Tinkerbell

This came together really quickly after I started to focus on it. The above picture is of it finished, about to be packed up and shipped to America. I met Alannah’s mother through an Real Life Forums, and I knew that Cheryl is a huge Disney fan. When I asked her if she was interested in it for Alannah (or for herself) she jumped at the chance. Cheryl and Alannah loved it, so job well done. I actually really like how it turned out. I wish I had friends who were having babies, because I so would just spend all my time making cute clothes and cross stitch samplers. Ah well.

Bear for Jodi

When I originally spoke about this piece, I referred to it as the ‘ugly, ugly teddy bear for one of my mum’s friends’ and I must admit that my feelings towards the project have barely changed. I’m still not a huge plan of this project, but at least now its done. Excuse the photo in all of its unironed and badly lit glory, that is how un-enthused I was by it. My mum loved it and I believe its in the process of being framed right now. She’s going to give it to Jodi when she visits mum later this month. I do have fond memories of working on this piece. My boyfriend and I were housesitting for his ex (not as awkward as you may think) and they have the full range of Foxtel. Now I used to have Foxtel as a kid, but well that was awhile ago. There’s a whole bunch of new channels, my favourite being CI which is a true crime channel. The sort of crappy programming that I just eat up. So I stayed up for hours at a time working on the bear while David and his friend played video games in another room. Was a very good weekend.

The Happiest Little Cthulhu

Little Cthulhu Pattern <3

I had to learn how to crochet for a different project (which is so enormous, its going to get its own post when its done). I did rows of the regular stitches, then I got bored. I had seen the Cthulhu pattern ages ago, and decided that I would make it one day when I could. So I figured I’d use it as practice once I figured out the basics. He’s by no means perfect (I apparently forgot how to count at some point while I was doing the rounds), however I love him. He now sits in front of our TV in the lounge room. I can’t wait to make more friends to go with him. I have a huge list amigurumis that I want to make once I finish my big project.

Not a bad batch for the last few months of the year. Once I finished the bear cross stitch (I have no idea what its actually called) I actually had no cross stitch WiPs for the first time in about 5 years. An odd feeling really. I’ve started a little beagle cross stitch for my mum that she asked me to do, but its still feels really weird not having a big project hanging in the background that I feel like I need to work on. But that will be in a different post.

This year I hope to finish/work on more projects. I took this big break last year and I don’t know, I guess my heart just wasn’t in it for a bit. I think I’ll get more done this year.

I’ve been in a really odd headspace for the last few months. I want to write, I plan posts in my head. But ultimately when I finally sit down and write I feel that most of what comes out of my fingers is utter drivel. I’ve become pretty unfocused when it comes to most things, and it becomes worse as I type. I have a real stream of conscious way of talking, and it doesn’t really look good written down. It doesn’t help that because of the lack of focus my typing is suffering – I make the same silly mistakes over and over again and have to read back through what I’ve written many times before I feel like I can post. I guess its the re-reading that makes me feel like my posts are just drivel.

I’m going to try and loosen up when it comes to writing – and just post the drivel. I may try to just publish each post then read it once it hits the front page – that way I’m forced to edit rather than just letting it hang out it drafts.

Other than my writing problem, life is pretty fucking fantastic. I’ve had a few downs (which I will expand on later – hopefully tomorrow) but mostly I’ve been on the upswing.

Can’t wait!!

More to come later, with what I bought/thoughts on the show.

!!!!!!

[edit 13.01.10]
Geeezzzzz talk about leaving something hanging. Bad Jess, bad!

Well, the concert was quite a few months ago now, and it was incredible. In a nutshell, I fucking loved it.

It all happened pretty quickly as originally I thought I wasn’t going to be able to go. I saw the notice for the concert aaaages ago but didn’t buy a ticket back then because I’m just not that bright. Thankfully a friend of mine mentioned Liza Minnelli on Facebook about a fortnight before the show. At the time (who am I kidding even now) money was a bit tight, so I didn’t think I was going to be able to go because I hadn’t budgeted for it. But then! My boyfriend o’awesome bought me a ticket! He didn’t get one for himself because he wasn’t all that interested in going, he just knew that I really wanted to go. I didn’t mind because OMG I had a ticket.

It was on a Friday night after work, so I went home, had tea got changed and heaed out. I didn’t mind being there alone, I just listened to music on my iPhone (RIP), bought stuff and found my seat. I was in the nosebleed section, but with those HUGE screens they have in the Adelaide Entertainment Centre it really didn’t matter I could see everything I wanted.

I absolutely adore old Liza. She’s nowhere nearly as amazing as she used to be, but she is still really good. She sang songs, told stories, made fun of herself and it seems like she had a great time. Between (and sometimes during!) songs people in the audience would walk up and leave her little gifts on the stage. She picked up and talked about each one, it was very sweet.

