re ... I probably should have been doing something else ...

er ... this is actually a reply to a comment, but i got carried away ...
LOL @ myself

Someone left a comment on one of my recent blog entries - this one - the quilt idea i drew up as a "virtual quilt" - she liked my colours ;-)

This is the answer I sent her - I decided to share it here as well, because i kind of got carried away and wrote a whole lot more about the idea and the possible quilt it might become -

Yes I do too ... I guess that must by why I ended up with those ones? LOL

Mine probably won't be huge either, IF I ever make it ... most of my
"gunnados" (WIMs/future possible quilts/whatever) end up staying "gunnados" for
... ages and ages (over the last few years I have had hundreds of ideas for
quilts and I have only made a few of them ... and most of those are the ones
i start making while I am still thinking up the idea!)

... I guess at least this one is more than just a scribble on paper and/or
an idea in my mind - at least now it is a "virtual quilt" LOL

The art quilters list I am on
( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Aus_NZartquilters ) have a good idea for
trying new techniques/etc - they are doing a challenge thing where you do A4
size "calendar" quilts - you do a quilt for the month, that can be about
stuff that happened during the month or stuff you saw/like or just to try
out some idea ... and we don't have to do one every month ... we all said we
would do 6 sometime throughout 2006 ... lol

hmmm ... maybe I could do "sands of time" as a miniature and make it A4
size - LOL
(and it would kind of work for the first one now - a "time" one would be
quite apt for someone who never seems to have enough spare time even when i
actually do!)

I might even be able to find the right colour fabrics in my pile of
scraps/strips that I have been collecting (i don't throw fabric scraps out,
no matter how small ;-) ... the tiny bits too small for anything else will
possibly get used for that idea where you stick them onto fabric with
vleisofix/etc and do free motion quilting/embroidery all over the top, and
the rest might eventually end up as bear stuffing, if I ever get around to
making another bear ;-)

... trouble is - first of all I really need to finish sorting out the mess
in the garage, and sort out/re-organise my sewing room (the 2 "new" fabric
cupboards i managed to snaffle from work are still sitting under the pergola
waiting for me to make room for them, move them in, and fill them up with
fabric) ... then when that is done I should actually be able to FIND stuff
in my sewing room ... at least until I drag stuff out everywhere and make a
mess again *sigh*. Trouble is - it will probably take all of the school
holidays to do all of the sorting out, which doesn't leave time to actually
make anything ... unless i do my usual thing and start making stuff again
before I finish sorting (which is why I still have all the mess after having
started to sort it out this time last year!)

er ... I had better stop raving on and maybe go do something useful (like
have some lunch ).

I probably should copy this lot onto my blog too - if anyone else is reading
it, then they will probably want to read this stuff as well ;-)

Andrea,
disorganised in Dunlop
... messing around in cyberspace when I probably should be DOING some more
of that sorting out!

and now ... like I just said in that reply - I am going to go have some lunch, and then at least think about doing some of that sorting out ... (it also sort of depends on just how hot the garage is - today is a "scorcher" and the garage has 2 black metal roller doors that collect all of the morning sun!)

... and just in case i don't get back in here for a day or 2 -

Happy New Year!

Fish Out Of Water

... sometimes I feel like a fish out of water, but that is not what I am posting about at the moment - lol

It is actually the title of this quilt -



it is one of the small quilts I made and entered in the TASDA exhibition earlier in the year
I found this picture while I was looking for the one of my blue hat (the one I was talking about earlier, that I didn't put in that online exhibition yet because it was going in the TASDA one first)
... I know, I was going to bed ... but ... I decided to check just what I had put in those online exhibition things

talking about those ... they are on a "freeform crochet" site ... and yes I do that too ... or my version of it
... I also do all sorts of other stuff too ... like dying fabric with bits of left over silver nitrate from work - LOL ... and my visual diary cover thingy that I made about this time last year has both of those things and more ...



It was actually a holiday challenge for TASDA that we did this time last year (this year we are doing ATCs)

It started as a bit of calico fabric that we were given (along with the visual diary we were to make a cover for) and I "dyed" mine with the little bit of silver nitrate solution I had (I also tied and stitched a few bits before I dipped it in the silver nitrate, then put it in dappled shade when it was dry - so it went brown unevenly ... then I rinsed it in some sodium thiosulphate (I borrowed a bit of that from work - only needed a teaspoon full - it is what they use in photography to stop the film developing any more ... and is the silver nitrate in the film that makes it develop in the light)

... then once I had the bit of fabric it was too interesting all over to want to hide too much of it inside or cut too much off or whatever - so I came up with an idea that let me still be able to see both sides of the fabric on most of it (kind of a slip on cover that was sort of also half inspired by movies, like the Indiana Jones ones, with dusty old books wrapped up in bits of soft leather).
Once I had come up with how I was going to sew it together I then did a whole heap of stitching on it in gold, eccru and greenish/brown threads - that was fun to do - I want to do more (I did do more actually ... on a couple other things ... but I still want to do more - LOL)

Then I sewed it together and had some more fun doing the free form crochet danglies with beads/tassels/etc on them. I like the danglies, but they keep getting tangled up!

btw - if the picture is too small to see any detail - clicking on it should give you a bigger one ;-)
Actually - this picture, with the visual diary in it's cover (open and already in use ;-), is an even bigger picture so clicking on it should show even better detail of some of the stitching and crochet bits -



then again ... I am not sure it is any bigger but it does show how the visual diary fits in it's cover, and that I actually have USED it ... I should use it more - there are a lot of pages left (and I still seem to be collecting scribbled ideas on bits of paper because they are often closer to hand than my visual diary is - lol)

and this time, I really AM going to go to bed ... LOL

(once the Alice Cooper song I am listening to ends that is ;-)

Goodnight

something I said, on a hat yahoogroup, a few weeks ago

yes - another "instant" post to my blog - a few weeks ago, I said this on a yahoogroup I am on ...
(so why say it all again when I can copy and paste it and add to it where needed? lol)

----- Original Message -----
From: me
To: the "If_the_hat_fits" yahoogroup (one of 3 I am on, that is run by the person who owns the www.knotjustknitting.com website ... which is as much about crochet as it is about knitting, else i probably wouldn't have gone there)
Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2005 8:46 PM
Subject: Hats ... (what else would I talk about on a hat list?)

Well ... probably lots of things actually but this time it actually IS hats ...
I actually have a few things I wasplanning to say
... and for some odd reason I have decided to number them(in no particular order) ... I know - I am weird .

1. I hardly ever post here and don't get time to read half the e-mail, but I do try to catch up with it all ever now and then ...
but I do still have a half crocheted hat on the go (not that I have actually crocheted any of itfor a few weeks - but it has been to work and back with me for the last weekor so - in case I ever get enough of a lunch break to go and sit somewhereand crochet ... lol) ... it is black and silvery white (some weird ball of yarn I got at an op shop ).

