Help?

So I've been thinking lately that I should become a wino. I should get home, break out a comically oversized glass, and get sozzled while talking about "notes" and "body". It's mainly TV's fault - everyone looks to be enjoying themselves while they lounge about drinking wine and having big talks, solving the worlds problems, or organising dastardly schemes. Plus, it sounds better to be having a couple of glasses of wine than pretty much anything else, and certainly the term "cider-o" kinda sucks. And I think it would also help with me being a shitty philosopher - I don't think it would make me better, but it would at least give me an excuse for being a bit shit at it.

And then today GenQ had a link to the manifesto of the Straight Stitch Society. 

1. Life is hard. Sewing is easy.
2. When the going gets tough, the tough get sewing.
3. Sewing is cheaper than therapy and easier on your waistline than chocolate.
4. Don’t make it if it’s not supercute.
5. Don’t let anyone talk trash about your sewing skills. Especially your mother.
6. Sometimes a glass of wine really does improve your sewing. Or at least your attitude. Same difference.
7. A strategically used curse word can make you feel better when you need to get out the seam ripper. But only the first time. After that you’re a potty mouth.
8. No matter what happens, remember that it’s only fabric.
9. If someone asks “Did you make that?” say “Yes” proudly and leave it at that, no matter how much you fudged along the way.
10. Sewing Straight Stitch Society projects will make you thinner, younger, and richer. You’ll see. 

See! even the quilting world wants me to become a wino!

Problem: I don't like wine. This may take some work.

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?

Woe is me

I think that one of the big reasons I've been crocheting instead of sewing is that it doesn't take any time to set up. To sew something, I have to get the fabric, iron it, cut it, clear space around the sewing machine, and then when it's finished I have to pack it all up again. To crochet, I find a needle, guess some numbers and start. It also helps that I can sit in bed and re-watch White Collar in it's entirety while I do it.

I'm so excited that it's only a month or so now till the next season starts - I watch a fair few TV shows but it's probably my favourite. I always thought I would make an excellent con-woman: I can lie pretty well, fake sincerity with the best of them and I'm an excellent painter, even though I haven't done it in over half a decade, but I'm pretty sure that if I had to I could forge an artwork or two. Also, I could pretend to be whoever I wanted to be, and I would love that. I get angsty about all that life out there that I will never live, the books I will never read, the movies that I will never see, experiences I will never live through. I got genuinely sad tonight when I said "see you later" to the lady in the foreign callcentre and realised that only will I never "see" her later, I'll probably never talk to her again. 7 billion people on this earth and I'll never talk to even 0.001% of them. There's a whole world out there, backed up by 200,000 years of human existence, people thinking great thoughts, learning amazing things, and life's too short and too mundane to learn them all.

Plus, I'm quite lazy, and tend towards whatever is safest, and warmest, and usually also the most rainbow or the sparkliest. First world problem-ing, yet again: "woes is me, my life is boring, and I'm too lazy to make it more interesting"

Thank god for escapist TV, and a job that lets me sleep in till lunchtime.

In the meantime...

Even though I had a fun weekend, it was also incredily long, and I'm soooo glad to be home to my real bed.

Things I love when I'm drunk

So, it's not even 2am. That's very early by my standards. But I'm calling it a night, being responsible and shit. I mean, I only got 5 hours of sleep last night, and I had a 5 hour drive today (not that it wasn't enjoyable or anything, but a 5 hour drive is a 5 hour drive, and a 5 hour drive is tiring) and I'm only little, so the 5 drinks I had in 4 hours, which is 7.5 standard drinks all up, is enough to get little old me kinda drunk. And I feel guilty, since Jeffy put makeup on me and everything, but unlike a regular ball, where I paid my $120 and ought to get my money's worth, I didn't really pay all that much tonight: I bought a round, and then 2 more drinks for me, and then I got KFC, which was next door to the pub, and therefore fantastic. So, if I wanna go to bed (and I do), I can.

