OhMyGodMail!

So one of my best friends is getting married in about 5 weeks, and since she's a short arse, she decided that us bridesmaids could all wear flats while she wore heels. I'm cool with this, since heels at a wedding pretty much inevitably mean either strappy ones or pumps, and I try to stick to boots when it comes to heels. But looking around the mount and a few shopping days in Adelaide hadn't turned up anything, so I had a look on ebay and found these.

I'd ordered them about a week ago and today when there was two blue parcel cards in my post office box I just assumed that, because I hadn't made it to the post office on friday, they'd accidentally just put one in both days. But no. As well as a little pink box of shoes, there was also a big brown box.

With cookies!

And gold lame fabric! And a crocheted snowflake, but I forgot to take a photo and yeah, I'm blogging from bed. But it was white and waaaay more symmetrical than any of my misguided attempts last year.

And it had come all the way from Thea in California! There was a card in there saying that she had thought of the gold fabric for my rock star-looking jacket from ages ago, but I'm not sure that it has enough stretch for the elbows so I think I might make myself a badass new pub bag with it. I might even use some studs on it. And a fierce, chunky chain link strap.

It might take me a while to get to though, because it feels as if I'll be spending the next five weeks in the lead up to the wedding making ties. Because I'm working in the afternoons when the other bridesmaids could help out with making invites and table decorations and so on, and also because I'm the only one that can sew, I agreed to make the ties for the boys in the satin to match our dresses. It's taken some trial and error with patterns and interfacing and such, but I've got my patterns sorted and now I've just got to work through the hours and hours of handsewing that the damn things need*.

I may resume quilting in a procrastinatory rebellion.

*I only need to make 5 regular ties, two boys ties and a baby tie, but blergh, they're so boring.

Me: a work in progress.

Hopefully my existential angst for the quarter is over - I'm feeling better today. It's probably a combination of things: catching up with a friend I haven't seen enough of lately, a new watch coming in the mail, getting my bags from the weekend back (including the flannelette bundle I bought at lincraft Rundle Mall)

Marveling at the wonders of cyclonic vacuums (Shay, they use centrifuges, and centrifuges are interesting) Finishing season 3 of Buffy, devoting a bit of time to laying backwards over one of the big balls at the gym (when your thoughts are every which way, hang upside down for a bit, and they'll pool in the top of your head)

And knowing that if I keep on being glum, then I've got no hope of ever being awesome enough to rock shoes like this.

Okay, I might never be. But there's no point in not having a go, right?

Hi Ho (Hum)

Well, my holidays are pretty much over. In 10 hours time I'll be back at work, for a 9 hour day, no less. I think that the first half of your first shift back should be holiday-paid too, so your first day back is a half-day, to help you ease back into it.

And yes, I know it's only been two weeks, but they've been a fairly full two weeks:

I learned how to make shoes, culminating in spending the last two days wearing a pair I made.

I quilted a mid-sized quilt, and the binding's 3/4 done too, but I've run out of pink thread.

I made (as in, fully completed) two baby quilts.

I'm about half way through 25 monsters.

I made three skirts.

I pieced and quilted a pillow case.

I cut and began piecing a 4th quilt.

I went to four parties, and a country music festival.

All in 17 days.

Worse, I feel like I'm really starting to build momentum, like if I had another week off I could fully double that output. Though I will confess, both weeks I had a Monday/Tuesday slump, so maybe I'm just imagining it.

Anyway, no photos of the grey version of the peach spotted skirt I made yesterday, because it got vomited on by Anna's dog. Luckily I had packed the peach one too, in case of something like that happening, so I just switched halfway through the night. And then my shoes really did coordinate with my outfit, since I'd made them in the same peach fabric.

I realised last night too that the skirts really really needed to have pockets (I kept putting my phone down and freaking out 30 seconds later), and even though it took me a bit of thinking today, since I hadn't done pockets in a long time, I eventually got them worked out.

Not that you can see them in the photo. The fabric is a very lightweight poly-cotton blend, that I don't love the drape of as much as the rayon, but which I love the retro browns of. The crinkle made it hard to cut straight too.

I spent a couple of hours tonight sewing the faces to the monsters, and I've found that the keys to raw edge applique are to have your machine on the slowest stitch speed, and do something else every other hour, lest you go blind and/or insane. All the black around the eyes and the big smiles is done, now I just need to do the whites of the buck teeth and then the associated mouths.

