sunday

My inspirations taken a very long rest Vicky, I think it forgot to take the map on how to get back.

I feel its stirrings, but its buried deep.   I went garage saling yesterday, after posting in y other blog and pulled myself together and got out of the house. I went to the market but failed to be inspired to buy anything, not even seedlings for the veggie garden. I nipped to the store while I was there and bought essentials to get us through the next few days till payday, I noticed a sign for a garage sale  at the checkout so I nipped in there on the way home, Nothing much - there was a cute little pottery cow jug, all pink and blue and it was only a dollar but it was badly chipped so it stayed where it was.  I did buy a wheat heat bag though, just what I had been looking for. Perfect for sticking in the freezer for those dread power surges.

We sat on the verandah of my friends new place and just gazed at the view,  so matter what direction you look in this is all you see, blue skies and green hills, the only sound  the cows in the paddocks below and the occassional symphony when the wind blows through the pipe on the sheds.  Its high on a hill, up a winding farm track, they wanted out of town and its certainly out of town.  The only downfall being  that the area has one of the highest rainfalls in Q'land and its shrouded in mist come the wet season, its not called the Misty Mountains for nothing.

Jean Greenhowe dolls

These little cuties were made 29 years ago from a Jean Greenhowe pattern (? sp.). Would I have the patience now to make a dozen of the same thing. I wonder if any of the little girls they were made for as mascots still have them.  Its a scanned old poleroid so thats why the quality is bad. I know the uniforms are dated now but they don't look much different from dolls on Etsy do they.  Just wish I could have back some of that patience I must have had way back in 1981.

Friday 15th Jan

Ooops, need another coffee, not quite a wake yet.  After a busy day yesterday cleaning  the holiday home next door for my neighbour I feel great. Its a very strange feeling. A few aches and pains but thats to be expected after cleaning walls and scrubbings bathrooms. But I feel fine otherwise, no breathlessness, no chest pains. I sat down after I finished to read for a while and suddenly realised I was feeling okay, I analysed the feeling as I always do which is a habit I need to get out of.   Could be a one off or it could be that I am not so focused on my damm health.  I never used to be, but then I wasn't affected by anything, didn't even know I was a ticking time-bomb waiting to go off.  All you ladies approaching 50 watch your health, heart disease and diabetes symptoms can mimic menapause - hot sweats, leg aches, itching skin, headaches, fatigue  etc. Being women we tend to ignore these things and carry on regardless. I was 49, recently widowed and just getting back into the workforce after years of caring for kids and my hubby. I'd had symptoms for years but ignored them. I nearly died,   Get regular cholestrol, blood pressure and sugar tests. If your health centre do free well women clinics get yourself along there. Okay, lecture over for today.

I had the house to myself last night, didn't watch tele again, played a bit on the computer and  then sat down and finished the doll I was making.  Sorry about the bad quality of the photo, it was late and the light was bad and then the batteries died on the camera.  She's  for a christmas in July submission - based on my little grandaughter Stacey who is a very individual miss, very independant and has her own sense of style. 
We have christmas in JUly here in the middle of our winter, not that our winters here in the Tropicl Far North of Queensland get very cold but down south it does (they even get snow)

Just another little corner of my craft room. I was looking for a certain button and completely forgot about this little spice cupboard I use for my small buttons. I tend to overlook it when I'm looking for a button, its mainly for display.  I bought it at a garage sale, probably only paid a dollar.  Definately one of my best finds.  The old buttons on the card were in a very nice foreign biscuit tin I also picked up at a garage sale, it was full of old sewing bits and pieces and I think I only paid a dollar for that as well.  I really miss finding bargains like that.  The darning mushroom and the wooden cotton reels were also in the tin.   I really do need to find that passion again, I need to feel that rush of adrenalin when I'm on the hunt. I just seem to be going through the motions, just living each day as it comes, it just needs something a bit more. 
I didn't even look in the paper to see what garage sales were on this weekend. 



