CravE

Spring

2011-09-21T20:42:00.004+10:00

It's defo here! We've got spinach, celery, herbs of all kinds (except the lemongrass that got hit by the frost), tomatoes, garlic, cauli's, rocket and lettuce all either producing edibles at the mo or just sprouting like crazy. And then the plum, apricot, and nectarine trees are all blossoming and getting ready to give us buckets of fruit around Xmas time. Hope we don't get hit by too much rain again this year. Most of the fruit rotted on the tree before we could get to it last year.

And I'm sewing springy things as well. Not just for the shop either - doing something of my own at the moment. A wallhanging for a friend, starting with a patchworked background:

A serious reader

2011-08-17T20:31:00.003+10:00

Hubby: What book will it be this evening? Peppa Pig?
Child: No.
Hubby: Maisy Mouse?
Child: No.
Hubby: Mickey Mouse?
Child: No.
Hubby: *sigh* War and Peace?
Child: I want War and Peace!
Hubby: Yuh...

A new thing

2011-07-27T21:07:00.002+10:00

Hello everyone!
I know it's been a while since I've written but I have been so busy with the shop.

Teapot & Snail has been on Etsy for a while now but I was thinking there is so much going on behind the scenes that you don't see on the shop - I just had to share it in a blog - so I've started one up over at http://teapotandsnail.blogspot.com/.

I've been coming across so many gorgeous new fabrics in my quest for something to inspire the latest pattern, and here are some of the latest cuties:

I'm totally loving the Japanese fabric house Kokka's Echino collection and the two you see above are Viewfinders and Sunglasses, which I used to design a super-huge beach/travel tote, the Overflow bag:

It's already been really popular - kind of a surprise really, but I think a lot of people have been looking for something really enormous! There are a lot of patterns for cute small bags or big ugly bags, but I thought why can't we have big and cute in the one bag?! Check it out: http://www.etsy.com/listing/73726047/overflow-bag-pdf-sewing-pattern

Mama's new baby

2010-12-18T17:35:00.002+11:00

Love you, baby. Can't wait to see you on Xmas Day. xxx

Latest FO

2010-06-27T16:51:00.003+10:00

Geez, I haven't written since January. That's terrible. I've been busy though. I've been trying really hard to find time in between running after a crazy toddler to make things for the shop. It's all about patterns now - I think what I like about making patterns is that you do it once maybe twice and then you're onto something new. I'm not much for making the same item again and again.

So the latest thing I've made is for bub - the cute skirt you see above - and I'll be writing up the pattern for it and putting it on the shop really soon.

Done!

2010-02-12T18:47:00.004+11:00

I've put my first sewing pattern up on Etsy! The finished bag is also available there.

Here's the shop site: teapotandsnail.etsy.com

Thanks Alie for the comment that motivated me to finally finish!

Getting around to things

2010-02-10T10:18:00.004+11:00

Amazing, this mummy job. Just never get time to do things. And when I do get a moment I just want to spend it on the couch, feet up, telly on - like the good old days of slobbing about. How I miss the slobbery. But those days are gone now and have been replaced with the days of taking opportunities when they arise and making hay while the sun shines.

So I've decided to get around to some things that I was always meaning to do even before I had bub. One of those things is going up to Queensland to see a friend - she has a 2 year old that I haven't even laid eyes on. Unfathomable.

Another is to complete my first sewing-pattern-for-sale to go on Teapot & Snail. It's called the Sling Tote and it's a big old across-the-shoulder bag I designed for a friend as a baby bag and then fell in love with. This bag can hold anything and it has a nice wide shoulder strap that spreads the weight evenly on your shoulder so the weight doesn't make it cut into your skin.

Another thing is to start taking proper care of our poor long-suffering garden. It was a beautiful thing when we moved in a year and a bit ago but a couple of hard summers and me busy with a baby has made it shrivelled and dry like a mummy.

Speaking of mummies, this one is finding life much easier now that we've passed the 1 year mark. It's amazing what a difference it makes. She is much happier too. Clingy. Oh, horribly so. But so pleased with herself and her new skills. She is walking with aplomb and so very proud. I think she was a 10 year old trapped inside a baby's body. She really is a blossoming thing and I'm so happy to watch it happen.

Universal

2009-10-16T16:22:00.002+11:00

That's what motherhood is. It's the one thing that binds us across cultures, races, even species. I was just watching out in the garden a mother magpie trying to feed her young. Great big lump of a thing he was but he still needed mum. She painstakingly lifted a piece of food and aimed it just right over his beak. I thought of myself trying to get that spoon into my own baby's mouth and laughed. The baby bird had a few goes and finally got hold of the food. Mum pecked at his beak trying to encourage him to lift his head and get the rest in. Frustratingly he tried but dropped the piece. Mum flies down, picks it up, and tries all over again (I'm thinking of those chunks of crust under the highchair). Another couple of goes as she patiently kept at it. Must. Feed. Child. *sigh* How I recognise this feeling! Then she gets a glimpse of me watching and it's PANIC. The child is shooshed off and sent back to the nest and she comes at me with wings flapping and beak snapping. You'll do anything for these little things. Anything.

I got a fang

2009-09-11T16:47:00.003+10:00

She got her first one today :)

Hey anyone in Canberra - Canberra Handmade market is on tonight (the champagne twilight market) and tomorrow and the Yarralumla Woolshed. And also my little Etsy shop Teapot and Snail is at the Italian Cultural Centre SPring Market on Sunday, from 10am to 3pm - 80 Franklin Street, Forrest.

Happy Springing.

Little bear

2009-08-13T08:04:00.002+10:00

We had Grannie and Grampa to stay this past week and took them to say goodbye at the airport yesterday. Bubba is looking around for them - the guest bed is empty, the house is quiet. Where's Grannie?!!

Six whole months

2009-07-27T19:34:00.001+10:00

Is cold

2009-06-24T10:07:00.003+10:00

Too cold to go out. The little chicken and I are both bored with these four walls. I have been playing ukelele to entertain her. She likes that. Also knitting her some groovy striped flares to keep her warm.

Solstice's edge

2009-06-19T12:25:00.003+10:00

Couple more days and it's winter solstice. Strange to think it's come upon us so soon. Still can't believe the munchkin is 4 and a half months old. The days will start to get longer and we haven't even hit the real cold yet. That weirds me out every year.

Shop day

2009-06-01T21:33:00.002+10:00

Talkin to the animals

2009-05-11T16:30:00.002+10:00

Happy Happy Joy Joy!!!

2009-05-10T08:11:00.000+10:00

Happy Mother's Day to everyone who is one! I was pretty unsure about this whole motherhood thing at the start, but now I am just super happy to call this little person mine. I think she's pretty much perfect!

Bored silly but in a nice way

2009-05-08T16:40:00.004+10:00

Today I hung out at Tuggeranong Hyperdome for something to do. The home of ugly teenagers and parents aged under 13. It's funny how being a mum can be exciting and boring at the same time. I find myself doing inane things like combing the 2 dollar shops for god knows what piece of crap, and really quite enjoying it for the fact that it's so different from my usual work. Providing she's been fed and changed and isn't wanting for anything, there really isn't much to do but just hang out with her and wait for the next drama to unfold.

We went to the pet shop to see how much pondfish were. Quite a lot it turns out. That was about $420 worth of fish that died the other week! Nuts. She gazed at the wall of tanks and tanks of brightly coloured fish with the same goggled eyed stare she gives the telly. This morning I turned the tv off when she was doing that and she burst into tears. Think it was messing with her brain waves or something.

Hmmm. I'm finding myself with as little to say on this blog as I have to say in conversation to friends lately.

Judgement Day

2009-05-05T19:39:00.004+10:00

This news story just makes me so sad:
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,25431081-5001021,00.html

I wish people could just lay off with the judgey advicey bullshit when someone becomes a mother, and I wish women who have been through this stuff could be honest about how entirely shit it can be. Why is it that it takes five weeks of new parents group before a mum feels she can safely, and secretly, confide to another mum that the first few weeks of parenthood weren't all that she hoped? In fact that she had really wished that someone would knock on the door and declare that it was all a big administrative error, so sorry for the inconvenience, we need to take the baby back to its real parents.

