Teaching an old dog new tricks

Learning how to change a clutch on a an old grey Massey was easier than learning to do a granny square and unfortunately there were no desperate farm apprentices nearby willing to do the hard bits for me but here it is! My first Granny square.

See! I can do girl stuff:) Thanks Phyllis for your immense patience

What am I doing today in my new sewing room?
Cutting and altering bag patterns for a new grocery tote I am working on. It pretty much looks like any other tote really, just a nick here, a tuck there to make it easier to sew in bulk.

3 more days to list your .99 cent ebay stuff for free! get on it girls!

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What went on when the internet went down!

Here is the story of Mel's really awesome adventure while she had no Internet part one.

2 years ago I bought this office/shed to convert to a room for my eldest. It was to be fully lined, insulated, with a veranda, electricity, phone and Internet.
Now, I'm not going to talk out of school about my darling son because I love him more than mud cake and cream but let me just say that when you see YouTube clips of kids going mental because their parents cut their Internet off as punishment.....well hands up if you have a son like that...ooh ooh *waves hand frantically in the air*
I wish I could have set up a "teenage boy throwing tantrum" cam the night he went kung fu on every wall. Hilarious stuff for 21st birthday viewing, alas, I was unaware of it because none of us ever went in there since it was a work in progress....and once I found out we gave up out of despair and he moved out shortly after so we didnt need it.

So after so many years of it left unloved and unfinished I was thinking of selling it. But then I had an idea!
With no internet filling my head with stuff, I had room for thoughts beyond answering emails, poking or nudging people and harvesting cartoon crops obsessively in Farmtown.
I decided it would be fun to totally gut it and start from scratch.
Here is my handy daughter. She is growing up to be just like me, a wrecker!

So
I nailed some rafters up, whacked up some plasterboard and used 2 big buckets of filler to fill up the holes

Then, using cupboard doors that were donated from the woodworking club( I have about 40 of them) I proceeded to build a bench. I chose kiwi green gloss enamel paint for a clean smooth bench top for fabric to glide on.

This is my daughter painting "Mum is a Tool " on the wall. Nice!........
And here it is
My sewing room!
complete with a cutting table, heating, air conditioning, phone, Internet, insulation and a TV:)
Pink walls, green bench and orange venetian with a hot pink window box. It looks like someone came in and vomited shabby chic everywhere.
Still quite a ways to go but I can and have worked in there already and it is set up like a dream for what I do.

I will post pics of the veranda when I build it and I am thinking of putting in a nice fernery in front of it.
I am thinking of going with lino instead of carpet. This carpet is wrecked and must go. Lino is a better idea don't ya reckon? Please tell me you can get pink lino, that would be very spesh.
Anyhoo
I am exhausted.
cheers ladies, lovely to be back
Melanie

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I have internet again

Yes thats right, I am back and you didnt even notice I was gone did you? Shame on you! You can make it up to me by listening to me drone on about my internet free adventures. Oh, I can see your eyes glaze over like mine do when my husband starts retelling stories to do with the American civil war but come on guys, I am not that boring!!!!
Missed you all!
I have been busy and cant wait to share but let me wadw through the 35 millions blog posts you have all posted on your sites.
Cheers
Melanie
xox

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The Dark ages

The dark ages fell upon our house on the 8th of July when Telstra announced that we had gone over the 60gb download and now had to pay 15cents per mb. How can anyone download 60gb in 2 weeks......well, when 18 year olds return home ...that's how!
So we now have 17 days left until it kicks over to the new month and even after 2 days we still (all 6 of us) wander around the house, aimlessly staring into space because for the first time in 12 years I have switched the cable modem off.
In half an hour of us having to pay per mb we had already used 220 mb which is about $33.00.
That was within the first 30 minutes, imagine after 17 days!!!!
My dear ol' dad is letting me use his computer/net for banking and stuff. I do everything online. EVERYTHING.
The youngest kids are upset because their crops are dying in Farmtown. I am unable to read blogs and my husband cant peruse the pages and pages of Frothers forums at 4:30 in the morning.
17 days to go
I have cleaned every draw in the house and that was after 2 days.
I really am that addicted. My whole family is that addicted.
Ill be back in 17 days 6 hours and 24 minutes. Until then I will have to learn to communicate with people using my verbal real life talking skills. No more MSNing my son to come in for dinner.
No more telling my daughter to clean her room via a message on her Facebook wall.
No more playing Everquest II every night with my brother in law in Ohio who I already miss calling me names because that's what we do. Gosh, Ill have to talk to my husband. Oh and you know what was the worst of the worst?!?! My husband sat and watched Greys anatomy with me last night. NOOOOOO, I do not , now, or ever, want a man to watch chick flicks with me.
So I will sign off now. tapping the keyboard lovingly because I miss the feel of keys beneath my fingers and I will go and join reality until the 26th of July. I wont like it one bit but at least the house will be clean:)

Craft/blog/browse and do whatever you do like crazy. I will miss you all....Ok ok I better go before dad starts thinking I am writing a novel and using up all his internets.
Mwah!
BBL
Melanie
xox

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Trash Talk .yeah, im talkin about trash again

OK enough namby pamby stuff about dogs cats and kids. This is Tuesday and its time to talk about trash again.
I have linked some interesting headlines that I have found informative about the "plastic bags" situation and as I type "plastic bag" I hear choking noises in my head and I'm not sure if that's the sound of baby animals suffocating on our waste or myself gagging with my inside voice as I say those two words together, in a sentence......*gag* plastic bag *gag*.

