Running in circles

I am heavily bogged down right now and I think the rest of this week is Me Time. Craft 2.0 is this Saturday and I was so disorganised I didn't even get around to applying to be in it. So this week is going to be spent selling, donating, chucking anything I don't want or need. Our 'house' is something like 50 square feet. So making room for us to move around would probably be appreciated by Dave too. I *might* even be able to put my sewing machine on TOP of the desk!! Oh it makes me almost giddy to think that! The mess has begun to 'eat' the keyboard.


See you in a couple of days!

Spiderpig, spiderpig...

After 8.5 months of being a couple Dave and I went on our second date tonight, our first time going to a movie together. We saw The Simpsons Movie which...well after 18 yrs of them I enjoyed it but didn't laugh that hard. 3 out of 5 from me. However if I get the Spiderpig song out of my head anytime in the next week I'll be surprised!

It wasn't until this evening though so this afternoon I sat down and did my first complete embroidery. I got real linen in a fat quarter swap recently so I cut off a piece, ironed on a Sublime Stitching transfer from my brilliant book and spent several lovely hours sitting on the floor in front of the heater creating this:

Finally!!

We have crafting!! I finally got my hands on some catnip, fixed the tension on my machine before I smashed it to bits and was able to finish the catnip toys I am donating to the cat shelter. The fruit loop at the health food store told me the organics store has it. The capital city and we have one organics store and one health food store. It's a boom town people. Anyway...I did my mental arithmetic about how many bags I would need - I failed high school maths pretty spectacularly. I used less than 2 bags so I have 3 left and I HATE the smell. I will never get through that much left over cat nip for toys for my own br...cats, so I have to pluck up the stomach to make more pouches for homeless cats. Maybe I'll just donate the 3 bags to Health Food Store Fruit Loop for catnip tea.

Photo fest

The buying of the contents of these photos tired me out I had to rest the whole next day. I'm getting old!

First I had to buy some new fabrics. I was forced to really, because I needed some really amazing fabric to offset the bags I intend to make from my new book. I love the black fabric, I shoulda got more.



My new book! My Amazon order finally came. Speedy they are not. Unfortunately my sewing machine tension is out of whack so before I can even start sewing things I need to fix that. The one part of my machine I hate fiddling with.


The Wee Wonderfuls autumn stitchettes (didn't even know I could get them in NZ) and a sublime stitching pattern!





Not to mention more fat quarters last night, which I am just going to ease into my stash quietly so as to feel less guilty about the fact that I will probably never use any of them. Far too pretty to cut into.

And at this point I am going to stop buying craft supplies and MAKE SOMETHING.

Flickr swap group

I am so so busy (translation: running behind) doing things right now that I have no idea what to do first. So my next post will be chock full of photos and things that I have bought/received. Lovely things at that! But until I get my head together I only have time to say that I have started a new flickr group! If you're a flickr member interested in a ribbon and button swap please come join us and have fun!

Signs you may be an IT widow

I am an IT widow. I'm not married but thats not the point. Dave works in IT, and at last count 7 PC's and 2 laptops plus a laptop he's selling for a customer are all in my kitchen. We don't have room for a dining table.

Some of the signs that indicate I am an IT widow:
- The side or top of the PC/PC's are never on. Either because theres parts to add or remove or just because 'somethings playing up'. 'I need to clean out the dust' is also valid for lid removal for up to 2 weeks. In case the dust comes back.



- There's cords strung between PC's (they HAVE to be networked), PC to TV, inter-room, dangling for no reason, ready to be hooked up at a seconds notice. Notice the nice white light cover? Not original. Dave had to buy a new one online after the cords made the original fall off and smash.


- Free bench space? Not in this house. And you can't give these old monitors away now(Except to my pack rat lovely) so they just multiply.


When the IT addict runs out of bench space thats ok cos theres floors too!!

