2paw

Alas, Poor Yorick! I Nude Him, Horatio.

Why anyone would want to participate in a nude Winter's Solstice swim I know not, but I do feel it is very harsh for The Police to ban the event. I've seen people wearing only slightly more than that in the street and at the beach and there can be less than nothing on TV. If members of The Public don't want to see the Art of Dark Mofo, they could just not look.

Autumn is definitely here today, no Summer dress today, and I wore my hand-knitted socks, scarf, mittens and hat to walk The Labradors. We saw Rafa and Sandy. Sandy had not encountered mittens before and he pulled one off my hand and ran away with it. The temptation of a seaweed rice cracker was too much and he brought it back, dribbly, but intact.

It's drizzly and gloomy and I have started taking Vitamin D again. Just heard from the BOM on the radio that it was down to 6*C today. It was cold. We had Sun yesterday. Peri was sunbathing and having her belly rubbed. She'd be banned by The Police if they spotted her having a swim.

Miss Lorelai Gilmore has been making mud again. The ground has been soaked by some good rain, and there is a lot of digging to be done. And a lot of faux black boots to be worn. Inside. If we are not careful.

This afternoon, while I was knitting and watching first Lewis and then DCI Banks, they were curled up together being ever so cute on the couch.

I am knitting Ovaltine (or Milo) What a wonderful pattern and I don't know why I haven't knitted it before. I am doing the Hugs and Kisses XOXO cable option. It is ever so sweet!!! I've run out of wool, so it will need to wait till tomorrow to be finished.

I sewed a bunny for baby Zoe. I sewed it a while ago, but forgot to take a photo and so I had to unwrap it. It was wrapped in Labrador Christmas paper that said 'Imagine this is Easter paper', so I expect I can wrap it properly now.

In clothes news, there may have been a sale and I may have, on purpose, put four more pairs of green jeans on lay-by. Four new greens. But they were on sale and instead of $210, they were only $140, a whole third off. Too good to pass up.

In an 'I should have thought of that before' moment I realised that no matter how I cut this material,

there are always going to be interestingly placed circles on the bodice of a dress. Luckily, both Marilyn and Naomi have the option for a patterned skirt and a plain coloured bodice. I think I'll be going with that option.

I made some leek and chicken soup for tea and it was delicious. The poor Labradors missed out on the chicken, but they did have some yummy raw carrot and celery with their kangaroo and rice and some hot water from the kettle made it kind of soup-like.

Tomorrow I am baking a Malteser Cake for MrsDrWho's morning tea turn. It is totally covered with Maltesers, but I think that is too overboard even for me, and covering the top may be enough. Apparently the correct size of tin is crucial, so of course I shall just be using a tin I already own!!! I like to live in interesting cooking times....

Lady Caroline La(m)b

Thank goodness The Ribbet has a Red Eye fix, or in my case a White Eye fix, because The Labradors' photo made them look mad, bad and dangerous to know. After their tea they decided to play rowdy games in the quite hard rain and in the dark. The Game also necessitated running inside, around the house, and then back out again.

After Byron threw Lady Caroline Lamb over, he married, and his daughter Ada was the woman who worked with Babbage on his computer. I wonder if I knew that and had forgotten? I think I did.

Earlier this week on our walk I was patting Peri and Gilly when I realised there were too many legs: Sandy had appeared out of nowhere. He is so strong, and the hill so slippery and gravelly, his dad lets him off the lead and we usually hear him thundering like a horse towards us. The wet ground must have absorbed the sound.

I've finished The Walk Mittens. I am not sure I need buttons and loops. I'll see. I made a little pop-top for the right thumb. It works well enough. I have torn both my thumb nails about half a centimetre down from the top at the edge. It must have been the cold snap and not wearing rubber gloves enough. I am nursing them along with nail glue and tiny squares of tea bag material. I've noticed that when I click on Popular Posts on Bloglovin' they are mostly fashion, and nail polish. I am not a nail polish person, I am too gung ho and chip it after five minutes, but most of the popular world is nail polish obsessed it seems.

