So over the weekend the kidlets got to go to a big dinner thingie and get their award from the mayor for the pageant. Tonight when I got home I noticed this next to Graham's bowls. I think he deserves it.
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Puh-ride.
So over the weekend the kidlets got to go to a big dinner thingie and get their award from the mayor for the pageant. Tonight when I got home I noticed this next to Graham's bowls. I think he deserves it.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Life choices: Validated.
My mum said to me a few weeks ago (I think it was when I was churning out the adorbs halloween animal ears) "why can't you and your father use your powers for good instead of evil?"
However, all my life choices were validated when ABC local radio's Stan Thompson said that he was particularly impressed by my dinosaur dog costume, as worn by Graham in the local Christmas Pageant on Saturday.
Admittedly, in all the photos it looks like there's a stuffed toy dinosaur trying to hump him. I'm gunna say that it's my retaliation for all those times when he's humped my leg. Powers For Evil!
Anyway, The Bedrock Kids float won the "encouragement award" and made it into the paper. There were 5 copies of The Border Watch in our kitchen tonight when I got home... one on each of the 4 tables, and one in my hand as I walked in.
Honestly, encouraging us isn't that good of an idea. With no encouragement at all my father built a four-bike-powered Flintstones car on a whim and I managed to design, draft and construct a perfect doggie-dino costume in an evening. Admittedly, I did need a bit of encouragement to help with the kids costumes, but that was because mum assembled them and then wanted me to sew the spots and triangles on them. And she always wanted me to do it in the mid-morning, instead of at 2am like I normally would.
And she's got the nerve to call me evil. I think it's not only my father that I get that from...
However, all my life choices were validated when ABC local radio's Stan Thompson said that he was particularly impressed by my dinosaur dog costume, as worn by Graham in the local Christmas Pageant on Saturday.
Admittedly, in all the photos it looks like there's a stuffed toy dinosaur trying to hump him. I'm gunna say that it's my retaliation for all those times when he's humped my leg. Powers For Evil!
Anyway, The Bedrock Kids float won the "encouragement award" and made it into the paper. There were 5 copies of The Border Watch in our kitchen tonight when I got home... one on each of the 4 tables, and one in my hand as I walked in.
Honestly, encouraging us isn't that good of an idea. With no encouragement at all my father built a four-bike-powered Flintstones car on a whim and I managed to design, draft and construct a perfect doggie-dino costume in an evening. Admittedly, I did need a bit of encouragement to help with the kids costumes, but that was because mum assembled them and then wanted me to sew the spots and triangles on them. And she always wanted me to do it in the mid-morning, instead of at 2am like I normally would.
And she's got the nerve to call me evil. I think it's not only my father that I get that from...
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Yay Me.
Although my day didn't go exactly as planned, I can comfortably say that I've had just 1 hour's sleep in the past 36, but I got a quilt finished, and a bit of handsewing done, and my clothes in the wash.
Pride.
The plan had been to sew the lattice quilt till 5.30am (my estimated finishing time, and I was only 10 minutes short), go to the dawn service down in Pt Mac, be home by about 8ish, bind the other quilt, have 4 hours of sleep while they crinklified themselves in the washing machine and the dryer, and go see Meagan and let her pick her favourite.
This of course got derailed when we got invited to an Aunt's for breakfast after the service. And then straight after breakfast, she brought out some booze. And board games. And card games.
We planned to leave at 10. We planned to leave at 12. We planned to leave at 2, and actually succeeded. But I hadn't finished either quilt at this point, so I was a teensy bit relieved when Meagan messaged to say she and Clayton were having a spontaneous afternoon roadtrip.
I tried to do the final row of stitching on the binding, bit I realised after about 10cm (and this was on the machine) that I couldn't concentrate enough. I had something to eat, I fartarsed on the computer, I moved piles of stuff from the floor to the bed and back again. Eventually I gave up, set my timer for an hour, and had a nap.
After I woke up I did the final stitch down of the binding and put it in the wash. I watched a few new episodes of TV, and I finally got the black wholecloth quilt and started to sew it. I sewed while I watched for about an hour and a half, and I'm maybe 2/3rds of the way along one side. Black on black is hard to sew, and there's a reason I use the machine. If I didn't, this certainly wouldn't be finished.
I don't think it counts as a finish in the finishathon though, since I only started it last Friday.
Still, 5 day turnaround. Again, pride.
Pride.
The plan had been to sew the lattice quilt till 5.30am (my estimated finishing time, and I was only 10 minutes short), go to the dawn service down in Pt Mac, be home by about 8ish, bind the other quilt, have 4 hours of sleep while they crinklified themselves in the washing machine and the dryer, and go see Meagan and let her pick her favourite.
This of course got derailed when we got invited to an Aunt's for breakfast after the service. And then straight after breakfast, she brought out some booze. And board games. And card games.
We planned to leave at 10. We planned to leave at 12. We planned to leave at 2, and actually succeeded. But I hadn't finished either quilt at this point, so I was a teensy bit relieved when Meagan messaged to say she and Clayton were having a spontaneous afternoon roadtrip.
I tried to do the final row of stitching on the binding, bit I realised after about 10cm (and this was on the machine) that I couldn't concentrate enough. I had something to eat, I fartarsed on the computer, I moved piles of stuff from the floor to the bed and back again. Eventually I gave up, set my timer for an hour, and had a nap.
After I woke up I did the final stitch down of the binding and put it in the wash. I watched a few new episodes of TV, and I finally got the black wholecloth quilt and started to sew it. I sewed while I watched for about an hour and a half, and I'm maybe 2/3rds of the way along one side. Black on black is hard to sew, and there's a reason I use the machine. If I didn't, this certainly wouldn't be finished.
I don't think it counts as a finish in the finishathon though, since I only started it last Friday.
Still, 5 day turnaround. Again, pride.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
The good ones.
Even though camping has been fun, it's so nice to be home in my bed, with its electric blanket, in my house, which isn't rocking with every gust of wind. Internet and phone chargers are nice too, but when it's been such a long day, it's the little things, like, um, having an actual toilet*, that matter.
I got up at 7.30 this morning, which, as I'm sure you're aware, is incredibly rare for me. I can even tell you the last time it happened - January 15th, the day after the last BnS ball I attended. That's pretty much the only thing that gets me up early of a morning, the fact that I'm camping. Not that it wasn't a stunningly gorgeous morning - I had woken up briefly as the sun was rising, when a gust of wind had made the annex sound like it was collapsing, to the view of a stunning sunrise out the door, and it was still bright and clear, if a bit windy, when we properly got up.
Barbecue bacon on toast for breakfast was delicious, and then, since the weather was so lovely, we took turns canoeing down the creek: first group capsized less than half way down, second forgot to stop, decided to head for Tasmania and then capsized 20m out to sea, but Kelsey and I soldiered through, arriving dry but on the wrong side of the creek, meaning we had to wade the boat to the side that the ute was on. Still, victory for us.
I took Mum and Kelsey home in the early afternoon and paid Helen a visit, during which time the weather turned, quite badly, with sheeting rain and gale winds. Still, I had promised to take potatoes back down there for tea by 5 and did so, but it was miserable so we huddled in the little van playing Sequence while tea cooked, before moving to one of the big vans for the eating. The roast lamb was incredibly good, but the roast potatoes were a bit burnt.
The rain eased off and we moved back to the fire with some quilts too, and when we started to run out of wood, Carol and I proved our bravery by stealing some from the people in the next campsite, after Dad and Greg chickened out.
It's been quite a while since I've done family camping - we used to do it all the time but it's been pared back mainly to just Easter and Christmas now. And while it can be unpleasant at times (the fact that 3 of the 4 awnings had to be taken down because of the very weather they're meant to shelter us from being a good example) I quite enjoyed this little jaunt, so it can be my Favourite Thing this week.
*Oh, and the fact that if you say shit yeah really quickly it sounds like shit chair; that's a favourite too. Because for a month or so there's been an old chair sitting under a bush across the road from our house, and we decided we should take it down camping with us, to which I said, shit yeah. And guess what we cut a hole in the centre of and put over our dunny hole? The shitchair.
I got up at 7.30 this morning, which, as I'm sure you're aware, is incredibly rare for me. I can even tell you the last time it happened - January 15th, the day after the last BnS ball I attended. That's pretty much the only thing that gets me up early of a morning, the fact that I'm camping. Not that it wasn't a stunningly gorgeous morning - I had woken up briefly as the sun was rising, when a gust of wind had made the annex sound like it was collapsing, to the view of a stunning sunrise out the door, and it was still bright and clear, if a bit windy, when we properly got up.
Barbecue bacon on toast for breakfast was delicious, and then, since the weather was so lovely, we took turns canoeing down the creek: first group capsized less than half way down, second forgot to stop, decided to head for Tasmania and then capsized 20m out to sea, but Kelsey and I soldiered through, arriving dry but on the wrong side of the creek, meaning we had to wade the boat to the side that the ute was on. Still, victory for us.
I took Mum and Kelsey home in the early afternoon and paid Helen a visit, during which time the weather turned, quite badly, with sheeting rain and gale winds. Still, I had promised to take potatoes back down there for tea by 5 and did so, but it was miserable so we huddled in the little van playing Sequence while tea cooked, before moving to one of the big vans for the eating. The roast lamb was incredibly good, but the roast potatoes were a bit burnt.
The rain eased off and we moved back to the fire with some quilts too, and when we started to run out of wood, Carol and I proved our bravery by stealing some from the people in the next campsite, after Dad and Greg chickened out.
It's been quite a while since I've done family camping - we used to do it all the time but it's been pared back mainly to just Easter and Christmas now. And while it can be unpleasant at times (the fact that 3 of the 4 awnings had to be taken down because of the very weather they're meant to shelter us from being a good example) I quite enjoyed this little jaunt, so it can be my Favourite Thing this week.
*Oh, and the fact that if you say shit yeah really quickly it sounds like shit chair; that's a favourite too. Because for a month or so there's been an old chair sitting under a bush across the road from our house, and we decided we should take it down camping with us, to which I said, shit yeah. And guess what we cut a hole in the centre of and put over our dunny hole? The shitchair.
Monday, February 20, 2012
The Next Generation....
Tonight, I couldn't be bothered doing real sewing, so I watched a lot of youtube videos and cut out some more monsters instead, only now I have a blister on my right index knuckle from the scissors. Ow.
To which the correct response* is "shit story, needs more dragons."
And while I don't have more dragons, I do have this.
Maddy's first ever quilt. It's only little - they're 10 cm squares from the hundreds I still had left over from the very first quilt I made, but no matter. I pulled out the other good-condition machine the other night for her to use without the foot (just turning the crank by hand) and she'd made herself a couple of simple shape cushions with my help that night. Today though we got up after our 6am hometime arrival from our spontaneous country music festival adventurising to find she had made a freaking awesome SpongeBob, without a pattern, out of some of the felt we bought at Spotlight on Friday.
