Tag Archives: saffron

My overlocker is evil

January 8, 2012 By in 1940s, Cats, Dressmaking, Fashion, Vintage Clothing Tags: , , , , , , , , 8 Comments

My overlocker is evil. Not David Berkowitz evil, but evil just the same. More like Jack Nicolson’s character in A Few Good Men; a fastidious pain in the butt. After I carefully tied the threads so I could avoid re-threading the overlocker, the said beast snapped the thread in the lower looper.

After cursing subsided I got the overlocker working and was able to progress. There were a few more hurdles along the way; unpicking the wrong sleeve and running out of bobbin chief among them. However today the sleeves finally went in and I’m delighted. I’ve hung it in the wardrobe to let it drop for a week before I tackle the hem.

Made from original 1940 Simplicity Pattern 3459

I was so happy that I used the flurry of energy that followed to revisit an old friend. I’ve been working on this overcoat since… well, I don’t actually remember. Is it one year, or two? Either way, I am determined to finish it before this winter. Yes 2012′s winter.

The reason it is taking so long is the cornelli work on the upper part of the collar. I’m completing it in gold-bronze coloured deco thread. It’s in the bobbin with ordinary cotton on the top, so it’s sewn upsidedown following a template I hand-drew on stitch and tear. The lines below took me about 1 1/2 hours to complete. It is it not quite an inch wide.

Cornelli work - deco thread on brown wool

At that pace, it is little surprise that it’s been a multi-year work in progress. I shall see how long this new found energy stays. It is going to be a big week. I get the joyous task of trying to look after 4 cats in a one bedroom unit for a fortnight. The two old girls – Licorice and Saffron (the latter pictured below assisting with sewing the collar) and the two ‘bounce-off-the-walls’ boys – Pickle and Gesso. I know from past experience that the Pickle – the ginger ninja – is not well loved by Licorice and Saffron. They view this spirited adolescent with contempt. Only a mad man would expend that much energy going from one side of the room to the other. Yet this time, it may be Pickle doing the sneering as Licorice and Saffron will be on his turf.

Saffron and the half finished collar

The plan is segregation. The old girls get the bedroom and the indefatigable lads get the living room. I have to go between the two dishing out reassurance that all is well with the world; the usual cranky, funny two-wheeled owner will be back shortly. I have arranged with work to only be at work ever second day so I can be home to play umpire. This may seem extreme however in the context of Saffron’s FIC (feline idiopathic cystitis), it’s far less stressful to take a couple of days annual leave than to have a trip to the vet.

It’s also a big week as I’m starting on liteneasy. I’m not sure that I will take to this regime easily as I’m a fussy eater. Yet I’m willing to give it a shot. It will be a lot easier than trying to cook meals in between emptying litter trays for 4 cats! It may be a very quiet week on the blogging front; or a very busy one depending on the antics of the boys and girls.

The sprightly boys

And the not so sprightly girls

Gesso’s rite of passage

January 4, 2012 By in Art, Cat Protection Society, Cats, Disability, Life Tags: , , , , , , 10 Comments
I is cute

Gesso, I would never do anything naughty, Grant

I’m trying to imagine the scene. My partner has set himself up for a relaxing night of painting. He’s squeezed out a little of all the colours he needs onto his palette. He starts to paint.

Who knows how far he got into the painting zone before the 5 month old white kitten decided to leap onto the paint palette.

I think someone must have told Gesso that it’s customary to get your paws wet from time to time. Chilli, Licorice, Saffron and Pickle have all done it before him.

Unlike his brothers and sisters in crime, Gesso chooses a nice muddy earth pigment to squish his paw in. This is good news for the cleaner-upper-er. Previous kitty cats have chosen something high staining like phthalo blue or quin crimson.

So, white paw goes into raw umber. Andrew has to quickly catch him before he leaps off and takes that glob of brown paint with him onto the carpet. Catch him he does. Well done. Perhaps I can get Andrew into a cricket team and he can cover the Silly Point position.

Slippery cat in hand, now what?

I’m trying to picture how he managed to wheel anywhere while still trying to hold on to Gesso. I’m guessing he tried one handed, which is a good way to direct oneself quickly into the wall. Trying to move the wheelchair with one hand reminds me of playing Wii Canoe – frequent side swapping required if you don’t want to go in circles!

Of course it wasn’t that simple. The little white rascal, now proudly sporting one brown paw, escaped. He took off, running the length of the house.

Somewhere in the ensuing moments Andrew got red oil paint on his hands; when he caught the little white devil, he was now a white and red devil.

More laughable than a guy trying to hold on to a cat covered in paint and push a wheelchair is the idea of him giving same cat a bath in the laundry tub! Would pandemonium adequately describe the scene?

It’s like one of those bad jokes:

What’s worse than bathing a cat?

Bathing a cat covered in red oil paint.