Where's the reality? Why can't we say how it really is? Why didn't anyone tell me what those first few weeks were like?

I don't mind saying that about a week or so into the experience all I wanted to do was get in the car and drive very fast, far far away. From the baby. From the claustrophobia of those four walls. From my ruined body. From the relentless responsibility.

And I don't mind telling you that I am glad as hell I stopped breastfeeding when it became too painful and traumatic to deal with anymore. And to the people who have since suggested that I "just didn't try hard enough" - tell that to the blisters you wankers. And tell it to the delirium of postnatal depression that cleared up as soon as the breastfeeding hormones left my system.

There's just no reason why a woman should have to suffer like this or why a woman like Katy Isden should feel so alone and miserable that the only way out she can see is suicide.

Hideousness

2009-04-22T12:50:00.003+10:00

I just got a moment to run out and feed the fish and found the pond completely drained and all 14 fish dead in the mud at the bottom. A couple of weeks ago the pond started to spring a leak which was slow at first but picked up speed while we were too busy looking after the bub to deal with it. I was keeping up with it for a while with the hose, but I had a few days there where she was just taking up every moment and I forgot about them. And now they're dead. All of them. I am a fish murderer. Trust me, you don't want the photo for this one.

Arsenic hour toesday

2009-04-21T16:25:00.002+10:00

This is what happens when arsenic hour gets too tough to take. When bub's screaming coz you fed her, coz you bathed her, coz you breathed for chrissake. And then had the nerve to dress her, you unworthy minion. And when you are about to steel yourself for the final scream of indignity at the inhumanity of swaddling but realise that she has outgrown the jumpsuit you have fought long and hard to get her into, do you dare to take her out of it and put her in something else? By gods, no, you get a pair of scissors, get those adorable feet out of the way, and cut the frickin socks out of it.

We call her Nibbler

2009-04-07T17:06:00.003+10:00

Announcement!

2009-03-28T20:53:00.001+11:00

Teapot & Snail will be at the Italian Autumn Markets Sunday 29 March 10am-3pm, at the Italian Cultural Centre Canberra, 80 Franklin Street Forrest.

Tiny dictator

2009-03-08T16:17:00.003+11:00

Can you tell who runs this household?

I'll give you a hint. She hates fancy outfits:

Cute but loud

2009-02-23T17:23:00.007+11:00

I don't get much time to blog, but here are some pics of the bub. She's a really unsettled baby, we think a bit colicky, so I'm not keeping in touch with people too well. Hello to everyone and sorry I've been so quiet. I don't really think I'm travelling too well at the moment. My mum's come to stay for the week so things are ok at the moment, but I fear when she leaves I'll slip back into the abyss again. Looking after a baby is a two person or three person job I think. If you want to keep your sanity that is.

The new love of our life

2009-02-05T17:44:00.004+11:00

She's here.....arrived on Friday but keeping Mum and Dad so busy we haven't had time to blog.
There were some scary moments getting her out - she went into distress early on and had a team ready to rescucitate when she came out, but all was well and she's a healthy little bubba now. And ridiculously cute to boot.

Still here...

2009-01-27T12:53:00.000+11:00

I reckon she's waiting for me to finish the curtains in her room that I'm making outof this cool birdy fabric.

Prophecies?

2009-01-23T09:21:00.002+11:00

My mother-in-law, P, reported yesterday that she's been starting to have the same dreams about water that her mother had before P gave birth to each of her children. The women in the family have been touted as being "a little bit fey" as they would say in the day if you had some psychic tendencies.

I myself have started having dreams about caring for small animals, which is what i always dream about when i'm really dreaming about babies. The other night it was a dream about Hubby and I going to a country market and buying a chicken, and I was escorting the chicken home in a gogomobile. There was a bit of anxiety about having to get back to the market to help H who had a deal going on another chicken. For some reason you can only escort one chicken at a time? I guess a gogomobile isn't that big.

So I guess this bodes well for something happening soon?

Bored

2009-01-22T16:55:00.001+11:00

Hey! Where's my baby?!!!!

Countdown

2009-01-20T17:06:00.002+11:00

She's one day late. No sign of anything happening yet. It's hovering around 35 degrees C this week so not that comfy. And sooooo tired....

I cannae hold it, Captain...

2009-01-12T20:12:00.004+11:00

Holy crap - only a week 'til this baby's due. This morning at 4am (coz sleep is no longer an option) I realised that I have been so crap at blogging that I have barely said a thing about the experience. Well can I just say now I am thoroughly over it. Honestly I don't know how anyone manages to have subsequent children after the first. It is just so uncomfortable, restrictive, and tiring. How can anyone do this twice? It must be all those hormones making you forget what it was like the first time.

I also realised in the dead of night that I haven't spoken about any of bub's crazy little character traits. She is so active I have nicknamed her Squidgy, for all the squidging around she does, and TD or Tiny Dancer, for all her disco moves. Oh and she loves electronica and dance, and the theme to that Night Garden kids show on the telly. And just this week she has found that you can kick out with both feet at once, nice and wide apart, to make Mummy sit up bolt upright in shock when you need a bit of space. Loving that one.

I have a feeling I'm going to be doing this for a while yet though, despite being only 7 days till she's due. I reckon she'll hang out at least 'til Aquarius moves in. She so has the Aquarian character. Two of us in the house - how will Hubby cope?

Fruitful

2009-01-04T09:59:00.005+11:00

Everything's blooming here.

The veges:

The apricot tree:

And plum tree:

And me:

Not long now...

Nothing but a bump

2008-12-04T17:34:00.002+11:00

It's so strange. As soon as you become pregnant, or rather I should say as soon as your pregnancy begins to show, people stop regarding you as a person and start regarding you first and foremost as a pregnant person. The things that people would normally notice about you fade away and the pregnancy is the only thing that defines you. Today I had my leaving morning tea at work and received a figurine of a pregnant woman. A rather lovely one, but still, I wonder what to do with it in six or so weeks when I am no longer pregnant. Or even now, when I am. It seems everyone else is much caught up in the "magic" of pregnancy than I am. For me it has been very much a slow physical grind.

Down on the farm

2008-11-16T18:19:00.004+11:00

Today Daddy-Fu came over in his Farmer Joe outfit carrying lashings of cow poo and planted for us the start of a fabulous vege garden:

An assortment of beans, some zucchini, a couple of pumpkins have been lovingly sown and now await the clutzy touch of our very un-green thumbs. Let's hope they make it through a harsh Canberra summer and we have something to feast on in Autumn.

It's just possible they will despite us as it seems we have unwittingly nurtured a handful of tomato plants that have sprung up from previous years:

And do you remember the carrots I sowed last Autumn? I blogged Day One and then never again as they did so poorly. Well, it seems they were only dormant. A special breed of hibernating carrot that came out of hiding when I transplanted them to the new house:

There's hope for us black thumbs yet. Thanks for your help Daddy-Fu.

Chubby bubby

2008-11-01T19:53:00.002+11:00

Such a cute little piccie of a cute little girl on her way. See you in January, Bubby.

Awesome work, Telstra

2008-10-24T11:31:00.002+11:00

It only took two days of H sitting at home twiddling his thumbs waiting for for a Telstra technician to arrive before one actually turned up. Excellent! Good going Telstra. One day you'll be able to wipe your own arse without help. Well done.

Domestic bliss

2008-10-14T09:55:00.004+11:00

Wow, a month and a half since I last blogged. Now I'm feeling guilty. So much has been happening too. We moved into the new house - things were a bit tense for a while there waiting for the mortgage to come through in time for us to take over the new place before our rental people booted us out. But it all worked out like it was meant to be. Then we had a fairly intense weekend moving. We did all the boxes and small stuff ourselves and hired some guys just to do the furniture. They were great actually.

