Stop looking at me like that!

Seriously, I am on tenterhooks - (did you know that’s a fabric processing term, btw? It really is - linen used to be stretched and dried in the sun, and it was pegged out on hooks. There ya go.) - I am nominated for a position in the club that I think is within my abilities and time available - and I kinda want it.

Also, the Dancing Beijing challenge judging is announced tomorrow - and I’m no excited for me so much (really ! STOP looking at me like that!) as for two of my sweet quiltgals, who did the most AMAZING pieces!

I’m off to sew now.

Oh, did anyone want to hear about the weight loss thingy?

It’s bloody expensive - but then, how expensive is my being miserable about my weight? Hmmmm.

Had choice today between buying the new issue of Textile Fibre Forum and the new Down Under Quilts. Got TFF, and felt depressed - so much bloody amazing work! Will get DUQ after the pension comes maybe; today I spent the money on fabric instead.

Went out to Highfields to the quilt shop there today - Mr Beloved waited in the car. I bought 30cms of a green and pink polka dot print for “Tuesdays and TV”. I was really after some 1930s/40s oranges and yellows, but all they had in the right sort of prints were icky sickly pretty pastels.

Fortunately I was able to duck out to Quiltcraft later in the afternoon and scored some suitable prints. Not strictly in period, but hey, it’s a quilt being made in 2008, not in 1940, after all. I got a great yellow print with little teacups all over it - no name on the selvedge at all, though.

These prints are really growing on me. Sadly, I don’t think I’ll have any scraps left from this project - it’s tight as it is.

Something that’s bothering me about this quilt though is that all the values are so similar. There are no darks at all. And it’s BUSY.

Ah well - it’s just a blanket, after all.

#3045: WHY oh WHY oh WHYYYYYYYYYYYY did the dog, who will be 4 in June and has NEVER before shown any propensity to roll in smelly things, coat herself from top to toes in POO this afternoon right before tea? (and how did she manage it?)

#3046: WHY on earth would I put the bottle of eucalyptus/peppermint oil steam inhalant mix on the top shelf of the pantry - between the AntRid and the medicinal brandy?

Well, it’s Tuesday, so it must be quilters day, yes?

Yes!

I had a lovely time at what Mr Beloved cheekily refers to as “playgroup” - that’s more accurate than he knows! Honestly, I go to quilters for the company and the opinions and the chatter. Any actual hand sewing I get done is a bonus. Today I only managed to applique down one 5 inch circle, but ooooh, I had fun!

(I decided to take a different project today, even though I’d packed “Tuesdays and TV” ready to go. Having just finished Mum’s late Christmas/early Birthday pressie, I thought I’d better get a wriggle on with Dad’s.)

I don’t think Dad reads the blog (I know Mum does, HI MUM!) so I can show you the fabric I was appliquéing. I could only buy 1.5 metres when I first found this print; foolishly, I thought it might be enough. Then my quilt plans changed and I decided to get all complicated and I desperately need more. (Which I HOPE, fingers crossed, I might have found on eBay… Emerald City Fabric and Crafts have been very good to me so far…)

AND - happiness! I’ve been looking for green paisley fabric to make best friend M a Miranda bag - isn’t this just PERFECT?

The black background will really work well with free motion quilted plain black fabric - I can see more King Tut thread in my future - maybe #936 “Pharaoh’s Treasure ( “Red, med green, dark green, gold”) or my favourite (three 500 metre reels used so far this year) #910 “Bulrushes” (”brown, light sage, tan, dark sage” - this is the one I initially bought because I though the green and ochres were perfect colours for quilting Australian bush scenes.)

Dang! Somehow it has gone after midnight. I’m for bed and more of that lovely rain on the roof.

OH!  Meant to say I got Baby Pfaff (the 2034) back from the repairer today.  Dale at Downs Sewing Machine Repairs -he’s worth every cent -  that baby is purrrrrrrrrrrrrring! Makes the Goddess Pfaffalina’s trip to see him just that more urgent… I’d forgotten how smooth those machines SHOULD sound!

When did you last have your machine serviced, hmmm? 

Monday - library trip is needed, (nothing to READ!) and a trip to the “Let’s pretend we aren’t REALLY ripping you off” medical refunds place; and checking the post box for an eagerly anticipated cheque… and to post some SURPRISES! and I have to go to the bank to get money so I can pick up my sewing machine from the repair man… and - big procrastination item , this next one: I have to find out EVERYTHING I need to know about this weight loss program.

