Now.... where was I?

I've finally emerged from too many flu-hazed days and nights in bed.

Everything is where I dropped it last week, when I gave in and collapsed into fevered delirium.  Now I'm back and there appears to be a new layer of stuff on top of the the debris from what feels like a previous life (one where I was a functioning, working person).  I'm trying to make sense of it all. 

Please excuse me if you were expecting a call or email from me in the last week that hasn't been forthcoming.  I'm slowly getting to grips with the task of catching up, although I'm still not 100% (probably not even 30%.... but that's a great impovement) and the wee girl is still wan and listless and breaking my heart. 

Many thanks to the pattern-testers who have been helping with the development of the new pattern.   We're seeing lots of light at the end of that particular tunnel.

Somewhere before the full force of the flu-daze hit, Addicted To Fabric organised to fly me up to Canberra again before the year is out.  We've locked in the 13th and 14th October.  I think the waiting lists were getting a bit silly (thanks for making me feel so wanted, folks!!), so it now means that if you missed out on the zipper workshop, you'll get another chance to do that one.  We haven't settled on the second class for that weekend, but I'll keep you posted about it (or you can enquire at A2F).

Oh, and in sock news.... ( I just remembered and took these photos under glaring daylight lamp, for want of actual daylight.  Hmmm... it's just not the same, is it?)

It turns out that this lace chart-reading business is not as difficult as I imagined.  The whole thing was going great-guns until the flu bugs brought out the VERY BIG GUNS INDEED and knocked all plans for a sock finish back by about 5 days. 

In non-craft-related news...
If you're at all familar with the author Wendy Orr's wonderful children's books, you may also know that the film of Nim's Island is about to be followed up with a sequel (this time with Bindi Irwin in the lead role as Nim).

What you may not know is that Wendy has just put together a Nim's Island-themed eBook of activities for kids.  Amazon's blurb captures it better than I can, so I've copied and pasted it -

Inspired by a ‘Nim’s Island Coconut Cookbook’ sent to her by a classroom of young fans, Wendy Orr has collected recipes, activities and teaching notes from Nim’s friends around the world.

This is an Australian National Year of Reading 2012 project, with all proceeds going to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. “The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) advocates and raises funds for Indigenous literacy, to improve the lives and opportunities of Indigenous Australians living in remote and isolated regions.”

I reckon that at $3.50, it's a very affordable way to contribute to something VERY important and (it being school holidays here) will help those of us with primary-school-age kids inject new ideas into the holiday-entertainment repertoire. Win-win.

Wendy was my next-door neighbour when I was a teenager.  She was a young mum then, who had left Canada and the glamour of international travel to follow her heart ...  all the way to a small farm in country Victoria.  (Being a dreamy teenager who was desperate to LEAVE that particular part of country Victoria, I thought she must have loved that husband of hers an awful lot!)*   Wendy was interesting and generous with her time (and she liked sewing), and I loved spending time with her and her kids.  I thought she was fantastic (and I still do), so it's always a thrill to see one of her books in a store (especially this one) and I hope that the new eBook is a great success and raises much-needed funding for a great cause.
 
*And for want of a better picture to finish things off, here's one to explain that line about where I grew up.  I dreamed of art and fashion and nightclubs and people and theatre... and this was pretty-much the 360-degree vista and all the excitement that it offered to an imaginative young mind. 


I think that's where I'm up to on the news front... for now, at least. It's taken hours to write this, for some reason.

Next job is focusing on being well enough to teach in Adelaide on the weekend, and trying to turn this feeling around...
 

I'm off to make myself a hot whiskey, find that book I was about to start reading (pre-flu) and have an early night.