Stars and Stripes

In case you hadn't already noticed, the t-shirt quilt that I'm slowly working on, is made up of tees that were bought by the soon to be quilt owner on a trip to America last year.

She wanted an American themed backing fabric (which I couldn't find here in Australia), so I searched around online for some options for her to choose from. She's chosen this American Tribute Waving Flags fabric which I found at The Quilters Garden.

I ordered a little bit of extra fabric so that I could whip up another Kitchenaid Cover for her.... and I couldn't resist taking a photo of it on my beautiful Australia tablecloth!

Waste not, want not...

She's also ended up with a pot holder!

Acetylcysteine - Part Two - How Government red tape ruins everything

Just when I thought everything was sorted, Government red tape has ruined it:

Following my correspondence to you last week regarding the 1st May 2011 PBS listing of Omegapharm Acetylcysteine Solution. 

I received notification on Friday from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) that our submission will now require Federal Government 'Cabinet' approval. This decision was made without any consultation or warning from the Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon and has come as a great surprise to both myself and the PBAC.

Prior to last week, the PBAC were responsible for approving medicines under $10 Million per annum. For products over $10 Million the PBAC refers to the Federal Cabinet for approval. The Federal Cabinet will now be responsible for the review and approval of all PBAC recommendations.

Even though Omegapharm Acetylcysteine is well below the $10 Million level (and the product was recommended for listing in April 2010 by the PBAC and was accepted for a May 1st 2011 listing last week) the product will require Federal Government 'Cabinet' approval. 

The decision by the Federal Government will affect the May 2011 listing of Acetylcysteine. The Federal Government confirmed that it will 'put the needs of patients with serious conditions and limited treatment options first', so hopefully they uphold this statement and finalise the PBS listing of Acetylcysteine quickly.

So what does this all mean right now. We urgently need you help!

As part of the new 'Cabinet' review process, I have been asked by the Lung Foundation, Thoracic Society and the PBAC to seek feedback from Prescribers/ Specialists on the effectiveness of Acetylcysteine in patients that have the following lung conditions:

·         chronic bronchopulmonary disease (chronic emphysema, emphysema with bronchitis, chronic asthmatic bronchitis, tuberculosis, bronchiectasis and primary amyloidosis of the lung);

·         acute bronchopulmonary disease (pneumonia, bronchitis, tracheobronchitis);

·         pulmonary complications of cystic fibrosis;

·         pulmonary complications associated with surgery;

·         post-traumatic chest conditions;

·         atelectasis due to mucus obstruction.

·         lung cancer;

·         tracheostomy care;

·         anaesthesia.

Therefore, we URGENTLY require the following information;

Name of your Specialist

Location of your Specialist

Telephone Number of your Specialist

The Lung Foundation and the Thoracic Society require this information with the next 48 hours and will be writing to the Federal Government and PBAC.

If you feel uncomfortable providing us with this information, please send the details through to the CEO of the Lung Foundation Mr William Darbishire @ Williamd@lungfoundation.com.au

To date our company has done everything it can to provide affordable access to this important medicine. While the delay with the TGA and now the Federal Government is well beyond our control, our company is committed to ensuring Acetylcysteine Solution receives the PBS listing.


I think I might need to head down to Julia's office with a letter of complaint on Wednesday.

Reeling it in

It was such a lovely sunny day yesterday that I just wanted to relax and have some fun......

So I spent the afternoon playing with vintage reels of cotton, and other little treasures, while filling up my printers tray.

I'll share some photos when it's finished and back on the wall.

Back on Duty

It's been a while since since good old Frances has had to work on any blog modelling assignments.

She's been patiently waiting in the corner, draped in all sorts of random junk that makes it's way into my office.

But today is her lucky day.... the random junk is now piled on top of the heater, and she's bathing in dappled sunlight.

I haven't made a teatowel apron for the longest time! This one is for a male friend of Bec's who has Scottish heritage (hence the lack of floral fabric).

Now if I could just find my metal snaps and snap setter to finish the adjustable neck strap......

It's getting there.....slowly

The t-shirt quilt is finally on the home stretch.

I'd been waiting for these text panels to arrive for a few weeks now, but they finally turned up yesterday, so I sat down and finished the quilt top lastnight.

It's ended up being really quite large - about 2 metres wide x 2.4 metres long.

