Slowly gathering material....

Hello! And Happy Thing Celebration to you all. I hope your festive event has been more fun than stress; more bling than blah; and certainly more food than you ever thought you needed! My day with friends and family yesterday set what I believe to be a purrsonal calorie high. Mind you, temptation was thrown before me in lavish quantities - just the dessert portion of the meal went like this:

1. A very fine brandy and macadamia christmas pudding

2. An equally fine blueberry trifle, and

3. A massively rich chocolate mousse

... served with...

4. Whipped cream

5. Double cream

6. Pouring cream

7. Brandy butter

8. Superior vanilla icecream, and

9. Custard

I'm sure there's a number 10 in there somewhere I've forgotten (even tho my eyes were indeed bigger than my stomach, an amazing feat of re-arranged physiology not to be thought about too carefully...).

I feel very spoilt and cherished by friends, family, gifts, unexpected good wishes, lots of contact from people I haven't kept up with propurrly, and not least of all, the weather. We've had some very hot, windy, dry dusty smoky horrible weather recently. Christmas Eve was everything one could actively hate - hot, dry, the house stuffy from days of heat, and the stove on for hours. Even with the portable cooler I was a hot hot purrson all day. And then, overnight, a cool change blew through, bringing with it steady, delicious, freshening rain. Maybe it spoiled a few picnics and barbecues, but I was delighted. I AM delighted! It's still cool and rainy, and long may it last. There's plenty of summer left to be hot and sweaty.

The gardens look so green, so invigorated, so wonderfully fresh. The mulch looks dark with water and usefully heavy with purpose, keeping roots and soil damp and cool. The day lilies are drooping with water and the roses and just .. fabulous. FABULOUS!

We have a few days before leaving for the coast, to read our christmas books, eat our christmas goodies, arrange our gorgeous new christmas fruity bits, drink our christmas bottles, and enjoy our christmas bling. I'm so delighted with my new resin necklace (thank you, darling M) that I've been wearing it in bed while I read. It's made of different lozenge shapes in reds, oranges and yellows, and is very me. For which read colourful, informal and a bit funky.

The last few days brought to you by sore feet (cooking requires much standing); several hard-used aprons; and a series of favourite purrfumes: Prada, the end of the bottle of Gucci, one evening's worth of Thierry Mugler's 'Angel', and quantities of Jo Malone 'Vintage Gardenia'. I urge you to try the Gardenia; it's delightfully balanced and flowery without being heavy or cloying. It goes very well, for example, with a chocolate mousse and shot of bourbon supper!

..another pause as the gods do their evil work...

Nobody nose wot my nose nose.

I have been quietly gathering photos, thinking of where old projects might be, and very slowly working on current projects (mostly the shawl for my daughter). However we had a sudden, early hot spell, and then another, which knocked me over flat and made knitting suddenly seem very last season.

I shall leave TnS on pause until the weather and my energy level improves. And while I find out how to post photos. Any hints extremely welcome!

Today and most of November brought to you by Jo Malone, Prada and Gucci. Stronger scents for a fading nose. Lovely.

Checking in..

We've just returned from our travels. TnS collected anecdotes, experiences and some photos of textile projects now belonging to dear ones interstate. Also a commission and a very beautiful project to finish for my dorter in Perth.

There were adventures, sightings, meals, a fairly major set-back, and much time spent with very good people. Watch this space for details soon.

In the meantime, I am somewhat shocked to report that I acquired NO new textiles of any description during this trip. I even failed to pick up my purrfume samples, waiting in Adelaide for me. No time! However all is not lost, in a short but extremely satisfying trip to the Rockingham Shopping Mall (I think that was the one) I bought two perfumes. And in Adelaide my niece and I managed a most satisfactory birthday perfume shopping expedition for her. We blandished the Myers ladies into freebies for both of us!

All in all a very interesting three weeks. See you again soon!.

Temporary outage.

T n S is going on the road for three weeks. To visit fambly in SA, and to tour some of the area north of Perth and walk some wildflower trails.

On my return I will begin the history of a textile wrangler and how I trod the rocky road to quilting in straight lines.

Meantime these divine spring days are brought to you by coral-coloured Californian poppies, swathes of forget-me-nots, and a triumphant return to purrfume. Gucci is my destiny!

So.. a decision is made.

Hi, thanks to all of you who put a vote in. I can see my way a bit more clearly now. What I'm planning is a retrospective of my textile adventures (and those of you who have been recipients, I'm gonna demand photo ops very soon!). I'll put in some blurb about how and why I made things the way I did, and give you some insight into what I'm working on. It won't change the blog to an entirely textile-devoted site however.

I also think that I'll try to return to the original purpose of this blog, which was to post random thoughts and snorts on random happenings, events, ideas and reflections, as they occur to me. I expect it won't be at all political, probably a bit on the silly side, and perhaps more entertaining for the reader.

Meantime I am convalescing my way through lurgy #5 of the season, and the worst of the lot. Honest to goodness flu, with gasric, migraine and the classic 'run over by a bus' elements. Arg. It's ruining my social life and making me feel completely paranoid about ever going out again. Well, unless I don't breathe while I'm out.

I recall advising my daughter that when she went to Thailand, she'd be fine as long as she didn't breathe, touch anything, eat or drink anything, go anywhere or do anything. It seemed quite sensible to me.

She went anyway.