Wifflings

I have nothing to talk about today. So I should just shut up and stop typing. But I won't. I'm like that.
It's been an interesting day, anyone else into 1-day? They are having a 20 minute sale today and it's been fun keeping up to see if there is anything worth buying. So far, a dozen bottles of appletize. I missed out on a cordless mouse for $11.99 by a whisker (hur hur). I also did heaps of work, thank you those who were wondering (you know who you are)
In a few mintes I am going to a threading party. Threading is something you can do with thread that has nothing whatsoever to do with sewing! Amazing! It's a middle-eastern hair removal technique that is very effective, and I will come away with amazing eyebrows (ouch). And black eyelashes as the amazing Sara also tints these. I love being a woman!

My baby is home again...

...umm, OK my baby is my sewing machine. I LOVE her. She is 19 and has worked so hard all of her life for me. Last year she blew her fufu valve which was quite expensive and a couple of months ago she started "missing" and the diagnosis was a worn out motor. Panic as a new one was $700+.
However after several weeks of nail biting anxiety and putting up with Mum's 1030, a contemporary of my lovely 1120 but missing several important features, I have her back and there was no charge! turns out the brushes were not worn out but clogged up, and a clean up was all it took.
That plus coming home to a cheque for $50 I won in an online competition I forgot I had entered, it was a nice homecoming indeed!

Back at home base

Wow. I just spent four days in Napier - well, two full days and two travel days. Staying in the luxurious Studio Punga as a guest of the lovely Lisa and Steve Feyen, or the Pungas as they are known among friends.
The purpose of the weekend was to work on and maybe even finish a book I've been picking away at for a few years. And as Lisa is illustrating it, it was the perfect place to go and advance the project. We have - it's not done but it has some kind of shape and theme now.
No, don't ask about it, I don't want to let anything out of the bag until it is done!
While I was there, I discovered Aaron's Emporium. It is the best emporium I've ever been to and I wish I had lots of extra money cos I could have bought a LOT more than I did. But I was restrained. Here are some of the trims and laces I got:

The two top ones are velvet, about 5 inches wide, and embroidered and covered in sequins. $5m!!!!! Perfect for belly dancing costumes. the next one is a beautiful black lace with brown and red roses on it $3m, and the bottom two are cotton laces, 80c and $1m. amazing.

I also bought little filigree butterflies and mantissas, giant hooks and eyes, safety pins, other bits and bobs, and a new basket to replace the one I busted trying to carry too many veges home from market.

So all in all it was an incredibly productive weekend. :)

In honour of our wedding anniversary and my url...

I thought I would explain why I chose amamus-amatis-amant. Which, as many will know, is from the Latin conjugation of the verb amare = to love.
amo = I love, amas= you love (s), amat= he, she or it loves, amamus = we love, amatis = you love (pl), amant = they love.
MrC and I met online; he was using "amamus" as a username at the time. I spotted it, sent him a quick msg saying it was nice to know that someone else did Latin at school, and that got us talking. And here we are today :)
When it came to planning our wedding, we came up with the theme, "The Magic and Miracle of Love," but Love in the biggest sense of the word. Not just him and me, but the wider circle of our families and friends who are just as much a part of us as we are. So, the Latin conjugation of amare featured on our invitations, and we got half each on our rose gold wedding rings. MrC got the first three words as he had skinnier fingers! I therefore got the second half, with a tiny ruby between each word. To us it adds to the symbolism of the ring that is a circle without beginning or ending.
When I was trying to come up with a url, the hectic eclectic was gone, and then the idea of using my wedding ring came to me, and funnily enough, it was still free!
He took this lovely photo of our rings just now, sitting on an applique and cording sample I did last week. I thought it was more fitting than the ironing board cover!

I'm in love with a pretty little hen...

...I asked her once, and I asked her again

"Oh won't you be my bride?"

"Buck buck buck buck buck!" she replied,

"I'll be yours and I'll be true, and I'll lay lots of eggs for you,

I'll be yours for the rest of my life..."