Unfortunately, I think Mum's hidden it to keep forever and ever, so I don't have a photo.
With that I concluded that she was probably grown up enough to start using a foot pedal, but the one I used to use was still broken, so we had to send Dad out to fix it. And then we had to gaffa tape a pencil sharpener underneath it so that it woudn't go above a certain speed.
And no matter how insistent I was that we maybe just piece some cushion covers first, she wanted to do a quilt, so I haggled it down to a little blankie that we could use as a mat or for one of her toys. It seemed like a lot of hassle to iron out our seams, and I also figured it would be an easier bodge job for me at the end if they weren't, so we chain pieced it in it's entirety and just pressed the seams to one side. And since I hate having to bind stuff that I've sacrificed my good fabrics and many many hours to, I just put the backing on right sides in and told her to sew around it, and we'd leave this one without any batting.
It was at this point that the kids from next door came over and asked if she'd like to go out and play, and therefore it was also at this point that she became a real quilter.
Because it's not finished, and is therefore her first real WiP.
*This is a response to pretty mych anything in our house.
To which the correct response* is "shit story, needs more dragons."
And while I don't have more dragons, I do have this.
Maddy's first ever quilt. It's only little - they're 10 cm squares from the hundreds I still had left over from the very first quilt I made, but no matter. I pulled out the other good-condition machine the other night for her to use without the foot (just turning the crank by hand) and she'd made herself a couple of simple shape cushions with my help that night. Today though we got up after our 6am hometime arrival from our spontaneous country music festival adventurising to find she had made a freaking awesome SpongeBob, without a pattern, out of some of the felt we bought at Spotlight on Friday.
Unfortunately, I think Mum's hidden it to keep forever and ever, so I don't have a photo.
With that I concluded that she was probably grown up enough to start using a foot pedal, but the one I used to use was still broken, so we had to send Dad out to fix it. And then we had to gaffa tape a pencil sharpener underneath it so that it woudn't go above a certain speed.
And no matter how insistent I was that we maybe just piece some cushion covers first, she wanted to do a quilt, so I haggled it down to a little blankie that we could use as a mat or for one of her toys. It seemed like a lot of hassle to iron out our seams, and I also figured it would be an easier bodge job for me at the end if they weren't, so we chain pieced it in it's entirety and just pressed the seams to one side. And since I hate having to bind stuff that I've sacrificed my good fabrics and many many hours to, I just put the backing on right sides in and told her to sew around it, and we'd leave this one without any batting.
It was at this point that the kids from next door came over and asked if she'd like to go out and play, and therefore it was also at this point that she became a real quilter.
Because it's not finished, and is therefore her first real WiP.
*This is a response to pretty mych anything in our house.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Home Safe
"So", said Brad as they drove back to the ball site from Loxton with their lunch. "What have we learned this BnS?"
"Well," said Sara, "I've learnt that even though people have a tendency to make disparaging comments about my boobies, I can still get a free bottle of vodka if I get them out in front of the promo guys."
"Thats... A very good lesson." said Casey.
I do sometimes wonder if I'm likely to offend people by talking honestly about what happens on my nights out, but really I don't mind. Judge away. I'm quite happy to look myself in the eyes in the mirror, and that's what matters.
Actually, in spite of the little incident discussed above, it was, by my standards, a VERY responsible ball. Had maybe a half dozen drinks, danced till 2am when it finished, made up my swag, read a book on my phone for 15 minutes and went to sleep. Made out with 4 guys, but Rob doesn't count. Came home dry and relatively clean, save for a slight blue smudge on my hands, which I think was more from the old dye on my coat than anything new. Some guy kept coming up to me and asking if he could pour his drink down my dress. I said no and in response to his 'why not?' I told him I'd kick him in the nuts if he did. It's got a very full skirt, so movement's not limited like it would be in something less ballgown-ey.
Today I slept in, meaning I missed the gelly-baff wrestling (thankfully) and in the afternoon we drove the half hour to Loxton for food, fuel and an impromptu swim in the Murray by Case, Brad and some guy called Kiwi. I put my shorts on and lay on the pontoon, trying to get rid of some of the pasty whiteness of my legs. It didn't work. The fast food place at Loxton had the best gravy I've ever eaten, ever, but the chips were a bit overdone.
We left a bit after 5.30 and had the most glorious afternoon driving home, except for Casey needing to chuck up a bit. I am the queen of the 6-stacker-CD-player, making us an epic 8 hour loop that had all the right music at the right times - mellow for when we were easing into the drive up there, stuff to dance like idiots to in the middle, country for arriving at the ball and then a bit of rock and some more mellow for the drive home. It got dark as we stopped in Naracoorte for a sausage roll but that's okay, because we know that part of the road well enough to do it in the dark.
And now we're home safe, Casey has fallen asleep on the couch and I'm going to have an early night.
"Well," said Sara, "I've learnt that even though people have a tendency to make disparaging comments about my boobies, I can still get a free bottle of vodka if I get them out in front of the promo guys."
"Thats... A very good lesson." said Casey.
I do sometimes wonder if I'm likely to offend people by talking honestly about what happens on my nights out, but really I don't mind. Judge away. I'm quite happy to look myself in the eyes in the mirror, and that's what matters.
Actually, in spite of the little incident discussed above, it was, by my standards, a VERY responsible ball. Had maybe a half dozen drinks, danced till 2am when it finished, made up my swag, read a book on my phone for 15 minutes and went to sleep. Made out with 4 guys, but Rob doesn't count. Came home dry and relatively clean, save for a slight blue smudge on my hands, which I think was more from the old dye on my coat than anything new. Some guy kept coming up to me and asking if he could pour his drink down my dress. I said no and in response to his 'why not?' I told him I'd kick him in the nuts if he did. It's got a very full skirt, so movement's not limited like it would be in something less ballgown-ey.
Today I slept in, meaning I missed the gelly-baff wrestling (thankfully) and in the afternoon we drove the half hour to Loxton for food, fuel and an impromptu swim in the Murray by Case, Brad and some guy called Kiwi. I put my shorts on and lay on the pontoon, trying to get rid of some of the pasty whiteness of my legs. It didn't work. The fast food place at Loxton had the best gravy I've ever eaten, ever, but the chips were a bit overdone.
We left a bit after 5.30 and had the most glorious afternoon driving home, except for Casey needing to chuck up a bit. I am the queen of the 6-stacker-CD-player, making us an epic 8 hour loop that had all the right music at the right times - mellow for when we were easing into the drive up there, stuff to dance like idiots to in the middle, country for arriving at the ball and then a bit of rock and some more mellow for the drive home. It got dark as we stopped in Naracoorte for a sausage roll but that's okay, because we know that part of the road well enough to do it in the dark.
And now we're home safe, Casey has fallen asleep on the couch and I'm going to have an early night.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Blabbing, TV and Stubby holders.
I may be experiencing what feels to be the end of Thursday, but it's been Friday here in South Australia for four and a half whole hours now and I just ate a bowl of nutri-grain and that's a breakfast thing so I think I may as well do my fave things Friday now.
First up, some random good things.
Parents are on holiday, so to save on dirty dishes it's time to start drinking milk out of the carton. This makes me way happier than it should.
Improvisational scrap piecing. Probably not gunna be able to do it again anytime soon, since I'm not big on the scraps. Actually, this was pretty much all I could find.
Today, Spike got killed on Hawaii Five-0. That's not good, because they needed him to tell them about the Asian guy that the Aussie guy's dad may or may not have been having bad-guy collaborations with, but the point is I quite enjoy referring to characters on shows by the name of the character I most know them as. I'm sure James Marsters' character has a different name on this show, but I can't be bothered learning it. Also, I really just like James Marsters in general.
A long time ago, long before Team Edward and Team Jacob, us Buffy nerds were all in love with either Spike or Angel. I was only 15 at the time, so it was the dramatic, never-can-be love of Angel that I was sappy over, but now that I'm older, I must admit, I would like to have a house fall down around us while I did the dirty with Spike. It makes me sad that I've only just started re-watching season 2, and I have 4 more seasons to watch before I get to that storyline. Nonetheless, the fact that that storyline exists makes me happy. Aww hell, the whole show makes me happy. Except, you know, when someone dies. Then I bawl like a small child.
Anyway, back to good stuff. Strawberry and Lime cider. But it's a bit expensive. I also like the Smirnoff goon sacks, and they're much more alcohol-bang for your buck. But the nozzle looks like it may be a difficult one do inflate after I've gotten around to drinking it all.
Being massively bogan. And a massive geeky fangirl. All at the same time.
Having the coolest stubby holders around. And a tutorial to share too!
Stubby Holders: You will need (measurements are in cm, a rough conversion should work fine)
10cmx 24cm rectangle of insul-bright (the stuff that goes in quilted oven mitts)
9cm long piece of soft and flexible velcro (you can use the regular stuff, but this is way better)
30cmx12cm piece of pieced fabric (or whatever print you want on the outside) and 30cmx12cm of inside fabric, sewn together to make one long piece. Or a 60cmx12cm strip of fabric.
Lay the insulbrite on the wrong side of the inside fabric, with a centimetre or so overlapping onto the outside fabric.
Flip it over, holding the insulbrite in place, and sew the scratchy side of the velcro over the seam, about 5mm from the edge of the insulbrite.
Trim the overhanging end edge to 3cm.
Fold the outside down over the insulbrite, get the inside fabric out of the way and trim the outside fabric to 1cm beyond the end of the insulbrite.
Flip the outside fabric back over the insulbrite, leaving a couple of millimetres of overhang in your fold, so the insulbrite doesn't bunch at the end when you turn it right way out.
At the other end, fold your outside fabric back at about a centimetre from the end of the insulbrite.
Fold the inside fabric over the top of that, with the fold extending a few millimetres past the end of the insulbrite as before.
Sew down the sides. It doesn't matter if any insulbrite gets caught, it will just mean a slightly bulkier bit. Make sure to backtrack at either end or else it will come loose.
Turn right way out. The opening should end in a little pillowtuck type end.
Sew the soft side of the velcro over this to close it.
Quilt however you like. Vertical stripes make it curve easier. Sew a box roughly around where the velcro is at the other end. I also did random lines and an edge stitch.
This is designed to fit 375ml cans and standard stubbies. If you drink from different sized bottles, cut your insulbrite to the circumfrence of the bottle +3cm for overlapping velcro.
If you want your drinks to remain extra insulated, use two layers of insulbrite. Cut each to 23 cm and skew them to make a 25cm piece - it needs the extra length because it's thicker. If you can get hold of wetsuit material, that's really good too.