Gesso's new colour This is the result.

Gesso in a pretty shade of pink neckwear.

While part of me wants to have been witness to havoc and lawlessness Gesso imposed on the house for the briefest of moments, the other part is happy to be in my own little unit, with my own furry friends who have never got quite so dirty in paint that they have required more than a sponge-off.

I know that the Cat Protection Society (where Licorice, Saffron, Pickle and Gesso all came from) has an ‘art’ auction annually and gets their residents of the day to do some of the artwork. I think Andrew and I could save them the effort and just collate Gesso’s work through the next year. This is the second time in less than a month that he’s made contact with wet paint. It won’t take long to get an exhibition worth!

My 2011 in photographs

December 30, 2011 By in 1940s, Art, Cat Protection Society, Cats, Disability, Dressmaking, Fashion, Life, Photography, Vintage Clothing Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 3 Comments

It’s only natural to reflect on the year as it comes to a close. So here’s some highlights – and lowlights – of 2011.

New Cats

It’s hard to believe that Andrew has only had Pickle a year! He arrived in mid-January 2011 and was a playful and bitey kitten.

Bitey pickle

Now look at him… all grown up!

I can see you!

Then came Gesso! Much smaller than Pickle had ever been and far more sooky from day one.

His deafness has brought a few new challenges. Getting Pickle to steer clear of walksticks and wheelchairs was difficult enough. Gesso has taken ‘challenge’ to a whole new dimension; culminating on Christmas Day when he got too close to Andrew while he was standing and ended up being trod on. He sunk his teeth in to Andrew’s foot in protest. Fortunately, Gesso was unharmed and although left with a nasty bite, Andrew’s foot is healing. I’m hoping that after that experience, Gesso will learn to dodge feet, walking sticks and wheelchairs as well as Pickle does.

My girls, Licorice and Saffron, continued to be good company; for me and for each other:

Licorice and Saffron kisses

The learnt how to get food from their new three-tiered cat toy; how to get nibbles from the treat ball; plus basic targeting skills using clicker training. (Short videos hyperlinked)

New Art

There were few surprises in the artistic area. I continued my pattern of putting things in paintings and then removing them. (The daschund below first had a skateboard; later replaced by stilts.)

Daschund issues

I rediscovered an old canvas and turned it from this:

textured background

to this:

Self portrait (unfinished) 23.5.2011

Andrew started art school (of which I am more than a little jealous). I don’t have many photographs of his work… I wish I had more. Here’s just three from this year:

These two oil paintings are still in progress:

New Sewing projects

Some things never change. Saffron continued her dressmaking assistance into 2011. Her favourite habit is sitting on the fabric one is trying to sew!

Saffron doesn't want me to sew

I embarked on some heirloom work for a white cotton sateen slip:

Heirloom work

and completed a thoroughly indulgent silk slip.

Silk bias cut slip

Somehow I quickly forgot how difficult it is working with slippery and lightweight fabrics, for I moved on to this 1940 pattern:

2 dresses in one

which, as at the time of writing, remains incomplete (needs sleeves, facings and a hem!)

1940 dress in progress

New places

I explored some other parts of Sydney in 2011 and we ventured a little further afield. First to Fitzroy Falls (reasonable disabled access):

2011-02-25 Fitzroy Falls Gardens

then to Mogo Zoo: (access was a bit dodgy due to uneven and steep paths combined with recent rain!)

2011-02-26 Mogo Zoo Giraffe

Tiger eats his chop!

To Balls Point Reserve in Sydney: (inaccessible!)

View from Balls Point Reserve of Sydney

Of course, I couldn’t forget the Dubbo trip! (Dubbo Zoo is wonderfully accessible and we had such great experiences photographing countryside on the way there and back).

Between Wellington & Orange

Near Dubbo

La Perouse was not new but offered up some beautiful sunsets for us.

2011-01-29 Kite Ship and Sun

New Wheelchair

Looking back on this, I have to laugh. Below is a cake I made to celebrate receiving news that Andrew would get a new wheelchair.

Celebratory cake!

We received confirmation we would get a chair back in April. Naively, I made this cake in May thinking the chair would arrive any day! We finally took delivery in September!

For anyone wondering why the mm’s on this cake are lime green and orange… well that was the colour choice being debated. The triffid, as I like to call it, brought much needed relief in the form of a more lightweight chair. It also caused a crisis by being too wide to fit through the bathroom door.

New home

Once it became clear that the bathroom door could not be widened, after much drama, it was time to move house! Now I can only be thankful that Andrew has nowhere near as much crap in his place as I do in mine. Even so, packing was not easy. Pickle helped by packing himself in a crate.

PIckle packed himself

New family

Not content with expanding our feline family, my brother and sister-in-law, gave me a niece as well!

Io I

Lysh & Io I

New job

A minor little thing that happened this year!

