these are a few of my favourite things

so massive fail whale in regards to finishing the third dress.  i have done exactly nothing since i last wrote.  whoops... tee hee?  not completely my fault.  ok it is but in my defence on friday i had a massive meltdown blackhole day.  so many tears.  there were tears in my ears.  what a rhyme.  it's true though.  anyway i have decided to document some of the things that make me happy and in the tradition of the handmade tale they are all mostly free.  love that.

the smell of jasmine
nothing says the turn of the season to me quite like the sweet scent of jasmine wafting on a warm spring breeze.  it hit me like a fairy slap when i left work mid afternoon the other day.  there's something about it that reminds of my childhood, playing in the backyard with my brother.  now it just smells like happiness, the sun warming my shoulders as the afternoon promises to be full of naps, giggles and lazy times.

oh alright i'll have a nap.  if i must

my bed
i only got a big girls bed two years ago.  up until then i had been running with a single bed that i scored from work.  yes it was free but it was time to upgrade.  i was delighted when i found this faux fairytale princess bed at ikea for 2 hunge.  my lovely mother bought me a proper mattress with a pillow top and all those expensive mattress thingys then it was time to catch some serious zzzz.  up until the day that the whole ensemble came together was just childs play.  this bed makes me happy just to think about it.  i know you're not supposed to do anything but sleep in your bed, disrupts your sleep or some such rubbish, but i do everything in this haven of happiness.  i read, sew, watch t.v, write and even eat in here when i'm feeling particularly lazy.  and yes that is 8 toys that you see there.  it may be a big girls bed but i'm still a little girl at heart.  they are my kids and they make me happy so don't judge me.  if the Love Interest stays over i put them straight back on as soon as he leaves because they save me from loneliness and monsters.  so there.

random messages of love
i know that everyone feels insecure about their place in the hearts of the ones that they love but i doubt myself more than most.  there is nothing like a text message from a friend just to tell me that they love me or a real hug just to let you know that you brighten someones day.  the best person for this is my beautiful friend ailen.  every time i see her at work she gives me a huge smile and the warmest hug.  often when i least expect it she will give me a kiss or hold my hand.  it's little gestures like this that let me know that she loves me and the feeling is definitely mutual.  life is too short to hate or be mad so every time i talk to bfffff nick on the phone i let him know i love him and often send little poems or silly pictures just to let him know that i'm thinking of him and that he fills my heart with happiness.

my house and the people in it
i have lived out of home for almost six years but my current situation is definitely the most harmonious and god damn awesome.
firstly the house it self is a constant source of happiness.  it's big, old and falling down but it's home.  every time i walk in the door i can't help but smile because i know that it's mine and i feel safe there.  ok clearly it's not really mine but living in carlton in this big old place has done wonders for my happiness.  i will be extremely sad to say goodbye next year.

the bestest housies a girl could ask for
Jess me Brandon and Lisa

secondly the people in it are just the most wonderful people i could hope to ask for.  i have heard so many peoples horror stories about nightmare housemates but i can honestly say that i have never had one of those experiences.  lisa and brandon moved in at the start of the year.  they are the happiest, funniest, cutest couple that i have ever met.  i have never seen them angry and their very presence makes me happy.  they are so kind and friendly that i defy anyone not to fall in love with them.  jess moved in a couple of months ago and he is my favourite housemate ever.  we work together and i bugged him to move in for months until he finally relented.  he makes me laugh like a drain, always listens when i'm down and gives the biggest best bear hugs.  if there were a prize for most awesome household we would win.  we have never fought, support each other and get on like old old friends.

get in me.  now.

cheese
ok so i'm a vegan so cheese has not passed my lips for what feels like 73 lifetimes.  oh how i miss you savoury food of the gods.  i've decided jan 1st marks the first day of a return to my vegetarian ways.  oh the cheese plate is going to be the cheese plate to end all.  i'm going to stuff my face until i have camembert coming out my ears and i start to sweat fetta.  it's going to be a-mazing.  i hope the animals can forgive me but i gave veganism a red hot go but my weak willed ways just can't handle it.

these are just a few things that are guaranteed to put a smile on the dial.  so come up with a few of your own and next time you feel down just think of that hug that a treasured friend gave you or that wedge of bitey tasty that made your eyes roll back and your lips make a noise like the touch of a very gifted lover...

you never write you never call...

my little sewing nook

woah. so it's been three weeks since my last post. i don't even know why. this past three weeks has been a bit of a black hole of creativity. i think the best thing i have made is heaps of hommous. great hommous but hommous non the less. i'm back on board though. the love interest snaffled me a desk from work and now the sewing room is pimpin, it is definitely a place that the sewing gods can roam free. now i just need to convince jess to stop hanging his underwear up on the cartain rails...
ok so i have one dress to go. it's about time too. i'm not necesarrily bored with the two dresses that i've been running with so far but as summer approaches, or threatens to (bloody melbourne weather), i feel that i need another look in my artillery as i will need to wash more frequently. i have decided to add a bit of flair to the final dress, make it more of a party frock. so this one is going to have a fun full skirt so that i can spin around and feel like a princess. also it's going to have a lower neckline as the couple of hot days that we have had have left me a little concerned about how i will manage through the summer without the trusty singlet/shorts combo that i usually embrace in the height of a stinking melbourne summer.
i had started the dress, as you may recall, in a black and white check and black crochet cotton. it really wasn't floating my boat so i made another trip to trusty sydney road and succumbed to a pretty summery pink and white stripe cotton that i had dismissed on several occasions. it's really light and lovely but it will be a little bit of a challenge with the stripes. i experimented with paper by drawing stripes on it at cutting it up to see how the skirt will look. i've decided on a sort of chevron pattern so hopefully it works out...

hopefully the fabric version works out like my shonky paper experiment...

the reverse is a really cool purple black and white check. i'm meeting the love interest's family on saturday so it need to be finished by then. two days to make the whole thing? no worries...

ok it's much prettier in the flesh. in the fabric?

blankface do ding dong

i haven't done much in the way of craftiness this week. i think after the rush of finishing the recycle dress and getting ready for the halloween party that i over extended my creative juices a bit. i have been powering up with some hardcore naps this week though. my favourite kind of nap is in the afternoon in early summer with the window open and the sun streaming in. there's something peaceful about hearing the murmur of traffic and trams mixed in with the birds and people talking as the sun warms you from head to toe while you drift in and out of sleep. hasn't been too much of that kind of kip though. bloody melbourne. it's the start of november for goodness sake and it's still as cold as a witches tit and raining all the time. harumph. ok ok i still love you ye olde melbourne town.

little nick twiddling his nobs

anyway as i haven't been creating this week i thought i would write about my awesome, wonderful, lovely bestest friend in the world's band. they're called blankface distortion and i went to see them tonight. it is widely acknowledged that i am their no. 1 fan and i was even offered the role of president of the fan club, a position i have gladly accepted. i said i would need a big desk and cat to fulfil the role. pretty sure they thought i was joking. i wasn't. i have seen them play at least 10 times and they are never the same twice. when i first saw them a half hour set would consist of possibly two really long jamming songs but now they've really tightened it up. everyone asks me to describe their sound but there is just no way to pin it down. there are guitars, drums, synths (my bfffffff nick's domain), keys and the latest addition, a sax. all i can say is it's thoughtful music that gets your toe tapping and converts everyone that hears it. every gig they play always attracts people up to the stage at the end to gush over how great they are. so in summary if you see a listing for blankface distortion playing somewhere check them out. you'll love it.

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