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.