New ‘disabilities’

This is one ‘new’ thing 2011 brought that my family could have done without. However, we don’t get to choose these things, so I went about learning what I could about MS and being as supportive as possible.

———————————

Well, put like that, it was one hell of a year. Here’s to 2012.

Unimpressed Exelpet

December 29, 2011 By in Cats Tags: , , , , 6 Comments

I am licorice, I am fat

Starving. Fading away to a shadow. Thats what Licorice and Saffron would have me believe.

I supply food. It’s gobbled. I get glared at… it’s clearly not enough.

In an attempt to satisfy my own mind that the girls CANNOT be hungry, I bought some worming paste. I read the packet. Yes, enough for a 5kg cat. Umm… I bought 2 to start. I expected a syringe the size of an everyday biro. WRONG. Exelpet supplied one of those super-chunky biros – you know the kind that has 4 colours in one? Not only that, it was filled with considerably more paste than I had anticipated. I read the instructions. Squirt between back teeth. Some cats may salivate.

Licorice was first. Lucky Licorice. Crash tackle. Good grip. Squirt! Phew… that’s over with. WRONG! To my horror there was still at least half the tube left, if not more. Given she had managed to dribble some of it out of the right side of her mouth I tried again on the left.

Nope. Still had about half a tube. By this stage there was no way Licorice was going to let me have a third go, so I decided to give Saffron a go, leave it a bit and then give the two of them the other half each – LATER!

Saffron's tummyI squirted it in Saffron’s mouth and within seconds she had the most horrid drool coming out. At this point, I felt really awful for subjecting them to this and I gave up. (I did clean up Saffron’s froth first).

Needless to say I have not touched the second tube and have no intention of doing so.

Oh… and they’re still hungry.
Pickle hiding under the chairs

Hipstamatic shots

December 15, 2011 By in Cats, Life, Photography Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

I have to admit to having a wee bit of fun with the hipstamatic app in my iphone. At the moment I’m using the John S Lens with BlacKeys B&W film. The cats are a little difficult to photograph with it because they are already so dark. However it works a treat for shadows and where there is a strong light source. The photos below in Bondi Beach were all taken near dusk this evening.

My shadow Bondi Beach

My shadow on the Bondi Beach promenade

The university skeleton

The university bookshop's skeleton getting in to the Christmas spirit

Saffron being a sook

Saffron sookin'

Bondi Beach Hipstamatic

I love the mood in this one

Not the nine o’clock fireworks

November 27, 2011 By in Art Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

We set out to take photos of the 9 o’clock Darling Harbour fireworks show. We returned with this snapshot instead.

Louis Vuitton Paparazzi King St Sydney

5 men all taking photos with their phones of louis vuitton window

What was so fascinating about Louis Vuitton’s King St Sydney window, I’ll never know. The sight of 5 men snapping photos with their phones of whatever was in the window was a little bizzare indeed. Louis Vuitton worshippers perhaps? I thought their silhouettes against the red window made for a great photo in itself.

While I’m sharing photos, I have to include this one of Gesso. I was very pleased as I took it using the manual mode my camera (Canon 550d).

Gesso sleeps

[70-300mm lens at 70mm, f/5 for 1/10 sec.]

Yes, he’s beautiful when he’s quiet.

The broken crockery we found on the floor when arriving at Andrew’s place last night was nothing to do with this little sweetheart. I think I jinxed myself by thinking it would be nice to go home to my peaceful – ADULT – girls. That’s why I heard a thump during the night and woke to find my Wii on the floor. Unlike Gesso, Licorice and Saffron are smart enough not to sit next to the evidence. Indeed – PLAY with the evidence. Andrew yelling at the [deaf] cat to stop playing in the ceramic shards was hilarious – after the fact. For a girl who hates domestic duties I’m getting pretty good at cleaning up at Andrew’s place, thanks to this little devil.

Clearing Clutter

November 26, 2011 By in Cats, Life Tags: , , , , , , , , , 5 Comments

I’ve always had a problem managing paperwork. It breeds. Truly it does. When you are not looking, it does a quick one, two and doubles it’s size. Recently I got so frustrated with my paperwork that I called a professional organizer.
I felt a little embarrassed and more than a little silly. Friends and family have told me, if you just opened the mail and took care of it as it arrives, it wouldn’t be such a mess. However I know that it’s not that simple. (That, or I’m delusional). The reason I think it’s not that straightforward is because I almost NEVER get mail at work and my desk is a sea of paper. When I do have a cleanup it reminds me of those people who drill a core sample out of the earth and read the layers – yes, that was the flood of 1967! Well, my desk is similar. Oh, there’s all those papers on that topic.