2. I finally got around to looking at the latest online exhibiton (yes - the August one ... now that it is November! LOL) ... what wonderful hats everyone has made - my effort kind of looks like a poor cousin next to all the others . (those are here - http://ifthehatfits.knotjustknitting.com/ )

3. When the call for pictures for the August online exhibition went out, I did have another hat I had finished, but I didn't send in a picture becauseI was about to exhibit it in the TASDA (Textile Art and Surface DesignAssociation) exhibition that we had here in Canberra a couple of monthsago - and one of the rules was that it wasn't supposed to have beenexhibited elsewhere ... and Online exhibitions are still exhibitions ... lol
(I will try to remember to put it in the next one (oops - I forgot) ... it is a hat I crocheted from all sorts of bits of blue yarn, so I called it "blue hat" ... which brings me to the main reason I decided to post to the list right now ...

4. I found out about a fun excuse to make another blue hat sometime between now and next June - http://www.hatweek.com.au/bluehat.htm ... I found out about the blue hat thingy from someone who was at a crazy quilt retreat I went to (it was one that we had for a crazy quilting yahoogroup I am on) ...I had half forgotten about it, but I just thought of it a little while ago and went and found the website . ... I also looked at the rest of thewebsite and found out something else too ...

5. The first week in September was HAT WEEK ... and I didn't even know ...LOL

6. er ... I am sure there is something else ... might have to put on my thinking hat ... lol
... actually talking about that ... my search forthat blue hat website turned up some rather interesting websites ...
including heaps of stuff about some really weird educational thingy to dowith coloured hats for different types of tasks your brain does ... or something like that ... (here is one of them - http://members.optusnet.com.au/~charles57/Creative/Techniques/sixhats.htm ... er ... not sure if I really want to try on any of those hats ... they are weirder than mine )

.

... it is now at least 2 days after I typed the rest of this e-mail ... (I got called away from the computer for something or other and saved it in the drafts folder )
... I finished the crochet hat I was talking about - did it in front of the tv last night ... it looks weird ... as usual ... LOL
I think I remembered what the other thing I was going to say was though ...

7. I keep having to "swap hats" at home, work, etc ... like at work - I work at the same school my kids go to ... most of the time I am the science assistant there, but sometimes I have to put on my "parent" hat and pay for excursions or talk to the teachers about the kids school work/assignments/homework (or lack thereof ... ). Unfortunately it is a bit hard to wear more than one hat at a time ... especially when it involves going to 2 meetings, both on at the same time in different places ... I wonder if I can come up with a weird idea for a set of hats on that theme? ("swapping hats") ... not sure I would have time to make it/them though ... sigh ...

anyway ... it is time I sent this weird stuff and let ds (dear son) have the computer - he is sitting beside me complaining I am sending my life story and driving me bats - and he will probably continue to do so until either I let him at the keyboard or dh tells him it is bed time (fairly soon actually - that is why he is getting so impatient - and saying "no" every time I start another sentence ... LOL)

Andrea,
disorganised in Dunlop
(a suburb of Canberra, Australia)

I really should send in a few more photos of hats ... and scarves and bags - for the scarf and bag exhibitions ( those are at http://scarfcrazy.knotjustknitting.com/ and http://handbags.knotjustknitting.com/ ) ... those are the other 2 yahoogroups of hers that I am on ... except I never seem to get around to reading or posting to them very often

... seems to be the story with all my yahoogroups and my blog ... maybe I am on too many yahoogroups? LOL (but the ones i do read, even if only sometimes, are all ones I want to read and post to and want to stay on ... maybe I need to clone a few copies of myself maybe a dozen of me could keep up with all the stuff I want to do?)

I really should post this and go get some sleep ...
(before Mum starts reading my blog and tells me off for having too many late nights ... lol ... I know - I am 43 ... but ... Mum will always be my Mum - LOL)

goodnight
(I think .. lol)

I probably should have been doing something else ...

Someone posted something, about a quilt website, to a yahoogroup I am on ... and someone must have only seen an answer to it and she posted this -

----- Original Message -----
OK I am lost
what is the typing quilt
I am bored here

so I replied with this ...

you can come and help me sort/tidy my garage if u like ...
(sorting out/tidying/re-arranging the garage - now THAT is boring ... lol)
... there is also my sewing room to do as well it has got so messy I can't do much in there and I can't find anything I want! (hopefully that last problem will be solved after the big sort out - I managed to score 2 cupboards (kind of like linen cupboards) that were being thrown out from work (from 2 science labs that have been gutted and are being totally re-furbished - the cupboards were up the front and were used for books and stuff, or students bags)

re the typing paper quilt ( here - http://www.equilters.com/library/quickquilts/typing/typing-quilt.html ) ... I am sure a lot of us have done that kind of thing without having to read those particular instructions ...
I have done a similar thing but with log cabin instead of just stripes ... and I did mine quilt as you go (hmmm - I wonder if that name is copyright too?)
... I wonder if quilt as you go would work ok with this one, and do away with the paper - I am sure i could work out a way - those seams all along the edges might be a bit of a bother - maybe the thing to do would be to cut the backing and batting to the finished size and do the strips the unfinished size (so the seams go out over the edges of the backing/batting square - sew the strips then trim to about 1/4" bigger than the backing) and then sew the blocks together so the backing/batting butts together (and maybe sew those edges together a bit to hold things in place better) and then add a separate backing onto the back and quilt in the ditch along the seams where you sewed the blocks together (to do 2 things - hold the backing to the quilt and to provide the lines of quilting that are 'missing' where the blocks were joined)I wonder if that makes sense? lolOf course i would probably use rather large blocks for this, so there are not so many seams to play with ... but maybe not too large if I am using those seams as the quilting lines to attach a separate backing (although i could also quilt inside the blocks again if the backing was too baggy - either along some of the lines or in a totally different pattern over the top could be interesting).
hmmm ... now I wanna go have a play with this idea!... and I have a pile of scrappy strips ... somewhere ... lol
finding something I think is daggy enough to "loose" inside the quilt for the first lot of backing (for the blocks) could be a challenge ... but then again - if the right sort of batting is used then one could get away without using a fabric backing for the blocks ...
Andrea,
disorganised in Dunlop
... yes I do still exist ... I just don't seem to post as often as I used to ...

