Hamburger City

Yes, the burger construction has begun! Here are the constituent parts: 

I bought some stretchy, fluffy polar fleece (called Husky) for the bun, found some old red knit fabric for the tomatoes and green dance satin for the lettuce. I also bought a darker brown polar fleece with the idea of creating the hamburger patty but as I'm progressing I'm thinking the girl wearing the bun can be dressed in brown, a metaphorical patty.

Here is my first night's work. 

I covered and stuffed the top half of the bun, created some cheese slices and the tomato halves (still to be stuffed in this photo). I started to wrestle with the lettuce. How to make it leaf like and yet self supporting? The cheese slices are interfaced with  a piece of thin plastic (the type you use for wrapping delicate parcels for transit) to help them stand up on their own but that was not going to work with gathered lettuce fabric. I have ended up sewing florist's wire to the inside edges of the lettuce leaves. 

Here it is before I turned the leaf.

Here is the prototype turned, pleated and sewed in half from behind.

I'm hoping it will be enough. Whilst writing this I am wondering about some heavier duty interfacing, like buckram (used for making hats). I may try this on the pieces near the neck edge and use this one near the bottom where it can just hang.

 By the end of yesterday I had: covered the second bun, stuffed and sewn up the tomatoes, wired the lettuce and tried several protypes for attaching the shoulder straps. 

This proved to be challenging so I've gone back to attaching the fillings :-)

The show is two weeks away and I still have to start the bag of chips (french fries) costume. Fortunately we have managed to farm out a most of the shirts to other teachers and parents. There are still buttonholes to make and buttons to attach but I'm not getting too stressed yet. 

School starts again on Monday :-(

Some Things Must Be Shared

Whilst looking for an old knitting pattern requested by my mother, I came across this.



I wonder if that gentleman kept this picture in his portfolio?

Seriously! I don't think that, even in the eighties, I would ever have inflicted this monstrosity upon a male friend. Tellingly, the blurb at the front of the pattern collection says:
'Not forgotten are knits for men- you'll want to steal them for yourself...'
I would venture to suggest that any knit for a man that you wanted to steal for yourself was probably not suitable for a man. So what do you think readers? Am I being too harsh?

Creativi-tea: The Finished Product

Regarding the Baby Angels' Creative Arts Product; the last thing to fill you in on is the display itself.

When the BA first brought her friend's teapots home for perusal, Himself suggested that she needed to name them. The teapots themselves varied greatly in both style and interest; some were wonderfully quirky, others blandly utilitarian. Giving them a name and perhaps a few props, he suggested, would transform them from teapots into works of art. His first suggestion was naming them after cities.

The BA had planned to use flowers with the teapots and so there was the idea that the flowers might reflect the nature or culture of the city. An oriental teapot begged for some bamboo and a more 'Australiana' number called for gumleaves. The BA was interested in the idea but not entirely sure. On the way to school one morning we were talking about options and I had a light bulb moment.
"We could call the whole thing 'Creativi-TEA'!! I suggested.
We then spent the rest of the drive into school brainstorming nouns ending in 'ty'.
Tranquility
Comedy
Unity
Authenticity
We seemed to have a concept.

That night, as the BA finished off an assignment, I sat looking at teapots and coming up with titles. I then created a list of suggested props to supplement our 'names' and the following afternoon we went shopping.

Some of our ideas had to be modified to cater for what we could get in the Reject Shop. For example we had planned to use a dummy (paci) and baby hat for 'Maternity', but on discovering that dummies retail for around $12.00, we decided to look for other options!

On the night before the exhibition I set up mock displays on the dining room table and 'shot' them so I could recreate them the next day in at school. What did people do before digital photography? Oh yes, there was the Polaroid.

Anyway, here is a sample:


Tranquili-tea:


Vani-tea:


Monstrosi-tea:


Festivi-tea:


And the one no-one 'got': Inscrutabili-tea
(cf: The Inscrutable Oriental)

I had a lot of fun doing this, finding props around the house and matching the teapots to the task. Tomorrow I'll show you the finished product.