Sadly, it hasn't been cold enough to wear my mittens, but I have been knitting away on the back of Dreamy Vision (Aislinn) I am going to attempt short row shoulders. I love the way it is looking, nice and long and such a nice green. I'll be ready to start a sleeve tomorrow. I knit a sleeve and a back to check how much wool I will need. The pattern says about 1859m, but so far I've only used 400m for the back so I may need less.

Today I wore my sleeveless Pear dress to Leukaemia Support Group. It did rain and turn dark and cold later on, but I'm pleased to be getting so much mileage out of my dresses. And speaking of dresses, my Sew Serendipity patterns arrived from the US is eleven days. That's right, eleven days. Excellent service, and great communication. I am very happy.

In other complimentary news, Nestles has thoughtfully put a little hemispherical dip in the lid of their condensed milk so that when you slip your thumb under the ring pull, there is extra room and it is so much easier to open. And McKenzies has released Gelatine Leaves, with instructions in Australian and a clear indication of how many leaves to use for the amount of liquid you have.

I used the leaves to make The Iced Vovo Tart. It's going to be my Friday Food this week. There is no actual baking, but it does take all day to make, so you need a wet day at home and some dedication. I went to The Dutches' for tea on Sunday night and saw the wonderfully cute Bay Zoe. She's gorgeous and doesn't have her nasal gastric tube anymore and eats and is starting to talk. I am so happy for all The Dutches.

I sewed a Bunny bag for The Dutches for a very late Easter present.

I can't add any books to my Books I am Reading list because Typepad and Amazon are having issues again, but I picked up new Library books and there could be a day in bed reading later in the week.

In other happy news my sewing machine is back. MrsReno's dad kindly cleaned it and said that the plates were tight. I am not sure what that means, but I am so glad to have it back. MrsReno's dad has gone back home but when he comes back to visit I shall cook him something delicious to say thank you. He said he was very pleased to fix my machine because he is pleased people still like to sew!! How cool and kind is that???

MrsDrWho and I went to see Star Trek Into Darkness last week. We went on Friday at 6-30pm and there would only have been twenty people there. We saw it in 3D, because, well why not??!! It was great, it was full of lovely nods to the original series and explosions and Starship battles and angst and running and sacrifice. Pretty fabulous all round. I think they have done an excellent job with their casting and I could slightly swoon over Chris Pine's James T Kirk and Karl Urban's Bones. Oh my!!! I know some people pooh-pooh reboots, but I lived through the long Sci-Fi and Fantasy drought of the 80s and early 90s and so I am just ever so grateful that someone has gone to the trouble of making a new film that I can enjoy. It was over two hours long and by my usual rating system I did not look at the time once, didn't even think of the time I was totally engrossed, and ducking debris, for the whole time: so that's 5 Stars, A+++ and 10/10.

Help Me, Obi One Can Call Me. You're My Only Hope.

The Internet and Phone are back. It was not, in fact, my ISP at all. It was the Evil Darth Telstra. It appears that the cables to my next door neighbour's house were cut by mistake, and they were offered call diversion and compensation. Because I am not a Telstra customer they just didn't bother with me at all. I rang and that is basically what Rob from Telstra told me: Ha ha boo sucks to you. My ISP explained that this happens pretty regularly, especially in older areas here where phone lines are archaic. I can complain to The Ombudsman, but as I have no details or names, they won't be able to do anything. I do intend to write and explain what happened, as perhaps if they receive enough complaints the Ombudsman may act. I asked my ISP person to pass on to the people I spoke to what had happened. I may have become a little short when they both insisted on reading me long scripts instead of really listening to my problem. It was all very civilised.

Hence I missed Friday Food and May The Fourth. But I did not have a Georgette Heyer decline or even a Florence Nightingale take-to-my-bed. Which is very good.

We had a massive and very scary hail and electric storm last week. Here's eight seconds of what it sounded like in my car:

   

I thought I would get out and my car's roof would be covered with dents, but it wasn't. The sky was black and there were rainbows and it lasted for about half an hour. At MrsDrWho's house it settled deeply, like snow, and still hadn't melted the next day. 

