Sunday Storm Frenzy

Hey I know its Monday not Sunday and the big storm was on Saturday but bear with me please.

Work has been crazy busy this last week with meetings lasting till after 9 at night so I have been kind of drifting through this long weekend in a bit of a haze.

Other than that the shawl for my Nonna is progressing well, I cannot knit on the train anymore as the pattern has become a bit too complicated so it had been relegated to evenings in front of the TV. I did not get much work done last week, being way too tired and not wanting to have to un-knit all the mistakes I would make. I remain hopeful that I will have it done before her birthday on the 30th.

Back at Kallista Market on Saturday (luckily over well before the storm hit) both Karen and I had a great day although I now only have 6 Sunekosuri left and will have to get sewing before the next one. We have prepaid for the next 6 months so come and see us if you can, on the first Saturday of each month.

I have begun working to transform my disarranged study into a proper studio workspace. Our fabulous neighbour Graham is building me some shelves so that I can finally rip out the crappy built in wardrobe and organise my stuff properly. Once that is done and I get some decent lighting it is going to be great.

Last night we went to see Men Who Stare At Goats, we had both read the book which is non-fiction and kind of investigative journalism and were very curious as to how they would turn it into a narrative. They did a fantastic job it was hilarious, the casting was brilliant, and the politics were spot on. Another one not to miss is Fantastic Mr Fox, I would not recommend it if you are not keen on Wes Anderson films, but if you do like them then it is not to be missed.

Of course the most dramatic thing to occur in the last few weeks is the massive storm we had on Saturday afternoon. Wendy, Scott and I were sitting on the couch when we noticed the light had gone a weird greenish yellow and then all hell broke loose.

The hailstones were bigger than golf balls.

The road turned into a river.

We had waterfalls in the back yard.

All in all not too much damage, the PT Cruiser has a ding on the bonnet from hail and we seem to have developed a leak in the roof somewhere over the lounge but it could have been much worse.

Friday Zombie

The evening is golden, the black cockatoos are back in the valley and their eerie cry lends a mournful air to proceedings.

I am siting on the couch watching the light change on the mountain zombified after a big week at work, Scott has gone down to the Chippie to get dinner as I am too buggered to cook.

We will eat chips and watch Charlie Brooker and then Fantastic Mr Fox while the dogs look on hopefully and scavenge for crumbs.

My forearms are aching from bashing a star picket into the ground by the front steps. The purpose of this picket is to stabilise the sculpture we bought last weekend from local sculptor and all around gorgeous person Jenny Rowe.

Here she is keeping guard over our front steps:

Our acquisition of this artwork it was funded by my Mum as a thank you for the cardigan I knitted for her. I think I said I would post a picture of it ages ago but never got round to it, this is not the best image but here you go:

I continue to work on the shawl for my Nonna and should have it finished in time for her birthday at the end of March.

Anyway dinner has arrived and the warm chip smell is making my mouth water, better tuck in before they go all soggy.

Sunday Again Frenzy

I have been slack, well slack about posting stuff at any rate, otherwise quite busy.

Scott has had his birthday a big one with an "0" in it, we had a party with lots of wonderful people. You can see the present I got him here, there are 10 pictures in total around A4 size. They look nicer in reality I think they were scanned for the website which makes them look a bit harsher. Had to have a big picture hanging rearrangement to fit them in but they look great.

I have been helping with the Melbourne Satellite Reef project by making a a Blog which you can see here. I have also bee crocheting coral and making flyers and generally helping out.

I am knitting a shawl for my Nonna who is in hospital at the moment.

I am also trying to finish some UFOs and tidy up my study.

I have no pictures because my Flickr account has gone haywire and I can't get in to upload anything. It is a frustrating process it looks like I've been hacked and someone has changed my details so Yahoo just keep telling me the details I am giving them do not match my account - duh I know that that's why I can't get in. Not sure how long this is going to take to resolve.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

In that strange dreamy limbo between Christmas and New Year it is time to take stock of the year that has been and gird ourselves for the year to come. My buddy Andrew keeps telling me it it a fantastic time to be alive right now, and you know what he might just be right.

Here are some of the things about this year that make life worth living:

The Boys

Scott & GIR & Corto make every day a joy. I could complain about the the endless fur, dribble & scratching (that would be GIR & Corto not Scott), but really nothing beats dog love at the end of a crap day. Except of course Scott TLC which is always in abundance whenever I am sick or just feeling sorry for myself.

Star Trek Movie

I must confess I am a total geek for original Trek, not the movies or the beige spinoffs but the campy Shantnerific TV series. I really thought the movie captured the essence of classic Trek - funny, campy, grandiose without being pompous, and full of optimism for the future.

Un Lun Dun by China Melville

The best book I have read for ages, Melville manages to combine influences from a lot of my favourite authors without reading like a pastiche of other peoples ideas which is very rare these days. Plus his heroine is fantastic, a brilliant antidote to the hysterical vapid vampire fixated females you find elsewhere in fiction.