The Cupcake Episode

Part of the BA's Teapot Exhibition was the idea that the event would be a 'High Tea' with tea, obviously, and cupcakes (on investigation, it would appear that this is actually a low tea whereas high tea refers to a light, early evening meal consisting of meats and pickles). Anyway, while I was up in the freezing cold shed painting louvre doors white, she was back in the house baking 3 dozen cupcakes. I came down at midnight and she had gone to bed leaving behind what can only be described as a cupcake road accident.

She obviously didn't look hard enough for the muffin tin (I found it easily later) because she had laid out the patty pans on cookie trays so that the resulting cupcakes varied in size and shape. Seriously, there was a jellybean shaped one. Then she had iced them with icing which had obviously not been sufficiently pliable because it looked like it had been scraped on with a butter knife.



And then she had failed to put the sprinkles on.

The icing had hardened enough that when I attempted to sprinkle the sprinkles on top, they rolled off like so many plastic balls in a ball pool. I had to resort to upending the cupcakes and smooshing them into a saucer of sprinkles, with the result that the flat icing became flatter and the sprinkles submerged.

But it was way past midnight and I had had enough.

The following morning she thanked me for putting the sprinkles on and went about her business. She didn't seem at all concerned about the look of the cupcakes and seemed blissfully unaware of their dubious status. I turned to my colleagues at work in despair.
"Do I tell her?" I anguished. "She thinks they're ok. Should I just let her put them out on the cupcake stand?"
"Is this a good time to tell you that Woolworths does 24 decorated cupcakes for $10.00?" they offered.
On the way home I picked up a pack. Just in case.

Back at home the preparations went on into the night. We set up teapots, found props to go with them, named the displays, carried the louvre backdrops down from the shed. Everyone was working. Himself devised a way to suspend a teapot in the air. The BA ironed sheets and researched tea 'facts' for a pinboard display. The hours flew by. The cupcakes and boxes of tea were packed and ready to go and the least of my worries.


As time went on we all began to flag. The BA crashed just after midnight. Himself followed at 2am, I was still ripping sheets into the required lengths and cutting up tea facts on the guillotine at 5am. I dropped into bed for a couple of hours and then I was up to take the BA to school at 7.30am. Back to bed for another hour and then Himself and I had to pack everything into his car for the trip down to the school.

There was rushing. There was stress. There was lack of communication.

Then there was a loud crash and swearing.

Himself had fallen down the stairs with the cupcakes.
I had to work really hard to remind myself that his welfare was more important than the resulting appearance of the already marginal cupcakes. In a way, it was almost a blessing. At least we now had a minor excuse for the marginal appearance of the cupcakes.

Inevitably, no-one made the slightest comment and the first round were inhaled by the ravenous boarders (boarders are always hungry)

so that the store bought 'back ups' made it into the photos.

Well, most of the photos.

Love you Baby Angel.

Happy

My lovely mum took me shopping yesterday. I had been complaining about my old freearm machine for some time as it doesn't handle knits very well so Mum decided to remedy the situation. I didn't want anything overly fancy, just good quality, reliable and sturdy. This one came with its own quilting foot and quarter inch foot, a free pair of scissors and a $5.00 donation to breast cancer :-)

Now, to find time to make something.

That's Another Swimming Carnival Off The Blocks

For some reason, every school in Adelaide seems to have held their annual swimming carnival yesterday!
Here's the setting for ours.

Swimming carnivals in Australian schools are not the 'Baywatch' events you might imagine them to be. A remarkable number of teenagers seem unable to swim; unable at least with any degree of confidence. Getting kids to nominate for events is a continual trial and even those who put their names down are frequently incapacitated on the day for any number of reasons.
"Miss, I pulled my hamstring at footy training."
"I can't swim miss, I feel sick."
"Miss...it's ladies things...you know!"