The things that didn’t work about WW for me should be addressed if I go ahead with this one:

1. The leader refused to help when I was STUCK on a plateau for ages - there was no support.

2. And she was - well, not so bright, and would perpetuate incorrect info sometimes. Yes, I know, I’m picky. See cartoon below.

3. When I started walking a lot and put ON weight, again - no support. Grrr. No “Hey , well done, you’re walking!” either. If I’m paying money, I want CHEERING, dammit.

Also, my wonderful GP (general practitioner, my primary care doctor) would be doing the medical support side of the program - I feel like I have a better chance of success with her actually taking the allergies and injuries and other medications into account, you know?

BTW, I get REALLY REALLY tired and pissed off with people who try to tell me that weight loss is “A simple energy equation” and that if I “eat less and exercise more” the whole thing will be solved. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. Let’s just ignore the chronic fatigue/back injuries/depression/coeliac disease/polycystic ovaries, and thryoid issues then, will we? FUCKERS!!!

Ahem.

Tuesday: Quilters. Don’t know if I’ll have time to prepare what I want to do as a demo on flying geese - we’ll see. Actually, aiming for NEXT Tuesday would be better, cos then the club AGM will be out of the way. Good.

I’ve made some more progress on my Tuesdays and TV quilt (here’s what it looked like a couple of months ago) by stitching during the boring bits (ad breaks and safety car laps!) of the V8 Supercars today, and again during the boring bits of the prancing. The LQS might even have FINALLY got more of the precut paper triangles in, since the ones I have are quite battered after being pieced over and pulled out three or four times each.

English Paper Piecing is the perfect activity for Tuesday Quilters meetings, cos I can do it while I’m talking. And if I can’t chatter to my quiltgals while I’m there, I might as well stay at home and sew by myself (and that would be BAD, cos I get a bit cabin-fever-ish after a few days.)

And that’s as far as I’ve got in the planning so far.

Well, I’ve made another Miranda bag - here’s a sneak peek. (dontcha hate that you never see those stray threads until photography? Arrgh!)

Got to post two on Monday, and I was hoping to get a third done but - it’s too HOT.

And today was the first race of the V8 Supercars season - wooohooooo! Because it’s a 500km total race, the second 250kms will be run tomorrow. Can’t wait!

Tuesday I overdid things and it’s taken me until Saturday arvo to really get back on top Was going to go to the movies (and possibly see the delicious Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd) but all three of us were way too tired - so we had tea and chatter at Vicki’s instead. Chriss and Vicki are both newish Toowoomba quilters, and lots of fun.  But coming on top of spending 10- 3ish at Quilters, I probably should have slept in between, not gone racing round on errands…

Wednesday I went to the doctors - still haven’t gone and got the bloodwork done, oops - and I’m coming round to the idea of at least finding out more about this new medically managed weight loss program. Problem could be the $$- it’s not cheap.

Today is the hottest day of Summer so far (35 inside the house - although the Bureau claim 31. Nope! Yesterday wasn’t far behind at 34/ 30…)

We have Western facing windows in the bedroom, bathroom and sewing room- which means on hot days, those rooms get hotter and hotter - it’s just not bearable to go into them from about 11am until around 9pm. I’m hoping we’ll be able to get some sort of blinds/awnings to help with that….

It’s finally cooled down enough to go to the sewing room - I’m off to cut some sheet acrylic.

Jennifer Patricia Miller (”Nif”)

18 January 1971 - 19-Feb 2005

My beautiful, funny, passionate, smart sister.

We weren’t all that close as grown ups, but knew we could count on each other unconditionally.

I still miss her all the time. She was at peace with her decision not to undergo radio or chemo therapy after her initial surgery for brain cancer. It all happened so fast - she found out about the tumor in July, and died in February.

The hospice care was amazing. Mum and Dad pretty much moved up to Sydney to look after her and be with her while she was in the Sacred Heart Hospice in Darlinghurst. I’m so glad they had that time together.

Sometimes it feels like three years has passed in a day - and sometimes it feels like forever.

It’s so long since I’ve sewn on Elspeth that I have no idea where the quarter inch foot has gone. I gave her a warm up this evening to get the lube flowing again, and downloaded a threading diagram (yes, it’s been THAT long!)

(this isn’t Elspeth - just a generic pic from somewhere. But Elspeth looks like this.)

She was made in Clydebank in 1951 (you can tell by the serial number, which starts with EH - hence ElspetH) and sews very sweetly. One of the things I love about old straight stitch machines is that they only do one thing - sew forwards and backwards in a straight line - but they do it so very well. I’m quite looking forward to playing on her tomorrow!