Team Winchester

I know they are pouty slashies with psycho fans but I have a soft spot for Sam & Dean ... well mostly Dean. Season five of Supernatural has been whizz bang, the best so far, introducing those bastard angels really got things going.

Ripe

This cafe in Sassafras does the best vegetarian platters ever - shots of fabulous soup, quiche, frittata, & salads in ever changing combinations. They also do a mean iced chocolate.

The Fall

A truly amazing visual experience and a beautiful heartbreaking story. See on the big screen if you can - maybe The Astor will play it one day, otherwise Bluray on a good size TV. I will not even try to describe it, words will never do justice just see the movie guys.

Monster Magnet

A favourite band for a long time we finally got to see them in concert at the beginning of the year. Sleazy stoner metal at its best.

Uncharted: Among Thieves

This game was so much fun to play, funny and exciting like watching a movie. In fact I played it all the way through on easy for my friend Wendy cos she got so sucked into the story.

Sherlock Holmes

This one just managed to sneak into 2009, a great way to see the year out. Interestingly enough it remains true to cannon while dialling up the action and excitement to 11.

Sunday Allergy Frenzy

I have a good excuse for being late this week, on Sunday night I had a super duper anaphylactic allergic reaction - very scary. Looks like my occasional attack of hives from eating prawns has turned into a full on extreme allergy, puts a bit of a damper on Yum Cha. I now have take super strong steroids with me everywhere just in case it happens again. I am on my second day home from work and my eyes are finally almost unpuffed.

Aside from all that drama I had quite a productive weekend, I made two batches of cherry jam and we have now finished all the presents and cards for Christmas - yay.

The Sunekosuri family continues to expand, here are photos of the last two from the first batch:

These are the ones that I made last week, travel time on the train can be very productive:

I will be at the Kallista Market again on Saturday.

Sunday Catch Up Frenzy

I had such grand plan to post a Sunday Frenzy every weekend but I got too distracted by everything going on and now I need to catch up.

Did my first Kallista Market a month ago and sold one Sunekosuri oddly enough it was the slightly lamish duck who cannot stand up on its own. I did not think it would sell, but goes to show what I know. Here it is in all it purple glory.

Although I only sold one thing I had a fabulous day, the weather was wonderful and I met some great people including the gorgeous Vicky from Nolly Posh who makes the most adorable dolls and is an all round sparkly person.

This weekend was my second market, on my own this time as poor Karen had the dreaded lurgy. It was a cold slow start to the morning and I was feeling a little disheartened but it picked up and I sold a grand total of five Sunekosuri and lots of people stopped by for a look and a chat. I have to say a big thank you to my neighbouring stall holders who kept an eye on things so I could go to the loo and helped me out with change when I ran out.

The most elaborate Sunekosuri to date who I've been calling Huff went to a new home, I hope he behaves himself.

The slight down side to selling things is now I only have two weeks to make more as they sneak in a extra market before Christmas so looks like I will be even busier over the next two weeks.

I did finish the cardigan for my mum and will post some pictures soon, had a text from Rome the other day she and the cardigan are having a good time.

I also did a class on making Temari Balls which are a kind of Japanese embroidery on, you guessed it - a ball. When I finish one I will post some pictures.

I guess it is just the time of year when things get a bit frantic but we are close to having this year's Christmas card finished Scott has done a fabulous design (once again based on something idiotic I said). I have figured out what to make for gifts (just have to actually make it) and most of the shopping is done.

Scott's 40th birthday in January has been giving me a whole lot of ponderation and I had come up with a crazily elaborate plan (involving 40 gifts over 40 days, kind of like Lent except with presents and no deprivations and a big party at the end) but a minor miracle this morning has seen a decision made and a whole lot of potential stress evaporate.

Sunday UFO Frenzy

What a crazy three days it has been, Scott and I have been helping out at the Burrinja Community Arts Centre. Part of the building is going to be demolished to make way for a new auditorium and in celebration of the old space and the new they held an intergalactic extravaganza.

The fabulous Emma Johnson (www.emmajohnson.net) organised an amazing event, we spent three days creating all things space and aliens and at 15.10 on Sunday we demolished it all.

Friday was schools day and I took it off work as a community day, spent a surprisingly exhausting day teaching 8 year olds how to make origami stars.

On Saturday more origami teaching and I helped Scott with a large monster sculpture by making a maw.

Later in the afternoon I added to the mural with a happily demented tentacle thing.

Sunday was more origami and the giant smushing of all we had made. We filled the origami stars with glitter to make glitter bombs which was spectacular but I think I have glitter poisoning I just keep finding more and more of the stuff on me.

All in all it was an incredible weekend, very cathartic, I tend to be a bit control freaky about my creative process and it was great to just spontaneously create and then destroy.