Oh look, I made something.

You would be forgiven for not realising (or remembering) that this is a bit of a craft blog.  There has been such a big drought of crafty activity of late on here.  However, that is not to say I haven't been making things.  I've made 3 crochet slouch beanies (and sold one).  As mentioned in yesterday's post I've also started to learn about circular knitting and knitted one beanie with another on the way.

I also finally finished putting together this clock that I started over a year ago.  It was originally destined to be an engagement present for my best friend but I ended up finding a quite expensive wedding present that she had oohed and ahhed over quite a bit whenever we went past a certain shop so did a combined wedding and engagement present.  So then it was going to be a Christmas present but I got a bit slack so finally it turned into a birthday present.

I've made one of these clocks before, also using ink and spindle fabric which is just perfect with its classic and not too fussy designs for a bit of embroidery embellishment.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, particularly with just the embroidery down the left side.  I think that adds a nice touch of detail to the overall look.

I toyed around with adding buttons or numbers but my friend isn't a super handmade-y sort of person so I just went for not too much.

I combined a red and a brown floss together to do the brown section of the robin to give it a more feathery appearance.

I had trouble with both clocks in this area, sticking down the fabric when it was highly embroidered.  Lots of bubbling which I couldn't work out how to fix.

Finishing off the clock has made me miss embroidery so I've decided once I've finished this beanie the next project is going to be back to the needle and thread.  Perhaps I might finish off my final sashiko panel?


Also in the things I've made recently category is this cake for my Dad's 60th.  He is a bit Lego fan and collects quite a lot each year.  He is also slightly obsessed with the colour highlighter green.  So with my sister's help we decorated this cake I made with fondant.  Our first attempt at ever using it! I definitely couldn't have done it without her help, for one thing I didn't have the arm strength for rolling it all out as well as she does!  It may not look big but that cake is big enough to serve 40 people! That is a whole lot of eggs, butter, flour, buttermilk and sugar and lots of surface area needing to be covered smoothly by fondant.  MR helped as well, he has a very good eye for measurement and he was in charge of leveling out the cake top.  I used this vanilla buttermilk cake recipe which is now my official birthday cake recipe.  SO so good.  Dense but moist and super high on flavour.  And even better, for those of you who love a bit of raw cake batter (like me) but who also wish to avoid the eating of raw eggs (which I should, but often don't) in this mixture you add the eggs in last of all so there is plenty of yummy cake batter tasting moments to be had and believe me (and my post raw cake batter feast sore tummy), cake batter without egg is just as tasty!

After Emma's beautiful butter icing Lego cake just a few weeks prior, I'd had a chance to get a few tips from her about tricky bits - ie. the Lego 'bumps' on top.  To combat the difficulty of icing rounds of cake, Oreos or marshmallows we simply rolled out some extra fondant and cut out circles with a scone cutter.  Much quicker and easier.

Certainly not perfect but for a first attempt we were pretty pleased with our efforts.

Two sleeps

Just two sleeps til MR and I head off to NZ for 11 days.  It is finally starting to feel real. 

Today I looked up the weather in NZ and it is forecast for between 14-20 maximums.  Good thing we have been out and bought some thermals and nice thick merino jackets. 

I have finished making a beanie for MR to wear and I am about half way through a beanie for myself.  I finally bit the bullet and gave circular knitting a try and it is actually incredibly much easier than it looks.  Both beanies have been/are being circular knitted.  Unfortunately I am not at all very fast at this knitting business and that means I am going to have to work hard to get mine all finished in time.  Of course, I am making myself a slouch beanie which means a bigger area of knitting to be done.  Silly!

We've booked all of our accommodation bar one night where we're going to be on the road and not sure how far we're going to make it.  Our car hire is booked and we've borrowed a tom tom off a friend who has the New Zealand maps downloaded to it, saving us about $100 from if we were to hire one with the car so that's nice.

We haven't booked any activities yet, we'll wait til we're over there and make some decisions there.  I have a big list of things I would like to do/see though.

