Finished.......just before we go away!

Yay for me - this year's challenge quilt is finished, several weeks early!  The final stitches were taken on the binding yesterday evening.  Here it is, "Plastered Pinwheels" in all its glory.

 There were three pinwheels left so, not being one to waste fabric (hah!) they were used on the back, which is a soft yellow check.

 A corner of the quilt so you can admire those pretty fabrics and the quilting.

 The back, so you can gasp at the skilful use of those leftovers.  As the backing had to be pieced, it was easier to make a feature of the join than to pretend it wasn't there.

The label, which tells how the quilt came to have this name.  A word of advice from one who has learned the hard way.....do not use white-on-white fabric for a label.  It is not easy to write on and doesn't look great when it's done.  But it is done, and that's the main thing.

Just to recap:  on our last visit to Canada in October 2009, while strolling along Kingston Road, Scarborough, looking for a coffee (unusually there wasn't a Tim's in sight) I rolled my ankle on the uneven surface and went down.  Broke my left arm - both bones at the wrist end - and sprained my right wrist.  Not fun, and rather painful.  Once we came home and the pain had receded it was just a matter of waiting for my wrists to heal and for the plaster to be removed.  Having a plastered arm is rather boring, you know.......couldn't knit or crochet (believe me, I tried), couldn't hand sew, I could read but couldn't hold a book so reading had to be done at a table.  But those little squares left from another project were in my sewing room, and although it was quite slow and painstaking they could be fed through the machine.  So 128 little pinwheel blocks were made, and some are more beautiful than others because the centres don't quite line up on every block - but it was about the achievement rather than the accuracy, and it was an achievement at the time.  Those little blocks (2-1/4in each when finished) have made a quilt measuring over 60in square, and it was designed on EQ7.

Only two more sleeps until we fly to Canada!  It's Thanksgiving weekend over there, so best wishes to my Canadian family and friends and we will see you on Tuesday arvo.  It will be so good to see our son and his lovely girlfriend again, we miss them.  We're glad he's happy, but a little sad that he had to go all the way to the far side of the known universe to find happiness.

So today is being given over to packing, and cuddles with Binky (The World's Friendliest Cat) and Bianca (The Beautiful but Slightly Brainless White Cat), and cooking something nice for dinner tonight to share with our house-sitters who will arrive sometime this afternoon.

Today's quote seems apt in view of events in the Australia media recently.  Aussies will know what I mean, and if you don't - just enjoy the quote.

"Dogmatic style of speaking.
Never speak dogmatically or with an assumption of knowledge or information beyond that of those with whom you are conversing.  Even if you are conscious of this superiority, a proper and becoming modesty will lead you to conceal it as far as possible, that you may not put to shame or humiliation those less fortunate than yourself.  If they discover your superiority of their own accord, they will have much more admiration for you than though you forced the recognition upon them.  If they do not discover it, you cannot force it upon their perceptions, and they will only hold you in contempt for trying to do so.  Besides, there is the possibility that you over-estimate yourself, and instead of being a wise man you are only a self-sufficient fool."

Have you ever met someone who is so 'special' that they are not on the same planet as the rest of us?  They don't have to wait to be served but can go straight to the head of the queue, and they don't need to join a line of traffic because they can push in further ahead.

For the next six weeks I may not have much of a chance to keep up with blog reading and updating, because we will be having a wonderful time with our family and friends in the land of the maple trees.

Enjoy your days!