These really aren't that different to the coffee insulators that I've seen about a bit, only straight. And with the velcro helping you cheat your way out of tricky turning gaps needing sewing up.
First up, some random good things.
Parents are on holiday, so to save on dirty dishes it's time to start drinking milk out of the carton. This makes me way happier than it should.
Improvisational scrap piecing. Probably not gunna be able to do it again anytime soon, since I'm not big on the scraps. Actually, this was pretty much all I could find.
 |
| 30cm square, leftover bits from making the back of the Autumn Nutmeg quilt |
Today, Spike got killed on Hawaii Five-0. That's not good, because they needed him to tell them about the Asian guy that the Aussie guy's dad may or may not have been having bad-guy collaborations with, but the point is I quite enjoy referring to characters on shows by the name of the character I most know them as. I'm sure James Marsters' character has a different name on this show, but I can't be bothered learning it. Also, I really just like James Marsters in general.
A long time ago, long before Team Edward and Team Jacob, us Buffy nerds were all in love with either Spike or Angel. I was only 15 at the time, so it was the dramatic, never-can-be love of Angel that I was sappy over, but now that I'm older, I must admit, I would like to have a house fall down around us while I did the dirty with Spike. It makes me sad that I've only just started re-watching season 2, and I have 4 more seasons to watch before I get to that storyline. Nonetheless, the fact that that storyline exists makes me happy. Aww hell, the whole show makes me happy. Except, you know, when someone dies. Then I bawl like a small child.
Anyway, back to good stuff. Strawberry and Lime cider. But it's a bit expensive. I also like the Smirnoff goon sacks, and they're much more alcohol-bang for your buck. But the nozzle looks like it may be a difficult one do inflate after I've gotten around to drinking it all.
Being massively bogan. And a massive geeky fangirl. All at the same time.
Stubby Holders: You will need (measurements are in cm, a rough conversion should work fine)
10cmx 24cm rectangle of insul-bright (the stuff that goes in quilted oven mitts)
9cm long piece of soft and flexible velcro (you can use the regular stuff, but this is way better)
30cmx12cm piece of pieced fabric (or whatever print you want on the outside) and 30cmx12cm of inside fabric, sewn together to make one long piece. Or a 60cmx12cm strip of fabric.
 |
| If your insulbrite has one side that looks plusher than the other, put the plush side up. |
Flip it over, holding the insulbrite in place, and sew the scratchy side of the velcro over the seam, about 5mm from the edge of the insulbrite.
 |
| The stitches can't be seen very well, but there's about half a centimetre on the three edge sides |
Trim the overhanging end edge to 3cm.
 | |
Flip the outside fabric back over the insulbrite, leaving a couple of millimetres of overhang in your fold, so the insulbrite doesn't bunch at the end when you turn it right way out.
At the other end, fold your outside fabric back at about a centimetre from the end of the insulbrite.
Fold the inside fabric over the top of that, with the fold extending a few millimetres past the end of the insulbrite as before.
Sew down the sides. It doesn't matter if any insulbrite gets caught, it will just mean a slightly bulkier bit. Make sure to backtrack at either end or else it will come loose.
Turn right way out. The opening should end in a little pillowtuck type end.
Sew the soft side of the velcro over this to close it.
Quilt however you like. Vertical stripes make it curve easier. Sew a box roughly around where the velcro is at the other end. I also did random lines and an edge stitch.
This is designed to fit 375ml cans and standard stubbies. If you drink from different sized bottles, cut your insulbrite to the circumfrence of the bottle +3cm for overlapping velcro.
If you want your drinks to remain extra insulated, use two layers of insulbrite. Cut each to 23 cm and skew them to make a 25cm piece - it needs the extra length because it's thicker. If you can get hold of wetsuit material, that's really good too.
These really aren't that different to the coffee insulators that I've seen about a bit, only straight. And with the velcro helping you cheat your way out of tricky turning gaps needing sewing up.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Backdated.
I remembered. I nearly didn't but I did at the last minute.
And in other good news, her tablet fit into it's little case pretty much perfectly. Winner!
And in other good news, her tablet fit into it's little case pretty much perfectly. Winner!
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Yay, random...
Can I do my new phone as my favourite thing two weeks in a row? Probably not. Also, it's taking its sweet arse time sending these photos to itself, and that's annoying.
So, random stuff it is.
I'm quite liking this new Charlie's Angels, even if other peeps are dissing it. The three girls look like they are having fun, and I tend to be an immediate fan of anything where the actors appear to be enjoying themselves. Also, it airs in the US on a Thursday, which is great for me, because I don't work Fridays and it gives me something to watch in the afternoon.
I'm enjoying re-watching Angel from the start with Casey. It's a big undertaking, about 75 hours all up. I'd kinda forgotten about the earlier episodes, tending to just re-watch the latter ones. But it's cool, like being 17 again. Only with the spoiler alerts embedded in my brain.
I really like geocaching. If the weather clears for an hour or so tomorrow I'm gunna take Maddy to find one. Again, any of you with Android, go get the app, and while away an afternoon.
I like making up stuff. Having a good solid think about it and then just hoping that my thinking won't let me down. Sometimes it does, but today (well, last night was when I did the thinking and most of the measuring) it all came together okay. Except I made a little booboo and the time it took to unpick it meant I missed getting to the post office by 5 minutes. Now I'll have to wait till Monday to find out what I get when I hand over my two blue cards.
I figure I can show these, since it's an unplanned, receiver-informed auxiliary present. And my phone has finally sent them through.
I don't really like using other people's plans, except as inspiration. This, technically, is a box pouch. Except, well, not really any more. So for that matter are my gym bags, the morning after the night before/geocaching bag (it got reappropriated) and Kelsey's backpack. Go look at it, it's a very versatile design. I like it.
I like going in to work and telling everyone how much I miss them. Cause I'm a massive loser like that.
I like mentally dissing people's cars. I don't do it to their face, obviously, but some people, I think about the cars they have and I just can't help thinking up insults. Sometimes I'm not a nice person. And am I a worse person for enjoying not being a nice person, or a better person for admitting it and being true to myself?
I like the idea of headbands, even though they give me a nasty headache when I do actually wear them.
I like tissues. Can you imagine how nasty it would have been before tissues. All that fabric, covered in snot. Terrible.
I like vliesofix. The 30cm wide stuff is on clearance at spotlight for $2 a metre, so I got 15. It's useful stuff.
I like buying pink trackies ($8 at Dimmeys) just to make a friend jealous. I'll probably only ever wear them once, just to annoy her. I like a dark bottom to an ensemble.
I like 3.30am.
So, random stuff it is.
I'm quite liking this new Charlie's Angels, even if other peeps are dissing it. The three girls look like they are having fun, and I tend to be an immediate fan of anything where the actors appear to be enjoying themselves. Also, it airs in the US on a Thursday, which is great for me, because I don't work Fridays and it gives me something to watch in the afternoon.
I'm enjoying re-watching Angel from the start with Casey. It's a big undertaking, about 75 hours all up. I'd kinda forgotten about the earlier episodes, tending to just re-watch the latter ones. But it's cool, like being 17 again. Only with the spoiler alerts embedded in my brain.
I really like geocaching. If the weather clears for an hour or so tomorrow I'm gunna take Maddy to find one. Again, any of you with Android, go get the app, and while away an afternoon.
I like making up stuff. Having a good solid think about it and then just hoping that my thinking won't let me down. Sometimes it does, but today (well, last night was when I did the thinking and most of the measuring) it all came together okay. Except I made a little booboo and the time it took to unpick it meant I missed getting to the post office by 5 minutes. Now I'll have to wait till Monday to find out what I get when I hand over my two blue cards.
I figure I can show these, since it's an unplanned, receiver-informed auxiliary present. And my phone has finally sent them through.
 |
| Perfect present to bring to a horror party. The zipper should square out once it's got a tablet in it, assuming of course that the tablet fits. I've no idea, since I guessed what tablet it actually was (well, Toshiba appear to have only released one, so I should be okay) and downloaded the specs from the internet. |
 |
| This is kindof like trick photography - that's my 7" CE tablet in there. It's almost the right width, but you can't push it in further than the zips go down the side. |
I like going in to work and telling everyone how much I miss them. Cause I'm a massive loser like that.
I like mentally dissing people's cars. I don't do it to their face, obviously, but some people, I think about the cars they have and I just can't help thinking up insults. Sometimes I'm not a nice person. And am I a worse person for enjoying not being a nice person, or a better person for admitting it and being true to myself?
I like the idea of headbands, even though they give me a nasty headache when I do actually wear them.
I like tissues. Can you imagine how nasty it would have been before tissues. All that fabric, covered in snot. Terrible.
I like vliesofix. The 30cm wide stuff is on clearance at spotlight for $2 a metre, so I got 15. It's useful stuff.
I like buying pink trackies ($8 at Dimmeys) just to make a friend jealous. I'll probably only ever wear them once, just to annoy her. I like a dark bottom to an ensemble.
I like 3.30am.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Blablahblahblah.
I had planned on a lovely, coherent post for tonight, but then I ate half a block of cheese and that always does funny things to my head, so I've decided to ramble instead.
It makes me sad when I open the fridge and find out that we have no fritz. And then I think of all the poor people interstate and overseas who have never had fritz in their fridge, ever. They're missing out on the delicious, finely textured, slightly dubious processed meat of the gods. Fritz whups devon's arse.
I'm really not good at sizing cases for small electronic items. As they get bigger, a half centimetre of leeway is less of a concern, but for an 8cm wide phone, it makes a big difference. For instance - My phone fits perfectly, if it doesn't have the jelly case on it.
I can't find the smaller bag magnets. This makes me sad too.
Magnets on little narrow flaps are about the hardest things to do in the whole wide world. Turning them right-way-out is like childbirth, but without the screaming and the blood. Well, sometimes there's that too, but they don't give you special drugs for it. And then you sew it on about 5mm too far down on the back, so it doesn't sit quite right.
The bruise I got on my leg on monday when I was being a mountain goat really really hurts. When my leg jiggles as I walk it hurts. When I sit down and my jeans pull tight on it it hurts. I was favouring the other leg today. It's a freaking bruise, it shouldn't be causing me to limp. But it hurts.
I even took a photo of it, and unlike most photos of bruises it even looks really bad. But my thigh is a bit hairy.
Today Meagan and I went to look at engagement rings. For her, not me, obviously. We were kinda agreed on our favourite, but the lady that she knew at the jewellers was trying to talk her out of it, because it came from the other jewellers. But we agreed, it was our favourite. And that lady that she knew (Meagan was friends with her daughter in primary school) was kinda annoying.
