Philosophia

Today I took my Macbook to the apple service centre because it stopped working.

I like how they set it out like a GP/Doctor’s office, complete with a reception table and black leather couches (sadly, no trashy magazines!). The whole process also sort of reminded me of being in a waiting room… especially when the repair man speaks like this:

• “This is not looking good”
• “We might have to open her up”
• “Pass the scalpel” (although this was technically a joke)

I felt very tense the whole time. It’s not fixed either, so I have to wait half a week for it. *chews fingernails*
In other miscellaneous news, I got a new blythe doll on Monday!

It was amazing, because the EMS shipping from Japan to Australia took only 3 days, and the postman hand-delivered it to my front door at 7:30 AM. I wasn’t expecting her AT ALL (because the website said 2-4 weeks) so the surprise was great. For more pictures, click the thumbnail below!

That’s all for now, thanks for reading!

Today I got out the sewing machine from the storage cabinet. I usually hand stitch, which I have been told many times by numerous people is all good for giving whatever I make a “personal” touch but is also a waste of unnecessary time. So, in order to save some time (which now that I think about it isn’t really that precious to me during my holiday period anyway) I decided to make some overalls for Molly using the machine.

It took me about 1 hour to work out how to thread it, and when I finally did I realised to my dismay I had threaded the wrong colour. After coming across numerous mishaps like this, I was finally on my way! (By this time it was already noon).

However, what I hadn’t counted on was the fact that since I was basically making clothes 1/12th the size of adult clothes, it was pretty much impossible for me to use the chunky sewing machine. I probably wasted more time unpicking what I had done and redoing it than I would have normally by hand stitch. In the end I did end up handstitching the majority of it anyway.

Anyway, enough babble about that, here are some pictures:

I really like Molly in overalls, it brings out her farmgirl-ish look. If only I could weave, and make a straw hat to complete the look!

The little bird in the second picture was another one of the patterns I followed from Puchi collective. I finished it about 3 days ago but was waiting for a day with good natural sunlight before I took some pictures:

Once again, for more of these pictures, you can go to my Flickr account . Thanks for looking, and sorry about the excess of craft entries lately!

First off, I hope none of you mind the excessive amounts of large jpegs I have uploaded in the past couple of days. What I intended to be a “life” blog has become a craft blog overnight, so for that I apologise! I’m sure that as soon as I get off to uni, I will become have less time, and you will have more broadband! (or bandwidth, or whatever that technical computer term is).

Anyway, so today I followed a pattern I found on Puchi Collective and made a cat for my Blythe doll, Molly. This one didn’t take me that long, because I worked out that if I used pipe cleaners instead of electrical wires, I can make bendable limbs that much easier! Aaah the things you learn. With a little help, I’ve decided to name her Peta.

Some of you may not have seen Molly yet, so these photos include some of her as well.

I’ve realised that if I continue uploading pictures at this rate, I will fast exceed my limit on WordPress. Therefore I have taken the liberty to establish a Photobucket account for direct links to images, and also a Flickr account for sharing photos. If you go to the Flickr account and go to the plushies set, there are two more pictures of Peta and Molly.

Up next…. an octopus plushie!

I spent today (and most of yesterday night) making a Katamari Prince plushie from scratch. I’ve only played the video game a little bit, but I just adore the character designs and couldn’t resist! I didn’t have a pattern, so it was a lot of experimenting and a lot of frustration. It was also the first plushie I made with WIRE arms, so I can position and bend his legs and arms. YAY! He’s actually very small, because my felt squares don’t come in very large sizes. Nonetheless I still spent about 7 hours in total making him!

I took him out to the garden this afternoon, because it was such a nice day out.

Well that’s all from me for now. Thanks for looking!

Today I went to Yvet’s house to make plushies.

Meet Frankly and Owlnold!

I made the weird looking purple thing on the right. Yvet made the owl on the left which she was nice enough to give me. (Rather, I forced asked her to give it to me because it was so cute). We got the patterns from Softies , this book I got from Kino the other week.

Here’s a closer look at Frankly!

I think he’s feeling a little glum because everyone says he has the measles, or chickenpox, or bad acne.

I got one of those DIY “Felt Mascot” kits the other week from Morning Glory for $3 (what a bargain! Felt isn’t event that cheap anymore).  I finished it this morning!

I’m hoping to make more of these, I have another kit which involves making hamburgers (my favourite!) and other goodies. Also, there are books in Kinokuniya completely devoted to the subject of felt plushies.

I think I can spend the whole remainder of my holidays doing this.

The most hassling thing about going to university interstate (although some remind me that ACT is technically within NSW) is deciding what items to take with you. I admit, I’ve been used to a life of luxury, I have two rooms all to myself: one with a bed, the usual wardrobe things and one with the books and the computer and the TV. How that will all change.

I invite you all to look at what will be my home sweet home for the next 4 years:

I’m hoping that the furniture is included. In case you can’t make out the measurements, it’s 4.635 m by 2.705 m.

So I’ve started compiling a list of things to take with me, but it’s been hard sorting the essentials from the unnecessary-but-oh-so-necessary-to-my-material-happiness.

The list so far goes:

• Comic books. Too precious to say goodbye to.
• Art history books. Sort of necessary considering that’s what I will be studying
• My PS2 with a TV. That way, I can watch TV, play DVD’s, play video games, and don’t need to take my CD player(4-in-1 function, yeah!)
• Vivienne Westwood handbag. For street cred or something.
• Since I can’t take all the novels I have, I will just take the “essentials”, which are Franz Kafka, Salinger, Eugenides, Coetzee, and most of my classics. Otherwise I’ll group books by a categories and take them down on a rotational basis.
• I will have to do the same with clothes (summer and winter). Or maybe I’ll just count out exactly enough for 7 days a week.
• CD’s. Or if I’m really short on room, I’ll just transfer them all into digital files.
• My computer, although I’ll probably have no internet.
• Acoustic guitar, the electric seems too much of a hassle.
• Clean underwear.

I think I’ll start packing in February.

So basically it’s been bugging me. The whole website without any posts except the “Hello World” one (a default one, nonetheless, with a default comment). I’ve thought about it long and hard for a while now, and don’t know exactly how to “begin”, if that’s the right word for it. Nothing which has come into mind seems substantial enough to start, and as a sign, here is a list (in no particular order) of things I started, but haven’t completed:

• a rant about lackluster discos
• an interpretation of Forward Russia lyrics
• a list of people I’ve recently stalked
• a ponder about Daniel Clowes, David Boring, and their connection to a clothing chain in Hong Kong
• a hate rant about Damien Hirst

… and so the list goes on.

I blame this indecision on the new year. It always seems to suggest change, alteration, a clean slate, beginnings and of course, hesitation!

If this is truly a sign of things to come, then, future readers, maybe it’ll be a sign which leads nowhere. Speaking of signs…

The above are all from the hilarious Lonely Planet’s book called “Signspotting”, which is the best I can do for now.