Humph. Ladies things indeed. Have modern youth never heard of tampons????? Apparently, or should I say conveniently, not! I remarked to one of my colleagues that it was amazing how 80% of the House seemed to have a period today.....and that included the boys!!!!!

My Care Group were no exception. They readily embraced the opportunity to wear casual clothes, some of them even managing to stretch to some House colour! (green of course)
But of this little group, gathered in our home room for roll call, only two actually got in the pool!

Mind you, there were those who entered totally into the spirit of the thing.
That's our House captain in the body paint! But even out of this enthusiastic group, only one was a swimmer! She was a pretty good one though.

You may have seen a picture of this before:
it's our House banner, taken at last year's sports day. On the first day back at school this year, they called for the banner, to be used in assembly as we presented badges to the new House officials. It had last been used in a similar assembly on the final day of 2009 although I had been reluctant to part with it as, on many occasions previously, it had not been returned. Well, surprise surprise, as I looked around my office on the first day back I realised.....the banner had not be returned. A quick email to the staff brought me no joy. No one was willing to take responsibility for the whereabouts of our banner! Grrrrrr. I set the new House Seniors onto the task. They had to search the basement sports store room and the offices of any likely sport related staff who may have inadvertently packed the banner away with other equipment at the end of the year. As the swimming carnival approached and our fruitless searches left us empty handed, I faced the realisation that I would have to make a new banner.

Which I did on the night before the carnival.

I finished at 3am.
Now, admittedly it is not as showy as the original, but it is bigger! It is also not perfect...but did I mention it was 3am?

Why did such a simple thing take so long? Well, first I had to go shopping for materials, home at 8pm, cook dinner, then start planning and sewing. I started off with a cheap, queen sized satin fitted sheet from The Reject Store ($25.00) and cut it down to a rectangle. The fiddly bit was the letters. Himself generated some letters for me to print out in tile formation. I then had to tape them all together and use them as patterns. I backed them all in iron on interfacing and carefully ironed over the edges to create neat letters for appliqueing. I had originally intended to put some yellow lightening bolts onto it but Himself and I couldn't agree on the design principles and it was getting late at that stage so I left that for another day. I hope to embellish the thing before the Sports day in week 5 or 6.

Oh and guess what? You've guessed haven't you. On the morning of the Swimming Carnival I went into the basement sports store to look for some random item and looked up on the top shelf. Yup. There was the old banner.

Still, we used the big one. >:-( I wasn't sitting up all night sewing for nothing!!!!! The kids seemed happy enough.

Speaking of the kids, the swimming carnival is always a great revealer of character. Usually this is a good thing; kids rising to the occasion, filling in at the last minute; setting themselves a challenge, even if it is only to make it to the end of the pool; but yesterday I had more of an ugly reveal. One of our year 12 girls is an accomplished swimmer and has always done well for the House, even though in the last few years she has become less inclined to compete and more inclined to lounge about in a revealing bikini displaying her other talents. Yesterday she just didn't show up at all. I couldn't believe the selfishness of that act. To have a gift and keep it when your House needs you? Sorry. I just don't get it.

BUT.... on the other hand.....

A while ago I wrote about this guy.....

that's him up there on the blocks! And what is significant about this is that he IS up there on the blocks. Now, as you may be aware, the African race are not known for their swimming prowess. A few years back one of the African girls jumped in during the swimming carnival and had to be rescued! No joke!

In the past, Gene has been very reluctant to participate in anything House related. He and another three African lads wander the school looking like some sort of Liberian Mafia gang and generally being 'too cool for school'. Gene turned up to the swimming carnival wearing very sharp clothes, with plenty of 'bling' and looking like there was no WAY he would go anywhere near that pool. Now, I would love to say that I talked him into giving it a go, but in truth it is an even greater joy to me that I didn't. I simply looked around at one point and there he was sitting in a chair waiting for the next race. I guess he feels like he belongs now.

