Oh hey. Don't mind me, just sneaking back in after ALMOST A YEAR of not writing blog posts. How did you survive, I hear you ask? I missed you so much, I hear you wail! For the love of god, woman, have you finished your sexy novel?
Yes, yes. Please try to calm down a little bit, and all of your (my) very caring (imaginary) questions will be answered (probably).
Why no write? Short answer: I am a fickle woman and I got bored. Long answer: how long have you got? But rest assured, when I finally got off that submarine, the president gave me a nice medal, the rescue dolphin was reunited with his wife, and I finally understood why breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
Yeah, you missed me.
Anyway, I found this draft just now. From August or something. Enjoy!
The Panda is the next Abandoned Cross-stitch clutch at MiuAndUmi now. I had so much fun deconstructing this one, as it was large and professionally framed. I got a little medieval on it's ass.
And then it got a little medieval on mine. Luckily I am incredibly brave and managed to soldier on.
The Woods is one of the Abandoned Cross-stitch clutches in MiuAndUmi right now.
Today I jumped right out of my comfort zone and sent part of my rough draft novel to a friend for feedback. This is something I practically never do. Occasionally I'll read out a paragraph that's troubling or pleasing me, only to have Cam say "It's good. I like it." I consider Kirsty to be my number one proof-reader/teller of truths, but when I read her the 'sexy' parts we just ended up in hysterics, so I figured it was time to outsource. Stay tuned for that one.
Yay finally! The Abandoned Cross-stitch clutches are in MiuAndUmi! What a relief to get the ideas out of my noggin and into the shop. Now I can stop obsessing over them! I went through a brief phase of - shall we say - intense interest? Scouring op-shops, sewing until all hours, generally being a terrible wife and mother (oh, the shame). Meh, you know I don't care. I'm like the honey badger.
Say hello to the best cake ever. (According to the newly 8-year-old PomPom.) It was an epic production, wherein I displayed all the emotions a human is capable of, and possibly discovered a few new ones. It took. All. Day. But was worth it because of the delicious love I got in return. And ahem - Instagram/Facebook kudos which I lapped up like the shameless praise whore I really am.
Would you like to see me giving it out indiscriminately on Instagram? I'm melanieshmelanie.
Terrible photo quality, I know, and I just love that I managed to capture the one corner of the kitchen where the tiles are still waiting for their grout... But none of that matters, because...
PINATA CAKE!!!!!!!!!
Did I mention that I also made rainbow cupcakes and threw a little party at the playground? Yeah.
Pink lemonade! I sugared the kids up real nice. Parties are fun, aren't they?
Oh, and while I think of it...
A good birthday for me. Not for the horse.
So May is now a fading memory, and I'm no longer able to say "but it's my birthday month" when I want to get my own way. I raised $200.60 for Kiss Goodbye to MS and feel proud of my contribution. I even made a celebratory collage. Impressed? I know I am.
I'm wearing red every day of May to raise funds and awareness for Kiss Goodbye to MS, and donating 100% of my sales from Miu & Umi to this important cause. If you see something you'd like in the shop, know that with your purchase comes support for amazing research that could see more effective treatments and most importantly, a cure for Multiple Sclerosis.
Last month I was truly saddened by news of the death of Divinyls' lead singer Chrissy Amphlett, who lost her battle with breast cancer and MS. Ms Amphlett lived in our neighbourhood when we were kids, and Kirsty and I would stalk her in the supermarket, starstruck to see her shopping for groceries in her huge black suglasses. Growing up, we both loved her incredible fuck-you aura of rock posturing, appreciating that in Australian rock, chicks like her were supremely rare. She was tough and unapologetic and outrageously sexy, and probably could've taught young musicians a thing or two.
Kirsty's blog post on MS! The Musical talks about Chrissy Amphlett and MS, and affords a glimpse of her daily physical and emotional struggle. But somehow she still manages to be good-looking, hilarious and cool as shit? What's with that? She's pretty much the most mathematical person I know.
So, it's getting cooler and you know what that means... crochet, baby! I'm smashing out a bunch of heart garlands at the moment, and dreaming of big booty blankets and all the other cool stuff that can eventuate when hook meets yarn. If you'd like to order a garland, or have ideas for different colours, lengths, what have you, PLEASE let me know. That would be cool.
In other news - it's my birthday! Yay! Cue trumpets, confetti and balloons! Man, I'm getting so old, but I still feel like a spazzy teenager. What's with that?
I've already shared a giant Hershey Kiss with the kids (actually I nibbled the nub off the top, then the kids put their hands on it, and I know what they do with their little hands, ewwww, so the rest of the chocolate is now theirs. Too much knowledge is a burden.) But the best bit is that Cam gave me a frickin OVERLOCKERRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Words can't express how much I've yearned for this. I'm practically beside myself! Now I have to learn how to make underwear, and t-shirts, and all kinds of crazy stuff. Omigod you guys.
Admitting - defeat. Yup. I extended my borrowing time from the library, and even still... In my defense, this is one incredibly dense novel. It deserves my full attention, and that's only gonna happen if I own a copy. David Foster Wallace -1, Me -0.
Rethinking - a project. Do you ever do that thing where something looks amazing in your mind, but the reality is just kind of... meh? I found these brilliant felted alphabet stickers and thought it would be perfect for a bit of wall lyric action. But I got halfway, ran out of A's, and fell hard out of love with the whole idea. These weekly projects are harder than I thought!*
(Dear reader, you may have noticed that I've spaced big-time on the weekly projects. That's because I'm oppositional. Equal parts lazy and stubborn. I hate being told what to do, even if I'm telling myself. I'll get back into it... probably. I've still got a bunch of weeks, right?)
