guilty quilty number two

One year later and the time has come for guilty quilt number two.
Earlier this year my friend Lacey-t, her husband and belly bump moved interstate to settle down and set up a new home in time for their first baby. Their adorable baby girl was born 7 and a half weeks ago. She has pretty red hair and will surely have a light sprinkle of cute freckles in no time.

Our group of friends all imagined that when the first one of us had a baby we'd all chip in with meal plans, housework visits, and baby minding so the mum could get some rest. We all feel very bad that we can’t be near them at this time to do all that stuff, and also to join in the joy. We get an occasional email from Lacey about how she’s coping with motherhood; the pride and wonderful abundance of love, but also the terrifying unsureness, the exhaustion and the isolation.

I wish we could be there, but right now we can’t, so instead I will sew. Boy Lordy will I sew! These swatches (above) will hopefully become a really cute baby patchwork blanket. Wish me luck. I’ll keep you posted.

guilty quilty number one

I sense a pattern emerging. This time last year I was engulfed in the biggest sewing project of my life so far. It was to be the first of the “guilty quilts”.

My very good friend Henna and her Mr B were married in November last year. (Henna had been one of my friends from high school, and we still hang out together today). They announced the date they were to be married on about 4 months before the date, but unfortunately I had been booked for a job on that very date way back in January of that year. I know how much stress planning a wedding can be, so I didn’t say anything initially, hoping I could work out a way around the problem. But there was no way I could really get out of it. And I knew it.

I felt terrible about not being able to be there for them, and also very upset that I wouldn’t be there to see them be married. Henna was upset when I broke the news to her, but dealt with it very well. The week before the wedding Lacey-T and I went and stayed with her at her parents house like we used to in the old days (they were married there the next weekend). Henna was sweet enough to break the rules; get all dressed up in her replica 60’s ‘Mod’ style wedding dress and boots and little tiara, to show me her outfit. We helped her pick out which jewellery to wear, and got a little teary at how great she looked.

The following weekend there were married in the garden on a hot spring afternoon surrounded by their friends and family, and they partied hard well into the wee hours of the morning. I managed to make it there at midnight and joined in the celebrations.

Earlier, when I first realised that I wouldn’t be able to be at their wedding, I set out to hand make a gift that would hopefully make up for my absence, and help alleviate my guilt. Henna and Mr B met in San Francisco where he is from. Mr B has a special connection with Mexico as he spent much time there and even did aid work at one point, so he took Henna travelling through Mexico. So as far as I was concerned my project had to be Mexican themed.

I set out to make a quilt for them. I researched Mexican, Aztec and Mayan colour schemes, motifs and patterns, and eventually came up with a plan. It took me much much longer than I thought it would. I spent almost every weekend working on it for around 3 months, but the result was much better than I anticipated.

They both loved it, and the best compliment was when Mr B said that everything about it felt familiar (which is nice considering he’s so far away from his home). They told me they would keep it forever, and it would never ever leave their bed. And as far as I know, it hasn’t.

(It did help to alleviate my guilt a little, but I still wish I could have been there).

fancy

Check out the fancy cards I got today! I love them.

Oh, and have look at this too if you're into a happy union of art and sewing.

Both of these make me giddy with excitement.

cold

My Illustration Friday entry for 'cold'. (a quick one this week)

There’s nothing more torturous for me than being stuck on a train with someone who decides to start filing their nails. It makes my blood run cold! Fingernails down a blackboard is one thing, but for me nail filing is the ultimate! Don’t ask me why, I think it has something to do with the feeling of the tiny vibrations in the ends of my fingers. I just can’t file my nails (one of the reasons I don’t have fancy nails), and now even seeing or mainly hearing anyone else do it makes my insides squirm, my eyes squint up and my throat go tight. I have to get away.

When getting on the train I try and pick a seat next to someone who doesn’t look like a serial killer, isn’t eating a hamburger first thing in the morning, and isn’t having an intimate but loud conversation on their mobile phone. I tend to choose the neat friendly looking lady gazing out the window (although for some reason in my illo she has taken the form of Peggy Bundy). But more often than not, she’ll get bored, reach into her handbag, rummage a bit and pull out a nail file. eeeeeeeeeeeeee…

Another thing that makes my blood run cold is hard to describe, but it's the squeaking feeling when you drag a wet towel over the clothes line when you’re hanging them out to dry. Actually just grabbing onto them to pull them out of the laundry basket is icky too! Eugghhhh!

