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!