But in the meantime, more goodness. Because just because there's alcohol in your life, doesn't mean there isn't goodness too.

I love my sister, and Jeffy, and Jamie too. They're pretty much always there when I'm drinking, and that regularity, and that predictability, is reassuring. The sun will rise tomorrow, and Casey will be there when I'm feeling drunk. Yay for both, except when the sun is shining in my eyes while I'm driving. At those times, only yay for Casey.

I love my friends that aren't here too. I miss them, a lot. Thinking back to the last time when I was at the Woolshed, with all of them, which would have been 8 months ago (cause Meagan didn't know she was pregnant yet) when we were all so close, and since then we've all drifted apart (Anna doing mornings now, Meagan off on maternity leave, Brenton and I being too busy in our own departments to ever really talk) but that doesn't mean I don't miss them, and miss talking to them. I'm still friends with all of them, I don't think any less than I was then, but life has gotten in the way. But I love them all.

I love the fact that our motel is about 20m from the pub that we were at tonight. And the fact that there's a KFC between the two. If there was a fabric shop in there as well, then I would be pretty much set up for life, but oh well, I can do that tomorrow.

I love MmmMmmMmmMmm by the Crash Test Dummies. Because, well, it's so freaking weird, and it makes no sense, in much the same way that life does, but it sounds good in your ears.

I love chewwys. I'm on Wriglys Extra Strong Mint with Cleaning Granules at the moment, and I love them. I didn't think of myself as a mint chewwy person, but since the other week when I had a cold, I can't get enough of them.

I love cider. I don't know why, it's possible that it's just because I also love apple juice, but under no other circumstances would I drink rotten apple juice, so maybe not. I know that spirits are a better idea than drinks with a higher volume to alcohol ratio, which, for someone like me who doesn't consume much in the way of liquids apart from alcohol, is better for the bladder, but I'd rather drink a cider than do a shot of vodka. Maybe because you can hold onto a glass of cider for a while, whereas a shot of vodka is all gone very quickly, and then people expect you to have another drink, and then you get even more drunk.

I love looking around this motel room and seeing how much stuff I've made. That bag, that cushion, that quilt, that bag, that bag, that beanie, that bag, that skirt. Craft is a funny thing, so often you can feel that it's pretty pointless, and just an expensive hobby that leaves you with nothing to show, but when you can have a quick glance around and see 9 things you made, being actually used, well, that's a nice feeling.

I love the dress I'm wearing tonight. I brought with me a couple of options, because I wasn't sure what to go with, and I decided to go with the simpler, more classic green dress, as opposed to the pink mullet-skirted ball gown, so I can save that for an actual ball. Probably a good thing too, because I saw girls tonight wearing mullet skirts in a non-ironic fashion, and I felt bad for them, because they don't realise what I bad idea that mullet skirt is. Also, the green dress makes my boobs look nice.

I love my wireless internet stick. I pay 30c a day, but it's nice to know that when I'm away, it's there, ready to help me blog, and listen to 90s music via youtube.

I love the possibilities that tomorrow holds, and the fact that, even if tomorrow falls short of them, it will still have been a very interesting day, that I'm glad I will haven gotten a chance to experience.

I love that I am the kind of person that finds everything interesting. 

The thing, I guess, is that life is really really interesting. Sometimes, we don't care, and sometimes we're too busy to notice, but occasionally, I suppose we have to leave the party early, once we've acknowledged that we've had our fun, and go back to our motel rooms, listen to a bit of Pearl Jam, and concede that, even when life seems like an endless rush, we still need to find the time to think about what's good, and what's missing, and if there's things on both those lists, find a way to take them off the latter, and raise them up on the former.


"... I know I was born and I know that I'll die, the inbetween is mine..." - Pearl Jam (I Am Mine)

Favourites List

Getting that "vibe" that you really should go to the op shop today, and finding a half dozen brilliant things.

Mini Sausage Rolls from the OK Pie Shop.

Being the only one home in our end of the house.

The music of the late 90s and early 00s.

