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.

Quilters Guild meeting today..........

........and what a meeting. People elected to committee positions, people not elected to committee positions, motions passed, motions rescinded. Everyone was thankful when it ended and we could chat over afternoon tea. I managed to get a lot of sewing done on my 80th Flower Basket block during the meeting so the afternoon wasn't all wasted.

A couple more pictures of my Aussie flower garden - the top picture is a red grevillea called 'Robyn Gordon' which grows like a weed and is very pretty, the bottom flower is also a grevillea but I don't know the name. The flowers are bright neon pink. I'm not a pink girl, but I like pink flowers.

Thursday today.......

..........and I haven't added to my little blog for a few days. My holiday has ended, I am now back at work until mid-December, so I don't have as much time for blogging/sewing/quilting/reading/playing music/whatever until then. Never mind, this too shall pass.

This is a hanging I made several years ago, it hangs in my hall. I called it "Scots Wha' Hae" because the little dogs are Scotty dogs. All the pastel doggies are running one way, and the red rebel is running in the opposite direction. I was able to find ceramic dog-bone buttons for the corners.

I have a new CD to play, "Matters of the Heart" by Bruce Murdoch, I am looking forward to it very much. And I have finished my op shop (thrift shop, for those not in Australia) book "Mother Tongue" by Bill Bryson - a fun, lighthearted look at the English language. There are many bargains to be found on the op shop shelves, I even found a fairly rare song book last week.

Now there is a yummy coffee, with my name on it, brewing in the kitchen.

Thanksgiving Day

One lone red tree peeping around the corner......and a white swan who dove into the Rouge River at the wrong time!

Early autumn colour taken just a year ago in Ontario. A year has passed since our trip to Toronto, it's hard to believe time has flown so quickly. We had a lovely time last Thanksgiving, best wishes to our Canadian friends and family today.

What a great weekend - how good it was to catch up with friends in Canberra. Gorgeous weather, good company, yummy food and fun music, what more could a person want.

Black and white and white and black

Last year I took a class to learn how to make the Winding Ways quilt block. I made nine. They are not yet sewn together.
Several more blocks have been cut out, waiting to be assembled.
And of course there is more fabric still to be cut......!

What a day. I noticed this morning that the not-quite-healed wound on my chest was red around the surgical tape. Now I always thought that red colour around a break in the skin = infection but not always, it seems. After a hasty trip back to the doctor to have it checked, apparently all is OK.

Off to Canberra tomorrow for a 60th birthday party, two friends (a married couple) are celebrating. It will be good to catch up with Canberra friends as we haven't seen them since Easter, over six months ago. Have just tried on the skirt I intended to wear, it's tight in the waist but wearable. So long as I don't pop a button on the waistband all will be well. Might take along a couple of safety pins to be sure!

Which makes the need for losing weight more pressing. I never thought I would be this huge and this unhealthy. I know I'm not "fat" - even the doctor says I'm not - but the blood pressure problems make losing some weight imperative. So........walking in the evenings after the sting has gone out of the sun (it won't be possible tonight). What a waste of 30 minutes. If only there was a way to lose weight by swallowing a magic pill. Let's see if there are any changes by Christmas, I'm told it takes three months to notice any difference but with a bit of luck it might be a little less.

Now I am going to have a coffee and practice my songs to sing at the music club tonight.

Bianca's rain forecast hasn't happened yet. We are still waiting..........and waiting.........

Stitches of a different type

So that Binky doesn't feel left out, here she is helping with the laundry. It's very difficult to photograph her with her eyes open. She is The World's Friendliest Cat and loves us heaps.

More of my Aussie flower garden, this pretty pink callistemon is called Alma. The flowers are very delicate and the new foliage is a wonderful light bronze.

This morning I had stitches removed, from having a skin cancer cut out of my chest last week. Unfortunately the wound hasn't yet closed so the edges have been pulled together and taped - have to leave the tape on for a few more days. Ah well. Never mind.

Skin stitches are not my favourite type of stitches, I prefer sewing stitches in fabric!

I found out that, in North America, there are 176 different terms for dust balls under the bed. In this house they are called dust balls.

Adieu for now.

Bianca The Beautiful has predicted rain

Some of my Aussie flower garden, the creamy flower is Grevillea 'Moonlight', and I'm not sure of the pink callistemon poking its head to the left.

This lovely girl is Bianca The Beautiful. This morning she washed behind her ears, a sure sign of rain, and clouds are starting to build up already. The garden will be happy.

This morning I am thinking: if olive oil is made from olives, what is baby oil made from?

Some quilting words

A couple of years ago an idea popped into my head.....to make a quilt in the style of many wonderful 19th century quilts. Blocks right to the edge of the quilt, no borders, just binding to frame the edges. Since then I have been making six inch Flower Basket blocks, alternating white backgrounds and floral baskets with floral backgrounds and white baskets. So far 78 blocks have been made....that's not a lot, but it's a portable project rather than a "must finish urgently" project. I am enjoying the process so am in no hurry to have it finished.

It's also a well-travelled project as I have made blocks while on overseas holidays.

Here's my deep thought for the day:

While browsing in a shop window this morning I saw a book titled "The Complete Poodle". It set me thinking. Is there such a thing as an incomplete poodle?

A cold wind blowing.........

.....bbbrrrrrrrrrrr!

Getting the hang of blogging, even managed to add a photo of The Bronze Wombat - yes, it really exists, all 16kg (35 lbs) of it.