What a difference the right colour makes!

Several years ago these wombat quilt blocks were made for me by my "Secret Angel" Cathy in an internet swap - Cathy sent me one block each month, for the six months duration of the swap.  She even sent a label  for the back of the quilt, with the final block!  Full of enthusiasm I decided to use Attic Windows as the setting, and was quite pleased with them......until the outer border was added.

 The dandelion print didn't work, because it was too pale and pretty for the strong dark colours used in the blocks and sashings.  Every now and then I would take it out of the cupboard and ponder deeply on a solution, which always seemed to evade me......then one day I decided to remove the offending border, went shopping for fabric, and replaced it with a dark brown subtly striped fabric.

Now the quilt is darker than it was, but looks so much better.  The fabric bought for the backing is a grassy print in green and brown.....the right brown.  It will be quilted this year using a dark brown variegated cotton Aurifil thread, which is also the right brown.  The wombat design is from a book by Australian quilter Margaret Rolfe.

You know, I never thought I would make a brown quilt.  In the 70s I had my fill (and many other people's fill too) of brown.  But this quilt looks just right with its brown fabrics.  And after all brown is the colour of chocolate....and coffee......

The following paragraph is a post I wrote a few years ago - rather than link to it I will post it again.


Today Australia and New Zealand are celebrating, if that is the right word, ANZAC Day. It's the day when we remember the sacrifices of those who fought in wars for our country. My father was stationed in Papua New Guinea in WWII (as we found out a few years ago, he was in the War Graves unit) and never, never, ever spoke of his experiences - he was only 25YO when the war ended and it affected him profoundly. Consequently it affected all of us; my mother, my brothers and me. He was not a happy man, he was a distant, sometimes abusive, father who walked out one day and never contacted any of us ever again; we found out he had died many years after it happened. War doesn't only take people's lives....it takes away their souls too.

On a less gloomy note, our new neighbour saw an echidna just outside his back fence the other day!  We have been hear just on two years now and not seen one yet.  The neighbour on the other side has seen them too.  They are cute little animals....so long as one keeps one's distance, because those spines are sharp.

If those echidnas have any sense they will find somewhere out of the wind today, because it is quite cold.  Sunny with a bright blue sky, but a cold cold wind.  Yesterday we bought two new cat beds to put in front of the fire during winter; both cats have tried out both beds, and they have been given the kitty seal of approval.  We can see the beds being popular when the fire is alight, which to judge by today's wind won't be long.

"Chapped hands.
As cold weather is the usual cause of chapped hands, so the winter season brings with it a cure for them.  A thorough washing in snow and soap will cure the worst case of chapped hands, and leave them beautifully soft."

Somehow washing chapped hands in snow doesn't seem the right remedy....does it?  Winters here are not cold enough for snow, so I won't be able to put it to the test.

Enjoy your days!