Now we're all moved in but there are boxes everywhere. And so much cleaning to do. I am getting into nesting mode and can't stand to see a single bit of ickiness around the place. So inspecting the inside of the kitchen cupboards for the first time was a very unpleasant experience. There is one cupboard that looks like that's where they kept the tomato sauce and had a few spills. *gag* And so far I haven't been able to bring myself to put the cutlery in the cutlery drawers. I am getting H to sand them down and paint them inside so we have a protective barrier between us and 30-odd years of use. It's just too much financially and stress-wise to put a new kitchen in before the baby arrives in January, so we are just going to have to make do. The thought of bringing a baby into the house is giving me coniptions though. Everything makes me so queasy.

On the weekend we focused on the positive and got outside in the garden. Of course, we realised that after living in an apartment in Sydney for so long, we have none of the standard basics that most people have so off we went to Bunnings to buy lawnmower, hose and fittings, ladders, etc. Nearly a grand later we leave having spent the entire morning there. I love that place! And our local Bunnings has the cafe and sausage sandwich tent and the full gig. Hehehe.

Bubba

2008-09-05T14:34:00.002+10:00

Promised pics:

Foods I hate:
weetbix (especially soggy weetbix)
bangers and mash
blobby casseroles
pineapple juice

Foods the baby is making me crave:
weetbix (especially soggy weetbix)
bangers and mash
blobby casseroles
pineapple juice

Foods hubby likes:
weetbix (especially soggy weetbix)
bangers and mash
blobby casseroles
pineapple juice

*tsk* I'm being taken over by aliens.

Trailer trash no more!

2008-08-29T11:12:00.005+10:00

Now we both have jobs and what's more, we've bought a house! So we have somewhere to move before we get kicked out of the rental - woohoo! It's a bit of a doer-upper, "the worst house on the best street", but given it's a bit of a posh street (million dollar jobs up the high end of the street) it's not that bad. Certainly will be liveable until sometime after the baby arrives. Maybe we'll leave the reno's for a year or so. There is certainly nothing pressing that needs to be done. It's mainly just a bit of ugliness - daggy carpet and old style kitchen and bathrooms. I haven't really got any decent photos of it yet - the ones on the internet were almost enough to put us off it! I'll take some when we move in.

In baby news, I am starting to get kicked a fair bit. Nothing you can see yet - just me feeling it. He/she does quite a bit of kicking when I slouch - I'm getting trained into having better posture! We have the next scan this coming Tuesday so I'll stick a piccy up then. Oh and I should be able to tell you whether it's a boy or a girl!

Back to reality

2008-08-07T20:37:00.002+10:00

I started a new job today - and so ends about 10 months of doing nothing but whatever I feel like. A bit sad in some ways - not the least of which is no longer being able to hang with hubby all day. But also kind of good. It's good to have somewhere to go and new people to meet. And having a little bit of money to spend won't hurt either.

Not that we'll be spending much (any) of it. Every little penny now has to get scraped up to buy a house. Though, with the lease running out on this place in October and luck being what it is, we'll most likely have to rent for another 12 months. This is not such a bad thing, except the concept of bringing a new baby home to a rental is not an entirely pleasing one. But in the scheme of things, that's not going to matter.

Speaking of babies, I have yet to break the news to the new boss. Not quite sure how to tackle that one. He was displeased enough to hear that his new starter would only be doing 4 days a week. How's he going to be when he finds out she's only going to be there for another 4 and a half months at best!

Having a life

2008-07-22T16:31:00.005+10:00

Just in case you thought all I did now was lay around and be pregnant, here's a little update on how my Teapot & Snail shop is going over at Etsy. I have been neglecting it due to needing 3 months to lie down and watch TV, but I am getting back into it again. Here are two things I put up today:

A bag from Amy Butler fabric and this:

Another baby dress, this time in funky spots.

Hello world!

2008-07-10T12:18:00.006+10:00

Here's the proof - there's only one! No twins! I thought back to the psychic's exact words about twins though and she said "You will have 2 children - a boy and a girl. You will have your babies by the time you are 37 (Feb 09). Twins run in your family.". So I took this to mean I was having twins. How else would I get both babies before my birthday when this one is due in Jan? I wouldn't even have time to get pregnant instantly after this one - there's only two weeks difference. And frankly who would want to get pregs again that quickly? So, the mystery remains. Maybe I'll walk outside one day and someone will have left a little bundle with a note on it. Of course, maybe she meant during the time I am 37 rather than before my birthday. I dunno.

So anyway, I haven't been writing this last month and a half or whatever it's been now coz I've been just so nauseous. There were a couple of weeks there I couldn't even look at a computer screen, but thankfully things are starting to improve a wee bit now. I have been slightly worried about the bub in that time as there was a fair few incidences of spotting, so it was great to see him/her kicking like a mad thing at the scan this week.

Now we're just worrying about how the hell to raise the little bugger. We've got to get new jobs down here in Canberra and get a mortgage and new house all before October, which is when the lease runs out on this place. I put in a job application literally the day before I found out I was up the duff and 2 and a half months later still haven't heard how I went, despite having done the interview and them having contacted my referees. Since I applied for that one I've been either too freaked out or too sick to look for anything else. Kind of a problem coz now I'm getting to the point where anything I apply for is going to take a couple of months to finalise and anything I get, I'll be turning up as big as a house and ready to pop! H has a couple of leads and another interview, but we're starting to get that awful sense of desperation. How did we go from double income, no kids, no mortgage to this - no income, no home, and a baby on the way? I feel like we're one step away from being characters on My Name is Earl.

PS Yes I know my banner's had it but right now I just can't be bothered.

Bleurgh

2008-05-28T18:56:00.002+10:00

Morning sickness is, in a way, a rite of passage. It just doesn't feel like you're going to be a mum until the nausea appears. I may now say that I well and truly feel like motherhood is just around the corner, thanks to a morning spent driving the porcelain bus. Beep, beep!

Sadly, this little reminder of what's to come is hanging around with me all day and even now at dinner time I can't think of a single thing I want to put in my mouth and actually, you know, swallow. Except for Old Jamaica chocolate! In fact it actually seems to taste better than it did before.

Still better pop the choc down and go look for something with a non bleurgh-worthy high-nutrient vegetabley type content. Something with a low Puke Possibility Factor. Hey, you must be glad there aren't any pics with today's post.

We all know what this means!

2008-05-19T11:11:00.003+10:00

Thing is, after 4 or so years of trying I thought this moment would be all happy happy, but I can't stop bawling. I don't know if it's the shock or just the hormones, but I feel SO emotional - it's like someone died but I can't remember who.

Anyway, it's very interesting that this is the exact month that the psychic said I would be getting pregnant. Now it will be a matter of waiting to see if she also got the prediction of the twins right!

Omega

2008-04-28T20:29:00.005+10:00

Omega. I realised tonight that's the brand of heater I pull out this time every year. How fitting a ritual for farewelling the summer and facing a harsh winter. Admitedly, not so harsh when you're snuggled inside with a heater, but certainly a bit of a shock for two Sydneysiders facing a Canberra winter for the first time in four years. I love the cold days but I'm not sure I'll ever get used to that life-threatening moment when you step out of the shower on a below-zero morning.

Anyway, I have been most remiss with the Autumn photos - Canberra is looking its best this time of year but sadly I have been too busy galavanting about to get many decent pictures. So these will do:

Corrected

2008-04-15T08:13:00.003+10:00

Daddy-fu (formerly PIC) has come through with the correct words for that Michael Leunig poem:

Autumn, it's Autumn!
The sweet and sad post mortem!
The things we did last summer that we'll never do again.
Stranger, and stranger,
The cold and empty manger,
The things we felt last summer that we'll never feel again...

FO's and SO's

2008-04-05T20:25:00.010+11:00

Yay! I made my first sale on Etsy (teapotandsnail.etsy.com). On Monday this little crossover top will be making its way to California.

Now I need to get to work and make a few more things to go up, but in the mean time I've been busy helping a friend get some tote bags made for the local school fete. They went up for sale this morning and were mighty popular - I'll post some of the pics soon, when Blogger lets me.

