Shoes

Reading blogworld today, I thought I'd play along with the current My Place and Yours meme via Punky & Me... Show us your shoes. I'm not really a shoe person. They don't make me drool or want to hand over all my cash for a pair that I just *have* to have. Having said that though, I seem to have well over a hundred pair, and that's after culling. But honestly I'm a bit *meh* about them. Requirements are cute and comfortable, and rarely heels. Oh, I'd love to gad about all gorgeous like this girl with wee vintagey heels but oh! my! ankles! So I had no idea what photo I was going to post ...until I got home.


Yes I guess my fave shoes are my brown Havianas, and here's the Anti-Bobbins (aka Ninja) proving that kittens and spools of cotton aren't just a chocolate box cliche.

February

...or as I have christened it "Granruary".

As I was driving to work this morning, I was pondering the fact that I think February is one of my favourite months of the year. We still have beautiful Summer weather in Melbourne, and the holidaying hoardes are all safely encased back at work and school. Life returns to normal, yet it's a Summery relaxed normal. This time last year I was housesitting the Stanley cat in Albert Park, and in retrospect it was a life changing experience for me. For the better I think. Happy February everyone!

[image source - and you can buy yourself this calendar here.]

Sunday

(Who doesn't love that song?)

Another day for me camped on couch resting the knee. Ably assisted by Ninja, (read: yarn and Steph continually attacked) I sewed some of the granny squares together into a 3 row rectangular configuration. I haven't woven in all the ends yet as I value my sanity at the moment.

Last night while couchbound I was staring at this spot across from me:

...thinking that it looked a bit bare. So after a wee think, I decided to move roadside chair out of the bedroom and into the lounge. And then draped granny malarkey over it so I could admire my handiwork to date:

And a cushion (yes, made from an old tea towel) and some flowers for good measure. Roadside chair was much more attractive upholstery-wise before it met Lola. Of course it's only still looking tidy because Ninja is asleep under the coffee table and hasn't realised there's "new toys" there yet.
Methinks I might return to embroidery for a bit this evening, I'm a bit grannied out.

Nickel

Almost slept a full eight hours last night
I only dreamt of you a couple of times
We were at a party holding hands
Drinking a glass of wine

Took the pictures down off of the wall
It didn’t hurt too much at all
‘cept for the ones from Mexico
Under the bright sunshine

Like pocket change, my moods range
From one day I’m a quarter, the next I am a dime
Today I feel like a nickel, but I’ll be fine
I may look like a nickel, but I’ll be fine

Couple of friends rang me up this week
Wondering why we never speak
I just ignored the telephone
Lived like an island

Like pocket change, my moods range
From one day I’m a quarter, the next I am a dime
Today I feel like a nickel, but I’ll be fine
I may look like a nickel, but I’ll be fine

And I don’t understand a thing these days
I just try to walk a line
Hoping one day I will be feeling fine
I thought of calling you today
Don’t think we have too much to say
Just a silence through the wires
And an ache and desire

Like pocket change, my moods range
From one day I’m a quarter, the next I am a dime
Today I feel like a nickel, but I’ll be fine
I may look like a nickel, but I’ll be fine

~ Steve Poltz

[ Nickel Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com/ ]

More granny marlarkey

When I got up this morning and saw that Roman Holiday was on the teev this afternoon, I decided that I'd indulge in some Audrey and Granny Malarkey today.
First a stocktake:
Squares finished and joined = 25
Squares finished at hand = 7
Squares works in progress = 3 (actually they're circles at the moment)

The view from here:


And the film:



Actally it's not really one of my all time favourites, but there's no doubting it's charm. And a good way to spend a lazy Saturday afternoon.

End of day update: added another 7 to squares finished. :)

Granuary

Fluffing around on teh interwebs and blogz lead me to Mike's blog...and I thought, "yes, let's make a commitment to this blanket malarkey for at least a month"...so I'm going to try and do a granny-a-day until the end of February. I'm not sure if Ninja attacks will slow down my progress, but we'll see how we go.