I've got all our documents photocopied twice to put in the carry on and suitcases.  MR got a case for himself and it just happened that we were in Myer on a day they had 40% off luggage so that was a big score as well!  However, both of our cases are still sitting in the lounge room completely empty.  My next job for today is to start doing some outfit planning now that I have all the washing just about up to date.  I am a terrible packer but I've been reading some tips from Jarrah Jungle and Jacana and I'm determined to make a better go of it this time.  I want to have lots of space for shopping, even though MR thinks shopping is not a necessary thing to schedule in to our holiday!

NZ Baby!

You may remember me mentioning a couple of months ago that MR and I were thinking about planning a holiday to New Zealand.

Well, that thinking has turned into action!  I got my letters from the specialists, found out that I could get travel insurance and now we've booked!  We're going in October for 11 days and I am quite beside myself with excitement.  That's only five and a bit weeks away!

For those who are interested, it was only an extra $100 to have my Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia and Liver Transplant covered during the trip.  I was expecting a lot more that that!  I guess it does depend on your age, status of your condition and where you are travelling though.  NZ and Australia have a reciprocal health agreement which makes things more friendly.

Of course, after we booked, I was driving home one day making up lists of what to take in my head and into my mind (thankfully) popped the passport aspect.  Mine had expired.  Argh!  After having a big stress about not being able to go because my passport wouldn't arrive in time, I found out it only takes about 2 weeks for a new one to arrive so off I went for new photos and to fork over a ridiculous amount of money.

Look what old age steroids have done to my jaw line.

We've even planned a bit of an itinerary.  We're flying in to Auckland at about 6am so the plan is to jump into a hire car and drive to Te Puke (MR has family there) where we will visit for a couple of days and do things like glow worm caves, waterfalls, a big flying fox and hot pools.  Then we're off to Rotorua, Taupo and Masterton on the way to Wellington.  We're going to stop in at some cheese farms to indulge in lots of yummy cheese.

Following that we're flying to Queenstown where we'll stay for a couple of nights and then head over to Dunedin before flying back to Auckland and flying out.

For the south island we have planned:

• snow
• maybe Milford Sound
• Arrowtown
• some famous burger joint in Queenstown
• Butterfly Experience at the Otago Museum
• maybe a penguin experience

Of course, there is still lots to be planned, where to stay, what else to see, hire a car and so forth.  So I'm very open to suggestions of great places to go (or stay).  Particularly cool crafty shops or nice galleries.  We've been saving up for some art for our walls and are thinking about buying something while we're over there to remember the trip by.  So have you been to NZ or are you a local?  Please, please share your expertise!

Life lessons

Last night I was just about to fall into bed when I realised I had yet to take off my makeup. And I wondered, why don't I ever take it off as soon as I get home? Instead, every makeup wearing night I ponder the actual harm of going to bed in it. And sometimes, even though I know better, I still do.

It got me thinking about other little life lessons I am still working on learning. Things I know I should do but am just not quite there yet...

Like:

Put it away once you're finished with it.

Case in point: look at all those things I hadn't put away until
yesterday when I cleaned my desk.

If you don't try it won't happen. 

Eat five serves of veggies every day (yesterday's pitiful effort was a big fat zero).

Everyone is neither talking about you or judging you.

Don't put off til tomorrow what you can do today.

Every hour of sleep before midnight is worth two after it. 

Exercise regularly.

Of course, after making that depressing list that makes me sound like a fussy make up wearing five year old, I had to counter it by listing the life lessons I have learnt... 

Appreciate the small things. 

Have regular conversations with your partner. 

Take time for yourself (I do this way too well). 

Do things you enjoy. 

Pity I still sound like a fussy make up wearing five year old (with a boyfriend). 

What makes your lists of still learning and achieved?

  

The Really Just Right Shoes

Today while reading Maxabella Loves I came across a new little group to join.  My type of group that might encourage me to write a bit more, something I've been wanting to do for a while but am entirely very slack about actually doing.