Then I did some more looking at more of that website, and a bit too much thinking ...
and I posted to the list again -

Hi All,
Here I go again - thinking of more after have already just sent something to the list .
I have just been reading the rest of those typing paper quilt instructions - had a look at the more complicated one too ... and I already have an idea, and a probable colour scheme, and even a name , for a quilt I want to make ... lol
(aahhhrrrrggggghhhh - I think I need an off switch! lol)
and ... I had another thought ... quilt as you go might be a bit of a pain in the whatever with all those triangular shapes ... so then I had an idea ... why use fabric or batting or even paper?! - why not just sew the strips into triangle shapes by eye and then trim them to the required shape? ... or better still, if one has a pile of long strips (or is cutting strips from FQs or bigger/wider bits of fabric ) why not sew a pile of strips and then cut them into the triangles? ... actually I am sure I have seen that idea somewhere before anyway ... lol

Andrea,
disorganised in Dunlop
... wondering if I ever will make "Sands of Time" or if it will forever be just an idea I mentioned in an e-mail and scribbled down on a bit of paper? (that is IF i now scribble the idea down on a bit of paper before I forget how I was going to do the layout/colours/etc ... lol ... actually - I just grabbed a bit of A4 paper off the printer and did that ... what I should have done was printed the relevant bits of this e-mail on the other side first ... oops )

and then, when I really should have been answering some other e-mail, of trying to find my sewing room under all the mess, I ended up messing around on the computer and drawing something up (using Paint Shop Pro, which probably isn't the best program to use for stuff like that but it is what is on the computer ... and it does have some neat effects to use after doing the hard bit of drawing something up ;-) ... so now I not only have an idea in an e-mail I posted to a yahoogroup, and scribbled on a bit of paper beside the computer - I also have this ...



now if only I had time to do it in fabric! LOL
(of course i would also like it to be bigger - this is only 9 blocks, which would take a while to make ... I probably want it to be about 25 blocks ... which will take even longer to do ... sigh)

er ... I am supposed to be somewhere shortly ... helping water some trees that were planted by the Landcare group I am in (I even planted a few of them too) ... so I had better go get ready and head off ...

someone might actually be reading this!

Wow ... my Christmas card got 5 comments ;-)

I suppose it helps to actually tell people I have a blog - LOL
(actually I have told people on a few yahoogroups I am on, but I probably need to mention it a bit more often than once a year)

I suppose, if anyone is going to read this, I had better actually POST stuff here, so that they have something to read ...

... and I probably should post the other pictures and stuff that I have previously said that I would post "sometime" ... because if "sometime" isn't soon, it will probably end up being closer to never ...

but first ... something silly I found while surfing around on some random blogs just before I logged in here (I am not sure if I like or hate the thingy on the log in page that lists a featured blog and also a continously updating list of blogs that have just been updated that minute - some of the names catch my eye and sound interesting so i can't always resist going for a "quick peek" ... )

I found the perfect gift for someone to give to that someone who is impossible to buy for because they already have everything - slippers with headlights! http://www.brightfeetslippers.com/images/stories/night_time_just_got_a_little_brighter.jpg
(and where I found it was just as weird - a venture capitilist blog ... not sure why I was reading that, when I don't even really know what it is, let alone anything about the subject! ... the title sounded interesting - it was the featured blog on the log in page - lol - http://whohastimeforthis.blogspot.com/ - just in case anyone wants to go and read the blog of some bloke who founded some big company that is now suing Microsoft for patent infringment)

and ... for those who want some lighter reading - I got lost for a while in cyberspace - here - http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/xmaslights.asp - is a true "urban legend" that is quite interesting

(and that person who created that light display definitely has too much time on his hands! LOL)
... I followed the link to his other display - the kids (little or big) might like that one better ... except that it has to be the worst rendition of jingle bells i have ever heard!

The bloke even has instructions on how to do it up on the www ...
so - who is going to have a fancy new synchronised to music light display next Christmas? LOL

Maybe if they do they can post it here - http://www.christmaslightfinder.com/displays.php?id=135 (this particular one ... if the link is still working when u read this ... is a couple of streets away from here (I might have to go for a walk over there this evening - I saw a heap of others nearby last night, but I missed that one)

while I am here ... (I have been surfing to all sorts of strange places in between typing this stuff) ...
This http://www.phylotaxis.com/phylotaxis.html ... is weird ... I don't think I will even try to describe it.
I found it on a link that I followed when I was at this page - http://www.venganza.org/ - which is a different sort of weird ... it is the website of the church of the flying spaghetti monster! LOL

on that note ... I had better go and do something useful ... like cook some tea and then go tidy up some more of the garage (which still kind of looks like someone has had a bunfight with the flying spaghetti monster and all his mates)

good evening ... lol

I keep getting lost in here ...

I just got lost at the department again
... This person takes some amazing photos!
(and she writes good haiku/etc too)

... I actually came in here to e-mail my Xmas card to a few people I didn't send real cards to ... so I guess I had better do that, then I probably should go to bed so I am asleep when Saint Nick/Santa/Father Christmas comes to tidy up/sort out my sewing room, and the mess in the garage, for me (yeah - like that is really going to happen ... not! ... sigh ... I guess I will just have to do it myself ...)

goodnight

I just got called away from the computer - dear daughter wanted to show me a cute little spider she found in the bathroom (she can't decide between being afraid of spiders like most 12 year old girls, or interested in them like her mum is ... lol ... so she likes to look at them, but I have to catch them and remove them from her room and take them outside)

On the way back in here my mind started to wander ... and I came up with this -

... 'twas the night before Christmas,
and in this here house,
everyone was still awake,
except for my spouse ...

- yep - my husband went to bed ages ago, but the kids are night owls like I am - LOL

(and no I won't give up my day job yet!)

Merry Christmas,
Andrea

Season's Greetings

I got creative with a photo i took this evening ... LOL
(the green leaves and those red flowers - they just had to be a Christmas "Card" ;-)

If anyone is actually reading this - I hope you have a Merry Christmas, with lots of peace and joy and etc good things, and a happy new year too ...

(hmmm ... most kids, and a lot of adults too, seem to think Christmas is all about Santa/Father Christmas and parties and stuff, and they forget whose birthday we are actually celebrating ... )

goodnight

there is a new button on the bottom of my blog

... not that anyone will notice, because i am not sure anyone is actually reading this ... but if any person is mad enough to come here and read my blog, and - for some odd reason - actually likes what is here ... they can now subscribe and get my blog sent to them via e-mail (daily, if I actually post that often - mostly it will be a lot less often - it only sends out an e-mail if I have actually posted anything here ...)

Now I really should go and put that load of washing on, and hang the other 2 up, and then hang that load up because it will probably be finished by the time I hang the other 2 up ... sometimes I think that whover said "a woman's work is never done" was absolutely right!

silly photo

I took this photo this evening (it's my husband's Ducatti, and everyone else's pushbikes) ... and I have already thought of a couple of ?funny captions I could use for it ...

"There's bikes and there's BIKES"

"Do I have to be next to THOSE?"

"a bike with a motor is worth 5 without"

if anyone actually reads this blog they could probably think of some better ones ...

I actually came in here to look at the weather website! LOL

( www.bom.gov.au ... the radar images are cool - if it is actually raining, that is ...)

goodnight

(not that I am going to bed quite yet - got another load of washing to do first, and 2 others to hang out as well ... sigh)

The things I find on the internet ...

