We'll always be together....together in Electric Dreams...

Woot!!!

You may have noticed the change to the general decor of the blog. I am VERY PROUD to announce that whilst I was sick I actually managed to insert some HTML (I'd like to thank the very lovely www.leniandrose.blogspot.com for some pointers) and I even had to fix some of the HTML I inserted (thanks Google...). I rawk!!!

Considering that I am only mildly computer nerdy (and damn proud of it!), and most of my nerdiness has to do with Excel, I am pumped that I managed to do all of this without bringing the world to a crashing halt :)

Oh. And I got a new job. Still with the same company I have been with for the last 12 or 13 years (I forget exactly which. All the days merge into one, so it feels like about a thousand years), and still on the same pay (bah!) but much better for my career! Finally, after 14 unsuccessful applications over the course of the last 12 months someone LOVES ME!!! And not only does someone love me ...THREE someones love my work, as I actually already had another, different, top-secret job which I then had to (politely) kick to the kerb to take up this other new job PLUS I was also approached for a THIRD position. Phew! It never rains but it pours I tells ya!! (QUite frankly, after the masses of rejection, hell, I needed the damn ego boost!!!)

Day 4...welcome Kylie back to the land of the living!

Well, I still feel a bit shitty, but waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy better than I have for the last three days.

It appears that I may live after all ;0)

This cold would have KILLED a man, I tells ya!

Sadly, in my extremely weakened and undernourished state (have subsisted on nothing but Orange Juice - WHICH I DONT EVEN FRICKING LIKE - since Friday...so have handily lost one and a half kilos) have been almost incapable of crafting ::frowns:: which is irritating as I had such productive plans for the weekend ::whining::

I did manage to finish one Feather and Fan Dishcloth in Cleckheaton Natural Cotton Yarn. Although I now have a rash on both my hands that I suspect may be an allergy to either the yarn or pesticides used to grow the cotton? Either that or I am allergic to some of the meds I have been taking, but the allergic rash is only manifesting itself in the skin of my hands...

::hmmm::

Dishcloth turned out quite cute. Is blocking up nicely at the moment. Started another using a bamboo/cotton yarn, but I am not sure how successful this will be as the yarn is quite thick. Time will tell.

Also finished one swap and posted off my parcels to 4 partners for another postcard swap I entered into. I feel a bit bad as they were supposed to be sent out on Saturday, but (a) I was hardly compos mentis on Saturday. In my weakened state I was crying because I could not get the cap off my OJ... and (b) my post office does not open on Saturdays... Anyhoo, I posted them all out today and put a little note in explaining my tardiness, so hopefully noone will hold it against me too much :/

In the absence / void / dearth of other completed crafts, heres some pics of a little fella I finished a couple of weeks ago....

Introducing ........

::drumroll::

Sergei the Soviet Kosmonaut

Here he is peeking over the strange and unusual foliage of my broccoli plants...

And below, he's besporting himself in one of my indoor plants...

And finally, scaling the giddy heights of the sweet pea stakes...

(I secretly think Sergei prefers the sweet pea flowers to the other locations. After all, they do show off the redness of his delightful space suit).

Of course, the cat just cannot believe anything that the others get up to...

If it had eyes, they would be rolling at the others behaviour...

Days 2 & 3 of the cold from hell...(and introducing someone special)

::hack-hack-hacking cough::

Hmm. Nice.

Tewtelly over being sick. Need a new pair of lungs :(

And *sob* I'm home by myself at the moment, so IDONTEVENHAVEANYONEHERETOTAKECAREOFMEEEEEEEEE....

::sigh::

Altho', I am feeling a leetle better today. A little. Not much. But a bit.

So to celebrate my (hopefully) impending return to health, let me introduce you to Miss Sadie (drumroll please!)
As you can see, Miss Sadie is a cheeky little monkey who enjoys a (non-alcoholic, of course) Banana Daiquiri. She especially enjoys the cocktail umbrellas that come with these drinks.

