To my Canadian family and friends......

......best wishes for Canada Day!

Don't you love how this maple tree is almost the shape of a big maple leaf?  Taken at Bluffers Park, Toronto, in October 2009.  Here's hoping for more glorious fall colours in October this year - just for us.


Winter is well and truly upon us, we have had some very very cold weather this week.  Last week was the winter solstice but it was much too cold for dancing nekkid round the bonfire at midnight, or whatever our ancestors did on this occasion - so I didn't.  There are some things for which the world is not yet ready.  They must have been a hardy lot, those forebears of ours.


This week I was approached by someone connected with a local community radio station to see if I would be interested in being trained for, and perhaps ultimately having, a radio program.  I said yes!  So here goes.  Just goes to show that even at my advanced age there are new experiences to be had.  The radio station has a huge collection of its own music, and announcers also use music from their own collections - as I would.  Perhaps having a program which plays folk music might be a way to winkle out some closet folkies?  Let's hope so, because I miss being involved with folk music more than I can say.  While I enjoy being part of two choirs I do miss the interaction of getting together with like-minded people to just sit around and make our own music.


This town calls itself "Australia's Country Music Capital" and has a huge music festival in January with a much smaller one in July, but their idea of country music and mine are somewhat different.  My taste is for older music, preferably written before 1970.......most modern 'country' music to me sounds like pop music.  Just wearing cowboy boots and singing to a guitar doesn't make a song country.  There is even an annual school here for budding country musicians!  I was told of a young woman who took one of its courses a few years ago who was told she would have to dye her hair, as there were already enough dark-haired girls on the scene.  Supposing she didn't want to?  Music which is formulaic is not my idea of music - sorry.  Life would be dull indeed if we all liked the same music, or read the same books, or ate the same food.......


Has anyone spotted the housework fairy lately?  She hasn't been visiting here for some time and I have had to clean my own floors, and wave my own duster around.  I am not impressed.  The garden elves have also gone missing, probably playing games with the housework fairies somewhere a long way away from here.  


"Home is the woman's kingdom, and there she reigns supreme.  To embellish that home, to make happy the lives of her husband and the dear ones committed to her trust, is the honoured task which it is the wife's province to perform.  All praise be to her who so rules and governs in that kingdom, that those reared beneath her roof 'shall rise up and call her blessed'."


You know, I will gladly relinquish some of that supremacy to the housework fairy when she finally makes her appearance.


Enjoy your days!

Back home again

Last week was fun - visiting with my friend, catching up with other friends at the quilt show, and of course the quilt show itself.  The winners are here, so make yourself a cup of your favourite drink and enjoy.  Di also has some pics on her blog.  I thought the standard was very high, and was surprised by how many reproductions quilts were on show - quilts made with reproduction fabrics, or copies of old designs from Australia and overseas, or new designs which were influenced by quilts of the 19th century.  Perhaps that's all part of yearning for a time when things seemed simpler - I wonder what next year's trend will be?

But enjoyable as my visit was, it's good to be home.  Fortunately this year's train trip was uneventful, and I didn't have a snoring bloke next to me.  It's a very pleasant trip which goes through some lovely countryside.

This is not a prize-winning quilt.

 Each month one of my quilt groups makes blocks, many of which end up in quilts for children staying at the local Ronald Macdonald House while undergoing treatment in hospital.  We take turns at 'winning' the blocks, and these were some I took home and put together.

The sashing fabrics were donated to the group for this purpose, and the border fabric was bought last week in the Big Smoke.  It's backed with light green fleece, and will be warm and cuddly for a little kiddie-widdie.

Now that trip is over we can look forward to the next one in October, which will be to Canada - yay!  It will be so good to see our son and his lovely girlfriend again.  Wonder if we can bundle them up and bring them home with us?  Perhaps not.........but we would love to......we will also be able to catch up with friends made on our last trip, which we are very much looking forward to doing.  Travelling is good, seeing different places is interesting, but it's the people we meet and friendships we make that are the real highlights of a holiday.  

