Not much happening here - trying to work out if I can re-schedule a medical scan so I can go to the Stitches and Craft Show in Brisbane instead (scan not urgent, so no panic there.  Just trying to sort out the PCOS stuff *sigh*  I’ve had the pain for months now, another week won’t make any difference!).

And I’d really like to go to the fashion parades at the show - especially with the independent pattern companies, their illustrations don’t really tell you how the garment will look made up.  (Mind you, neither do the big 4 - how many times have I seen a terrific garment sewn up, and been amazed that the drawing was so blah?)

Today’s post brought the Patchwork Quilt Tsushin and Quilt Japan magazines I ordered from New Zealand Quilter.  Lovelovelove those mags!  (Wish I remembered more of my Japanese studies, and that I hadn’t lost all my textbooks to one of the exes or moves, but never mind.)

Look at this beautiful shrug!  I reckon with some trial and error with the diagram I can make something similar.  Hmmmm!

Ok, I’m too bloody cold to stay here and type - I’m off to bed with a hot water bottle, my new magazines, and a notebook…

When I started on March 26, the body composition measurements (electrical impedance thingummy machine) showed that my Fat Free Mass (that’s all the organs and muscles etc) was 52.9 kg: today, April 29th: 54.9 kg. I’ve put on muscle!! YAY!!!!

On March 26, the Fat Mass measurement was 64.9kg. Today: 57.7! so I’ve lost 7.2 kg of JUST FAT. That’s 15.8 lbs.

My waist measurement has dropped by 3cm, and my hip measurement has dropped by 5cm. (Nearly 2 inches!)

My dietician is thrilled - and so am I. Mr Beloved is also losing weight, because he’s the main cook - and with weighing out my veges and protein, and not having The Phantom Baker* spring puddings and cakes etc on him, he’s already shrunk out of some jeans that I never got around to hemming up (bonus! I hate hemming jeans!)

*The Phantom Baker is a tricky beastie who used to pop up far more often than was good for ANYBODY, and make cakes and brownies and puddings and bikkies and…. we haven’t seen her since March 26, and we are hoping she remains MIA for quite some time yet.

Next week is my heart-rate measured walk with the exercise physiologist. I’m hoping to be a lot more motivated to walk daily after that.

The annoying Weasel neighbour (it’s a long story) is MOVING OUT - and when he yelled out “Faaaaaaaat girl” today, apart from ignoring him (which burns his butt - you should see him desperately trying to attract our attention, LOL!) I REALLY wanted to yell back “But I’m losing weight - and you’re not getting any smarter!”, a la Winston Churchill’s famous remark (”Sir, you’re drunk!” “And Madam, you’re ugly - but in the morning, I shall be sober.” Possibly apocryphal, but a good story nonetheless.)

And in other news, I wore my t-shirt inside out all day. Nobody noticed. Until Mr Beloved did at the dietician’s office. Admittedly, I wore a jumper (sweater) most of the day, but there were HOURS at quilters when my inside out t-shirt was on display - and nobody noticed. Geeze guys, ya coulda SAID something?! See, that’s what all this “deconstructed” Fashion (read: SLOPPY UNFINISHED RUBBISH!) has lead to. *sigh*

I’m all for desconstructed (as is the author of that blog in the link) where that means: thoughtful rethinking of old paradigms, playing with shapes, opening the way to new techniques. But just ripping holes in a t-shirt and sewing the seams inside out? IS.NOT. DECONSTRUCTION.

Why, when I was young…..

Editors note: At this point, Ms O’Connor was gently led away, as it was time for her stewed prunes and a nap.

I’ve been crook, obviously. Booked in for another scan next week, and seeing my helpful GP again soon. Got to get this sorted out, arrggggh!

HOWEVER, on Saturday I had the BEST day - went to Brissy with Sue. GIRLY SHOPPING!! Oh man, I’d forgotten how much fun it is to just wander around the shops. I didn’t try on any clothes (there were no fat chick shops) but Sue did, and managed to score some good buys. I had fun just seeing what was “in” in ready-to-wear, and we both grabbed piles of ideas for our sewing - especially from the David Lawrence outlet store - over-runs, samples, and seconds, but still worth checking out.

For example - knit dresses with double faced satin ribbon on the inside of cascading edges and hems - not only helps stabilise the edge, but also means the dress looks really finished inside and out.

There were some really - interesting! samples at the Cue store - things that I’m glad someone said “Ummm, NOT for production!” - and that was also the only store with no mirrors in the dressing rooms, just one big one on the back wall of the store - which I agree with Sue was icky - you kinda wanna know if something looks REALLY dreadful before you have to come out into the glare of the whole store, you know?

