By sion, on February 28th, 2007%
… so, having decided at the 11th hour that the autumn fig tree wasn’t going to make it to the Sydney show this year, I can play with some of the other work that’s been trying to get my attention for the last few weeks. Not doing the clamouring things probably contributed pretty heavily to me not getting the fig tree done, to be honest. I’m starting to think that I truly do need to have a bunch of stuff going at once so that I don’t get stalled – I got stuck with the faerie tree so moved back to autumn, and then when I got stuck on that
I should have flowed on to one of the other things rather than sitting around all paralysed and procrastinating.
… started writing that hours ago, and then got nothing done because dear old Boofhead is having girl problems. Well, and because House was even more enjoyable than usual. It’s that time of night again … the eternal question is: will I play/work, or will I go crash and hope to get something done tomorrow?
By sion, on February 28th, 2007%
why didn’t anyone remind me it was February? I mean, I knew it was February, obviously; I’ve been writing xx/02/07 on stuff all month … but somehow it escaped me that it’s February. As in, the short month. As in, when you get to the 27th, no you do NOT have 3 or 4 days left to get an entry in by the 1st of March …
I’m such a goit sometimes. Lucky my little sis hasn’t left Sydney yet, or I’d have been in real strife – she’s hand-delivering my entry forms for me, because she’s a very very nice sister to whom I owe several rather large favours. Should have seen me! Well, no, you shouldn’t, because I’m sure it was uninspiring. I went into a flat tailspin, I tellya. Scanning stuff without filling things in properly. Twice, because I was so busy laughing at myself for scanning a half-finished page that I did it again. Scanning the empty platen, because I forgot to put any paper at all in there. Agonising over sentence structure and stuff because as you may have noticed, a 40-word limit is not something which sits well with my natural blathery bent. I’ll just start writing, I sez to myself, and did … thought I’d do a word count before finishing off with a bit about techniques, and bugger me but it was already 69 words! I think I managed to get both pared down to exactly 40, but it was a battle.
Anyhow, after all that stress & tossing & turning last night, I need a nana nap. I know I’m not a nana yet, but I’m old enough to be, and I need sleep before I have to deal with her highness Eleanor the Rambunctious!
By sion, on February 27th, 2007%
fairly lousy photo, because I left my camera down at the shop & had to use the videocam.
working on the stitching … probably won’t do much more before I sandwich it & start quilting.
I finally figured out what was bugging me about the tree base, and fixed it – why it took so long I don’t know, because it was pretty obvious really. Glad I did, because I was pretty much stuck thanks to that itchy sensation of something wrong, not game to go forward until I figured out what was askew.
In other news, it occurred to me the other day that I don’t really need a loungeroom per se. It’s become an extension of Eleanor’s playroom lately, and then she keeps mining this room (ostensibly dining area) with small toys and assorted books anyway. So, I thinks to meself. Rather than going down the end to fetch stuff and spreading it all over the dining area, why do I not just use THIS as a cosy lounge/dining bit and work in the loungeroom? I’d have two huge walls for design walls (here, nothin), plus it’s right next to all the arts & crafts stuff AND the playroom (other end of the sunroom I use for all the Stuff), plus heaps more room (or a better arrangement of space or somthing). The only cons are 1) the aircon is out here (so big whoop, I’ll just have to run it longer. Or get a window unit … ) 2) moving all that shit around.
so not my favourite job.
Guess who’s turning 4 in April, btw? And guess who’s getting this for her birthday:
By sion, on February 23rd, 2007%
I bought these the other day. Very delicious pink, as pinks go, and I like the swirly ribbony bidness … no idea what I’m going to do with them. Especially the cutesy sewing notionsy one.
These I picked up today, after classes. I have no idea what they’re for either, but my brain went all buzzy with unidentifiable ideas pinging around in there. Abstracty graphical stuff is not really my style (reeeeeeeeally? Do tell!) but there’s obviously something fermenting away in there …
this though, I have no excuse for. I mean. It’s kitties. I don’t know, some twee little moppet in the corner of my soul just wanted them. The little vignettes kind of remind me of old-fashioned scraps – you know, the ones that came on a big sheet with just little tabs holding all the pictures together. You’d cut the little tabs off ever so carefully and do Big Serious Concentration things with your tongue while carefully painting Clag on the back then stick them into scrapbooks made of something akin to butcher’s paper. REAL scrapbooking! heh – none of this namby lignin-free, acid-free, archival malarky …
ANYWAY.
Isn’t this gorgeous? One of the ladies in Judy’s class was making a bedquilt with it and it stopped me in my tracks oohing and aahing several weeks running. She was going to figure out where she bought it (online somewhere) but instead gave me a HUGE offcut – like 40cm x 2.5m! – and told me to just take what I want. She even made a special trip in to Connie’s to give it to me, isn’t she sweet? I’m not sure what I want it FOR yet, is the problem … I have been trying to figure out if it needs to form part of the edge on the purple faerie tree, but I’m a bit swamped with other stuff so it’s just roiling away on the back burner for the time being.
