Going away tomorrow

We will be heading off tomorrow morning for points south of here, stopping at Cooma for a few days. While I am away there may not be many chances to update my blog so it may have to wait until we come home, but I will see what I can do - we don't have a laptop, but internet access is usually available at libraries and some cafes. Even small country towns are becoming more civilised these days.

The picture at the top of my blog was taken just on a year ago in Dungowan valley north-east of Tamworth, it's beautiful country. My maternal grandfather grew up not far from here. The road through the valley was used as early as the 1830s to move stock to the coast, and there are quite a few markers showing sites of previous buildings - schools, shops, houses. His parents moved to the area in the 1870s and he was the seventh child in a family of eleven, eight boys and three girls. His mother, my great-grandmother, was 19 when she had her first child and 46 when the last was born, what a life she must have had. I wish I could have known her but she died when my mother was a baby.

Daisy time

Those daisies on my sidebar remind me of when I was a sweet young thing in the 60s....everything was daisies, I can even remember weddings where the bride wore daisy-patterned lace and carried a daisy bouquet. So when this design popped up I thought we could revisit the 60s. The music was great....the fashions were fun and young and skinny (and so was I)........

Aren't you proud of me, I am still working on those mattress covers. One finished, the other more than half done. At this rate we will have new covers when we head off on our holiday in two days time.

Happy Thingmas and Seasonal Whatevers to all!

That should take care of most celebrations!

Today's picture is of an experiment I made a few years ago. I had the idea to make a new piece of fabric using crazy piecing, then to cut a shape from it. I chose an evergreen Christmas tree for the shape; every year when it is hung I plan to add beads for sparkle......and every year I forget........so after Christmas I will bead it before it is put away. It was also one of my first attempts at machine quilting on my Bernina, with swirling snow and stars in the background and snow furrows in the foreground. It is a very un-Australian tree, snow at Christmas is very rare here.

Best wishes to all, and I hope 2009 is a wonderful year for everyone.

Jennifer

I do believe it's the summer solstice

I may be wrong (I often am) but I always thought the solstice happened on 22nd-23rd December - today is 23rd so I suppose we are bang on solstice time. So, happy solstice wherever you may be. That means the weather really heats up here in Australia....not sure I am looking forward to that....sigh. Not much I can do about it though, except grin and bear it.

I am making new covers for the new mattresses in our little RV, can't you tell I am procrastinating - the corners are done and I only have to make hems along the bottom edges and thread elastic through, I am making them like a fitted sheet. I have never made a fitted sheet in my life before. Wish me luck.

My blog name WOW

This is the bronze wombat, after whom I named my blog. It is the largest in my wombat collection and is made of solid bronze, all 16kg (35lbs) of it. Several years ago while DH and I were travelling we visited a small town called Uralla, in northern NSW. It had a brass foundry that had been working for over a hundred years, so we paid our $2 and took a tour which was really fascinating. They had a shop with lots of interesting items for sale, one of which was my wombat. If it's still here when we are going home, said DH, we will buy it. It was, and as you can see, we did. No 2 son carried it in from the car staggering under the weight, he was not impressed as I remember.

What a brave woman am I, I went to the local mall this morning to do a little bit of shopping. It wasn't too busy when I arrived before 10am but when I left a couple of hours later I was glad to go. I bought a couple of candles for Christmas decoration, one red and one green; a soap dish for the bathroom to replace the one that DH accidently broke yesterday when we was doing some plumbing repairs; some guitar strings for my lovely classical Ibanez guitar, and not much else. Then after lunch I went to the library and bought some books to take on our holiday next weekend, they sell surplus books - 55 cents for a paperback! That's cheaper than thrift shops. Once we have read them, we can leave them behind in the campground laundry for someone else to read.

And the Christmas tree is up, the house is decorated - not too much though - I don't go overboard with decorations as I'm the one who has to pack them up after Christmas - and there are some presents under the tree already with my name on them. Woo hoo!