Today is rather cool, although the sun is shining it doesn't have much warmth, so the fire is very welcome.  There is chicken, bacon and vegetable soup simmering in the slow cooker which smells really good, and there are leftovers for dinner.  What more could a person want on a cold day?  My new jacket is toasty warm and may even accompany me to Canada, as it will be much colder when we land in Vancouver and Toronto than it will be when we leave Sydney.  Way way up there in the sky it can also be rather cool, so a cosy jacket could be a Good Thing.  I remember on our last visit that late afternoon in Toronto, in early October, was not hot.

"Dinner a la Russe.

The latest and most satisfactory plan for serving dinners is the dinner a la Russe (the Russian style) -all the food being placed upon a side table, and servants to do the carving and waiting.  The style gives an opportunity for more profuse ornamentation of the table, which, as the meal progresses, does not become encumbered with partially empty dishes and platters."

Somehow I think we will be serving ourselves to our leftovers tonight, I haven't seen a servant for a long time.......and never in this house.

Enjoy your days!

I feel the earth move under my feet......

........I see the sky tumblin' down.......

The earth moved here on Friday night, we had an earthquake!  I was home alone, and at 9.30pm was startled to hear a rumbling like a large truck coming up the street....then it sounded more like an army tank......then the house started to shake, doors and windows rattled, and after a moment or two all was quiet again.  A couple of minutes' respite, and it started up again.  I joined several neighbours in the street outside, and we could still hear rumbling so we decided we were having an earthquake.  Sure enough, that was confirmed a short while later on the computer news.  4.2 magnitude, the epicentre 50kms north west of here, and 17kms underground.  Not much damage, we have heard; a broken window or two in towns closer to the centre of the action is about all.

The cats were completely oblivious; Binky was asleep in front of the fire and Bianca was asleep on our bed.  However our neighbour told me her little dog, Pud the pug (a cute little roly-poly pudding of a dog), started barking just as the tremor began.  Binky used to be very nervous about loud noises or thunder, so she has certainly mellowed and relaxed in her old age - she didn't even blink.

That sort of excitement, I can do without.

Earlier in the week the top of this year's challenge quilt was finished.  The colours aren't as washed-out as they appear; the winter sunlight outside today makes them look a little pale.  The challenge is to make a quilt at least 120cm (48in or thereabouts) from stash, although we are allowed to purchase backing and/or wadding.  Before we left Sydney I bought the fabrics for this quilt, and the little pinwheels were made from leftover triangles from another project.  When trimmed they measured all of 2-3/4in (that makes them 2-1/4in finished) so the blocks are 6-3/4in, and the whole quilt measures a bit over 60in square.  I have a flower design in mind for quilting the alternate blocks and setting triangles, and the binding will be the same blue as the inner border.  Its name will probably be "Plastered Pinwheels", because those little pinwheels were assembled while my left arm and hand were encased in several layers of plaster and bandages.  Both arm bones were broken at the wrist, sustained in a fall.  Being unable to knit, crochet or sew was very boring and even holding a book to read was difficult and painful, so I went looking for fabric pieces that could be fed through the machine - and found these, the only fabric cut out ready to sew.  Some of the points don't line up  quite as beautifully as if I had two good working hands, but being able to achieve even this much meant a lot at the time.

Once again it is winter, we have had some pleasantly mild weather and some really really cold days and nights, and once again I am amused by the folk who don't dress accordingly.  Compared to many parts of the world our winter is mild, although it can have a bite to it.....but chickybabes who go out wearing shorts, sandals and spaghetti-strap tops?  I know some people feel the cold more than others, but those little chickies make me feel cold just looking at them.  Perhaps as they become older and wiser they will realise that shivers and goosebumps with those pretty clothes is not a good look.

