Now.... where was I?

I've finally emerged from too many flu-hazed days and nights in bed.

Everything is where I dropped it last week, when I gave in and collapsed into fevered delirium.  Now I'm back and there appears to be a new layer of stuff on top of the the debris from what feels like a previous life (one where I was a functioning, working person).  I'm trying to make sense of it all. 

Please excuse me if you were expecting a call or email from me in the last week that hasn't been forthcoming.  I'm slowly getting to grips with the task of catching up, although I'm still not 100% (probably not even 30%.... but that's a great impovement) and the wee girl is still wan and listless and breaking my heart. 

Many thanks to the pattern-testers who have been helping with the development of the new pattern.   We're seeing lots of light at the end of that particular tunnel.

Somewhere before the full force of the flu-daze hit, Addicted To Fabric organised to fly me up to Canberra again before the year is out.  We've locked in the 13th and 14th October.  I think the waiting lists were getting a bit silly (thanks for making me feel so wanted, folks!!), so it now means that if you missed out on the zipper workshop, you'll get another chance to do that one.  We haven't settled on the second class for that weekend, but I'll keep you posted about it (or you can enquire at A2F).

Oh, and in sock news.... ( I just remembered and took these photos under glaring daylight lamp, for want of actual daylight.  Hmmm... it's just not the same, is it?)

It turns out that this lace chart-reading business is not as difficult as I imagined.  The whole thing was going great-guns until the flu bugs brought out the VERY BIG GUNS INDEED and knocked all plans for a sock finish back by about 5 days. 

In non-craft-related news...
If you're at all familar with the author Wendy Orr's wonderful children's books, you may also know that the film of Nim's Island is about to be followed up with a sequel (this time with Bindi Irwin in the lead role as Nim).

What you may not know is that Wendy has just put together a Nim's Island-themed eBook of activities for kids.  Amazon's blurb captures it better than I can, so I've copied and pasted it -

Inspired by a ‘Nim’s Island Coconut Cookbook’ sent to her by a classroom of young fans, Wendy Orr has collected recipes, activities and teaching notes from Nim’s friends around the world.

This is an Australian National Year of Reading 2012 project, with all proceeds going to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. “The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) advocates and raises funds for Indigenous literacy, to improve the lives and opportunities of Indigenous Australians living in remote and isolated regions.”

I reckon that at $3.50, it's a very affordable way to contribute to something VERY important and (it being school holidays here) will help those of us with primary-school-age kids inject new ideas into the holiday-entertainment repertoire. Win-win.

Wendy was my next-door neighbour when I was a teenager.  She was a young mum then, who had left Canada and the glamour of international travel to follow her heart ...  all the way to a small farm in country Victoria.  (Being a dreamy teenager who was desperate to LEAVE that particular part of country Victoria, I thought she must have loved that husband of hers an awful lot!)*   Wendy was interesting and generous with her time (and she liked sewing), and I loved spending time with her and her kids.  I thought she was fantastic (and I still do), so it's always a thrill to see one of her books in a store (especially this one) and I hope that the new eBook is a great success and raises much-needed funding for a great cause.
 
*And for want of a better picture to finish things off, here's one to explain that line about where I grew up.  I dreamed of art and fashion and nightclubs and people and theatre... and this was pretty-much the 360-degree vista and all the excitement that it offered to an imaginative young mind. 


I think that's where I'm up to on the news front... for now, at least. It's taken hours to write this, for some reason.

Next job is focusing on being well enough to teach in Adelaide on the weekend, and trying to turn this feeling around...
 

I'm off to make myself a hot whiskey, find that book I was about to start reading (pre-flu) and have an early night.

A wee hot one...

I've blogged this recipe before, but it's particularly seasonal, so I think it's worth running again (this time with my own Instagram pic).  It's the Irish cure-all, and right now I godda gold.....

Hot Irish Whiskey (or "a wee hot one" as they say in some parts of the aul' sod)


You need IRISH whiskey - Scotch doesn't work with these flavours.

1. Pour a goodly amount of the whiskey into a sturdy glass.

2. Add a large teaspoon of BROWN sugar (has to be brown sugar... doesn't taste right otherwise).

3. Cut a slice of lemon, stud it with at least half a dozen whole cloves and put that in the glass as well.

4. Top up the glass with boiling water. Stir and let it steep for as long as it takes to be a drinkable temperature.

5. Drink several of these.... and you will feel NO PAIN and sleep like a baby. (Do it too often and you'll probably feel some liver pain, but your cold will be a distant memory!).

Oh - and this works equally well with Port, only you don't need the sugar.

For me tonight, it's a wee hot one and some knitting, and bed a-calling.

Coming soon to a store near YOU!

 We had a good weekend at the Australian Quilt Market.

The new-look patterns were received well.  Ordered for stores around Australia, New Zealand and online.

 This was my little patch... very stark and white in the world of quiltiness.

I didn't take many photos, but I managed this one of Saffron Craig and  Two Monkeys Fabrics. Fabulous stuff.

 And I captured a bit of this Melody Ross  fabric at Lloyd Curzon Textiles.  I thinks I'm in love.

Today I took the day off.  I was so exhausted I couldn't talk or think, so there seemed no point in going to work.  I spent most of the day mooching about at a snail's pace, lying on the couch and watching dvd's.  In the afternoon, I played with my knitting machine.

I'll keep you posted on where to buy my patterns, hardware and interfacing as we send out the wholesale orders.  Hopefully by then, I'll have experienced the return of my brain and the ability to construct sentences.

Right now, it's back to the couch....

Downtime

My post-Quilt-Show week has been spent coughing, sneezing, aching and feeling a bit sorry for myself. I've stayed home from work a lot - taking the rare opportunity when there's nothing scheduled that needs my immediate attention.

I took my machine and a bunch of fabrics home, to work through a few felted-knit ideas I've had floating about in my head. I ended up getting so frustrated that I forgot to bring home my favourite tools (ahem... and fabric scissors and pins) that I started a lot and didn't finish anything.

I tried writing workshop notes and pattern instructions, but my brain was too fuzzy with winter lurgies and ... well, I just feel exhausted. I can't write. I can barely think.

Today around lunchtime, I came home from a brief visit to the office and pulled out the knitting machine. I popped on a dvd of costume dramas (both Elizabeth movies) and spent the afternoon practising knitting short rows and getting lost in 16th Century royal court costumes. And I wished I'd been doing this all week (... I might even have finished something photogenic enough to share on this blog).