Jennifer

Folded star or Somerset patchwork

Recently Debbie showed a pretty trivet that she received. Many years ago I learned how to do this technique, and finally I have had time to make this tutorial. It's a lot of fun, and not difficult. I will spread it over a few posts as there are lots of pictures - a picture tells a thousand words! - which will show the steps to making Somerset patchwork.

You will need to decide on fabrics. I used Christmas fabrics from my stash as I plan to use it on our Christmas table, but of course it will look good no matter which fabrics are used. There are four rows in the star and each row can be a different fabric, fabrics can be repeated, or more than one fabric can be used in a row. As you can see, my light coloured row uses two different fabrics - the colour tones are the same, but the prints are different. You will also need fabric for the backing and binding, and a piece of muslin for the base. The finished star can be used as a table mat, hot food trivet, pot holder, or on the front of a cushion or bag.

Fabric 1, centre: Cut four, 3-1/2in (8.75cm) squares.
Fabric 2, first round: cut eight, 5in (12.5cm) squares.
Fabric 3, second round: cut eight, 7in (17.5cm) squares. I used two different fabrics for this row as I found that I couldn't get all eight squares from one fat quarter.
Fabric 4, third round: cut eight, 6in (15cm) squares.
Base fabric: cut one, nine in (22.5cm) square. Fold it into quarters and press, open out then fold diagonally and press. You will have four pressed lines. If preferred the lines can also be drawn using a ruler and marking pencil. This is inside the finished star and will not be seen.
Backing: you may prefer to wait until the top is finished before cutting fabric for backing, as you may wish to alter the size from the dimensions given here.
Binding: you may also want to wait before deciding on a binding width. I cut two strips 1 in (25.4cm) but only needed one for binding. In hindsight they could have been wider, say 1-1/4 in (3.2cm) or even 1-1/2in (3.8cm).
Thread: thread to match each fabric. Points are stitched down by hand so thread will need to match fabrics, outer edges are sewn by machine but as this thread won't be seen in the finished star the colour doesn't matter.
Depending in the fabric used, you may be able to finger-press; this will result in soft folds and points. For crisp sharp folds you may prefer to use an iron. I chose to press my fabrics using steam, as the gold metallic designs on some of the fabrics made them stiff.

Take one piece of fabric 1 and fold in half; press. Fold one corner to the middle and press; repeat with the other corner, to make a triangle shape. Make sure the point is on the folded edge, not the open edge.

Repeat with all squares. If using more than one fabric for a round you may like to layer the fabrics alternately to keep them in order.

Using fabric 1 and with the lines on the base fabric as a guide, set the four triangles with the points touching at the centre and the folded edges touching to make a square. Using thread to match fabric 1, stitch the four points to each other and to the base fabric. Stitching just inside the outer edge of fabric 1, sew a row of stitches by machine to hold the square to the base fabric. This row of stitching can be seen in the picture below.
Using fabric 2, start the first round. Place the point of a fabric 2 triangle 5/8in (1.5cm) from the centre and pin in place. Continue to place the remaining fabric 2 triangles with the points 5/8in (1.5cm) from the centre point, alternating placement so the points line up with the fold of the square below and with the join between the four sections of the square. Arrange the triangles so they alternate over and under each other. Using thread to match fabric 2, stitch the points to the base fabric, and machine a row of stitches just inside the outer edge as before.
Continue to place the next two rows as before. Using fabric 3, make the second round as previous row but with points 1-1/4in (3.1cm) from the centre point. Stitch points and outer edges. Using fabric 4, make the third round with points 1-7/8in (4.7cm) from centre point. The final row will be partly off the edge of the base fabric.
This is the time to decide on the finished size. I trimmed my star to make a 9in (22.5cm) circle,
but any size from 8-9in (20-22.5cm) diameter would be fine. You can also trim the excess points and leave an octagon shape. If making a circle you will use bias fabric for the binding - if making an octagon or square, you can use straight binding. I used a bias tape maker to make fold lines on my binding.
Trim to shape and size desired. Cut backing fabric the same size - this can be placed on the back of the star, wrong wides together, and trimmed at the same time as the front. It is then ready for binding.
With right side of binding to right side of star, pin and stitch. Fold under 1/4in(6mm) on the end of binding so the fold will overlap the join. Stitch all around.
Because of the many layers of folded fabric, the edges are bulky. I trimmed some of the bulk away to make it easier to fold the binding to the back. Stitch binding down on the back by hand.
In hindsight I would have cut the binding slightly wider to make this step easier, and also for the appearance of the finished piece.
Now make a cuppa, sit back and enjoy your handiwork! When I looked at these pictures I realised that I had made a mistake in the light coloured row - the 'under and over' overlapping didn't quite go right at one point. But in the overall scheme of things it doesn't matter.
If you have any questions or comments I would love to have them.