I just noticed that a newsletter my Husband subscribed to now comes from some thingumy called Feedblitz ... so i went for a look at their website and I found a link to this - http://feedblitz.blogspot.com/2005/12/twas-blog-before-christmas.html ( FeedBlitz News: 'Twas the blog before Christmas )
... some people have way too much time on their hands
(and/or this lot spent their spare time reading way too many blogs/etc! LOL)
btw ... I might put one of those thingys on here sometime ... not that anyone seems to read this blog anyway ... lol
... oh well - I only came in here to send someone an e-mail - back to re-arranging the garage ... sigh ...

some people write in their blogs a lot more often than I do!

This person sure does - http://inaminuteago.com/blog/index.php ... so much that I never seem to keep up with reading it all! (hers is one of a few I try to keep reading, because i have met them/know them, and because they write some rather interesting stuff).
I even left a comment in there yesterday ... the first half was a reply about what she had posted about and the second half was this -

" ... - I really should read it (and a few others) more often than I do ... I probably should write in mine more often than I do too! ... but I never seem to have enough time ... maybe that should be my "wisdom of the ages" thing - there is never enough time - LOL(actually I will write something a bit longer/better than that and send it in ... if I don't run out of time) ... that is after I go make myself some vegemite on toast! (yes - I feel like some after reading that post about fibre allergies - the one that ended with the bit about going to eat vegemite on toast!)"

The "wisdom of the ages" thing is something else she is doing on her blog - collecting peoples ideas about what they have learnt in life ... I e-mailed mine to her last night (very late last night - lol) I figured i may as well share it here as well ... I am not sure if it is profound, deep and meaningful, or just plain weird ... LOL
(and I can't even blame it on the vegemite on toast because I typed most of it before I went and made/ate the vegemite on toast!)


"(Some of) what I have learnt in life:
Time is a strange and elusive thing, where sometimes a second can take hours to pass, and at other times an hour can whizz by in a second. Nobody really even knows for sure what time actually IS (let alone if we will ever be able to travel in any other direction or at any other speed than forward at the same speed we do now).
Time seems to be one of the important things in life for most people - and for me there never seems to be enough of it! I always plan to do things then never seem to get there because I ran out of time, I leave things until "later" and then "later" never happens, and a lot of things always seem to take way longer than I ever thought they would.
But I am not sure the lesson should be to "do it now" and "don't procrastinate" - because I have been told those lessons years ago and still don't seem to pay any heed to them .
... maybe the lesson is that one should accept the fact that time is a fluid thing, and that we should enjoy each moment (no matter how short or long it seems) and make allowances for the fact that time seems to shrink or stretch at the most inconvenient of times - and not get too upset if we find ourself in a situation where we either have too much or too little time on our hands ...hmmm ... that seems to be another way of saying "life is what you make of it" ... LOL
Actually that is not all I have learnt in life, or even the most important thing ... I am not sure if there even IS a most important thing out of all the stuff I have learnt in life, and in my life I have learnt a LOT of stuff! (some useful, some not ... although the definition of what is useful or useless might change as time goes on ) - life is one of those strange experiences where you keep on learning - I don't think I (or most people for that matter) ever will stop learning things ... maybe the day I stop learning is the day I stop living? (or the day there is no point continuing to live ... except that I wouldn't want to die yet, in case it is just a setback and I start learning/living again ).
- Andrea,
disorganised in Dunlop"

I have written a few other strange things in the last month or two ... I might try and find time to copy a couple of those in here sometime too - nothing Earth shatteringly profound or anything - mostly just stuff about what I have been doing and why I never seem to have time to post to the yahoogroups I am on (or write in my blog) ...
I probably should stick all that other stuff in here that I keep saying I am going to (more pictures of things I have made, and other stuff) ... maybe sometime in the next week or 6 ... depends how busy I get with doing all the other stuff I need to do - like dragging almost everything out of the garage, putting in the set of drawers and the shelves that I snaffled when they ripped them out of a room that is being re-furbished at work, and then only putting about half of the junk back in ... then doing the same with my sewing room (I also got 2 cupboards .. kind of like linnen cupboards ... from the 2 science labs that are also being done up at work - and they are the perfect new home for the most of my fabric stash that kind of didn't fit on the one or 2 shelves it used to fit on before it grew so much in the last year or 2)

Andrea,

actually NOT up too late at the moment (but I was last night!) but I should really go have some lunch seeing it is almost getting closer to tea time!

I think it is about time I posted something here!

er ... oops ... it's been a while.
I have not really been anywhere (or at least not for more than a few days) ... I have just been kind of busy doing other things ... the me with the job and the family and the sewing room full of stuff kind of wanted to have a life too ;-)

This (photo below) is one of the things that helped keep me too busy to get around to posting to my blog:


This is actually a crazy ( in more ways than one?) patchwork backpack that I designed and made as my entry in the bag challenge for the Canberra Quilters Exhibition in August (and it came second ;-) ... it had to have legs - it is a wild bush WALKING bag after all! ... where does the bush come in? - well - the embroidery/embellishments all over it are at least partly inspired by plants/etc found in the Aussie bush, and, if u look closely - there are 3 lizzards living in there too!

I went out for coffee and shopping, in a nearby town, with a group of other quilters - they all bought fabric and other sewing bits, and I bought 6 rubber lizards!









So ... where are the other 3 lizards?
... on the miniature quilt I entered in the same Quilt show, of course!

The other 3 lizzards needed a home, so I made them one - inspired by spinifex and stuff ... so "what is that hairy looking stuff?" you ask ... actually ... it is hairy looking stuff - it's dog hair! (combed from our golden retriever and sewn on as I quilted the thing)









Now ... what else have I been doing? ... er ... I also made a challenge quilt and a small wall hanging size quilt for the Quilt show ... then of course I went to the quilt show, and a dinner that a group of us, from a quilting e-mail list, had one night during the quilt show. Then I started making things for a textile art exhibition for another group i am in (TASDA) ... I made a few things and didn't have time to make a few others I had ideas for ... I might get around to putting pictures of those up here, or somewhere else online, eventually ... and of course I went to that exhibition too - spent the whole weekend there (like I did for the quilt show - lol) ... I have also made and swapped some ATCs (Artist's Trading Cards) and I have driven to Moss Vale to have lunch with a few lace makers - I am not a lacemaker, but it was a reunion thingy for a group that a friend was part of, and she doesn't drive so she invited me along so I could drive her there - LOL (we both had a good time though) ... then I spent a week or 2 trying to find some of the floor in at least some of the house, so that it was at least half livable when my parents dropped in for a weekend on their way to Tasmania (for a holiday) ... then I made some more ATCs and a couple of items of decorated male underwear (yeah - that's got u wondering eh? - those will probably get a whole post all of their own ... eventually) to take to a crazy quilt retreat I have just been to, in Nowra ... and now I guess I have to start wondering what I need to organise for Christmas ... LOL
(and I might also enter a quilt or 2 into the Canberra Show ... no - not a quilt show - the one where they have cows and sheep and showbags and other stuff like that ... entries for that are due in a few weeks time ... and I have a couple ideas I might play with ... if I get time ... )

and right now ... DH wants me to go look at the home brew that he bottled today (the brewing bug has been chasing him for a year or 6 ... a couple weeks ago it finally bit him - LOL) ... and then I have to get changed ready to go off to a Ducatti club meeting with him - they are having it at a Mechanics shop and there is Pasta for tea first - yum.

anyway ... we have to leave soon so I had better go ... not late enough to say my usual " ... goodnight" yet - but I am not sure I should tell anyone how late I was up last night! (I went to bed before the sun came up ... just - lol)

btw ... I am still "disorganised in Dunlop" ... lol

bye ...