Don.t like the sounds of that, sirens have gone rushing through town,  more sirens now.  There is a very windy mountain road down to the coast about 10 klms out of town , I hope nobody has gone off it.  I always do a quick check of where all my kids and friends should be right now.  Our fire engine hasn't gone out yet,  just the police and the ambulance from the next town.


Better go get dressed, nah, better go make another coffee, have breakfast and then get dressed. Going out today to look at a house my friend is going to rent, its near the tea plantation so might call in there for morning tea.  Its got great country views so hopefully my camera batteries will be charged up enough to take some piccys.

Friday 15th Jan

Friday 15th Jan

wednesday

Thanks for the comment Vicky..

I go out with a friend and she always looking for a bargain, something marked down, something on special and she buys it wether she needs it or not, in fact I have a couple of friends like this.  The money they must waste on objects that they end up sending to the thrift shop or giving away.  I have got into the habit now of self talk - do I really need this, come on you know its going to sit in the cupboard, it will never get used, think of the money you will save if you DON'T buy it. Yesterday I put two balls of crochet thread back on the shelf - the sales are coming up soon and I know it will be marked down (last seasons colours) and I did make a vow to myself not to buy any more yarn or threads till I had used up part of my stash. I have plenty to keep me going.  I also saw two gorgeous embroidered shirts in the op-shop, one dollar each. But I knew they would sit in the craft room waiting for a project to come along. No, no more stuff comes in unless I can use it straight away or it has a purpose or I know it will be something that I need. 

I am going to make a list of items that I do need to make the projects I have plannned for the year and then when I garage sale or op-shop  I can keep a look out for these things.  I do want some vintage fabric - curtaining or sheeting and I do want a shelf unit or small chest of drawers that can be used for storage, plus I need some baskets or boxes. Every year I say this will be my year for getting myself organised and come July I'm back to my usual cluttered life.  Though the kitchen cupboards have stayed tidy and my wardrobe is reasonably clutter free.  I think the house could do with one more declutter (I have stocked single handedly over the previous years decluttering a whole op-shop) before I am happy. Though this time I will have a box for things I am unsure of - like that beautiful rose chintz fabric I turfed out and I am still in mourning over.  I am also going to make a box up of things that can be used for when the grandkids come over.

Once you get in the habit of thrifting (I believe you have to do something regularly for 30 days before it becomes a habit) then its second nature. But what you have to be careful of is becoming a scrooge, false economy and just looking downright mean.  I save water, it sounds ridiculas I know, but living in Australia makes you become aware of what a precious commodity water is.   So we save rain water (I've been through a drought where the areas dam was so low we could walk across it, despite our area being the Wet Tropics we sometimes don't get a proper 'wet season' . Water out of the kettle goes on the pot plants, rain water goes on the garden, veggie scraps get composted, seeds are saved. I've now got into the habit of only using the car for necessary journeys and doing as much as I can while I am in town.  I use the library for books and magazines.

This little tea-pot which is my favourite thing was bought from a garage sale about 5 years ago, I paid $5 for it and the gentleman who sold me said it was his grandmothers and he doesn't remember her ever using it, there is no crazing or staining anywhere on it so it might not be vintage.  its a Johnson Bros one but I can't find it or anything with the lid design on in any of the Johnson Bros designs. I don't think its part of the friendly Village series, I have a couple of pin dishes with that design on and this one seems much more brighter.  I think the shape is the tulip shape. Wether its vintage or not matter very little to me, I like it and thats all that matters.

Its so hot today, my son has gone down to the city to get a tattoo removed so the house is all mine so I am just in a sarong.  I didn't sleep well last night - the dreaded power surges. So I don't want to do anything today.  Got a whole heap of books from the library yesterday so might just settle down under the fans and read all day. 