And you know what? I also found a link via that same post to a great bookseller...and they even have the Thoth tarot that I've been trying to find for the fella. Ta Pip.

Glummer

Thank you for your kind words re my glumness. I have big issues with dealing with my depression, as in my previous relationship, my partner thought he was to blame for any unhappiness on my part, and as such didn't like me "being a sad sack all the time." So I struggle with the putting on a happy face thing, as well as feeling guilty for when I feel bad, irritable, or just plan sad. Still working on that one. Today I haven't improved much and had a bit of the meltdown at the chemist trying to get a script because all their computers were down and so it took about 40 minutes to get anything done. And then their EFTPOS didn't work. They were lovely but I was in pain and cranky...so me being me, instead of cracking the shits, I burst into tears. Oh dear.

Anyway, whining aside, I have been cheering myself up by playing with the blog template (thanks Aimz!) And lunchtime yesterday I indulged in a wee bit of retail therapy to perk myself up:

What did I buy you ask? Those little curvy mirror frames that you can see in the left of the photo. They stick onto the wall (although I've blu-tacked them up) and I put a couple of my favourite postcards that I received in swaps years ago in them. As I'm renting, I've been using those 3M removable picture hooks...but with the hot weather, I had three come off the wall, so I'm a bit loathe now to hang anything solid up above my little glass collection (as two framed prints, and a mirror have fallen off in that spot, but miraculously nothing broke). The curly stuff will also match something I'm currently coveting from Ikea.
The other thing I bought in my cheer-up-retail-therapy was a set of these, I was excited to find them in the gift shop across from work as I'd been eyeing them online but could only find them on overseas sites. Oh and an orange felt table mat from Annabel Trends as you know I'm loving orange these days. When you're depressed, nest? hmm....

Purrrrr

Just a pic...from here.

Glum

Is definitely how I'm feeling today...maybe it's the dreaded hormones, maybe I'm tired, maybe it's the fact that I've done something to my knee and the pain is irking me considerably, but all in all I'm fighting off tears right now. Thankfully the phone hasn't rung for a bit, so I can sit here in solitude and sulk...you know when your perspective gets skewed and the bad seems to outweigh the good? That's me today. I am sure this will pass, but I have to get through work, when I'd much rather be asleep in bed. You know you're a bit out there when you talk to someone for five minutes on the phone, tell them you'll sort out their problem, hang up and then say "Who was that?" realising you forgot to get their name. Sigh.

So in the interests of cheerfulness, I'm going to borrow this pic from the lovely Dottie Angel, as it makes me smile every time I look at it. Thank you.

Hump Day Crafting Roundup #2

...aka the post where I attempt to avoid all "humping" innuendo. (and fail).

Speaking of humping, as I write this, the news on the radio is telling me that "Tiger Woods is undergoing treatment for sexual addiction"...pfft, I'm sorry but personally I think that's a load of bollocks. He could, so he did. End of story. Now there's an ad on the radio for "Total Tools"...how apt. I don't know about you, but I get a bit fed up hearing about how "hard" celebrites have got it. Gimme a break.

Anyway, the craft, not the humping. The past week has mostly been about a visit from the Fella, so the craft has been a bit neglected...but not the humping. (Okay I can't help myself! Sorry... TMI.) The project of my week has been the beautiful Delilah, who appeared in my inbox last Wednesday afternoon and has been providing me with stitching joy ever since. I'm actually at the stage where I just want to finish it off and hang it up as I want to move onto something new. (Am I the only person with this problem? Once my crafty thing takes shape and I can picture the end result, I lose interest.) Here's Delilah's progress to date:


Alas I will not be able to finish her tonight, as I have fallen victim to a suburban affliction ~ hosting a Tupperware party. Like every hardcore op-shopper, I love vintage Tupperware...but I'm also partial to a nice Rock'n'serve too. Plus Ninja will love the visitors.


[image from here. Yay.]

Hump Day Crafting Roundup #1

For want of a better title. My lovely bud Cam commented the other day that I appear to have my crafting mojo back and I'm tending to agree. I'm actually out of the doldrums a bit and interested again. I attribute my 2009 crafting FAIL to this theory:


So for my own self-indulgence, I'll try and remember to regularly post a round up of my endeavours for the week.

