Sunset Eyes

Sunset eyes for hosting a book preview evening in a bar. It was fun! Another, new kind of event. 

Small world

 After a week of diligently folding my fabric stash onto cards, I collated a big pile of reject fabric to take to Fabricabrac in Greytown.

Fabricabrac is a market entirely devoted to sewing. People bring their stash remains, buttons, patterns etc and sell them for good prices at others, who will take them home, put them in their own stash and possibly in future, sell them at their own table. Cue Lion King, Circle of Life.

Tracey and I at Fabricabrac in Greytown. Small world

It's the first out of town event I've done. All of the FBBs in NZ are fundraiser for the local Hospice -table booking fees, a stall of donated fabrics and cafe/catering all go towards the Hospice, we get to keep the proceeds of our sales. Greytown is about an hour east of Wellington over the same Remutaka range as Martinborough, and so I made an early start.

It was highly worthwhile - I nearly sold everything I took over there which will help my packing efforts immensely. Five big tubs reduced to a scant one! 

But here's a fun extra- Hospice Wairarapa's rep at the event turned out to be an old school chum, Tracey. We had that squinty thing of each asking why we looked familiar, and then bam! She really hasn't changed much apart from having darker blonde hair. I love it when these moments happen in person, not just on social media.

Photos of my beautiful cupboards coming soon :)

Moving again...

 The movers are booked for 5th or maybe 9th Feb -long story to do with property managers who don't read emails. I am hoping it can the 9th. I'm in a show on the 6th and moving the day before stresses me out!

So, instead of taking all our crap back and sorting it at the other end, I am using the time I have now being an underemployed bum, to chuck out, tidy and be a bit Maryanne Kondo.

So far, I've got half a bag of scarves and other accessories lined up for the opshop. I've emptied two huge shelves into an under bed container and two small drawers. 

I like this very much.

I cannot function in a minimalist space, I prefer a more stimulating environment with the things I need at hand. But it's a fine line between inspiration and overwhelm, and yup, I'm tipped. 2021, I'm going to get that balance back slowly and with care, so I can maintain it.

Also, bring on being in our own space again. A space that in spite of being built to an earlier building code, is not insufferably hot in summer and freezing in winter. That has character, plenty of opening windows, a kitchen that has enough storage in spite of being smaller -so many things I miss.

Anthony Horowitz

How did I get to be this old and a fan of whodunnits without previously reading Anthony Horowitz? It's a mystery! (see how I did that?!)

I am finding his Atticus Pund/Susan Ryeland books the perfect twisty read for the holidays. I loved those ones so much, I have sought out his two Sherlock Holmes novels, the first one written immediately after the Reichenbach Falls. I confess I struggle these days to think of Sherlock Holmes in his original era - Benedorm Cumberband is SO good at the modern one, as is Martin Freeman's Dr Watson.

Anthony Horowitz was given an OBE in 2014. Good on him.

 I find enjoyment from whodunnits comes from not trying to work out who dunnit, being delighted by it then immediately forgetting. this means I can read them many times and always enjoy them.

Well!!!

 WELL!!! The rollercoaster continues. And life goes on. I wanted to take a wee look back over the year. Skipping so many boring bits. Also skipping show stuff as it tends to dominate everything else.

First up, I had a day job. It was supposed to be for two years. From week 2 I realised that in typical form, the dream job was going to be anything but. It got disestablished because the project I was taken on to oversee caught Covid, so to speak. But I got to October and am eking out the payout as nothing has come up yet.

My desk at work. Existential dread covered by a hammy expression

As lockdown eased, my workload in the business went mad. We were doing multiple times the turnover of stock and sales, the whole country ran out of elastic, we made masks, sold fabric to make masks, the works. This is my second favourite mask, and I am wearing my incredibly beautiful Papillon shawl that Karyn knitted for me. I love it so much. 

Juggling full time work with an exploding business and the impact of the whole Covid thing just flattened me. I used every bit of annual leave working. Our whole staff were working extra hours. I'm not sure how we got through, but I am very grateful for all of them and for the extra turnover that means our year is not as terrible as it looked like it was going to be! 

Much of my time since stopping the day job has been spent keeping the good people of NZ supplied with Frida patches like this one, which is partly done. SO MUCH TIME. It's lots of fun though, and the jackets I've started to pimp for sale are pretty successful too.

This is me and my Mum in our roles of Gran and Aunty for my wonderful niece Zoe's school graduation dinner. We were glamorous (by Royal decree of Princess Zoe!) and it was a lovely evening.

This was a few days ago. Fake hair piece to disguise the need to wash my hair! Also, am I not just my mother without a widow's peak? ;-)

People are often saying, goodbye 2020, hello 2021. I don't see the distinction myself, and let's say that so far, it's more of the same and worse. But it is summer here so we have the double hit of Christmas and the downtime while many are off checking out the bits of New Zealand usually overrun by overseas tourists. I think it makes the change of year more of a slow slide, which is more manageable.

 

Happy New Year everyone. <3