Post-mortem

2008-04-02T13:08:00.003+11:00

Autumn, autumn
The sad and cold post mortem
The things we did last summer that we'll never do again

I wish I could remember the rest of this poem by Michael Leunig. It so sums my life up at the moment. I have had a gloriously indulgent 6 months off from work to enjoy the summer, but now that autumn's here and winter is on its way I have remembered that I have to go and get a job, and this little daydream has to end. There's lots of earning to be done so that we can buy a new house and settle ourselves fully into domestic bliss.

Autumn is my favourite time of year. It's the time I first started celebrating the seasons as a pagan, and it's also a time of the year whose themes most apply to my life in general. Autumn is a time to reflect and let go of the past, both good and bad - something I've never found easy to do. But I also love that autumn is a time to hunker down in preparation for the winter and be a bit of a hermit - my true nature. I'm so glad to be back in Canberra for it this year where you really do feel like you get a proper autumn, unlike Sydney where you have a year-long summer with a brief interjection of biting Harbour winds sometime around August.

And very soon it will be Samhain (for the uninitiated that's Halloween, celebrated on May 1 in the Southern Hemisphere) - my favourite celebration. In preparation I have gone out and bought the following goodies:

A flash new rolling pin, a scary cat biscuit-cutter to make scary gingerbread cats, and some black food dye to help ice them with.

As I write, the wind whips the house and whistles through the eaves - I can't wait for the crackling frost of winter!

Lime glut

2008-03-12T16:40:00.001+11:00

That lime tree's going nuts. yesterday I'm sure I only saw two ripe ones to pick - now look at the pile. And there seem to be a stack more on the way.

Bounty

2008-03-11T16:31:00.004+11:00

Today, after hiding in the air-con all day to escape the heatwave we're having here, I ventured out to discover that the lime tree and rosemary bush in the back yard are loving the heat:

And I am remembering why my mother always collected garden produce wearing a dress or apron - so handy!

Back indoors now - storm coming...

Welcome to my shop!!!

2008-02-25T08:37:00.007+11:00

Guess what? I finally did it! I got my shop running on Etsy - for those who don't already know Etsy is an online marketplace to buy handmade goods and artist's products.

My store is called Teapot & Snail and you'll find it here:

http://teapotandsnail.etsy.com/

I'm going to be mainly selling kids stuff - clothes and other doodads - but I also plan to make a few homewares and girly things.

My first items to go up are a kids single bed doona and pillowcase set and a matching tidybag for hanging kids stuff in (all that stuff that seems to end up on the floor). Most of the bed stuff on Etsy is US sizing - they don't have single beds! They have what is called a twin which is bigger than a single but I don't think it's as big as a double. So these two items will be mainly aimed at Aussies and Poms and expats living in the US. Hope someone likes them!

A big kiss to Hubby for helping me get this off the ground and for hassling me every now and then when I was caught cleaning the kitchen vigourously instead! Procrastination - it's a great thing.

Thanks to the friends and family who never stopped asking just what the hell happened to that shop idea of mine!

And of course thanks to my assistant photographer for loaning his studio:

"Just press that button"...

In with the new

2008-02-23T17:32:00.007+11:00

H and I had a nice old time today, driving around Canberra and getting completely lost, but then finding ourselves again. We stopped in at the Mugga Lane tip where they have a place called Aussie Junk (it used to be called Revolve which I think is a much better name but never mind) where they sell things that have been dumped off to go in the tip but have been deemed worthy of rebirth. H got a stack of seedling pots for free when we were going to pay for them at the shops. And I bought this cute ceramic lamp base which I'm guessing is from about the 70s, maybe 60s. The wiring's been redone so it's hard to tell. I was thinking I would try making a shade for it myself out of some Amy Butler fabric I've been coveting.

We put the seedling pots to use by planting carrots and radishes. I'll keep you posted on how they're doing. Here they are on Day One:

I put some carrots in the ground the other day but wasn't sure if they'd make it in this dry climate and harsh sun, but it seems a few are toughing it out and poking their little heads up. There are some things doing very well though. I noticed a tiny withering pumpkin plant when we arrived and started watering it about a week and a half ago. In that time it has from barely noticeable to megalomaniac triffid, with the ability to walk:

And yeah, it really does walk. It used its creepers to move itself about two feet to the right yesterday evening - clearly it had some place to be. I like a plant that displays strategic thinking. And it's growing about half a foot longer each day. There's about another month and a half I think before we can give up on it producing pumpkins this year, but given that it's now started making the very start of flowers I think we could be in for a small, late harvest.

It seems the flowers are doing nicely on very little rainfall too. Here are a few pics to leave you with.

A room of one's own

2008-02-20T10:34:00.007+11:00

One of the benefits of moving out of a teeny flat and into a big house is that I now get to have my very own sewing room. All for me. Girls only, no boys allowed - hmmm...I wonder if I can find a sign for the door that says that. One of the things I liked about being single is that you can have a whole house to yourself, so living with a partner, it's a real luxury to have a space of my own, and now I finally have it.

Cutting table and craft supplies galore on one side. And you can see a mannequin in the corner - that was a gift from Hubby for mybirthday just the other day - 36, oh my lordy. And this morning I received a parcel from Hubby's parents with a craft tote in it. These people know what I want! That will come in handy as a good friend of mine who lives just round the corner has been getting into quilting, and we've decided to spend Fridays together sewing at her house and swapping inspiration. So far she's loaned me some great books that you should get a hold of if you are sewing inclined:

Crafts for Baby by Alison Jenkins

Bend the Rules Sewing by Amy Karol (of Angry Chicken fame)

Softies

Romantic Home Sewing by Christina Strutt

and my fave - Midwest Modern by Amy Butler (I loooove her house)

So now I have plenty of patterns and no excuses to use up my ever-growing stash:

Wish me luck :)

Bombing Sydney with love

2008-02-15T18:24:00.011+11:00

The knit tag night was a riot and Valentine's morning was a sight to behold. To be honest I wasn't sure if any of them would make the night given how keen security usually are to get rid of such threatening and scary items, but most of them were still there in all their glory.

Sadly, it turned out I was lucky to get these shots when I did, because only moments later cleaners realised the terrible risk they were causing to humanity and took several of them down. Phew, thank goodness we have the boys in orange to keep us safe. Here they are saving us from the pink peril:

And here's the moment when several days worth of knitting make their way to their final resting place. RIP. Amen.

There was however, one adornment that didn't end up binside, and that was the scarf and trotter cuffs on Il Porcillino, the wild boar who stands outside the Sydney Hospital:

Turns out Il Porcy is used to a little flashy garb from time to time. Being Italian, I suppose that fits.

Porcy's trotter cuffs have heart labels that ask "Do my trotters look big in this?". Some other Valentine's-appropriate labels for the evening included:

1. Thank you. Sorry. I love you. Your top is nice. Have you had a haircut. Looks good.

2. Sorry I didn't apologise earlier. John.

3. Thanks for putting out the garbage.

4. Love is over-rated.

5. No matter how cute or funny a man is, there is a woman who is sick of him.

7. My darling. My lampost.

8. I love my dad.

9. Some people think chocolate is a substitute for love. Sensible people know it is the other way round.

10. I think therefore I'm single.

11. Thank god I got the children.

12. Maybe if this tag is witty enough someone will love me.

13. When it comes to relationships, bourbon bourbon bourbon.

14. No you hang up first...

15 I heart sydney. I heart knitting.

16 I heart canberra.

17 Love is always a little rough around the edges

...and on Porcy:

18 All pigs are pigs

20 Pig love. If you really loved me you wouldn't walk away after rubbing my nose.

21 Love's a boar and then you snort.

Thanks to everyone who came along and made it a very memorable farewell party. I am thinking that a knit tagging event like this is something we should do on a regular basis. Maybe I will even find some people in Canberra to do this too!

PS: Looks like we've been spotted http://www.flickr.com/photos/katlu/2269435773/?addedcomment=1#comment72157603926018439

Intermission

2008-02-10T15:21:00.000+11:00

Hey guys. Sorry i've been so quiet. We've been making the move to Canberra. We're finally here now, and unpacking loads of boxes, but we don't have the internet on at home yet. I've been without it for two weeks and it is KILLING me.

