Surprise!

i'm extremely bad with surprises; i always ruin them.

if i'm planning a surprise for someone else, i have big problems keeping my big mouth shut cos i can't wait to present the gift.
conversely, if someone tells me there's a surprise coming, i stoopidly guess away until i wear them down, thereby ruining it for myself. i should just learn to enjoy the anticipation huh?

and it's not because i can't keep a secret (don't worry folks! it's all in the vault).

two cases in point: the previous pressie hadn't even been mailed when i posted it... i'm really hoping that a certain someone's track record of only checking this blog when the link is sent will hold true. anyway [lame justification ahead], i needed to ask someone else's opinion on the matter... ...

and now: i can't even wait two measly weeks to give little miss and master buttons away.
a piddlely two weeks.
ended up passing them on as soon as i made them, "surprise!"

the glass-half-fulls out there might say, well that actually adds to the surprise. it all works out, see?

mmmm.

basically, if you like being surprised, never ask me if i have a secret plan, cos it will all come tumbling out. ;)

the pattern and fabric for miss buttons comes from the magnolia square market stash (damnit, the goodies in the maru bag are also meant to be a surprise!). miss b seemed lonely so i used some more of that fetching vintage kimono loot for master buttons.

wanna try? we've seen this pattern around town (eg Meet Me At Mikes) or you can try the original source here , check out the photo gallery of other little misses - it's like an army.

Vintage Schmintage

my friend lisa, whom you may or may not recall as a self proclaimed Bogan, recently went to a recording of Deal Or No Deal. sadly, she didn't get a chance to swap witticisms with andrew o'keefe, but the funny thing about this tv show caper were the rules about dress.

Strictly Smart Casual.
No Denim.
No Stripes.
Apparently stripes or loud patterns don't go across the teev waves too well. And how would a self proclaimed Bogan cope without denim I asks ya?

i was reminded about this quirk of teev land when trying to snap my latest project.
granted, my lazy pics are generally fuzzy but do the polka dots seemed especially fuzzy??
or was it the influence of a double dose of cawfee?
:D

yup, i've moved away from the too-cute prints and pinks to some more muted fabric. i found these in a knitting/japan-o-phile shop in daylesford. the place had only just opened and the shopowner, a former textiles lecturer at r.m.i.t. informed us that these were sourced from vintage kimonos. the texture of the fabric is sturdy and lovely - how anyone could bear to cut them up for patchworking is beyond me!


considering how unplanned it was, i'm quite happy with this spontaneous project. this gift will be winging its way across the oceans to another hemisphere soon... am crossing fingers that the cat isn't out of the bag before it arrives!