my bed and sleep.  If I seem a little tetchy next time, you'll know why!


*stuffed - insert filling
*rooted - had the dick
*had the dick - had the bomb
*had the bomb - knackered
*knackered - bought the farm

What else, huh? Huh?

Well, we went to the Duck Carving village, where we saw men carving ducks, and to the Silver Village, where we saw men polishing silver, and we went to the Volcano, where we didn't see men carving a volcano, but we did see this:

and I focussed in a little bit on that hut over on the left hand side & came up with this:

Kind of puts it all in perspective, doesn't it?

And we stopped at an amazing temple, where we all had to don Sarongs.  I must admit I'm a bit fond of this picture, and may stoop to blackmailing the people in it:

And we saw amazing carving and painting:

And some rather beautiful waterworks:

and some nice aquatic plant life:

So peaceful!

Where have you been, my blue-eyed son?

Well, to be honest, Remaining Gentle Readers, I never really wanted to go to Bali.  Did I mention that in a previous brain dump?  Perhaps I did.  No matter.  I had heard plenty plenty bad things about the Ugly Australians who go, get drunk, do Bad Things, make a Bad Name for our country, you know, yadda, yadda.


Ahem.  My first indication that it was another world should have been when we arrived at the hotel via a taksi from the Airport.  Instead of having to stand in line and wait, they whisked our luggage away from us, made us sit down, gave us cold towels smelling ever so slightly of sandlewood, and put a cold drink in front of us.  I was in love, right there & then.  I got to fill in the registration form sitting down on the lounge in front of the Koi pond, then we were whisked to our room, shown all the lovely features and left alone.  Tip optional.

Breakfast was included, and in the morning, after a good sleep in the king-sized bed, Mr G and I wandered down to breakfast and enjoyed nasi goreng (well, I did) and chicken-something... Mr G had the most anemic looking sausages I'd ever seen (chicken, apparently), before being joined by my lovely Ma & Hank.  Whoosh, into a taksi, and off to Carrefore, which is the biggest supermarket I've ever seen, sort of a combined Woolies and Big W, where you could buy everything from a pushbike to washing powder, a fridge to mens socks.


Back to the restaurant for lunch, joined by the other two partners in crime, and the six of us ate like kings for not very much money, before being collected by Wayang, our driver for the duration.

Wayang spoke excellent English, had a wicked sense of humour and apparently endless patience, and he had us out of the Denpasar traffic and noise molto rapidamente.

It was kind of weird going up into Ubud, as the suburbs never really die away, all along the route from Denpasar to Ubud there are little roadside shops and stands, people doing business, waiting for business, hoping for business... then... whoosh.  Nothing but the village, and little roads with sharp turns, and then a sign "very nice house for sale", and the villa, a completely private, self-contained universe but with an excellent view of the local activity and colour, including this man who was herding his ducks through the rice paddies.

Quack!

Introducing Elliot Casper...

Mr Elliot Casper R* has been delivered, both physically and metaphorically.  I believe his new owner was delighted, both with her colour choices and the outcome, which I think was pretty spiffy; small problem in that I got his eyes every so slightly out of alignment, but hey, there are no straight lines in nature!

So, here is Miss Nelly with Elliot Casper (and we had to have a secret ballot to determine his name) - I thought Felix and Gilbert were pretty spiffy but it became clear quite early that, true Sagittarian that she is, although she asked for opinions as to the name of this pooch, and quite a hilarious time was had flicking through the baby book, she had already made up her mind and was not going to be moved from Elliot, but she did compromise in the best Sagittarian fashion by allowing the unexpected introduction of a middle name.
   

Now all we have to do is make him a collar & he's done.  The nose, in case you're interested, was a 10-year-old's stroke of genius (no pun intended), it's made of flannelette, and is extremely touchable.


Also, yesterday I lent a neighbourly hand to My Best Friend (aka Mother of the Kidlets) who cracked a bone in her spine, get this, when she was in the wheely bin, tamping down the garden weeds.  The bin toppled over with her in it, and she landed on her back.  Lucky she wasn't crippled, if you ask me.  Anyway, much pushing of trolleys, nipping in and out of shops and consuming of lunch was done yesterday whilst the Kidlets had some fatherly interaction, and then I nipped home to check on the Weeding Wonder and her progress.  OMG.  The garden looks amazingly messy, but it's because all the Trad is now in piles throughout the garden, along with various other piles of things she's collected, which need to GO.  

After that, I made a pouch, based on this pattern, but which I have amended slightly to make it a bit easier - I do like the way she's cut the corners out before sewing up the seams, but if you want to vary the corner sizes, of course you need to do your calculating beforehand & it's not as accurate as the original method but it is probably quicker.  Probably.


Anyway, these are gifts, one for my lovely Ma, and the other for Tonee, who is coming to Bali with us, on Monday.  

And that's it for me, for now.  If I get a chance, Remaining Gentle Readers, I will post from Bali, but no promises.  I fully expect to be working on my tan *snort* and drinking G&T by the infinity-edged pool, rather than burning up the bloglines.  See you soon!


Ciao!

Woof!

He's here!