Aside from that, we still have to do a trip back to Sydney to have a bit of a farewell party! We tend to get these things in totally the wrong order because we are not planners. But we'll be coming back to Sydney for Wednesday night this week to do a knit tag (see http://www.boingboing.net/2006/04/22/knitta-please-urban-.html) in the city. That's the night before Valentine's Day so we'll be tagging on a love theme, to give the commuters something to see the next day. If you are interested in coming along drop me a line on my hotmail address or in the comments field on this post and I'll give you the details. I'll be posting it on the Stitch and Bitch site as well (see link to right).

Prediction Part One - correct

2008-01-09T08:12:00.000+11:00

Do you remember me saying a while back that I went to a clairvoyant? She predicted a bunch of stuff (including that I would be having twins in the next 12 mths!) - but one of those things was that I would be moving down to Canberra and moving into a house with water nearby. I'm thinking thanks honey, I'd love to live on Kingston Foreshore or at Yarralumla but that just isn't gonna happen on our salaries. But on Monday that prediction came true when the only house we could find to rent that wasn't skanky and didn't have hideous pink walls (and is actually pretty plush I have to say) turned out to have a pool!

So Prediction one is correct. Maybe I really will have those twins after all!

Finished project - for Hubby at least!

2007-12-28T17:49:00.001+11:00

This is awesome. I am in awe. I have one skilled hubby.

You know I said he was making a kite? I had no idea how cool this thing was going to be once it was done. We took it out to the park today for its maiden voyage. I can't believe how easily it flew and how great it looked. Oh, and huge! It's enormous - nearly 3 metres across! Made all those other kites in the park look piddly!

New projects

2007-12-27T18:45:00.000+11:00

Yet another thing for me to start and never finish!

By the way this is a good time for me to mention that I still haven't got around to finishing the questions for April's meme. Sorry April!! And hi! Do you know how few things there are out there starting with R? I am finding that out! I thought I might cheat and do this one of yours instead - I believe in the psychic power of iPod. :)

Anyway, back to the new project.

I got the cute little coffee table above from Reverse Garbage in Marrickville - this place is fantastic. They sell a whole bunch of recycled junk that nobody else wants. Stuff like the usual old crap that people have chucked from their house, but also a whole shed full of manufacturing leftovers like bits of fabric, metal sheeting, timber, etc, etc. As well as this table I picked up a big bag of fabric samples originally used to show new dress fabrics to Sydney fashion houses. I have a few quilting/patchworking ideas for all the different coloured squares. The table is going to get a new paint job, so I'll post it up again when that's done.

There's been some other serious crafting business going on in our household as well. Hubby has been designing kites - the one he's making at the moment is big enough to lift you off the ground. So a lot of sewing going on and he's been competing with me for the sewing machine. I'm thinking maybe we need a second machine like an overlocker or something. I have a whole pile of sewing going on myself as I've been making all sorts of goodies in preparation for the opening of my new Etsy store! I won't give you the link just yet - I'll post it up when I've got my products online. At the moment it's just a shopfront. Basically, I love making bright coloured things for kids but since I don't have any of my own I needed an outlet, somewhere for all these things to go...hopefully someone out there will give a home to some of the clothes and doodads I whip up. Otherwise I don't know what I'll do with the growing stacks. ;)

PS Interesting note: Etsy just got the Jim Hensen (you remember the muppets) Honor for Community. And speaking of muppets - PIC, here's an Etsy link for you. Just your thing I think.

Famous!

2007-12-18T17:54:00.000+11:00

Hey this is me!:
http://www.wo-magazine.com/website/issuefive/knittag.html

Apparently I roll my eyes a lot!

Ka-ching!

2007-12-07T21:10:00.000+11:00

Woohoo! The flat got a good offer and today marked the last day of the new owner's cooling off period. So we can pretty much safely say it's sold, and so with settlement being near the end of January, it looks like we'll be making our way to Canberra about mid Jan. Rental market willing that is.

I heart Mormon boys!

2007-12-04T19:31:00.000+11:00

Apologies to Susan for this one as she posted the link recently, but I couldn't resist spreading the love.

I would never make fun of a Mormon. No not me. There are other people who can do that for me:
http://mormonsexposed.com/
Crazy thing is, it almost seems these guys are for real. Nah, can't be. Mormons with self-deprecating humour AND an acceptance of showing a little skin? I've read enough Dooce to know that can't exist!

What I love best are the tshirts you can buy in the store proclaiming the slogan (in picture form) no tv plus no smoking plus no drinking equals lots of little baby Mormons:
http://mormonsexposed.com/store.php

Meme!

2007-12-04T17:46:00.000+11:00

I'm terrible at memes, but April has tagged me so I'll give it a go - here are the rules:

Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Seven weird things about yourself. Only 7? Are you kidding me? OK I'll try to keep it to the ones that won't freak anyone out.

Weird thing #1
I consult the tarot in making real estate decisions. And I take its advice seriously.

Weird thing #2
I love cats but I don't have one as a pet coz I can't sleep through all the jumping on and off the bed that they so love to do all damn night.

Weird thing #3
I am completely obsessed with neutrinos. I regularly read a New Scientist magazine I kept from 2002 that has an article on them. Particle physics are just really cosmic man. I just keep reading that article over and over. One day I'll understand it.

Weird thing #4
I still have nightmares about someone I broke up with 12 years ago. Twelve! Clearly something unresolved there.

Weird thing #5
I've always thought that I was not meant for a life of housewifery, but ever since I ditched work 2 months ago and have been working on keeping house for real estate purposes I have found that I love love LOVE it! In fact I can't keep still when I see a bit of dust that needs a wipe or a mark on the carpet that I could have go at.

Weird thing #6
I love the taste of chocolate when I'm at work, but don't like it much at all when I'm at home.

Weird thing #7
I see dead people. In the middle of the night I see people walking around the bedroom in the dark. Usually they are friendly, but there was this one time this little girl stood there looking at me intently like she wanted to kill me. Sometimes it's hard to get back to sleep after these things.

Ok...nuff said about me. Now I guess I pass this on to other people. I have to admit I don't know that many bloggers though, so apologies for the short list. It's all I can think of so far - I will try and add to it later:
Carla
Izaac
Susan

Back to the really important stuff

2007-11-19T09:58:00.000+11:00

April has reminded me that I haven't said anything about my knitting for a very long time. All this putting the house on the market and preparing to move has taken over a lot of these things, but I am just now starting to get a bit of time to fiddle around with yarn again.

I'm not doing any serious yarn projects at the moment (tho I do have a few sitting in the background waiting for me to get back to them - Rogue jumper, I'm talking about you). What I am doing is a whole bunch of crazy fuzzy rectangles in preparation for my going away knit-tagging party that I'll be having when I leave Sydney sometime in the next 2 months.

This is what I've done so far. You can see that tastefulness is not an issue!! The only requirement here is that the wool is cheap and bright. Let's face it, if you're going to be wrapping a street pole with it, you don't want to be spending money on it!:

Neatness saboteur

2007-11-06T14:59:00.000+11:00

Still cleaning like crazy, ready for real estate agents to come through tomorrow.

I mentioned to Hubby that he would have to go through his bits and bobs (toothbrushes, aftershave, etc) that were crowding the top of the bathroom cabinet, and find a home for them.

The one item he felt was appropriate to leave there? Well I guess it is appropriate for a mirror you brush your teeth in:

Oops

2007-11-03T10:24:00.000+11:00

Nearly a month since I last blogged! And what have I been doing in that time? Well, I can say that I have literally been too busy to blog (usually when I say this it's just an excuse for being lazy - finally it's true).

Hubby and I have been working like beavers to get our place ready to go on the market. We decided at the outset that we were going to do a deep clean this time. Every other move has been a matter of shoving whatever you find into a box and chucking it onto a truck. This time we have been Buddhist monks about it and sat down with just about every object in the house and counselled ourselves on whether we really need that item, and in some cases shut our eyes and cast it into the thrift box hoping that we will forget how attached to that thing we were. Letting go can be tough.