Jennifer

Beautiful new WOW

Isn't this a gorgeous wombat! Made of red cedar, lovely and smooth - a delight to touch. This was given to me when I left work last week, many thanks to the lovely folks in the library. The beautiful roses were a gift from Lorraine and I received some other gifts, one of which is round my neck as we speak, lovely lime green beads and shells. I am very fond of lime green. Lime green is a neutral, in my book. The quilt in the background has a story too; I was lucky enough to win it nearly ten years ago, it was made in New Zealand, and I love it. My maternal grandmother was born in NZ and it's a wonderful country.

Would you believe I haven't done my Christmas cards yet, I am very slow this year. Each year I say I won't send any, but it is a way to keep in touch with people we don't see much. I haven't put up many decorations yet either. But I will.

I like being retired but it is very easy to procrastinate.....I am supposed to go food shopping, it's lunchtime and I haven't left the house yet.....

Jennifer

A lovely place to look at

Taken from the road between Lithgow and Mudgee, central west NSW, looking north-east-ish. The Aussie countryside is very much part of my heart.

What a lovely time we had last night! My folk club has its last meeting for the year, it was also our Christmas party. Lots more people than we usually have, and a good time seemed to be had by all. Even wading through the puddles for the occasional pit stop wasn't too bad, it rained all day so everything was rather soggy. At the start of this year I decided to perform a new song or poem each time the club met, and managed to keep to that - even sang a new one last night, 'Beautiful Star of Bethlehem', to finish the year. From the feedback I received others may try the same idea. I already have a new song for the first meeting of the new year.

After the continual heavy rain yesterday we have a hot dry wind today and it's about 15 degrees hotter, we can't believe the change! The wind is blowing dust in my eyes and they need some drops put in. And some chocolate would be good to go with the coffee that is waiting for me, pity blogger doesn't have smell-o-vision.

I am now a retired person.......

.......but not, I hope, a retiring one. It feels good, although it hasn't quite sunk in that I won't be going back to work when the current school holidays finish. I was quite surprised by the lovely farewells and gifts that I received, and I have absolutely no regrets that I have done the right thing.

And I have a beautiful new wombat for the collection!

What a storm!

A storm hit just after I arrived home from having a massage an hour ago....thunder, lightning, and very heavy rain. I could see the dark clouds as I was driving and had my fingers crossed I would make it home before the storm came. Storm season isn't over yet! Never mind, so long as my sewing machines aren't affected I don't mind.

Triple WOW day

A trio of little wombats today, Christmas tree decorations that I have collected over the past few years.

The pretty Christmas Bush (Ceratopetalum gummiferum) in our front garden. Compared to many in the streets around here it is a light red; some others are very deep crimson. But they can be delicate to grow so we are lucky it has survived our care of 21 years.

We are all on the countdown to Christmas. This year we will have our older son Stephen The Drummer and his lovely girl Natasha with us for Christmas Day - the last few years have been just the two of us, so we have gone out for lunch at a restaurant. No preparation, no cooking and best of all no cleaning up afterwards! But it's not as good as having family around.