I took Kelsey her birthday present, a mini backpack in another of the fabrics I made her quilt in, and completely forgot to take photos of it. Whoops.
Would it be easier or harder, do you think, to make a case using only the measurements of the device without a physical device itself? Would the numbers 175, 15, 272 make it easier or harder than having something to plop on my ruler for a size reference?
I need some gray fabric. Gray is not a prominent colour in my stash.
It makes me sad when I open the fridge and find out that we have no fritz. And then I think of all the poor people interstate and overseas who have never had fritz in their fridge, ever. They're missing out on the delicious, finely textured, slightly dubious processed meat of the gods. Fritz whups devon's arse.
I'm really not good at sizing cases for small electronic items. As they get bigger, a half centimetre of leeway is less of a concern, but for an 8cm wide phone, it makes a big difference. For instance - My phone fits perfectly, if it doesn't have the jelly case on it.
 |
| I can't take a photo of it with the phone in it, because I'm using my phone to take the photo. It's a vicious cycle. |
I can't find the smaller bag magnets. This makes me sad too.
Magnets on little narrow flaps are about the hardest things to do in the whole wide world. Turning them right-way-out is like childbirth, but without the screaming and the blood. Well, sometimes there's that too, but they don't give you special drugs for it. And then you sew it on about 5mm too far down on the back, so it doesn't sit quite right.
 |
| Or maybe the magnet just needs to be further from the edge? |
The bruise I got on my leg on monday when I was being a mountain goat really really hurts. When my leg jiggles as I walk it hurts. When I sit down and my jeans pull tight on it it hurts. I was favouring the other leg today. It's a freaking bruise, it shouldn't be causing me to limp. But it hurts.
I even took a photo of it, and unlike most photos of bruises it even looks really bad. But my thigh is a bit hairy.
Today Meagan and I went to look at engagement rings. For her, not me, obviously. We were kinda agreed on our favourite, but the lady that she knew at the jewellers was trying to talk her out of it, because it came from the other jewellers. But we agreed, it was our favourite. And that lady that she knew (Meagan was friends with her daughter in primary school) was kinda annoying.
I took Kelsey her birthday present, a mini backpack in another of the fabrics I made her quilt in, and completely forgot to take photos of it. Whoops.
Would it be easier or harder, do you think, to make a case using only the measurements of the device without a physical device itself? Would the numbers 175, 15, 272 make it easier or harder than having something to plop on my ruler for a size reference?
I need some gray fabric. Gray is not a prominent colour in my stash.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Hip Hip Hooray!
Happy Birthday Kelsey!
I made you a present, it's only a prototype but it's still toats cute, and it kinda matches your quilt. Let me know when you're visitable and I'll drop it round so we can take some toats cute photos and show the blogging world :)
I made you a present, it's only a prototype but it's still toats cute, and it kinda matches your quilt. Let me know when you're visitable and I'll drop it round so we can take some toats cute photos and show the blogging world :)
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Ow.
I am home. Safe and sound. And sore. Really, really sore.
Long car drives, sleeping (or lack thereof) in a swag, shooting a double barreled shotgun with full cartridges, jogging around a lake, climbing a mountain and getting attacked by a tree all add up. The laughing and the dancing and the alcohol were all contributing factors too.
So we went to the Tim Fisher Memorial Shoot in Patchewollock yesterday. Really really lovely day, but the big spring rains aren't due to hit till the day after next, so alas, there weren't many flowers to be woven into crowns. Instead I sat and chatted and ate honey crackles and chicken twisties, and after the actual shoot was finished, they asked Me, Case and a couple of the other girls if we'd like a go. Since I'm quite disappointed that I continue to not be an action hero, I was a bit stoked. I shot one clay which I was quite proud of, and apparently with smaller cartridges I'd be a lot better because there wont be so much kick. Casey got five (we had about a dozen goes) but she's got the bulk to handle the big cartridges. We both have slightly munted right arms today, and oddly, I find the back of my shoulder hurts more than the front. Casey wants to join the local gun club right away, but I've noticed that ebay doesn't sell guns, and that could hold me back a bit. I've never seen any at the Salvos either.
Seriously though, it was much fun, and any sport that involves a gentle stroll back and forth is one I could get to like. Also, you get to shoot things. And they all have these jackets with a quilted shoulder where the gun goes, and I really like the idea of quilting my own.
We went to the Patchy pub on the way home, got takeaway and some takeaway alcohol and went back to Jan and Dal's. One of the neighbours, his brother and his brother's girlfriend from England came over to visit, and Case and I had a ball weirding them out with our singing and dancing antics. Then it was sleepytimes, or at least, sleeptyimes for everyone but me, for whom it was lay around and listen to everyone snoring really really loudly times. At one point, the three of them synchronised so one of them was crescendoing at all times - I was quite impressed.
When I woke up this morning I asked the girls how the hell they had slept through Brad's snoring. Brad claimed he wasn't snoring, and before I'd had a chance to tell him that he most definitely was, he said "that's not snoring, that's a mating call"
Um, no thanks.
Saturday night one of the girls at the Rainbow pub mentioned that she'd been geocaching that afternoon. It's a thing where people hide things and post the coordinates on the internet so people with GPSs can go find them, and leave behind something of their own. I'd heard of it but figured there wouldn't really be much in the middle of nowhere places we go to, but Casey and Jess got really excited about the idea - they even got cross that I had, quote, "kept it a secret from them." Turns out there's millions of the things, everywhere, including one just 500m from my house. Usually it's little tupperware containers with little trinkets and a notebook in them so you can write in that you found it, what you took and what you left.
To make up for it I downloaded the $9.39 geocaching app for my phone and we went looking. We went to Lake Abacutya, which is mostly dried up - we drove across it and found, in the middle, a small hollow, maybe 30m in diametre, full of water, so I jogged around it. When I tell people tomorrow that I jogged around the lake they will assume I mean all 8km of the Blue Lake, and be very impressed. We got back in the car and kept driving, coming up the boat ramp on the other side. We went to the site of Peppers Point School and didn't find anything, gave up and went to Lake Hindmarsh (which is very, very full) and found one! I left behind one of Helen's crochered oreos, so it's out in the world now.
We went to the Arapiles, some big-arse rock mountains near Horsham. One of the problems with geocaching is that it just gives you a location, and while the app is nice enough to show it on a map, it doesn't tell you the route. We started at the campsite, walked/climbed 500 of the 700m before we ran out of track, came to a sheer cliff face, I got attacked by a tree, my phone reached 5% battery and we decided to go back down, only to find, upon leaving the national park, that there was a road to the summit on the other side. We drove to the top, climbed the last 50m to the hiding spot and found our cache. I left behind a little torch and took a US 1c coin.
We stopped at three more that were on the side of the road on the way home. The app tells you the nearest ones and location can be down to the metre in some cases. I highly recommend it for anyone looking to waste an afternoon with some friends.
We will be tomorrow. We're going to cheap as chips first to stock up on some party favours to leave behind.
And I'm gunna take the quilt. It's been washed, so I'll be looking for a nice photogenic spot to make it look especially pretty.
Long car drives, sleeping (or lack thereof) in a swag, shooting a double barreled shotgun with full cartridges, jogging around a lake, climbing a mountain and getting attacked by a tree all add up. The laughing and the dancing and the alcohol were all contributing factors too.
So we went to the Tim Fisher Memorial Shoot in Patchewollock yesterday. Really really lovely day, but the big spring rains aren't due to hit till the day after next, so alas, there weren't many flowers to be woven into crowns. Instead I sat and chatted and ate honey crackles and chicken twisties, and after the actual shoot was finished, they asked Me, Case and a couple of the other girls if we'd like a go. Since I'm quite disappointed that I continue to not be an action hero, I was a bit stoked. I shot one clay which I was quite proud of, and apparently with smaller cartridges I'd be a lot better because there wont be so much kick. Casey got five (we had about a dozen goes) but she's got the bulk to handle the big cartridges. We both have slightly munted right arms today, and oddly, I find the back of my shoulder hurts more than the front. Casey wants to join the local gun club right away, but I've noticed that ebay doesn't sell guns, and that could hold me back a bit. I've never seen any at the Salvos either.
Seriously though, it was much fun, and any sport that involves a gentle stroll back and forth is one I could get to like. Also, you get to shoot things. And they all have these jackets with a quilted shoulder where the gun goes, and I really like the idea of quilting my own.
We went to the Patchy pub on the way home, got takeaway and some takeaway alcohol and went back to Jan and Dal's. One of the neighbours, his brother and his brother's girlfriend from England came over to visit, and Case and I had a ball weirding them out with our singing and dancing antics. Then it was sleepytimes, or at least, sleeptyimes for everyone but me, for whom it was lay around and listen to everyone snoring really really loudly times. At one point, the three of them synchronised so one of them was crescendoing at all times - I was quite impressed.
When I woke up this morning I asked the girls how the hell they had slept through Brad's snoring. Brad claimed he wasn't snoring, and before I'd had a chance to tell him that he most definitely was, he said "that's not snoring, that's a mating call"
Um, no thanks.
Saturday night one of the girls at the Rainbow pub mentioned that she'd been geocaching that afternoon. It's a thing where people hide things and post the coordinates on the internet so people with GPSs can go find them, and leave behind something of their own. I'd heard of it but figured there wouldn't really be much in the middle of nowhere places we go to, but Casey and Jess got really excited about the idea - they even got cross that I had, quote, "kept it a secret from them." Turns out there's millions of the things, everywhere, including one just 500m from my house. Usually it's little tupperware containers with little trinkets and a notebook in them so you can write in that you found it, what you took and what you left.
To make up for it I downloaded the $9.39 geocaching app for my phone and we went looking. We went to Lake Abacutya, which is mostly dried up - we drove across it and found, in the middle, a small hollow, maybe 30m in diametre, full of water, so I jogged around it. When I tell people tomorrow that I jogged around the lake they will assume I mean all 8km of the Blue Lake, and be very impressed. We got back in the car and kept driving, coming up the boat ramp on the other side. We went to the site of Peppers Point School and didn't find anything, gave up and went to Lake Hindmarsh (which is very, very full) and found one! I left behind one of Helen's crochered oreos, so it's out in the world now.
We went to the Arapiles, some big-arse rock mountains near Horsham. One of the problems with geocaching is that it just gives you a location, and while the app is nice enough to show it on a map, it doesn't tell you the route. We started at the campsite, walked/climbed 500 of the 700m before we ran out of track, came to a sheer cliff face, I got attacked by a tree, my phone reached 5% battery and we decided to go back down, only to find, upon leaving the national park, that there was a road to the summit on the other side. We drove to the top, climbed the last 50m to the hiding spot and found our cache. I left behind a little torch and took a US 1c coin.
