Bag lady

Well, the Stuff continues to loom, but I had a rare weekend+ off so it felt right to do some craft.

On Friday I took myself over to Lesley's place and sat companionably with her as she pottered and planned another papercut, and I got stuck in to assembling a bag I had cut out last week. It is from a pattern by Kathy at Pink Chalk Studio, called the Mail Sack.

The base is a wool/silk mix that I got in an op shop somewhere for about $1, and the top part is a vibrant purple linen from a recycled skirt. It is designed to sit scross the body. Whaddya think? I tried to get photos of it on me, but sigh, no. Trust me, I'm sparing you. I haven't decided yet where it will go. It may go in 'the shop'. Or it may be a pressie. I had so many buttons to choose from for the flower, but Steff liked this quirky cow button, so we went with that.

On Saturday hubby and I headed to the city for an impromptu grown-up getaway. I feel like I haven't seen him for a month! It was lovely, away from the phones and the emails and the Stuff.

We went out for dinner (Globe, at the Hilton, mostly wonderful, and the good bits were Incredibly Good) and breakfast (King St Cafe, really good) and had a wander around this developing part of the city and just enjoyed ourselves in general. Comfy room, soft sheets. Exactly what we needed.

On Sunday when we returned I felt like tackling a smallish craft project, that I asked Les about on Friday. She had re-lined a bag that was shabby, or yukky, and I had a lovely bag that had frayed lining. See? It is as an Olga Berg that I bought about 3 years ago, but the original lining was shabby. So I gutted it. The pink bit here is the external zipped pocketliner that was not frayed.

Then, using the old lining as a guide I cut a new liner with a pocket, and reused the zipper for a new pocket, and reused the darted pocket opposite.

Then I hand stitched the new lining in place.
Et voila! One refurbished bag!
I have one more day off now, which is filling up quick, so I'd better fly!

Happy October

Its the first day of October. How did that happen?

I have two announcements.

First - I missed my blogiversary on September 28th. Gasp! Very few of you would remember this, my first post, two years ago. But looking back at the posts from the end of 2007 they are not too appalling, probably better then the whiny dross I have dished up lately, but with less Wild Women.

This (above) is Marina, she lives with Kelly now. Below is Jaune, who lives with my sister Helen. In response to a question....Jaune is legless, as is Marina if one looks carefully. Thanks Kelly for looking carefully.

If I were better organised I would have a draw or something, with a prize. But as I haven't yet sent the de-stash prize won by Victoria in February- because I never actually DID the de-stash and therefore never identified the said goods- I feel bad, because you couldn't be said to be at the head of the queue. Yes that's right, it means I am still sitting in the same craft room mess (the very same) as I was in February. Was that TMI? Deal with it.

Anyway, I'm sure I could be persuaded to have fun with a creation of a random small gift for a commenter, and whatever it is I will send an identical-ish item to you, Victoria. One that won't clutter up your 'packing to move house' dilemma. Making small items is a pleasure, and is the only way I get to craft much these days.

So, it seems this IS now a giveaway situation (can you see this evolving before your eyes? Yeah, me too) with the leaving of a comment as the entry point.

In other news, as of today I am registered as a midwife in private practice.

I have no clients, have not advertised, and no particular plans, but have assembled some equipment so I can do antenatal and postnatal visits only at this stage, and I'll take it from there. It was out of a sense of solidarity with private midwives that the govt was threatening to outlaw homebirths and claiming it only affects about 200 midwives. Dammit! How dare they remove women's choices like that and ignore the wishes of women to choose homebirth with a known midwife, I thought, I'll make it 201 and stand with them........and besides, it never hurts to ruffle a few feathers. I know the Australian College of Midwives is working very hard behind the scenes to turn this situation around. I truly believe this battle will be won in the medium term. The evidence is just too strong. So . . . I filled in a form to notify the WA Health Department of my intention to practise as a midwife in private practice as of this date. and. sent. it. off. Many others have done similarly with less experience. I have people to guide me. I have trust in my knowledge and women's bodies. Antenatal and postnatal I can do. Its a start.

Gulp.

Wild weather = wild women

Its been a while since I showed you any Wild Women. Wanna see the latest batch?

My previous WW are found here and in mid-April archives. The latest girls have been a while coming as I have been quite stop/start with them.

