The elephant in the room

So whilst we all ignore the elephant in the room (which is my distinct lack of any bloggable crafting) I'd also like to point out that I am not in fact ignoring you,

Bloglines seems to be hiccuping a bit at the minute and not updating properly...or updating days after the event ..Crazy ! So I promise I am not actually ignoring your blog or not commenting I am just completely out of the loop it seems.

and here is the project that Rachel loves !

This project started as another experiment in softies. This time I was playing with the feel or hold of a toy (I know that sounds bonkers) but some toys you automatically pick up , they kind of fit ! Does that make sense? These little fellows are just right for hands... They "feel" right...

There is a lot more happening with these guys, I promise, I just can't quite shake the EITTTS to get on with them.

But I can tell you , if the EITTTS hasn't nicked off by Friday when I head to Sewjourn, either my head will explode or I may inflict grievous bodily harm on a complete stranger.....

Hey I wonder of the EITTTS argument would stand up in a court of law?

"Sorry your honour, but I haven't sewn all week, everything went wrong and then I was walking up the street and he kind of smirked at me like he knew I would never craft again, that it was all over......he just knew I had quick unpicked for three solid hours....and I just don't know what came over me....."

Yesterday (with apologies to those nice young boys from liverpool)

Yesterday,
All my talents seemed so far away,
now my unpicker is here to stay,
Oh, I really sucked yesterday.

Suddenly,
I'm not half the crafter I used to be,
There's a shadow hanging over me,
Oh, EITTTS* came suddenly.

Why it
went to shite , I don't know, I couldn't say.
I did, nothing right,
yes, I sucked yesterday.

Yesterday,
craft was not an easy game to play,
and my projects need to hide away,
Oh, I really sucked yesterday.

*E.I.T.T.T.S (Everything I touch turns to shit)

- An unfortunately strange and re-occurring malady previously referenced here and here...

Stay alert , my friends.

and the choir of angels cleared their throats

Still hamstered guys, running running , getting nowhere - or that's how it seems.

I am crafting like a little beaver (do beavers craft?) to get my projects finished for the July retreat.

It is filling up quickly ! and Melly has posted a sneak peek of one of her projects over on her blog!

In blog news I made some new blog pages, (see up there under the header) Belinda showed me how and even though mine are pretty dull, I am mighty excited to add the Quilt Barn to my list of stockist - I mean Idaho may as well be on the moon, such is my chance of ever setting foot there, but it tickles me pink nonetheless.

In Flickr news - I have made a new group where you can put photos of stuff you have made using my patterns or freebies, tutorials or scribd download patterns. I'll try and figure out one of those little picture widgets for the side bar at some time. I really love seeing other peoples versions and adaptations of ideas.

and the choir of angles lined up (as they do) at the finish of a new project.....and they cleared their throats, and shuffled a bit and looked at their shoes. Their songbooks rustled and they picked imaginary lint from their gowns.

I wanted to love this project - I wanted you guys to love this project, I wanted voices lifted in song !

* sigh*

They couldn't even hum a few bars...

I'm totally hamstered

So Monday (with the new skirt ) was quite possibly the highlight of the week. It seemed to all go to hell in a hand basket after that.

I think we need a name for that feeling where you are running as fast as you can but going nowhere......
So I am suggesting "hamstered."
As in , "Man I have been totally hamstered all week."
"Watch out ! That new boss will hamster you"
"I can't this week, it's Hamster central , hows next week?"


So, I've been hamstered all week in weird crazy ways ..but tonight there was small hamsterless window....and although I love you all dearly - you know I do....
That one sweet hamsterless hour - was spent with David

he sent his regards

a small ruckus...

As a co-worker pointed out, today was the second time I have worn a skirt to work in about 5 years.

But what a skirt it was ! On Saturday Annie and I went to Daylesford to visit The Makers Market. Of course we popped in and visited Lark and I also popped into ThreadNeedle craft and Purls Palace to show off my first completed project for the retreat.

At Purls Palace I was looking at this fabric when Annie suggested it would be a good school skirt. I agreed and then she kind of dared me to not only make a skirt by Monday but to actually wear it !

Hows that !

So off I trotted this morning, in my skirt - it cause a small ruckus in the staffroom I have to say..and even though I felt a bit nekid and breezy I have decided that I can do skirts, and quite obviously I can make them ...(No-one pointed and giggled and said how home made it looked)

So now maybe I am a wearer of skirts.

The skirt is an adaptation of Amy Butler's A line skirt from the Barcelona skirts pattern.

Voila!

(and because I believe in truth in blogging- you have to know there's a good six or eight inches of fatty boombalatta coverage pinned in the back to hold the skirt on the mannequin)

The apparently ugly

The good........50% off fabric today at Lincraft. I popped in to get a zipper but I cannot resist linens at the ridiculous price of $6.49 / metre.

The bad.......

The $209.00 calculator that master 15 HAS to have for school...Why is it we have to buy new and improved and increasing expensive calculators every year - has someone invented a whole new slew of mathematical theorems that the older calculators can't deal with ?

The Apparently UglyMy suggestion for guaranteed loss prevention.

something along the lines of "I am going to staple gun this bloody thing to your forehead"

but said with love of course......

The Quilt, The whole Quilt and nothing but the Quilt.

So, this is how the story has been told to me. Once upon a time there was a ravishingly beautiful not-so-young maiden. She lived in a wonderful place called blogland, an enormous land ,fertile with ideas and inspiration, vast and seemingly endless.

It came to pass that it was soon to be the ravishing not-so-young- maidens birthday, so her friends gathered together and put out the call across the land of blogs for contributions to a wonderful and magical quilt that would be given to the not-so-young maiden to celebrate her slow disintegration into old age.

The land of blogs was abuzz ! People from far far away responded to the call. The beavered away in their homes and in the streets. They worked until their fingers bled, for this was to be no ordinary quilt. No , it was to be a quilt made of the teeniest of slivers, strung together to form a magnificent whole.

Pieces arrived from near

Annie , Emma , Rachel , Pam , Sonya

and far

Catherine , ChookyBlue and Fairy Girl , Louise , Cathy , Gillian

and from the deepest darkness corners of blogland

Lucy , Trash , Gina , Katy

For many many days Emma worked to bring all the pieces together, she worked night and day gathering and adding each block to the ever growing quilt.

At last the day came for it to be presented to the not-so-young maiden.

There was small gathering and a formal presentation. There were hugs and gasps and much much joy in the heart of the not-so-young and lets be honest, not-even-close-to-ravishingly-beautiful maiden.

The not-so-young-maiden feels humbled and touched and a thousand times lucky to have gathered these (and many many more) friends across the vast and rolling internets of blogland.

Thank you.

Of all the sneaky, devious, underhanded

things people can do......

This would have to be the most unexpected......

I sit gobsmacked !