The first article from Haaretz.com makes an old and valid point and this isn't only true for degradable bags. Read

'Degradable' plastic bags are no such thing, claim experts

By Lior Dattel

to find out more

If you think that is disturbing then take a look at this article from The Daily Kos

New report - The effect of plastic on human health and the environment

Mother Nature network has provided some recycling Q & A's for plastic and other waste that you might find interesting. It doesn't have much to do with plastic bags but I really gotta tell ya that barely a sniff of plastic bags ever get recycled and re-using it as a garbage bin liner doesn't deserve any medal does it? I mean really? These are all things to ponder!

That's enough talk about trash and enough trashing of plastic bags. Think happy thoughts!
Hope you are having a fabulous Tuesday.
Cheers
Melanie

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Standing on the inside looking out...

not wishing too hard for the rain to stop, for that would be wrong in a drought.
I went out regardless of the wet. A garden lover, even a chaotic one, needs to garden and my need was great.

The neighbors watched from the dead tree. This is the kind of family I enjoy sharing my street with. We have trees with leaves but they prefer this one. I'm not about to argue with a magpie about seating arrangments in wet weather, they have very pointy beaks so they can sit where they want.


I spied droplets on tiny trumpet like flowers
or are they umbrellas for ants?

then I checked my chickens, all safe in their pots.

and because I had taken the time to tend to it, my garden gave me a rose

What a lovely surprise in Winter!

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Today

I made my bed my office since my proper comp is broken and my laptop sits snuggly on my lap.

I had many visitors to my big bed office because it was very inviting on such a cold day

I also had a very productive day. I tinkered with online store demos in an effort to rid myself of the need for highly infuriating websites that require knowledge that I am not interested in filling my head with.



When I am rich I just know one of you gals can do websites and I will pay you for it and make you a huge capucinno or chai latte. Until then, its just me, my sausage fingers and dinky online stores for the htmlly impaired.

My other comp had so many programs on it that I use so it might be a while for me to adjust. I am still vigourously reading everyone elses blogs but have lost my blogroll so I am missing so many.

no pictures to day but I will provide a space for you to stare into and picture something exotic.....space provided here..I I......
Cheers
Melanie

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Bunting Template

I love Bunting and I love sharing bunting joy. Here is a template I made to make my life easier and I would like to share it with you.

I would really appreciate it if you gave me a plug or a thank you should you ever use it. I mean, I worked very very hard making that triangle:)
Cheers!


Due to the onslaught of spam that I am receiving in the guise of praise for my template, I am having to use word verification again. Now I know it is a bother, I hate it, but I still would appreciate it if you still post a comment to say that you have used the template. Fortunately it is not showing up in the comments tab, yay.

As for the spammers...way to ruin it for the rest of us. Now I have to use the verification thingy BOOO HISSSS

Also, if you lovely bunters have some pics of the bunting you have made, is there a way to post it on this blog? Or link it? I am out of the blogging loop on such this since I took up full time studies so I have no idea how to do it.

Please share if you know as I would LOVE to see other peoples bunting.

Cheers

Melanie

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IE8 broke my blog brb when I have sorted it.

Update, my blog appears to work fine in Firefox. Anyone else having problems after installing IE8?

update 2
it is definitely my blogger template,ie8 which installed AGAINST my wishes also,.... and some flash issues which i was in the process of fixing and then............my GPUs CPU and power fan all over heated and i tried to fix that and fried my mother board. /sigh.
husband has stepped in because my tech days are clearly over and if my prognosis is wrong he will fix it. If i am right, hopefully I will get some tax back.....a lot of tax back, and i will get a new mother board.

(insert grown women crying out loud noises here)

Oh and...................... I rushed my dog blacky to the vet today because I was sure he had cancer and was going to die but all he has is a bad back. lol seriously! He is on anti inflammatory (sp) Some one make me a drama queen tiara please. I totally earned it today.
Bear with me whilst I relearn my laptop keys etc. Thanks heaps girls for the feed back you gave me, it helped me eliminate the problems before I killed my comp completely (here comes loud crying noise again)....wheres my bloody drama queen tiara, Im earnin it here!!

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And there she goes again, another project begins...

It may be because it is winter or it may be because Pam gave me even MORE magazines at P.I.PS yesterday that made my creative bone go mental with excitement.

My gorgeous friend Judy sent me this bed cover that she had for about 20 years because I said that I had a green chenille bedspread when I was little and I wish I kept it. I stupidly let my dog that can eat door frames and chew through sliding doors sleep on it.

Its full of tiny chew holes. He nibbles at it as if he thinks maybe I wont notice.....



"I didnt do it! "



So anyway, I am going to make a very ecclectic blankey out of it using a wide variety of techniques and patterns from the 2 million magazines I keep that I said I would need one day and now I do, HA, I told everyone I would need them one day, ner ner.
My very generous friend Elsie left 2 books for me at The Homestead and one was a women's weekly craft book from the 80s. It was fun to reflect on some of the things we made in the 80s and this book is definitely a keeper as a historical reminder of bad craft eras except for the quilt below. I have have have to make one.

This quilt belongs on my bed along with the 35 other blankets I will have by the time I'm finished. I say I am passionate about blankeys but others might say I am obsessive. All I can say is , mums out there...DON'T rip your kids blankey from them and burn it in some silly new age blankey burning ritual to say good bye to blankies because mum....we remember and some of us become slightly unstable and make so many blankets that there are not enough cupboards to put them in..............righto, I think I just went back to 1970 and went a little bit psychotic for a second... back to 2009

More hot nunde fabric from the spotlight bargain bin to keep my prices down. I want to do some funkier colours soon, I am a little over browns for now but I have to follow the bargains to keep them affordable. Oh to be a bigtime business and have more choices eh.

I just realized...Its the first day of the new financial year!!!!!!!!

A pinch and a punch for the first day of the month

Ha , I got you first!

Have a great day

Cheers

Melanie

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