What's Hot + What's Not

It's the What's Hot + What's Not meme from Loobylu!

Hot

1. The temperature today. Meant to be going up to 21 and I can believe it - do we have a hot summer coming our way this year? Nooooo I don't handle heat and humidity well. It makes me whiny and, well, whiny. I suffer and I like others around me to suffer. Maybe this should be down below under 'What's not hot' but since it IS technically hot, I'll leave it up here.
   
   
2. These gorgeous tea cosies from My Baboo on Flickr. I found them while looking for things with felt dots on them - as you do.
   
   
   
   
3. A pile of jewel-toned felt pieces, hence #2
   
   
4. The fish pie Mat made from Jamie at Home, seriously just about the best thing I've tasted in yonks!
   
   
5. The start of neighbourhood athletics last night, with Hazel in the 4-5 year old group and having the time of her life (phew!). Watching the littlies run around like chooks with their heads cut off was gorgeous.
   
   
6. The gorgeous high-res Charley Harper images you can download from the Contemporary Arts Centre. Woo!
   
   
   

What's Not

1. Getting the submission date for something really important wrong - by about 2 weeks.
   
   
2. Hazel home with a cold means no work for me today, nor am I in the mood to be doting mummy due to #1
   
   
3. People letting off fireworks for a week before Guy Fawkes, including some home-made ones. Some people are too stupid to be allowed near fireworks and they make life difficult for the rest of us normal folks. One mum on the way to athletics last night got turned around a few blocks away by the police because there was "a large unexploded bomb on the corner over there", no doubt one of the neighbourhood wanna-be terrorists was still perfecting his trade. :P And this at 6pm on a weeknight?
   
   
4. Sore back from something I did and my stomach muscles aren't up to the task of holding it all together so it can repair itself! Must. Get. Swiss. Ball.
   
   
5. Writing out a list of embroidery floss colours I need, going all the way to Spotlight to get them along with sewing machine needles and some felt - and then forgetting to get the floss.
   

Embroidery WIP - win or fail?

Embroidery WIP, originally uploaded by Ansis68.

I'm really unsure about this embroidery. I think I've chosen the wrong colour for the linen - it needs to be much much lighter, or maybe red (and another pattern!). Not that grey-tinged green, it just doesn't stand out enough. Or maybe it's ok, I don't know! It'll have 3 small blue flowers and one darker leaf, so maybe that'll save it... It's just so hard to continue with something you're unsure about, it's a lot of effort if I decide to not use it. Oh darn it! I guess I'll finish it but I'm doubtful about its overall effect (and not in a fishing for compliments kind of way either!).

My Place and Yours: Blog HQ

I missed last week, but I'm back on the wagon for this one. The theme this week over at Meet Me At Mike's is "Blog HQ" so here it be:



I like how people are using the tag feature over at Flickr for their photos so I've done that and it's annotated all to hell :) The desk is in the spare room and also does double duty with the sewing machine; and no, it's not usually so tidy! The whole room was cleaned up last week in anticipation of the Hallowe'en party we had yesterday so I'm quite pleased I was able to keep it relatively tidy until this meme came along.

ETA: I'm amazed how many people doing this meme have Macs! Are we some sort of self-selecting population or something? Does that old adage of 'arty' people using them more really still hold true? Or are we just a really discerning bunch? ;)

For Hallowe'en I carved my first jackolantern for getting on for 15 years! The pumpkins here aren't so well-suited for them as the larger and thinner-walled N.American versions are, but it turned out fine even so. Hazel was entranced, she'd never seen one before!



I also managed a few Hallowe'en-themed treats for the party. These little cupcake ghosts were from somewhere but do you think I can find the link? No I can't. They're fondant draped over those sugared jelly lollies, on top of chocolate cupcakes.



And these marshmallow ones at Martha Stewart


(shouldn't have used buttercream icing in retrospect, too yellow! But they looked better than they do in this photo)

I had a bunch of other ideas for food but either ran out of time or couldn't figure out how to do them with ingredients available in NZ. That was more of an issue than I'd expected, the sheer range of junk food available in the States puts our meagre selection to shame (which is a good thing I know!).

The loss of knowledge

This afternoon I went to a memorial service for Roger Green, a very eminent archaeologist who died recently. I knew him moderately well, liked him and have published a paper with him (with me as third author!), but I felt somewhat on the periphery of a lot of people who were very very good and old friends, students of his, family and so on. Memorial services are always so moving, the grief of others is contagious! So many lovely stories and memories, professional and personal and I feel regret that I didn't know him better. But life is what it is, and I also know the logical reasons why I didn't go to him for advice and professional guidance - nothing much in it other than he was retired by the time I showed up at the Dept. and his interests had largely moved to other areas. I feel honoured that he knew my name and what I was up to to be honest!

What is most sobering is that when a great mind goes then all that knowledge and experience goes too. That's not limited to the academic world I know, perhaps crafting is another where it has a similar impact. The only thing that saves us is that that knowledge can in some part be passed on to others. I read a fabulous essay once by a museum person about his whakapapa (geneology) and he cited all the great thinkers of Western tradition - Socrates, Newton, Einstein etc., and the ways of thinking that had been passed down from generation to generation. I discovered this afternoon that my Master's supervisor was one of Roger's students, so in a way he was my academic grandparent. He was part of my whakapapa.

This was on the back of the programme:

E hara i te mea
No naianei te aroha
No nga tupuna
Tuku iho, tuku iho

It is not a new thing,
Todays love is
from our ancestors
handed down, handed down

Felt pouch #3

Felt pouch #3, originally uploaded by Ansis68.

I made this for Hazel this afternoon. She'd admired the two I did yesterday and especially this flower button, so I figured we'd keep the button in the family and I'd put it somewhere she would be less likely to lose it. It really is a fabulous button, I think she's got great taste! I'm going to have to stop making these little bags though, they're strangely addictive and I can see I could end up with lots around the house with no real purpose. I think it's the sheer ease of making them - start in one corner, up the side, around the top and down the other side, stitch the buttonhole, attach the button and voila! I did this one while watching half an hour of Spongebob Squarepants with Hazel.

Kristen wondered if I'd do a tutorial for the blanket stitch, but I'd recommend this one at Futuregirl because I actually learned how to go around corners and start a new strand of floss half way through. Also check out this YouTube video, sometimes it's good to see someone doing it in real time rather than just photos. Personally I almost always forget how to start it off, unless I have been doing it a lot recently, so I have to look it up in my embroidery stitch book. Nice to know there are online options for when I can't find it!

My effort for the day

Felt pouches, originally uploaded by Ansis68.

Little felt pouches for little things. About 8.5cm wide with a button from the button box. I'm quite pleased with them, there's something about blanket stitch that's just so appealing.

Mini Break

It was a long weekend here (Labour Day today) and at short notice we were invited out to a friend's sister's bach (cabin) on Kawau Island. That's pronounced Cow-ow btw.

We took a ferry over

Leaving Mansion Bay, where there is a real mansion built by Sir George Grey, an eccentric governor of NZ back in the 1800s.

We stayed here


Looked at this view (and out to the bay with the yachts) and ate cheese and crackers by the fire


And did a short walk to some abandoned DOC houses


The weather wasn't the best but a good time was had by all, even if the Wekas were noisy as hell and insisted on coming onto the deck during the night and scaring me; and something growled at me from a bush as I walked past in the night. It made me walk a little faster even though I'm sure it was a possum. The good thing about the NZ bush is that the most dangerous thing you're likely to encounter is another human being, but it still gets dark and spooky!