Finish it off Friday: Week 3

Done and dusted: One blue and grey striped hoodie for a certain small person. This project has been hanging round since November so I'm very happy to see the back end of it.
Added bonus: One pirate jumper, also for small person. Finished off yesterday evening as we sat round J & M's dining table eating homemade coconut ice cream (very very yummy). This jumper is guaranteed not to do nasty things in the wash as I used the wool that refuses to felt no matter what to knit it.

Damn - now I want to knit a matching jumper for myself...

(Listening to: Hotel Costes, Etage 3)

Excitement!

Lookie here, I'm featured on IKEA Hacker!

I think this gives me the kick in the bum to finish the matching handbag in time to take it up to Duchess N of Mosmania next weekend.

Morning

Two random pictures taken this morning when it was overcast and cool and I somehow deluded myself into believing it would stay that way all day and I'd get a lot done.

Ha! I'm now sitting here with a moustache of sweat (gotta love summer, right?). At least the washing dries super-quick in this heat...

Still crazy with listing on eBay (running behind schedule, as usual) and packing the sold items up and sending off invoices. Wishing the bubble wrap fairy would visit with supplies (and maybe she'll bring the toe-polishing fairy with her? - super embarrassed by the state of my toes in that second picture! When did I let my feet revert to their natural Hobbit-like state?)

At least I'm at home tonight - was out last night and won't have an evening at home alone after tonight until Sunday. Did I mention I'm dying to go see Marie Antoinette?

(Listening to: Various, Blue Note Trip)

Things we learnt this weekend

1. A Club Retro keyring bought 5 years ago does not get you free entry forever. And it takes a lot of fast talking, grovelling (on bended knee if necessary) and promises that if they return said wonderful keyring, which they've confiscated, they will not see it again because it will never leave Canberra.

2.. Dahl and champagne (OK, OK, sparkling wine) do not make a good meal choice before you go out to dance the night away to the small hours. No matter if you think "lining your stomach" is a fine and mature idea, you will end up feeling like you swallowed a medicine ball which is now gently fermenting, thus causing you to either find yourself sprawled on the sofa in the chillout room hoping you'll feel better soon (Kerry) or bouncing up and down on the dance floor to one of your fave songs hoping you don't toss your cookies in the middle of the dance floor while mentally judging the distance to the toilets just in case. (Me)

Friday night was an unexpectedly early one for us. Which worked out well because it meant we had am unplanned Saturday to spend out and about instead of in bed recovering.

3. Which leads nicely to: Sometimes Use What You Have Month just isn't meant to happen. I found this roll of large denim pieces for $10 at the ALSO Op Shop and promptly fell off the wagon with a resounding thud Here's a picture of the guy in the shop who kindly tied my bundle up with string so I could stagger round Melbourne with it over my shoulder/ under my arm/ across my front/ carried caber style for the rest of the day. Bugger Round Ireland with a fridge, I want to write Round Melbourne with a bloody heavy roll of fabric... Serves me right, doesn't it?
4. Smiggle no longer stock the 50 cent filofax pad refills. (Boo hoo) I used to buy them in bulk when I visited Melbourne and they'd keep me going for ever.
5. But they do have a very cute range of black and white skull and crossbones notebooks and gluesticks.
6. The beginning of the year back to school stationery stock up habit never leaves you no matter how old you are:7. And, finally, both Kerry and I finally learnt how to use predictive text after the boys discovered we were texting the old fashioned way and were scandalised. "So why, when I try to type "happy" does it say "Gibspyy"?
Kerry did much better with some dutch courage along the way...

Well the bag was definitely a success!

And, strangely enough, went with every outfit that Kerry had brought into town with her for her "Mini Holiday" in her own city (she stayed in the hotel with me Friday and Saturday nights.)

On Saturday, while sightseeing, we see that it picks up the colours in Kerry's dress.
That night it tones with everything (except the Veuve Clicquot bottle!)And this morning it looks bright and breezy, picking up both the teal of her sun dress and the blue of her sneakers (not seen)

Finish it off Friday: Week 2

"Ohhh! What's this?!