The weather has taken a distinctly Autumnal turn: close to 0*C overnight with heavy morning frosts, but beautiful sunny days at 19*C.

Peri took the opportunity to roll in the most awful smelly and yucky thing, her best yet. I ended up buying some pampering spray to try and mask the smell even after a bath.

Gilly decided that the almost complete felt Christmas plum pudding would be a good toy. And so now it is.

The Labradors do enjoy their walks together. They run so fast and range so far that they need giant drinks from puddles and a dip in the paddle pool when they come home. Lorelai Gilmore likes to follow where Peri leads.

There has been some knitting. I've knitted up the two balls of wool into the back of Dreamy Vision (Aislinn) Yay. I love it. I am sad I didn't take more wool with me. I love the tubular cast on. It's as magic as turning a heel.

You can't see the Eiffel Tower lace very well and my close up photos are not terribly good.

I haven't found the rest of the 4ply to knit my convertible mittens so I've started a new 8ply pair. I think I can crank out a mitten a day. We'll see. The Walk MIttens are from a free pattern.

MrsDrWho's Lord of the Rings wool beret, My Precious,  is complete. I found the website for the wool, where you can buy all sorts of LOTR movie costuming. If only!!! There seems to be a severe lack of green though.

New denim leggings, or jeans as I like to call them, have been worn. Once with Labrador accessories, and once with MrsHouse Of's eldest daughter's new shoes. Surprisingly I could balance in them, even walk a little. Just.

The passsionfruit vine is bearing fruit and a bumper crop too. I made melting moments with passionfruit filling last week for morning tea. I plan to try some passionfruit curd this week.

Once the Sun goes down behind the hill at the back the temperature drops quickly every afternoon. It's 4-30pm and time to close all the windows and turn on the Warmy bed for Peri. There's chicken and vegetable soup to be made for tea and The Labradors' rice to be cooked and a mitten to be knitted. I have lots of blog posts to read and comments to answer. We plan to be online into the foreseeable future!!!

Wool Frontal

This post was shaping up to be all about knitting, but then some other things crept in: Labradors of course, and some material, clothes and weather.

Knitting first. I have knitted the Ding Dong hat out of the Socks That Rock 5ply Merino. It is the Rainbowret, a free and very simple pattern. I did twisted rib for the band and then just knitted away until I realised I was running out of wool. I wound up two strands of my Colour Me Surprised Opal sock wool and did a few alternate rounds, which you can just spot in the middle section, and then remembered I'd stopped winding the skein of STR when I hit a knot. So I wound more and knitted a hat's worth. It is very warm and if you wear it on a nice Autumn day you give yourself a warm hat headache.

I actually knitted this to check out what the hat was like for MrsDrWho. She found her Lord of the Rings Royal Mythral 8ply from two Christmases ago and now I am half way through her hat- My Precious!!!

The other emerald green 5ply is the wool for a new cardigan for me, Floriston. These are two pictures from the Twist Collective to whence the link leads. I think the pleat at the back is lovely, the vents in the sleeves too and it has a nice flared shape which I am learning is very flattering for me.

My newest cardigan had no wool yet. It might be this wool, unravelled from the cardigan it almost is.

It's Aislinn by Amy Herzog, who is my current cardigan pattern crush. MrsDrWho persuaded me to buy the pattern. I have one cardigan that just needs to be sewn up, one started in mohair, the Floriston ready to go and now I have Aislinn. I adore the pattern around the hems and the lovely lace, and as I have but an illusion of a waist, when I knit and add the ties at the end they can be at Empire Line height. And once again the photos are from Aislinn's pattern page and the link leads there.

So it's all about the knitting here and there has not been a dress at all this month. Luckily I had the extra dress up my sleeve. New dress material arrived from the FatQuarterShop. At $5 per metre it is too hard to resist, and nice teachery material. The fat quarters are metallic greens for something I've yet to decide on.

Peri rolled in something so smelly today that I had to drive home breathing through my mouth. Baby wipes met their match in Peri. She has her eyes closed as she blissfully rolls. This isn't the actually smelly site, that was somewhere in the bush.