We stopped at three more that were on the side of the road on the way home. The app tells you the nearest ones and location can be down to the metre in some cases. I highly recommend it for anyone looking to waste an afternoon with some friends.
We will be tomorrow. We're going to cheap as chips first to stock up on some party favours to leave behind.
And I'm gunna take the quilt. It's been washed, so I'll be looking for a nice photogenic spot to make it look especially pretty.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Happy Anniversary, Mum and Dad.
Once again, as it so often does lately, real life got in the way of sewing. But today for a change, as well as the usual deros dragging me to the gym, we went out for a lovely dinner to celebrate Mum and Dad's 27th wedding anniversary.
27 years is very impressive. I'm 23 and I haven't even kept an imaginary friend that long, let alone any real friends. The idea of having spent an amount of time longer than my whole life so far with the one person seems amazing - my best friends I've known for less than two years. And although I've got some friends from 10 years ago on facebook, I don't actually talk to any of them. It makes me a bit sad.
Even though past experience tells me I probably won't be, I really hope I'm still friends in 27 years with the friends I've got now. These are the first friends I've ever had where I feel like I'm storing my feelings and thoughts inside someone's brain other than mine. As someone who's always been very self reliant, it's an interesting feeling, but I'm rolling with it. Tomorrow, we are going out so they can form some opinions on shoes for me, and then we're making ourselves fish and chips and some jelly shots. It should be excellent.
But it won't get any sewing done.
PS. I'm gunna go with the squareish shaped quilt. More because it will make a nicer picnic rug shape than any other sensible reason, especially since I don't really have picnics. Maybe I will, once I have the quilt. I like the idea of picnics.
27 years is very impressive. I'm 23 and I haven't even kept an imaginary friend that long, let alone any real friends. The idea of having spent an amount of time longer than my whole life so far with the one person seems amazing - my best friends I've known for less than two years. And although I've got some friends from 10 years ago on facebook, I don't actually talk to any of them. It makes me a bit sad.
Even though past experience tells me I probably won't be, I really hope I'm still friends in 27 years with the friends I've got now. These are the first friends I've ever had where I feel like I'm storing my feelings and thoughts inside someone's brain other than mine. As someone who's always been very self reliant, it's an interesting feeling, but I'm rolling with it. Tomorrow, we are going out so they can form some opinions on shoes for me, and then we're making ourselves fish and chips and some jelly shots. It should be excellent.
But it won't get any sewing done.
PS. I'm gunna go with the squareish shaped quilt. More because it will make a nicer picnic rug shape than any other sensible reason, especially since I don't really have picnics. Maybe I will, once I have the quilt. I like the idea of picnics.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Losing it.
Mum has decided we will get these carpets properly cleaned before we put the furniture back in, so yet again I'm without a bed. Well, that's a lie, I'm sharing Maddy's bed with Casey, and she snores like a freight train. Or sometimes like a chainsaw. One time it was like a motorbike. But you get the idea. Last night, to combat it, I stayed up till about 4am safe in the knowledge that I would be so tired I would fall asleep in spite of the noise, and I could sleep in once she'd gone to work at 7. But tomorrow I start work at 12, which is late by anyone's standards, except of course mine. Or those of the nightfill boys. Some might say the nightfill boys have no standards, and they wouldn't be too far wrong.
Because I'm working all afternoon and most of the evening tomorrow, I just have to hope that some nice parent or sibling puts my bed back while I am at work. I'm losing it without my bed.
Because I'm working all afternoon and most of the evening tomorrow, I just have to hope that some nice parent or sibling puts my bed back while I am at work. I'm losing it without my bed.
Friday, May 6, 2011
My parents are off on holiday.
11.10pm:
Okay, I've checked facebook and the blog roll, now to get into sewing. Quilt the Autumn Nutmeg some more or work on Anna's flopchair?
12.10am (facebook status):
12.45am:
Crap. I wasted all my sewing motivation making a cover for a friends flop chair. Now I feel like getting drunk, but that's meant to be my plan for Saturday. How long do I have to wait till the urge to drink passes and the urge to sew returns? I can't give up and go to bed now. It's not even 1am. I could do some ironing I suppose. Though that's not high on my fun list, it does need doing.
1am:
The great thing about strawberries and cream is that after you've dunked all your strawberries in the cream and eaten them, you then get to eat half a bowl of cream!
1.15am:
...ergh... note to self: don't eat bowls of cream.
1.30am:
That ironing didn't take as long as I thought it would. But now I have to clear the mess left by making the flop chair so I can lay out my blocks. That sucks.
1.45am:
Yep, I like that layout. It's a shame I couldn't have decided that a fortnight ago, because now instead of my increasing squares method of joining my blocks together, I have to sew it together row by row.
2.45am:
Impartially, yes, it seems quicker. But it's also harder, less accurate and needs way more pins. I suppose people need to do something quick to make up the time they've lost trimming all their blocks. Oh well, very patterned fabric, you can barely see my messy points.
2.50am:
Please someone save me from myself... I'm grooving to Redneck Woman. I don't even like this song, so I keep telling myself. Can someone remind me of that please? It's possible that blasting music in the wee small hours isn't the best idea.
2.55am:
What should I make next?
3am:
Hey, deepfryers's still out on the bench. Homemade chips it is.
3.10am (facebook post):
3.30am:
Chips are in the deep fryer. Coke in fridge is probably flat - should I crack open one of Casey's Bundy Reds?
3.40am:
Chips are ready. Deep fryer has apparently raised the temperature in the kitchen by .1°C. Have decided to go with Jamesons instead - I'm thinking of it as getting myself warmed up for the weekend. Might also actually warm me up - temp is still only 17.6°C in here.
3.50am:
Is it hypocritical of me to like the song Dirt Track Cowboys while hating the Speedway?
3.55am:
I've had one drink and I'm bored. Also, I normally only have one drink per meal. Drinking with food doesn't seem like a very effective method.
4.am:
Do you think Casey will get cross if I leave my quilt hanging in the window? She left lots of dishes in the sink...
4.05am:
Pictures!
4.15am:
Geoscience Australia website tells me sunrise is not till 6.52am. It would seem that Garth Brooks is a liar... I was thinking it would be about 5.30ish. Guess that shows how often I'm up in the early mornings - I don't think I'll be staying up for this one either.
Just so you know, I did really do this blog post in real time, or within 15 minutes or so. I selected 50 songs or so and had them on random all night. Mum and Dad have left with Maddy for two weeks, and Casey's sleeping up their end of the house because it makes the dog feel better, so I can be as loud as I want, and noone will come and tell me to go to bed. And now that the top of Quilt # 49 is done, I've only got 1.5 other quilts to quilt and bind plus 3 more to bind, and it's onto #50. It's also 11 days till my one year of quilting anniversary, or 3 weeks till the anniversary of me having completed a quilt. Do you think I can get my scheduled WiPs and #50 done before then?*
4.30am:
Publish Post.
*I don't, but then, I thought it was at least a month ago that I was trying to sort the layout for the mingle stars quilt, and it was actually only half that. I need to go and pick up my layby'd batting tomorrow too.
Okay, I've checked facebook and the blog roll, now to get into sewing. Quilt the Autumn Nutmeg some more or work on Anna's flopchair?
12.10am (facebook status):
12.45am:
Crap. I wasted all my sewing motivation making a cover for a friends flop chair. Now I feel like getting drunk, but that's meant to be my plan for Saturday. How long do I have to wait till the urge to drink passes and the urge to sew returns? I can't give up and go to bed now. It's not even 1am. I could do some ironing I suppose. Though that's not high on my fun list, it does need doing.
1am:
The great thing about strawberries and cream is that after you've dunked all your strawberries in the cream and eaten them, you then get to eat half a bowl of cream!
1.15am:
...ergh... note to self: don't eat bowls of cream.
1.30am:
That ironing didn't take as long as I thought it would. But now I have to clear the mess left by making the flop chair so I can lay out my blocks. That sucks.
1.45am:
Yep, I like that layout. It's a shame I couldn't have decided that a fortnight ago, because now instead of my increasing squares method of joining my blocks together, I have to sew it together row by row.
2.45am:
Impartially, yes, it seems quicker. But it's also harder, less accurate and needs way more pins. I suppose people need to do something quick to make up the time they've lost trimming all their blocks. Oh well, very patterned fabric, you can barely see my messy points.
2.50am:
Please someone save me from myself... I'm grooving to Redneck Woman. I don't even like this song, so I keep telling myself. Can someone remind me of that please? It's possible that blasting music in the wee small hours isn't the best idea.
2.55am:
What should I make next?
3am:
Hey, deepfryers's still out on the bench. Homemade chips it is.
3.10am (facebook post):
3.30am:
Chips are in the deep fryer. Coke in fridge is probably flat - should I crack open one of Casey's Bundy Reds?
3.40am:
Chips are ready. Deep fryer has apparently raised the temperature in the kitchen by .1°C. Have decided to go with Jamesons instead - I'm thinking of it as getting myself warmed up for the weekend. Might also actually warm me up - temp is still only 17.6°C in here.
3.50am:
Is it hypocritical of me to like the song Dirt Track Cowboys while hating the Speedway?
3.55am:
I've had one drink and I'm bored. Also, I normally only have one drink per meal. Drinking with food doesn't seem like a very effective method.
4.am:
Do you think Casey will get cross if I leave my quilt hanging in the window? She left lots of dishes in the sink...
4.05am:
Pictures!
 |
| Anna's chair cover on the bitchin' chair. Upholstery fabric left flecks of blue fluff everywhere. |
 |
| Curtain shot. It's staying there for tonight, I think. |
Geoscience Australia website tells me sunrise is not till 6.52am. It would seem that Garth Brooks is a liar... I was thinking it would be about 5.30ish. Guess that shows how often I'm up in the early mornings - I don't think I'll be staying up for this one either.
Just so you know, I did really do this blog post in real time, or within 15 minutes or so. I selected 50 songs or so and had them on random all night. Mum and Dad have left with Maddy for two weeks, and Casey's sleeping up their end of the house because it makes the dog feel better, so I can be as loud as I want, and noone will come and tell me to go to bed. And now that the top of Quilt # 49 is done, I've only got 1.5 other quilts to quilt and bind plus 3 more to bind, and it's onto #50. It's also 11 days till my one year of quilting anniversary, or 3 weeks till the anniversary of me having completed a quilt. Do you think I can get my scheduled WiPs and #50 done before then?*
4.30am:
Publish Post.
*I don't, but then, I thought it was at least a month ago that I was trying to sort the layout for the mingle stars quilt, and it was actually only half that. I need to go and pick up my layby'd batting tomorrow too.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Distractions.