In between the two hours spent turning fabric in circles watching a needle bob slowly up and down, I cut all my HSTs for the blue and grey quilt I bought for earlier in the week.

And it seems the key to correctly cutting an entire quilt is to only use new fabric that can be replaced tomorrow if any mistakes are made. None were, and after my second hour at the monsters I laid this out.

And I'm so in love. Here it's laid out at 1.4 by 2 metres, but there's pretty much 4cm of seam allowance for each block, so it'll become quite a bit smaller. That's the worst thing about HSTs, you lose 2cm in the 45 degree seam and then if you sew with a wider allowance so it's easier to do neat points, as I do, there's the same gone again. Still, it's going to be at least 1.6m long, and that's nearly as long as me, so it's plenty big enough.

Shoe proof and progress.

Tonight I did something I've never done before: I made something according to the pattern.

And, even though it worked, and the pieces fit together with an eerie precision, it still wasn't the result I was after. And so I was going to give up for the night when I had another look at one of last night's failures, which had a perfect toe but an incredibly muffed up heel (I was having a go at just using a straight piece)

And since I was using an old piece of lace to measure my curves because I couldn't find any string, I got to thinking how nice that toe would look in some old faded denim with just a piece of lace across it. And even though I don't have any old denim, I had a few pairs of old RM moleskins that I had removed the badges from, and thought maybe it would ne nice to have a go with them.

And it turned out lovely. I came up with a new heel curve after looking at the brown spottly ones, since it got kinda baggy on the pinkie toe side - I narrowed it and gave it a curve at the base, and it sits really well on the white shoe.

Only problem is it's about 2cm too long for me. That's why I've been constantly refering to it in the singular - The top of the second one has all been assembled but it's not attached to the heel, so I'm going to try to shorten it, and if that works, I can just make one more to match it.

Shoes cont.

Today I made 4 pairs of slipper shoes from four different made-by-me patterns, and athough two pairs are quite wearable, they're still a bit too slipper-ish for me to be happy with. I went into Spotlight and bought some vinyl for the soles which I'm liking a lot, as well as a few 20cm cuts to make my test versions with. I know it would seem more sensible to use old stash fabric, but I always worry when I use something from stash, especially on a single fabric project like these are, that I will need it's coordinatey brilliance later on, and my brain will be all "I know we have the perfect thing... what is it...?" and then I'll search for half an hour before remembering that I used it to try make some shoes that turned out not-quite right. And that would be terrible.

Better to just buy $10 of new fabrics, and save myself the angst.

Shoes

Tonight in the car on the way home I decided that what I really needed to do was sew myself some shoes. Most of the free tutorials were baby shoes and those that weren't were, for the most part, just scaled up versions, and I want something that looks less like an overcomplicated sock and more like a shoe. I really dislike most of the flats you can buy at the moment, simply because they don't cover your toes, and that makes me really cross. So I had a look on etsy for some patterns - no doubt I'll change them anyway but it seamed easier to pay the six bucks than waste time measuring my shoes. 

I have gone with:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/71430645/everyday-loafers-sewing-pattern-computer

and 

http://www.etsy.com/listing/83272991/no-217-olivia-women-shoes-pdf-pattern

And hopefully tomorrow when I wake up (first day of holidays: squee!) they'll be in my inbox waiting for me to have a go.

Also while I was looking on ebay I found this pattern:

Which I don't need to buy since it's blindingly obvious. But what's also obvious (to me, anyway) is how awesome that would look if you gave it a green zip and surround and pink sides. Watermelon pouch!

I may need to buy some black sequins for seeds.

P.S. the potato and gravy offensive seems to have succeded so far in staving off the sore throat. What's more, today sucked in a Thursday way (ie, late night shopping really busy running behind staff are hating on one another war is imminent kinda way) as opposed to a Tuesday way.

NYE lessons.

It's not that bad working till 10.30 NYE. There'll be very few customers, and most of them will be drunk co-workers coming in to say hi. If one of them is your manager, and she's drunk, ask her if you can slack off. Mine said yes...

5 inch heels are bad. Pretty, but bad. Mine were pretty enough, and only slightly bad enough, that I forgive them. This rarely happens with heels. I have a small blister. This happens often. Pack bandaids.

If you happen to be out and about on NYE with the only good friend of yours who would recognise your ex-boyfriend, at a distance, from behind, and you happen to both spot him in the same instant, laugh uproariously for the next 3 minutes. The kind of laughter you'd do if there was only 3 minutes worth of oxygen left in the world and you wanted to use it the right way. This may need to be explained to the guy you're with, who won't get why the slightly lame joke he just made got the best response ever.