Here she is, by my lucky bamboo, imagining that she is in some wonderful tropical location (rather than on top of some tupperware in my kitchen...)

Miss Sadie is wearing delightful mini apron (to match her future owners apron) and a cute, hot-pink woollen cardigan. Some other clothes and accessories are currently in the pipeline, as at the moment, the entire world can see her monkey butt through the back of her apron. And that just.will.not.do.

I hate...

::sniff::

...being sick

::hacking cough::

I sound like fricking Darth Vader everytime I breathe in. Everytime I breathe in it makes me cough. Coughing makes me cough more. Coughing makes my chest hurt.

::cough::

Every joint and all the bits of skin on my body HURT.

::sniffle::

I hate it when germy people come to work and 'soldier' through their day, being all, "Oh, I'm soooo sick, but I'm still here". Fricking martyrdom would be too good for the germy little bastards.

::hacking cough::

Being sick makes me v. grumpy (did you notice?)

::sniff::

Day 1 in the anatomy of a cold :(

Who's this cheeky monkey then?

Yep. That's right. It's completely out of control here at the WKDN household. Softies are taking pictures of their own butts. Thats right. Their. Own Butts.

Digraceful and out of control. Lucky for the world I haven't managed to procreate. Imagine the damage my actual children could wreak...

More info on this little troublemaker coming soon...

Photo-rama-rama

Photo-rama-rama..dum dee dee dee dum, lalalala rama-rama-ramaaaaahahahahaaaaa.

::coughs::


Sweet embroided table cloth I found in the local Sammies. Picked it up thinking that the corners were the only embroidery...must admit I nearly put it back...
Then I saw these...
And this...
And it just got better...
...when I opened it up and there was a beautiful hand embroidered centre panel ;)


Check out those hot damn pineapples! Cherries! Funny shaped green leafy-flower thing!

I heart this table cloth ;)

Eep. The mess that is my craft room... One of my little jobs for this weekend...sorting out that pile of 'stuff'...

Some crafting swag from - of all places - Target.
OMG! Shoes! Check them out! Diamantes! Flowers! Too many exclamation points!!!!
Sweet dresses, handbags and shoes.
Awesome brads, ribbon, buttons etc. Loving the colours.

And then
::blinks::

theres my unholy fabric binge.

It's hard to tell from the photo, but that fabric with the big flowers on on the left of the snap is EYE BLINDINGLY BRIGHT. OMG! I nearly had to go and get me some new retinas after that arrived in the post. I guess I'll find some purpose for it. In very small pieces, I expect ;)

And...

I've got still more fabulous fabric coming from an Etsy seller and yet more (I know, I know, I'm off to Fabrics Anonymous next week. The first step is admitting you have a problem. I dont think I have a problem...) from an eBay store I frequent.

I especially like this fabric with the 50's style children, and the tape measure print. Sorry about craptastic photo - I haven't quite worked out my camera editing functions as yet...

Another of my favourites. Of course - I have no actual purpose for these fabrics as yet....stash-building, oooooh yeaaaaahhhh :)

Oh the smell...the DELICIOUS smell :)

Forgot to mention the Lamb Korma that Mr WKDN has simmering away in the slow cooker.

::drools...just a little::

My house smells soooooooooo good. Just what is needed for a wet and rainy and miserable weekend (see - he is good for some things!!)

UFO Updates

Phew ::wipes considerable amount of sweat from brow::

Have thus far managed to complete TWO items - count 'em, 1, 2!!! - UFO's. Or FO's as they are now.

Green scarf is finished - blocked even - and ready to go ;)

Needlepoint 'cushion' front is finished. Well the embroidery anyways. New plans are not so much cushion, but more tote bag for (sort of) mother in law.

Got the bestest item ever from Sammies yesterday. What I thought was just a cute little tablecloth with purple pea pods embroidered in the corners turned out to be a VERITABLE CORNUCOPIA OF EMBROIDERED FRUIT AND VEG!!! It is so cool. Photos to come.