It's 4am, but I'm not tired. I am cold though, and going to bed would solve that problem (hooray for electric blankets!) but then instead of sitting up doing stuff on the computer I'd be laying in bed doing stuff on the computer, and that's way less efficient, and usually ends with me trawling silly websites that have lists of the 50 biggest photoshop fails or movie characters you wont believe were inspired by real people.
I doubt I would fall asleep though, even though that's what I should be doing. The 'rents are off on their cruise tomorrow, and I should be in bed ready to wake up at a reasonable hour (mum has requested 10am, and given the fact that they usually leave at 5am, this does seem quite reasonable*) but Mum asked me to get Maddy some movies to take (yeah, the 8 year old gets to go. It's not fair.) so I've been doing that, as well as watching the episode of Chuck I didn't get around to last night and doing the mug for Meagan's boyf (the trucker, who's getting one with a picture of his truck and the words "she thinks my Kenworth's sexy (it really turns her on)"
Again, bogan humour. The actual song is she thinks my tractor's sexy, and we've already ordered some of those too. All I have to say is that it's a good thing that Vistaprint ends it's specials and then puts everything on sale in a different configuration a day later. This mug will cost about $10, but then, I'm only getting one. I earned my bulk discounts last time, getting approximately twenty.
One website that doesn't seem to understand bulk discounts is fabric.com which insists it can only fit four yards in a flat rate envelope, and that if I want five, postage will be $48. Hint hint to any Americans - you'd do well to set up a parcel forwarding company solely dealing with foreigners who think that that's a rip off, ie: all of us.
The strange thing is though, the fabric I'm looking at, at $4.50 a yard, still comes out to half the price of buying it locally, even with a maximum four yard limit and a $16 postage slug. Economics is a weird, wonderful little thing, until it incites this kind of indecision. Yes I want it, yes I technically have a project lined up and yes, the price is good, but that's an awful waste of space in a prepaid satchel. And as a pretty much scrap-less quilter, I'm not one for waste. Especially with Rego being due next week and acting like a big black hole in my pay check.
I just have to keep telling myself no. And hope I get a good package of something-or-the-other in the mail tomorrow to distract me.
*though on the other hand, it would be easier to just stay up another hour and see them off. That said, dad still isn't home from wherever he went out drinking tonight, so I have my suspicions that I'll be leaving for work in the afternoon right about when they're leaving for Geelong.
I doubt I would fall asleep though, even though that's what I should be doing. The 'rents are off on their cruise tomorrow, and I should be in bed ready to wake up at a reasonable hour (mum has requested 10am, and given the fact that they usually leave at 5am, this does seem quite reasonable*) but Mum asked me to get Maddy some movies to take (yeah, the 8 year old gets to go. It's not fair.) so I've been doing that, as well as watching the episode of Chuck I didn't get around to last night and doing the mug for Meagan's boyf (the trucker, who's getting one with a picture of his truck and the words "she thinks my Kenworth's sexy (it really turns her on)"
Again, bogan humour. The actual song is she thinks my tractor's sexy, and we've already ordered some of those too. All I have to say is that it's a good thing that Vistaprint ends it's specials and then puts everything on sale in a different configuration a day later. This mug will cost about $10, but then, I'm only getting one. I earned my bulk discounts last time, getting approximately twenty.
One website that doesn't seem to understand bulk discounts is fabric.com which insists it can only fit four yards in a flat rate envelope, and that if I want five, postage will be $48. Hint hint to any Americans - you'd do well to set up a parcel forwarding company solely dealing with foreigners who think that that's a rip off, ie: all of us.
The strange thing is though, the fabric I'm looking at, at $4.50 a yard, still comes out to half the price of buying it locally, even with a maximum four yard limit and a $16 postage slug. Economics is a weird, wonderful little thing, until it incites this kind of indecision. Yes I want it, yes I technically have a project lined up and yes, the price is good, but that's an awful waste of space in a prepaid satchel. And as a pretty much scrap-less quilter, I'm not one for waste. Especially with Rego being due next week and acting like a big black hole in my pay check.
I just have to keep telling myself no. And hope I get a good package of something-or-the-other in the mail tomorrow to distract me.
*though on the other hand, it would be easier to just stay up another hour and see them off. That said, dad still isn't home from wherever he went out drinking tonight, so I have my suspicions that I'll be leaving for work in the afternoon right about when they're leaving for Geelong.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
The evening after the night before...
I must confess, I came home last night. I hadn't had anything to drink because I had done about 5 trips into town to get more stuff, and I figured there was bound to be more. And then, later in the night, Steph "Boobs" Vine was feeling a bit sick and considering taking her fiancee's ute and driving it the 40km to her house, leaving him with nowhere to sleep, and the wet grass had soaked through my boots, so at about 11 we decided to head home. She pulled the, I'm not tired, lets watch a movie/falling asleep on the couch before the end of the opening credits routine, and I downloaded and watched a couple of new episodes of Mythbusters. It wasn't a bad party, the band was a bit shit, and it was too cold for us skinny girls later in the night, but everyone seemed to be having fun.
Which leads to: Today.
Since most of my friends are farmers, or grew up on farms, they all wake at ungodly hours of the morning. After passing out at 4am, they will be up and about and ready to continue drinking at 6am. I of course, would struggle to find the motivation to get out of bed at 6am even if I'd had an early night the previous one, so I settled for 8.30am.
It was horrible. There was a screeching alarm and it was cold out and I immediately had an asthma attack. Nature's way of saying I should sleep in, I think. And of course, when we got there, everyone was standing around having a beer and psyching themselves up for the drive home (some people had come 300km, as opposed to 3) so I went and got maccas, and bought out the bitchin' chair and ate Jatz biscuits as some people left and some people got drunk all over again. I'm not gunna begrudge them that. It was a lovely day, and they were mainly drinking their own alcohol, with only a slight fortification of Casey's Bundy cans with my Jamesons. I considered getting my drink on, but I had quilting to do. So I came home, ate a big bowl of Milo with a little bit of icecream, and got stuck in.
Quilting, the process of sewing through the three layers of fabric and batting, is really boring. I am not a quilter, in that I don't "quilt" (by the above description) for fun. Quilting is just a means to an end, a way to convert the pretty pieced tops and backs, which are what I enjoy doing, into a nice snuggly quilt. Maybe if I had a longarm machine, I could turn it into an artform, but sewing from one side to the other, turning it around, and doing it again, just following seam lines and hoping it doesn't bunch up too much, feels a bit like a chore. The fun part for me is keeping a running percentage of how far I've done, but then, I am odd like that, and I also like to count the number of sewing lines I have remaining when I'm assembling too. I guess it makes me feel like I am getting somewhere, even though it looks like I've sewn a million lines, but I still have a billion more to go.
Unfortunately, I realised after 4 pm that I didn't actually have anything to bind it with anyway, so it wasn't gunna get done. But the bloody quilting is out of the way, for that one at least, and now there's only 4 more to quilt* before I've done half my WIPs, and can get to something new.
Still, since the quilting was done I could take it to Helen's and let Bob have a stomp on it, which is the important thing really, and they don't need a binding for that. Then I had an over-tired wonder if the lights were straight (I'm assured they are) and was told to go home, download a show called Wilfred (there's a dog right, who's a man in a dog suit, but he's actually a dog, and everyone thinks he's a dog, and he acts like a dog, but there's this one bloke who knows he's a guy in a dog suit, and talks to him. Seems a bit odd, but Helen assures me it's brilliant) and have an early night. It's downloading, ETA lunchtime tomorrow, and, y'know, I may just go to bed.
How weird.
*and bind. 4 more to quilt and bind, and another two after Helen's that just need their binding done, and then I can get on with making some more WsIP.
Which leads to: Today.
Since most of my friends are farmers, or grew up on farms, they all wake at ungodly hours of the morning. After passing out at 4am, they will be up and about and ready to continue drinking at 6am. I of course, would struggle to find the motivation to get out of bed at 6am even if I'd had an early night the previous one, so I settled for 8.30am.
It was horrible. There was a screeching alarm and it was cold out and I immediately had an asthma attack. Nature's way of saying I should sleep in, I think. And of course, when we got there, everyone was standing around having a beer and psyching themselves up for the drive home (some people had come 300km, as opposed to 3) so I went and got maccas, and bought out the bitchin' chair and ate Jatz biscuits as some people left and some people got drunk all over again. I'm not gunna begrudge them that. It was a lovely day, and they were mainly drinking their own alcohol, with only a slight fortification of Casey's Bundy cans with my Jamesons. I considered getting my drink on, but I had quilting to do. So I came home, ate a big bowl of Milo with a little bit of icecream, and got stuck in.
Quilting, the process of sewing through the three layers of fabric and batting, is really boring. I am not a quilter, in that I don't "quilt" (by the above description) for fun. Quilting is just a means to an end, a way to convert the pretty pieced tops and backs, which are what I enjoy doing, into a nice snuggly quilt. Maybe if I had a longarm machine, I could turn it into an artform, but sewing from one side to the other, turning it around, and doing it again, just following seam lines and hoping it doesn't bunch up too much, feels a bit like a chore. The fun part for me is keeping a running percentage of how far I've done, but then, I am odd like that, and I also like to count the number of sewing lines I have remaining when I'm assembling too. I guess it makes me feel like I am getting somewhere, even though it looks like I've sewn a million lines, but I still have a billion more to go.
Unfortunately, I realised after 4 pm that I didn't actually have anything to bind it with anyway, so it wasn't gunna get done. But the bloody quilting is out of the way, for that one at least, and now there's only 4 more to quilt* before I've done half my WIPs, and can get to something new.
Still, since the quilting was done I could take it to Helen's and let Bob have a stomp on it, which is the important thing really, and they don't need a binding for that. Then I had an over-tired wonder if the lights were straight (I'm assured they are) and was told to go home, download a show called Wilfred (there's a dog right, who's a man in a dog suit, but he's actually a dog, and everyone thinks he's a dog, and he acts like a dog, but there's this one bloke who knows he's a guy in a dog suit, and talks to him. Seems a bit odd, but Helen assures me it's brilliant) and have an early night. It's downloading, ETA lunchtime tomorrow, and, y'know, I may just go to bed.
How weird.
*and bind. 4 more to quilt and bind, and another two after Helen's that just need their binding done, and then I can get on with making some more WsIP.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Whoops. I need to lay of the TV shows...
I've just watched 6 straight episodes of Chuck. And as a result, all I've made tonight is Kelsey's stubby holder. Which I can't show you till Friday, cause, it's for Kelsey.
What I can show you is the fabrics I bought today.
The bottom four are to do the back for the mingle twist quilt, the top ones are for yet another mini stairways quilt. I'm a little bit addicted, I need help.
