puppies, flamingos, cats and a finish!

Rumour has been circulating in this house for some weeks now that Isabell is less puppy and more cat in her orientation and tonight she proves it so once again.

Just like all those blog cats I see joining in on the crafting act here we have Iz all curled up against the pedal of my sewing machine.

Why is the sewing machine out you ask? Why Jemima, what a good question!

A few weekends ago I had a little play in my nearest BIG town and found this rather lufferly furnishings cotton. Obviously I couldn't leave it there and just tonight it turned into a fully fledged shopping bag.

With a lining and everything! I buggered up the sandwiching of the fabric somehow and so rather than being able to turn the whole thing through a small gap, I had to overstitch the seam around the top to stop it falling apart but so long as no one looks too closely I will be happy.

Look! I even gave it a flamingo pocket!

destructoBoy is quite concerned I have made it too big and the handles too short but these were both deliberate design features. Honest. The size is to allow for the holding of the three different types of dog food tins that I now have to buy (plus other shopping naturally, we exist on more than canine cusine up here on t'hill you know) and the short handles are down to the fact that there was insuffcient material for long ones. But these look really good, honest (again!).

Small things

Pip from Meet Me at Mike's has a fabulous meme she has invited the world to share.

This week's theme is 'small things'.

I proffer a much beloved quote.

A multitude of small delights constitutes happiness.

Charles Baudelaire

OK so what happened was.....

(Giovanna and the knife - the fore story)

..... first let me state that my sister is completely uninjured and feels fine, if a little daft ;-)

second let me also state that my sister is one of those very organised types who has a place for everything and everything in its place. Unlike up here on the hill, God does not dry the dishes at Giovanna's.

Which leads me to wonder WHY when washing the dishes on Saturday she altered her normal method and rather than putting the knives flat on a tea towel to air dry, she used the cutlery drainer. Yes you read that correctly - she put the 14" uber-blades into a drainer. And before you ask- YES they were blade up! So please limit your sympathy and come join me in a little giggle
;-)

50 things I have done while talking on the phone with my sister.

1. set up a travel cot
2. washed the kitchen ceiling
3. pulled weeds
4. washed dishes
5. cleaned up vomit
6. played with the dogs
7. watched other people's children playing
8. washed the kitchen floor
9. made school lunches
10. knitted
11. stitched
12. cried
13. laughed
14. hung out laundry
15. ironed
16. watched television
17. read emails
18. picked up dog poo
19. wiped small people's bottoms
20. wiped noses
21. refereed fights
22. disciplined small children
23. left the room
24. tied shoelaces
25. brushed hair
26. cooked dinner
27. washed windows
28. cleaned the loo
29. arranged table-top activities for small people
30. spoonfed small children
31. danced
32. burned cds
33. copied photos
34. baked
35. peeled and cut vegetables
36. breastfed
37. felt unwell
38. been in hospital
39. stood beside a broken down car on the side of a road
40. been mean
41. cut toenails
42. wrapped babies' bottoms in nappies
43. bathed children
44. photoshopped images
45. doodled
46. drawn donkeys
47. loaded the washing machine
48. fixed her knitting errors
49. painted
50. washed my hands.

I speak with Giovanna at least a few times a week. When something happens I phone her first. Or try to. Because my sister is a world traveller.

When I speak with her changes depends on the time zone she is in. When she lived on the West Coast of the US I spoke to her when it was teatime here. Then she went back to Australia and it was back to very late night or early morning chats. While they were living on the Continent it was free rein and we chatted often, sometimes several times a day. It has been known for CK to text or email her and ask her to hang up so he could call home ;-)

Now she is out on some "frickin' atoll" in the Pacific and the time difference means we have a window of approximately an hour at either end of the day to speak. We use this to great effect.

I spoke with her this morning and had to #23 because I had been #6 and #21 (the dogs) and it was all too noisy to hear. As I sat outside in the early morning sunshine I #13 so hard that I was gasping for breath and #12 tears of helpless mirth. Why? Because Giovanna confessed to me that her Saturday had been not all she hoped as she had stuck a knife in her eye.

I guess y'all aren't laughing but oh my word even as I type I am laughing out loud at the thought. How? How do you do that? Over my rib-aching laughter she told me that the nurse at the out-of-hours surgery discussed with her whether it should be classified as an 'emergency' or an 'accident'. They decided that it was something one wouldn't do deliberately and so could be placed into the 'accident' category!

Then she told me how the doctor said how lucky it was the blade was so sharp as the stinging pain probably stopped her going any further. WHAT!! Had it been a butter knife she may not have noticed and kept on moving forward onto it?

You know how sometimes when something is so dreaded or boring you might say 'I would rather poke myself in the eye with a sharp stick.' In between my tears of laughter and gasping breath I managed to assure her that at least now she would know if that was a truly fair comparison.

Giovanna (bless her) confessed that I was the first person she had told as it was quote an embarrassing story unquote. Being a thoughtful and kind sister I spoke with my nice brother just minutes later for his birthday and regaled both him and the golden s-i-l with the tale. What?! We are family, it is nice to share.

Do not judge me. (life realisations #2/trash phisolophies)

I have just spent the past half an hour combing my hair properly for the first time in over a week.

My arms, scalp and fingers hurt.

Yes I am the mother who threatens to cut off her daughter's hair every morning because it (once again) has not been brushed properly and is full of knots.

The joy of quite long and extremely fine hair is that with a swish of a baby brush over the top it looks all flat and lovely, it can then be twisted back into a bun so that one at least maintains and air of respectability.

Princess Curly-Wurly will learn this trick as she ages. Until then I shall continue to scrape out the knots and tangles and twist/plait or put up as required each day.