Can you see ... ?

The grasshopper?

... it's one of these -

I took these photos in the Dunlop Grasland (just over the road from where I live) back in Febuary - an insect expert or 2 took a group of us (from a couple of Landcare/etc groups in this area) for an "insect walk" ... and we saw lots of interesting insects etc ...

now ... in that second photo ... did anyone spot the fly?!!

I didn't notice it when i took the photo - I just noticed it there now, 5 months later! - yes - there is a fly in the photo! ... (sneaking into the background while the grasshopper is getting all the attention?) - not only is it in the photo - it's on my finger! (on my ring finger, on the side next to my pinky)

I really should go get some sleep!

(while I still have a little bit of night left, to sleep in!)

goodnight

"the thing I was going to put here yesterday will probably end up being tomorrow ... or later ... LOL"

??!?!!
I just found this - "the thing I was going to put here yesterday will probably end up being tomorrow ... or later ... LOL" - at the bottom of something I posted here in about March!

... I wonder what the thing (that I was going to put here) actually was?

I don't have a clue what it was now ... so I guess it will probably never end up here now ... unless it already has (I may have found it/thought of the same thing again later or something and posted it here some other time - anything is possible with my disorganised mind!)

... just thought u might like to know that ...

hmmm - this post is probably about as pointless as ...

this photo -













kinda pretty isn't it?

nice round pearly grey/white circles on a nice warm brown background ... could be the beginning of an interesting quilt idea even ...

so u wanna know what it actually is?

are you sure?

if you said "yes" then keep reading (and if you said no - then don't read the next bit of this post!)

well ...

it's not a rusty dish with dots of paint on it,

actually ...

it is -

a top view of a grotty frying pan with blobs of solidified fat floating on the water that was poured in when the pan was still hot!

... well - you DID keep reading!

by the way - the cat thinks it tastes wonderful! (the dog probably would too, but he doesn't jump up onto the kitchen bench and go "hunting" for whatever he can find, like the cats do ... partly because he has been told not to, and mostly because he is too big and he would probably slide right off again if he tried to jump up there)

goodnight

- in case you are wondering ...

Do I still exist?

... yes - just been busy doing other stuff (taking daughter to a dance thing in Sydney, trying to finish the quilts I have entered in the quilt show, etc.)

... but what I am really posting about is the other thing that someone who has actually READ some of this blog might be wondering about, if they read my last post (on July 1st)
- u might be wondering why I was "rabbiting on" about working out how to upload photos and how easy it was and why I stuck a photo of a bowl of chillis up there ... when there are a whole pile of photos in my earlier posts!? ... well - that is because those other photos are not actually ON the blogger site where by blog is - the way we used to have to do it was to put them elsewhere and link to them (which is what I did) ... but they changed things so now we can put the photos directly into our blog and they are on this same site - which makes things even easier (yippee).

... I guess, now that I have told everyone how easy it is to put photos up here, I will have to put some more up here ... LOL
but first - I have to actually take some more photos, then get around to putting them on the computer, then get around to decideing what photos to put here, and fiddle with them so they look good (like cropping off useless bits of background, resizing them, etc), then I have to actually get around to logging in here and actually putting them here!

... now u can see why I sign my e-mails with ...

Andrea,
disorganised in Dunlop

LOL

btw - i used to sign them with ...

yes - you guessed it -

Andrea,
up too late as usual


... and yes - I am ...

up too late, as usual

so

goodnight

... too easy

... I just had to "have a quick peek" at how to upload photos here ... it didn't take as long to find out how to do that, and do it, as it did for me to actually decide what photo to put here!
(it also didn't take very long for the dog to totally shred the egg carton that WAS in the bin 15 minutes ago, but is now in little bits all over the floor beside me! ... grrrrr)

In case you are wondering what this picture is - it is some chilli peppers, in a fabric bowl that I made earlier this year (and the bowl actually sort of fits the "too easy" title of this post too - because it was really not that hard to make, and I quite like how it turned out ;-)
... so ... one might ask - "why did I take a photo of chilli peppers in a fabric bowl?" ... well ... I think I was taking photos of the bowl, and a couple other things ... and the chillis looked pretty - so I took some photos of them too ... then my daughter decided to help ... so she arranged the chillis a few different ways for some more photos ... and somewhere, somehow, the chillis ended up in the bowl ... LOL

now ... I really MUST go get some sleep!

Goodnight ...

hmmm ... I wonder why the time on the other post I just sent (about 20 minutes ago) says it is PM when it is actually AM? (it is now the "wee small hours" of the morning, not lunch time!) ... btw ... it says AM now - I had to "edit" the post and fix it, because it made the posts appear in the wrong order! (then I had to come back in and edit this one to add this bit ;-)

Street trees ...

... they're really really tough an' they got knives, and they dance kind of funky ...

er ... ? ... hang on - wrong channel ...

Trees along the sides of streets - that's what I am really posting about :-)

- here in Canberra (and also in many other cities and towns here in Australia) there are a lot of streets that have gum trees (Eucalypts) growing along the sides ... and they look rather nice with the street lights shining on/through them as one drives (or walks) along at night ... and, on my way home tonight, I noticed that they look even more wonderful when it has been raining (which it has ;-)
... imagine driving along the dark (still wet) road, lateish at night - so there are very few other cars - and the air is all misty after the rain ... and the raindrops, still hanging on the shiny wet leaves, are catching the light from the streetlights and shining like a million little fairy lights!