So I phoned an organiser. Karen arrived last Monday and for the first few minutes I was a twitchetty person as she looked around my unit. Finally she said ‘it’s not that bad’. In fact, she even found things to commend me on – like my pull out art drawer will all the jars clearly labelled. I didn’t take a before photo of the paperwork, so I’ve gone back through some of my photos of the cats and looked whether you can spy the mess in any of them. The photo to the left has a glimpse  - it’s the stuff almost falling out of the cupboard to the right of the television. And the stuff on the floor. Oh, and another lever arch folder in the walk-in wardrobe, one in the bedroom and then assorted piles of paper in other unusual locations including the washing basket.

There were the remnants of a filing system in there somewhere, yet I never file anything. I was so relieved when Karen said to me – ‘well you don’t even have a desk – where do you process this stuff?’ Therein lies part of the problem. ‘I just don’t know where to put it.

And do any of these make me want to file? The horrid port-a-file; the archive box; the suspension files – no!

After some time going through the mail and sorting it into categories, we discussed purging. How long did I really need to keep this stuff – both legally and personally. Better yet, why did I keep some of this stuff?

We also talked about where the mail goes the moment it comes into the house as that is definitely part of the problem – at the moment it gets put anywhere and everywhere!

Last, but not least, the ‘filing system’ needed a solution. We settled on using a ‘manilla folder’ system placed within a basket. The basket would match my other furniture and the folders with TABS would allow me to quickly see what was inside. It would not be stunning beautiful however it would have the edge over the port-a-file, leverarch folders, archive boxes or suspension files.

We had come up with a plan for paperwork, gathered it all into one area of the house and in less than an hour! Whereas before I stared at it like this overwhelming teetering tower of paper, I now had a plan and it didn’t seem so scary.

I ventured out to purchase my new folders and a basket. Upon arriving home, I started the ‘purging’. How much could I toss?

Well, I can’t answer that question because I’m STILL purging. These two piles can all go. I’ve deliberately not tossed as I’ve gone along as I want to see how much I am able to throw away. I think it gives me a sense of satisfaction looking at the purging pile growing and the filing pile shrinking. It motivates me to keep going. Which is lucky really, because in the meantime my basket got taken. (Naughty Saffron!)

I’m pleased to say that I eventually got Saffron out and my folders in. It’s all a work in progress yet I’m pleased with where I am at. I don’t have any regrets about calling a Professional Organiser and no longer feel silly. I wish I had done it sooner!

Return of the ginger terrorist

October 27, 2011 By in Cats Tags: , , , , 1 Comment

Licorice and Saffron in the washing basket The picture of calm to the left will not exist tonight. The chances of Licorice and Saffron settling down quietly in the washing basket are diddly-squat. The ginger terrorist has returned. Poor pickle doesn’t know whether he’s arthur or martha. He’s had to come back while a series of workmen traipse through Andrew’s place tomorrow – including the pest man. While Pickle is by no means grouchy, he has misplaced his purr. I checked whether he’d left it in the car – after all, a purr can hide itself anywhere! It is something which seems to spring from nowhere, so I wouldn’t be surprised if a purr could hide between the seats; in the centre console, or under the foot pedals. Wherever it went, he managed to find it between here and Andrew’s place last time, so I should have little doubt he will do it again. Perhaps it never even made it out of the house. It might be trapped in the door together with ‘reflection cat’ – a creature Pickle has only just met. One thing is for sure – the purr hasn’t entered this house. Oh well, I’m sure he’ll survive a day or so without it.

The self packing cat

October 15, 2011 By in 1940s, Vintage Clothing Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Assistance at the keyboardIt’s the end of a long week and Saffron and Licorice seem to be settling on the bed getting ready to ‘assist’ in writing my blog post… much like in the ‘photo booth’ pic on the right… impeding keyboard access!

Tomorrow I’m off to the Vintage Show at Canterbury racecourse. I’d like to say that I will be wearing a dress made from my newly acquired vintage patterns but alas no!

I have completed the top and bottom of the toile and now have to join the dress through the centre yoke piece.

The original pattern suggests top stitching this semi-diamond yoke shape into place. I’m not sure how I’m going to do it on the final dress but for the purposes of completing the toile and finding out if the pattern needs adjustment, I think I’ll just hand-baste the pieces together.

It’s not a fantastic photo but below is the toile in its current state. The original pattern has a side opening. While normally I’d leap at the chance to change it to a back zip given the sheer fabric I’m going to have to go the authentic route.

As this is only the toile, I’ve cut off some of the length – so don’t think this is the 1940s dress mini skirt style! As it is I think I’ll be lengthening the pattern because I’m sure that the average height of women in 1940 was shorter than today.

Meanwhile, over at chateau de Andrew, packing is in progress. Pickle is doing a good job of living up to ‘curiosity killed the cat’. So far he has checked out a number of packing boxes before deciding today to climb the tower of milk crates and settle in for an afternoon nap. Personally I think he’s done us a favour and packed himself for the move! PIckle packed himself

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