Before the show started I bought a program (oh how I love theatre and show programs) and a tote bag that I use for knitting projects.

It was just such a good night, and I feel really lucky to have seen her at all.

Once I finished that I went through my craft folder and dug out some old projects. They were looking pretty sad because they had been packed away for quite awhile, so I gave them a good iron out. I’ve decided that I’m going to complete a Tinkerbell cross stitch once and for all that I started many years ago, and that my (now ex) girlfriend even worked on for a bit.

One thing I found in picking the project back up is that counting wasn’t Clare’s strong suit (:P). I spend a few hours a few nights ago unpicking a fair amount of stitching (while trying to salvage some of the thread…I may still need to buy more though) and fixing a few mistakes. Nothing major and ultimately fixable. I’ve now promised myself that I won’t start any other projects until I finish this one. I’m moving pretty swiftly, and I think if I keep up the pace I could finish the piece before the end of the week.

I’m thinking I might give it to one of the women I know in the US who have little girls – I’m not a huge fan of Tinkerbell myself, and have no where to hang it anyway. I think I might alter the pattern to have the child’s name and birthday in a circle area instead of the work “TINK” (I haven’t completed this part yet, so you don’t get to see it, ner ner). I think it would look really nice. Now just to send out messages seeing if anyone wants it! It always makes me nervous for some reason.

After I finish Tinkerbell, I’m going to do at least 2 weeks on the ugly bear for my mum’s friend. God I hate that project….

For me the part that really, really sucks is the blood tests that I have to get done every few months.

Its not because I’m squeamish of needles (I have to inject myself numerous times a day when I’m being good with my medication) or that I can’t stand the sight of blood or anything that silly.

Its because I have very tricky veins.

Example from today:
I had to have a fasting blood test done (no food for 12 hours prior to test, just water). This means that I had to get up early on a Saturday (grumble grumble) and leave the house without eating anything and drag my sorry arse down to the closest IMVS that was open on a Saturday (luckily it wasn’t too far). Not too big a deal, a minor annoyance really. I get to the clinic and there is about 6 people in front of me – oh crap. I sit down and try to wait it out, but I started to feel sick after only 2 other people had gotten there tests taken. I got up and grabbed the nurse before she could call in the next patient and told her what was up – she let me go in front. I felt really guilty, and I got glared at by the other people in the waiting room, but I think they would’ve prefered that to me passing out at there feet (not that I’ve ever passed out from diabetes complications – or ever – but I figured then would not have been a good place to start).

So I go into the room and sit down. The nurse bumbles around a bit, grabs my name stamps the forms etc. I told her the best vein in my arm to try and hit, and she gives it a go. No dice. The spot didn’t even fucking bleed once the needle was taken out! It was mocking me! So she tried to get the same vein on the opposite arm, all the time apologising continually. I told her it was fine, and that I did have tricky veins. The second try was also a bust however, but the first spot had started to bleed so she re-tried there. It was after that spot once again yeilded no blood for her, she told me she wasn’t going to be able to do it today, and that I should go and try another clinc. Joy of joys

So out I went of the IMVS, all the while getting glares from the patients still waiting, and off I went to another IMVS. This one was near The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (which I’ve never been to before) but it was where I was going to have to go for my appointment on Wednesday (the whole point of getting this blood drawn). I get to the new clinic, go through the awesome fun of finding a car park (grr) and walk up to the doors of the clinic. Doors no open. Shit. I look around for a sign and see a guy from inside the clinic guesturing to me to walk around the building to get in. Whew, crisis adverted. By this point I’m starting to feel really sick. I was also seriously grumpy and pissed off, but that’s generally what happens when I get blood taken.

I go in and once again jump the queue and speak to the nurse (more dirty looks, but fuck’em). I had to wait for a bit while she finished someone else off, then I was in. Luckily the whole time that I had been waiting at the previous place and driving I had been drinking water. Water helps the veins be easier to find (don’t ask me how). It looked like I would be in luck! She spotted a good vein straight away, and went for it. Once again, nada. I’m pretty much ready to cray at this point, all I wanted to do was go home and eat some glorious, tasty, needed food. Luckily the nurse was really nice and just kept talking while doing stuff so I calmed down. She went for the same vein again and success! We had blood. Thank fuck.

So yeah, that is a pretty typical experience with me having blood drawn. I end up with a bunch of bandaids, dirty looks and feeling ill. I would kill for a good, strong easy to find vein.

Tips that I’ve learnt:
- Drink a truck load of water. Seriously, as much as you can handle. It makes the experience so much better.
- Put a heat pack on your arm before you go, this makes the veins easier to find as well

I wonder what adventures my appointment on Wednesday holds….hopefully no more blood needs to taken.