There's double of the green spotty, cause that's for the Charlie I'm making for Kelsey.
Congrats on getting out, girl. May the diet coke be with you.
What I can show you is the fabrics I bought today.
The bottom four are to do the back for the mingle twist quilt, the top ones are for yet another mini stairways quilt. I'm a little bit addicted, I need help.
There's double of the green spotty, cause that's for the Charlie I'm making for Kelsey.
Congrats on getting out, girl. May the diet coke be with you.
Monday, March 21, 2011
"...Dah dah, duh duh duh dah, duh duh duh dah, duh duh duh dunnn..."
It was a day and a bit ago in a capital city
approximately 4 and a half hours drive away,
when a young country lady went to a fabric
store to meet someone she'd only
ever talked to online before...
Sorry. The geek in me couldn't resist, especially after the last line of Shay's post. So here's my side of the story.
I left the backpackers early - about 9.30. I was hoping to be there at 10.30ish but I had no idea really how long it was going to take. The guy at the backpackers charged me 30 cents to print out another "Save $40" voucher, but you don't have to be a maths whiz to work out why I didn't mind that much. I got there a bit before 10, and then realised I only had Shay's home phone. I went in anyway, got completely overawed by the fabrics, and... well, I may have stood there open mouthed, possibly with a little drool hanging out, or maybe I went into an immediate fabric pulling out frenzy. I had a half dozen on my pile when I got an SMS from Shay, but by the time she got there, the pile had had to be moved to a bench with a little more structural integrity. It still insisted on toppling as soon as you stopped looking at it for a second.
You know what Shay's like on her blog? Well, in real life, she's pretty much exactly the same, except you can hug her. My pile was pretty comprehensive before she arrived, so I was quite happy to sit on the floor and do some maths for her while she picked some. It was for Bec the Sarcastic Quilter's pink version of the paper piecing quilt, except with 36 blocks instead of 20. So fabric requirements of 1.5 yards per colour, divided by 20 and then times by 36 came out to about 2.7 yards. Then, while Shay did some indecisiveness, I got properly stuck into some of the toughest quiltmath I've ever faced*. I've refined it since then, and some measurements have shot up once I actually read the information so far as to why extra is good, but really, I've just done it for the fun of the math. I know many of you think there is no fun in math, but if you poke and prod them long enough, the numbers really do dance.
Shay's assertion that it took two trips to the counter is not entirely accurate, as I had already dumped a couple of rolls there before she arrived, so it was technically three trips. Nor did I rugby tackle any little old ladies; a discreet turn while holding a long roll of fabric, which hits them in the guts and winds them would be more my fabric-store-fighting-style. But sadly it's not the first time I've had a little old lady come up to me and say "whatever do you need all that fabric for dear?"
It was all I could do to not wet myself as she went back to her friend and said "Ooh, she's a quilter. But not from around here" And then about a dozen women started talking about me while I was not 5 feet from them. They're just jealous.
The ladies behind the counter called for some reinforcements. When I was working at Spotlight we probably would have fobbed them off to the furnishings counter.
As always, but the time it was all cut, the pile that made all the ladies chatter was disappointingly small.
Just under two hands high once it's all folded neatly. But that's 10.5 metres there, and it cost me around $80, so I'm pretty pleased with that.
Shay wanted some browns too, so we went to the Lincraft up the road too. I got a couple of books for Kelsey to have a go with, but no fabric. Shay doesn't have a Lincraft card, so I scanned mine - it probably earned me enough points to go buy her another repro bundle from the local. We most have both psychically known we were going to get some stash from the other - Shay has given me my first ever charm pack.
Of course, I have no idea what to do with it.
So I've just laid it out and cooed over it for a bit.
After Lincraft we went to the KFC across the road and gasbagged about anything and everything for over an hour. I didn't eat my chips, because by the time I was done laughing and talking, they were cold.
In spite of the chips, it was pretty much a perfect day. I went to Marion on the way to the hospital to see if I could find a cable to play the laptop through the big telly, but noone had one, so I went to the Big W and bought my work shoes again. I went and got satay sticks, again, for tea, and I watched Tangled and drew up some soft toy patterns, while Kelsey sewed a cat and Areysha (not positive on the spelling, but Kelsey's roommate) felted a ball. I may have used up all the nice weather for my perfect day, because today was quite grey, and a bit drizzly. But Kelsey wanted some felts before I went home, which seemed like the perfect excuse to go to the Melrose Park Spotlight store.
And then, because my work shoes had only been $15 this time, I went to another Big W, to see if I could find them again. I did, and I also found this.
Doesn't look like much, and it was in amongst some real rubbish, but look:
Good find for $3 huh?
Even though that was my last bit of fabric bought for the trip, I still have the fabrics I got on Friday from Rundle Mall to show you.
And now I'm home safe, with no money and more fabrics I need to find room for. But I still have 3 more satay sticks - I was waiting at the restaurant at 5pm for them to open so I could get some to bring home. It meant I did some driving in the dark, but so what? The thunder and the rain kindly waited till I got home and unpacked my car, but it's getting pretty heavy now.
I guess a whole lot of fabric isn't the only thing I brought down with me.
*Bec, if you want some more precise amounts, I may have them already worked out for you. They're not uber precise - I've basically worked out triangles to cover the long point and left the other edge with some right angled overhang. But I've kinda guessed your measurements, so it could all be a bit skew whiff.
 |
| Some backings - both 1m, the orange is standard 112 wide quilting and the green is a 144 wide cotton poplin. |
 |
| They had some Flourish, which is what I used for Kelsey's quilt. I got a half metre of each. |
Shay's assertion that it took two trips to the counter is not entirely accurate, as I had already dumped a couple of rolls there before she arrived, so it was technically three trips. Nor did I rugby tackle any little old ladies; a discreet turn while holding a long roll of fabric, which hits them in the guts and winds them would be more my fabric-store-fighting-style. But sadly it's not the first time I've had a little old lady come up to me and say "whatever do you need all that fabric for dear?"
 |
| Why doesn't my local store have any Riley Blake fabrics? There's a half metre of each. |
 | |
| Various other half metre cuts. |
 |
| Random 25cm cuts. |
Just under two hands high once it's all folded neatly. But that's 10.5 metres there, and it cost me around $80, so I'm pretty pleased with that.
Shay wanted some browns too, so we went to the Lincraft up the road too. I got a couple of books for Kelsey to have a go with, but no fabric. Shay doesn't have a Lincraft card, so I scanned mine - it probably earned me enough points to go buy her another repro bundle from the local. We most have both psychically known we were going to get some stash from the other - Shay has given me my first ever charm pack.
Of course, I have no idea what to do with it.
So I've just laid it out and cooed over it for a bit.
After Lincraft we went to the KFC across the road and gasbagged about anything and everything for over an hour. I didn't eat my chips, because by the time I was done laughing and talking, they were cold.
In spite of the chips, it was pretty much a perfect day. I went to Marion on the way to the hospital to see if I could find a cable to play the laptop through the big telly, but noone had one, so I went to the Big W and bought my work shoes again. I went and got satay sticks, again, for tea, and I watched Tangled and drew up some soft toy patterns, while Kelsey sewed a cat and Areysha (not positive on the spelling, but Kelsey's roommate) felted a ball. I may have used up all the nice weather for my perfect day, because today was quite grey, and a bit drizzly. But Kelsey wanted some felts before I went home, which seemed like the perfect excuse to go to the Melrose Park Spotlight store.
 |
| 25cm each of the top three and 1.5m of the rainbow diagonal. Small world - I was served by someone I went to primary school with. |
Doesn't look like much, and it was in amongst some real rubbish, but look:
Good find for $3 huh?
Even though that was my last bit of fabric bought for the trip, I still have the fabrics I got on Friday from Rundle Mall to show you.
 |
| These are fat sixths - weird cut I know, but they were a cute bundle for $10, minus what was saved with the voucher. |
 |
| This is the rest of what I got from Spotlight - A metre of the yellow which never arrived at our store, as well as the brown batik and the rainbow flowers and leaves on brown, both of which I bought on the last trip too. There's a half of the two pinks and the green spot, and I got 20cm of the buttons for Helen, cause they're cute. |
 |
| And a smattering of Lincraft purchases. 30cm of the cats and the pink stripe, and whatever was left on the bolt of the grey/brown check, which, again, I already have a heap of. |
I guess a whole lot of fabric isn't the only thing I brought down with me.
*Bec, if you want some more precise amounts, I may have them already worked out for you. They're not uber precise - I've basically worked out triangles to cover the long point and left the other edge with some right angled overhang. But I've kinda guessed your measurements, so it could all be a bit skew whiff.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Life: it happens whether you see it coming or not.
Firstly, I'd like to say I skulled 3 drinks in 30 minutes, so this will be even more rambling than my post about driving.
Secondly. I'd like to thank Kelsey, the Bitchin' Rock Star from Mars, for calling me upon request, and allowing me to escape from Darren, who's English, and thinks Australia is 30 years behind England, and that all immigrants should be shot in the head. Except him, since he's thinking about staying here.
Thirdly, I've written my first ever nice letter on blog #3, go write a letter, to the barman. It too is drunken and rambling, but, if I say so myself, quite sweet.
I've also written a letter to the guy in the beat up Supra. That's the usual mean Sara though.
Soooo...
Um.
Well, first actual bit of blogging is stuff that I forgot. I realised by the time I got into town (I met the 'rents at maccas before I left) that I'd left my frozen bottles of water, meant to keep my esky cold, in the freezer.
Then, shortly after I bought ice at Tailem Bend, I realised I'd left the 3-way 12v splitter in the van of love. I was gunna put 2 GPS devices head to head, and see which one was better*, but instead I stuck with mine, which performed flawlessly in every respect except it took my straight to the Clipsal parking and grandstands when I said I wanted to go to Rundle Mall. I just kept heading in what I thought was the right direction, and it kept on recalculating, and we got there fine.
The other thing I forgot? Um, well, the kinda important save-$40 vouchers that Helen printed out for me. They're at home, in a neat pile with the mail that's for us girls. Bugger. But Helen has forwarded me the email, and the backpacker place appears to have some kind of printing setup, so I should be fine.
Next is the story of my day. The first two and a half hours of the drive kicked arse. I have burned possibly the best beginning-of-roadtrip CD in the whole of human history. But then, right when the roads turn brown, I got bored. I sent Mum some SMS's to that effect, but she was unmoved. Seems it's only okay to be bored if you're in the passenger seat and have some handy movies to watch**
After Tailem Bend I got psyched again. Taylor was having a bit of a strop though The Hills on the way home last tiome we came up, but this time she was great. I even saw a BnS ute, and we were both at Longernong together last year (I didn't recognise it, but it had the sticker). So that was nice. After my GPS took me to see all the Clipsal parking lots and the back of some grandstands, I went to Rundle Mall, the plan being to spend $100 on fabrics at the Spotlight there and use a voucher. I did, and I did, but they're in the car, so no photos tonight, sorry.