Some things had to go into storage, and into the garage, but all in all I think we've done a pretty good job. Things still need doing, like putting pictures up on the wall (something we never seemed to get round to) but those of you who have seen our flat before will know what a mammoth task it was to get things to this level:

By the way, do you like my new little friend? She's a goodbye gift from a work friend, and perfect company for sewing adventures:

Back from planet Kiwi

2007-10-10T06:55:00.000+10:00

That's me playing the ukulele on the plane home from NZ. I've dropped off the face of blogging earth for a while. It's been 3 weeks or so since we left work now but time doesn't have the same quality it used to. I'm finding it hard keeping track of what day it is. I think that's a good thing, for now. It's very relaxing to not have to worry about what day things have to be done by etc etc. We do have a bunch of stuff on the agenda though. We're just not beating ourselves up about what day it's all done by. "As soon as we can" is all the pressure we're putting on ourselves. Which is interpreted on some days as "as soon as we get back from the beach" or "as soon as this program is over" - hehehe.

The sojourn to New Zealand was very pleasant. I think I enjoyed Tasmania more actually, but then possibly just because they are so similar, so I felt like I had been there and done that through some of it, particularly the east coast. The mid-west however was a totally different experience. Here are a few happy snaps taken along the way:

Geez I forget where these were but they were unreal:

Strange "extra sun" at Arthur's Pass:

Kea trying to take our camper apart. They are reknowned for this:

Christchurch tourist tram:

The obligatory sheep shot:

Path along an old railway site south of Hokitika:

Franz Joseph Glacier:

Fox Glacier close up:

Land of the long white cloud:

Christchurch:

Somewhere on the west coast:

Rainbow near the Mahitahi River:

Lake Moeraki:

Sunset at Knight's Point:

Roaring Billy Falls:

Blue Pool:

AJ Hackett bungee - the brothers are deciding whether to bungee using their own cords:

Chinese miner's settlement at Arrowtown:

Arrowtown cemetery:

Tiny 6-seater from Queenstown to Milford Sound:

On the Milford Sound cruise:

Queenstown:

Jetboating - a view from a very dodgy bridge. This is Skipper's Cayon, the river used for the flood shot from Lord of the Rings:

The rock used for the view up to the Road to Mordor:

Some nut:

Fullstop. The end.

2007-09-15T19:52:00.000+10:00

Yesterday was Hubby's and my last day at our respective offices. We're still coming down from the crazy highs of the final farewells. Part hangover, part wallowing in the self pity of knowing you'll miss good friends, part a simple need to recover after way too intense a working year.

Now we'll spend a couple of days recovering, slowly going over the events of the past few days and weeks, getting back our energy for what's to come. A couple of weeks doing the mountain walks of New Zealand's South Island, then back here to sell up and pack for Canberra. There will be some amazing scenery in NZ so I'll endeavour to bring back some half decent photos and post them over the next couple of weeks.

Lucky me

2007-09-07T18:30:00.000+10:00

I just bought this beautiful little print from the very talented Belle and Boo from her Etsy shop. Have a look at her blog too - gorgeous drawings and other bits and bobs for children. Now I just have to wait for the postman...

APEC excitement

2007-09-05T17:51:00.000+10:00

Buses have been fitted out with steel in place of glass, ready for the protestors:

Cars on my street are getting the once over with sniffer dogs - you can't see the dog here as he's been put in the boot for a good whiff. The dogs are little black labrador/beagle crosses by the look of them - adorable in their little police vests:

Buses are backed up for miles trying to get into the city. This line goes well back to the other end of the bridge:

Rubbish bins have been taped up with plastic and police tape:

And in the event of super dire emergency like a great bombing from above, they've set up some nice air raid warning sirens and speakers in martin place:

Run for your lives, Bush is here.

More finished objects

2007-09-03T18:11:00.000+10:00

It's another birthday here for yet another fabulous friend, so a suitably fabulous present was needed. Here's my take on the cocktail apron (modelled here on hubby, so looking much more masculine than it does on its recipient):

My fave thing is the bead detailing at the neck - a little martini glass, then the olive with toothpick, and finally the naked olive on its lonesome:

It's also reversible:

Look out Sydney

2007-09-02T08:39:00.000+10:00

It's drunken knit-tagging time again! The folks from Stitch and Bitch and I have been planning to have a few drinks and b0mb Martin Place with knit-tags to celebrate my imminent departure. I'm thinking "I heart Sydney" might be the appropriate label to have hanging off the tags. I've got some crappy bits of leftovers and some nasty fluff I found for 99c a ball at Spotlight and am cobbling them up on big fat needles (you don't wanna waste time on this stuff - it's only going to get rained on). So I'm inviting anyone who wants to take part in a little bit of clandestine activity. Knit something if you can, but if you can't just come along and help put it up. Date to be advised, but it will be after APEC!

Jaunty

2007-08-30T11:39:00.000+10:00

My shopping appreciater at work is away sick and I have to tell someone about my latest scarf purchase, so you're it. You likey?

Blood Moon

2007-08-29T13:35:00.000+10:00

That was the view we had last night of the lunar eclipse. One of Hubby's friends took this photo. We saw the eclipse from a big flat rock cliff about an hour's walk into the centre of Garigal National Park in Sydney. We'd brought champagne and nibblies for dinner and had a great party howling under the crazy red moon.

Change

2007-08-25T12:06:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I resigned from my job.

Hubby's resigned from his too, and we're getting ourselves sorted to pretty much resign from our life in Sydney altogether.

I think this has been coming along for a while. Ever since I had the scooter accident last year we have had to face up to the fact that Sydney is big, congested, expensive place with a pitiful public transport system. Lately my life has been a case of get up, spend a frustrating hour trying to get to work, sit at a desk stressed out til nightfall, spend another hour trying to get home, eat sleep, then do it all again. Somewhere along the way my heart gave out - earlier this year I started getting some scary heart problems. I've always had a condition, but the lack of time to exercise and the stress of the daily grind suddenly made it much worse.

Now I'm in a situation where I can either get dosed up to the eyeballs and risk medication side effects that include hallucinations (which the current dose is already giving me but that's another entertaining story) and psychosis, or I can Choose Life and go for the big super-healthy lifestyle change. I choose Option B, so Hubby and I are heading back to Canberra, where I lived for four years, and where I had been living when I first met him.

So off we go. It'll take us a while to get our shit together as I'm stressed to the max and can only deal with one thing at a time. But sometime over the next couple of months when we've sold up and found somewhere to live down there, we'll make the final move and pick up work. A maybe not so 9-5 kind of work if possible. Maybe something part time with a little something else on the side, but more on that in the weeks to come! I have to keep some things a surprise. :)

It will really sad to go and I might go mad in the first few months just trying to find someone who can serve me a decent chai, but you gotta be zen about these things. It's a healthy move and the right thing to do. So here's to happy changes.

Mr Monocle

2007-08-21T19:58:00.000+10:00

First name Steve, but he's not the kind of boss you can refer to by his first name. He's the kind who watches everything you do, always in the background watching your internet usage, quietly disapproving at best, downright menacing at worst.

He's my attempt at the Denyse Schmidt "Steve" pattern in her book Quilts, and a birthday present for a work friend.

Holiday snaps

2007-08-13T20:26:00.000+10:00

Last week's ski trip was great - had a couple of days at Perisher where the snow was perfect:

A couple at Thredbo where the snow was garbage:

Also had a couple of days just roaming around the countryside in the Snowy Mountains region where I took these snaps:

Hello from the snow!

2007-08-03T17:24:00.000+10:00

We pretty much just came back from the snow and would you believe we are going again tomorrow. Lucky old us. Anyway, this (and work being insanely hectic) is my excuse for being so out of touch with the rest of the world. To make up for it here are some pics of me embarrassing myself:

Not sure how I ended up there...it had all started so well:

This is just a phone photo, but the scenery is still pretty great:

Here's one on the decent camera:

We camped in the car which was pretty cold, but still pretty fun. Don't think I could do it for more than a few days though. each morninig we'd wake up to ice patterns on the inside of the windows (you can see it in the corner of this photo) and our water bottles were totally iced over:

Very dramatic chipmunk

2007-06-20T19:53:00.000+10:00

Oh my lordy. Possibly the funniest thing I've seen for weeks. I still can't stop playing it. Make sure you turn the sound up for this one:

http://www.clipaday.com/videos/very-dramatic-chipmunk

This is pretty funny too:

http://www.clipaday.com/videos/back-to-the-future-metal-version

The unbearable cuteness of being: FO and WIP

2007-06-20T10:17:00.000+10:00

It's been raining for yonks now, which is great, not only because I love love love the rain and crazy stormy weather but also coz it means I'm kept inside sewing.