When we came home she had to be washed. Again. She's on her lead because she runs away before she is dry and the weather is too cold for that. She's pretty happy with all the attention and wagging her tail at me.

It was 1*C this morning and there was ice on the car so I used my gifted ice scraper, which worked a treat, much better than a bucket of warm water.

Poor Gilly had an issue with the big metal plates we walk across every day at the dam. She runs across them and has never paid any attention until today. She put her little paw on the icy cold metal and then would not go near it again. No treat would entice her. No nice or commanding word would do. She tried valiantly, and in the end Peri was so exasperated she ran back down the steps, growling playfully, and herded Lorelai Gilmore across.

She seemed quite recovered after that.

RoseRed was an invaluable help in the purchase of my new Denim Leggings. Yes, that's right. RoseRed helpfully explained that they were less legging and more jean. She is right. An emerald and sea green pair arrived today in the post and as I tried them on I said a prayer to the Denim Legging gods. They were listening and fit was achieved. The colours aren't true, it was dark outside when I took this photo.

I've also had a crush on tiny quiches and lemon meringue tarts: I've made two batches of each, and more no-knead bread made with Atta flour as suggested by Jan.

There was a little special happening for a few moments at the lights on Sunday. Tony Robinson, Baldrick of BlackAdder fame, was filming an interview for one of his Time Walks. He'd been in town for a few days hosting rebellions and such like. I don't know who he's talking to, but I'll see when the programme is shown later this year or next.

And now we're off to bed. I slept for 3 hours this morning as I was feeling a little bit swimmy and dizzy in the head. Not poorly as such, but not quite right. And I am sure there are myriad people who would agree I am not quite right. If I'm still feeling dizzy tomorrow, it's off to the doctor for me.

Sheffield of Dreams

I am always extra tired during the School Holidays, but I can't pass up a chance to catch up with my friends.

On Monday I went on a pre-excursion day trip with MrsDrWho and her mother. We went to Sheffield, the mural town, where I saw a baby alpaca, found and returned the bank bag to the Lolly shop, minded the Marble shop for five minutes and had an apricot slice with the most deliciously flaky and crisp layered pastry. Oh, and we looked at lots of murals.

This is my favourite at the moment:

The caption reads:

We visited the new Bass Strait Maritime Centre where I was (Pirate) Queen of the World.

Inside the ship there are computer screens and for $2 you can have up to nine minutes of sailing a steam ship (I think) simulation.  We called into the Axeman's Hall of Fame, but by them I was too tired to tour and finally we late lunched at the Raspberry Farm. I came home and went to bed and slept like a log. We went to bed at 10pm on Tuesday night as well. I think I may have caught up on sleep now.

Yesterday I lunched with Bella'sMum and MrsMauritius, whom I have known for twenty-four years. I met them when I started teaching here. We try to catch up more or less every holidays and when we do, it is as if we were just at school together yesterday. I had delicious club sandwiches and we all shared the chips!!! I had a marinated lamb wrap with local cheese and relish at the Raspberry Farm.

At long last, momentarily, Peri settled down on the warmy bed. I am not sure why she hasn't liked it this year, maybe she wants her little quilt as a cover?? Peri is so very beautiful, I love her ears' expression!!! Oh, and all the dog hair on the rug. Acrylic rugs just attract the dog hair like all get out.

I found Miss Lorelai Gilmore asleep in my spot on the couch yesterday. She has the whole other end of the couch, but she likes her pillow in my spot and sleeps soundly and happily.

They have been running around and playing in the cool Autumn weather. It was 2*C this morning. If we don't meet any of their friends they play chasings and locate lots of smells together. Oh and go under the wire fence of course!!!

The Boo!! socks are coming along nicely. Here's a night time photo, but I knitted the rest of the leg white watching the Finals episode of The Great Sewing Bee tonight. I decided I wasn't up to the Eye of Partridge heel section until tomorrow. I am really enjoying knitting these socks, the colour changes are such fun. And see how they match???