A birthday present for Kerry, you say? It's very black and white but isn't Kerry more of a colour girl?

Ah! You mean we can peek inside if we promise not to tell?Now that's more like a Kerry sort of look. And you made it yourself? Without a pattern?! And out of a frugalled cot quilt you picked up at Vinnies? How clever! She should like that.

What's that? There's more?So there is. Don't I recognise those legwarmers?

I see - you wanted them done for Finish it off Friday - and in the nick of time as you fly to Melbourne this evening for the birthday weekend.

And you made a hot water bottle cover out of the cot quilt as well! I can't quite see what's in the bottle. Aha! Natio Lavender Wash to guarantee a good night's sleep. So this is the Winter Sleepytime Comfort Kit, then?Very cozy - I'm sure she'll get a lot of use out of it all.

But not tonight because aren't you planning to have pizza and bubbles at Blue Train in Southgate then head over to Club Retro where you'll boogie down in The Dark Room until the wee small hours before staggering back to the hotel and collapsing?

Thought so - just another typical Friday night in Melbourne then.

Request The Sisters of Mercy This Corrosion and Depeche Mode's Just Can't Get Enough for me will you?"

A bit of a conundrum

While I was in town yesterday I dropped into the car stereo shop in Braddon (which is, handily, just next to the op shop) to see what my options were for poor Miss Daisy's stereo (which, as you might remember went kaput back here)

As I suspected, these are my options:

1. Pay $223 for a new (bottom end basic) stereo including installation. I have a choice of tape or CD model. It can be done today and I if I use my creative accounting skills I can decide the money will come out of the Christmas money from my very generous Parental Units. A new stereo comes with a warranty. (Making this a guaranteed solution, if on the expensive side.)

2. Pay $120 for them to take my existing stereo out of Miss Daisy and see if they can unjam the tape. If they're successful I have a fix for about half the price of a new stereo. With no guarantee it won't go kaput again in the very near future. (If they're unsuccessful I've spent $120 and have nothing to show for it and will they have to consider options 1,3 or 4.)

2. Keep my fingers crossed that a used car stereo will find it's way to me either through word of mouth, an op shop or Jameson Markets. Pay the car stereo place $77 to install it. Keep my fingers crossed that it won't go kaput. (Otherwise I'm back to options 1,2,or 4.)

3. Give up on the concept of having music in the car and sing. Cost: free.

What to do, what to do?

(Listening to Wally Badarou, Echoes)

Corners of my World - What's new, Pussycat?

I know I have a number of readers who are ex Canberrans who pop by to keep up with what's happening in this odd little city I call home.

Before Christmas I mentioned to one of them in an email that the old Griffith Centre had gone and been replaced by a snazzy new version, and, in fact, she'd find that area of the city almost unrecognisable these days.

So today I took a stroll round town (in the 30 plus degree heat) to show you what's new...This is the office block that's going up where the old skate park and Griffith Centre were. I think the ATO are going in there (but don't quote me on that!)Across the road is the spunky new Griffith Centre which is where the Brain Injury Foundation op shop is.

Down to the end of the street (did this street go right through to Braddon when you were last here, ex-Canberrans?) and across Bunda Street to Gus's and this is what you see these days. No more Bunda Street carpark. Instead we have a whopping huge new mall extension with a Dendy and a Big W.
We're not done with our walk yet. Let's continue down the road and around the corner to Civic Squareand the new library/ link building.(Will I get run out of town if I say I don't like the new Civic Library at all?)

Oh - and that picture at the top is the new sculpture at the library. Which I do like. A lot.

(Listening to: Joan Armatrading, Whatever's for us)

Things I discovered today

1. Car batteries die. Replacing them cost a bit more than replacing other types of batteries.

2. Taph is onto something having knitting in her bag at all times. I realised this as I sat on a park bench in the middle of the Canberra Centre carpark with up to 90 minutes to wait for the NRMA man to arrive.