Started teaching again today. I think a bunch of people got their dates mixed up – including one woman who actually paid a deposit lol – because I was expecting at least 6 (plus Jill, who should be doing “advanced” on Saturdays but works) and only got 2 (plus Jill). We got a fair bit done, although they seemed to lose their momentum towards the end of the day – the heat really takes it out of you, and there’s a surprising amount of mental exercise involved in working they way I do. One of the new ladies thinks she wants to do teddies or something for her big piece, which might be interesting if I can successfully steer her away from the stylised “here’s an applique teddy!” look. No reason the techniques can’t apply to interior landscapes, right? I did have a bit of a jolt when she said she wanted to do teddies, but it could be an interesting challenge.
Onyroad, so meanwhile, Jill is working on her castle. It’s looking pretty damn good IMO:
By sion, on February 13th, 2007%
check it out …
 
my sister and her mistuh met TERRY PRATCHETT today!
By sion, on February 12th, 2007%
salt block, salt lick …
somewhere or other there’s an unfinished poem/monologue/something along those lines, written about a fellow I had the softest imaginable spot for for many years (cue wistful sigh). Can’t sleep, and for some reason tonight it’s taking the flavour of him, or more accurately images and words regarding my onetime feelings for him (wow, it’s absolutely pissing down rain, which has probably contributed to my restlessness). Anyway. So my brain’s running these flashcard images of his marvellous profile (not handsome, just delightfully contradictory) and his amazing jetblack hair (horse raven crow banner stream wing ocean stars flow fly revel shroud veil) and his eyes (green, but not green-green and most definitely not hazel, and not even blue-green like my mum’s. Amazing colour, and clear as crystal ) and all these flows of solidity and youthfulness and clarity and gentleness and strength and softness in/of him, and me having bent my brow to his palm not in supplication but in gratitude (aha1) to just drink him in, like he was velvety milk chocolate left in the sun.
Hate trying to capture those flashcard “animated” images. If I try now it’ll just depress me (heh for instance when I try to pin down this multi-dimensional image to 2 or 3 I end up imagining something that looks a bit like a black & white sheep with a few inexplicable bluish blobs nearby. That’s really funny.) Hmm, a hint of Centaurishness. Well. We’re both Taureans, and he’s also a Fire Horse, so there were bound to be hooves & hair involved somewhere. And horns perhaps. Hmm. Wild Hunt, Cernunnos … I’ve wanted to do something with the magnificent fellow for years and never been able to get it right (hey, I wonder what ever happened to that BIG painting I didn’t finish??). Hmm. Not really a personality match though, but it’s something to sleep on (gah, 3 hrs til I have to get up). Night!
- just realised where the imagined pose came from. I used to get a lot of attention from the drunk & homeless & lost, almost always harmless but almost all of which weirded me out to some degree. There was this one guy I used to bump into every now and then who always greeted me like I was his queen or something, goddess even; weird mix of overjoyed familiarity/ownership (as if he confused me with a long-lost mother or sister) and awe (as if I were an icon of some sort). It was very disconcerting, to say the least. The crowning moment was walking down Oxford St one day and him greeting me as usual and then taking the unprecedented (& unwelcome!) step of touching me – he took my hand as if he was going to kiss it but instead pressed my knuckles to his forehead muttering something about “bless me”, and I stopped & stood there uncomfortably for a moment with my hand resting on his forehead, and he let my hand go and he looked like I’d saved his life and kept saying thankyou and bowing and stuff as I scarpered. Very weird. Anyway. Chel said something a long time ago about me always thinking the boys I fell for were gods, and she was right in a way (in that what I fell for was some glimpse of “the god within” or however you want to frame spirit/soul/divinity). Sometimes it was stronger than others; Mr Ravenhaired wonderboy for instance made me feel like we were two young godlets playing with mortality, but also like the oldest soul ever who’d been given an unlooked-for reminder of hope and purity. I liked feeling young; I don’t think I’d ever felt really young before (naive, innocent, unworried, trusting etc – inexperienced or ignorant yes, young no) even when I was a kid.
By sion, on February 10th, 2007%
okay hops, you bugger ;p
- I agonise over really silly, harmless stuff as if it matters. Then I realise I’m being a complete wanker and shamefacedly try to get over myself … (c.f. DEFECTIVE heh – no wait, it’s probably all the fault of that subspecies of sodding brats who torment The New Kid as a matter of honour, and those buggers at the camp who put jelly in the bowl when I thought I was going to win that game! Bastards!)
- I laugh when I’m hurt. I can’t help it. I laugh inappropriately quite often. As a result, people often fail to believe that I’ve actually broken something, which can be problematic. Other than that it’s better than sobbing or screaming, and I figure I’m golden if I ever have a heart attack.