The backing fabric is also ready to go, so now I'm just waiting for the batting to arrive. I've booked in next Saturday with my helper and we're going to quilt up a storm!

My Creative Space

Slightly blurry pic today but I'm in a hurry and I'm scooting out the door....

This week in my creative space, I was trying to use some of my illustrations to make art prints for my wall.

I only managed to print one (the disco ball on the left top of photo).... before I killed the printer. It's only about six months old and now it won't feed any paper through.

I also learned a very important lesson - do NOT use double sided tape to put artwork on the wall.... it falls straight back off the wall when you least expect it!

The home of my creative space

The Owls Have It

Things have been so crazy busy around here that I completely missed a 2nd birthday a couple of weeks ago...

So I whipped up a super simple and super quick little skirt.

It's just two rectangles - the front one appliqued with a lovely row of owls, then overlocked and sewn together, hemmed, and elasticised.

The applique is a strip cut from my Owlie Oracle fabric.

It's hard to see in this photo, but I pressed and topstitched the side seams in pink thread, just for fun!

I'm off to deliver it today, with fingers crossed that it fits... here's hoping.

Acetylcysteine

Totally non-craft related post, so you may want to move on....

For those who may remember my post last year.

The manufacturer of one of the nebulised medications that I use three times a day, stopped manufacture early in 2010 without any warning to patients, leaving no equivalent alternative.

After doing my own research, I found a company who was working on getting TGA and PBS approval in Australia.  Unfortunately, having gone without it for so long, I ended up in hospital on three separate occasions.

At the moment (while it's still not on the PBS), I've been lucky enough to obtain a month by month supply which is being funded through the Respiratory Department at the Alfred Hospital.

I've been in contact with the new manufacturer throughout the approval process, so I was overjoyed to receive this email tonight:

I am writing to update you on the TGA and PBS listing for Omegapharm Acetylcysteine.

As many of you are aware the Omegapharm product is the only version of Acetylcysteine Solution available in Australia. The molecule is the generic equivalent of the Bristol-Myers Squibb's (BMS) Mucomyst 20% 5mL which was discontinued from the Australian market in late 2009.

 
Omegapharm via the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) was able to secure a 'Section 19a' listing that enables pharmaceuticals registered in the USA to be supplied into Australia. In April 2010 Omegapharm Acetylcysteine received an approval by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC).  However the product could only be PBS reimbursed once the molecule received full TGA approval.

Therefore, I am extremely pleased to announce that we have (finally!) secured TGA registration. This registration will see the product PBS listed from the 1st May 2011 and will guarantee patients pay no more than $5.40 (concession) or $33.30.

I would like to thank you for supporting our company and acetylcysteine over the last twelve months. I understand that the process has been very frustrating. However I feel extreamly satisfied that we have been able to secure the best possible outcome for all patients guaranteeing affordable access to this vital product.

I would also like mention that our company has provided over 2,300 packs at no charge under our compassionate use program. The program has helped those patients that could not afford the product to have access. I would like to thank Symbion and the Pharmacists who helped distributed the stock to patients on our behalf.

 

 

It's taken twelve months longer than I expected it to.... but at least it's finally happened - hallelujah!

Good things come in threes

Good thing number one:

I had to pop down to the post office yesterday to pick up a delivery of fabric that I'd ordered as the backing for the t-shirt quilt.  For some unknown reason, it was sent to me as registered post, which meant that I had to take in ID and sign for it.

When I arrived, the line up was already out the door. I counted seventeen people in the queue ahead of me (council rates were due today). I stood for five minutes tweeting on my phone, until luckily one of the employees called people forward who were just there to pick up parcels.... hallelujah!

Good thing number two:

There's an op shop just around the corner from the post office, and I hadn't been in for a couple of weeks, so I thought I'd pop in for a visit.

I found a cute little basket, and a skirt. The skirt had a purple price tag, and when I arrived at the front counter, it was half price day for purple tags!

Good thing number three:

I scooped up my goodies and got back into the car which was parked right outside the oppy, when another car pulled into the park directly in front of me.

While I was sitting there, a man and a lady got out and started unloading things from their car.

I spied some sparkly arkly bits under the mans arm, and as they came closer, I realised that he had two small chandelier style light fittings..... and they were the exact same type of light fittings that I was looking for to install in my new dining room.

I wound down the passenger side window and said "excuse me"... no answer, so I said a bit louder "excuse me"... still no answer and getting desperate, I yelled "EXCUSE ME"!