Here are the completed handwarmers that I gave to my friend Clare last week (17th) when she was in Adelaide for her one night only before darting back to Melbourne.

I also managed to finish this for her:

I’m really happy how these both turned out. I don’t know if I’ll ever do two coloured cable knitting again – it looks good but it really did my head in as I was doing it.

I also made a purple Star Trek face washer, and I’m experimenting with the idea of a two colour one – red background & gold Star Trek logo. I think that whenever I don’t have a pressing project to do I might do a some of these squares. Maybe one day I’ll have enough to make a blanket for the lounge room or something. Would beat using my cat as a lap warmer – although I don’t if I could give up that lovely snuggle time with him.

I also bought myself a sewing machine a few weeks ago, and set up my desk and bookcase in the study. I’ve got most of it sorted out – quite a bit of organizing.

I think I’ll try to finish some of my unfinished cross stitch projects before I throw myself into any other projects.

Here’s a picture of the two of us, I’m the one in the striped dress/with long hair.

The night went really well. One of my sister’s big things with her birthday is that she likes to get a cake every year. So that afternoon I went to the Cheesecake Shop and picked up her favourite cake – Baked Continental Cheesecake – and I carried that into the city with us as well. It was a big hit! Even though I felt like a bit of an idiot at the bar with a cake box.

My boyfriend, my housemate and one of my old friends from high school came along, and we kinda had an ‘old and boring people’ end of the table, and Kirsten’s friends were up the other end. The night went great, I got to meet some of my sister’s friends (something I haven’t done much of since she moved out), her new boyfriend (who likes like Edward from Twilight – and hates it) and her new housemate, a pretty nice guy by the name of Maz.

About midnight the group had dwindled down quite a lot, so we made the epic walk to Hungry Jacks (me half carrying Mia, one of Kirsten’s TINY friends, and then supporting Kirsten the rest of the way). Bad food was had by all, then we split our separate ways into taxis.

Kirsten said that she had a good night out, which is all that really matters. It wasn’t as crazy as she had hoped, but she got some cool gifts, free drinks and to spend time with her friends. Plus cake!!

So here goes (in no particular order)

My desk at work. For two reasons:

1 – my Ursula pen holder + my pirate duck pencil ender. Seriously, how cool are these. Makes me happy. Also note the lip gloss. That is the best lip gloss I’ve ever used, and it cost me a grand total of $3. I love Cotton On.

2 – Its really no secret to those that know me, but I’m a little OCD. When I started working where I am now, the last girl had an enormous amount of paper clips just thrust in together. In a fit of brillance/maddness one day I noticed that we had paper in the same colours as I had paperclips. So I made little oragami boxes for them and then sort out all fo the paperclips via colour. Most relaxing afternoon I’ve had there I reckon. No one as yet has noticed – but I’m sure one day they will. The photo above is an inprogress shot from the afternoon.
Also not the amount of highlighters.

Baths. There’s a fantastic store here called Lush that deals in bath products. I’m slowly turning into an addict. There is something so soothing about sitting in a bathtub that smells so lovely and just relaxing. I need to go into the store in the next few weeks to stock up on some more bath bombs.
Here are a few pictures of the pretty colours that the bombs turn baths!

This kinda bleeds into the next great thing, but our bath is amazing. Its the first time I’ve really felt comfortable as an adult taking a bath, as its actually made for people, not midgets like most baths seem to be. (Why yes, I may be crazy, why do you ask?)

This one will probably become its own post at some point, but I really am enjoying cooking. In my previous post about recently purchased items you can see the Jamie Oliver cookbook that I picked up. Its absolutely fantastic (have to stop using the word amazing so much ) However the poor book is now covered in oil and burn marks – I even managed to melt the plastic cover! (I got it a little too close to the frying pan….whoops) I think my favourite meal to cook so far has been the beef wellingtons – even if they did turn into individual servings.

My cat. I’m quite content in knowing that I will never, ever be this happy:

Meet my cat Zac. He’s 13 and awesome. Right now he’s sitting on a chair beside me while I type this with an air of “why the hell aren’t we in bed yet human”. He keeps me warm at night and whenever I sit on our couches. My kitty loves me. And I love my kitty. My parents left him with me when they moved to Queensland and I’m so happy that they did. I’ve been looking after him since Feb last year, and he has just gron larger since then. And we all love him, adore him and keep him amused. Remember to confuse your cat regularly! (whoo Monty Python)

Thats really all for now. I’ll come back and edit it more when the mood strikes.

Here is a quick snapshot of what I have bought in the last few weeks:

Not shown: the clothes, house stuff and presents bought for other people.