I was hoping to get a lesson plan and printouts done this week to have a demonstration at Quilters (foundation pieced flying geese, with variations) but I slept instead. I was wiped all weekend and slept for another few hours this arvo. Sheesh! at least I have a quilt top section that shows one of the variations - just got to dig it up from the sewing room to take.

I did manage to get my hospital admission (day procedure) sorted out though - just waiting on pre-admission to call me back for the medical history on Friday. One more thing OFF the procrastination list! Oh, and bought more interfacing for another couple of Miranda bags - long overdue gifties.

Right - tomorrow is a long hard day. There’s an anniversary to deal with, quilters, and then movies with the girls - I better get my beauty sleep!

TA DA! I made this bag last night (and a teensy bit this morning.) It’s the Miranda Day Bag pattern from Joan Hawley’s Lazy Girl Designs. ( I bought my pattern from Punch With Judy, but there are a lot of places you can get it.)

The fabric is a Hoffmann ( I think!) that I’ve been hoarding for years. So the bag is part of my new policy about fabric generally and my stash in particular - I have so many “holy” fabrics that are so nice I don’t want to cut into them. But I am being strong and making them into things that I will enjoy. That way at least I get to see them, rather than bury them and forget how much I liked them.

I am so IN LOVE with this pattern! Joan has really gone all out - it’s more like a book than a pattern. There are step-by-step photos for EVERY Step. The instructions are clear and well written, and in a font that’s easy to read. Even a beginner would have no problems with this pattern - just cut and stitch in the order listed and you’ll have a fabulous bag too!

I’m a slow sewist, (I refuse to write sew-er, because even with the hyphen it looks like I’m talking about municipal drainage) but I got this done in about 5 hours. (I have taken longer on this same pattern when I’ve done much more intensive quilting for the outside, but really you don’t need to go overboard.)

So I spend time making sure the threads are knotted and buried, and press the seams over a tailors ham, etc. You could probably do it faster, but it’s not a huge project - it would certainly be something you could sew in a day.

I ran out of the interfacing I had wanted to use, and so used a fusible pellon wadding as the interfacing in this bag - it makes it a bit squishier but is still firm enough so the bag stands up ok. (Nothing worse than a floppy bag when you’re trying to find something…)

And how good is this - it fits in BOOKS! and magazines. And a whole heap of other things that you might need to take along to your quilters meeting. Yeah baby! Notice that the orange binding on the top of the bag is actually a “Faux” binding - it’s the lining, but attached and stitched in a very clever way. When Joan says “Lazy Girl” she’s not kidding - this is a real time saver, and makes such a neat transition between the inside and outside of the bag.

Here’s a shot of the inside so you can see those groovy pockets better. (That’s my coin purse - a little vinyl ladybug. I have a bit of a thang for ladybugs.) And that rectangle at the bottom is what makes the bag so stable. You can buy specially cut inserts to use but I managed to scrounge some scrap Perspex (ahem, that’s a brand name - of course I mean “Sheet acrylic”) that I cut to size.

I’ve used the short handles option - knowing that if I make long handles I would be tempted to sling the bag over my shoulder and carry way too much stuff. I think it looks awesome with commercial handles (rather than fabric) but I didn’t have the $$ to buy any - or the patience to wait.

Joan keeps adding updates on her blog about her own and other people’s groovy Mirandas, and things that make it even better. (Feet! That’s what I should do, like Tracy has done on her Miranda - bag feet! They stop fabric bags from wearing out so quickly.)

Ah well, there’s always the next bag - I’ve promised one for my best friend M (who gave me the sheet acrylic). Her favourite colour is green and she adores paisley - so let me know if you see any fabric that would be just right.

I was going to make up Lazy Girl Designs “Chloe” bag next - but do you think I can find the pattern in my sewing room? ARRRRRGH! I reckon I have enough of the “Fresh Air” charm squares left after making my journal cover to just about do a Chloe in patchwork.

Although now I think of it, darling Annie (she has a SHOP! Wooohoooooo!) sent me a groovy tool especially designed to help make woven strips from bias, (meshwork! Ahhh, that’s what it’s called!) since it looked so gorgeous when Joan made a Chloe up with this technique, and I’ve been inspired by some of the gorgeous woven bias handbags that Luana showed on her blog from the Tokyo International Quilt Festival…

This post brought to you by the word GROOVY, the colour orange, and the letter Yogh….