I love the House system.

Because Size Matters

I am enjoying my holiday slug time and I am enjoying my new overlocker. Here's my latest projects, a shirt for my oldest stepson and one for my nephew in the UK. I loved this fabric. It says 'men' to me.....because after all, size does matter!

Crafty Tuesday errrr....Thursday.....errrrrrrrrr Friday?

Having been laid low by a very nasty cold type flu virus thing for the last week, I have been pretty light-on the posting front I'm afraid. I had half a day off last Tuesday, then went back to work to share my germs around (I'm thoughtful like that), and predictably collapsed in a heap on Thursday and had Friday and Monday off with a miserable weekend in between. Yesterday back at school I actually felt semi-normal in the morning but by lunchtime was wilting and by 3pm was reduced to a sleep on the staff room sofa. With groaning. I hate it when you can't breathe with your mouth closed.

But I digress.

As a result of all this, and my general busy-ness, I missed Crafty Tuesday and I did have something I wanted to share so here it is. The Baby Angel's partly completed bridesmaidy wedding dress thingy. As you can tell I am having difficulty deciding what to call it as the BA is not a bridesmaid 'as such'. She is actually the dog wrangler.

Have I explained this before? I think I have. When The Bestie hooked up with Mumford, his only true love was a little chihuahuaxJackRussellxfox terrier called (to Blogland) Q. Of course he has had to make room in his heart for my Bestie and so little Q has been somewhat sidelined but not enough to be omitted from the wedding ceremony this Sunday. She will be the ring bearer.
Now as any good thespian knows, when you have animals peforming on set you must have a 'wrangler' on hand to ensure their safety and that they get enough schooling and are sent home to bed before 10pm and so forth (or is that children? ...meh, same difference). Q's main task is to walk down the 'aisle' (it's an outdoor wedding) and stand with the wedding party until the rings are called for, at which time she must sit up like a meerkat whilst The BA disengages the rings from her collar. There is even a special velcro device for the purpose!

Himself is disgusted by the whole idea. Even the BA is mildly embarrassed by the notion but she wanted a role in the wedding and this is what was on offer. It must be said she is not too proud to stoop to dog wrangling in order to get to wear a pretty dress! Which brings me to the dress.

You see it above, semi finished, hanging in the doorway. I still have to add cap sleeves in lace, motifs around the bodice/skirt seam, finishing the lining at the back and hand sew the full circle hem. Plenty of time. The wedding's on Sunday.

Crafty Tuesday: Top of the Quilt

Sorry I'm late! Here's the top ready to go together. The farthest row has been sewn into 3 blocks of 4 but I will get into the rest of it with a vengeance tonight. I am due to meet the Doyenne of Quilting on Friday when I will purchase wadding and backing (under her supervision) and retire to her place for the next lesson. She is determined that I have at least most of it done before the end of the holidays otherwise as we all know, it won't ever progress any further!

If you like craft, check out Crafty Tuesday at Carrie's.

SOOC Saturday: What I'm Doing In My Holidays

Thought I'd show you how far I have got on my quilt this week. I haven't sewn any of the blocks together yet as I am still fiddling with the arrangement of the darks. I have a lot less of the pale green fabric left so I am leaning towards this idea of a dark green/pink alternate with a random pale green thrown into every row/column. It's a bit like doing a giant suduko. Except not.

I dunno I may change my mind. Himself and I were looking at it yesterday and he was casting his designer's eye over things. We decided that I'll do 6 quares by 10 squares all up and he suggests doing something 'different' or themed at any rate, for the four central squares. Like, maybe four of the pale greens altogether although I'm not all that keen on that idea. I am also toying with one of the background fabrics which is darker than the other three and wondering whether to make it a 'dark' for some of the blocks. Maybe that could be at the centre?

If anyone has any ideas or opinions, do chip in here. I am a complete novice and open to suggestion.