Tally this "week":
- semi-finished the deer embroidery (I still want to fill in its antlers and add a bit of a border.)
- pieced together my cutesy Japanese quilt-top (this project is at a temporary standstill...do you know how hard it is to sort quilt batting and a quilt-top with a 9 week old kitten trying to help? I think I might ask the fella to help me on the weekend with the assembly.)
- started a deery pillowcase embroidery (using this pattern.)

This post at Pip's made me gasp! So pretty! She's all about granny squares this month, which reminds me of my Granny Malarkey. It's currently safely stashed in the spare room wardrobe, after the Ginja Ninja unravelled some knitting recently. I'm trying to work out how I can crochet without piquing a small kitten's interest. I take my hat off to all of you crafty mums out there, how do you get crafty creations done with kidlets around full time?
For a bit of eye candy, from the same Flickr in the link above, a pic of grannies and a ginger! Easy to see why it appealed to me:

And of course, never letting the grass grow...(actually that should be my motto!)...I etsy'd this pattern today from Badbird. Oooh I love Delilah! I'm impatiently waiting for her to arrive in my inbox so I can start.

I'm also having the urge to go scope out Savers. This is bad of me because a) I can't afford it b) I should go and clear more of my stuff out of my old house rather than buying more and c) I really should try and curb some spending. But Murphy's Law... if I go there today, we all know there'll be a $25 art pottery vase that wants me to buy it... if I don't go... hmm... what treasures will I miss? (The pillowcase stash needs replenishing.) Am I a greedy pig? Argh!

I like this

This sweet pic I found on Flickr this morning has given me an idea for a project.

Image source.

Speaking of Flickr, I started a new account yesterday. My Drewzel pro-account had run out, and I'm a wee bit...well VERY annoyed that they hold you to ransom by making lots of your photos unavailable unless you renew. Grr.

Look up

This one's for the fella. x

Image source

OMFG

...is not a phrase I often utter, but it was the one that came to mind when I saw this incredible tattoo on Flickr this morning! EEP!

Link to pic.

No this is not my tatt, but I so wish it was! Apart from the gorgeous design, the ink is excellent.

And in a similar vein, look at this tattoo design:

This one's by Sunny Buick. So much love. (A pic of the finished ink is here.)

Rainy Day

Today as supposed to be catch up on housework day, but as it was cold, overcast and rainy, it became couch day. I had grand crafty plans, but then decide that my lounge room wall needed a portrait of a deer.

Sublime Stitching came through for me of course. ('Forest Friends' pattern.)

So this was the view most of the afternoon for me:


And for Ninja:


As I write this, the wind is threatening to blow us all away, and the rain is coming in all directions. And I'm trying to keep the cat from destroying the kitchen. Hopefully I'll get the deer finished tomorrow, and maybe I'll do some housework too. But I wouldn't bet on it.

Carnival

This clip sort of sums up why I like the city so much.

Eye Candy

Via Flickr here.

Yay!

Trying to organise Peninsula Brown Owls. More info here.

Syd's and No fog, no frost!

Normally I'd put this on Bernice, but it just appealed to me so much I thought I'd put it in here today. An old pic of Chatham railway station, look at the empty fields and lovely old houses...I want to go to Syd's and get some furniture!

The image isn't dated on the site, but I'm guessing early 1920's?

A google to try and find a current picture of Chatham was fruitless, but I did find this interesting article. I'm rather attached to old railway stations, as I grew up right near the Creswick one.

Oh yes, we have a Centro where Mornington railway station was, because the world needed another Coles, Priceline and Target. Yeah.

Speaking of Mornington, from the same site, check out some of these travel posters:

Image source

Image source

Image source

All these posters don't change the fact that my Kodak is currently still broken after being nom'd by Lola.

And here's one of the few pics I could find of Mornington station, I'm thinking that the "well known identity" is Santa on his day off. Ho ho ho.

Borrowed

Okay so I pinched this pic from here because it made me laugh. Such juxtaposition...was it intentional? Chortle.