Ah ... what a wonderful way to end an enjoyable evening out!
(A group of us from work went out for a rather nice dinner, then went back to someone's rather nice house for coffee/port/etc and some rather nice supper ... not that any of us had much room left for supper, after what we all ate for tea!)

btw ... I haven't posted that much here lately ... kind of been busy (what's new? ;-)

...one thing that kept me busy was the fact that I had to organise what quilts/etc to enter in the quilt show (which meant I had to make enough of a couple of them to take a photo of and/or measure so I could include picture/measurements/etc on the entry form!) ... one of the 4 items is finished - pity it is only the smallest one ... LOL
I have finished the miniature quilt ... and half finished a small challenge quilt - done all the bits I had to do by machine but now it needs some hand sewing to finish the other half ... but the bigger quilt is still just a few cut out shapes thrown onto what is going to be the background and rolled up so the bits don't get lost - hopefully I can get most of that one done in the next couple of weeks (I have 2 weeks off work because it is school holidays, and I work at a school) ... and the 4th thing is my entry in the bag challenge - I made enough of the bag to pin together for the photo - now I just have to hope it all goes together and works out like I have imagined it will ...
... maybe, once the quilt show is over, I will see if I can stick a photo or 2, of these quilts/etc, up here ...
(in the meantime, I might have to see how quick/easy it is to do the new thingy we are supposed to be able to do with photos on this blog site, and put up some photos of some more of all the other quilty/crochet/etc stuff I have made over the last year or 10)

The other things that have kept me busy are probably all just part of life in general ... work, being a wife and mother (which includes doing family things as well as being "mum's taxi" and stuff like helping at fundrasing bbq's for the kids Scout troop), going to quilting/crochet/etc textile art meetings, going to other stuff that I am interested in ... all the stuff I usually seem to be doing ...
... and one thing that I usually don't do - the school I work at has a fashion parade each year (a class of students do it as an part of an elective subject) ... and, this year, they decided to have a "teachers" item or 3 ... and (in a moment of madness? ... oh - that is all the time with me! ... must be because I don't mind making a fool of myself if I have a good excuse .. LOL) I said I would join in. It was kind of meant to be mostly comical ... and I did hear laughter in the audience ... but I think my daughter probably summed it up best - she came and watched, and afterwards, on the way home, she told me I looked silly, and then she said "you don't know what to do on a catwalk" ... I just hope someone got some good photos that they can e-mail to me ... or, even better - maybe someone took a video (probably not - the teacher who usually does that was away in Sydney with another group of students and I don't think they found anyone else to do it).

hmmm ... methinks I probably shouldn't "just have a quick look at my e-mail" ... or even open the e-mail program .. right now - I should just post this and go crawl into bed (my 2 weeks holidays start next week - so I still have to get up and go to work tomorrow ... sigh) - I only came in here now because I wanted to say something about those wonderful wet trees ;-) ... I figured that if I didn't do it now, while I was still thinking about it, I would totally forget about it and never do it ...
(maybe I should have stopped and taken a photo of one of those glittery trees? ... and too bad if whoever lives along that bit of road thought some weirdo was spying on them ;-)

... goodnight :-)

busy busy busy ...

Er ... methinks it is time I checked in to see if this still works ...
I am still here - just been busy lately
- I sent an e-mail (about plans for this weekend) to someone last night - here is what I wrote at the end when I "signed" it ...


Andrea,
who should be out in my sewing room organising my entry forms/etc for the
Quilt show ... entries are due by Friday ... looks like I will be delivering
mine in person because it is too late to post it in time now ... and 2 of
the things need photos with the form ... which is easy to do once I have
taken them (just take camera's memory card in to a photo place tomorrow and
pick it up Friday) ... but first I have to take the photo ... which sounds
easy ... except that I have not actually finished enough of the things to
take a photo of! LOL ... at least it doesn't have to be a photo of the
finished item, but there does at least have to be enough done to show
roughly what it looks like and what colour it is ... and for one thing (a
bag challenge) I have not even worked out what I am using for all of the
fabrics ... and the other one (a biggish quilt) I have worked out the
design/etc and cut out bits to appliqué on ... but I have to work out if I
am going to put a border on it etc and what size it will be ...
... so I had better go get a wiggle on before I fall asleep
... and I have to go let the dog in too ... lol
btw ... I finished a crochet item in my morning tea break today (one I
started in front of the tv last night - lol) ... and those who saw it
laughed at it (me?) ... what was it? - a crochet CARROT ... LOL
and ... in front of the tv tonight (we watched that new beyond whatever it
is show) ... I crocheted a green chilli pepper!
and the dog still wants in ...
... and I HAVE to go organise how the rest of this bag is going to be done
... and the quilt ...
hmmm ... fill out entry form and put in a note saying "photo will be
supplied later"? LOL (don't think they would like that though)
... the dog still wants in ...
(or is he in and wants out? ... nah - he would be coming in here to try and
get me to get up and follow him to the door if he wanted out - clever mutt
)
(btw I just decided to send a cc of this to myself at work so, if I get time
for a lunch break, I can stick a copy up on my poor neglected blog )

and of course - here i am sending this from work (I did get a lunch break ... a quick few minutes now after "lunch" is officially over ... just eating my lunch while I do this ... LOL)

btw ... the dog actually wanted OUT ... he came in and lay down beside me just after I hit the send button on the e-mail ... he went out when I got up and left the room a minute or 2 later ... then he wanted back in, back out, back in ... etc ... while I did most of that organising/sewing stuff

oh oh ... now the boss wants me to do some work ... better gobble the last of my lunch and go ...

bye ...

Because ...

... it looks interesting



mud cracks often do

(this is actually part of a dried up puddle that I found while I was walking the dog)


goodnight ...

Animals, and stuff ...

Hi All,
I posted a picture of the dog back in January ( http://aykayem.blogspot.com/2005/01/going-potty.html ) but then I never got around to showing you the other animals ... and I have not put many pictures in here lately ... so I guess I have a good excuse for staying up too late and doing it now ... LOL

Here ...



... is Pixel
she is almost 16 years old now (older than the kids!)


and here ...



... is Spook (er ... about 13 years old) pulling out my pins (one of her favourite games)
- she is the one who has a "double" on The Crochet Dude's blog (at http://thecrochetdude.blogspot.com/2005/05/bookmarks-r-fun.html - well ... they do look similar if you don't look too closely ;-)

and here ...



... is Diesel, relaxing on the lounge ... laptop, coffee ... what more could he want? (well, fingers to type in the URLs might help, and some coffee in the mug ... LOL ... and probably a few other doggy wishes that I probably shouldn't mention ;-)

That's it for the "normal" pets ... "but wait, there's more" ... lol
I also have some pet stick insects!



... there are 2 different species in there (Children's stick insects and Tropical stick insects - both are native to Australia, and both eat Gum leaves - so they are easy to feed ;-) and the males and females look different, so do the juvenile ones ... probably all a bit too confusing to try and explain who is who in the photo ... lol


and, the other reason I decided to post stuff here at this hour of night is because ...

I just posted this (below) to a crochet list I am on ... but it belongs here too (it went to the crochet group first because it started out as a reply to something on that ... but it kind of grew ... LOL)


Janice said
> Whatever I choose, I will need to keep the cats
> away so that I don't get their fur caught in it!

