Wombat has been off school all week with a heavy cold, and now I have it and I feel like death warmed up. He is VERY demanding when he is sick, understandably so, but it means that I am spending time defending myself in Pokemon battles when I really want to sleep. I also have a pile of homework to do for Friday - I have done most of it, bar the sticking down and captioning, plus an embroidery piece that will probably be finished by tonight - but i would have prefered to do it in a less fragmented way.
Baby Bear had her parent-teacher interviews on Monday. I couldn;t go because I had to stay at home with the hacking, spluttering Wombat, so George went along. NOT HAPPY, JAN. It turned out that our happy, cheerful child who is having such a wonderful year is indeed having a very happy and cheerful year but at the expense of things like schoolwork and music practice, and is spending most of her time talking and not paying attention. Poor child has the misfortune to be 'gifted' both academically and musically, so of course we expect a certain standard of work from her (not an exaggerated one, and we are always careful to praise what she does, but we do expect her to work to something approaching full capacity, not slacking off like she has been doing). So we have had to take the cruel and heartless parent line and re-establish some very firm ground rules. I think it really hit home when one of the teachers showed George a classroom test that had nine questions on it, which everyone else in the class had completed but she had only done one question. And no, it wasn't particularly hard, and it was in a subject she likes and is capable at. More stress that we could, frankly, have done without.
And to cap it off, it turned out that she had not bothered to tell us about the Victorian Flute Guild Competition which is being held this Saturday, at which she is expected to be all day. She entered it last year and I happily spent the time there, knitting a sock in between sections, and enjoying a very high standard of music. We think she did not tell us because she knew there was a birthday party on that day (of one of the girls who should be in the competition, no less!) I got really annoyed about this because we had already planned out the day for Saturday, because we all had to go in different directions and then go out in the evening. George is doing a working bee at the primary school; she was going to and from this party, quite a longish drive away; and I was going to spend the afternoon slowly chopping and simmering and organising an elaborate dish that I am taking to the dinner party on Saturday night. Now I have to make the thing on Thursday and refrigerate it, which means doing an online shop for tomorrow because Wombat is still sick, which means that they almost certainly won't send something vital because they ALWAYS run out of the most amazing things; I;m always exhausted after school on Friday, and as I am quite sick that will be even worse; and now I have to spend the whole day at the flute thing and then be the sparkling life and soul of the party on Saturday night. If she had told us in advance we could have at least preplanned something to reduce the pressure on us both. Snarl, snarl.
On the up side ... i got my parcel from
Morgan today for the Project Spectrum colourswap and I am so thrilled with it! No pics till Sunday, probably. It included some amazing sock wool, stitch markers, some patchwork fabric and an ornamental hook for the wall, all tucked into a bright orange knitting pouch. I felt truly spoilt, and goodness I needed it!
Fashion Show at The Highway Gallery for this year's Come For a Yarn, their festival of knitting and crochet.
Sneaking in JUST before the end of May, here is a picture of the glorious goodies that Celia sent me. The two balls of Anny Blatt funky stuff will probably go into freeforming - it has funny bits sticking out of it and will be perfect in lots of freeformy type things! The roving I will either spin or needlefelt. The embroidery threads will go into my stash of very special threads and will turn up in something crafty some time. I felt very spoilt, thank you Celia! 
This reverse applique is this week's homework for TAFE. It is also the first time I have done reverse applique. I'm not sure that I am really pleased with this, the teacher asked us to bring glitzy fabrics even though they fray, and the bright green satin frays like mad and irritates me when I look at it. Plus the crystal organza was a pain as it was SO easy to cut through by mistake! I might use the technique again with nice, closely woven cottons (as the top layer of this was), but then again I doubt if it will ever become my favorite technique. 
So It's nearly June and I'm posting an April picture - who says I am disorganised! This is the lovely parcel that Morgan sent me for the April Colourswap. The cutest beaded hook, stitch markers, some gorgeous patchwork fabric and sock wool to die for, all in the cutest, most useful little knitting pouch in bright orange! I think I will be brave and knit socks out of this that break away from my standard toe-up plain stotcking stitch socks, nice as they are (and easy, because I have the pattern memorised). I think it is time I bit the bullet and tried some lace socks. I have three patterns earmarked but we shall have to wait and see what I choose! 
This is going to be on the front cover of one of my two folios for TAFE. It still needs handstitching - to give trunks to the trees (the green blobs) and to include a couple of dead trees. I'm quite pleased with it so far. The piecing went as hoped and the effect is pretty much what I was after. I was disappointed in the machine embroidery thread that I bought, at first - on the reel it looked as though it was in variagated shades of orange and purple, which was just what I wanted, but on close inspection that was an optical illusion and it was red and blue, and red and yellow. It still looks OK though and I managed the machining with only minor disasters (shredding the thread a couple of times, and discovering that machining at high speed over a pin breaks the needle - well duh!! I hope this gives an outback-type impression, as I was inspired by the paintings of Fred Williams, which I have long loved, and the way the trees float on his landscapes. I have some wonderful hand-embroidery threads which I will be using, either tonight or over the weekend. 
I really like this piece of embroidery and I think it is very JOLLY, hence the use of it here. I loved doing it, all the bright colours and the playing around with patterns. It creased up a bit when I put it on the scanner but I rather like the effect, so I didn't rescan it. It is perle cotton on black felt. 
OK, so this picture isn't technically iridescent, because that can't be captured properly using conventional (digital or otherwise) photography. But I played with the colours to brighten it up and I quite like this picture, and I have been in a funk over my ABC along pictures recently and I just have to break the cycle and get on with them!! 
It was a cold day in Melbourne, and Wombat could not decide which hat to wear ... Good thing he was wearing a Project Spectrum green scarf for the month of May. 