They both turned around and came over to the car, and so I very politely asked if they were giving the chandeliers to the op shop. They replied that they were, so I asked if I could buy them instead.

They wouldn't let me buy them, but they insisted that I take them. Apparently their daughter had bought a new house with these fittings and she didn't like them so she took them down, and asked her parents to get rid of them.

It was fate, I'm quite sure of it....

Zips

I have a Love / Hate relationship with zips.... 10% percent of the time, it's love, and 90% of the time, it's hate!

I still keep collecting zips from the oppy, just in case I might need them one day. But then sometimes, I get the sudden urge to sew a zippered pouch - for no reason at all.

This time I decided to experiment by inserting the zip at the front instead of the top. I didn't quite get the dimensions correct for the zipper I was using, but it turned out pretty well other than that.

This one will be added to the present stash for upcoming birthdays.


*Dragster Dominoes fabric available here.

*Motorbike Zipper Pull available here.

The Apple Tree

A couple of weeks ago, I visited a giant apple tree...

.... and this week I swapped a basket full of empty jars, for a basket full of fresh home grown apples from that same lovely tree.

Cathie told me about her Apple and Berry Crumble recipe, and so I trundled off to the supermarket in search of the missing ingredients that weren't already in my pantry.

I searched and searched and searched for rolled oats in the baking aisle..... only to realise they were with the breakfast cereals (can you tell that I've never actually bought a packet of rolled oats in my life before)?

I retrieved my kitchen scales from the parcel packing bench (sadly, they're never used for cooking anymore, only weighing parcels) and measured out all that delicious brown sugar.

Tada! It's a pity that you can't insert an aroma into a blog post, because it smelled amazing when it came out of the oven. 

This was my afternoon tea yesterday.... and my breakfast thismorning.

Deeeeeeelicious!

Animation Friday - Animated HTML button

I haven't played along with Animation Friday for ages.... but today over at My Poppet there's a little tutorial on how to make an animated html button.

Now I have a little animated button on my sidebar which links to my shop - how cute!

Thanks Cintia

The Musical Collection and Little Shop Of...

Gosh it's been such an exciting week around here!

I've been so caught up that I'd forgotten to announce that I also have a brand new stockist.

You can now find CurlyPops goodies at Little Shop Of... at 8 Woorayl St, Carnegie - or you can also purchase from their online shop.

I also have this new range of pouches from The Musical Collection....

I haven't had a chance to put them in the shop yet (they're $25 each), and I'm about to dash out the door, so if you would like me to put one aside for you, just email me - mscurlypops@gmail.com

Have a happy Friday!

Just in case you missed it...

Shaynna looked gorgeous on the telly lastnight.

It's not easy to take a decent photo of a tv screen at night.

I caught Andrew mid-conversation on this one...

I think I'll have to watch it again tonight!

On the Telly - Part 2

I have very exciting news today... but first I must explain my little addiction.

I'm completely addicted to renovation and lifestyle shows - I love nothing more than ripping out the old and putting in the new, and slapping lots of nice fresh paint around the place.

I've had Foxtel since it's inception back in the 90's, except for three months when I went cold turkey after my last house move. I desperately tried, but I just couldn't live without my daily dose of the Lifestyle Channel.

 But now for the exciting news of the day....

One of my favourite shows on the Lifestyle Channel is Selling Houses Australia. This season it's actually called Selling Houses Australia Extreme as the houses are really in dire need of help.

In tonights episode, Interior Designer extraordinaire Shaynna Blaze will be wearing her CurlyPops Flower Brooch.

The episode airs:

• Wednesday, 23 February 8:30pm on LifeStyle 
• Thursday, 24 February 2:00am on LifeStyle 
• Thursday, 24 February 11:00am on LifeStyle 
• Saturday, 26 February 7:30pm on LifeStyle 
• Sunday, 27 February 6:30pm on LifeStyle

and of course, you can also catch it 2 hours later on Lifestyle + 2

* If you would like your very own flower brooch, the three above are currently available in the shop.

Spot the Difference (bad pun intended)

The lovely lady for whom I'm making the t-shirt quilt, also requested a couple of replacement covers for her Kitchenaid Mixer.

She already had the standard white Kitchenaid Cover (the one on the left), but wanted something in green tones.

I made myself a template, and whipped up a quick toile out of some scrap fabric.... and then had a little conundrum, because I really needed to test it out.