So....the house is slowly getting decorated, the tree hanging I made a few years ago is up, and others will follow. And best of all, I will be retired from work on Thursday afternoon.

WOW half way through two very busy weeks

It's a busy time of year! Choir concerts - one last week, two this week, practice tonight. Folk club gigs - did one at the weekend. End of year functions and Christmas parties - still coming. And only 10 days to go until I retire from work. It will be with a sigh of relief.

This WOW is my first furry wombat, apologies for the slightly fuzzy photo but he wouldn't stay still.......kept wanting to get back inside his burrow. DH gave him to me several years ago, he is very cute. The wombat is too.

Tomorrow my baby turns 30, how can that be when I am only 29 and some months myself....sigh. I blame that big machine in Europe, because I am sure it makes time go backwards while it is splitting the atom or whatever it is doing. Doesn't seem like 30 years ago I was waddling around with three weeks still to go, but he was a little impatient and decided to pop out early. Happy birthday to him tomorrow, he lives on the far side of the known universe (actually Toronto, Canada) so if he wanted to he could start celebrating when tomorrow starts here and go on until it ends in Toronto; they are 15 hours behind us, so it could be a long birthday celebration.

Today I had a pleasant lunch with a friend who brought me souvenirs from a recent trip to Europe, very lovely silver earrings from France set with a local stone and a pretty bracelet from England, then we went fabric shopping. Even though we both have an obscene amount of fabric and we don't need any more we managed to find some that we couldn't live without. Mostly fabric for clothes because there were some good specials - I bought linen blends for pants in brown, yellow and green solids - and some blue knit for pjs - and some pretty gold paisley to make another quilted bag - and some lovely soft knitting yarn - and a couple of other things - I am going to be the best-dressed retired woman around. Maybe.

WOW Day

But first, something a little different. This is an embroidery from over 30 years ago that I made for my son's bedroom. The tiger is felt applique, and the tiger's features and stripes together with the garden flowers are all embroidered in wool. I still have - it's cute.
This week's wombat is a cross-stitch embroidery that I finished a few years ago. The shading on the wombat used many colours and took a while to do, however it was a holiday project that went with me to several places around NSW and Victoria. It was from an alphabet series of Australian animals and birds. When the embroidery was finished I framed it in an Aussie wildflower print, the same print in light and dark blue, then quilted it.

Good gracious, what a morning. The local shopping centre was fairly busy for a Monday. I managed to find a dark red top to replace one that I had to get rid of recently - it had a nasty accident in the washbasket with a ballpoint pen that had been left in a pocket (not my pocket, I hasten to add). It's not easy to find clothes that I like; the offerings in shops are lovely if one is 25 years old and built like a twig, but when one hits the dreaded Middle Age and is no longer skinny the choice isn't great. Thank goodness I can sew.

Singing and quilting

Isn't this a pretty garden! Casa Loma, Toronto, Canada, late summer 2007.

Lovely night last night....attended a concert by Cathy Miller and her husband John Bunge. Canadians Cathy and John sing songs about the joys and woes of quilting, John's "Quilter's husband's lament" is a gem. Great folks, and it was good to catch up with them again. Somewhere in my sewing/music room I have sheet music to a song called "The Pretty Little Patchwork Quilt" from a long time ago, must dig it out and learn it.

Had a lovely chatty lunch with a friend, we had our sewing with us much to the amazement of some of our fellow lunchers; a few folks dropped joking hints about fixing dance costumes, or darning socks. At least we hope they were joking!

Now I am heading off to slave over a hot sewing machine.

Don't know why there's no sun up in the sky........

........stormy weather, or so goes the song. It's been a bit stormy lately; last night a very heavy thunder and rain storm, and we lost power for a brief while, and last Friday evening was very windy and rainy. As you can see, the jacaranda blossoms were blown around a bit.
But there are still plenty left on the tree. The bees were hovering around the fallen blossoms - perhaps they still had pollen in them?