Here's what I knitted in the car on Monday. Now you see it,

and now you don't.

I realised the sock was going to be way too big for me, that the Socks That Rock mediumweight is 5ply, and that with no nylon in the mix at all it would be better as a hat or cowl. I have knitted some lightweight STR socks and they developed holes quite quickly.

I have some Malabrigo Worsted in Lettuce to soothe my addled knitting nerves. A neckwarmer/cowl is in order. I bought this from Jellywares. Excellent service and free winding-into-a-ball.

Spotlight had a spot sale of all sewing patterns for $5. I bought two of these three dress patterns, the third is on order- still for the $5 price. The middle dress pattern takes 6m of fabric. I shall have to buy something on extreme sale, maybe from the FatQuarterShop. I bought some pretty green fabric for $5 a metre there. Both Vogue patterns have Custom fit for the upper nether regions. Yay.

I shall sew skirts for other people with these two patterns and once again, the second one is on order.

And of course today is ANZAC Day. There were Dawn services and marches. I'm not big on ceremony. I thought of my dad, and how we dressed in our best clothes and went to watch him march. He'd come back and give us all a kiss and then go off to the pub with his friends. I realised yesterday that I have spent more of my life without my dad, than with him. I am lucky he was such a great dad in the time we had together. When I talk to my psychologist every month, I frequently reflect on how lucky I was to have such a happy childhood, with my mum and dad and sister. We had all we could need or want, and more.

I ate some cheesy bought biscuits this afternoon and that's why I've been so thirsty- lots of tea and raspberry cordial later!!! I succumbed to their lure. I shall eschew them again until I forget why I am doing it. I'm going to start a loaf bread tomorrow and think of something to cook for Friday Food. The week has passed so quickly. Only one more week to go.

January, Please Be Cold, Don't Be Angry With Me.

Things I didn't know about Pilot: they were Bay City Rollers, and went on to be part of The Alan Parsons Project. I have a few TAPP CDs. I particularly loved their Gaudi album.

In December I had a bout of depression, and so my blog and the World have been on a break. Wonderful friends and the excellent anti-depressants I am taking have helped me feel balanced again. Kind people have started emailing asking if I am still here, so I thought I would make this year's first post.

Christmas mainly featured MasterSingapore(MrsDrWho's nephew) and his Snail Backpack. His mum emailed me and asked if he could possibly 'be' a snail with a backpack, and then somehow be enveloped in a shell. Her wish was my command.

Here is MasterSingapore wearing his Snail backpack:

The pattern was free on the Husqvarna site, but was adjusted to eliminate the head. Then when you undo the zip, out comes a huge fabric 'shell' which can envelop one, and then one can slime about the house being a snail called Gary who meows. I think this is SpongeBob Squarepants.

Our island and the eastern part of The mainland experienced terrible bushfires. The temperature reached 54*C as the fire passed through one town. Many houses were lost here, but no lives. People in the bush had been urged to prepare a Bushfire Survival Plan and these plans must have worked very well.

Peri and Gilly had birthdays: they are now 12 and 4 respectively!!!

We had their seemingly annual holiday trip the the vet: Peri with a sore paddy paw as a result of her allergy and then Miss Lorelai Gilmore with an insect bite on her urethra. Yes, it is as painful as it sounds. So it was hospital at home with antibiotics and ointment for everyone.

There was swimming in the dam with Jet. Or standing in the water at the dam if you are Gilly. Peri won the stick retrieval swimming race.

There hasn't been much knitting after the Great Advent Calendar of 2012, but yesterday I whipped up a mug cosy for MrsMadcage's birthday today. It's the Owl Do You Like Your Coffee? Cosy.

And there may just have been an owly tote bag too.

I have been wearing my new dresses all the time. I ended up cutting them both shorter and re-hemming. The batik-y one is my favourite, as it is so lovely and cool in the hot weather. I am contemplating using the same pattern and cobbling together a dress with straps instead of sleeves.