Meanwhile, we have been on a campaign to find a dress for the BA to wear in the Bestie's wedding......but that's a whole other post.

Learning To Quilt

In a belated Crafty Tuesday (Carrie hasn't even posted herself I noticed!!) I thought I'd show you what I've been working on. With the sunset of The Musical and the mammoth job of packing up 'the sweatshop' I have been suffering from sewing withdrawal. I always had it in the back of my mind that I might be able to do something with the scraps of material left over from the orphan costumes; they were chosen as a 'palette' and they were essentially quilting materials so the obvious choice was to try quilting with them!

Now I have dabbled in many crafts over the years: sewing, knitting, embroidery, cross stitch, raffia work (thanks to my Grade 5 teacher), pottery, decoupage, origami and even tie-dye but I've never attempted quilting. I know nothing about it! A quick consultation of my 'Traditional Country Crafts' book was in order. There was mention of wadding and running stitch and even cutting a template for 'blocks' but the whole section was a little thin and there was nothing about patchwork and the various kinds of patchwork options you could toy with. So, where to next?

Of course my beautiful friend the Quilting Queen from Jindabyne is no longer with us so I couldn't go there for advice (ouch, grief kind of catches up with you doesn't it?)...but wait! I have an awesome friend right here in Adelaide who is the Doyenne of Quilting! She bestowed upon us a wonderful quilt for our wedding/housewarming and, when I was picking The BA up from swimming years ago, could always be seen with a needle in hand waiting for one of her brood to emerge from the pool. The obvious choice. I made arrangements for coffee and quilting advice.

On Monday we met for coffee and I brought the bag containing all my off cuts. I also brought a pathetic sketch of the kind of thing I had in mind and she was most gracious in refraining from laughing out loud at my naivety. "Right," she said,"You're going to need some tools and a visit to my place for some lessons." Errrrrr......tools? What do you need apart from scissors and thread?

Oh foolish Arizaphale.

By the end of the afternoon I had purchased a rotary cutter and quiting ruler.

I 'passed' on the cutting mat as I thought Himself had one at home and I had arranged for a demo session the following morning. There is a lot more to quilting than I thought. *sheepish grin* Like, did you know that the easiest way to sew two triangles together is to put two squares face to face, rule a diagonal line from corner to corner, sew 1/4 inch either side of that line and then cut down the line? Voila! Press open and you have two squares formed by triangles! (I may do a photo tute on this later...it is so clever and my 'Traditional Country Crafts' book did not mention it at all!!!)

We ended up spending a lovely couple of hours yesterday, me mastering the rotary cutter and her sewing little blocks together for me. I'm on my own now.......wish me luck!

Crafty Tuesday: Baby Vests

Got to be quick because it's 12.40 and I'm about to make a dress for Annie in time for dress rehearsal tomorrow. Nothing like cutting it fine :-)

Here's my Crafty Tuesday offering, the vests I made for baby Not Max last week. I was so slack about delivering them that I couldn't post them til now! To be fair, I didn't make the vests (onesies I believe they're called in the US), I just did the embroidery, but I was quite pleased with the overall effect. In an anally retentive burst of realism, do you notice how the ground is plowed behind the tractor and flat in front of it? You don't get detail like that in the baby section of K Mart.

The only thing I might have done differently is the little green leaves at the neckline of the tractor vest. I chose a grass green to represent spring growth but now I wonder if I should have just stuck with the British racing green, as in the body of the tractor. What do you think?

Anyway, as I said to Dr O'C, don't look too closely and especially don't look behind the embroidery! This ain't no Royal Show entry :-D.

For more inspiring crafts, join Carrie for Crafty Tuesday over at Barely Controlled Chaos. I'm off to start sewing. At least I can 'sleep in' til after 7 am tomorrow.

