Stirring WOW

Remember when collecting souvenir teaspoons was the thing to do? People bought wall racks to display their collection, or had special glass-topped tables made. Now the racks turn up in op shops, empty of their spoons and looking very forlorn. I don't have a collection, I have just a few - this one was a gift from friends.

The wombat wall plaque I bought a while ago is now hanging by the front door to welcome anyone who pops in, and the little wombat print I bought several years ago has been beautifully framed and hangs in the living room. Perhaps I should photograph them in situ. We have (finally!) started hanging our pictures so the walls don't look so bare. This house has two living rooms and we spent the winter in the open-plan family room off the kitchen, while the more formal room was closed for warmth. I shall start spending more time there now it's getting warmer. Especially as the Commonwealth Games are on TV and you know me....can't stand sport for hours on end.......and the TV is in the family room.
My turn next week to take along a block of the month for one of my quilt groups to make, and I thought a black and white print with bright blue and green would make a good quilt for an older child. The group makes quilts for children at the local Ronald McDonald House. The placement of the blue and green fabrics are reversed in these blocks which (I think) makes for an interesting look. The darker black and white print is very op-art and would make your eyes pop first thing in the morning before coffee sets them right, would it not?
Couldn't resist taking a picture of this pretty quilt last weekend, if you click on it you can see the gathered flower petals in the centre of the stars. I would like to think I might make it one day, but you and I both know that is very unlikely. I'll just admire it when someone else makes it.

Just about to join fabrics for the backing of the maritime challenge quilt - have decided that the easy option is just to join all the pieces I want to use and add side borders to make it wide enough. All the fabrics except one are cut full width, and that one is a fat quarter which I will cut across and join so it is double width. Some of the FQ will of course be sacrificed to seams (can't help that) but it's also not cut square...the four sides may be the correct measurements but it's a parallelogram not a square, so a bit more fabric will have to be sacrificed when straightening it. Bummer. Oh well. I tried different fancy-nancy layouts for the back and in the end came to the conclusion that less fabric would be wasted and less time used if I just joined all the pieces, trimmed the ends (because they won't all be the same length will they, oh no, nothing easy like that) and sewed on side borders to make up the width.

Had the news today that another folkie friend won't be joining us at the big festival next Easter.....that's two gone now.....it's so sad. Dave was a singer and poet and a really lovely bloke, we will miss him. Every year we have a wonderful time greeting people we haven't seen for a year, and every year there are sadly one or two less.

This time last year our arms were getting tired from flapping....we were on our way to Toronto, Canada. It's a long trip from Sydney so no wonder we were tired, and we still had many more hours to go.

Speaking of the Commonwealth Games which we were earlier, when I rule the world I will not let anyone overseas to represent their country if they cannot pronounce the name of said country correctly. Repeat after me.....it's "Australia"....not "Austraya". And heaven forbid, not "Straya". Every mispronounced "Australia" makes my hands tingle because I want to smack the perpetrator severely about the head. That goes for (mostly) athletes and (occasionally) other people, including politicians.

"Influence of Example.

Never forget that the first book children read is their parents' example - their daily deportment. If this is forgotten you may find, in the loss of your domestic peace, that while your children well know the right path, they follow the wrong."

I'll bet the good people of 1885 taught their children to say the name of their country correctly, no matter which country it was.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer