Red-tailed, orange-bellied whale...

There are some that think that the Australian Minister for the Environment and Heritage is only interested in protecting particular species, for example the orange-bellied parrot, the red-tailed black cockatoo, and the whales. The Australian ran a cartoon to this effect...

I noticed that it is a very popular cartoon amongst some of my colleagues and so I decided to make one. Weird, yes. Strangely satisfying, yes.

You'll notice the beastie has roosted on my rose (one of the four we bought when they replaced the roses at Old Parliament House) which means that spring is nearly here! All the blossoms are out and we saw a bee yesterday that was absolutely laden with pollen. Lily and I had lunch outside at her little table - complete with golden daffodils - and basked in the sun. I forgot how much I missed my flowers until the daffodils that we bought over in pots came out. Our other house had so many bulbs and flowers - we just have dirt here... so we did some planting to rectify that. Lil and I got a huge punnet of pansies to plant. Today we bought some star jasmine plants to run along the fence so we don't have to see quite as much of the neighbours.

I also organised the cupboard in the craft/computer room. It had been a disgrace for so long. But now everything is back in its particular box, and every box is labelled with its contents. Like fabrics together. No more searching high and low for anything.

{you may now commence taking bets on how long it lasts}

I'm baaaack

After a forced hiatus due to blogger upload issues and general lack of time I'm back. I have done lots of little bits and pieces but this is my favourite.

My friend in Brisbane, BigL, loved Savannah in the US. She loved the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which is based in Savannah. She also loves her daughter, who is called Savannah. So I thought I'd give this a go. And I think it worked wonderfully.

I've been doing a couple of other little felt projects, three for a swap, one to become our Divisional mascot at work and one for a guy at work.

A few lovely things... We had a lovely high tea at the Hyatt for F's birthday. It was great to catch up with the girls and a new arrival - baby Sienna who was so gorgeous! We had cucumber sandwiches, smoked salmon, quiche, scones jam and cream, cakes, biscuits and little mini chocolate mousse. And no, I didn't just give you a list of what was available, that is what I actually ate. And problably more besides. And it was great. I never want to be thin if it means missing out on occaisions like that.

My dear friend R came down to see us from Sydney last weekend and relieved us of many baby bits and pieces for her impending arrival. It was lovely to see her and for her to meet Lily again. In fact Lily was so taken with her that she got very upset when she found out R had gone back to Sydney and was in tears at the car door saying 'sissy' and wanting us to drive up there.

Lil is also obsessed with Thomas the Tank engine at the moment - and I'm not pleased. We have one DVD with three Thomas songs on it, and at the end of the three she says 'more tomash?'. If you say no you risk a huge 2-year-old tantrum. If you say yes you risk your own sanity. argh!!

Anyway I have to go and rescue the clothes from the line because its raining - yay!!!

So much stuff to post...

Yay! Blogger has now deigned to let me upload my photos!

So firstly you see the lovely mini moopy that sadieandlance sent me! I love him/her so much. The moopster is now at work with me, although I had to secret him away because my daughter loved him so much. A guy at work came up the other day and told me how cool it was - I was in total agreement and a little jealous that I hadn't made him... thanks sadieandlance!




Then there are the freezer paper stencils that I did for my friends and myself! Here is a little charger t-shirt for BigL's daughter in brisvegas. I love it so! It has often annoyed me that you can't get cars on pink shirts for little girls - a problem I have now rectified.


A little onesie

A rhino charging after people... this so appeals to my sense of humour... In another life I'm sure I'd have been the one riding the rhino and laughing evily...


So there you go. Ah... I'd gone right off this blogger business when I couldn't upload the photos. But order has been restored.

Freeze!

Oh. My. Goodness. Is there anything better than freezer paper? I was over at wee wonderfuls and noticed that she'd printed some fabric. 'Geez that woman's talented' I said to myself, figuring she was one of those craft godesses that screen print. But no. She is a craft godess that puts freezer paper on fabric and PUTS IT THROUGH HER PRINTER!!! A lightening bolt went off in my head. 'That would be perfect for the labels that I want but don't want to fork out heaps for,' says I to no one in particular. And this is where they would be if blogger would let me upload them...

Labels


Though I've just realised now that Hilary says "I treat fabric with bubble jet set then iron to freezer paper and send through my printer". In my usual style of not getting it right the first time, I did not use bubble jet set. So these will be a test drive for non washable items only. Once I procure some bubble jet set I will be unstoppable. Ahhhhhhahahhahahahahaha (throwing head back and laughing wickedly).

Joy (and how I got it)

I have had a couple of blissful days... on Thursday I went to the post office and was greeted by a package from funky finds. I had sent her a little southern right whale a while ago in return for some freezer paper. But she sent me freezer paper AND lots of other things! It was like Christmas. Second to the excitement of the 75 square feet of freezer paper, she included a little card from Inside a Black Apple. I litterally danced when I saw it. I have loved this girl from afar for such a long time, but resisted buying anything. And now I have a card! She also included a lovely little whiteboard with magnets for the fridge, some stickers for Lil (now proudly stuck all over her bedroom door) and an Adorn magazine. Such bliss.

Then we went to visit my Nana... and what did she pull out of her sewing cupboard? 75 square feet of freezer paper... unopened. Had it for years, she said. Why didn't I just ask her, she said. She also gave me some great lace. While I was down there I finished a cardigan that Nana and I started ages ago.

Its in beautiful bendigo wool. I just need to add the buttons and Lil will be ready to wear it. I can only hope she doesn't suddenly become surly, like the girl modelling the cardy in the pattern book...

Then I finished off the border around my felt tree picture. It will shortly be hurtling northward as a very belated birthday present for a certain someone.



And then this morning I did my first stencil. I love freezer paper. I think its grand. I shall abandon all other craft persuits forever (or until the next new big thing comes along). This is a dandilion from stencilry. $5 shirt from Rivers and $1 paint from Lincraft clearance bin. Wouldn't have been my colour choices, but I didn't want to spend big if I turned out to be a total gumby at it. And its beautiful. Crisp lines. Reasonable paint coverage. Oh the possibilities...



So this is joy. And me being joyful. And when my little munchin wakes from her sleep we shall be having a tea party. In the beautiful winter sun. With Nanny and Poppy. Doesn't get much better.

Toodles.