Archive for the 'General Ramblings' Category
‘Tis late. We’re not long back from ‘doing’ the Myer windows and the Boulevard lights - two Melbourne Christmas institutions if ever there were. With a stop off at Haigh’s on the way. Yum. Two happy but tired kids fell asleep on the way home. I thought I’d show you a couple of recent finished objects before I do the same.
This cushion:
which is a long awaited finish (remember the work in progress?) from Finn. He finished it in time to show his teacher last week at his (sob! sniff!) last Kinder session.
The proud boy (since having a new camera - early gift from Mum, thanks Mum 
- necessitated taking new playground shots of kids):
And a finish from me, which I probably shouldn’t really be showing off yet, since it’s still en route to the recipient:
This was for an ornament exchange on the Aus Xers yahoo group. I joined up before I realised what a slump in stitching I was about to experience. Blah. So I have to confess… I probably broke the rules a little bit. This stitched piece (a Drawn Thread freebie) was sitting in my ‘to be finished’ pile already(!) When I realised I had zero chance of getting something new stitched for the exchange, I picked this out and finished it up as a pillow ornament. Is that bad? Anyway, I’m not counting it as a finish for the year, but I do plan to restitch it for myself, because I think it’s really pretty. If I manage to kick myself in the butt after Christmas is over, I might just get it done before ‘08!
December 18 2007 | Counted Stitchwork and Finished and General Ramblings and Kid Crafts and Other Craft and Sewing | 4 Comments »
So. While I was out…
It turned out that No-vember meant not only (almost)No-blogging, but also (almost)No-stitching. Not a single cross was stitched with these hands in November (shock!), but I did get to and finish the girl-elf I showed you back here, and made a good start on boy-elf. Pics when they’re both finished.
Also, I did some crafty gift making for a couple of the small people in my life. I don’t think either of their mums read my blog, so I can show:
First up, I made a kitty version of Sara Bear, who will go to sweet Lilly. I hope she likes her. Finn has named her ‘Heart Love Kitty’ on account of the hearts in her shoes (uh… which you cannot see… so I guess that makes little sense to mention!)
(Pattern by Hillary Lang)
Next up, a crayon roll for Mr A, Dermot’s nephew. This was fun. I made two - the other one for Finn and Niamh, and it had mysteriously vanished by the time I came to take these pics.
(Based on the tutorial at Skip to my Lou, via Sew, Mama, Sew).
Finally, I whipped up a last minute (11pm, November 30) advent calendar-ish thing to round out the month. We’re also doing the Lego advent calendar this year, because we just looooove Lego around here (except notsomuch when coming across it with bare feet in the dark.) The one I made is simple little felt bags of chocolate goodies, tied with a pretty ornament which goes on the tree (or will, at least). Ornaments from Allsorts.
Oh oh, looks like there’s an imminent break-in!
Hope you’re all having a great weekend 
December 08 2007 | General Ramblings and Kid Crafts and Other Craft and Sewing | 5 Comments »
Okay, so I wrote a little rant about how Bl*gger is ticking me off, what with its changes stopping (non-Bl*gger) bloggers from linking our URL to our comments (not 100% true - hyperlinks can still be included in the body of the comment, it does get a little tiresome typing/cut-n-pasting the html in though).
However. I’ve done a little digging and it seems this might just be a part of the Bl*gger shift to supporting OpenID. Which is, apparently, A Good Thing. I just wonder why Google/Bl*gger made this annoying little change over to the next-to-useless ‘Nickname’ field instead of leaving us with the option of including our (non-Bl*gger) URL in the ‘Other’ section. Really. They’re just pissing people off. The assumption many bloggers seem to be making at the moment is that Google/Bl*gger are trying to coerce everyone into having an account with them (which is possibly also true, I grant you).
I have found many a new and interesting blog through following links in the comment section of other blogs. I’ve been ‘found’ by other readers in the same way. This latest development is just plain irritating, and (cue my very best Pauline Hanson voice)… I don’t like it!
Must go and check out OpenID some more though. Sounds useful.
Then I have to go finish beating Dermot at Scrabble (a rare occurrence) and sew together eleventy-million pre-schoolers’ Christmas stockings. There will be glitter all over this place for months!
Edit: Here’s some of the discussion re. Bl*gger and OpenID, at http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites, http://www.notsorelevant.com, http://mashable.com and http://googlesystem.blogspot.com
December 05 2007 | Blog Blather and General Ramblings | 5 Comments »
Yes, I am still here. (Thanks for checking up on me Karen ). While the mad-posting ruckus of NaBloPoMo was busy filling all your feed-readers, I was all busy not BloPo-ing, choosing instead to afflict upon myself another little pre-Christmas freakout! Thankfully, I’m feeling a little bit more on top of ‘things’ now than I was about mid-November, and I’m aiming to have a ‘less-is-more’ kind of December.
But more posting, I hope. See you tomorrow for the obligatory ‘My baby girl is growing up’ post as Niamh hits the big one-eight. (Months, that is ).
December 02 2007 | General Ramblings | 5 Comments »
Wow. We just had our first trick-or-treaters… as in, ever! I’ve seen the Halloween-y accoutrements stealthily making their way into supermarkets and craft stores in the last few years, but this is a first for us.
I’m not anti-Halloween per se. I do despair the ‘Americanisation’ of Australia in general (uh… no offence meant to the majority of you guys ), and hey, if we’re going to celebrate a pagan harvest festival, then we could at the very least do it at the right time of year (ie 6 months from now, for those of us in the Southern Hemisphere). But really, any event that involves costumes and copious amounts of sugar has my vote 
That said… I just wish the kids who arrived at our door could have gone to a little bit more trouble than black tracksuits and plastic supermarket bags, know what I mean? One had on a ’scary’ mask, another had on a green wig, but apart from that, I was seriously underwhelmed by the completely crappy ‘costumes’. (We’re talking about young teenagers, btw, not eight-year-olds).
Oh well. Luckily we had ‘treats’ on hand, what with having been to the Bendigo Show at the weekend, so I didn’t let them go empty-handed. But if Halloween is going to make its way into the Australian calendar, I hope we see a little bit more ingenuity next time.
October 31 2007 | General Ramblings | 7 Comments »
Yes, it’s true. I’m another year older and another year wider wiser. Happy Birthday to me
For my inner-hippie, Dermot and the kids gave me a permaculture book. For my inner-geek, a GPS navigator (also from Mum and Stepdad). Actually, perhaps that’s for my inner-hippie as well. To, you know… “find myself”!
Anyone who knows me knows I have the World’s Worst sense of direction. Absolutely shocking. Thankfully I married an excellent navigator, but now, when he’s not available, a lovely man named Tim is going to tell me exactly where to go Hooray for birthdays. Now, can someone tell me exactly when I am going to feel like a grown-up?
October 11 2007 | General Ramblings | 9 Comments »
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