I loved that song when I was a kid. Looking at it now it's a bit suss! hehehe. Anyway I am off on a quilting retreat on Friday afternoon, and the retreat block is a real laugh!

What a pair of cuties!! The brief was the pattern and having to use plaids. I don't want a big ol' pile of these blocks but my sister likes it so I'm hoping one of us will win so she can have them!

Now, poached, scrambled, or fried? :)

Today we are six!

MrC and I celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary today. That's about 8 and a bit years of being together. How cool is that!

I was a lot fatter, MrC had a wee bit more hair on head and face but otherwise we are much the same. More in love than ever too.

Things I have learnt from marriage to date:

• It's the biggest ongoing UFO I have ever taken on
• Just when I think I really know him, he surprises me
• Every day there is something to be thankful for, even if it is a shit day
• Growing older together is the best!

Stitch and ...Giggle?

Yesterday the fabulous Joie held a "stitch in" in her fab sewing room which could fit mine three times over plus an ensuite! Luckily as a result it fitted six sewing and socialising women comfortably. What I loved is that the three of us who were there to actually sew, all got our projects done, by someone else! I mended and adjusted Joie's things while AlohaAroha blanket stitched around the applique of a retreat block for me, and Joie whipstitched the seams of an 18th C shift for A. All yick jobs that were made so much fun by good company, good food and good light.

Making things last longer.

I've been busy this evening and last evening making little trousers last another season for a sprouting 4 year old. She is at that age where she's all "up" and no "out", and flashing her ankles like a Bay City Roller, which is not de rigeur this season. So I've been having fun coming up with creative ways to get another few inches out of some of her jeans. Here's the results:

Pictured with the fabrics I used. Pink cords got a cuff of stretch bengaline that I cut to follow the line of the flare - straight strips won't work on flares of course. Unless they are gathered into frills like the ones on the two pairs of jeans. The butterfly print is from my stash as is its sparkly trim. The black embroidered velvet on the black ones is cut out of an old skirt I was going to boot. Sooooo pretty!

Today I complained in the office that it wasn't fair, I wanted to wear embroidered trousers too. It was pointed out to me that I WAS wearing embroidered trousers, very pretty ones actually. But they aren't quite so cute as these ones :)

My new Kitchen Love

Remember me saying that the cake mixer stopped working mid cupcake preparation? Weell, I decided that at 44 and being an avid baker, I deserved a Kenwood Chef. Deserve is such a useful word don't you find?

And here it is. The old Sunbeam is being mended and will probably end up on Trademe. It is only 350W but this new one is 900W. MORE POWER!!! Given that I could cream 1kg of butter with 1kg of sugar in the old one, this baby should be able to mix concrete. Not that I ever mix concrete in My kitchen.

I do love it. I remember the thrill when I bought the Sunbeam Retro, which reminded me of the one I learnt to bake with. It took one pavlova to remind me why my mother and i hated that Sunbeam mixer - the unlockable turntable. I put all the ingredients into it, cranked it up to high and walked away from it. When I turned back, I could only watch in horror as the white goopy mess spun up and out of the bowl in a perfect round centrifugal arc that scribed itself up the walls and across the floor. And over me as I rushed in to turn it off. After laughing myself silly, I had to spend quite some time cleaning it off. You know what sugar is like.

ANYWAY, this new honey has a cover, a locked base and the beater does the moving. I haven't used it yet but watch this space, move over Delia, Julia, Gordon and Jamie, MrsC has entered the building!

September morn...

My goodness, into my second month of blogging already! It's been a day. Lovely weather, spring is making an early play for supremacy, noone is arguing.
This week I discovered something. About how people hear what we say. It's definitely a lesson for me! I want to say my piece and because I know I'm right, "they" should listen. Trouble is, being right means often being righteous, and noone listens to righteous people. I've discovered that being understood is better. When people understand they think we are wise. Wise beats right like a royal flush beats a pair of 2's!
The trick is being wise not right, cos right comes automatically, but wisdom takes more effort.
Ah well. Life is a journey for a reason I guess, gives us time to get better at living it. Then we die. This is why I prefer to believe in reincarnation. Seems a terrible waste otherwise.