Twenty seven:

Happy birthday, Lauren. We love you quite a lot. 

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Conversations:

Jess Axelby -- <3

Hannah -- and indeed it is.

Please, meet Frankenwhale:

Before Lauren and James were married, I cruelly decreed that Thursday night was Sisters' Night, and James was forbidden to disturb the hallowed realms of femininity with his highly masculine nature on Thursday evenings. Those nights became fun ones for me, fun-but-not-quite-as-fun ones for Lauren, and pure torture for James.

Fast-forward to now. Lauren is old and married, and I am no longer allowed to wield the sword of elderly sister dictatorship over Thursday evenings. So the new move is to Sister Mornings, and we're just settling into a happy rhythm of them after the wedding excitement has died down. Usually it's turn about -- one week at her house and the next at mine.

Last Thursday, we met at the newlywed nest. Lauren was determined to get some essential sewing done and I... well I just had with me a pair of beloved grey corduroy jeans which, although dead, were not ready to be buried. I just couldn't let go yet.

So while Lauren embarked on some actual sensible sewing, I embarked on some freestyle sewing. It's been so long since I did any creative work with fabric that I was actually intimidated. What do I doooo? To make it less scary, I decided simply to play -- and I needed to keep it simple because all I had brought with me was the pair of jeans.

First, I just went at the jeans and cut out two pieces of back-to-back whale by eye. Then I scrounged some red ric-rac from Lauren and sewed it on for a mouth. It was at this point that my featureless little sea-faring mammalian friend became Frankenwhale -- mainly because of the slightly creepy nature of his new, zigzaggy grin.

I also stole a random and very cool button made mostly of thread, and attached it for the eye. Then I realised that all my enthusiastic freestyling had not incorporated a seam allowance for Frankie, so that if I placed him right sides together, machine-sewed, and turned it inside out, his tail would all but disappear within the seam allowance. I combatted that by hand-sewing with wrong sides together, leaving the seam visible and with raw edges out there for all the world to see. If Frankenwhale had a conscience, he'd be blushing.

Final touch: red-checked bow and Frankie's good to go! He is far from a sturdy child's toy or even a clever piece of art but it was so much fun simply to sit down with fabric and thread and buttons and just play. I recommend the activity to you.

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Conversations:

Mum -- COL! (like LOL, but with chuckling instead)

Katie -- thank you for understanding the significance of our art: all in honour of Toad.

Jordan -- mission accomplished!

Meaghan -- we're awesome, right? ;)

Carla -- *fist-pump* YESSSSS.

Julia -- you're welcome :D

Amanda -- a deserved tribute to a special amphibious friend.

Rebecca -- :)