It’s similar to my friend Fi, who hates the squeaky feeling of putting your hand into a bag of cotton wool balls.

What makes your blood run cold?

cackle, grumble, mumble

My entry for Penelope's Halloween Draw a Witch contest.

With “eye of newt” sky-rocketing to over $300 a gallon, Greta gathers some of her things together & heads to the local pawn shop.

csi: stoners revenge

I’ve been a total sook this week. I really need to try and get some “cred” back after being such a GIRLS BLOWSE.

So, how ‘bout them Jets? Hold that thought while I crack myself a brewski. Hey, pull my finger! It’ll be funny, go on!

Not convinced? Alright then, so get this…

PART 1:
In an effort to alleviate a bit of our collective “our Prime Minister is a dumb un-eco knob” guilt, we’ve made an effort to “green” up our office this year. We’ve been opening the windows and switching off the A/C, we’ve adopted better recycling, we’ve decked the place out with stacks of plants, and we got a bokashi bucket. (This is a type of indoor compost system that works via fermentation). So we feel good about ourselves, but the office has a very stinky corner.

If the bokashi was tended to daily, as it’s supposed to be, it apparently wouldn’t smell, or grow knee-high fungus. But ours isn’t, and it does. In fact it’s dam-right rank! So we keep it sealed tightly shut and dare each other not to gag when we open it to put food scraps inside.
What, with that and the rubber band gun, it’s just like an episode of Jackass!

PART 2:
A couple of weeks ago we got a painter to come in and paint the walls in our office. He told us he’d be able to get it done on Friday and Saturday, so we’d be back to normal on Monday.

Friday: He came in painted a couple of walls and kicked a bucket of white paint over dark grey carpet. I spent the afternoon on the phone begging carpet cleaners to drop everything come immediately.

Saturday: He didn’t turn up. Said he was a bit tired.

Monday: He arrived around 11am STONED OFF HIS NUT, did about 2 hrs work, smiled and nodded a LOT, then disappeared. By this stage we were baffled by our bosses’ patience, but the whole scenario was still pretty laughable and highly amusing. (especially because the painter was up to was the bright orange feature wall, which must have been spinning him right out).

Tuesday: We arrived at work and discovered that the safe had been attacked with a crow bar. They mangled it pretty badly, but didn’t get into it. Once again this was inconvenient, but still pretty humourous considering the only things in the safe are an old contract with an ex-client, and a Microsoft certificate for something outdated. Meanwhile everything of great value, including a room full of computers, laptops, and a few iPods were left untouched.
The painter never showed up that day.

Wednesday: The painter showed up, finished the job and left. Although it seemed suspicious, we ruled him out as the thief for a few logistical reasons, but also because he’s generally way too stoned to have enough co-ordination to even attempt to crack into a safe.

Thursday: No leads.

Friday: The painter shows back up with a friend dressed in a taxi driver's uniform to pick up his gear: paint tins, buckets, rollers, poles, dropsheets and a ladder. Both of them were more ripped than before, and my boss had to coax them out of the lift away from the pretty lights. Once again pretty hilarious.

Today: We notice that the bokashi bucket is missing! So the thief either gave up on the safe and resorted to a bucket of food slops and fungus, OR (and this is a much more likely explanation) the completely stoned painter accidentally took it thinking it was one of his paint buckets.

We laughed so hard today at the thought of him opening the stinky bucket, but being far too wasted to even notice, and probably ending up painting some poor guys wall with the slime within.

Just quietly, I think we're all secretly relieved that the festy bokashi pit of fungus has found a new home.

smitten and spill

Oh Geeez. I must seem so ungrateful. Miss May sent me these TWO great CD's, Smitten and Spill, days ago and I haven't even displayed them yet. Getting new music is rockin' my world, especially when it's stuff like this that totally "tickles my fancy". The photo's don't do it justice, but the covers are hand painted pieces of art!

Thanks Miss May, I love them both, but I think today Smitten is my favourite. I was really surprised to find Bumblebeez on Spill, they are a relatively unknown local band from around my parts. It amazes me how some music travels and some doesn't, I can never pick it either.

It's funny, I made my mixed CDs with lots of local music on it to spread it far and wide across the seas, and I got an email back from Vanessa in NC USA telling me about a few of her favourite Australian bands, and she totally GAZUMPED me! I had to "google" them! But sure enough there were two bands from Melbourne I'd never heard of, that have Vanessa as one of their fans. I'll have to check them out next time they're in town.