Ho rifinito

Yes, Gentle Readers, the bloody chair is finished.  And in the grand tradition of making somebody work on something until they are truly sick of it, we immediately had to start on the second attempt, putting all the knowledge we acquired on the first one to work.  God, who took the notes?  Not me.  I took a few crap photos as I went along:


How useless was this one?

Not quite as useless as this one:

Or this one:

or my personal favourite, where the only thing I've managed to focus on was Brad's bum:

peeking round the corner of the chair!

However, it all came out in the wash:  

and underneath:

All nice & tidy.  MGF Kaz has bought the chair from me, which is good, because I never want to see it again.


I started the next one today, using this:

which is surprisingly difficult to line up - the pattern repeat is a long way apart and the birdcage bottoms are not aligned, but I think I've got it now.  I'm up to putting the first of three lots of foam on the seat, and I'm confident I'll get it finished next Monday.  My respect for upholsterers rises to new levels.

The weekend in the Green and Pleasant Land was very relaxing... they haven't had any rain for three weeks, so things are not so Green, but it was still fabulously restful:

And in here, I spotted something:

What a little cutie, hey?

And now, Gentle Readers, I must away to the shower, coffee with MBF is calling, and the dishwasher needs emptying.  Can't do that in my pyjamas, can I?  Hah!

I must have been very good this year...

Because I got lots of lovely things for my birthday.  Mr G excelled himself and bought not one, not two, not three, not four, but five books!  And a necklace.  And two bunches of flowers.  Phew.  It's going to be a very busy christmas break, reading all of that lot.  Actually, I won't be reading number five, because it wasn't really a present, it was Mr Golightly's, and was just in there to round out the gifts & Mr G took it back immediately after I'd opened it.  He's a bit precious about Dr Who - there is of course a whole post in this, but that's for another day.


The necklace was of course the very beautiful pink coral & silver number I chose & paid for myself, but that doesn't distract, really.  No, really.


From My Best Friend and the Kidlets, I got a beautiful origami frog, from that wonderful shop in Mona Vale, Little Paper Lane, and my lovely Ma is saving hers up until we get there on Friday, when we're going to have a big combined present opening, because of course, Gentle Readers, in case we forgot, Friday is Mr Golightly's birthday.  Lucky chap.  


Other news:  Yesterday I  made a "Birthday Wishlist" Treasury, and included a cuff from Waterrose.  Her embroidered cuffs are exquisite, and I've been coveting (crash!) one of those for a while now... Rose has returned the favour by including my pink froggie, Petunia, in her Treasury.  And she sent me a nice note.  I wonder if that's part of the Treasury Etiquette I couldn't find out about on the Etsy website?  Hmmm.  


More other news:  Mr Golightly only has today to work, then he is off until the 6th of January, which is lovely, and we fly on Friday morning (at 6.00am, shudder) to the wild west to spend Christmas with My Lovely Ma and Hank, MGF Kaz & Az, the Hendy's and various animals:

So, for now, Gentle Readers, after my Frantic Friday, Swamped Saturday, Stunning Sunday and Manic Monday, I am going off to look into making an Owl, playing a little computer solitaire, and reading.  What a life, eh?

Ciao!

Sunday television is sh*t

Just thought I'd share that with you.  Mr G, having spent a busy day mowing the lawn for the first time in what looked like a decade, and then pruning the hedge between our eastern neighbour in preparation for a spring growth spurt, is sitting in his beanbag watching, simultaneously, the football score on his laptop, "Wipeout Australia" on the tv, and nibbling almonds whilst waiting for me to whip up a magnificent Sunday night repast of toasted sandwiches.  


I, on the other hand, have been extremely busy.  I went with my lovely wonderful MIL to the Mosman Town Hall today to an exhibition of embroidery, being held in Mosman Art Gallery, then we had a lovely fantastic lunch... then I came home and made these:

for lovely delightful Leanne at work... (note the lovely professional background?  It's the sewing machine cover - talk about classy)...

Edited to add:  I can't believe I used 'lovely' four times in two paragraphs.  Thanks, Baino, for pointing this out.  Woman, get thee to a Thesaurus!

Last week we were lucky enough to spend our long weekend in the freezing cold Hunter Valley - we went up on Friday night, and didn't come back until Monday night, because of course Monday last week was the August Bank Holiday - and Mr G & I both work in the Finance Sector, so we were both off!  

What'd we see?


Some interesting wildlife:

This guy stood there no more than 20 metres from us; he was at least 2 metres tall, and wasn't even slightly bothered by the dog.  He just watched us walk by, before walking (leaping?) off in his own time... 

A red-bellied black snake.  In freezing-cold August.  He, too, just sat there watching us, not bothered either.  Maybe the kangaroo & the snake were in league?

This was a kangaroo paw print.  Twice the size of my hand.  Maybe it belonged to the guy up the top?

These guys have just started their mating rituals, all twining necks and bobbing and weaving... looks like more swanlings on the way...

And a Sunday morning visitor, just a small one in comparison to the Saturday visitor - quite happily out the front of the house, nibbling away on the weeds... 

And how's this for a big tart?

Oh, pat me, please, pat me, pat me...