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

Merry Christmas!

It's after midnight so technically not Christmas any more. I was feeling a bit refluxy so have got up. Being vertical helps. Typical after a delightful day with a lot of rich food. Even grazing, it takes its toll.

So, nothing from me since August and then a couple of days ago. A quick recap is in order I feel:

• The shop has been delightfully busy as people support small businesses, and have rediscovered crafting.
• I've done several shows - audiences were a bit frenetic at first but have settled down. Most gigs are selling out. We are VERY lucky to be able to do this and I feel terribly for performers everywhere who cannot!
• The project I was employed to oversee was canned in a funding cut, and therefore so was I at the end of October. I got a nice pay out and we're still living off it, and I was hoping to have something in place for after Christmas but now we shall have to wait and see.
• I took on making denim jackets and it's taking off nicely. Not making the actual jackets but embellishing them. I've sold seven already and pump out a few every now and then. They are a nice addition to the patches as a product. 
• We get to move back into our own home FINALLY on 8 Feb. I. Cannot. Wait.
  

A Christmas show in late November up north in Raglan.

This jacket is well gone. Felix made a whole window display of them in early December and they just started selling, as did the patches without the jackets. I have had to make a huge batch only 6 weeks after the last lot.

 Four days off, and twice! Such luxury. I've not been working all week like I was when I had the day job, but have tried to give David an extra day off a week plus we've been busy enough for us both to work as well as our staff. So I have a long list of creating at home projects, catching up with friends and working on calming my brain down. 

This past year has been hard on my brain. I can see now that I've been running in the amber and red zone for most of it, not really thinking just getting through. This needs to stop - my brain is what earns me the big bucks and if it cannot function, what use am I. So, calm and mindful activities, a growth mind set, being deliberate, not trying to do 25 things at once all the time and feeling frazzled.

I mean it's worth a try!

Sweet Baby Cheeses!

 Long silence here - I feel like nothing happens worth reporting on. Does anyone else get like that? Yet I love the minutae of other people's lives.

Anyway just popped in to share this gift bought to me today; a statue of Baby Cheeses.

After a fraught day where I had a couple of inexplicable melt downs, this was pure joy! We enjoyed it immensely.

I hope wherever you are and whatever stage of Sauron 19 management you are in, you can find some joy too <3

Deja Vu?

Here in Middle Earth we thought we had gotten rid of Sauron-19 but it's broken out with 69 cases all linked, thankfully, to one cluster, or in quarantine.

But, we are in Alert level 3 in Auckland, and Level 2 everywhere else. For us in Welly this means social distancing in restaurants and bars and shops, voluntary mask wearing, working from home if you can etc.

Frankly I can't see much evidence of this L2 differing from normal life. It was VERY different when we were coming out of Level 4 then 3, as everyone was in the habit of maintaining distance etc.

What HAS happened however is a huge surge in mask making! At the shop, where I've been working for the last few days while taking annual leave, we have sold hundreds of metres of fabric, cut hundreds of fat quarters, and made thousands of stretch ties from cutting strips of knit fabric. 

The entire country seems to be out of elastic - the factory that produces it about 100k north of here, can't physically produce enough to keep the supply going, hence me paying people to cut strips. 

It's a fun time! 

I am finding my patience with sciency types talking about masks who know nothing of textiles very worn thin. Suggesting a water proof layer? Good work. If it is impermeable enough to not let water through, you can't BREATHE through it. Synthetic fabrics tend to repel moisture but this means any moisture simply goes through the holes in the warp and weft.

Natural fibres absorb moisture and disperse it. So, a damp mask is still going to keep working whereas its synthetic equivalent won't. A kitchen paper towel is an excellent filter because of its absorbency.

This is common bloody sense.

Anyway, I am so tired I can hardly see, I'm cold and I just want a bath and bed. I left my glasses somewhere, I spent several minutes looking for my phone while talking to a friend on it,  think I'm done!

Be well and safe wherever you are my loves

Upskilling in Isolation

One of the principles of adult learning so that adults will easily learn skills that they NEED. Well, up until now I've not needed to understand how to make videos, but now I do.
And Zoom meetings
And my Phone camera
The works!

Terrifying reality!

Like many other workers who do white collar jobs and are working from home, I'm on Zoom several hours a day. Also for social reasons I confess. This is me on my laptop video looking stern (glasses) and trying to put something behind me to quieten the noise of all my sewing and stage supplies on shelves. I don't think my jerry-rigged curtain is wide enough!
Anyone else rapidly acquiring new skills?
Here's my latest video attempt btw. For anyone who wears false eyelashes. Tom you might find it useful. Eyelashes on sculptures?