2. You can have knitting conversations in the oddest circumstances. Today I talked knitting with the NRMA battery delivery and installation girl who said everyone in her school learnt to knit and was quite surprised when I therefore knew she went to a Steiner school.

3. I was right to not buy a new clothes airer last week. This week it was reduced from $20 to $12. Excellent!

4. Old clothes airer bits are very handy in the vegetable garden holding up plants:5. And, according to my mother, the reason I didn't see any pea seedlings at the garden centre wasn't because it's the wrong time of the year to plant them but because you have to grow them from seed.

(Listening to: Air, Talkie Walkie)

Shameless plug

I'm going to be quite busy over the next couple of days as I'm listing a shipment of vintage miniatures from a collector in New Zealand. She purchased good quality pieces through the early to mid 1980s and is now liquidating her collection.

So if you have (or would like to get) a dolls house head over to my eBay store between now and the weekend and see if there's anything you'd like to add to your collection.

I have a number of vintage Hantel pewter pieces (including the quite rare Noah's Ark), a large stock of crockery, many vases, blue and white china and other yummy goodies from around the world (including these guys pictured above)

I also have the full range of Lundby Gothenburg 1/18th houses and furniture including limited stock of pieces now discontinued.

(Normal blog programming will resume tomorrow)

So there I was...

trying to get my head around how to attach the lining of a hot water bottle pattern I'd made for friend Kerry's birthday this weekend and idly wondering what I was going to blog about today when the doorbell rang.

It was the lovely Taph with a truly ginormous, hand delivered, blog swap!Including a massive (and I mean MASSIVE!) pile of records and 45s from the 80s.

I haven't had a chance to look through them all properly yet but I noticed lots of yummy things to plug holes in my collection. I wanted to prance round the the hallway doing the happy dance!But wait! There's more!

Vintage cream knitting needles, some black and white fabric for my stash (the two on the right are stretch - suppose it's finally time to learn how to sew stretch)And books - Jo Sharp's Knitting Bohemia (yay! more patterns!), a little book on Sydney architecture and one on Italian design.As if this wasn't enough, there was a lovely pair of pillowcases with black and white fabric edging.

I feel very very (very) spoilt. Thanks a million, Taph!

(Listening to: Ultravox, The collection - rather apt, really...)

I told you I had a plan!

1. Take 1 frugalled $6 black cotton hoodie with icky teal design element...
2. Purloin Mary Quant daisy design from the internet, play with it in Photoshop, transfer to Word and print the results out onto transfer paper.
3. Transfer to white fabric and attach the hoodie with fusible webbing. Voila! A one of a kind cheapy autumnal basic.

(Listening to: Talk Talk, Laughing stock)

Food glorious food...

It's been a weekend full of good food (and better company!)

Saturday night saw The Gang at the first of the 2007 Twilight Jazz events at the Eucalypt Lawn in the Botanic Gardens.I made Banana cakelettes (pictured above - how decadent!) in honour of a visit by Cathie (Miss Daisy's old Mum) who is back from Scotland on a quick trip.

Then, if that wasn't enough for one weekend we had a gathering of the 642.4 Gang this morning for a bang up brunch, a catch up and much New Year's plotting...(Listening to: Spook, The Dusk Sessions)

Second Hand Saturday

Results of my first frugal of the year:

* Jim Henson's Storyteller (Vol 1) on video: $2

* Pile of twelve books: $25 (about the same price as one new book, so I'm pretty happy - but so much for getting through so much of my reading pile of the New Year break. I've just filled it up again! Argh!)

* Two CDs: $4 in total (Dido, Life for rent and Michael Buble - worth a try at that price I figured)

* Two spotty pillow cases: $2 the pair (I already have two of these plus the matching doona cover but I know my last spotty doona cover set had pillowcases which wore through after about 10 years while the doona was still OK. So figured having a second set of pillowcases would make the new spotty doona set last longer. And hell, it was only $2!)