Also fabulous fabrics purchased off eBay and online stores, Sublime Stitching pattern book and a swag of scrapbooking and card making stickers etc from (of all places) Target!

Anyhoo - must put nose back to the grindstone. Am moving onto my hardanger napkins. Possible Christmas present in the making...

TTFN :)

Decisions, UFO's and Blog Set up.

Decided to have a UFO completion weekend/binge/fortnight (could go on for some time...)

The list is extensive.

1. Lacy scarf for friend from work;
2. Baby blanket for another friend. Whose baby is about to turn 2...
3. Heart quilt that I sewed up and now want to unpick as I don't like it;
4. Really, really, really old crewel work cushion cover;
5. Magnet set using plastic canvas;
6. Set of 6 hardanger embroidered napkins;
7. Thimbleberries BOM quilt top. Two borders left to sew onto quilt top. Still havent purchased the fabric for the backing;
8. Assorted cross stitch projects, partly started...
9. Bento quilt - needs to have the quilting finished and the binding attached;
10. I am sure there are more lurking.

The oldest item outstanding is a toss up between numbers 5, 4 and 3. Despite best intentions, got bugger all of nothing finished from the above list, although have made some inroads into the scarf. Nearly cried when I had to unpick two whole sections of the pattern due to one dropped stitch...

Anyhoo, must soldier on ;)

Of course I managed to START some new projects - but in my own defence I also managed to finish those as well! A little tote bag to cart my latest small craft project to work with me. Turned out v cute from some FQ's of Japanese fabric I had in my stash. I even managed to do a lining AND a matching handle. Sorted out some of my DMC thread stash, and took them out of the little plastic bags I was storing them in and wound them onto some cardboard organisers I made. Looks great - just like those paint cards you get from the hardware. A couple of cards including a Fathers Day one with some cute origami shirts on the front. A big hit with my Hawaiian shirt loving papa.

Quite frankly, I would probably have got a lot more stuff done if it wasn't for Mr WhatKylieDidNext (or Mr WKDN as we will now refer to him as). Jeez, some people are HIGH MAINTENANCE!!! Completely derailed my plans for a crafty little weekend. Note to self - might as well save these sort of weekends for the ones when he is away at work. Would be MUCH MORE productive.

Apologies for the (quite bare and bland) state of the blog setup. I haven't quite got my head around this whole HTML business (computer nerds out there....I needs your help and I needs it bad...), so things will be changing off and on until I am happy with how it is going :) I did manage to get the HTML Handmade Pledge badge doohickey thingy set up properly, so perhaps all is not lost.

Also ordered some FABULOUS fabrics from various locations. Great ones off eBay. Luscious. Some from Amitie. Some from Etsy. Cannot await their arrival. Plans for fabrics? None. Stash value? Priceless.

Ooh, and I signed up for my first two swaps with SwapBot, so I guess we will see how that goes ;)

On that note, I will leave you with this thought for the day...

"Failure is the condiment that makes success so delicious".

Aha! Photos (as promised...)

Well, this is what I got up to (mainly!) on the weekend. The photo above is of the denim apron I made for my eldest niece (please excuse my exclusive chair model...). The only addition to the apron pictured were two yo-yos in the bottom right hand corner of the denim and a couple of small, white flower buttons on the pocket trim and around the yo-yo. Very pleased with my result.

Of course, when you have two sisters, if you give one something you generally have to give the other something similar (unless you want armageddon to break out!!). Thus, the little pink trimmed apron above came to life.

I think I am proudest of the pink apron as I had to make up most of the pattern myself - and for someone who hasn't made any clothing type sewing since Year 8 Home Economics, I reckon that's a pretty big achievement! Yay me!!

My final photo is my icecream pincushion.

It rocks!! (even if I do say so myself...) This is the first pin cushion I have ever owned - I DO NOT know how I ever sewed without one :)

I managed to survive the local City to Surf here in Perth - it was a long, hard slog but I've come out the other side of it in not too bad physical shape. I was expecting to have to wear flat shoes to work for the next week, but I'm already back in the teetering stilettos. Champion!!