Venus over Hampton beach

 
We are in the middle of a heatwave in Melbourne. It started Tuesday and reached its peak (I hope) yesterday at 44.9 degrees Celsius — that’s about 113 Fahrenheit to the rest of you. In the picture above, you can see Melbourne on fire, just to the right. No, not really, but almost.

We have no air conditioning at home because most of the time we don’t need it. The aircon at work is broken. Sleeping has been difficult, especially for those of us covered in fur. I have tried to remedy the situation by going to the movies (yay for mint choc-top ice cream) and shopping in air-conditioned shopping centres (yay for new frocks). And wrapping myself in wet towels. I find complaining about the heat also helps.

Today has been a blessing because it’s only 37 degrees (99F), so at least we’re functional, and our fans actually provide relief, not just hot air. I never thought I would be excited about being physically able to do dishes again.

If anyone in the northern hemisphere is reading this and has snow, please comment or send me a photo because I would love to imagine being there. Thanks.

Monster takes a bath.

 
I did not make the monster above. Although, in a weird way, I dreamed him. I’ve had an idea for a very long time to make a certain type of monster (one with a very specific, secret job), and this one showed up in an op shop this week, pretty much straight out of my imagination, except for the crazy choice of fabric.

I love the eyes and how they’re the only facial feature. And how the arms are different lengths and sewn on at slightly different heights. A bit wonky. After he’s finished drying, he will be my craft-room mascot. And I might give him a felt snaggle tooth or two so he can be a bit more expressive. We’ll see.

 

Cats are not good bookmarks.

 
Another excellent secondhand find this week was a book entitled Practical Home Mending Made Easy, published in 1946. It’s full of useful things I intend to learn, but it’s also full of hilarious, hilarious prose. I must share an excerpt, from the section entitled “When You Mend for Men”:

EVERY NEW HUSBAND is happy about the first button that comes off. His bride will sew it on for him and he will revel in this special attention. If she continues to sew on every loose button, mend every tear, and darn every hole promptly, he is apt through the years to become so accustomed to such a model wife that he is not aware of the hours she spends in keeping his clothing in repair. On the other hand, more husbands have become aware of their wives disinterest in them through permanently missing buttons and ragged socks than in any other way.

A happy home must have no frayed edges– nerves are easily jangled by such things. Ugly words can be heard through stocking holes and sheet rents. Again, that little extra pin money that many women long for can be earned by keeping the linen and fabric of a home in a good state of repair…

A good way to appreciate your own mending is to become an artist at it, and then put a price on your time and keep a notebook, say for three months, of the time spent in mending. You can then feel encouraged by knowing that you have not only salvaged your mended article, but saved the expense of paying for it.

One woman with husband and three children to sew for learned to mend, took the necessary time to learn to do it well. At the end of a year she showed her husband how she had really saved enough to warrant his buying a piano for her. Maybe you need and want something very badly for your home. Perhaps you can show your husband that you have earned its cost and more by your conservation programme of mending and making over.

Awesome. So the next time Sparky asks me to fix something, I’m going to respond with: “Buy me a piano!”

—–

In two days I become an Australian citizen. I cannot properly describe how happy this makes me, although happier than a bird with a French fry comes close. It has been a long-held sort of dream, especially during long, difficult and uncertain times with immigration. It is something I feel I have earned, a gift to myself that cannot be taken away.

All the Obama-mania has been so terribly exciting, too. Although I think there’s been too much news coverage here (and too much coverage of U.S. news in general in Australia), at the same time I am glad that I can still read all about it, and feel a part of both my homes.

I have never been more proud to be both an Australian and an American.

 
Now I can finally tell you about two of the top-secret projects I’ve been working on. Hooray! Because keeping secrets for so long is not very fun.

My padded hangers and how-to instructions are in the current issue of Frankie magazine. I had never made padded hangers before, but I pitched the idea to them anyway, knowing I could do better than the unappealing ones I’d seen. It just seemed like a perfectly useful craft in need of an update.

And then I got this crazy idea to make one look like a dachshund. I had no idea how (or why), but that’s how my brain works, people. I see the finished product in my head first, and then have to figure out how to make it. I did not tell Frankie I was doing this, in case it didn’t work.

I got the hangers and old necktie at an op shop when I was South Australia. The other fabric was from a satiny remnant I bought at Lincraft years ago but had never done anything with. The buttons were from Mrs T’s ancient stash. I had all the ingredients, but no recipe. So I sat and played. It was fun.

 

dachshund head close-up

 
The head was the trickiest part. Because if the head looks dumb, no one will believe it’s supposed to be a dog. I’m really excited with how it turned out, and a little sad you can’t get a sense of its awesomeness in the magazine. But that’s OK because you can see it here.

And, drumroll please…

my other top secret revealed is that I’m going to be in a book!

 
The amazing Pip at Meet Me at Mike’s asked me last year to be one of the 25 crafty contributors in her first-ever book. I was so honoured, and then, to be honest, a little petrified. Especially when she started sending e-mails to everyone and I saw who else was contributing. People who make craft their main job. People with thousands of daily hits on their beautifully crafty blogs. I’d be sweating if I met some of these people in person!

I can’t tell you what my project is, because that’s still top secret, but I will say I’m proud of it, and it’s not like any of the projects you’ve seen me make before. But you will have to judge that for yourself on March 25th when it comes out! Wheeeee!

Roast beast

 
Yesterday I handed in the keys to my old apartment. Now it’s the three of us — Sparky, Miko and me — living in one house. Miko is beyond excited to have two humans, and a yard.

I will be thrilled when we have emptied the last box and found a place for everything. But the house is definitely looking cosier, and the craft room is pretty close to awesome.

Sparky and I had a great Christmas, but I think the theme for both our families this Christmas was “a whole lot better than it could’ve been”. A lot of bad stuff happened around that time for many of our family members, but not nearly as much as possible.

My oldest brother phoned two weeks before, very upset, to tell me he was getting a divorce. Talk about deja vu. He was dreading the holidays, so we persuaded him to fly to Melbourne for Christmas at the beach. My favourite Christmas present ever.

He became vegetarian this year, so we had our own special roast beast (a Sanitarium vegie roast with festive garnish). It was delicious.

 

What’s this? A daytime beach picture?

 
I even got to go to the beach in daylight — twice. Covered up, of course, but it’s a big breakthrough. I loved it.

And it was awesome to have my brother here. I don’t get U.S. visitors very often, and he and I have always been close. We ate and ate and ate, and shopped, and wandered around the city. I even walked more than two hours at a time, on hot days, without feeling icky. Pretty remarkable compared to the past few years.

I’ve spent the past 12 months going from bad to good, and now I plan to spend the next 12 going from good to awesome. I’m pretty excited and looking forward to all the opportunities that await.