Baxter Interuptus

Sorry about the interruption guys, I just had to pop over and let you know that I have been playing over on Whip-Up . Kathreen of Whip-up asked some bloggers, including me, to do a guest post while she is spending some holiday time with her family. Have you been following the guest blogger series?

I mean you all subscribe to Whip-up don't you?

Its one of the best crafty round-ups on the web...

So here, at long last for some of you I know, are the teeny party turtles.

You can pop over to the sidebar and download the whole kit and kaboodle!Thanks Kathreen, it was fun to have a turn in your chair !

Baxter will be back later today, and just a quick thanks guys for indulging me with my Baxter story. I can't really explain how much I enjoy making all that stuff and setting it up and cracking myself up over little things........anyway thanks.

Could you just lift your feet?

I have been having a bit of a blog-tidy for the start of the holidays. It has always bothered me that when I make stories on my blog, they run backwards, and they have other posts in the middle and generally aren't all that readable.

So yesterday I made two new pages...see up there under the header? I made a new page for Ernst's story and a new page for the Bus Stop story (that bus stop page took hours !!!!! I am not joking, so if it's a bit wonky just don't tell me, I am ignoring it!).

This is one of two cushions covers I whipped up on Monday from the delightful new range of fabrics from the talented Melly for Creative Abundance. The fabric is called 'Where the wind blows' and it features whimsical hot air balloons, little seedy pods , flowers, butterflies, and my favourites, the pinwheels. It also has the teeniest tiny text on it that just killed me when I saw it.

Melly generously sent me a stack of fat quarters - see no matter how much I want to seethe with jealousy over her amazing talents, she subverts me by being totally gorgeous and generous ! This new line of fabric will be available in a few weeks , so have a quiet word in the ear of your local patchwork / craft shop owner and get your hands on some.

Tonight, I am attending the ASG Convention as a guest, after-dinner speaker. In some ways I am quite calm about these speaking things - I mean, I get to talk about sewing and blogging so its not as if I will run out of things to say......but this is the first time I am 'talking' outside my comfort zone. The other times I have always had a fairly stacked audience with at least the odd half-dozen bloggers that I 'blog-know' smiling and nodding at me from their seats. I have to admit to having the weird stomach flip-flops when I think about tonight. I mean this is a guild for goodness sake, a guild ! What if there is a secret handshake? Hell what if they take one look at my 'stuff ' and kick me out.... I'm hoping they serve the audience alcohol at dinner.

Decorum...........

Yesterday afternoon Mr Ric-Rac and I headed off to Bendigo to see, once again, the freaky genius of the John Butler trio. Sometime after lunch Mr Ric-Rac enquired as to whether I had my car-craft planned. YIKES ! With Izzy's embroidered dress completed I had nothing to do....

But there is always something on the back burner... Its not perfect by a long shot, but it was quick and fun and car-friendly

and shows a surprising amount of decorum.......

Obviously I am still not quite myself.

In the nick of time

Holidays have arrived in the nick of time, I was beginning to think that I would never have an un-grumpy day again. I am beginning to think the day-job is not so good for my health. This morning I have put the very very final edits on a pattern and am sending it off in the post on Monday. I rode the black stallion for an hour - yes a whole hour, as in 60 full sweaty minutes....

I know ! I'm a freak. Do you know the secret ? I read while I walk ! yep it takes a bit of balance but in another crazy Jodie-does-deals-with-herself kind of thing, the deal is that I can only read while walking ,so the trick is to get a great book and then I almost actually want* to exercise.

Got any suggestions for me ? I don't do horror or gore and it needs to be a page-turner that doesn't require a PHD to follow.

*want- in an I hate every single sweaty, uncoordinated, uncomfortable step kind of way but if the book is good enough, I just keep turning pages and ignore it.

Motivation

At home today I have been doing deals with myself.

If I get all the pattern pieces drawn and tidied up, I'll have morning tea.

Once I get all the text added to the pattern pieces I"ll have lunch.

Once I edit (again) the pattern instructions and print them.....

I can sew something fun !

my default emotion

To cut a long whiney-butt story short, my default emotion seems to be grumpy. I have four more days to work before the end of term and I am now counting them in milli-seconds.

You know, I am beginning to think that I really am just a grumpy old woman....

who occasionally manages to sew stuff.

premature...

This week is Arts week at the day-job. A whole week of Visual and Performing Arts for 500 kids.

Today was workshop day, 22 one hour workshops run four times each.

Crazy huge !

Hows this for awesome, tiny strips of fabric coated in PVA and wound around balloons. When they are completely dry , pop the balloon and they will look spectacular....

Although I am strangely drawn to the one that suffered premature poppage!

(with huge thanks to Emma of Ballarat Patchwork for the fabric offcuts)

Circles again !

This is the cushion cover front I made at Sewjourn.

A gorgeous wool felt background and wool scrap circles

and this is the arty wobbly shot that is meant to distract you from the fact that a week on, it is still only a cushion cover front!

(oh the winners of the ARK T-shirts were Peta and Robyn, - thanks guys)

No more ideas for you girly, you've used up your quota !

Extreme sports may not be the first thing that pop into your mind when you think of me. But I have come to realise that I am an adrenaline junkie.

You all know there is nothing ...nothing at all like that rush of a new idea. Nothing like the slight frenzy of wondering whether it's really possible. Even the bajillion attempts at getting something right don't usually dampen my ardour.

The figuring out bit, the problem solving is the bit I love the most.

Once I have figured it out?....meh.... I can walk away.

Of course the between ideas times are the worst, I could re-visit half-finished projects. I could even work on some just started projects, I could write instructions for Milligan, I could even draw up the pattern for my new favourite toy. I could take up yoga, clean the house, write letters to the newspaper or start a political party.

But I won't. I'll just sit here with my embroidery A-Z in my lap, practicing stitches that I could never repeat without the book open in front of me. I'll stitch and stitch and practice and be a veritable model of Austin-esque patience.

Long Range Forecast : Scattered tetchiness, with chance of exploding heads.