Saturday, September 1, 2007

FINISHED OR NEARLY DONE

Today is September 1, and fittingly it's a PEACH of a day. Sun shining, birds twittering, flowers blooming, temp in mid 20's (maybe 70+???). So great, isn't it to get those windows open. Now, what have I been doing? Yesterday, I decided that my floor (tiled) had so many bits of thread, balls of fluff, scraps of fabric etc that I really HAD to get out the vaccuum cleaner and give it a run. I heard a couple of loud pops and realised that I had broken a couple of ribs in my enthusiasm. Poop! I don't bother with X-rays any more, having had between 20 and 30 broken ribs in the last 3 years, I think I know what has happened and there's nothing they can do about it except tell me to expect 6 weeks for it to heal, a lot of agony doing anything including breathing and what crappy bones I have got. For that I get another little dose of radiation and a bill. No thank you. Only thing is, I rail and rant against this limitation on my mobility. Nevertheless, I did get a few things underway. Like:



It is going to be a vase cover thingy. I made a big bit of created fabric by fusing little scrappy bits between two layers of crinkled sheer and fashioned them into squarish shapes (not straight edged, wavy). Then, I thought I would try to link them into diamonds with metallic satin stitch. Alas, I ran out of said thread (Gutterman, which is great stuff but poor value for money for the amount on the reel). Having no vehicle as my son has requisitioned it, I am kinda stuck at the moment, but I hope the effect can be gained and let's hope it works out! (As you can see, I am at the tricky part.) The vase has bothered me for a while. It was just a cheapy, but i liked the blue fluted shape at the top and the overall form of it. There's always been something unidentifiable about it, tho, that seems to scream, "Yes, I look OK, but I'm still just a cheap slut."



Then I played with my chicken bag, as Arlee suggested. Let me just say, I have learned quite a bit. For a start, setting it on fire works well (plus it satisfies the pyromaniac inside). It chars the outside white paper, leaving a thin film of silver stuff that I am trying to make work like that foiling effect. One of my earlier projects of the day was to rip up a disposable nappy and take out the fluffy innards (it's got water absorbing crystals in it). I threw some acrylic paint on it and it came out great because there were still tiny bits of crystals on it and they looked cool. Unfortunately, not one to leave well enough alone, I thought I might try to foil it as well. I was smart enough to use baking paper on top of it to protect my iron - BUT, forgot that the back of the nappy was PLASTIC. I can just leave it there, can't I?? In case you cannot imagine it, this is what my ironing board looks like now:


Guess what I have to do today? I did get further inspiration about the fluffy stuff and if it works I will post it on here.


The only other thing I can claim to have achieved yesterday was to find the bargain of the century (maybe) in the form of a toy "building site" complete with many different kinds of trucks and machines. I set it up for Dylan's visit today and he will just love it. A couple of comments, though - obviously made in a non-English speaking country as the bit where the trucks come in is called the "Enterance" and the road pieces are made of thin card in jigsaw style that don't really fit together all that well, so I can see someone cracking the shits about that! I thought I might scrabble around for a piece of firm board and paint out the little scene for him instead.

Nat and Daniel (her fiance) are dropping him off soon on their way to the footy. I have a free ticket if I wanted to go, but frankly it's been a sad enough week and I don't know if I can cope with saying goodbye to the longest serving, most amazing coach my team has ever had. Goodbye Sheeds, you're a legend! Plus, James Hird, possibly the greatest Bomber to pull on a pair of boots, courageous and inspirational captain and all round great man and father to those beautiful children. At least I have this to remember him by. (Some nasty people have suggested he is my secret son!) Gonna miss you Hirdy.

2 comments:

arlee said...

jeezzzzz, i can't believe what you go through every day............if i could do anything.....

the mess on the ironing board looks kind of cool :} any way you could save it? the pyromaniac in me loves these things too!

sounds like your experimenting is fun!

is that you in the photo? YER GORGEOUS!!!

Midge said...

This might be a bit off a magnum opus of a response, but I am waiting for my camera's battery to recharge.
Arlee, it means so much to me for you to say "if I could do anything". I just wanted to blub when I read that. You are just the best, girlfriend. I can be a bit "dweeby, dweeby, calling the Universe" sometimes and straight away when I came across your blog, I sensed that you are a caring, genuine, generous, intelligent and hilariously funny woman. In other words, you seemed exactly like the kind of woman I could instantly become friends with. PLUS, you GET IT when it comes to textile art. Whenever I read your postings I get an immediate and overwhelming urge to teleport myself to the other side of the world and sit at your feet in your studio absorbing and learning from you and playing with things and most of all LAUGHING until I wet myself (God I miss that. Life has been far too sad for far too long.) So if you can do anything, I would ask that you keep on sending me those warm waves of love I am feeling and keep inspiring me as it makes me want to stretch my own boundaries and take more risks.
I never realised that it was possible to find friends on the internet. The only experiences of human contact this way so far had been a few dates - and let me tell you I seriously thought about writing a book about those experiences!! Let me just say that some men have quite peculiar ideas about themselves. For example, their height. Now, I am only 5'5" (a bit over) these days, so when I found myself looking downwards into the snaky little eyes of one bloke, I realized that his description of himself as 5'8" was more than a tad exaggerated - plus, he was wearing shoe lifts!! Also when they say GSOH, my advice is to run as fast as possible in the opposite direction. Thinking about it, if you feel the need to inform people that you have a GSOH, then you probably don't have one at all. How bout the bloke who felt it necessary to advise me the second time I met him that he required penile injections before sex, so it had to be pre-planned. Thanks for that, buster, WA-A-A-A-Ay too much information.
All this blathering is to illustrate how refreshing it really is to discover a real "mensch" in cyberworld. Love you heaps and wish we lived much closer together. And Yes, that is me with the death mask leer on my face. Thanks for the compliment. The outside bits are not so bad for an old chook I guess, but the 95 year old bones inside betray me constantly! Lucky I am a strong-willed old bitch, isn't it?