Secret Squirrel post...shhhh

Firstly, yay!! I have two people on my PIF list so I need one more person to Pay It Forward to! To the two who are participating, I'll be in touch!

Secondly, you have to listen close. Dave's <<<<-----in there and can't know exactly how much I bought this evening. I went to a store tonight that normally doesn't have good fat quarters at all. I mean only bad ones almost. I wanted some felt and not only did I get some amazing felt squares I got 14 fat quarters that make my eyes water, they're just so pretty! I'll post a photo once Dave is safely at work.

Until tomorrow what I can safely show you is this book I bought a couple days ago. It was so cute and surprisinly for Borders incredibly cheap. And the projects!! A fabric tea set! And cat and mouse skittles!! Now you know why I had to buy the felt!! I feel a major craft binge coming on!!



I didn't think today was going to start off too well when I woke up and sneezed (morning hayfever, such fun) a big glob of phlegm onto one of the cats!! I didn't realise that was the reason he shot out the door until later! But felt, fabric and oncoming craft binge....good day!!

Pay It Forward

I am participating in the Pay It Forward blog movement! Good news for you as, if you decided to participate, this means I will send you a gift, made by me to the first 3 peeps who leave a comment. You will receive your free gift within 365 days, the only thing you have to do in return is PAY IT FORWARD by making the same promise on your blog.

Full moon freaks

Some very odd happenings today, and to be honest a pretty crap few days.
Two standout things. The first was a conversation. The health store was out of catnip so alas, the catnip toys will have to wait a couple of weeks. This is the conversation I had with the freaks behind the counter (and freaks is being nice about them):

Sane Girl(SG): Do you know when you're getting more catnip?
Loopy Girl(LG):Ahahahaaaahhahaa(in a random tone)
Permanently stoned guy(PSG): We'll be getting some in...soon. I had catnip tea last night and I gave some to my flatmate and she started turning into a cat.
LG: Ahahhhaaaahhhaaa
SG: Thinks: he's a winner Says: oh. This is for an ACTUAL cat.
PSG: Oh ok. Are you a cat person? Do you become a cat?
SG: Thinks: get me out of here! Says: No
LG: Ahhhhaaahhhhaaahahahaha
PSG: I'll make a request for us to get some catnip in. Tell your cat it won't be long.
SG: OK. *rolls eyes*

The other noteworthy thing: a fabric purchase! And a big one for me too, 4 different fabrics! I felt like dancing because it can be hard to find worthy fabrics there. The goldfish one is even a Heather Ross print.


A perpetual calender panel:


Today has been so crap other than the fabric score that I had to take myself off to bed for a long nap. You are never too old, young, whatever for a good, long, refreshing nap.

Randomness

- I have a confession. I don't do cross stitch. It seems like I am sometimes the only crafter who doesn't. Most importantly because I am enjoying learning to embroider so much I have noticed all embroidery magazines seem to be 'cross stitch and embroidery' magazines. It seems like people think you must enjoy one if you enjoy the other and you're less of a crafter if you don't cross stitch. I tried cross stitch but stitching xxxxx repetitively made me want to poke my eyes out with the needle. I have much respect for those who can do it, some of the patterns are incredibly complex, but personally it's filed right next to Greek and guitar as things I will just never be good at.

- This is my 300th blog post in this blog. Thats as close to a blogiversary as I will ever get.

- It was Dave's and my 8 month anniversary yesterday. I'm always surprised when we make it to another month but I'm totally happy.

- I'm not big on punctuality at times. Yesterday I bought Dave his 6 month anniversary present. Around the 6 month mark I bought him his birthday present, also 2 months late. I get there in the end.

- I finally came up with something for my other swap partner. Don't look too closely, it's not my best work.

A random act of kindness and one of stupidity

I decided it was time for another random act of kindness. That really means that I finally thought of something to do. So far I have:

• donated 12,000 air miles to a sick childrens charity
• sent cards to friends on the other side of the world for no reason

This time I decided to make some catnip toys for a cat shelter. Originally I thought of the SPCA but the shelter here is so up themselves I honestly doubt the cats would even get the toys. :( So I decided to give them to a plain cats only shelter, along with a couple of cans of cat food.

So last night I made 10 little pouches, ready to sew up once filled with catnip. I plan to do about 20 in total.