I also got myself some lollies (guinea pig poo - I assume they have a real name but they're the little pink pellets from Darryl Lea) and bought some felt chocolate making kits from Morning Glory, which is a toats*** cute shop near the big food court that sells Japanese stuff.
After I found Taylor (it took some time, since where she was parked said level 2 on one side and level 3 on the other (it was level 2) I went to Burnside Food and Wine Noodle Bistro, which has possibly the bestested food in the whole entire world. It's so good, I'm gunna drive home in the dark tomorrow night, so I can have it again. Satay chicken sticks, 3 for $5.90. I'd pay twice, three times that much. They are so freaking good. I ate a double serve of them in the carpark of the Burnside Shopping Plaza, since I had to go there and get myself some coke (and Kelsey some diet coke)
The only bad thing about these satay sticks is you can't eat them while you're driving.
Then it was off to Kelsey to make some felt chocolates. I stayed till about 10, which is after visiting hours, but meh. We're rebels without a clock.
I love her. She's so beautiful. If I could dump the contents of my brain into her, so she could see all the great things I see, I would. I used words tonight, but they aren't quite expressive enough - tomorrow I may try interpretive dance. We talked to Helen on Skype but I forgot to put the movies on her laptop. Must remeber that tomorrow. She made 3 felt chocolates and I made two, but in my defence, I was using felt coconut.
Once I got to Cannon St Backpackers (where I'm staying) I found out that reception had closed at 8.30, despite the fact that the website had allowed me to list my arrival time as 9pm. I figure this was shoddy web programming, and went back to the car to have a look on the internets. It said that if I didn't stay I'd still get charged the $58, and that pissed me off. There's a bar attached to the backpackers, and I formulated this conversation in my mind.
Me: (Asks for a drink, depending on stock and price)
Bartender: (Gives me drink) Hi, where are you from?
Me: Mount Gambier, down south.
Bartender: So are you here for Clipsal?
Me: No, I'm here to visit my cousin in hospital, but I stayed late there and now I've got here the Backpackers is closed
Bartender: Did you have a booking?
Me: Yes, Sara Hosking. Should be a twin room, with about $58 to pay?
Bartender: Ah yes, Here's the key. $58 please.
And, do you know, it went pretty much excactly like that, except the drinks were passionfruit Cruisers ($4.50 each), The room still had $58.50 to pay and his part was spoken in a Kiwi/Maori accent. Which is all jolly good.
Then, because Kelsey had said she'd buy me $15 worth of Raspberry Twists if I hooked up with a backpacker, I had a couple more, until Darren (insert Duh Duh Duuuh here) started talking to me. Darren seemed quite nice at first, talking about Manchester United (AFL is still a whole week away, so I can overlook, for now) and the ability of a true English breakfast to cure a hangover but annoyingly, it wasn't long before he started talking about how Australia was 30 years behind England (something to do with their economy being better, except they had recession and we didn't, and the fact that out beer is stored in fridges, and theirs is stored in (some kind of hand gesture that apparenly means something 30 years ahead of fridges)) and about how immigrants to England should all be taken out and shot. Except that he'd just talked about emigrating to Australia, but apparenly this is okay because he's really into politics and he did a bit of an engineering degree and he's diesel mechanic. So that makes it okay. I sent a "help - please call me" message to Kelsey and she kindly obliged - I could have faked it but I wanted to share the horror. After all, it was her fault. She's kindly offered $7.50 worth of Raspberry Twist for my efforts. I've accepted.
And now I'm in my room, eating the rest of my chicken and cheese from today in a hope that it will ward off any hangover in a better way than Darren's English breakfast could.
Tomorrow, I get to meet my first "person off the internet" - Shay, I very much hope you don't turn out to be a creepy 50 year old man like everyone expects "people from the internet" to be.
I don't. This is what I think people from the internet are like.
I'm aiming to leave here before ten and head straight to Clovercrest Spotlight (429 Montague Rd, Modbury), or if you wanna do afternoon, message me and let me know.
*in my mind, when you do this, they start talking to each other "No, don't listen to that bitch. It's the third exit. Trust me."
**I hope she reads this.
***toats is a word that gets used a lot in our house - it's short for totally.
Secondly. I'd like to thank Kelsey, the Bitchin' Rock Star from Mars, for calling me upon request, and allowing me to escape from Darren, who's English, and thinks Australia is 30 years behind England, and that all immigrants should be shot in the head. Except him, since he's thinking about staying here.
Thirdly, I've written my first ever nice letter on blog #3, go write a letter, to the barman. It too is drunken and rambling, but, if I say so myself, quite sweet.
I've also written a letter to the guy in the beat up Supra. That's the usual mean Sara though.
Soooo...
Um.
Well, first actual bit of blogging is stuff that I forgot. I realised by the time I got into town (I met the 'rents at maccas before I left) that I'd left my frozen bottles of water, meant to keep my esky cold, in the freezer.
Then, shortly after I bought ice at Tailem Bend, I realised I'd left the 3-way 12v splitter in the van of love. I was gunna put 2 GPS devices head to head, and see which one was better*, but instead I stuck with mine, which performed flawlessly in every respect except it took my straight to the Clipsal parking and grandstands when I said I wanted to go to Rundle Mall. I just kept heading in what I thought was the right direction, and it kept on recalculating, and we got there fine.
The other thing I forgot? Um, well, the kinda important save-$40 vouchers that Helen printed out for me. They're at home, in a neat pile with the mail that's for us girls. Bugger. But Helen has forwarded me the email, and the backpacker place appears to have some kind of printing setup, so I should be fine.
Next is the story of my day. The first two and a half hours of the drive kicked arse. I have burned possibly the best beginning-of-roadtrip CD in the whole of human history. But then, right when the roads turn brown, I got bored. I sent Mum some SMS's to that effect, but she was unmoved. Seems it's only okay to be bored if you're in the passenger seat and have some handy movies to watch**
After Tailem Bend I got psyched again. Taylor was having a bit of a strop though The Hills on the way home last tiome we came up, but this time she was great. I even saw a BnS ute, and we were both at Longernong together last year (I didn't recognise it, but it had the sticker). So that was nice. After my GPS took me to see all the Clipsal parking lots and the back of some grandstands, I went to Rundle Mall, the plan being to spend $100 on fabrics at the Spotlight there and use a voucher. I did, and I did, but they're in the car, so no photos tonight, sorry.
I also got myself some lollies (guinea pig poo - I assume they have a real name but they're the little pink pellets from Darryl Lea) and bought some felt chocolate making kits from Morning Glory, which is a toats*** cute shop near the big food court that sells Japanese stuff.
After I found Taylor (it took some time, since where she was parked said level 2 on one side and level 3 on the other (it was level 2) I went to Burnside Food and Wine Noodle Bistro, which has possibly the bestested food in the whole entire world. It's so good, I'm gunna drive home in the dark tomorrow night, so I can have it again. Satay chicken sticks, 3 for $5.90. I'd pay twice, three times that much. They are so freaking good. I ate a double serve of them in the carpark of the Burnside Shopping Plaza, since I had to go there and get myself some coke (and Kelsey some diet coke)
The only bad thing about these satay sticks is you can't eat them while you're driving.
Then it was off to Kelsey to make some felt chocolates. I stayed till about 10, which is after visiting hours, but meh. We're rebels without a clock.
I love her. She's so beautiful. If I could dump the contents of my brain into her, so she could see all the great things I see, I would. I used words tonight, but they aren't quite expressive enough - tomorrow I may try interpretive dance. We talked to Helen on Skype but I forgot to put the movies on her laptop. Must remeber that tomorrow. She made 3 felt chocolates and I made two, but in my defence, I was using felt coconut.
Once I got to Cannon St Backpackers (where I'm staying) I found out that reception had closed at 8.30, despite the fact that the website had allowed me to list my arrival time as 9pm. I figure this was shoddy web programming, and went back to the car to have a look on the internets. It said that if I didn't stay I'd still get charged the $58, and that pissed me off. There's a bar attached to the backpackers, and I formulated this conversation in my mind.
Me: (Asks for a drink, depending on stock and price)
Bartender: (Gives me drink) Hi, where are you from?
Me: Mount Gambier, down south.
Bartender: So are you here for Clipsal?
Me: No, I'm here to visit my cousin in hospital, but I stayed late there and now I've got here the Backpackers is closed
Bartender: Did you have a booking?
Me: Yes, Sara Hosking. Should be a twin room, with about $58 to pay?
Bartender: Ah yes, Here's the key. $58 please.
And, do you know, it went pretty much excactly like that, except the drinks were passionfruit Cruisers ($4.50 each), The room still had $58.50 to pay and his part was spoken in a Kiwi/Maori accent. Which is all jolly good.
Then, because Kelsey had said she'd buy me $15 worth of Raspberry Twists if I hooked up with a backpacker, I had a couple more, until Darren (insert Duh Duh Duuuh here) started talking to me. Darren seemed quite nice at first, talking about Manchester United (AFL is still a whole week away, so I can overlook, for now) and the ability of a true English breakfast to cure a hangover but annoyingly, it wasn't long before he started talking about how Australia was 30 years behind England (something to do with their economy being better, except they had recession and we didn't, and the fact that out beer is stored in fridges, and theirs is stored in (some kind of hand gesture that apparenly means something 30 years ahead of fridges)) and about how immigrants to England should all be taken out and shot. Except that he'd just talked about emigrating to Australia, but apparenly this is okay because he's really into politics and he did a bit of an engineering degree and he's diesel mechanic. So that makes it okay. I sent a "help - please call me" message to Kelsey and she kindly obliged - I could have faked it but I wanted to share the horror. After all, it was her fault. She's kindly offered $7.50 worth of Raspberry Twist for my efforts. I've accepted.
And now I'm in my room, eating the rest of my chicken and cheese from today in a hope that it will ward off any hangover in a better way than Darren's English breakfast could.
Tomorrow, I get to meet my first "person off the internet" - Shay, I very much hope you don't turn out to be a creepy 50 year old man like everyone expects "people from the internet" to be.
I don't. This is what I think people from the internet are like.
I'm aiming to leave here before ten and head straight to Clovercrest Spotlight (429 Montague Rd, Modbury), or if you wanna do afternoon, message me and let me know.
*in my mind, when you do this, they start talking to each other "No, don't listen to that bitch. It's the third exit. Trust me."
**I hope she reads this.
***toats is a word that gets used a lot in our house - it's short for totally.
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