I remembered that when Nic from Yardage Design had blogged about her kitchen, she had a Kitchenaid Mixer on the bench...... so I popped the toile in the mail, and Nic tested it out for me - thankyou Nic, you're a gem!.

As you can see - with scrappy one sided fabric and no wadding, the toile was rather floppy, and it was just a little too long also.

After the testing phase, I got to work on the real thing.

I must say that I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Donate Life Week 2011

I'm a couple of days late, but this week is Donate Life Week in Australia.

It's the perfect time to not only join the official Organ Donor register, but to sit down and have a discussion with your family to ensure that they are aware of your wishes.

Just in case you don't know my story, there's a very good reason that I'm so passionate about this issue..... so here's the very short version:

I'm 36 years old and I've had a chronic lung disease since the age of 15. I was then diagnosed with panhypogammablobulinemia about 11 years ago which just added further complications.

At the age of 28, I was told that I would need a lung transplant at some time in the future. That was a huge bombshell and the first time that I really took the time to think about my future (or lack thereof). Well that was eight years ago now, and I've managed to keep plodding on with my own very dodgy barely working lungs, connected to a never-ending supply of oxygen.

I often think about what it would be like to be able to breathe again - to ride a bike, to go for a run, to walk up a hill, to go shopping, to pick up my nephews, even to mop my floors! All those normal things that I can't do.

At this stage, I need to keep my own dodgy lungs for as long as I possibly can. But, I'm hoping that when the time arrives that I can't go on any longer, I'll receive the ultimate gift.


There are over 1700 Australians waiting for an organ transplant at any time, and the wait can be anywhere between 6 months and 4 years.

The Donate Life website is a wonderful resource full of information, including the family discussion page.

Please spare some time this week and have that conversation....

*Put Some Pork on Your Fork

Sometimes markets are like tattslotto.... even though you played the game, you'll never come out a winner in the end.

My older sister came along to play donkey this time around. Lucky, because the cobblestones are a little bit of an obstacle for my trolleys.

The marquee and table set up was fantastic. The weather and site selection was terrible, and the signage was non-existent. We couldn't even find it to set up, and we had a map with the location marked!
 Then combine that with all of the lane closures around the Flemington area for the MS bike ride, and it's no wonder there were no customers.

We made the most of it by chatting to our lovely stall neighbour, and thankfully we also had some visits from wonderful peeps who braved the rain and wind and sunshine and humidity and rain and wind and........

Never one to miss an opportunity when we get to pack up nice and early, we headed off to Kensington where we visited Onabee.

I bought my sister a lovely Red Parka print as a thankyou for her donkey duties, and I found that they stock my favourite A5 size sketch books (so excited about that as the shop where I was buying them has since closed).

A day out just wouldn't be a day out without some good coffee and good food.

Next door to Onabee is a lovely cafe named The Premises. I had the Crispy Bacon and Egg Roll with Spicy Tomato Relish (without the eggs as I don't eat egg)...

.... and my sister had the Pulled Pork with Coleslaw and Spicy Apples.

I'll definitely be heading back there, it was delicious!

* Sorry about the post title, but I couldn't help myself. When else will I be including a photo of pork which warrants such a silly title?

Off to the Market

The car is all packed and I'm ready to go for tomorrow....

I'm all set for a day full of nostalgia.

When I was a little kiddie, we spent lots of time at saleyards in country Victoria. We mainly went to horse sales, but also the odd sheep or cattle sale too.

In the olden days before the freeways were built, we would drive past the Newmarket Saleyards every time we took a trip to Melbourne. 

Mobile phone pic

I had a little bit of play with my new stall set up on the kitchen bench yesterday, using an Ikea shelf that Cathie bought for me on one of her trips (I can't bear actually going to Ikea myself). My brother did a little Ikea hack for me to modify it, and now it's the perfect shelf for my pouches.

Now lets just keep our fingers crossed for no wind and no rain!

All Frocked Up

 Please excuse the very blurry mobile phone pic

I remember sending out a Twitpic of my dress design on the day that I was drawing it, so I went back and checked, and it was November 10th last year.

Sheesh! It's taken me a really long time to actually use it....

So, here it is, in lovely colourful tones (because I just can't do bland).

I won't have time to add these to the shop before the market, so if you would like to purchase one in either colour, just send through an email and I'll pop one aside for you!