Here is Nymph. You've met her before, but she got finished with some extra floral embroidery and is now ready to take off to her new home.

This is Regina. She is a queen of Rio, and dresses in the colours of the carnival.

Below is Minnie. She took her time to reveal herself, and was bald for quite some time. It didn't suit her. But when she claimed some sorbet-coloured locks she came alive. Her arms and legs are 'milagros' and have a lovely textureand she has vintage crochet lace as her skirt. I think she is doing the Twist.

This is Jaune. Someone I know is having a special birthday soon and guess where Jaune is going to live?

Finally, you have also seen this sweetie before but she was shy and hadn't told me her name yet. She has just whispered it to me...May I introduce Flora. She likes violets.

She was nervous for her close-up, but I think it turned out, don't you?

Blonde!!! And Scrappy Katz

This really is the last word on bathroom business. My niece and my daughter in the bath. See how big it is?

My sister dyed my hair again on the weekend..we were aiming for a little darker, but got red-gold instead. Oh My! (excuse all the mess in the background)

I'm shocked to see it so light, and reddish. I think I like it straightish though. I can't remember the last time I had such long hair.

Of course it is way too hard to keep all straight and cute though. I just keep flippin and flickin it around like a teenager! I may darken it a bit more...and keep it in the normal loose curls.

Anyway...Les and I had a lovely playdate yesterday. We made some Scrappy Katz - I saw them in a Cloth Paper Scissors Mag (they were called Gypsy Cats) a few months ago. SO I felt I should cut out a bunch of elements (head, arms, legs, bodies) and we would just play and embellish them, rough and ready, using heavyweight fabrics, uglies and textures.

Les has two more at home...hers are orange and a lovely brown wool tweed.

We had a good time. I can feel I will definitely make more of these.

Back to work today..back to the ward! OMG I'm gonna be tired!!!!!!

The lurgy is lurking, and I don't feel quite bad enough to call off sick, but I really hope I'm not contagious, handling all those women and babies. I hate to call in sick, I'd rather work than be off feeling awful. I am looking forward to seeing all the lovely ward midwives. Its certainly very hustle and bustle on my ward!

Have a good Thursday!

In further news...

Look what's finished, and heading to Victoria tomorrow.

I'm really thrilled with it. Its the first really scrappy quilt I have made. There are more than 55 different fabrics in it.

This is Lesley on the phone to Frogdancer having a phone blogmeet the other night. We'd just put the binding on and Les had started the first stitches to turn the binding.

While we were on the phone to Frogdancer she told us Jaryd went to Canberra this week to meet the Prime Minister and to speak to primary schools in the ACT about the impact of the fires on someone his age. Unfortunately some place callled North Korea decided to explode a bomb somewhere and the PM was unable to meet Jaryd, but he did meet a minister or two. He told them and the schoolchildren about the blogging community and the support he and his family had received, along with the support from the rest of Australia through many appeals etc.

This quilt started back in early February when Victoria in eastern Australia experienced the terrible fires that wiped out whole communities. Frogdancer knew someone, Judy, who had lost everything. She and her son were wiped out. House, clothes, books, homework, guitar...the lot.

Frogdancer asked her readers if they had spare copies of books that a 17 year old avid reader might need to restock his library. Books turned up from all over the country.

I didn't have any books Jaryd was interested in but my stash was certainly good for a quilt. I'm really enjoying sharing my non-perishables lately, and the stash is , ahem, quite substantial, so I can't even see where its been taken from.

Frogdancer had more than 65 fabrics in her quilt bundle I sent her. It turns out Jaryd's Mum has that quilt now...which is really great. Widget has about 20 fabrics in the back of her quilt. See Frogdancer's quilt extravaganza page for photos. I'm tickled to think of them being together. I wonder if the quilts will recognise each other as coming from the same fabric stash stable?

I chose a stash of colours I thought he would like and set to work piecing the top. Les was en-route home after living in USA for 3 years, but was lined up to help with the basting and quilting.

There were a few hiccups along the way, but Les put the borders on it and finished the stars, then we basted it. Then Lesley quilted it. Then it got swore at a lot, and got a new back and basted again. Then it came to stay at my house, where it behaved much better, having learned its lesson in what happens to misbehaving quilts. Meek and mild, it submitted to quilting, then finally binding.

Lesley has just unpacked her Harry Potter complete set, and it is about to head to Jaryd along with the quilt.