Thrifty Tuesday

Thanks to Vicky over at ANGLESEY ALLSORTS I'm feeling very thrifty. Before christmas we had a very frugal few weeks, I was owed money, bills had to be paid (or else) and christmas was definately going to be home-made.  So despite the whinges coming from No.2 sons corner about the cupboards being bare we knuckled down and used up what we had.  We were practically vegetarian for the whole time. I decided that getting up early and driving the 16 klms into town to get there as the supermarkets opened just to save five dollars on meat sort of defeated the object.  If I am in town already when they are marking the prices down fine then I will stock up. I refuse to buy the cheap loo rolls - mainly because thats what they are - cheap and nasty and you end up using twice as much. But I do buy a reasonably priced one and when its on special two packs for the price of one I will buy.  Soap and toothpaste I always buy when its on special, in fact I still have 8 bars of Palmolive Gold left over from this time last years sales.  Shampoo and conditioner are always bought two for one. Since the washing powder has been reduced to those little concentrated packs the chemists seem to be selling off the bigger boxes. Is it me or is there no real difference, I seem to be using more of the concentrate stuff and its twice the price of the old and it doesn't seem to wash any better.  I managed to get Bio-Oil on special at the chemist as well. I always tend to shop in just the one place and never really go in the chemist unless I'm getting my script filled. Buts its certainly worth wandering around while I'm waiting and seeing what is on special.  I saw somewhere washing powder for $1.78 for a kg (the old stuff) so I'll stock up on that today.  I usually buy the fruit and veggies from the markets or farm honesty stalls. We have sweet potato, tomatoes, capsicums and spinach still growing in the garden.........the aubergine plant finally died after 18mths of producing non-stop.  I'm not a big fan of eggplant so it won't be replaced.. I do miss the chooks, I resent paying through the nose for eggs now, in the shops they are labelled caged, cage free, barn and free range. So if you go for the cheaper eggs you are made to feel like a criminal. I usually get the Tamigoshi Happy Eggs if I can. 
Now I'm all  in a thrifty mood I'm off into town soon (better get dressed first), check out the op-shops and the chemists (need my cholestrol meds) and see what bargain I can find.


Jan


PS" Couldn't find the cheap washing powder but did find a few bargains at the op-shops, a nice skirt for $1.50 and two espresso cups, 4 nice tea-plates and a trivety thingy to put on the gas burner to stop the espresso pot from falling over .   I defeated the object by buying two nice pongy votive candles from Loot.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Mooching around

I'm so restless at the moment. I finally got my car back off number 2 son - his is registered and back on the road now - YEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAA.  I went for a drive, the view was spectacular and where was my camera and phone - at home of course. The recent rain has greened everything up, we were in a drought situation and its so good to see green grass again.  I just can't get into stitching, I keep finding more and more ufo's.  4 are submissions for the magazines so I can't show you those yet.  I know once I get into the swing of things there will be no stopping me. 

This is what I do when I'm left to my own devices. Its a doodle with thread. I just play around and see where it goes, all hand stitched.  This is a design for an amulet or tarot card bag. Just playing around with colour and shading.  I totally lost myself in this design. I bought metres of silk fabric in bronzes/golds and greeny colours, satins in reds and blues and panne velvets in blacks, dark blues, greens, golds and its still in its Spotlight bag (For non-aussies Spotlight is the crafters heaven) not unpacked yet. I even got my overlocker out and set all the threads up ready to make the bags. This was way back last year. 

Well thats a turn up for the books, just had a phone call from a lady in Melbourne, she's seen my design in the latest Creating Country Threads and wants to know if it is in a kit she could buy.  So now I can show it you if its already out there.  Funny, I haven't seen it in the mag yet, they normally send you a copy when its in, that also means the cheque should be in the post hopefully. 

So there we are, will this give me the incentive to get my finger out and get into that craft room. Its just a basic sampler in a naive style, I was just using up all the bits left over from other projects and used stem, back, herringbone, split, chain and  blanket stitches, the frame is a silky oak one picked up as a pair from a garage sale for 50c. I think I started it towards the end of my beloveds life and it lay in a box like all the others until one morning I woke up and thought one more try, lets see if the mags are interested and if they are I will get it finished. So finished it got, published it got and  now its hanging in the living room. 