Fireworks are pretty.

Groups of people (especially drunk people) are terrible at making decisions. It's much easier if you just tell them all what to do. Cheerful drunk people appreciate direction, especially if the directions lead them to more drinks. Grumpy drunk people should be left at the kerb.

Sad songs are good. "I know this room, I've walked this floor" from hallelujah, when walking past your old high school, slightly tipsy, in the middle of the night, is particularly good. Angie Hart's "Blue" is good no matter the occasion. Sad songs in the presence of one of your best friend's exes, when she's off making out with someone else and he's not over her, are bad. Except Angie Hart's "Blue" since it's about accepting being alone. Unfortunately, while it's very good, it doesn't have magical powers, so you'll still have to listen to him go on about how he can't get over her.

Holly Williams' "Sometimes" (I wish I was a fine wine, I wish I were a good drug, and hey if I were Jesus, maybe I could heal all of us..) would be a good song in this occasion. "Empty Chairs" by Don McLean is a bad choice.

Gutters are for sitting in while looking at the stars and quoting Oscar Wilde on facebook. This gives the drunker members of your party time to catch up.

Just because it was in the low 30s during the daytime doesn't mean it's going to stay warm into the nighttime. Pack a nice cardi, or you'll have to wear the hoodie in your gym bag. Pack a quilt too. Everybody loves quilts.

Oh, and if I could tell the world just one thing, it would be, that we're all okay. Thanks Jewel.

Happy New Year Everyone. It doesn't look all that different to the old one, but the fireworks at changeover time were pretty.

Nothing, oh, sweet nothing...

I have two whole days off, and nothing very much to do.

SWEEEEET!

Well, I need to find something to wear for new years, for which I am working till 10.30pm, rushing to a co-worker's house for the event and heading home not too long after since I have to be at work at lunchtime (an early start for me even on a non-hungover day) the next day. Oh, and apparently it's going to be about 35 degrees, so no jeans and boots for me. Anna and I are going shopping tomorrow so I'll have to find something. I have plenty of clothes, but it's shoes that are the problem - I really struggle with sandals and thongs and heels. Boots I'm good at, sneakers I'm okay at, work shoes I bought the same pair 4 times to save the horror of having to find a new comfy pair for at least a year or two, and anything strappy just doesn't work on my feet.

Maybe that's why I like BnS balls so much - cause no matter what else you're wearing, you then get to chuck your nice comfy boots on at the bottom of it. I wish every outfit could be that easy.

It's okay, people.

As previously mentioned her on this blog, I have an amazing ability to have a thought, get a little too into the brilliance of that thought, and, within a day or two, have transformed the thought into a time and money consuming hobby, a facebook group or a gym membership. And usually, the first step involved clicking on the tab marked eBay.

My brilliant idea tonight is that I really need to get myself some high heels. I have one pair, some quite nice and quite high wedges that I got for $6 at the Salvos and have worn twice, to two work christmas shows. Not because they're uncomfortable, in fact, as far as 4 inch heels go, they're very comfortable, but more because, really, that's pretty much my only occasion for wearing heels -indeed, the only time I wear a dress*, except for BnS balls, to which I wear, as is traditional, my boots. Nonetheless, in the last two days I have watched a lot of Good News Week, where, for reasons unknown, Claire Hooper and the other female guests are all in jealousy inducing, ankle twisting, toweringly gorgeous heels. And I want some. I could wear them with my dresses, to the G or Dirty Shads (or I could if my friends weren't such flakes, and would come with me.)

Unfortunately, a quick search for "heels" on eBay revealed a sad truth: much of what it in fashion at the moment looks like big clumpy hooves. I found one pair on the first page that I liked, and they were $285. Even with an RRP of $900, that's not much of a bargain if my use of them is, so far, only hypothetical. And they don't look comfortable, only quite funky. And really really tall. Like, regularly falling over, tall. Like, just say no, tall.

So I did. It was much easier than with the boots, which are in my watch list. I'm lucky enough to know that hypothetical Sara isn't me, and isn't limited by my bank balance.

Phew. Crisis averted.

For tonight, anyway.

*One might then ask why my closet is full of dresses I have never, or only once at most, worn. One should stop asking so many stupid questions, lest I slap her, cause my slight dress-buying addiction is none of her goddamn business.