For her at least ;-)

The cup is always full, some days you just have to squint a bit.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes life happens when you are least anticipating it?

Horrible things happen to nice people. Age creeps up and alters irreparably those around us.

However the presence of the bad should be tempered by the presence of the good. Those who are injured regain control and capability. Plastic cones of humiliation are removed so that freedom becomes unrestricted.

People pick themselves up and declare 'I shall make it on my own'.

Life continues to move forward and every day starting bright and fresh is a blessing from the gods for all to enjoy.

Life Realisations #One

(subtitle - Trash Phisolophies*)

Of all six of us I am the only one of my siblings who owns a dog (or three - ahem).

Which I think is strange as we all grew up with pets; in fact I think, like this hilltop house, there were dogs before there were children.

I feel the only brother who has a dog in his life wouldn't were it his choice.

Hmmmm, I'm not sure we are all related. Must ask Sylv.


















* typo deliberate. spelling not completely buggered, old man dog is only one in house with neurological issues.

rEd NOsE DaY raFfLE

My very lovely friend Missus Stashbasket has used her wondrous skills of crafting and loveliness to make this stunning blanket.

Want it?

Can't have it because it is mine and you may not win it.

But if you give some money to the very lovely people collecting for Red Nose Day and then go and tell Missus Stashbasket how much she will pretend to give you that number of tickets.

Only pretend mind because the blanket is actually mine so don't go liking it too much ;-)

But hurry because these pretend tickets you are buying will only be available until Saturday 14th.

Eyespy Sunday (ahem... a little late)

This week the theme is 'EyeSpy...Something that makes me laugh'. So I trawled through my Picasa files and found this.

This picture makes me laugh because the day was soooooooooo unbeliveably windy that we had to clutch hold of each other to stop being blown out into the Tasman Sea.

I have had such lovely post recently. Wanna see?

Being an avid 'fabric-stroker' I entered every contest going during 'I'm a Ginger Monkey's International Stashbusting Day' and I even got to win! The very lovely Kylie chose my name to be the recipient of a HUGE bag of charm squares.

destructoBoy and I had a lovely hour sorting them into colour piles and then pattern piles and then laying them out into potential patterns and, and, and we had a luvverly time :-)

I have already used 9 of the pink ones in a lap quilt for one of my ex-borrowed terences. Just the binding left now.

Some few days ago I was swimming through all the fabulous blogs over on Ric-Rac's blogroll and Sew-Mama-Sew was showing off gorgeous new fabrics.

Are these not the most fabulous and joyous of monkeys??

Now not only did Missus Stashbasket send a fabulous collection of wools as a prize in the first Trash Raffle but she included some of her (now internationally famous) homemade fudge. Imagine my delight when some arrived up here on top of the hill in its neatly wrapped wax paper.

Well there was some in there when I started to take that picture!!


And when Kitty's gorgeous sock monkey girlie arrived here en route to her new home there was a second parcel along side her. The terences and CK purloined the bob straight away so no pictures but oh looky here what I got to keep!

I think they will become part of the scrappy log cabin quilt a la Ric Rac.


Today is International Women's Day and Purple Paisley organised a F.Q. swap in the colours of the suffragettes - green, white and purple. My swap partner was the very lovely Quiltygal who had also been my pincushion Secret Swap giver last year. And OH! feast your eyes on the delights she sent me.

Look! White HUGE ricrac, beautiful 2" white cotton lace and some sweet star ribbon on a reel. And then that fabric!! There are two fat quarters, one a lilac background covered in white stars the other a soft green also starred. But wait! What is that I spy at the background of the picture? Only a metre of the coolest personalised fabric in the world.



Miss Quilty herself suggested it might like to become a bag. I think she may be right ;-)

Why you should never play rough.

Do you remember what I loved yesterday? Dogs playing madly? The kind where they leap and bite and snap and snarl and wildly wag the tails the entire time they are doing it.

Well, yesterday afternoon I didn't love it so much. Some hour or so after they finished I noticed my poor old black dog was suffering from a nasty case of P.P.S. (aka Puppy Sharps Syndrome). Whether it was her teeth or those unworn claws I don't know but poor old black is all squinty and puffy-eyed so is off to the vet this afternoon.

Fingers crossed it doesn't end up like last time.

Eye-spy ... something that makes me happy

Sunday mid-morning and the house is empty except for me and three dogs. Hmmm.... how long do you think it will take to get used to having three dogs?

For the first time in ages I am finally managing to get organised enough to play 'EyeSpy Sunday'and with such a triffic prompt today. 'Eye-spy something I love '.

This one made me think because there is so much I love. My kids, my family, sunshine at the end of the Winter, the burgeoning Spring around me, watching waves crash at the beach.

I love being able to walk freely - both physically and politically. I love that so many men and women have stood tall for their beliefs and for what is right and as a (non-direct) result I benefit.

I love watching people learn something they thought was beyond them, seeing people challenge themselves and be thrilled with the result.

I love that me and mine have our health, that we do not want.

I love beauty.

And then I thought perhaps this is all a bit 'deep' . Maybe this Sunday I should 'eye-spy' something I love purely for the joy it brings me? Right at that point something happened that physically rang bells for me.

My black dog & Pr.C-W's puppy started to play. Physically jumping around, snarling and snapping puppy play. One of things I love most in the world is watching dogs interact. It soothes my soul and makes me smile.

Today it was doubly pleasing as my black dog has avoided the puppy unless under complete duress or instruction since she arrived here. After much cajoling and pushing he has become less wary of her over the weekend and this morning he responded to her play bows. They ran and chased all around the house, tails wagging and jaws snapping until both were out of breath and ready for a rest.

So this Sunday Eye-Spy something I love is watching dogs play.