All that being said, I've got some really fun stuff in the works. Stuff I love wildly, that makes me very happy, stuff that gets me out of bed in the morning! So, stay tuned.
Thrumming - in my veins every time I hear this song by Melbourne band Harmony. It's called Cacophonous Vibes, it's loud and strange and full of soundwaves. Enjoy!
We had so much fun making these cute little bacon and eggs on Wednesday afternoon - don't they look adorable? It's so simple yet effective, and easy to do with the little monkeys (although I do admit I got a little perfectionist mum, saying things like "No no, the M&M is upside down!")
Not proud. Can't help it.
Anyway, the mixture of salty, crunchy pretzels with the sweet white chocolate and M&Ms is tasty delicious and reminds me a little of the salted caramel milkshakes we make at work. Yum!
I wish I could claim the cleverness of this invention, but alas, t'was not I. This was the source.
I think the ratio of yellow to all other colours in the M&M packet was a little skewiff. We ran out of yellow, so we made some green eggs. Now I'm figuring out which lolly could look a bit like ham... any ideas?
So our present to each other is a record player. YAY!
I started the turntable for the maiden spin with my Alexei Sayle record, CAK! which made the kids laugh their heads off. And all day I've been playing old friends I haven't heard for years, and new (old) ones I've never heard... like the original score from West Side Story.
It's been a very quiet week for me, with a touch of heat exhaustion sitting me firmly on my arse. Wow, I felt bad.
So project 4 is a low-key effort... these photos turned out more dramatic than I expected, and I love them! Our new home-made 'stained glass' windows are really cardboard and cellophane, but they look so cheerful and cast the most amazing light in the afternoon.
It's rare to catch these two in repose, so when I saw the opportunity, I took it.
Leaking - out of my eyes while watching Seeking a friend for the end of the world. I didn't expect it to be so moving. Steve Carell manages to be both hilarious and a figure of pathos, and Keira almost hit a Clementine note with her 'quirky chick' character. Am I a loon because I think end-of-the-world movies are fun?
Over-committing - just maybe? My second 52 project, and I'm just a little (ahem) behind schedule. But hey, it's no biggie. I'll class this as a "to be continued". It's so much fun, but I made the rookie mistake of stitching like a fiend for a few hours straight, then wondering why my head was pounding. What a rube.
Hooking - for love. That's right! Valentine's Day is not too far away, and I'm listing my heart garlands in the shop.
Drinking - Rose and French Vanilla iced tea... this could be my new obsession. It's just like normal iced tea, only 50 times better!!!
Crocheting - more hearts for my Valentine garlands. They're so cute no matter what you do with them.
Reading - Wildwood with my little darlings. They get so involved in the story, gasping and exclaiming, it's the sweetest thing. It's a cracking yarn, and I've tried hard not to read ahead and spoil the story for myself. It was written by Colin Meloy, of The Decemberists. He's a funny guy...
These garlands can also be made to order in different colours and lengths... so if you're wanting a rainbow heart garland... let me know!
See that gorgeous black floral kiss-lock bag hanging in the background? I love that bag. It was made by Vicki of Marcello Neckwear, and I bought it from her at a BrisStyle market over a year ago. When I'm not using the bag, it hangs next to my bed, and greets me with awesomeness every morning when I wake up.
This is the cake. This one. It's Cameron's birthday today - he's my best friend in the entire world, and I love him so fiercely it's scary. So I'm going to make him a Red Velvet Cake, and maybe add a bit more chocolate cream into the middle. He really likes chocolate.
This morning I got up with him (at 4.30am, thank you!) and made him coffee and some eats. I played him this...
and gave him his present...a whipper-snipper! I know, I'm very romantic, but it's what he wanted.
I'm in a little bit of love with this coat. I don't need it, not at all, but boy, I want it.
One of ny new brooches - a mix of old and new materials which seemed to find each other! The laying out phase of making something new is a dreamy, playful time for me, and I listen carefully for the little voice that hints I'm stepping on my comfort zone. This is when I know I'm heading in the right direction.
Now I just have to come up with a clever name, and write it up in my little shop. Stay tuned!
From throwing poorly crafted paper planes with the names of the entrants from my verandah ...
...to letting physics decide the winner!
Congratulations Christine from Little Chrissy on winning the package of summertime booty!
Christine wrote in her entry: "Summer for me is picnics in the park, gin and tonics on the deck and dunks in the salty ocean. Do you hear that, rain?? We've had enough! Begone so that we may picnic and laze at the beach!"
Confession: I know I said the goal was 150 likers on Facebook, but I just couldn't wait any longer! I kept checking the number of likers and wondering why I wasn't drumming up a bit more interest, and generally feeling a bit 'wah, poor me', but then I realised I was undervaluing each person who had taken the time to visit my page, and missing the point of the exercise - to make new connections!
Every single person who comments or even clicks that 'like' button is showing me a bit of support, and each new 'friend' has the potential for genuine connection. Not just for jewellery, or giveaways, or hearting some new cute thing, but for honest sharing, education and growth as a human being. Just look at the support rallied for those hardest hit by the floods, or raising funds for the Red Cross in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami, all through social networking.
I'm all about people, not numbers, and I'm really very happy to be making all these wonderful new connections!