My news can now be told as I have notified anyone in officialdom. I am retiring from work in three weeks. The original plan was to go at the end of March next year, but there will be many changes before then and I am not sure I will be happy with them. By nature I'm a back room worker, and there won't be a back room any more.

So......lots more time to sew, and lots of cleaning up to be done before we sell this house and move to the country, away from the city. Over twenty years' worth of 'stuff' to be cleaned out so it's going to be a big job, and will get started after Christmas.

Monday WOW Day

How cute is this one? It's only a few inches long and is made from very delicate clay.....actually, mud. It's pale creamy underneath and has a shiny brown glaze. I bought it in Toowoomba, Queensland, when we visited there several years ago. My wombats come from all over the place! Once again the fabric is an Aboriginal print from the Northern Territory, these prints seem to suit little wombats.
One of my current knitting projects. This lovely basketweave cardigan pattern was bought last year in Toronto, Canada, and I am using Bendigo Woollen Mill's Rustic yarn in Delta, a deep blue. The photo makes it look a bit grey, perhaps because it's a bit of a grey day today, cloudy and cool. It's my travelling project and has been to Tamworth and Canberra twice already; not even finished, and it's already well-travelled! The back and left front are done, and I'm up to the armhole/neck decreases on the right front. The original plan was to have it finished for the end of winter but that has been amended to next autumn. That gives me six months, let's see if I can do it.

And I even managed to pin a quilt at the weekend ready for machine quilting, although one corner has puckers underneath so it will need to be re-pinned. I would rather spend the time doing it now than swearing later. If only I had a large space to pin out.....having to pin a quilt in sections on the dining-room table isn't always ideal, and I'm over crawling on the floor to do it, the novelty wore off that years ago. Never mind, practice will probably help.

At the weekend I did a lot of pondering, and talking with DH, and have come to a decision. I'll write more on it later when it's official.

Cockroaches

Erk....cockroaches. Like many Sydney households, we have them in the warm months and they are horrible. This year the ones we have seen are the huge dark brown ones; someone told me they aren't as bad as the small brown ones. Erk. It's Sydney's warm humid weather that brings them out from their hidey-holes and they can go right back as far as I'm concerned. Erk.

This is Bianca The Beautiful resting in the kitchen sink. Doesn't everyone? The cats can hear a loud noise outside (so can I, and I am home alone); they are prowling and now Binky has jumped up onto the windowsill for a better look. She's braver than I am.

Today's WOW (Wombat of the week)

This is a very cute little feller! He's only 6cm (a bit less than 2 1/2in) long, and I bought him from a gallery in Tamworth several years ago. The fabric is an Aboriginal print brought back from the Northern Territory for me by our friends Alison and Colin. Isn't this great, I can combine two of my interests, wombats and quilting, in one photograph.
Some of the flowers on our jacaranda tree. It started life as a self-sown seed early in 1990, and now is taller than the house. Every spring we have a glorious display of bell-shaped flowers and the grass under the tree is sprinkled with the flowers as they drop. When the flowers are finished we have a lovely shady tree with ferny leaves. Jacaranda trees grow very well in Australia but are originally from Brazil in South America, and are one of the delights of spring.

Yesterday I revisited a quilt that has been a finished top for a few years, the wadding was purchased quite some time ago and the backing was joined all ready to be used. It now has a label and is lying on the floor in my 'other' sewing room (our older son's room when he was at home) waiting to be pinned, then I will quilt it. The wadding has been folded for so long that it needs to be laid out flat for a while before being pinned. Somehow the quilt size had grown in my mind to be huge, but it's 60in by 72in (152cm by 183cm) and I think I can manage to quilt that on my Bernina without too many problems. I even put '2008' on the label, so it has to be finished this year!