The new jacket is finished, all knitted and sewn together.  The world won't see a picture of me wearing it because its fluffiness makes me look like the outside of a house, but it is very cosy and warm.  Last night a new cardigan was cast on, knitted from the top down - a new technique for me - we'll see how it goes.  Need something to entertain myself on those two upcoming six-hour train trips, don't I?  With a book to read, and hand-piecing, and knitting, and just watching the world go by outside the window, the time should pass nicely.  Just so long as I don't get a seat partner who snores, as last year's bloke did.

Today's etiquette is a little long, but its good advice deserves to be read in its entirety.

"Discretion in  forming acquaintances.
While an acquaintance formed in a railway carriage or on a steamboat continues only during the trip, discretion should be used in making acquaintances.  Ladies may, as has been stated, accept small courtesies and favors from strangers, but must check at once any attempt at familiarity.  On the other hand, no man who pretends to be a gentleman will accept any familiarity.  The practice of some young girls just entering womanhood, of flirting with any young man they may chance to meet, either in a railway carriage or on a steamboat, indicates low breeding in the extreme.  If, however, the journey is long, and especially if it be on a steamboat, a certain sociability may be allowed, and a married lady or a lady of middle age may use her privileges to make the journey an enjoyable one, for fellow passengers should always be sociable to one another."

Although we will be crossing rivers, one very wide, we won't be travelling on a steamboat.....such a pity, as it sounds like fun.

Enjoy your days!

Dripping and stripping

Dripping, because it has been raining lightly all day......what the Irish would call a soft day.  Soggy back yard, soggy reserve on the other side of the fence.  The garden is smiling.  Because this picture was taken earlier this year it's not so green now but is just as soggy, and the trees on the hill are just as misty.

 Stripping, because I have been joining strips for the borders of this year's challenge quilt.

 Two are joined on, so far.  It's been sitting on the spare bed for a few months just waiting for me to get around to cutting the fabrics for the border.  Genius can't be rushed, you know.

The border will be mitred, which means the last three quilt tops I have made all have mitred borders.  I don't know how many are left in my brain.......while they aren't difficult they do take a little more thinking than straight borders, but sometimes they are so right for a quilt that it would be a shame not to use them.  When this coffee and blogging break is over, the remaining two borders will be attached then the corners mitred before my brain shuts down.  The inner border is the same fabric as the background so the pinwheel blocks appear to float.

The new jacket is being sewn together too, just in time for winter.  However, it can be a bit tricky sewing knitted pieces together when one of the cats insists that your lap is the only one which will do for a snooze. It's warm enough having a mohair jacket resting on one's knees without a furry cat as well, particularly when said cat tries to help with the sewing.

Next week is the annual quilt/craft show in Sydney, so I am off on the train for a visit.  It's rather good being an Olde Pharte because that train trip is very inexpensive, and it's quite relaxing.....so long as I don't get a seat partner like the bloke who sat next to me last year for part of the return trip.  As many older blokes do he sat back in his chair, spread his legs, tipped his hat over his face and went to sleep, perhaps thinking he was at home in his recliner.  All very nice for him, except he was in the aisle seat and I was sitting by the window.  Once people started to leave the train and seats became vacant, he moved - for which I was very thankful.  Wonder if the railway would let me book two seats?  Probably not.......

The arrangements for the trip to Canada in October are proceeding nicely.  We have booked our plane tickets (I'm not thrilled about flying but the alternative is a long swim), accommodation in Toronto and Victoria, and hire car in Toronto.  We even have a few loonies and toonies left from the last visit, so we can familiarise ourselves with Canadian money again.  Other countries' money is interesting, isn't it?  Their banknotes are bigger than ours, Canadian notes don't quite fit so neatly in my wallet as our local notes do.

To follow on from the etiquette quote in the previous post:

"Picking teeth at the table.
It is a mark of rudeness to pick your teeth at the table, and it should always be avoided.  To hold your hand or napkin over your mouth does not avoid the rudeness of the act, but if it becomes a matter of necessity to remove some obstacle from between the teeth, then your open mouth should be concealed by your hand or napkin."

Nothing is said about the implement used in the removal - perhaps a solid gold toothpick?  Now back to those quilt borders.

Enjoy your days!