Return from the Wild, Wild West

Welcome, Chullora, West Roxbury, San Francisco... just a quick question (and no pressure here, none at all, norsireebob)... if you're popping in to read, why aren't you signing up to follow, hmm?  Is it because you don't want anybody to know you were here, or to recognise your mugshot on the side?  Why do you think my photo looks like a frog, hmmmm?  Just wondering.  No, really!


Anyway, we're back, Gentle Readers, I have a little tan to show off, and a lot of spots.  Just before we went away, I was attacked (actually, that's too gentle a word.  It was more like they were stalking me & then they pounced...) by hordes of biting midgees, or midges, depending on which hemisphere you're in) - I have more than 50 bites all over my arms & legs, and for the first few days of the holidays, I was a red, itchy mess.  Then I was a red, pink and not so itchy mess, as my lovely Ma took pity on my state and slathered me with calamine lotion (praise the inventors!), and got some Polaramine down my throat.   Now all I have to do is resist the urge to scratch the healing bites so I don't end up with spotty scars.  It's hard being tarred with whatever it is they like - I was out with My Best Friend, the Kidlets and Mr Golightly, and I was the only one bitten.  Ho hum.


We had a lovely relaxing Christmas staying with the Very Lovely Hendersons, who were kind enough to take four almost complete strangers into their house, feed us, wash for us, cook and clean for us and not let us do anything at all, except provide the services of the resident Chef, who did what he does so well, which is effortlessly produce beautiful food.  Turkey, ham, pork, steak, crayfish, prawns... in addition to vegetables, salad, and sweets/puddings/desserts galore.  I think I've put on three kilos this week.  Easy.  I'm going to eat nothing but fruit for the next week, just to see if I can get rid of the spare tyre I've reacquired.  


So, what did we see?  Here's some piccies, but I will write more later, as the 3-hour time gap has finally caught up with me, it's 9.00pm by Perth time & so I need to go to bed.  I'm still itchy, you know.

Reminds me of...

After a fire

Mr Golightly appears to have lost something.  His mind, perhaps?

Ciao!

Louisville, Tennessee

Hello there Gentle Reader from Louisville, Tennessee!  Please let me know how you found the Journal Cover Tutorial, was it too hard, not detailed enough, boring, useless, what?


Today, Gentle Readers, Mr G is at home to callers.  Also, he's still asleep, as befits a gentleman of Advanced Years, (that is, 451 tomorrow), and taking up an inordinate amount of the bed.  When we were first coupled, we had a double bed (well, I had a double bed, he had a king-sized futon which I refused to sleep on - how bad are they for your back, hmmm?) and we survived about six months before I insisted on buying something bigger, and made him ditch the Futon.  I think we would have been divorced before we were even married if we'd stayed in that double.  He likes to sleep with his elbows out, and rolls into the middle a lot.  I joke quite often about my eighth of the bed, but it's not really a joke.  I frequently wake up right on the edge, with just enough of the covers to stop me from freezing to death in the night.  


Tonight we are staying here before flying out at 6.00am (shudder) tomorrow to Perth... It's going to be a long, long day.  They are three hours behind us, of course, and so we will be arriving at 11.00am for us, but it will only be 8.00am in the wild West.  I plan to be in bed by 8.30pm, after we've done everything we need to do, such as, collecting the seafood, shopping for forgotten Christmas treats, buying wrapping paper Just In Case, buying Christmas Cards for people we didn't think about before, you know.  The usual Christmas last minute panic.  Only difference for us is that it's a different shopping centre, which is why everything will take just that little bit longer - trying to find the shops you know about in your own shopping centre is one thing, but in a foreign shopping centre?  Phew.  


In other fascinating news, the Christmas tree I made for Miss Felicity, at All Toile and No Reward, finally arrived in Bahrain, about a month after I shipped it:

At least now she'll have something Christmassy in her Porno Flat.  More info?  You'll have to read for yourselves!


And finally, in the fascinating news department, I started making Conchita the Chicken from the 'Sew It, Stuff it' book that was amongst the birthday loot - it's huge, but it's going to look very cute.  I promise pictures will be posted when it's done.  Just because that may be next year doesn't mean it won't happen... honest.


And now, the smell of Mr G's vegemite and honey toast is making me very hungry, so I'm off, off to the glamour of the kitchen, and from there, we shall see what develops.   Sporadic posts follow, as time and festivities allow.  


I wish you, my Gentle Readers, a very Festive Yuletide, with peace and joy for all.   Ciao, Buon Natale, Ciao Ciao!

Sneak Peek

Well, here's the fruits of our labours - that's me, My Best Friend & the Kidlets.  We stuffed, stitched, punched, cut, knotted, stamped, wrote and argued, mostly about the pricing.  I admit I have no idea how much to charge for things - I always worry that they're overpriced, but then I remember Lois McMaster Bujold in 'A Civil Campaign', where Kareen Koudelka tells Ekaterin "don't undervalue your own work, there's plenty out there who'll do it for you - what they pay for, they'll value".  So, I've gone with more than I would have, say, three months ago, and we shall see.

Fingers crossed!  I will report back on Sunday night, if I'm still alive.


Ciao!

Ham, anyone?