MrsDrWho and I and our Sew Quilty friends are going to be sewing the new Craftsy BOM. I have made the first pieces already. I am using Christmas material. I like it because it is mostly green and aqua!!

And so I am getting back into the swing of things. I've been catching up with friends at lunches and afternoon teas, and lolling about when it has been too hot whilst saving the world from demons and/or Baskerville Hounds on MrsDrWho's iPad that she kindly lent to me. I've even had a bit of a go at Plants vs Zombies and Angry Birds!!! I am not very good.

Today five fat Library Books came at once so I shall have to buckle down to some serious reading.

I am answering comments afresh this year, and so a pitiful blanket "Thank you" for the lovely comments on my last post. And wiggly waggly tails from The Labradors!!!

Advents Australia Fair

It has been a little too fair: the bushfire warning took up ten minutes every half hour on the radio and the wind whipped up fires thought to be extinguished. There were 78 fire trucks in operation on Friday. Luckily there was no loss of life. Of course this week temperatures will plummet and the forecast is for snow down to the 800m level. Summer is here, Tasmanian style!!

My Secret Knitting Project's not a secret any more. And when I type that, in my head it's Doris Day singing Secret Love. I knitted Advent Calendar Garlands!!!

#1

and #2

and here is one, garlanded.

By the time I finished I had lost the will to knit six long thin strips and so I sewed  material ones instead and crocheted loops for the end. I finished on November 30th, right at the last moment.

I have some other Christmas knitting books and I will be knitting from them next year. I've had this garland in mind for a couple of years. Oh, suddenly it sounded funny to say 'next year' already. Where has this year gone??

Gilly has Sandy in mind. It's love.

And then they run close enough for me to see them properly.

Meanwhile, Peri has run the length of the park to meet Sandy's dad and get a pat, what a lovely girl she is!! (He has no rice crackers either)

And here she is close enough too.

Even though the temperature has come down, Peri and Gilly still need to regularly immerse themselves in the paddle pool and then lie in the holes they've dug.

And we have a blowfly inside and I hate using flyspray, but I may have to.

I have been having a late Spring tidy and organising of Christmas craft things. I've bought a few presents and I'm making a list and not checking it at all so far. I must get a wriggle on as there are three Christmas outings this week and I have to make a present, or four.

Right now I'm whipping up some butterfly cakes with lemon curd for tonight.

Dress For (Almost) Success

My new dress is almost perfect.  I have the fit right, I adjusted the part where the sleeves meet the bodice at the front, it's all good - except for the hem. I think maybe the fabric was not printed absolutely on grain?? I did use the border as the hem and it was straight on the pattern when I started. Damn. I shall have to ask MrsDrWho to pin the right height as I slowly rotate. I do have a puffy chalk hem marker somewhere, but no puffy chalk.  I think, think I trust MrsDrWho more than puffy chalk.....

The dress is very cool and floaty to wear. It will be a good hot day dress. I am very glad I washed the fabric before I started cutting out the dress.

Before: all the pieces fitted onto the fabric. After?? Not so much. Therefore the back is a different fabric. It was so hard to match. I really fancied a gold and dark green stripe, instead I have this fabric which is almost the right green with little gold leafy fronds. The front and back bodices only meet at the side seams so you never actually cross the fabric beams on the front.

Now I have three dresses. I think I shall make a Christmas dress. I have some material with green and white peppermints and that could be the skirt, with a green bodice perhaps?? Or maybe it is green enough by itself. I am undecided.

The weather has been hot, rain threatened this afternoon, but didn't eventuate. Our house is heating up and it is very warm inside, especially in the evenings. There have already been a few serious bush fires. The smoke from one enveloped the city last week.

Peri and Gilly have been cooling off after their morning walk.

Gilly likes to get all wet and then start work on her latest excavation near the fence under the honeysuckle. Pretty sure she's making a cool hole to lie in, or she's eating the dirt.....

Some garlic from the garden is ready to 'harvest'. I am not sure how to keep it for the longest time. Maybe plaiting the long leaves together ???

I could grate it with my Alli-grator, which I found this afternoon in a box. It is Very Cute and Amusing!!