We looked at shoes, yum - agreed that the slightly furry leopard print shoes would either

a) have to be petted all. the. time. or

b) be guarded carefully from our dogs….

The find of the day, however, and one we both REALLY regretted not buying (we didn’t even check the price!) was this handbag. Forgive the bad pics - I took them with my phone and I was so busy laughing that the phone shook! Is this not the absolute muppet-est handbag you’ve ever seen?

Sue and I looked at this and immediately thought of the Yip Yip aliens meeting the telephone on Sesame Street….

Isn’t it FABULOUS!! I would be unable to use it, it would become a puppet that I would have to keep playing with. But I am seriously considering driving back down to Jindalee just to get it…

I tried on lots of hats (Have I mentioned I LOVE hats?) which reinforced my determination to get sewing on some - hats hats hats!

Eventually we were shopped out and headed over to the 2QAQ meeting. LOTS of inspiration from the Reddy Art Quilters, who had brought along their journal quilts and Artist Trading Cards (ATCs); and an ATC swap which got out of hand (some people are GRABBY!) and ended up being inequitable. Grrrrr. Simple rules, you get ONE BACK for each one you put in - Linda should N OT have ended up short!

Thankfully, the wonderful organisers of 2QAQ have said the swap will NOT be a free-for-all next time, to prevent that happening again.

I was really thrilled that Sue’s ATCs were all snatched up, too. Next month I’ll have some done… my small contribution to the economy of Jindalee DFO was to buy two small rubber stamps from Smiggle - an elephant, and a skull and crossbones for Mr Beloved. So my ATCs will certainly feature those!

But right now, I’m off to watch the F1 grand prix. If the weather is warmish this week we’re planning some fabric dyeing; and on Tuesday I’m hoping to be well enough to get to quilters and am taking my Shiva sticks and supplies so we can have a bit of a play.

Still have pain - still incredibly fatigued - but I’m getting cabin fever now.  Still got more tests and scans and specialist appointments scheduled.

*sigh*

I’m SO SICK OF BEING SICK!

I’ve been too tired to even read much, let alone sew.  It’s frustrating.  I haven’t been looking at blogs much because EVERYBODY is doing such awesome work and  - well, I’m not!

All terribly boring to read about, sorry.

In other news: Mr Beloved was able to cut into the ceiling of the lounge room this week (There was no manhole!) to check out the termite damage:

I’m very pleased to report that although the plywood ceiling itself has been eaten through, only a couple of the big bits of timber that hold the ceiling up will need to be replaced.  And the cavity wasn’t anyway near as dirty as we thought it could be.  SUCH A RELIEF!!

We’ve priced the replacement materials but are still getting figures together on insulation, possibly skylight tubes, and whirly bird venting.  Stay tuned…

And now I’m taking more painkillers and going back to bed.

See you all in a few days when I’m back from the doctors and the latest round of pathology reports.

Vogue Sewing: If I could only have ONE sewing book in my library, this would be it. Sue brought it to Quilters the other day, and I managed to borrow it from the town library today. Clear illustrated instructions on all those tricky bits you forget between times. Love it!

Saturday Night Hat I love hats. But I have a large head. (Settle down there in back…) I need to make hats!

Plants and Their Application to Ornament: A 19th Century Design Primer Saw this on Serena Fenton’s wonderful Layers of Meaning blog. The plant is illustrated on one plate, and facing is the same plant interpreted in design. Gorgeous!

Create Your Own Hand Printed Cloth: Stamp, Screen and Stencil with Everyday Objects. I’ve been following Raynas blog for a couple of years now. I’d love to take a class with her one day - in the meantime, can’t wait to get this book!

Last, but not least: The Toothpick: Technology and Culture. I adore Henry Petroski’s engineering/social history books, If anyone can make pages on the toothpick entertaining and informative, Henry can!

So there you go - now show me five from you wishlist, please! TAG!!

So we went.

Cos you know if there’s one thing we just don’t have enough of in our house, it would be books, right?

Muuuaaa haaa haaa!  Some may end up going in to the next charity book fair - but some have useful, inspiring, relevant stuff.  A dollar each!  Gotta love that.

Off to read now.

I’ve just ordered an issue of Patchwork Quilt Tsushin for myself. $32, from New Zealand, which worked out the cheapest way to do it. “Couldn’t charge your mates to look, couldja?” says the (comedic Scotch) voice from the corner. “It worked when I was young!”

ANYWAY, Mr R. found these treasures for me “In a tiny little arcade full of shrines” . He said they worked out to about $12 Australian each (!!) and they are AWESOME! (oops, two are upside down here. Never mind!)