And what have I been obsessively sewing? More little teeny estrogen-inducing dresses. Them's so cute I can't bear it.

I fiddled with the prototype of the flowery one from the other week. There were a few things about it I thought needed polishing. Here's the new version:

And the back:

Now I'm trying a different colourway, one that I think is maybe more what I would pick for my own bub if I had one:

closeup:

back:

I worked out the size is for a one year old, wearable from about 6mths to 18mths.

Shins

2007-06-10T11:55:00.000+10:00

Hubby and I just got tickets to see The Shins in August - woohoo! Very excited.

On other shin-related news, here are hubby's shins after going for his morning cycle ride. If you've been watching Aussie news I don't need to tell you how crazy the weather has been round the Sydney area. Massive storms washing away roads near Gosford, trees coming down, beach sand near our place washing up over the streets. Hubby ripped off his sodden socks and discovered he was wearing nice footless tights made of mud.

Please tell me it's a joke

2007-06-01T09:36:00.000+10:00

Seriously - this is what I saw at Kikki-K in Chifley Tower. Have Sydney yuppies gone mad?

When I was growing up on the farm you would laugh at the townies who would pay a whole ten bucks for a trailerload of firewood. I never thought I'd see the likes of this:

Another FO!

2007-05-13T18:25:00.000+10:00

I'm just as shocked as you are. Not only did I knit another of those neck-cowl things to keep for myself but I also made a bub's smock dress designed to become a top as the child grows, using a vintage pattern I picked up on the way through country Victoria at Christmas time. I need to work on my stitching, but I think the prototype is pretty cute. Now I just need someone with little girls to see what age it fits....Carla, this may be a job for you! I love the back - so cute:

The pattern, which was put out in the 60's, shows it being worn as a baby dress with tights or little bloomers, or as a toddler top with shorts. I don't have kids, so I can't say, but I'm thinking the bloomers option is pretty outdated now. I can remember back to primary school where the sports uniform was a tunic and big bloomery red bloomers. The elastic at the top of the thigh was so itchy. I could never make a child wear them after having had that experience.

FO from SWMSFS

2007-05-10T12:18:00.000+10:00

I posted a while back about my decision to give up trying so hard with the knitting. While everyone else is talking about what lace project they are going to do next and in what spider-web thread it is going to be made, I have committed myself to being She Who Makes Stuff From Squares. I have bought some mothballs to tuck away with the Rogue jumper - I know I will get back to that complicated stuff sometime but that time is not now. And it's not soon either. I am really enjoying my return to bimbo knitting. Yesterday I popped into a LYS to check out what's good and tasty, and had some fancy new kind of circular needles pushed onto my spend-lovin' self. They were marketed to me as being "really tiny points, great for lace and cables". "HA!" I snorted derisively. Now that I am comfortable with my tag as Bimbo Knitter, She Who makes Stuff From Squares, I am impervious to knitting snobbery. I don't care how many Clapotis you have made - I don't even care what the correct pluralism of Clapotis is. I laugh at your lace. It's seed stitch scarves all the way, baby. And seed stitch neck cowls for skiing too - the one below is for Mum and another one in charcoal is for Dad.

Fluoro

2007-04-29T07:11:00.000+10:00

Some pics we took at the beach and "fiddled with":

Random pics

2007-04-20T12:14:00.000+10:00

Spooky
(Pine forest, Mount Majura)

Expansive
(Lake George, near Canberra)

Awesome
(My delicious new boots)

Pratt by name, prat by nature

2007-04-18T18:02:00.000+10:00

Steve Pratt, Liberal nutter, is one of the dull grey people who insist on keeping Canberra tied down to its humdrum past with their sad notions of what is "proper" and "good". Pratt's decided to "clean up" Canberra by personally removing any bit of graffiti he can find, whether it's a commissioned piece of community art or not! And the piece he found so offensive he had to remove? A picture of people playing frisbee in the park the art was placed in. Frisbee people!!!! What next? Won't someone please think of the children!

Far as I'm concerned, graffiti is great and does wonders for the endless expanses of grey concrete that Canberra was created from. I love it when some kid with nothing better to do really puts their heart and soul into a piece.

What bothers me most about Pratt though - what makes a man so irate about something so inconsequential that he would spend 5 hours of his day scrubbing a wall? Is he perhaps a little unhinged? Isn't there something useful he could be doing?

RiotACT has suggested he take to a little sledgehammering work instead: http://the-riotact.com/?p=4708.

Hello from the ether

2007-04-17T21:11:00.000+10:00

Almost a month since I last posted - I think that's a record for me. Plenty has been happening but where to start?

A trip to a clairvoyant who said I'm having twins sometime in the next two years. That was a bit of a shock I can tell you. And it was even more so when I told Mum about it and she revealed The Family Secret - apparently there's a history of twins in the family!

Lots of crafting bits and bobs. Sewed up some Oxford-size pillow cases - they average around $50 in stores, which I think is nuts. Made a bum-bag tiny enough for Hubby to carry just a phone when he goes on long bush runs. Picked up some brilliant wool batting - I've been hunting a good batting for quilting, and I think I've found it. I hate the synthetic stuff. It makes you feel all sweaty under the covers and it dulls the machine needle really quickly. The cotton stuff is gorgeous, but so expensive. Now I have Matilda's Own wool batting at around $18 a metre (and 6 feet wide). It feels great so I'm looking forward to seeing how it sews up. Then there was a neck cowl for my mum knitted from Patons Inca. No, no pics of any of these. I just can't be bothered - and hands up who really wants to see them anyway?

And then there was the road trip over Easter down to the Snowy Mountains. We stopped on the way through Canberra to check out the 24 hour Solo Mountain Bike Challenge. These guys are nuts. Riding the same course over and over from noon on the Saturday till noon on Easter Sunday. We got a couple of dodgy shots of the action on Hubby's mobile - I forgot to charge my camera so you'll have to excuse the crappy quality of all today's pics:

From there we headed off to the Snowies. The Snowies aren't actually snowy yet, but they are starting to get pretty cold at night. We were camping in the back of the van and there was one morning that we woke up in Thredbo and all the other cars were frosted up but ours. Our body heat had kept it nice and toasty. These are just some shots on the phone again, from the bushwalking we did in the Jagungal wilderness:

And some from the road, when we did the Khancoban loop from Cooma, the long way round to Jindabyne:

And here's one from Thredbo. The mountain bikers there will go down anything!

Next time I've got to remember to charge that camera.

Snaps around Sydney

2007-03-18T08:45:00.000+11:00

Under the Harbour Bridge (which incidentally is 75 years old today):

Manly Beach 7am:

Luna Park:

The bigger the sign...

2007-03-17T07:11:00.000+11:00

...the more evil the candidate.

The Liberals poster. They clearly spent a lot of money not only on the size of the thing but also getting it up there on the cliff:

But ironically, it's the Greens' poster that everyone notices:

Less cash blown and more meaning to boot.

I'm... small

2007-03-13T14:55:00.000+11:00

I'm... cute

I'm... rather metallic tasting

Top 5 Doom 'n' Gloomers

2007-03-09T11:38:00.000+11:00

Here's a meme to end the week.
Some people might think this one macabre, but I prefer to think of it as planning ahead.

Top 5 songs you want played at your funeral.

As in the flick High Fidelity, your list can be updated at any time.
Consider it a living, or shall we say dying, document.

My current draft is:

1. This Monkey's Gone to Heaven (The Pixies)
2. All Cats are Grey (The Cure)
3. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (Cyndi Lauper. It's ironic.)
4. I Ain't Goin' Out Like That (Cypress Hill)
5. Black Celebration (Depeche Mode)

PIC, I'll hand it over to you.