LOL

Almost all of my crochet projects are made with very special exclusive yarn - a mix of acrylic (and/or wool/cotton/whatever) and the hair of 2 cats and a dog, and sometimes even one of my hairs too ...
btw ... an odd mix of yarns and even the odd hair or 5 doesn't matter with what I am working on at the moment ... I am doing some scrumbling (the current plan is that it will be a sort of shawl thingy ... but ... most of my crochet projects are subject to change without notice ).
I also came up with another idea, for another scrumbly thingy I want to make, this evening - after work today I went to a Teacher's workshop thingy at Questacon (I'm not a teacher but they let science assistants go too ) ... it was to do with sound and making weird musical instruments to help teach/demonstrate the science of sound, and I found a dead (stretched and tangled up) "slinky" (a wire spring thingy that they sell in those sorts of shops that sell toys for people who are interested in science) ... and it just so happens that they have a "Spring" challenge on a free form crochet list I am on ... so ... my "spring" might end up being free form crochet with wire/etc crocheted on/in/around a tangled up slinky spring ... LOL (they did say "spring" could be any meaning of the word, and didn't have to mean the season with flowers etc )

(for those that don't know what a slinky is I just did a google search - http://www.poof-slinky.com/catalog/slinkytoys/catalog.asp?action=catv&catid=33 has a picture of one , and http://www.teachingtools.com/Slinky/slinky.html has a picture and the story of how it was accidentaly invented ... and if you want to see something really weird, http://www.firstpr.com.au/slinky/ is the first thing that came up in the search results ... I have seen that page before (a year or 3 ago), but I had forgotten about it - and I am glad I saw it again - the person soldered together a whole bunch of slinkys and did some really weird stuff - and we all know that I like weird stuff - LOL)

Andrea,
disorganised in Dunlop
... who found the "double" of one of my cats on "The Crochet Dude"s blog! (his cat is at http://thecrochetdude.blogspot.com/2005/05/bookmarks-r-fun.html and I just put a pic of mine at http://www.geocities.com/aykayem/blogpics/Spook.jpg

That photo is now in here too ;-)

... not exactly the same, but at a glance one could be mistaken for the other)

hmmm *andrea's mind wanders* ... if I got a ball or 3 of yarn, and mixed it up with a rather playful kitten/cat ... and maybe got in and helped with my crochet hook ... I could create a "transient scrumble" and call it "crochet scrumble with cat"

... I think I had better go get some sleep before I get too weird!
(oops - too late?)

hmmm ... maybe I had better post something a bit more normal here?

but what?
(what the $#&$%^& is normal anyway? lol)

This http://www.newscientist.com/channel/fundamentals/mg18524911.600 probably isn't exactly normal, but it is interesting reading ...

er ... this probably isn't what most would call "normal" either ... but it is normal for me ... lol
- This was part of an e-mail I sent to a yahoogroup I am on (the rest of it was a big pile of links for crochet patterns) ...

"... where did my evening go?
oops?
... so much for an early night!
... and the B$%^%^&^%& dog came wandering in here, a little while ago, with the open bag of honey/sesame seed/etc coated peanuts ... dh left them on the coffee table ... the dog found them ... I don't think I really want to eat honey/sesame seed/etc and dog drool coated peanuts ...
... at least, when he finds things lying around like that (or shoes/toys/etc) he usually does bring them in to show us what he has found - which means if it is not something he is supposed to have, we can take it back ... but when what he finds is a bag of something he can smell is edible, he tends to drool rather a lot ... and when he drools while carrying an open bag of food - guess where the slobber goes? ... so I don't really want the bag of nuts back! LOL (odd thing is ... he found a container of chocolate eclairs (sweets/lollys/candy/whatever u call it) just after Christmas ... and he didn't bring those to show anyone! ... we just found him licking the last of the wrappers! ... luckily there wasn't much chocolate in them - chocolate is NOT good for dogs ... but their taste buds don't know that ... )
er ... time i was asleep ... "

yep - definitely normal for me - it IS time I was asleep now too ... lol

I suppose I could give you a list of what crochet/etc I have done lately ... well most of what I have done ... this was what I e-mailed to a crochet yahoogroup I am on, I sent it a week or 2 ago so it doesn't include the fact that I also finished a fabric box with stitching/beads/etc decorating it and I made a very small quilt ... (yes, another one - similar to the one I mentioned at the top of the list, but a bit smaller) ... anyway ... here is the list I posted ...

"So what have I finished recently then? ... er ... I finished a quilt a couple weeks ago ... only a small one though.Actually I have finished more crochet stuff than quilty stuff lately ... I made a beanie (for dd) and a scarf (4 dd) and another scarf (4 dd) and another beanie (4 me) and another scarf (4 me) and another beanie (4 me?) and a matching bag (4 me?) and another beanie and scarf (I might sell those?) and another beanie (4 me) and a few odd little scrumbled thingys that are the results of experimenting with ideas for lapel pins (because someone at work said she wanted one but didn't know how to describe exactly what she wanted - so I have been having fun doing different things and I don't really mind if she doesn't like/want any of them because I can use them for various other things ) and a scrunchie that sort of looks like a mutant pink echidna (4 me) and a weird scrumbled thingy that I will probably use as a scrunchie (because it didn't work as a lapel pin but it sort of does as a scrunchie) and a bag I just finished this evening ... and I am part way through another beanie (or it may end up being the matching bag if I decide it will be better to do that and start again with the beanie ) ... and I have also started a ... something ... so far it is 3 red squares that are the same size and one that isn't ... oops?! - I made the first 3, then stopped doing them and started the bag that I finished this evening, then I just grabbed the ball of red yarn and made the 4th red square and then I realised I had used the other hook that was in my bag - the bigger one - for the others ... LOL ... so I stuck the bigger hook IN the 3 squares and then kept using the hook I had been using - to start the beanie! ... I will make another red square (the same size as the other 3 ) later ... then who knows ... I might make 3 more smaller ones too ... or I might not ... depends what I end up deciding to make ... LOL ... it will probably be a bag of some sort ... but, knowing me, that could change without notice at any time ... LOL
Andrea,
disorganised in Dunlop...
up too late, again ..."

yep ... that last bit is "normal" (for me ;-)

oh yeah - the beanie I said I was in the middle of ... is now finished - it tried to become a bag ... but then it didn't - it ended up still being a beanie ... and the red squares ... are still red squares ... I got side-tracked again ... I started (and finished) another beanie ... in a sort of icey blue/white yarn and white ... and I have started a bag with the same yarn (because I was in the middle of watching some tv show and too lazy to get up and get/do something I should have been doing instead) ... and I have also started doing some grey/black/white scrumbles (for a shawl ... or something similar ;-) ... and I kind of ended up with some extra ones the other night ... for reasons best explained by pasting, in here, the e-mail I was writing while I was crocheting them!
... what this actually is, is a reply to someone's post - they mentioned some yarn on sale, and asked if anyone knew what stitch a couple of things were worked in (sorry - can't give a link - the pictures were on a members only page) ... and I had an answer for both ... sort of ... lol

" Hi All,
That question "What stitch??" caught my eye ... lol
My answer to that is in the second half of this e-mail (I thought I had half an answer but I think I might now have the whole answer )
...but, first ...The first thing I found when I actually read the message was this

------ Original Message -----
From: "Silver"
> Lincraft have a sale on Flutter yarn if anyone's interested -
> ... Plan on knitting them in garter stitch. Do we have any knitters on
> the list who can recommend what size needles to use and
> how many
> stitches?