They are full of line drawings of traditional Japanese designs. Like this:

Combine that with Laura Wasilowki’s reminder of how easy it is to carve your own stamps for printing onto fabric in this months Quilting Arts Magazine? I could be kept out of mischief for a very long time.

*sigh* back to these Minutes…. committees, arrrgggggh!

Also laughing because one of the ladies at Quilters today said “Where are all these fabulous new garments, Caity? I think you’re making them in fantasy land!” (I dreamed I was….)

Well - yeah, and no - I’ve been asleep most of the last week. Not very productive! But after one of those horrible sleepless nights last night (and a good sleep in this morning, making me late for Quilters) I think I’m just about back to the right cycle. Maybe I’ll get more stuff done this week.

(and BTW - WHY can’t I buy bras like this with good “forward projection”, huh huh huh? It’s EXACTLY what I want. Hrrrmph. Bring back Maidenform’s stitched cups, say I!)

Talked with the dietician today about goal setting. One of my big problems has been that I get overwhelmed by the big end goal - I need to break it up into manageable DOABLE chunks of specific tasks.

I have too many ideas floating about, I need to pin them to the pages of my journal. For example: the new Ricky Tims Rhapsody Quilts book arrived yesterday, along with a book I’ve looked at for ages (thanks to recommendations from Jane Dunnewold, Sarah Ann, and Brenda) - it was cheap on Amazon, so I grabbed it:Notan: the Dark-Light Principle of Design. So I’m doodling ideas, already starting to design the applique for a Rhapsody style quilt - based on our cockatiels. (it makes sense in MY head, trust me!)

And there are so many other things I need/want to do:

• Finish typing the minutes from the Exhibition Committee meeting on the 5th (time flies!) [ETA: DONE, bloody DONE DONE DONE!!}
  
• Find a copyright free image of Toowoomba Violets as background for a flyer (might have to go find some to photograph!)
• Go to Officeworks to buy printer cartridges to print flyers
• Actually finish fitting at least one of the sewing projects in muslin so I can cut it out in the real fabric
• Finish the brown skirt (Just a couple of buttonholes, buttons, facings and hems to go)
• Find brown shoes to wear with new skirt!
• Return library books
• Finish Mum’s quilt for Mother’s Day (I hope!)
• Work on Dad’s quilt (for Christmas 2007 - oops!)
• start walking again for 5 minutes per day initially, building up to 40 minutes
• Clean the house before the dust buffaloes develop sentience and stage a coup
• think about the quilt I want to enter in the 2QAQ juried show
• Think about which quilts to enter in the Toowoomba Quilters show
• Think about quilt to enter into Queensland Quilters Show (uh - maybe not this year…)
• Read the latest Quilting Arts, Threads, etc
• Chase up where the Studios magazine has got to - I’m sure I pre-ordered it - hmmmm
• organise (slightly late!) birthday card for friend J (we’ve been friends 36 years!)
• yada yada yada a gazillion other things!

But right now I’m off to watch Time Team.

(Which reminds me of another thing that makes me laugh - pay tv. Who has TIME?! I barely get a chance to watch the free-to-air!)

I’m having a hard time with “craft” blogs that mention food EVERY OTHER POST. Is it wrong to want to murder whoever first thought “Hey, I know! FAKE cupcakes! All the torture, none of the reward!” (Yeah, I kinda thought it might be. But still…)

And my usual reading matter is letting me down, too. Ever notice how many damn FOOD scenes there are in cosy mysteries? Or in “chick lit”? Or romances? Even the steamy ones mange to include FOOD.

And I admit that this may not have been the ideal time to borrow the anthology “Many Bloody Returns: Tales of Birthdays With Bite” but my name finally came up on the reserved list at the library. (New Jim Butcher, Charlaine Harris, and Kim Harrison stories? I had to read those.)

Every TV commercial shows the over-abundance of calories available. Encourages the viewer to eat snacks, to “tame the hunger”. To consume more calories in one burger than I get to eat ALL DAY. (I could get very boring with calories and how much fat is in stuff, but I’m trying not to. Trying HARD.)

I sit and people watch at the shopping centres and you know what? There are LOTS of people much fatter than I am.

And also worse-dressed: I have NEVER inflicted low-cut jeans and the inevitable muffin top they create on an unsuspecting world. In my great mercy. Sadly, many residents of the Darling Downs are not so kind.

Pass the mind bleach.

I’m sticking to my 1150 calories a day. It’s too expensive not to. But I’m getting really shitty with the world for parading excess food in front of me, dammit.

Yep. The completely narcissistic phase of the diet has hit - let’s hope it passes quickly.