bric a brac

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments on my series of posts on wearing what I sew - how exhausting trying to take photos every day! But it was a good way to showcase my previous creations since I haven't been doing a great deal of sewing lately, time to get cracking on my winter wardrobe now that it is officially winter here in downtown Sydney.

To wrap a few things that came up in the comments from the last posts:

Karen asked to see my sewing space and machines and since you asked I will deliver! I have taken over one of our spare bedrooms that was once our study and sewing room but is now pretty much just my room! It's not huge, but it is a dedicated space that I can close the door to when it gets too messy.
In the photo above you can see my sewing machine on the right, a Brother PS-53 which is the basic model. This was given to me a few years ago as a christmas present from my parents, replacing the 35 year old machine my grandmother had given me that I had been using for at least the previous decade. I have been thinking about upgrading soon, a machine that does one step buttonholes sounds very appealing, but that's the only extra feature I really need. My overlocker is a Toyota, again a basic model given to me at another christmas from my parents which works fantastically and is quite easy to thread. Above the desk on the shelf are 1950s bakelite kitchen canisters which house my button collection, seperated into various colours. Hanging on the wall are my sloper patterns that I am slowly developing - a shirt, an A-line skirt and a pencil skirt so far. On the clipboards hanging on the wall next to my sewing machine is an illustrated to do list, to give me incentive and encouragement to finish things (doesn't work though!)
My sewing desk is an L shape that my husband and I built specifically to house my sewing machines and the computer. In the photo above you can see the left side of the desk, where the computer is, boxes of habadashery notions that I really need to find a better way to store, pattern making supplies wedged between the filing cabinet and the desk, and all those papers on top of the desk waiting for filing! You can also my very high tech and aesthetically pleasing thread catcher under my overlocker - yes that is a plastic bag sticky taped to the desk, but at least its from Lincraft!




















On the wall opposite the desk is a built in wardrobe that houses most of my stash (it has now spread into another wardrobe in the guest bedroom!), and UFO purgatory, ie all those unfinished garments hanging in there waiting their turn. And you can just see the cabinet that holds all my patterns in that I posted about here.

So there you have it - not an overly inspiring or pretty workspace, unlike this awesome room over at Chaletgirl's house. But really this room is only temporary, because we are about to undertake extensions and renovations to the house and when I get my permanent space I'll be decorating like crazy!

On to the next comment - Vicki has suggested, no nearly ordered that I increase my shoes to a "round" 100, even pointing on that the mid year sales are on. Oh Vicki, you are a wicked woman but you are totally correct, I shall be looking for bargains today at lunch as I've noticed that both Mollini and Wittners are advertising up to 50% off at the moment!

And finally, the the_lazymilliner tagged me for this game: revealing six things you don't know about me. Well this should be easy since I pretty much keep the blog sewing related, but thinking of 6 interesting things will be the challenge:

1. I am a town planner by profession. I'm sure that not many of you have come across a town planner before, since I am always asked what it is. Basically in previous jobs I was responsible for assessment of development proposals, and in my current role I work in policy setting out guidelines for what development can occur where. If you ever want to do work on your house you'll come across a town planner (I think they are known as municipal or city planners in the US).

2. My husband is Chinese, which you would have realised if you saw my post on our wedding photos. But here's something interesting, he is an Australian born Chinese, and so while he has a Chinese face, he's much taller than most Chinese and because he grew up out in the country he speaks with a very Australian accent which throws most people off when they first meet him! I have also adopted his surname (although I blog here under my maiden name), so I confuse people when I meet them too, especially if we've talked on the phone before meeting.

3. I ride a motorbike, and when I was younger I really wanted to be a motorcycle racer when I grew up. But a few accidents scared me out of that idea, and now I just ride on the weekends for fun. In fact, my whole family rides, and my mum got her licence after turning 40! I currently have a Honda 1000cc VTR, which if you don't know bikes is a pretty big sportsbike, which I like to ride really fast to outdo young men and their egos.....

4. I never cook dinner or shop for groceries, my husband does all that (because he loves it right!). I do like to bake though, and quite often make cakes and muffins but when it comes to cooking each night I just can't be bothered or inspired to do it. In fact if I'm alone and have to fend for myself, I usually will have sardines on toast or if I'm feeling fancy an omelet.

5. I am a hopeless knitter and terrible at crochet, not matter how much I want to be good at it. With my knitting my tension is way too tight, I am very slow and lose focus which results in added/decreased stitches by accident. With my crochet I'm really good at making chains, but that's about it.....

6. I suffer from mild insomnia and spend a few hours each night laying awake before I finally get to sleep. I use that time to think about what I'm going to sew next, what to wear the following day and general plans for world domination! I can't work out if I spend so much time thinking because I'm awake, or whether I'm awake because I'm thinking too much, but I've been that way since a little kid so I'm resigned to it.

Is everyone still with me? Such a wordy post I know, but soon back to regular posting. I've even finished one of my infamous UFOs to show you!