On another and completely dumber topic I have truly outdone myself in stupidity. When I bought the Wizard of Oz recently I just picked it up and bought it. You have to act fast to beat the professional thrifters (I'm still semi-pro: I sell for profit but not terribly successfully). SO I got it home and put it on a shelf. Fast forward a week and I picked it up to look at it. Flicking through it I saw some of the pages were upside down. I turned it over to find...a whole new book. Yep, it took me a week to notice The Prince and the Pauper on the back half. I have reached a new level.

If anyone asks its meant to be that shape

I have my first swap-bot swap underway at the moment and I have two swap partners. The first is easier because her profile is very thorough. We have only got $5 to spend on each partner and so I decided I'd make a pincushion. Originally it was a circle but circle pincushions were not my best work at school. When I came back to sewing after 10 yrs I was 100x better, so I suppose I hoped that I could now magically make a circle pincushion. No, still can't. So it's offically "shaped like the flower". The linen holds up really well, it looks good.



It's when you turn it over to the cotton side that you start to really snigger and point. I cut little splits all the way around the inside seam to stop puckering, but alas. So I stuck a ribbon loop in the top to distract people. I bet all you can think is how it clashes with the cotton...see, distracted ya didn't I? My ribbon stash is only 5 months old, I only had 2 jars to choose from.


After I gave up on it last night I started fiddling with my sewing machines fancy stitches. I bought it 4 months ago for the fancy stitches, I kinda figured I better use them. Alas $600 doesn't buy you any fancy ducky or flower stitches though but this is one of the prettiest:

Nearly better

The cleaning bug has mostly passed other than a few light urges to wipe stuff which I manage to resist. It got bad at one point yesterday when I found myself ironing a couch cover. You know how big those things are? Luckily the fever broke and I'm in an exceptionally crafty mood now.

My little ironing helper:


I spend so long trying to find my desk to craft on that the crafting part often doesn't happen but I found myself with free time and enough desk space to do something. And since the ironing board was already out....I tried the first page of my Sublime Stitching book that I got months ago.

My first attempt!!!


May I draw your attention to the beauty that is my first try at stem stitch and the first successful french knot.



I'm a little bit giddy that I actually did these so well!

Don't tempt fate

Fate is a bitch. It's apparently not a good idea for me to write about how my day is feeling a bit off kilter because apparently fate reads my blog and thought "oh ho! You think that's a shit day? THIS is a shit day!" It's really just little things but together they all add up to an atomic wedgie from the universe. For the second time this week I have had a fleeting yet traumatic glimpse of what the girl upstairs would look like in underwear if their door wasn't frosted. Frosted glass I love you!! A classful of kids at the library turned an in-out trip into a mission. I undercharged postage yet again on a sale. Etc etc.

Plus I think I'm sick. I have a c...c...c...cleaning bug. I've only got a mild dose (fates chuckling right about now) so far but it's enough to scare me. I've put the clean dishes away (I volunteeraly washed them yesterday, an early symptom of this affliction), washed, dried, folded and put away a full load of laundry. Yes, there is space on the bedroom floor folks. I've emptied Dave's undies and socks drawers of the stuff so ratty I wouldn't put it on a scarecrow - he'll probably want to wear it if he sees it's being thrown out, he's a total pack rat. Sometimes I vaguely worry that he'll turn into one of those creepy old people who has hoarded so much stuff that every room is full and you have to take a running push to get the door open.

Anyway, dishes, laundry, and now I'm actually off to do ironing and vacuuming. Yep, cleaning activities that require plugging things in and setting stuff up to do it. Send help, I'm starting to get worried now.

On the bright side I sat in the sun down near the shops and watched the freak show that is suburbia pass by. Since some of the individuals scare me a little I played it safe and took a photo of my feet. As you do.

Crafting for sanity

You know what I mean. It's been days since you made something, you're dying for a good fabric hit, theres no glue on your fingertips, the paint is long dry. You gotta make something!!! But what??

The books are piled so high around here waiting for someone to buy them and give them a new home that I am genuinely scared to touch the piles in case they come thundering down and squash stuff. There is already a CD orphaned under the fridge from a spill last week that we haven't yet rescued. So I can't move a lot around and make much space. It has to be a small craft. So I decided a couple of pincushions will numb the pain nicely. But I have to know...what do you stuff your pincushions with?? Just regular old stuffing? Steel wool covered in soap to keep them sharp? Craft sand?

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