Fabric bandit struck again

Dave obligingly and rather foolishly drove me up to a quilting shop I recently discovered. Oh my. He sat in the car and read the paper while I shopped. The pink and green ones at the back are for my first quilt. The red ones in the front are for my second quilt. The polka dot ones and the fat eighths are flannel and I have my secret devious plans ready for them. Basically I intend to let them sit there for a while while I stress myself into a stomach ulcer that they cost a fortune and I should be using them. Then I'll use them.

Playing tag

Yay! I have my Pay It Forward people! Leslie, Poppy & Mei and Celtic Mommy. Ladies, please email me (in my profile) your addresses so I can get crafting for you!

And Lisa has tagged me! 7 random fascinating facts about me may be a bit of a stretch but here's my turn:
1. I find it incredibly hard to learn almost anything. Guitar, languages, installing lining in a tote, all beyond me.
2. I can't drive. I sat my learners license when I was 16, I renewed it sporadically and here I am, 28 with my 12 yr old learners license. The world is safer this way, trust me.
3. I have my motorbike license. Don't worry, again its just my learners permit. I'm entirely legal to drive a motorbike on the road on my own but after falling off the bike during the test day I don't see it happening. (seriously, it is HARD work riding for the first time)
4. I have a teeny tiny shopping addiction. Honestly I can quit anytime I want to...I just don't want to.
5. I have a large pile of uncut fabric and unread magazines as a result. One day....
6. Officially I can't cook. If you've eaten my cooking you'd agree. Unless you're Dave and then "mmm, it's delicious sweetie".
7. I'm extremely clucky/broody. I'm totally ready for the adventure that is parenting. However my lovely has ED so I don't hold out much hope.

Now I'm supposed to tag 7 people, but I have no idea who hasn't been tagged yet so I'll just tag 3. Oh yeah, I should have written #8. I'm a bit lazy! So I'm tagging Leslie , Kate and Blue Yonder who I realised AFTER has been tagged already. It's hard to find someone who hasn't now.

Teddy With Waistcoat

It was all about priorities today. I found myself at breakfast buttering my toast with a paring knife, eating my toast off a dinner plate and drinking my coke out of a coffee cup. Time to do the dishes? Yep. However, as I said it's all about priorities. Craft inspiration called out loudly from my new Toys To Sew book.

THIS is what the Teddys with Waistcoats look like in the book:



And THIS is what it looks like when I try make the toy featured in the book. Yep, I made a toy that looks like it should!!!


I'm not a handsewer at all, it's a skill I never bothered with it. So after sewing the sideseam shut, the muzzle on, the face and eyes I decided that sewing all the way around the face and ears was not vital, and so I gave up after hand stitching the ears so they stand out. It actually really works too.

It took me hours to make, but I am so so proud of it!! Next on the list: cat and mouse skittles!

female maths: spending on discount = profit

Firstly, a point to note. The catnip is for cats, I didn't get any so yes I will have to brave the loopy lala's at that shop again soon (trying to find another local source if I can) and no, I do not drink catnip tea. I didn't know you could and having smelt catnip I have no idea why anyone would want to drink it. It's like cat food, it must smell good to them cos they always want more but it does NOT smell good to a sane human.

Dave's gone to work so the new additions to my stash have been brought out to be inspected and projects assigned to the favourite pieces.
The reason I actually went into the shop:


The reason I spent so long in there (other than the slooooowwww sales assistant):


I walked in and they had SO MANY good patterns that I was just scooping them all up. And they had 30% off! I actually SAVED money by shopping. Over $20 saved on the fats, which I woulda bought even if they weren't on special and another $5 saved on the felt.

Men don't understand female maths. It works like this. I saved $25 by shopping. So by shopping I was saving money. Very shrewd. The point we don't tell men that would help them understand is that I saved $25 by shopping when I did. Because I would have bought that stuff on special or not. It just woulda cost me $25 more at another time. And so that $25 saved is a profit. Not only did I save money but I earned $25. It's technically a fragile branch of maths and no man has ever accepted that I walked out of the store with a bag of stuff and made a profit but men also don't understand that those shoes don't go with that outfit. Which proves that we know more and therefore it really was a profit I made last night. Duh! Easy!