Crafty Tuesday: Coming Together

A belated crafty Tuesday today as it's actually Wednesday but last night I was so bushed I fell asleep early. Here's one of the orphan outfits! I am not too excited about this particular pattern but I've received another one back from another sewing mum, using the 'colonial' pattern and I'm very happy with that one. Here it is with an (unfinished) pinny.The pinny needs a bit of work :-(. The year 10s did their best but they haven't cut down the seam allowance behind the neck facing so it looks a bit bulky and the armholes need deepening (and hemming but we'll get to that). I haven't got a fastening on the back yet either so it all looks a bit 'full' at the front.

I hope you realise how brave I am showing you this 'half finished' effort! :-D Please bear in mind it is only one in a set of six.

Today I bought some fabrics to make dresses for the 'lovely Boylan Sisters' (O-X-Y-D-E-N-T!!!)
My vision is three identical dresses in different colours; pink, blue and yellow. Of course I couldn't get a silk backed crepe in pale, sunny yellow for love nor money could I? I have pink, blue and a pale gold...I may keep looking.

I still have to get hold of some men's black dress waistcoats for the menservants, a marine guard's outfit, a few more floral chiffon numbers for Miss Hannigan and Annie's ubiquitous red dress ; but this week I have had another three people offer to sew for me! Praise the (unreasonable) Lord!

And now for a 'finished article'!

Yes! It's my little friend Rosalie (how I wish I could give her big cuddle) in her new cardigan! It did fit after all. But for how long :-D?????

In school news:
Many years ago a colleague and I wrote a 'poem' to help kids learn the three times tables. It goes like this

One three is three: pigs for his tea
Two threes are six: pigs are in a fix
Three threes are nine: pork tastes fine
etc etc etc (if you would like the complete version let me know. It boasts the sensational line
"nine threes are twenty seven: send the wolf right up to heaven")

Last week as we played tables bingo and as I called "one three is ....?", one of my cheerful little year 8 lads sang happily " one three is three, the wolf will get his dinner".

I don't know. Somehow it just doesn't have quite the same ring :-D

There have been other 'classic comments' recently but my head is so full I can't remember them.

Crafty Tuesday

I am so excited because I actually have craft (done by me) to post today. A plethora of craft in fact! Firstly, I made it to 'scrapbooking' on Friday night where they introduced us to this puzzle piece cutter thingy. We were challenged to do a spread using the puzzle piece as a theme. There were a variety of demo layouts to try and copy or, like me, you could do your own thing. Each of the puzzle pieces has a name on it, which I have cloned out (roughly) in 'Paint'. I do not know how Himself and his ilk do this kind of thing for a living. I have about zero patience for it. As evidenced here.

I was relatively happy with the finished effect as, I explained to Himself, it was a bit of a 'Ready Steady Cook' affair. You know the show where they present the chefs with random ingredients and they have to come up with something? Well, that's how this went. I had a folder of random photos, a selection of pages and coloured paper and the theme to work with. At least I finished it for a change!

I was so inspired that when I got home I finished a few more pages.

Himself doesn't like this one. I think I should have back mounted the photos but I was wearing out at that point. I might go back and do it if I'm feeling keen.

These ones were pretty simple but they had been sitting in the album, not stuck down for from 1 to 3 years depending on the photo! :-) At least they are in now.

And finally, the piece de resistance, at least it will be when it's finished; knitting!

I am making a cardigan for Oustiti's new baby Rosalie!! I am determined to finish it before the holidays are over otherwise it will sit around being unfinished until Rosalie is 25 and having her own babies!! :-)

Do you have any craft to share? There is usually a bit to go around over at Carrie's.

Birthday, Birthday Oh What Fun

Yesterday was my birthday. I have the dubious pleasure of being born exactly 10 days before Christmas. It is a crap time to have a birthday.

But..

This year my birthday started a little early as Mum and Dad arrived from the UK last week for their annual summer down south. As if their presence wasn't present enough, Dad and I played out a scene first performed when I was 12 and oft repeated throughout my life.

