Blog Giveaway - (As long as you don't like gold!!)

JELLYBELLY*JELLYBRAIN is having a blog giveaway. I'm not going to give away all the details because you are just gonna have to get on over to her blog. I must mention there is a very mysterious condition for entry into the giveaway and it's all to do with the title. Intrigued? As I said get on over there and have a gander!!!

New Bag for an Old Bag!

Oh boy I went to Karaka yesterday, and popped into thee most divine shop! Along the Karaka Road was an old church which has been converted into an interior design shop. I didn't take my camera (doh!) otherwise I would have posted a pic of it. (Mental note: carry camera at all times!) Anyway this absolutely divinely delicious shop is called Interiors etc and I have fallen in love. It is crammed full of such lovely things, that I am really beginning to resent Mr Busy putting me on a strict budget. (Don't you think budget is a really harsh and cruel sounding word?)
So because I was salivating so much, and possibly under threat of being asked to leave, for causing an OSH hazard, and becoming very annoying with all my exclamations of "Oowaaah isn't that is lovely" every 7 seconds, I threw all caution to the wind, and bought this adorable bag. Actually I bought two, but please don't let on to Mr Busy. Lets just keep it between us eh? He does not understand the whole bag/shoe thing. Seriously he keeps his clothes forever, I'm not joking. He's still got a sweatshirt from 1984. How can I tell I hear your ask disbelievingly? Because that 80's teal colour and the zips all over it really give it away. He's so proud of that sweatshirt. One day its gonna dissappear, and I'm going to blame it on him having a senior moment or something.
So maybe you can understand my cageiness about filling him on every little purchase.
Well I have to say this bag was a steal at $20.00, so I don't think he has got a lot to moan about. Mind you I did buy two the other is in a different colour and am thinking of stocking up for gifts!
I'm going to use this bag for every day, like going down to the shops and things. Why not? I may as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb as my darling late mother used to say. And she would love this bag too!!

Remember that Pay it Forward giveaway thingy?

These litte fellas will be flying all the way to their new friend(s) at Trying Traditional. They are carrying a little pincushion so I hope their little arms aren't too tired when they get there. And before you all overload the comments (because I get so many... ahem) I realise they don't have any arms. But you know, I like to think of them as having a little bit of magic, which comes in mighty handy for things like Pay it Forwards, giveaway thingys.

Back together

Mr Busy's tramp went very well and he arrived home safe and sound on Monday night. I would show you a whole slew of pictures, but he had the setting's wrong and had it on video. So he only got a couple of photos and a couple of moving images of the ground and sky, before the batteries could take no more and went flat. Not a lot of places to charge your batteries around the mountains in Nelson.






I think his six days away was tougher than my six days at home.

Ahem ... It's true I think I could be losing the plot...

If anyone happens to find the plot that I seem to be losing a lot lately, could you hook it up with my memory and just put it in a return envelope? I wrote a really long winded post about how I couldn't show you the top I made. And you got to hear all about what Mr Busy is up to and all that. And do you know I actually did put the photos in to My Pictures, but I don't remember doing it? I seem to be doing a lot of that sort of stuff lately. In my defence, it has been REALLY hot, and then the humidity got in on the act to kind of suck the energy out of everyone. But hey I am not going to complain, because frankly after what the good people of Victoria are going through, I have NO right to moan about anything, and I should be darn grateful for some moisture in the air.
Anyway here is the top that I made...

And here is a photo I took the day before the humidity struck. The sky was that colour all over, as far as the eye could see.
I love the Jonathon Livingstone Seagull feel that this picture has to it.

Now about that top I promised to show you...

Ah yes. You see I would show you that cute little polka dot top that I made. But here's the thing. Mr Busy woke me yesterday morning as he was jamming dried noodles and scroggin into his backpack and said, "Can I take the camera?" I know. I know not the most romantic of things to wake you up with at 5 in the morning, and frankly nothing is remotely romantic at 5 in the morning, but this is a family show so we might have to save that for another blog! Anyway I sent him on his way with the camera, because - a) I just didn't want to argue that I needed the camera for blog pictures and wot not, and, b) it would have been mean of me not to let him take it. Although for the life of me I don't know how he will get on because he needs instructions to turn the darn thing on. (He is an accountant and can do numbers and budgets and spreadsheets and all manner of what have you to do with making me not spend money, but he is not fantastic with technical things like switching the camera on).
So I made this nice wee top out of very thin polka dot fabric, which is lovely and cool, and I took a photo of it and even put it on a nice padded hanger so it looked really pretty and everything, and then I forgot to get it off the camera and onto my puta. So with the situation being what it is, it will be a bit difficult for me to show you the whole thing. But I did manage to get a photo of a cute little fabric brooch made out of the same fabric, and embellished with a vintage glass button that I got from my mother in law. I left the edges raw which I really quite like, and it looks real purdy on the top that you can't see the picture of yet. A wee word about the top. It is from a gypsy blouse pattern. But I just cut out two fronts, and then threaded a bit of thick ribbon through the neck line. No sleeves or anything, but frankly in this weather who wants sleeves?
Here is the brooch...

and further to my previous post...

