Saturday 9 August 2014

Look, look, here's another one!!



I've been doing the FatMumSlim Picture a Day challenge over on the 'Gram (thank you, Millennium Housewife, for pointing out yet another aspect of a scene that completely passed me by (illicit pharmaceuticals...) because I was (and still am) so boring and straight when it comes to all that stuff...), and it's been ... interesting (the 'FMSPhotoaday Challenge, not being boring and straight!!), and I've had loads of "likes" from people from all over the world, which is lovely. 

My photo of the theme for yesterday, "Pet Peeve", wasn't very good (it was a very blurry shot of some filthy smoker's filthy droppings - yes, Gentle Readers, a cigarette butt.. and interestingly, my good friend Mr UBeaut58's sister (got that bit?) (with whom I went to school, but with whom I was not particularly friendly) even 'liked' my photo, which is a first for me!  

Today's theme was "mix", and I just took a photo of some of the boxes of fabric in the Room of Requirement, showing their labels.  I thought it was pretty nifty, but.. so far... only four likes.  Oh well.  Just goes to show you... not everybody has my excellent taste :-D

In Fabric Addiction news, I bought some nice Joel Dewberry fabric from lovely Ruth at SewLoveFabrics (she always has such as great selection):

Birch Farms by Joel Dewberry, Fat Quarter Set in peacock sage

So much for my no-buy July.  I'm thinking about "Ought-not-to-August", but it doesn't have quite the same ring.

In other news of fabulousness, I bought some beautiful midnight blue velvet and some grey polar fleece today.  What do these two fabrics have in common?  Well, Gentle Readers, I'm going to do the Christmas Market at Mona Vale (NSW), on 7th December [contingent on actually getting a stall!] and I've decided to make a huge Bilby to lure in the kiddies so their unsuspecting parents can buy lots of goodies from my stall... 

I went to Officeworks today & spent about $20 having the pattern sized up into ridiculousness, and tomorrow I'm hoping to cut out this monster... keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't fall off the worktable & crush me when I finally finish stuffing it.  I'm estimating three 1kg bags of wadding to fill it, but it could be more...I'm thinking of raffling it off, with proceeds going to Save the Bilby Fund... Thoughts?

Here's a picture of the bigger guys having some fun outside - don't you just love Mr Purple's pants?  What a groover...



And in getting out and about news, I've splashed out and I'm going to Urban Stitches in Sydney!  I'm pretty excited about this, because it should be such a fun day, and I'm hoping to come home with some lovely handmade stuff... I'm only doing the Saturday (it was $180 for one day), so if you're going, and you see a dumpy dark haired lunatic there by herself, that'll be me.  I'm thinking of wearing my "I'd rather be sewing' shirt from Erin at Dog Under My Desk, but would that be too ... obvious?  Possibly.

And that, Gentle Readers, is that.  I've finally finished removing my old presence from the old laptop, in preparation of its donation to Master E, and now I'm going to sit in front of the fire & gentle rub Mr Golightly's head.  It's as good for him as it is for me.  And with that disturbing thought firmly in your minds, I'm gone!

Ciao!


Monday 4 August 2014

Where did that go again?

Well, the new job is in full swing.  Amazingly nice people, full of all the flaws of people everywhere, but the atmosphere is so much nicer than ...that other place... even with the normal stresses and strains of work...

And here's the view from the building:


And on a good day, we get to see this:


which was really spectacular, but shows a bit of reflection of the office interior, if you look too closely, so don't, OK?

It's going swimmingly, so far.  I like my colleagues, my boss, the work.  I love not having to drive to work, but I'd forgotten how annoying the general public can be, especially with things like moving to the back of the bus, taking your backpack off so you don't clobber everybody with it on the way through, turning your headphones down so the leakage doesn't drive everybody nuts... and not covering your face when you cough or sneeze.  Ick.

I really love that the post office has parcel lockers under our building, and I've registered to use them (it's free!) and all my etsy purchases turn up there now.  I've brought home some amazing parcels and I think my new colleagues think I'm a bit whacky... 

Hmmm, what else?  My lovely nephew and niece-in-law (heh?) had their baby and I'm a great-aunt - it's probably just as well - my sewing room was starting to get a bit full of toys for the baby:


I can count seven here...the giraffes and the red bilbies all went off to Miss EE when we were first introduced.  The Turtle is still here, but the other bilby went off to Master IPL for his second birthday; it's in the same fabrics as the quilt I made him for his first:


This was one cute Bilby, too:


and by all accounts he was quite pleased.  I also sent one off to London, for Miss A, who was turning 3:


Don't you just love the flowers?

And in completely unrelated news, we just came back from a fabulous weekend in the beautiful Hunter Valley, getting some canine therapy, and doing what we do best - I made cushion covers:


Plus two other yellow ones, including one with piping, to go with the quilt I bound - I don't have a picture of quilt with binding, but I'm pretty sure MGF Kaz will provide one if I ask nicely.  She's good like that.

And I photographed a couple of things for the FatMumSlim PhotoADay Challenge, which I'm doing for August, over on the 'Gram (that's Instagram, for you older peeps - I'm IsabellaGolightly26, and I'd love you to come on over & have a look at my pics.

Today's theme was "In the Middle".  



Isn't it fantastic?  The whole display is just gorgeous... but the photo was taken with the phone, so it's not great.  Plus the smell of a tonne of moo poo was making my eyes water a bit.  Mr Golightly & Az spent a lovely morning doing what they do best, shovelling it all over the garden.  You gotta love the countryside.

What was that?  You want to know about the baby?  Oh!!!  She was 49cm, 3kg and looked like a blob.  That's official, from her extremely proud father.  We saw her at a week old, and she slept happily in my arms for 2 hours.  That's a first for me, I can assure you.  We're hoping to catch up with the delighted parents very soon, so more news as it comes to hand (I know, I can't believe it either - I'm excited about a baby!!).  And so, amidst all this excitement, it's off to bed.  Ciao!