Well......back to the doctor this morning, I have been dreading these visits as my blood pressure has been high for a year now, so high at one point that I was in danger of having a stroke. But I got a good report today, although I have to keep taking the industrial-strength tablets. At least BP is now back down to a normal level so I don't have to go back for another six months. When I retire from work next year I think that may solve a few health problems, let's hope so anyway.

Great day for sewing

A couple of years ago in Fairbanks, Alaska, I purchased the Lisa Moore pattern to make this quilt, Alaska with a Twist. I enlarged the quilt by adding extra borders, and by using a forget-me-not (state flower of Alaska) fabric for the corners. The various fabrics were purchased in Victoria, Canada, and in Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway and Fairbanks, and some were sent to me by my friend Terry in Juneau. I used the cool aquas and turquoises of the glacial waters; the bottom picture is the true colour. The various prints have seagulls, eagles, bears, moose, seals, wolves, orcas, trees, northern lights.......some of which we saw, and some we missed. But they are all there in Alaska. My dream is to see the Northern Lights before I leave this earth.
It is still a flimsy, not yet layered and quilted, because I am probably the world's most unconfident machine quilter. But I will get there. There are folks who do wonderful machine quilting for others but at a cost of between $200-$400 I can't justify it. So I will practice, and eventually gain more confidence, and quilt some of those tops, at last count I think there are eight or nine waiting their turn. It would be lovely to have them finished. Then if only that confidence would spill over into other areas of my life I would be ecstatic, but that's another story.

I have just made 14 blocks for the black and white (or is it white and black?) Winding Ways quilt, so now there are 23 finished. An odd number, but I will keep making more and when I decide that is enough I will join them together. Finished size is nearly nine inches square so perhaps 36 blocks might be a good stopping point. That would be 54 inches square, plus borders; I have a black and white fabric which has wobbly red and yellow stripes spaced along the length, for borders. Perhaps a red and yellow narrow striped fabric would then be good for the binding, but I'm sure the quilt will tell me as we go along.

Today is a great day for sewing because it's cool, and cloudy, and the workmen next door seem to have finished and packed up, so that beeping little digger has finally stopped beeping. It's like a toothache...very irritating while it's there, and a great relief when it stops.

It's WOW day!

But first, a photograph of my grandparents Edith and Frank Davis with my mother Mavis. This would have been taken in 1924, as my mother was born on 2nd April that year. It's a very large photograph, and I found it tucked away behind a dressing table in my mother's house after she died....I wonder why? I don't ever remember seeing it hanging on a wall there, although I think I remember it in my grandparents' house. It hangs in my house above......
.........the Singer treadle my grandmother bought to make baby clothes for my mother and her younger brother, which would make it a mid-1920s machine. Unfortunately one side of the cabinet is badly weathered because of where it was stored at my mother's house. I have a couple of Singer tins, including the little truck, sitting on it.
And here is the Wombat of the Week! A few years ago DH went to Mount Buller resort in Victoria for a conference, and brought me back a wombat on skis. Very appropriate, as Mount Buller is in the high country and gets snow every winter. The fabric is a print of flannel flowers, a pretty Aussie native.

Off to the doctor this morning for a blood test, I don't like having things stuck in me. And I wasn't given a sweetie afterwards for being a brave girl, even though I didn't cry or kick up a fuss when the needle went in.

Here's a woman on a mission

Don't you love this......taken in July 2006, in Fairbanks, Alaska. The shop is still there but has changed its name, it's no longer Quilting Trail. It was a lovely shop, and I bought a pretty kit for a wall hanging of wild iris; some of the fabrics were batiks that I had never seen in Aussie land. It's finished but not yet photographed yet, however it will have its turn. DH knows I don't like having my photo taken but he manages to sneak in a few pics. As you can see, I like lime green. And I have long hair.

I am feeling very pleased with myself, I have worked out how to add 'things' on the side of my blog! Many thanks to Debbie in Calgary for helping me get started on my blogging journey, and for help along the way. For someone who is a bit of a computer klutz I'm managing OK.