* Black cotton hoodie: $6. (Yes, I know it has a teal logo on the front. What's worse is that it is obviously a haircare product freebie from kms. But I have a plan!)

Being frugal seems to be in the air at the moment. I reserved Not buying it: my year without shopping at the local library this week after rediscovering an article about it that I ripped out of the paper about it.

New Green Shoes has declared she's planning a mission for February to spend nothing at all (not even in thrift stores!) and NIKKI-SHELL just posted about her Use what you have day.

Princess B rang me this morning to tell me about an article in this morning's The Sydney Morning Herald about a group of friends in San Francisco who gave up shopping for a year (find their blog here)

And I haven't been to the January sales at all this year...

(Listening to: Say Cheese!: Ultimate One Hit Wonders)

Finish it off Friday

I cleaned out found the floor and desk in my Hobby Room over the Christmas break. In the process I bundled all the Ran out of steam or Hit a brick wall projects (not to mention the Oh! What's that new and much more interesting idea over there? projects) that were draped over my vintage Brio House together and decided I would finish things off before I started anything new.

And since Finish it off Friday sounds so good (and is similar to if not the same as WIP Friday) I hereby declare January to be my FIF month. Stay tuned and join in the fun if you want!

(Listening to: Portishead, Portishead)

Corners of my Home (sort of): Week 12

Thursday night is the new Monday night, didn't you know? At least it is round here as general consensus ruled that Monday night catch ups were a pain in the bum and that Thursdays would work much better for everyone.

And so it came to pass that tonight I was able to try out my first recipe from Sophie Gray's Destitute Gourmet: more stunning food from small change which Mum gave me for Christmas. Gotta love the title.Meanwhile, back in the jungle living room, J and S had discovered the copy of The Canberra Game I bought here and though seriously about playing it. But decided they'd feel bad separating the cards and making up the pristine game pieces even though I explained quite clearly that Canberra Museum already had a copy, the ACT Heritage Library had at least two so it was quite safe to actually use my copy for the purpose it was intended for if they so desired.I had more success in the kitchen where I convinced the curry puffs to come out looking exactly like the picture in my cookbook.And everyone finally settled on playing vintage New Zealand Monopoly. Over dinner, of course. Because we're grownups so can not only play with our food but also over it!

(Listening to: Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Broadcasting from home)

What are you doing here?

You should be here checking out the goodies which will be available for you to bid on tomorrow (Aus time) at the Kim Family auction or here nominating your favorite blogs for the 2007 Bloggies. (Although I'd be worried if you nominated Wanda Harland.)

(Listening to: Nordic Lounge, vol 2)

Belated thank yous!

Lots of goodies awaited me at the post office when I arrived home from New Zealand.

First was a Christmas swap parcel from Elisabeth in Sweden with the perfect mix of dolls house minis (see wonderful butterfly chair and retro lamp above) and yummy things to eat.Swedish sweets crack me up. They have a chocolate called Plopp! Yes, it's brown and can be a bit gooey sometimes but still it's a rather unfortunate word for a chocolate bar (however yummy it might be).But wait! There's more! For those amongst us that don't like Christmas at all, may I suggest buying bulk amounts of:OK, joking aside (and thank you, Elisabeth, both were very yummy and didn't last long at all in the cupboard), she also sent me three very cute 1960s Swedish children's hankiesplus a mini Lundby bassinet and Caroline's Home pram which quickly found a home in the Triang House with Daisy MacGregor.

And there was a second parcel. My Black, White and Blank Color Swap arrived.Including these lovely hand painted envelopes which might just end up framed. And a tape which I got stuck in the tape player in Miss Daisy. I fear when I finally get around to going to the car stereo doctor they'll tell me it's time to join the modern world and buy a CD player...(Listening to: International Observer, All played out (which is actually Tom Bailey, ex Thompson Twins))