- I collect bones and skulls and feathers and dehydrated frogs/lizards/whatever. I don’t often do anything much with them any more, but there’s a cow skull in a stroller out the front and a sheep skull keeping company with the monkeyskull trinketbox thingy on top of the bookcase. I keep finding little hoards of feathers in baggies & shoeboxes, and a bunch are sharing my nan’s cut crystal vase with tumbled stones & variety of crystal points. Actually I’m a packrat, bigtime – I come by it honestly, but I think my mother would kill me if I took pics of my dad’s junk to back me up, and Grandad’s car (complete with, I shit you not, kitchen sink on the backseat) is long gone.
- I’m also a perfectionist with a hardcore inner neatfreak who gets giddy at the idea of perfect order and loves filing things and coming up with groovy organisation systems. I’m also
lazy. Lazy lazy lazy. a chronic procrastinator. End result is that I’m basically a slob, and my collections of Really Interesting Thingummies never looks like the collections of Really Interesting Thingums in magazines because there’s too much other clutter around and besides wot Eleanor’s been decorating my groovy arrangements with yoghurt lids & the occasional rejected crust (now fair go, I can’t be expected to know she’s climbed the bookcase to hide scraps until I find the evidence. I think SHE should be doing the “weird things about me” list, but she’s pre-literate).
- I’m an insomniac with a twist. Left to my own devices, my sleeping patterns fall into a pattern not unlike the laying pattern of chooks: the time I want to go to bed creeps an hour or two later every day, and then when it’s nearly dawn by the time I get sleepy I end up sleeping all day and then it resets. Left to my own devices is the key phrase here – this is fine when there are no daily deadlines and demands, but when there are tots to get to daycare and phone calls in the morning and shopwork to do, it can get stupid in a hurry. It’s pretty sucky at the moment, since glandular fever & that relentless flu last year wiped me out and I still get tired at the drop of a hat, so I’m flat out making it through the day without a “nana nap”. So I used to be on a 25-26 hr cycle and now it’s more like a 10 hr cycle (and there are some days just having my morning cuppa & dropping Eleanor to preschool is enough to wipe me out until lunchtime!).
There. I hope that was of interest to somebody. I need a coffee. I ain’t dobbing nobody else in, sorry!
By sion, on February 9th, 2007%
 <– el looking at the window display … “what I did on my holidays” = “clambered around in a sweltering – REALLY sweltering – window making displays to tempt people to take classes”
I feel like such a slug when I look at all the prolific people out there. I’m such a slow worker most of the time – I get a burst on occasionally, but usually I’m “doing in my head” rather than experimenting or achieving in any manifest way. Someties that’s good (it is nice when it works and you get to skite about it being your first attempt at X) but sometimes I end up simmering ideas for years (literally. Going on decades, in some cases) – and I do enjoy playing and learning the fun way when I can get past various stupid hangups about “wasting” materials. So I should just Do More Stuff instead of blagging on about it … I’ve just read Erica’s “Recipes for Life” post and feel like the universe is giving me a nudge, so yeah. Heh. Come to think of it, Clarissa Pinkola Estes (one of those quoted) has been popping up quite a bit the last week or so …
A copy of Women Who Run with the Wolves nearly poked my eye out at the Salvos the other day, I keep stumbling across mentions of her name or refs to that book, and I’ve been thinking about some work I started (and even completed!!! in a couple of cases) Way Back When after reading WWRWTW. Plus, a friend’s grandson died recently, and that sort of dreadful hurt always makes me think of The Faithful Gardener: A Wise Tale About That Which Can Never Die (which btw I absolutely love the cover of). Anyway. There’s still enough new-age hippie left in my makeup to have me wondering whether it’s time to pull my finger out & do some work on the women in my head. But I have housework that REALLY needs done, and other work to finish, and and and but but but …
I’m still procrastinating on the “6 weird things about you” thing hops tagged me for. Bah! I gave up navelgazing years ago as bad for my mental health and dreadfully boring for everyone else, so I’m not sure I know what’s weird & what’s not any more. Well, actually, I think the problem is that what I’m aware of as noteworthily weird these days is pretty much like a big flashing neon sign announcing DEFECTIVE! We Gotcher Defective Right Here!! and I’d as soon not point that shit out, y’know? It would have been a lot more fun back when I was all deepthought hippiegoth and shit, cultivating weirditude for the coolth. So I took a few photos of the pretty red gum instead. 
By sion, on February 3rd, 2007%
Not many photos this time; the core group have decided to just keep coming along until they’re finished and/or sick of it (two say they’re planning to come all year heh). Jocelyn did get her background mostly done on Friday though, and we laid the critters out roughly in position to take a pic:
I’m still working on my tree; bit the bullet & started stitching. Both sewing machines (mum’s new 6600P and the old 8000) are being bastards at the moment, but I’m persisting. Meanwhile, I’m off to mum’s for the night – I may do a bit more sewing this evening (or I may just NAP), but we’ll be making jewellery all day tomorrow.
By sion, on February 1st, 2007%
I don’t know why I keep calling them shadowboxes when I mean specimen boxes. I had a horrible day yesterday, but I did manage to get some figs done:
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CHITCHAT