Hugs

janjan

1.21 p.m. 2nd January 2010

I can't believe I did what I did but after turning my craft room upside down I obviously did.  Since I can't find that beautiful rose chintz fabric I can only assume that I packed it off to the thrift store, But I did find lots of ufo.s to keep me going. 

This was started as a project while I was hanging around in the hospitals while my late beloved had his chemo and then lay hidden away in a bag of scraps. Theres only one more set of roses to embroider, it will be hard to match up the threads but I'm sure that somewhere in my large stash there will be the right colours.
I might make it into a small drawstring bag or a pin cushion. I wish I had taken a photo of the pin cushion I did that was very similar to this.  I think I might of but I have a feeling it was in the photo file that I lost when my puter crashed.

I love crewel and jacobean embroidery and I seem to start and then lose interest, this was intended to be the front of a amulet bag, it was only started a few months ago so perhaps its still a WIP and not a UFO, I did find a little bag of threads that might actually belong to this so I won't have to match up the threads. This one I was making up as I went along so it won't matter if I change the colours.

Well, these were started many christmases ago, my dear friend Maureen got me hooked on crazy patchwork and as I hate wasting anything these were perfect for using up all those odd scraps that I just hated to throw away.  Each christmas they come out and I try to do a bit more, but then I lose heart with them and they get hidden away for another year.Some of the fabric I brought with me to Australia from the UK 17 years ago, some my mother in law sent me.Maybe this year will be their year.

These are only the tip of the ice-berg in the ufo pile, I should really get every single one out and photo the whole lot. Is this blog big enough for the whole kit and caboodle. Am I brave enough to show the whole world the extent of my inabilities to ever finish anything off.

Bribe me with chocolate and I might.

janjan

Happy New Year

I tried, I really did. But I didn't quite stay awake, I heard a few fireworks and cheers but rolled over and went back to sleep.  I had a wonderful nights sleep and awoke refreshed and ready to face the new year.

First I phoned my sis in law and we had a long chat, then I had brekky, I went back to bed and finished off a book, then I pootled around doing nothing in particular.  I just couldn't keep still and as soon as the sun went behind a cloud out I ran and grabbed the mower - fully intending to just do around the back of the house, but I did just a bit more to tidy up the driveway side of the house, then since I was near the front I might as well just do that and what the heck lets get the back done as well around the fruit trees and the hidden garden. Okay enough is enough leave some for Matt to do.  Hot, sweaty and covered in grass and dust I stood back and surveyed my work. Pretty pleased with myself that I had the stamina to do it all. 

I even did some cross stitching in a UFO. Not sure wether I can get used to this not stressing thing. I've been changing slowly over the past few years, my other blog explains all the upheaval in my life and how I dealt with it and I really don't want to drag it all up in this blog.  I get so far and then go back a little.

Enough of that, lets get on to what I need to do this year.  The craft mags are very interested in my designs again, I've had one published  recently and a nother due to be published soon.  I've got the schedules of whats needed for the mags for the next few months and need to decide what I want to make. What will be my direction this time. In the past I've gone naive stitcheries. I really would like to go a bit shabby this time, maybe alter some of the naive designs. I did recreate a embroidered house tea-cosy from the 30's s I think I'm going to play around with it a bit and see if it works shabby.
This design was one of the last ones I had published a few years ago. I want to try and get away from this style.
I have a couple of rose designs that would work very nicely with shabby fabric. 
This blog is probably going to be harder than I thought.
The designs I want to re-work were all done at a time when I needed to immerse myself, escape what was happening around me.  Many were stitched at chemo appointments or waiting around while my hubby had tests done.  Many done in the early hours when I couldn't sleep. Each stitch keeping me sane, stopping me from going under.
So perhaps I will change the blog title description to something about moving on.  The past three years have all been about moving forward, reinventing myself and getting my life back on track.  So perhaps now it is time to let go, admit that I am now a different person and I am ready to go back out into the world.

Hugs

janjan