What do you do under such trying circumstances? Get a makeover of course. Its the new do. I'm liking it. Kaz at Sirocco always does a good job.

Kind if behind the ears.




And not behind the ears.

Please keep in mind I had to do this on the webcam because the camera batteries conked out. Also please keep in mind that we are nearly at 100 per cent humidity here, which does NOTHING for trying to keep the straight bits straight. Anyway apart from all that I'm liking the freedom. Got on the new top I made too, which I will post about later.

My husband is leaving me

I knew it was coming. We both did. The tension here has been increasing daily, but really the decision to go was made sometime ago. I worry about silly things, like will I remember to put the rubbish out, and is this recycling week? What if I have to make a big financial decision. And then there are the kids... I don't really want to think about it too much, it seems too big.

Yes I really hope that tramp is worth it...




















Mike and the lads are heading off tomorrow to do the Dragons Teeth, near Nelson. It's their once a year thing, and they just love it.

However it is only for 6 days, and if stinky laundry is the only thing I have to worry about on his return then it can't be all that bad!!!

Did I have ya going there for a minute. Yeah I know. I'm mean eh?!!!!

Be safe you boys...

Tweaking the Bookmark an update on the tutorial

I did that wee tutorial a couple of posts back, but have tweaked it a bit. However I think I might be getting a bit sick of bookmarks. What about you? Yeah don't blame ya either! Anyway take a gander ...

Fold those ends in like before, but instead of folding in half longways, just press the edges into the middle.

See?

Chuck your ribbon on top, like before, and tuck into the ends.

Now sew your ribbon on. I gave up on the pins because I was getting fed up with them, and they kept warping the ribbon and fabric.

The close up arty shot


Roll credits

THE END

What is it with the wildlife around here?

This is the laundry door. In itself not very remarkable, although it does feature a cat door. I use this door a lot, because you maybe able to see the clothes line right outside. Very handy being under the deck when its raining, and it gets a nice breeze for drying the clothes and wot not... I bet you are wondering where this is going? Take a good look.



Dya see it yet?



Yep. Mr Spidey, sitting there flexing his big long hairy legs, just waiting for me to hang out the smalls...

Yeah... ha... I bet him and Mr Weta get together and have a good old laugh about it!!!

Fabric bookmark tutorial

I have been using things like old shopping dockets, or in one instance a toothpick (unused!) for a bookmark. Not ideal really. Especially the toothpick thing, because Iv'e nearly lost an eye a couple of times.
So I figured ... no bookmark and lots of fabric ...

Anyway getting on with it...

Here's what you'll need

Fabric

Iron on fusible interfacing

Ribbon

Buttons or some other embellishment.

Cut your fabric to approximately 42cm x 6cm

(That's about 16" x 2 1/2" in old money!)

Iron on your interfacing, and then turn edges under by about 1/2 cm (1/4").

I find pressing it helps.

and here we are, nice and pressed

Fold your fabric in half longways, trying to match up your sides.

Press. (I'm big on that, because it holds it all together)

Press those two ends in and clip them inwards. So they don't stick out when you sew it up (Sorry about sounding so technical : )

Tuck your ribbon between the two ends, and pin in place.

You could leave strips of ribbon sort of dangling out instead of a little loop if you like. I like the little loop because I can relate to being a bit loopy, and its something to idly twirl around my finger when I'm lost in a darn good chapter.

Here's the famous sewing machine shot. Oh yeah I nearly forgot... sew all around the outside of your now almost completed bookmark. Once you have done that you can sew on some buttons or a bit of a bow or something, and in my book (scuse the pun) it looks like a pretty nice bookmark. I thought perhaps of sewing the buttons on first, because it was tricky trying to not show the thread at the back where the buttons are sewn on, but they would get in the way of the presser foot, depending on where you sew them of course.

I hope you are able to follow my little tutorial. I have a knack of being able to make something really simple sound awfully complicated, so apologies in advance if you think this tutorial is a bit rubbish!!!
Anyhoo, I'm off for a cup of tea and a wee read now ...