A really sore eye, swollen and red, took me off to The Tweed to see the optometrist. The Tweed, a suburb about half an hour away, is the nearest large shopping hub, with malls of shops full of everything you need....or don't. While I like to shop locally and we do have an optometrist in town, I've been going to the one in Tweed for around 10 years, they know me by name and have all my records there......so I keep going.
The offending eye.....or eyes as it turned out......had eyelashes growing in, down instead of up! I was just relieved that was all it was, despite my yelps of pain as he tweezered them out. Feels much better now.
Tweed has the nearest fabric shop for 30 kms in any direction, so of course I had to pay a visit. A fresh injection of teals was needed, as
Kate has announced there'll be another Ovarian Cancer fundraiser quilt, to be called Scin
teallate, a clever play on words, for which Kate is renowned, and which will feature teal stars on a cream background.
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| A little stash building |
A stop at the library on my way home was necessary to pick up two books I'd ordered.
I've been waiting ages for Grown and Gathered, by Matt and Lentil as there's been a long waiting list for it, and I can see why, for starters, it's beautiful. It feels nice to hold, the photos are bold and bright, plus it's crammed full of great information and delicious recipes. I wondered if it might be a 'style over substance' book, but no, it's a great resource, with lots of detail communicated simply. It's set in Victoria, north of Melbourne, so it's good to have almost-local information, rather than northern hemisphere guides to growing and gathering.
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| Yum! |
The other book, Mending Matters by Katrina Rodabaugh, is newly published, and celebrates the sustainable fashion community, while exploring repairing, patching and mending. I'm not new to any of these practises, but it's always fun to see what others are doing, and I support the philosophy of knowing where our clothes come from, and finding alternatives to fast fashion. Her book is full of stunning images of patched clothing, I love her palette, and the fact that some of her patches are plant dyed.
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| Little pink patch dyed with avocado seed |
I saw this gorgeous cowl made from repurposed linen op shop ( thrift store) trousers, and it inspired me to dig out a piece of fabric I stamped and dyed on my last trip to India. It doesn't get terribly cold here, but I often feel a chill around my neck when I walk Mirrhi in the early morning, but I hate having a woolly scarf around my neck, and find they unwind and get in the way of vigorous ball throwing.
So it seemed ideal to turn this lovely fine, soft length of cotton into a cowl.
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| I'd had the circular stamp made up in Jaipur |
I cut the fabric into two pieces, cross wise, one smaller then the other, then stitched the pieces together into a tube with a french seam, and hemmed the long edges. An hour later, Mirrhi was not very happily modelling my soft cotton cowl for chilly days. I popped it on when I took her out a bit later, and it worked just fine....nice and light, not bulky but adding just the right amount of warmth.
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| Oh dear, can it come off now? |
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| Not the true colour, taken with a flash |
I've been stitching along the seams for a bit of 'fanciness'.
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| Closer to the true colour |
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| projects from Mending Matters |
I'm off to bed now to have a good read............
Gorgeous fabrics, I especially love the designs on those middle two, but I wish your trip hadn't been prompted by painful eyes. It sounds ghastly! The two books look interesting – but even Melbourne gardening is too cool and temperate for up here, where I've only managed to locate a couple of books which address our seasons/ temperatures/ rainfall. That cowl is a lovely idea, especially made with that lovely light Indian cotton. I have a couple of huge, almost sarong-size scarves I use for our rare cold days, but they're so light and cosy and versatile.
ReplyDeleteThose fabrics had just been unpacked, annd I fell on them with delight....it can be hard to find teal here, unless I go that hour further up the coast. Have to decide on twinkly blocks now. I know of a few people who write about gardening as far north as Maleny, but even that's probably not much help for you in the tropics. The recipes though made the book a winner for me!
DeleteI never knew that eyelashes grew inward. That sounds painful.
ReplyDeleteI’m glad you feel better now.
Only as we age apparently Nil. It was interesting listening to the optometrist trying to say diplomatically that I had saggy eyelids 😆 It's amazing how much better I feel, that such a little thing could have such repercussions. I'll know next time and sort it out quickly.
ReplyDeleteOoh, ingrowing eyelashes - so painful I'd imagine. Lucky it was something easily remedied though and, in the bargain, gave you a chance to go 'teal' shopping. I just had to search for a teal infusion for my stash too but, as you say, it's quite a difficult colour to find. I've bought a few bits online so hope the photograph was correct otherwise I'll just be adding to my aqua stash.
ReplyDeleteMirrhi looks very cool in the cowl - I'm sure you do too. 😎
I'll have bald eyelids soon if there's anymore ingrowing lashes!.... Hope your teals are true teals, it can be tricky picking them. I shall pass on the compliment to Mirrhi.....she has a smoother neck than I do 😉
ReplyDeleteNanette, how painful your eyes must have been. Ouch! Just having the eyelashes removed gives me goosebumps. I love your model by the way. LOL! The cowl will certainly come in handy. Here we need something a tad heavier.
ReplyDeleteIt's a relief it was such an easy fix and didn't hurt having the lashes pulled. I've been wearing my cowl a lot, it's perfect and surprisingly warm.
ReplyDelete