Not to be too 'scroogely' about it, but this year we didn't inflate the tree.  We didn't spend money on a real tree, we didn't go to the shops & buy a fake one.  We didn't string tinsel or lights, or sparkly baubles.  I did put two holly leaves & a berry onto the leg of the froggie doorknocker, just to get into the spirit of the thing, and I made these


[insert picture here].


Damn, the pictures are still on the camera.  Which is at the Boxes.  Where we were on Boxes Day, and where we will be on Friday night to celebrate NYE, very quietly.  Our tradition, for at least the last five years, has been to spend the evening with Dr & Mrs Box, eating, drinking & playing something wild like Scrabble, or Monopoly, or even Anti-Monopoly, having a 'relatively' early night, then going out somewhere really nice for lunch the next day:

And so it shall be in 2010.


Also, I can't believe we're still eating ham.  And we weren't even the originators of the ham.  That privilege went to my lovely SIL, who certainly made the business requirement of 'supply too much ham at Christmas' achievable.


I got some lovely gifts, MWH* outdid himself this year, aided by the wonderful 'wish list' facilities at various online retailers.  This particular gift has been pilloried by friends and family alike, and I can't work out why - it's fantastic for people who travel a lot, and who don't want to drag phone and camera battery chargers around with them wherever they go:

And then there were the books:

  

All guaranteed to keep me busy for a while... but I have made a solemn vow that I am doing absolutely no sewing of any kind until I go through the small but perfectly formed room and find some things to put into the 'Destash Sale from Hell (IIBIHWID*) - the sight of piles of fabric on the floor of the SBPFR have made me realise that, sadly, it's not like the TARDIS, and I can't keep shoving fabric in it without it starting to bulge at the seams... so, the sale.

I'm only going to get rid of dress-making fabric, though, I have no desire to make clothes for myself anymore - I'd be happy to make stuff for the little kids though, although Miss A is now 12 & no longer interested in homemade anything - although she's not actually overt about it, she was quite happy that the pencil case I gave her for Christmas came from Kinokuniya, and not from my own fair hands... 

Master E, on the other hand, was quite happy to finally get his hands on these:

 

which is pretty good, considering he also had one of those new-fangled skateboards with only two wheels to occupy him for most of the day!

And now, gentle reader, the cricket has adjourned for tea, and I am off to make myself a ham-free lunch!

*If I believed in Hell, which I don't

I love this blog!

I stumbled across this blog entirely by accident, but I do love it - this guy finds the most amazing places that are part of New York but a part which is slowly disappearing - it's a city I've never visited, but would love to one day - maybe after the US gets a little less paranoid & stops finding would-be terrorists in every visitor - even the ones who are trying to get out...


I've had a really busy couple of weeks, with early Christless with my Ma & Lovely Hank (that's "christmas" for the religious, or "saturnalia", for the pagans amongst you), plenty of birthdays in November & December, orders from the UK & US, and an exciting invitation - MWH's sister's son's girlfriend's mother (got that?) in the UK is apparently opening a shop & liked the look of the pouch I made for her daughter for one of those late November birthdays... but which I completely forgot to take a photo of (d'oh!) so I can't impress the crap out of you with it... but I digress -she wanted to know if I'd be interested in putting some stock in her 'soon-to-be-opened' shop (seriously?) - all I need is the time to make some stuff!


I went to a 10 year old's birthday party (and MWH & I are still having the argument of the ethics of posting even a pixellated picture of the girls in their bathing suits here, so I haven't)...


and I made the birthday girl this pencil case for her birthday - Happy Birthday Nellie!

and we had the annual lunch with a bunch of ex-colleagues, at one of the nicest venues Sydney has on offer:

and we saw a bit of these guys:

This picture was taken by Adrian, age 4. He did a self-portrait, too:

Cute, huh?


I made something for my WMIL*, who has moved in to a new apartment & wanted a better way to keep the doors open than by stapling the cat to the floor. Ooops. That was my idea. These were hers:

Filled with washed sand, they weigh a ton. Which is, I suppose, the point! I love this fabric, too, which is Amy Butler's Wood Fern Silver, from here.


Oh, and here's the cat:

Is that an evil look or what?

pretty...

We had a lovely couple of days in the Hunter Valley, and all four seasons of weather were experienced at various times - hot, cold, wet, dry, windy, calm...


We ate hugely:

plus prawns, oysters, fabulous white wine, pannetone, mince pies, home-made stuffing for the turkey... and on Monday night, our friend Az made fantastic pizzas, which we cooked in his wood-fired oven - with slightly disastrous results for my Ma, who is still recovering from a nasty bout of bronchitis...


and we've been busy:

Back to work tomorrow for a rest!

It's getting closer

Doncha just love it when Christmas gives you an opportunity to make things you love but are 'too old' for? I just made some great christmas decorations for my friend Deb's kids, and my husband's niece & nephew, and I thought I'd make a Christmas Garland a la Allsorts blog - mine isn't quite as glamorous has hers, but it's going to be cute in the office, and in keeping with my 'handmade' pledge... can anybody tell me how to get the photos to wrap round the text? It's driving me nuts!

And now I'm off to make a doorstop; I just found a great pattern here & I'll post a picture when they're done - I'm making three - one for Nellie, one for me & one for my mother, who currently has a great big lump of 'coffee rock' keeping her sewing room door open. I'm sure we can make something more glamorous...