Looking for shoes and finding yarn.

Making clothes without a pattern, because if there's no right way, then there's no wrong way either.

Having an "ironic" hot pink mullet skirt.

And a backup dress just in case the so-bad-it's-super-freaking-awesome mullet skirt is too ironic for tomorrow night.

Finding a full bobbin of the colour you want.

The fact that bacon tastes better cold.

How I don't have to shave this week, because I got a wax last week.

The Vacuum Sealer.

Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen.

How clean my fingernails are after I wash my hair.

Lists. Writing them, crossing stuff off them, leaving them home; list are brilliant.

Crossed some stuff off my to-do list.

It took me about 4 hours, but it may just turn out to be the single greatest thing I've ever made.

Coulda Shoulda Woulda

There's so much stuff that I should have been doing tonight - sorting out a dress for the weekend, a couple of half finished bags, working on the most epic road trip CD of all time, washing my hair, things like that.

Instead:

I really like using two threads at once, I like the challenge of picking two that will work together, without any real knowledge of what to expect. The variegated ball is a 70% acrylic 30% wool blend, the cerise a 50/50 cotton and acrylic. I'm back on the decreases now, still just making it up as I go along.

It's a shame rainbow has only two syllables... it would work better in song with three.

So today, before my doctor's appointment I got my rainbow beanie/beret finished.

As evidenced by the last selfie, I'm not great at it, so I figured I'd take pictures on my bed head, as opposed to my actual head.

I think from the top/behind it looks like a gobstopper when you break it and look at all the layers

I wore it to my doctors appointment, where I got all chopped up (I've got a hellova lot of bandages for a 1 1/2cm incision) and the doctor recommended I give Bricanyl a go, if Ventalin was doing nothing to stop my cough. I did, but it didn't help, and the side effects of the Bricanyl are somewhere between being quite drunk and having had way too much coffee - an odd combination of tense and jittery and kinda dizzy and woozy, with an inability to concentrate. It's not been fun, and I'm back to work tomorrow, which is equally sucky.

Hopefully tonight though I get to sleep a bit earlier: I was up till 6am coughing, and since mum was working at The G till 3, she came in last night offering to take me to the kiddy ward at the hospital, since I last sounded like that when I was 4 years old.

I said no. Their wi-fi probably isn't all that great.

Blogger's Quilt Festival

I've put this off for a while out of indecision but time is running out, so here it is, my entry into the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

I was a bit torn between a few quilts - the quilt I made for my best friend's baby was my first choice, because it features both rainbow and HSTs, and they're my two favourite things at the moment. And then there's my most recent quilt (well, quiltlet really) a crazy-pieced ode to my favourite mathematical equation. But it's still not bound, and the lack of energy I'm stuck with due to a nasty cold I've got at the moment means it probably won't be any time soon. In the end it was that same cold that led to my decision - I'm going to go with the quilt that I've had wrapped around me for the last two days, making me feel warmer and better-er.

I did the bulk of this quilt about two months ago, over the course of about two weeks. Having finished the top, I angsted over piecing the back, eventually deciding not to. I usually piece my backs at a diagonal, so that I don't have to match my quilting lines, but I had decided to quilt alongside the seams of the top, and they run at a diagonal too. Fortunately I happened to find a lovely blue-grey chambray that was 145cm wide.

And, having quilted it, I left it, trimmed and unbound, for quite a while. Binding is my last favourite part of a quilt, but I made the binding and put it aside for the right moment, which came about a week ago, when I felt like sewing, but my current project was at an awkward stage, and it seemed good to do something boring to get a run up before tackling something tough.

It is, in my opinion, pretty much the perfect size quilt. It was small enough to quilt pretty easily on my little old machine, but it's big enough to cover me from neck to feet when I'm laying down, and wide enough that when I wrap it around myself, it reaches halfway down my legs.

I've already assembled another grey and blue bundle to re-make this quilt someday, as well as a pink and brown bundle, and a green and orange bundle.

And now I'm off to sleep under it again :)