Aren't the fall pictures on blogs beautiful at this time of year! We don't have much autumn here in Sydney which is a shame, it's my favourite season - perhaps because I was born in autumn? We have gone from summer to winter, to summer, and now back to spring in the last ten days. But no autumn.

And now it's sewing time.

My latest bag

This is my new everyday bag. A couple of years ago, while visiting Alaska, I was very taken with the pretty Vera Bradley bags that I saw. I didn't find out where to buy one so when I came home I made my own in a similar style using McCalls pattern 4118, in a bright yellow floral fabric. It was used so much the corners were getting very worn, and the handles were getting very grubby, so recently I made a new one.
Yes, I did all the quilting......the fabric wasn't bought ready quilted! It has pockets on the inside (3 on each side, a large one in the middle and two smaller ones at the ends), and pockets on the outsides. The main fabric is a Japanese cotton in a paisley design and the trim fabric is tiny green stars on a creamy background. It's quieter than my usual fabric choices - I usually go for brighter colours - but goes with lots of the colours that I wear, and has gained many compliments. Isn't it lovely to get praise for one's efforts!

I skipped my walk this evening as the sky looked very stormy and dark, and it has already rained. I'll go tomorrow, weather permitting. Have to do something to get the blood pressure down, I hate the thought of being on medication for the rest of my life or worse, having a stroke or heart attack.

Do you like my new background? I am getting braver about trying new things on my blog, I want it to be a learning experience. Now if I can only find out how to add things like 'blogs I am following' I will be a happy woman.

A lack of light today

Isn't this pretty? It's in the back yard of our Canberra friends, Sandra and Jeff. When I took the photograph I was told the plant is called "Pacific Blue" and it is an Aussie plant, but apparently its real name is Ceanothus and it's also known as 'Californian Lilac' it's from USA/Canada. Doesn't matter what it's called, or where it comes from, it's a lovely colour.
And these were the daisies in a vase on my dining room table, they lasted for a couple of weeks and were very spring-like. They reminded me of the late 1960s when everything was daisies....daisy print fabric, daisy lace, even wedding dresses were made of daisy-patterned lace. Back in the days when I was young and slender.....sigh.

Now for a whinge.

My sewing room is on the north side of the house and for over 20 years, until earlier this year, was always a sunny light room. Now the house next door has been extended back and upwards, and I have lost at least 60% of the light in that room. Instead of a view over a garden, and over adjoining gardens, I now look onto a half-finished building, and goodness knows when it will be finished as work seems to be proceeding v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. Today is quite hot (about 33 degrees C) and very sunny, and I have to turn on the light to sew in there. As a result, when the new neighbours finally move in they won't find me being the nice old lady next door. I won't be a grumpy old witch but I don't feel like being friendly, especially as he deliberately knocked down the low fence between our two properties about six months ago. His excuse was "no one was home to talk about it"....rubbish. Our son was here. They have a young family and they won't get any help from me.

I think I shall start moving some of my sewing things into the larger room at the back of the house, it's much larger than my current room, but gets very hot in summer. I have spent a long time getting my sewing room to the state it is now so it could do with sorting out anyway, and it will all have to be done next year anyway as we are moving out of Sydney.

Now my coffee break is just about over, so back to my Winding Ways blocks. The quilt now has a title: "The long and winding road", after the Beatles song. I like my quilts to have musical names.

Wombat of the Week - WOW!

No, this is not a wombat! Binky decided to sleep in a doll's four-poster bed that Kevin found by the road a couple of years ago. I plan to make a new quilt for it, and new bedding and curtains, then find a doll for it. It's in very good condition and I don't know why someone would throw it out.

This is the wombat that started off my collection. He's a chunky little feller who measures just under 5-1/2 in (about 14.5cm) from nose to tail. I found him in a plant nursery/tea shop in Tamworth several years ago, while visiting my mother. Alas, the nursery has gone....there is a McDonalds on the site now. Pity. The daffodil print fabric came out of my stash for the photograph but perhaps it should have been ironed first.