The Blogfast Club is run by katesaysstuff but it seem to have a different home each week so we can all tour the traps.  This week it is being hosted by Syrenex.

So I sat straight down and came up with this little short story for the theme this week which is a children's story about New Shoes.  This is a ten minute job and could probably do with lots of tweaking before being sent out into space but that's the good thing about this sort of writing, it's just about putting it down and getting it out there.  No need for perfection and I can always come back and fine tune it for my own benefits at a later date.

Also, please ignore the fact that the picture does not at all relate to the shoes in the story, we'll just gloss over that part...

The Really Just Right Shoes

Last night as Mum and I tidied up my bedroom Mum said I need new shoes.

“No way!” I said.  My shoes are just right.  They are red and they have lights that flash and even though the Velcro doesn’t stay stuck together and I kick them off when I play soccer in the playground, they are still just right for me.

“Wouldn’t it be nice to have some different shoes though?” Mum asks me.

“No. I like my shoes how they are.  They are comfortable and they don’t squeak and even though the sole is coming off of one they are really just right.”

“How about if we looked for some just the same then,” Mum asked as she tucked me into bed.

“No, there’s really no need Mum.  My shoes are so quick and easy to put on even though they are actually a bit hard to put on because they are tight at the toes and I have to stomp a bit to get my foot in.  But they are still Just Right.”

“Hrm.” says Mum and she looked at me.  You know that look where her eyebrows go up and her mouth goes together all scrunchy-like to the side and she just waits.  That one.  I looked back.  It lasted a little while.

I know what that look means.  Mum uses it all the time.  It means Have you really thought about what you are saying?

“Mum, really.  They are Really Just Right.  Even though there is a hole in one toe they are.  They Really Are.”

Mum just kept on looking at me with That Look.

I sighed.

Maybe she’s right.

Tulips

These beautiful tulips from MR are on my tallboy in the bedroom at the moment. Catching the afternoon Winter sun. Looking amazing. I could lie here all afternoon smiling at them. They make me happy. Just what I need after a few annoying days stuck in hospital. 

I am not really much of a flower type girl. Many of them are too pongy and give me a headache. But Spring bulbs I could have in my house any day. Tulips, Snowdrops, Bluebells and Ranunculus particularly. I love how you can gently pull down the tulip leaves a little bit and they go all curly. It's like hair styling for flowers. 

I often think as I am looking at photos of flowers (or trying to arrange a bunch myself) how do you get them looking so beautiful? I never seem to get it looking quite as nice. The only thing I have learnt about arranging flowers, or anything really, is that odd numbers grouped together look better. It is something I did a little bit instinctively without really realising and then when I read it, it was a bit of an epiphany moment. 

Are you are flower arranging queen or have you done a flower arranging course? I've love some more tips. 

And what flowers would you have in your home year round if there were no climatic restrictions? 

  

Shopping for an occasion

Not too long after my transplant a few years ago, I found myself out at the shops looking for a whole new set of clothing for a particular occasion.  The occasion of having to be stuck in hospital and wanting to wear something other than pyjamas. 

Now don't get me wrong, I do love my pyjamas and happily wear them all day when I'm not feeling the best.  But sometimes you have visitors, or want to pop down to the cafeteria for something more palatable than the hospital meal you've been served.  And sometimes you just want to have proper clothes on in the off chance that the doctors will look at you, see that you're dressed, presume you are well and send you home.*

Winter hospital clothing is quite easy, trackie dacks or yoga pants, a few loose tees and some cardies or zip up jackets.  Jumpers are no good due to cannulas sticking out of your arm in awkward places and having your obs done every hour or so.  I also like to buy the stretchy crop top bras because they are more comfortable to lounge around in if you feel the desire to bother putting one on.

Summer hospital attire is a little bit more difficult.  There really is nothing that compares in comfort and coolness to a pair of boxers.  I've purchased a few trial items such as knee length trackies but am still looking for just the right garment for the bottom half.  Yoga pants sometimes work okay as the air con is usually set to The North Pole.