I’m going to be slowing down…soon. The next few weeks are going to be expensive – its my sister’s 19th birthday on the 4th (Friday), her party/pub crawl the night after. Sunday is Fathers Day here in Oz (ugh still got to send a package to QLD for that). Oh! Oh! And then its my mother’s birthday – I still have no fucking idea what I’m going to send up to her either. I’m going to hit the shops again tomorrowto try and find something.

My poor, poor credit card.

So lets see, what am I currently working on, and how complete are they?

1. A Mario Through the Ages cross stitch

Link to the pattern

This is a project that I started on a whim back in I think January. As you can see I’m mostly done, I just need to finish 2 more Marios. My main problem with it (and why I haven’t finished it) is that I have no idea what I’m going to do with it once its done – we do have plenty of wall space at our new house, but I don’t think the piece will end up looking particularly good – the piece of material that I used is far too small. Plus I made some mistakes that, while being pretty small, I can’t go back and fix now, and they’ll be all that I’ll see whenever I look at it. I think I may finish it up and frame it and just give it to someone, then make a one that will look better framed (will need to buy more aida cloth). This one should only take me a night or so to complete, not sure about the second one I’m thinking of doing – I’ll see what I can think of.

2. Purple and Pink arm warmers for Clare

The idea for these popped into my head when a friend of mine got her hair dyed purple with pink streaks (yes, you read correctly). She made an offhand comment about nothing matching, so I thought I’d attempt to change that. These were originally for her birthday but I left them too late to start (damn you Sims 3!). Too make up for it I’m making her two different pairs! Each arm warmer takes about 6ish hours to do, but luckily that’s about how long I spend sitting on my but each night watching movies with my boyfriend and housemate.

The first pair (pictured above) are almost done. Its the first time I’ve attempted something like this, and I really like the effect. The main body of them are purple, and there is a hot pink braided cable going down. So far they appear to be matching, so yay me. The second pair is going to be a horizontal stripy set, probably 6 lines of purple for every two of pink. I haven’t really decided yet, I may even just make it up as I go along. This pair should be far quicker to do (I think) as cabling really slowed me down. With a bit of luck I’ll be able to finish these by the end of this weekend so I can send them off to Melbourne for her. I’ll post pictures + patterns once both are complete – more for my own records than anyone else really.

3. An ugly, ugly teddy bear for one of my mum’s friends

This is an unusual project for me – I broke one of my rules. I’m doing something that I find hideous, and that I didn’t even pick out. My mum asked me to do this for a friend of hers as it would match her house and she would love it. I promise that I have been working on it……for the last 10 months. Its really hard to concentrate and but your time and effort into something that you don’t particularly like. What I really need to do is set aside a weekend, have some form of movie marathon and just finish the sucker. Its about 1/3 to 1/2 complete. One day I’ll finish it…..one day.

Surprisingly I only have 3 WiPs. Here is a list of projects that I’m waiting to start. Here goes:

A. Star Trek, Transformers and undecided Wash/Dishcloths
I only stumble across these today, and I just have to make some! I know that Clare would love the Star Trek one, so if I get a chance I’ll whip one up and add it to her package for to be sent off. I have no idea about the others – I might just make some up and keep them as nerdy last minute gifts. They look like a great way to use up left over scraps of wool – and look awesome to boot. Here are some links to the ones I’m thinking of doing:

Star Trek Cloth
Transformers Cloth

I’ve promised myself not to start these until after I’ve finished the arm warmers – mainly because I’m going to be using the leftover yarn from that to do them. I can’t wait!

B. My desk/Office Space

While this one isn’t really that crafty, it will help me to be crafty in the future. My housemates and I have divided up the study pretty nicely so we share it evenly. They’ve got their area pretty much set up (need to go buy an office chair for my boyfriend tonight actually, then he should be alright), however I’ve barely touched mine. The owners of our house actually left some items in the shed when they moved out, and have told us that we are welcome to use them. One item is a pretty large and nice looking desk that I’m going to grab to use in the study. I’ve also got a spare bookcase that I’m going to put next to it for storage. I need to buy a chair for myself as well – I’m going to have a look around tonight for one actually. I’m not sure when I’m going to get the time/chance/motivation to do this, but hopefully in the next few weeks. Damn you work for taking away all of my energy!

C. Christmas ornaments for mum/anyone else who I think will appreciate them (possibly my boyfriend’s mum)

These are a little gift idea that I’ve had floating in my head for awhile (since last Christmas actually). They should be pretty simple and easy to whip up. I plan on making them out of plastic canvas, and just stitching simple pictures and words – hopefully it will look nice.

D. Is a secret! Shhhh!
I will talk about it eventually, I just want to plan a whole lot more before I show it to other people. I will tell you this – its going to look awesome. But requires SO MUCH research and time and effort.

(I’m posting this as is for the moment, I figured I’d give people a laugh if they read it before I go through and do what all of my little notes tell me. )