Random leftovers

2007-03-02T16:25:00.000+11:00

I found a few photos from the Tassie trip at Christmas that I couldn't resist adding in.

A view from the centre of the hedge maze at Westbury:

Two bad mo-fo's:

Chair made entirely of golliwogs at the Tip Shop in Hobart:

Junk galore inside the Tip Shop:

A view from the burnt out old church at Port Arthur convict settlement:

And another:

9th Wonders!

2007-02-25T07:47:00.000+11:00

If you have ever been into comic books or graphic novels, I hope you caught the first couple of episodes of Heroes airing on Channel 7 on Wednesday nights. As usual (and as happened with the awesome Firefly series by Josh Whedon) free-to-air telly's promotion of the show didn't reveal the super-cool geekiness that is going to make it another cult success like Firefly, with followers doing what they can to get episodes online. Hopefully, like Firefly, it will also eventually end up on DVD for the less net-savvy folk to pick up.

The show is airing on NBC in the US, and their website gives the most recent episode and a 2 minute catch up. Unfortunately they are well ahead of us, but you can click through the storyboards for the earlier shows to give you a basic rundown, although try to get the actual shows online or from someone who taped it as all the things that will get you hooked are in the small detail. It's also worth noting that the NBC site has graphic novels which seem to be spin offs from Season 2, and the Channel 7 site has some crappy recap videos for the current season.

I never saw it coming.

2007-02-17T19:58:00.000+11:00

I'm 35 - unbelieveable but true.

It happened yesterday.

The folks at work were having an indepth discussion as to whether middle age begins technically at 35 or if perhaps I can stave off that little catastrophe another 5 years. Thanks guys Regardless, I had a pretty awesome day - lots of fun. A day filled with cake, wine, and good food....and balloons delivered to my desk at work! Thanks Carla!

My Bloody Valentine

2007-02-14T09:00:00.000+11:00

This time last year I was getting squished by a truck on the way to work.

Here's a picture of me getting squished.

To everyone who got me through the following weeks - THANK YOU! You guys know who you are.

To the guy who took an illegal shortcut in front of me - Happy Valentine's Day, I hope the judge tore you a new one.

Edit: On a rather geeky note, it's interesting to see that the only piece left of my scooter is about the same size as the piece of metal they used to patch up my arm:

Nice booty

2007-02-10T17:07:00.000+11:00

I've been a-purchasing again after a few months of trying to save my pennies. I guess it was a withdrawal thing - hysteria finally set in and I found myself being drawn to things I can technically live without. It all started with this bag I found at Midas - not only an awesomely scrumptious bag, but also the perfect size and shape for my knitting. A pair of needles can fit flat on the bottom and the base doesn't sag so no need to worry about bamboo needles breaking.

Perfect for knitting on your lap on the bus:

The second thing came from a trip to a new store I've been meaning to visit since it opened up a couple of months ago - The Funky Junk Shop on the corner of Sydney Road and Wanganella Street, Balgowlah. I've been hunting one of these down for ages - a grannymobile for shopping. I've seen a lot of the brown swirly 70s fabric ones but they're not really me. Also found a nice bit of pre-loved fabric.

The buying frenzy finished with a collection of subdued hues from my pusher in Dee Why. I'm think of turning the flowery stuff into a dress, so am now on the hunt for patterns suited to stretch fabric:

On the drawing board...

2007-02-03T12:16:00.000+11:00

It's weeks since I posted but rest assured while I've been holed away in my den I have been up to some crafty things. My Mum gave me a pile of her old sewing patterns for children's toys at Christmas time. Things I remember her making when I was a little girl. Saggy-bottomed frogs with beady little button eyes. Stuffed rabbits and hand-puppets made from scraps of fabric that I recognised from my old worn-out dresses and in new quilts she'd also made from them. When it came to craft, and most things in fact, my Mum was nothing if not resourceful. And still is I might say. So it was no surprise to find her paper patterns cut from discarded architectural drawings made by my father years before.

It's going to be a challenge to make some of these though, to say the least. Most of the patterns have been designed by Mum herself, or copied out of magazines sometime in the seventies. There are no instructions for how to put the pieces together, and in some instances it's hard to tell whether something is a leg or an arm, an ear or a belly section, or what the finished product should resemble. On the phone to Mum I tentatively announced that I would try out the pile of pieces labelled "March Hare". Her response was "Yes, I found that one a little tricky". This coming from my crafting mentor is a foreboding message. Nevertheless, I'll give it a burl. The pieces are cut and ready to go - I just have to figure out which bit to start with first:

Now, to knitting. I haven't really been into it lately. A few months back I got myself into an absolute tizz trying to get through my first piece of lace. I've abandoned that now, and whilst I might one day go back to the complicated stuff, for now all I want knitting for is a bit of fun. Something mindless to watch telly by. And when I say mindless I really mean it. Here's the start of a tea cosy. It's just gonna be two squares stitched up. If I get really crazy I might shape the top but don't bet on it. For now I'm going to be the girl who makes stuff from squares.

I won't get much of it done for a few days though as I'm sick again - nothing serious, but just enough to make me curl up in a ball and feel sorry for myself instead of doing stuff. And enough to stop me going to Stitch n Bitch, which means noone egging me on to knit more. I'll get there in my own good time. But don't hold your breath.

A shrubbery or two

2007-01-16T10:42:00.000+11:00

You might have thought I would stop blogging about Tassie eventually.
You'd be wrong...

Tassie wildlife

2007-01-12T17:20:00.000+11:00

Exhibit A - Tassie Devil:

Exhibit B - Cape Byron Goose:

Exhibit C - Eagle with its next meal:

Exhibit D - The Tasmanian Hiking Wombat (passing us on the trail back from Cradle Mountain):

Exhibit E - The Big Penguin at the town of Penguin:

with friend:

Cradle Mountain

2007-01-10T21:20:00.000+11:00

So back on the trail then...

Cradle Mountain is an amazing walk, my favourite so far. The thing I liked about it so much was the tricky but very rewarding climb at the end. You start off by going to the other side of Dove Lake - this is the popular tourist walk and is mainly decked out with a nice wooden walkway and lovely views.

From there you leave the easy path and head off up the first of a number of steep rises for about an hour.

Then there were about two relentless hours of rough ground to cover:

And then this ridiculous pile of rocks rears its head:

One hour of scrambling up huge square boulders. That post with the orange tip marks the trail - not that you would know. It's a general guide but then you have to figure your own way to the next marker. I took this shot after we had made it up that bit so it's looking down the mountain, but you basically have to climb these enormous boulders until you reach the summit. Pretty exhausting and mentally difficult as you have to think how you are going to make it up in some places. There were a lot of people who we passed on the way at this point who were giving up either because they were too tired and realised they had another four hours of walking to get back home or because they just couldn't figure out how to get past certain points. The weather was changing at this altitude too - it was jumper and jacket weather down on the lake but up here there were freak patches of summer snow still on the ground in places kept cool by always being in the shadows of these huge rocks and the cloud was coming in and chilling things down considerably. The constant climbing though meant that we were roasting and stripping down to one layer.

And the summit - nothing but rocks below and cloud all around! But it was totally worth it. Now for the four hour trek back!

Rest day

2007-01-09T18:15:00.000+11:00

So I was going to be all soothing and holidayish and take you on a photo trip up to the mountains today but then OOPS I got drunk all of a sudden but that's holidayish, right?

The story is this.

The fridge karked it yesterday - I was so restrained not to bitch about it, no? So I've been buying ice in the interim, and after two weeks of living out of an esky, what do you know? I'm doing it again!

But today I accidentally bought too much than required. Of course, logically, this means I have to get rid of some ice. But there's something about my upbringing by people who endured a childhood marked by rationing during the Second World War that won't allow me to waste the ice. So I am using it in bacardi and grapefuit cocktails. As one does in such an emergency.

So now I am incapable of climbing mountains let alone leading anyone else up one. And you thought you would be seeing Cradle Mountain today. Well, can I just say I think it's important to be flexible when you're travelling.