Wee china animals

Over time I've gathered a little collection of wee kitsch china animals. My only rules are cute, super-kitsch, and reasonably priced. (No Savers I am not paying $8 for a silly china ornament...the squirrels stayed there. Grr). The latest additions are the kitty head biscuit jar and the little broken bird...both came home with me from my last Adelaide visit. On the weekend, after Ninja chipped the pair of yellow kittehs, I decided to put them all up on the shelves above my stove. Only thing it really needs now is some cute paper/fabric up on the wall behind them and it's kitsch-a-rama.

Oh dear, blurry photo, I'll take another one tonight and replace it. I SOOOOOO want a new camera.

* just for the record, Ninja is not to blame for breaking the hat-wearing kitty pepper shaker, that was me, I knocked it off the top of the fridge.

Weathered by time

Image source

Coming from country Victoria, as I do, I grew up seeing heaps of these sort of buildings in the paddocks. They always intrigued me, ever since I was a little kidlet. Who lived there? I'd try and imagine the house in it's heyday, when it was full of people and life.

Image source
Can you imagine the family sitting around the fireplace at night? I can.
Image source

A couple of Christmases back, I remember seeing this one and taking a photo... accidentally coming across this pic on Flickr today reminded me:


Here's my pic, taken Boxing Day 2007 (from the car):

Still there, still beautiful. Well I think so.

Life

Not often you get a snippet of my non-crafty life on here, but here's a very bad quality cameraphone pic of me and the fella.

Just cause it makes me smile.

Stop!

Yes, stop. Now.
Found via Ms Cate, thanking!
Love this.
Yes. Oh yes.

Quilty

This afternoon I hid from the heat and decided to sew my bits'n'pieces of super-cute Japanese fabric into a quilt top. I came to to the conclusion that my love affair with the sewing machine is over, as I can't say I really enjoyed the sewing part...but I pieced together most of the top. Next move is to actually put some batting in and back it. Apparently Franga spotty have red and white striped bias binding, so that will do for the edges. As with all my projects, watch this space though, as I might even finish it next year...

Some industriousness

Most of Saturday I was cranky and irritable (damn hormones) and it was too hot to tackle the outside world anyway, so I spent the day pottering around at home. I managed to clean up the spare room, which was starting to look like a bomb site, as I'd just been stowing things in there willy-nilly to keep them out of Ninja's reach. After stowing all my knitting projects safely in the wardrobe away from little paws, I packed up the Christmas tree, and then felt an urge to delve in my box of fabric. (Only one box? No I'm not some sort of fabric-hating crafter, but atthe moment I only have one box of fabric here, as nearly everything else I own is back at the other house still.) The idea in my mind was to put the Japanese prints together to make some sort of quilt cover. But as usual I became distracted, this time by a piece of Alexander Henry's 'Buffet' print fabric. Earlier in the day I'd moved some curtains to the front window (after shutting Ninja in the bathroom so I could actually hang the damn things without a small kitten entangled) so I had curtains on the brain. Some crooked sewing later (well I had started on the bourbon), and a moment of crankiness after I realised I had to cut a new elastic for the kitchen window, I had a new "curtain" of sorts:


The other noteworthy achievement of my day? If you recall, Ikea self-assembly furniture and I do not get along. I decided that I was sick of the tin locker sitting in the spare room as a testament to my inepitude, and set to it with a screwdriver. After bending the joints, I actually levered the top off and turned it around the right way... this meant that I could finally attach the door. The hinge is still not sitting properly though, but at least it has a door now. Hurrah.

The sad part of the story is that you know I'll go back and get more Ikea furntiure. And try and assemble it myself. And fail. And get cranky. And have someone fix it for me. And go back for more furniture... and...

A couple of clips

Just 'cause I'm listening to She & Him now.



And another Zooey because I love her:

More orange

Yesterday I called into Savers on my way home. The shelves didn't offer too much and there were maggoty children everywhere, so it wasn't very yielding. But I did get some practical kitchen stuff, so I wasn't totally disappointed.