Knit?! ... why not crochet? LOL
... I know - Knitting is probably easier for that fluffy stuff ... but - I have crocheted a couple of scarves for dd in that stuff, and another couple (for me) in some other equally fluffy stuff and I found a way that makes it a lot easier to follow where you are up to and looks/feels good too - I crochet the feathers/etc together with some matching 4 ply crochet cotton - the scarf feels nice, hangs nicely ... and the cotton makes it easier to see where the &*^&*&^ I am up to ... I think I used a 6.00 hook (it was the biggest metal one I have ... for some reason Aluminium hooks feel a bit nicer to use than plastic ones do - and I needed some way to decide what hook size to try first ) and I think I used 12 stitches, but that was for a fairly narrow scarf.

Now ... re those stitch patterns -... the greenish one looks like some kind of Tunisian crochet (otherwise known as Afghan crochet or Tricot) stitch ...
Janice might know
... there is a row of Trebbles all around the edge and the row inside that on the bottom of the square looks like a row of the basic Tunisian crochet stitch (the one Janice calls Tunisian Simple - often the only Tunisian crochet stitch that people know )
... I wonder if I can find the info on other Tunisian stitches that I know I have hiding somewhere ...?

...hmmm ... on top of that pile of folders was a pile of patterns and stuff I wanted to try out ... I have not even looked at them for ages ... of course what I wanted was not IN the pile ... it was actually beside it! LOL
... the "it" that I went looking for is an old folder that Janice threw out (I was there at the time so I grabbed it ) ... it has instructions on how to do several Tunisian stitches ... drats ... doesn't have pictures ... (I think the idea was that she taught people in her class how to do the stitches and they crocheted their samples to go with the instructions ... or something like that ... )

I just made a little square of "Tunisian Cross Stitch" ... and guess what - it looks just like the stitch in the dishcloth! LOL ... except my little square is grey ... and it is the other way up - I think the bottom of the photo is actually the top when it is being worked .
So that is one stitch figured out ... if you can't find any instructions online/in a book/etc (a google search just seems to turn up lots of pages of junk about doing cross stitch onto bits of tunisian crochet ... but I think I have seen that stitch in a crochet book somewhere once - it had several Tunisian patterns in it), then maybe Janice might be able to e-mail her instructions? ... or, if she is busy but she doesn't mind me spreading them around, I could probably explain it to someone who knows how to do Tunisian crochet, but not that particular stitch ... maybe ... lol
btw ... the grey yarn (and the hook) that I had handy is what I am using for some "Scrumbling" (free form crochet) I am doing ... probably for a shawl (but - knowing me - it could end up as anything ... especially seeing I have only just started it this evening) ... so ... I now have another "scrumble" for it - the little Tunisian square I just did! LOL

Now ... the purple one ... kind of looks like that birds tracks pattern someone mentioned ...but not quite ... there are groups of stitches facing different directions in the purple square, but with the birds tracks they all seem to be facing the same way ...hmmm ... I think the left side of the photo is the top of the work ...

I think I found it!I am not sure, because the photo is a bit small (lacking in detail) but I think it might be the "moss stitch" that is on this page - http://home.att.net/~susanBinKC/patterns/squares6.html

hey I think I like this stitch! ... I hate having to crochet into a foundation chain - so any stitch where you only have to crochet into half of them has gotta be good! LOL

wow! ... for something that looks so fancy - it is surprisingly easy! ... methinks I might make something using moss stitch sometime (it would look good for/in a scarf or a vest or somesuch) ... and I will probably also do a couple more rows on the bit I have just done - then I will have another "scrumble" for my shawl/etc - it was a good excuse to grab the yarn again and try out the stitch, instead of going off and doing what I was supposed to be doing ... LOL
btw ... it looks like the stitch in the mauve discloth ... so I think now we might have the answer for both squares! LOL

hmmm ... actually it doesn't look exactly like the mauve dishcloth ... it may be a slightly different variation of the same idea - there seem to be 3 stitches in each group not just 2 like in the moss stitch ...

hmmmm ... I think that looks a bit more like it ... the moss stitch is groups of of a dc and a tr - so I tried doing dc and tr and dtr (yo twice, draw up a loop, and pull through 2 loops 3 times) ... and it kind of looks even more like it.... but I still might not have the exact same thing - mine is acrylic yarn, not cotton ... and I would kind of need to be able to actually poke and prod and pull at it to see exactly how it was done ...
I did a few rows with groups of a dc and 2 trebbles ... just to see if that looked more like it ... not sure (need to poke around and count stuff that I can't do with a picture ... lol)
and I did a little bit doing it backwards (the trebbles first then the dc) ... didn't look right ... hmm - I wonder - is the photo reversed?
I now have a few more "scrumbles" for my shawl/whatever ...
methinks I had better stop before I go batty ...
oops too late - I already am ... LOL (I have been for years )

now I have this really weird "scrumble" that starts off with that backwards version of moss stitch stuff I did ... then gets carried away and branches out into loops/groups of even more dc, tr, dtr, etc ... then it kind of goes off on a tangent with a bit of tunisan crochet growing out the side (a triangle thingy because I increased at the start of each "pick up" row) that has mostly plain tunisian stitch but a couple of rows of tunisian cross stitch kind of snuck in there ... oh - and it has a funny round dangly thing hanging off it too ... lol... so much for going to bed with a book (that was what I WAS going to do before I got side-tracked looking at some e-mail that I probably shouldn't have looked at, while I was in here to check if I had any e-mail that I did need to read/reply to before next time I come in here ... ) ... the book will have to wait for another night (I was going to read it these school holidays ... but school goes back in the morning and I still have not started it ... lol) ... I might read it tomorrow night - might be just what I need after my first day back at work after 2 weeks off ... lol
er ... I now have dangly bits on 2 of the other moss stitch/etc bits too ... oops? LOL
... I had better go to bed! ... I might have still been up this late if I had gone to bed with that book ... but ... I probably would have been finishing it about now (or putting it down and going to sleep anyway ... unless dh is snoring ... lol)
btw ... I also found something else I want to make too - http://www.seafore.com/original/shell.html
Andrea,
disorganised in Dunlop
(up way too late for someone who has to get up for work in the morning ... ) "

er ... it is "way too late ..." now too ... maybe I should go get some sleep ...

btw ... one day I might get organised and actually post some photos of some of this stuff I keep talking about ... LOL

goodnight ...