Its the first big quilt I've made for ages, and has been a nice refresher for the big quilt I plan to make for next year.

Good little quilt. Your two mummies are very pleased with you now.
Off to Jaryd you go, keep him warm, and share a hug or two from us.

Stitch by stitch

Do I ....

A. Attend work 8-4 driving all over the metro area and flop in a heap at the end and watch the idiot box?

B. Contribute to the Painting of the Wonder Bathroom?

C. Stitch madly at the binding of Jaryd's quilt? (I love doing the binding)

D. Cook my family's dinner?

E. Try not to consume my bodyweight in chocolate at a sitting? (number of sittings may vary per day)

F. Combine all of the above?

Yeah...I thought so.

Photos to come.

So busy (now with photos)

Busy week! Work was good.

Seeing friends from (now) over East and meeting their new baby, Willow. Delightful!
Making a new bag. Very nice too. Great fun. I used some long stashed ingredients.
Attending afternoon tea for a friend. Delicious. She loved the bag.
Dinner party for friends. A great success.
Attending the craft fair. Stash building never goes out of style. Plans abound!

It seems I didn't win the raffle quilt. Sigh.

Bathroom nearing completion. All tiles applied. Oohs and ahs expressed by all visitors, especially after seeing the beautiful marble feature tile, which looks gorgeous after sealing.
This week will include: grouting, fittings, cornices, painting and finally...bathing!

Blogging bliss

My favourite husband has an old laptop. He spent hours last night configuring it so I could use it instead of the limping desktop. Internet, printer, email - you name it. Sigh. He is my favourite (and only) husband. I still keep automatically reaching for the mouse, but I'll get used to it.

The bathroom is proceeding fabulously. Ooh, hang on, I'll see if I can get some photos off the camera.....talk amongst yourselves.......Done.

For the first few days after demolition I felt like I was seeing a maiden aunt naked. It just didn't seem quite right, too exposed, like I was looking up her dress. We can even see into the roof space throught the exposed cornices.

Before -the old timber cabinet and window. This frame was incredibly solid.

View from outside as the window is enlarged.

After - 3rd row down, second from the right. Laid by yours truly.

The bath in position. It was bricked in today.

Now don't show Mum...but here's the bag I've made for her for Mother's Day. I hope she likes it, it looks a little more sombre than I expected. The lining fabric is really lush. When I photographed the bag at night there seems to be an angry person hiding among the big pattern central to the bag. Can you see it when you squint? Tell me NOW if you think it is a bad omen and I shouldn't give it to her....I'm not kidding. I'm on days off now. I'll still have time to make a different one.

The kids indulged me and allowed me to take some photos on Tuesday. I'm quite pleased with them. The snootiest cat in the world was even restrained briefly to pretend to be a real cat.

Today Stephanie has had some minor surgery. It is her first operation in about 5 years (and her 18th one) and she was not looking forward to it, but was really brave. The anaesthetist was very kind and understanding (and well briefed) and it went well. She slipped off to sleep briefly, and all the scary stuff was done while she was asleep. She was back with me within an hour, with a bandage on her arm where the stitches are. Hopefully that pesky mole will be benign, but its best to be safe!

Our anniversary dinner was lovely. We went to a French place in Nedlands, old and family owned. Wonderful food and terrific service. Only one small glitch, a freebie appetiser of seafood bisque cappucino! Served in a little espresso cup with foam on top! It looked cute, but unfortunately tasted vile. We both love seafood bisque normally, but the balance was really off. I mean really off. All the stuff from the prawn and lobster heads that one normally ...washes out... was obviously left in there and had flavoured the bisque much too heavily, so basically it tasted like....well...the stuff you would normally wash out. We had one sip, nearly gagged, and pushed it aside. We sent it back. The rest of the meal was superb. Utterly superb. Highly recommended.

I've also made another Wild Woman (in yellows and orange) for someone special. No, you can't peek.

Lesley and I are nearly finished Jarryd's quilt. If I'm not remaking a bag this weekend (cough, but seriously, tell me if I need to) I'll be stitching on the binding. Then it will be off!

The outdoor showers are going well, the coldest morning has only been 9C, so not too bad so far. Everyone is still enjoying it.

Woo-hoo! Days off and a quilt to finish, craft to do and a bathroom to enthuse about! See ya!