Dad: I've got a new camera so, do you want this one?
Me: Yes. Please. Thank you.
Dad: Don't leave this one in a Wimpy Bar. (That's what happened to the first one he gave me)

In fact, I can think of only one camera I have owned which I bought myself and that is the one which took this slightly out of focus shot.

Yes folks, my Dad has given me a digital SLR! It only has one lens and is greatly inferior to the new one he has purchased but let's face it, it walks all over my Sony Cybershot 3.2 megapixel point and shoot. It walks all over it and then it sits down and rotates. Unfortunately, he has lost the cord which connects it to the computer for downloads. "That's OK," he says" You can just put the card in your card reader."

I don't have a card reader.

Consequently you will all have to wait for photos of quality to appear, right here at 'The Flaming Sword'. Knowing my photographic abilities, you will have to wait some time.

Next in the pre-birthday gift line-up came this present from the Baby Angel. She went off to Sydney on Sunday to spend Christmas with her Dad for the first time ever (more on that later) and as she was going to miss my birthday she gave me this before she left.

There is so much I want to say about this.

Here are the things I love about my daughter.

Everything.

Here are the things she is good at.

People.
Netball.
Running.
Swimming.
Baking.
Drawing.
Operating electronic devices.
Encouragement.
Writing stories.
Taking responsibility.
Being independent.
(and this is just the tip of the iceberg)

Here are the areas where she is challenged.

Handwriting.
Craft.

I think when you have your children, especially same sex children, you expect them to inherit many of your character traits as well as your physical appearance. Thus it comes as a shock when they do not share your love of something. This is how it is with the BA and I.

I love craft; I sew, I knit, I embroider, I cross stitch, I hand paint things, I scrap book, I love craft (I rarely have time for it anymore but I love it nonetheless).
The BA does not like craft. We have many beautiful craft kits in the cupboard, given to her as a young girl when all girls received crafty presents for birthdays. We have T Shirt making kits, bead kits, flower fairy making kits, fimo, jewellery kits, foil art, collage kits. Who uses them?

Me. Usually for Sunday School (Kidzone) nowadays.

Then there's handwriting. Now this one I can kind of relate to. At school, when we did projects back in the seventies, girls always did the best titles and decoration. Remember bubble writing? Remember those fancy borders made of individually drawn flowers or butterflies or even, if the girl was particularly bright, related objects to the project so that a poster on indigenous people would have a carefully drawn border of boomerangs? Well, I was crap at those. I think my Mum introduced me to Letraset for this reason. Still, I was artistic and I had a sense of layout and placement on a page. Not so the BA.

It just isn't her thing. I mean, it's not that she isn't trying. She will spend hours on projects and her hand drawings are quite good.......but titles and lettering? Jaw droppingly bad. But look at the effort she has gone to! She has made me a card (craft remember), cut it all on the guillotine, stuck it together and written the most lovely message inside.

Dearest Mum! (I think the use of exclamation marks is also hereditary)

I think it must be hard having your
birthday so close to Christmas because
you might be afraid that people are too
busy or forget it! But I will never forget
my favourite person's birthday! I love you thiiiiiiis much *stretches arms as far as possible!* Luuuurve Baby Angel

In reasonably legible handwriting :-)

And here is my gift.

Is that not amazing? She made it in tech. It has a sliding lid and everything!
(there's that exclamation mark again)

It even has a message burned into the bottom.

To Mum, you're unbelievable! Happy Birthday! Love ****
So much writing on one box.
A present to be treasured for ever.

But wait. That's not all!
Because she is in Sydney and missing my birthday for the first time ever, her dad organised to send me these flowers from her.



And today I caught up with an old friend whom I've only seen twice in the last 30 years and she gave me these lovely flowers. There was also afternoon tea with another good friend I don't get to see often enough.


Finally, Mum and Dad took Himself and Myself out for dinner.

But wait.

There's more!

This morning, Himself reached down beside the bed and dropped a small, wrapped box onto my chest.
"Happy birthday," he said.Happy birthday indeed.