Delivery date is Friday.  I don't want to spoil the surprise in case the lucky owner happens to read this (unlikely, she's 10 & has no internet access on her PC) but I feel I should wait until he's been handed over before doing the big reveal.


Today, Remaining Gentle Readers, news from the West is good, with a positive outcome from the latest visit to Specialists, so I'm a bit happier.  Also, Mr Golightly & I are jetting off to Bali on Sunday, where we've never been, for some quality time with lovely Ma & Hank, and we're staying here, which should be amazing.  I intend to return with the tackiest souvenirs I can find, for distribution amongst family members and friends, so if you're one of those & you're reading this, watch out.


Today I will also go to the post office & post off the frogs I made for Alix & Claude's wedding, which was rather a long time ago now, but they're going to double as a birthday present for Alix, which I know is rather cheating, but hey, they're handmade, so all should be forgiven.  I'll include some nice smelly things too, to make up for it.


I'm also going to be knitting frantically to finish the scarf I'm making for my friend Gill, in Brighton; her birthday was in September but that kind of came & went - I was only knitting on the bus, but of course that's gone by-the-by now, so I'm busily inflicting tennis elbow on myself by knitting at night, during the lunch break, anytime really.  Ouch.


I also spotted this on Tuesday morning:

Rather gorgeous, with all the sun on him. Sadly the web didn't survive the arrival of the Weeding Lady, who used his home to shift all the weeds - she did an amazing job removing all the Trad (Tradescantia albiflora) [also known by a rather pejorative name which I won't repeat here] from the garden, and is coming back on Friday to do the same with the other weeds - I love having a garden, but I'm not a gardener.  It's a bit obvious, really, when you see the weeds! 

That's it for now.  I am going to get dressed & wash up, and then go & work on the Sydney Pies.  Yum!

Ciao!

Cassettes... want some?

Way, way back in the 1970's & 1980's, probably before most of you were born, Remaining Gentle Readers, I had a nice boyfriend (not Mr Golightly, I should add), who was a bit of a music buff (and still is, I should also add) (hereafter referred to as My First Boyfriend).  He was fanatical about his vinyl (I had to check how to spell that, would you believe?), and would often play a record only once, in order to do what we now call 'ripping', which in those days meant creating a cassette tape.  A 90 minute tape would usually do an Album (aka 'A record'), one side per.  

He made lots of cassettes, and of course as I was also a music fan (and still am), made me lots too.  This is well before the days when you could rip your music to a hard disk, store it indefinitely, play it back from your PC, your DVD player, your iPod, your iPad, your MP3 player, your phone... so a cassette player was needed.  Everybody had one in their cars, in their houses, we all had Walkman's when they came out, some people even had recording Walkman's.  Phew.  


In addition to the ones he made for me (which I'm sure was all highly illegal and probably still is), there's a bunch of tapes I bought myself, but never listen to anymore, even though we have a functioning cassette player.  So when I said the other day I had to nerd, what I was doing was trying to convert the files from Cassette to MP3, using this excellent tutorial from YouTube... but the sound quality was terrible.  

So, apart from the five or so pre-recorded ones I haven't been able to source replacements for via the Interweb, I've got a box full of recordings by My First Boyfriend that I can't bear to part with, and a couple of pre-recorded ones that are the same - I opened my Boz Scaggs 'Silk Degrees' tape today to find I had written '16th Birthday present from Dad, 20 December 1977' in it.  Couldn't throw that away, now could I?  The rest?  Toast.  Honestly, who wants 'em?  If you can think of anybody who does, let me know, the usual way.  I'm sure we can arrange something!

Sewing-wise, I'm making another pooch - this one is for Miss Nelly, after she helped me stuff the black & white one, I think she fancied one herself, so a green monster is being created - with these fabrics:

For the face:

Inside the ears, the green dots:

Hard to find a picture elsewhere on the net of this particular fabric, it seems not to have been as popular as the pink version, but I love it.

Body is a really nice turquoise, purple & olive-y green spot, ear fronts are a striking orange, blue & green diamond on a brown background. Underneath is green, featuring spots in red, blue, yellow, grey & green triangles, circles, rectangles & squares. All the shades of green are different and I love it! He's going to look fantastic!


Here's proof - this guy was made with a bunch of unrelated fabrics and he turned out alright!

OK. Gotta go now, Mr Golightly (aka The Provider of Bed and Board) will be home soon & I want to be knee deep in scrubbing something. Just in case he thinks I've done nothing else except blog all day! Ciao!

Eat your heart out, Tiny Tim

Well, Remaining Gentle Readers, I'm a bit bemused by the numbers of Gentle Readers popping in and out... 20, 21, 20... it's a bit difficult for poor little me, trying to keep track of who's in, who's out, who's up who & who's on top, as they say down here...


However, enough of that.  We popped down to Bowral yesterday, to check out the beautiful tulips, and it was the 50th anniversary of Tulip Time, so well worth seeing.

Magnificent!  Also, we found a new shop, whose name I will not mention here, where they were selling one, yes, one, Russian Doll softie, with a bell in it, stuffed with fibre-fill, for $21.00.  I need to put my prices up, honestly.


More later, gotta nerd now!  Ciao!