I succumbed and bought some seasonal baking decorations: snowmen, silver balls, snow and red glitter I think.

Now I've watched all three full seasons of Modern Family, and the start of season 4, I shall have to embark on a new TV-fest. I have Chuck, Eureka, Fringe season 4 (again) Supernatural, or Conspiracy 365 all at the top of my list: I am spoiled for choice. TV on in the background has helped me finish all 48 of the secret knitting things. There is just a little beading and embroidery and then they can be wrapped.

Tomorrow night MrsDrWho and I are going to use our BlackSpot of Doomlight(tm) saving vouchers and then we will border Craftsy blocks and start assembling her quilt. She has 28 days (later) until Christmas to complete it. I am sure there will be no Zombies trying to eat the quilt, cats or the people sewing it though. Well, 99% sure. The Walking Dead is there for me to watch, but I have banned myself. It is too horrid and apparently there are some dogs being eaten, (click and drag to reveal) cardboard fake ones, but still. MrsDrWho said I would be very upset and I believe her.

I have been wearing my new, almost finished dress for four hours, so I really should take it off. Though I might just wear it till bedtime!!!

Mama, Just Quilt'd A Man....*

Pulled a needle and a thread,

This Quilt is doing in my head.

Mama, who knew that I was done??

Now I've gone and sewn it all away, ay, ay.....

Mama, ooh ooh ooh ooooh,

Didn't mean to moan and sigh,

I sometimes thought I'd never be done at all,

Sewing on, sewing on, as if nothing really matters..........

(* I am singing along to part of Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen)

Yes, I have just sewn the last two blocks for the Craftsy Block Of The Month quilt. I made the Executive Decision that we would not be making the sewing-on-paper or the curvy Drunkard's Path-esque blocks. So last night and this afternoon I sewed the last three blocks. Block 18 is still at MrsDrWho's house with the first 17, but here are blocks 19 and 20: untrimmed.

And now my blocks are going to be put away until next year. I am going to quilt-as-you-go. Maybe when school goes back I will do one block every day and it will be ready for Winter. In the meantime I have two Jelly roll quilts to make and here is my new Kaffe Fasset Spot On jelly roll.

While I have broad beans from MrsDrWho's mum's garden, (Yum, I love them as a kind of salad with home made mint sauce)

Peri has a carrot she's worried I might want,

and Gilly has her happy silly expression on. She's such a funny girl.

I also have two little Secret Knitting items which, I swear, have more ends to sew in then rows. It is a good thing I have become addicted to Modern Family, and can while away a few episodes on The Apple TV while I sew them in. Season 1 is done and I am making my way through season 2. I didn't think I would like it, but it is laugh out loud funny a few times every episode.Who knew???

Here's the material Jubbly'sMum aka MrsReno gave me for my birthday. It is enough, with some purchased lining, to make a dress the same as the one I made last week. It is washed and ready to go. I am going to 'fussy cut'  it so that the border is the hem and the fancy-schmancy centre piece is the bodice and skirt front. I could not buy the exact colour green for the lining and decided not to go for gold!!!

I have new sock wool, some Dream in Smooshy in a gorgeous emerald semi-solid and some fun Opal in a lovely teal/aqua colourway. I think these will be sitting in the sock wool tub until next year too. My sock knitting has ground to a halt lately.

I have had to spend quite a lot of time reading: at first none of the books on Hold at The Library came, and then eleven mostly big thick books came all at once:

• Dominion
• Thirst
• The Blinding Knife
• Traitor
• Airmen
• Oblivion
• The Isles
• Sharp Objects
• Night of Masks
• Catseye
• Winter of the World

I am down to just The Isles, a History of the British Isles. I wish I had some new books to read now. I keep checking my Holds every hour or so to see if a book has arrived on the shelf for me. None today.

I have two tickets to go to the cinema burning a hole in my pcket. MrsDrWho and I must see the new James Bond film ASAP. I hope she has finished editing her school reports and sewed her last two quilt blocks so we can go. It has been getting very good reviews. I love a good Bond film.