Luckily at the moment it is Winter and my wardrobe now has sufficient amounts of trackie dacks and loose tees.  Luckily, I was up to date on my washing.



Have you ever shopped for a strange occasion?







* unfortunately this has not yet happened to me.

Wear, wash, iron, repeat

via

I have been known, once in a while, to insanely purchase clothing items that need ironing. 

I know, I know. 

I wear, wash, iron and repeat a few times and then I tend to get a bit stuck between the wash and iron stage of the cycle.  It's not because I hate ironing because I don't.  It's a much worse reason.  I am a bit of a lazy bum. 

This weekend I decided to do some ironing because MR needed a shirt ironed and I thought well, while I have it out I may as well do the rest.  There wasn't that much really.  Two dresses and a pair of pants of mine and six shirts of MR's.  And, wouldn't you know it, another pair of pants I forgot I even had.  I was ironing a pair of grey pants and tried to work out when I wore them last.  I think it was last Winter.  I thought to myself I should have bought a pair of these in black, these are nice pants. Continued ironing a couple more shirts and then what do you know, the next thing in the stack is a pair of black pants of the same style of the grey ones.

On the plus side, my work wardrobe options have just increased a lot more.




Are you a bit slack in some areas? Come on, make me feel like less of a lazy tart.

15,467

That's the number of pages I have read so far this year. 30 books.

6 of them in the past 11 days. 

I finish one, faff around the house for a while doing odds and ends but not really committing to anything of real importance. 

And then start another. 

My bedside stack has dwindled to just one. 

Mass reading, while a definite holiday pleasure, is also a sign of mine. A sign of lack of coping. Of attempting to escape from something. 

In this case it's the empty house. My 'just weekends' now with MR are taking more adjustment than anticipated. It feels too much like a step backwards. It's not. But the less time together leaves an ache in my heart. I feel lost. 

The end of next year feels a very long way away. There are things to be done in that time. And then we can finally, after seven and a half years, live together full time. 

Properly. 

One week down, one (and a bit) to go

It's hard to believe the first week of my holidays is practically over already.  Usually it gets of to a much slower feeling start.

I spent the weekend in MR's home town where he is now working again.  He's staying with his parents so I did too, it was nice to get looked after for a couple of days.  They live on the edge of town, overlooking a paddock.  This was the lovely view greeting me outside each day.  Anyone see the legless rooster cloud?

I got to watch a really good game of netball by my old team, which actually has no one on it that I used to play with and also now has one of my ex-students.  Way to make me feel old!

It was incredibly freezing there on the weekend so I didn't get a lot of socialising done, I kept racing home in need of warming up.  But I did manage to light a fire myself for the first time in over 15 years.  My first attempt wasn't too successful but the next day I tried again and got it going first try.  I spent a fair bit of time cooking myself in front of it.

I also made a cheat's pavlova and a chicken and chorizo risotto for a family dinner on Monday.

And on Tuesday I got some help getting the binding ready and attached onto the baby quilt I started during the Summer holidays.  MR's Mum is an accomplished quilter (I have just finished selecting the fabric for her to make us one) so she was a great help getting me on the right track.  I've got one side of the binding all attached now and the corners are all pinned and I have done about a quarter of the hand stitching.  I don't think I blogged about this when I was making the top of the quilt so apart from the tiny sneak peek in the corner below, unless you follow me on instagram, you will have to wait to see the rest!

Since getting back on Tuesday evening, I've just been chilling at home, reading books, watching DVDs and The Ashes, stitching the binding and attempting to get on top of all the washing that seems to have built up to mammoth proportions.

Today I went for a massage this morning and now I am madly trying to push away the need for an afternoon nap.  I haven't had a nap yet these holidays and I actually had a sleep that was restful enough to rate as a good night's sleep two nights ago (sadly followed by a bad sleep last night) which is pretty rare for me. 

Unfortunately, the thought of school work has started to loom above my head with the almost half way point of the holidays.  Next week will need to be a bit more productive!