Sandflies, mosquitos and other minor irritants

So, Gentle Readers, last weekend we had some social stuff - I had to go & suffer through a free facial on Saturday, (oh, so difficult!), and on Sunday we all celebrated Miss Alex's birthday - she's a teenager now.  Her Aunty Cathy (Mr Golightly's sister) lives in Collaroy Plateau, just round the corner from where Mr Golightly and his sisters all grew up, and we rolled up on Sunday with my wonderful MIL in tow (always good for a quick getaway, bringing the MIL with you!)... but the sandflies!  OMG.  


I counted 15 bites on Sunday night, including one or two of which are the size of of a 50c piece - that's about 1 1/2 inches across, for those of you in other countries... they are so itchy that I was nearly driven out of my mind at School yesterday, combining itchy arms and legs with dust and hessian... not good.


Anyway, I stopped at the chemist/pharmacy yesterday on the way home & have been slathering cortisone cream all over myself, which, for the most part, has been quite effective , but... there is one on my wrist and one on my elbow which are huge, and are pressing on various nerves under the skin, making me ache.  Ow.  I want sympathy.  Although, I am sleeping better, because I'm taking two Polaramine before I go to bed, and they keep me out cold until about 3.30am, when I go to the loo, then go back to bed & sleep like the dead until 5.30am.  Bliss.

In other more cheerful news, my chair fabric arrived from here:

And this:

and this:

So I'm thinking that I should be able to make something fantastic out of these after the chair is done - maybe a cushion?

Upholstery school continues to delight me, and here for your edification is the progress on the child's chair:

Most of yesterday was spent wrestling with the calico at the corners at the bottom of the inside back, learning how to slice the fabric so you get a nice finish underneath.  Then we put the final fabric on the back, making nice pleats so it sits smoothly.

The we started building the seat - webbing (itchy!), hessian (itchier!), black plastic edging, foam, wadding, bigger foam... which is where I'm up to.  Thursday we're going to put the biggest layer of foam on the chair, which holds it all down, then the calico. then the fabric.  Then we do the border & border piping.  Then we do the back.  Then I have a drink! 

Anyway, more progress shots as we go along.


What else have I learnt so far?  Some people don't work well in teams - it wouldn't occur to some people to get off their arses and help out by doing things we need to do before we can go home, like sweeping the floor, cleaning off the benchtops, taking somebody else's tools to the storeroom, turning off the lights, fetching, carrying, ... Surprisingly, there's only one of these people, and interestingly, she's the youngest person on the course.  Co-incidence?  Hmmm.

Anyway, Gentle Readers, I am going to put my lovely new fabric into the washing machine, then hang out some of Mr Golightly's socks.  Such excitement.  Enjoy your day!

Ciao!

5.04pm Edited to say:  I can't believe nobody noticed I'd spelt 'sandflies' wrong.  Ouch!