Tonight I am braving my favourite Bill Granger curry for tea. I have not had a proper curry since I was first sick in September and I am just making enough for one serve, with not much curry, and I will see how I go. I have lots of coconut milk to dilute the heat and my stomach-settling tablets at the ready.

I've no idea what I am going to cook tomorrow for Friday Food, it will be just as much a surprise to me as to anyone else. And now I am just pressing the Publish button and being damned.

I'm Gonna Brush Those Teeth Right Outta My Head

Going to the dentist is not a scary experience for me, except for the possibility of expensive procedures. Today I had my teeth cleaned and polished and two tiny x-rays. I have one tiny spot of concern under a very ancient filling which we are keeping an eye on. Going to the dentist wears me out. The dentist is from South Africa so I have to watch myself every minute in case I accidentally fall into doing the accent: sympathetically, not comically. He gave me some teeth bottle brushes. You use them instead of dental floss between larger teeth. They are very cute and not too expensive.

After a little R&R at home I went to the lovely wool shop and sewed together most of a small lap blanket. People donated over 800 squares (so far) and today was the day for volunteers to sew the strips together. Kind people had already sorted them into sets of 24. I spent two hours and that's all I did. It took a long time to match up the edges, sew them together and then sew in all the ends. You can see I lost the will to sew ends in. These are for the ABC Giving Tree which is a big production here, the biggest Christmas Charity in the state, and in its 25th year.

I also found some very cute Australian themed fabric at Esme's. I saw it in a quilt and luckily she still had some left.

I had a very happy experience with the staff at Woolworths (or Roelf Vos as I still call it). I am always in need of measuring spoons. I drop them and then step back and crush them- Land of the Giants style, or I throw them out. I don't know where they go. They go with potato peelers. Anyway, I picked up a set of Woolworths measuring spoons, but when I went to use them they had a tablespoon of 15ml and a half tablespoon of 7.4ml. An Australian tablespoon is 20ml. I rang their Customer Care line. They did not care and pretty much said that I didn't know what I was talking about and all tablespoons had always been 15ml. I have a feeling it was an overseas call centre. I printed out information and went back to the shop I bought them from and lo, they were as amazed as I was. The listened, they wrote it down in the book. They were going to investigate, as it didn't say anywhere on the packet that they didn't meet Australian standards. They agreed that anyone trying to raise a cake with a 15ml tablespoon of baking powder or set a jelly with a 15ml tablespoon would soon be in cooking trouble. They replaced the measuring spoons with a proper Australian set, they were more expensive and I protested. That's not what I wanted, I was prepared to pay for a new standard set. I wrote an email to Woolworths commending the service and the attention I received. I have yet to hear back from the Big Wigs, but well done to the staff at the shop.

Peri and Gilly have been really enjoying their breakfast lately. It is a long time since tea. Gilly likes to dive in nose first and then eat very speedily. She hopes she will be able to steal some of Peri's food.

Peri is a slower eater, she likes to pick out the 'good bits' and eat them first. She never growls at Gilly and Gilly waits patiently to eat the leaves of the celery. Peri has a new lump in her side, it's a fatty lipoma (an Adipose form Doctor Who) the same as the one on her leg. As long as they don't interfere with walking and they don't cause any discomfort we are leaving them alone. She's almost 12 and we are trying to avoid any operations.

I finally bound Baby Zoe's little quilt and dropped it off to Uncle Dutch along with a Nigella Brownie!!! It's a cheater's panel and I sewed around each square with just the layer of wadding underneath. Then I added the backing and just sewed a cross from top to bottom and side to side. It is a very cute print. I backed it with some vibrant green and a cute dotty print that MrsDrWho found at The Black pot of Doomlight (tm)

Tomorrow I am having my hair cut. Somehow the time just whizzed by when I was sick and I cut my own fringe and it needs to be made respectable. It's Friday Food and I think I will bake something for the vets. Then I have to sew a dress. Well, cut out and sew a dress. I cut out the pattern pieces yesterday and it really is just easy cutting out and sewing. And a little bit of fitting. Wish me luck!!