• Nice jug for making up cordial (mmm I have ginger beer cordigal)
• Little painted glass, marked France underneath
• Orange plastic plates for putting nibblies on
• A lidded Pyrex dish - I bought this one purely for usefulness, as the design doesn't thrill me
• Groovy retro Australiana tray

and

• Some white bowls with a rainbow sort of glaze (American).

Not a single souvenir tea towel or white pillowcase left in the store...did someone know I was coming? Still, better than a poke in the eye.

Friday!

Hooray! I'm a bit ill and under the weather, so I'm looking forward to going home for some rest.

Cartoon from savagechickens.com. They rule.

New

By the way, the ink is quite tidy, it's just my photography that makes everything look crappy.

I am an impulsive creature, I won't deny that. Yesterday I discovered a tattoo shop next to my local chemist, and that planted the seed... by the time I'd finished work I'd decided to get a new wrist tattoo. Again, the design is from an embroidery pattern sheet:



I chose the crown: a) because I liked it; b) because apparently Stephanie means "crown"; and c) because I liked it. I also plan to put some text under it, specifically the Latin : "Dilige, et quod vis fac." ...which is generally translated to "Love, and do what you will." But I have to be 100% sure the Latin is right before I commit to the ink. And I might add some colour to the crown too.

On the inspiration side, this is another front runner for a fave tatt design...but I'm loathe to copy someone else's special tatt. But I love the Vonnegut quote and the font.

I can't remember the exact source of this pic, but I know I found it via this site.

I think though, as much as I love that quote, my text tattoo (when I get around to doing it) will be some e.e. cummings. Same font though.

And for the curious, I still haven't decided on a cupcake tatt design yet, so no progress there.

Hehe

I like the idea of changing my blog's name to suit my mood. It amuses me. If you ever wanna link me from your sidebar, just call my blog Drewzel. That won't change.
Short attention span, me?
I don't really think so but - oh!
Look!
Something Shiny!

Authentic nanna-core

I was browing realestate.com.au and found a property that my guess is a deceased estate, or maybe someone moving to a retirement home. The loungeroom wowed me with it's authentic nanna-esqe decor. I think it's quite charming.

Resolve

Toni, who has one of my most fave blogs, discussed this idea the other day (via here). Basically pick a word and use it to motivate you for the year... I was pondering which word...then by chance I was clicking on the resolutions generator, and it spoke to me.

Curious.
There's so much stuff I want to learn and experience.

PS Resolution Generator here.

Speaking of blogging

I'll tell you what I want (what I really really want)...

BLOGGER CAN WE PLEASE HAVE PAGES HANGING OFF OUR BLOGS LIKE WORDPRESS DOES?

I feel a bit better now, but I still wish they'd do it.

Yeah

I've changed the blog name for a while. For two reasons, obviously because of my love of orange, and because of my word for the year.

Luckily I have about 3 readers now anyway, so I'm sure no one will be bothered. Commitment issues? Me?

I'm just slowly starting to get back into blogging again and reading all my favourites. Sometimes you find things that make you wanna cry. So much inspiring stuff out there...but I also must say I've sort of enjoyed "switching off" as well, because I am a great victim of craftworld overstimulation. The 400 or so unfinished projects I have are testament to my enthusiasm for following my latest inspriation...until tomorrow's idea strikes. Anyway I'll just potter along, as I do value my blog as a personal scrapbook, and I am the world's worst journal keeper (sorry Anais).

PS. the clever clogs amongst you will pick the references as well.

My newest buddy

Say hello to the Ginga Ninja...or Ninja as he seems to be stuck with. There was some debate as to his gender at his parent's house, so when I got him, I wasn't sure if he was a he or a she. But I'm pretty sure he's lumpy enough to be a boy...so anyway I didn't initally settle on a name because of the gender mystery, and as such, Ninja he is. He's a gorgeous little furry purry, very affectionate, and does live up to his name.

Except when he's asleep.

Currently...

Working on this pillowcase, a design from a Vogart Transferprint that some nice person shared on Flickr. I'm not sure when this pillowcase stitching obsession will end.