I don't know how many wombats I have, suffice it to say there are a lot. I have decided to feature a "Wombat of the Week" or WOW on my blog. I even have a wombat quilt....well, the top of a wombat quilt anyway.....wombat jewellery too.

The cats' forecast was right.....it's raining

This is a banner I made a few years ago for my choir, the Bright Star Singers. The 'stars' are star-shaped sequins, it's very sparkly when displayed. We use it sometimes at gigs. The choir's name comes from the old song "Bright morning stars are rising" - a lovely song.

The cats have been washing behind their ears lately, ants have been marching in a trail, and sure enough it started raining last night. It rained on and off during the day and it has been very very cold today - not surprising, it is snowing in the Blue Mountains just a couple of hours west of here. Snow in October!!! What with the freezing cold weather (it must be about 8 degrees or less outside now) and the fact that I felt less than wonderful today with pain from a bout of shingles earlier in the year I didn't walk this evening, but we'll see what tomorrow brings. It's a good night for staying inside and knitting or sewing. Those Flower Basket blocks are calling......I can hear them now........and my blue cardigan will never get finished unless I pull out the knitting needles again soon.......

Will it or won't it storm today?

Maybe......we had a few sprinkles this morning, not enough to be called rain. It's getting dark and cloudy, and it's only 4pm.

A little sample of my beadwork today. This is a necklace I made with a Clover thread cutter, and it has been overseas twice as it's fine to take on planes. The large pink bead, and smaller pink spacer beads, are from one of my grandmother's necklaces. The necklace has a matching scissor fob too, using the same colours - vintage pink glass beads, with new Swarovski emerald beads, bronze metal beads shaped like little pillows, and seed beads in bronze, green and gold.

On Saturday at the Guild meeting there was a sale table; the contents of a stash belonging to a quilter who died a few months ago. I bought: a large bundle of green fabrics (because one can never have too much green), a lot of which were 19th century reproduction fabrics - yum; a bundle of yellow/gold fabrics (because I loved them); and 2 metres of a pretty floral print, lavender-coloured fabrics on a pale background. I didn't need any more fabric because I already own an obscene amount, but they were soooo nice........this is my retirement stash for when I stop working.

Thinking on weather.....wouldn't it be lovely to live somewhere where there is no summer. Autumn to spring, with a mild winter in between, would do me nicely. But no summer. I don't do heat. 25 degrees is my top. Think of a lettuce leaf that has been out of the fridge for a while, getting limper and limper......that's me in summer. End of moan. Thank you for listening.

Curtains finished at last!

Finally finished the curtains for our little caravan (travel trailer for those not fortunate enough to live in Oz); the door curtain has a shaped top which took quite a bit of working out. Just have to make the new bed covers and it will be re-decorated fantastically well, if I do say so myself. When that's all done I will take some pictures - should have taken 'before' photos as well as 'after'. Never mind.

Today's rather gorgeous flowers are from the callistemon bush that sits under our lounge room window, it's called 'Taree Pink'. The stamens grow in clumps spiraled along the stems. (Is there such a word as spiraled? meaning, in a spiral?) I bought it a few years ago and stuck it in what I hoped would be a good spot.....and it has flourished ever since. It's on the north-east corner of the house so gets sun for a good part of the day, and also has reflected warmth from the brick walls of the house. The new leaves are a lovely bronze.

Now the curtains are finished I could re-thread My Lovely New Bernina (it's nine years old, but until the day I die it will be My Lovely New Bernina) with black thread and sew some of the black and white Winding Ways blocks that are already cut, couldn't I. I could. But first we need to go to the supermarket for food, then it needs to be cooked, then eaten, and I need to go for my walk.......perhaps by 9pm tonight if I still have the energy which is doubtful..........

We'll see.