Fraying at the edges

Isn't this a fun block?  It's called Frayed Sawtooth Star and comes from EQ7.

 Next month is my turn to provide a sample block and instructions to make it, for my quilt group.  Some of the women seem to have an aversion to triangles, so I always make sure that my blocks have some.  The background is white on white, my sewing table is white....can't tell where one ends and the other begins, can you?  When several blocks are set together a secondary diagonal line is quite noticeable.

Here is the current project, a new purse for me.  This is the lining, with one of the side seams having self-made bias binding applied over the seam; all the inside seams are finished this way.  It's a more attractive colour that this, the machine light was shining onto it and making it appear washed-out.......and yes, all that quilting was done on My Lovely New Bernina by me before the pieces were cut out.

Sewing has become possible again, so long as I take plenty of breaks and don't reach forward too much.  Wednesday last week was one of the worst days since I went Under The Knife; at sewing guild my machine was set up on a table and it was a bit high for me to use comfortably, so after a short while I stopped sewing.  However by the time I arrived home it was agony, and it was for the rest of the day too.  Ever since then I have been very careful with what I do, which is why, for a while, I am sitting here at the computer having coffee instead of sewing.

Was I the only person in the world who was annoyed by the treatment given to various country's flags by many idiots at the sports carnival which recently finished?  Flags have their own protocol; as far as I know they are not to be dropped on the ground at any time and should always be treated with dignity.  Wearing your country's flag round your shoulders as a cloak is not dignified.  If you want to dress up, use your mother's old curtains.  While I don't think Australia's flag design is relevant these days and would love to see it changed, I respect what it stands for.

Only two days of February to go, and we have had less than half the average rainfall for the month again.  Rain is forecast for tomorrow but it's doubtful that we will get much.  Last year's rainfall was well below average and the past two summers have been hotter than average, so water supplies in many places have dried up.  A local bloke told me recently he thinks we are in for an early, long and cold winter because he has seen snakes on the move shedding their skins.  As one who doesn't do reptiles I will take his word for that......I am not going out and about looking for snakes, believe me.  Australia has some very deadly snakes and many of them live in our area.  On our recent trip to Canberra we noticed that many trees are looking autumnal, poor things have gone into an early dormancy because it's been so hot and dry.  Autumn won't arrive for a while yet, but colours are already changing and leaves are dropping.  Hopefully there will be some colour left when we go back to Canberra in April for the folk festival.

Some pics of the wedding have appeared on the photographer's web site, so if you would like to see them let me know and I will send you the link.

"Can any one fancy what our society might be, if all its members were perfect gentlemen and true ladies, if all the inhabitants of the earth were kind-hearted ; if, instead of contending with the faults of our fellows, we were each to wage war against our own faults?  Every one needs to guard constantly against the evil from within as well as from without, for, as has been truly said, "A man's greatest foe dwells in his own heart"."

The folks writing the etiquette book in 1885 knew a thing or two, didn't they?

Enjoy your days!

We've had rain!

Only a little rain, it is true, but precipitation falling from the sky nevertheless.  More is forecast for the next day or two, and judging by the weather radar some could even fall later this afternoon.  Fingers crossed.......the long-term average for February is 85.9 mls and so far this month we have had 31 mls.  February is only half over so hopefully we can make the average, if not a little more.  The official weather station here is at the airport which we can see across the valley; sometimes there is a difference between here on the hill and there, but on the whole it averages out pretty much the same.

Here's a rather pretty wombat.

None of my wombats have names because it would be too much for my elderly brain to keep track of, but this one seems to be calling out to be named.....what do you think?  She (it has to be a girl) was bought at a local garden centre late last year.

A little sewing has been done, another two quilt blocks have been made - one is completed, one still has to have its applique machined down - slowly and carefully.  Tomorrow is sewing guild and somehow I don't think my machine will be coming with me because using it is still painful, but I may take the overlocker along and have a go at making a fabric flower using the rolled hem edge.  Instructions were in the latest guild newsletter, and there is fabric left from the wedding skirt that will do nicely.

Speaking of pain, my shoulder is still far from happy although it has improved slightly since the previous post.  I wish I had never had the operation, in fact if the clock could be turned back I wouldn't go under the knife at all.  I would just put up with it. For a brief few days I was able to put my hair up, but now can't do that again either.  It is quite upsetting; when I get upset my blood pressure goes even higher and one day I shall probably explode from it.

Ah well, she says, heaving a sigh.

Yesterday we took ourselves off for our annual outing outing to the movies to see 'Philomena', and I can certainly recommend it.  Just make sure you take plenty of tissues with you, because it has some very sad moments.  Even when I was growing up some years after the events shown in the film there was quite a stigma attached to girls who became pregnant out of wedlock.  Most of them married.....the high-waisted Empire line dresses of the 60s, and a big bouquet, were very popular!  I remember rumours about a girl who 'went to visit her aunt' for a few months in a large city several hours north of here, but can think of only one girl who, very bravely for the time, had her baby girl and neither married nor gave up her baby for adoption, before marrying a few years later.  When I was a teenager my mother told me that if I ever came home and said I was pregnant she would kill me, and I believe she would have.  She would certainly have done bodily harm to my person because she was a violent woman.

Before that movie started we had to sit through trailers for several current and forthcoming movies.  Now I don't know about the rest of you, but I am not at all interested in movies which are full of noise, action and special effects with not much plot, blokes in or out of uniform shooting each other, and young lust and teenage angst.

You can see why we only go to the movies once a year.........

"Childhood is like a mirror, catching and reflecting images all around it.  Remember that an impious, profane or vulgar thought may operate upon the heart of a young child like a careless spray of water upon polished steel, staining it with rust that no efforts can thoroughly efface."

This is right, you know.

Enjoy your days!

It was a lovely wedding

Fun, and funny in a happy rather than a silly way.  It was also very hot, 39 deg C which is over 100 F; even the cafe where the reception was held was hot because their air conditioning wasn't working properly.  Fortunately its roof opens which allowed warm air out, it is on the site of a former observatory which was sadly burnt out in bushfires ten years ago - and our son had even arranged for an astronomer to be present, once it was dark!  If one wished one could walk outside in the dark to where a telescope had been set up, and look up at the stars.  But as one has been known to fall and break bits of one's person which is not a good thing to do and one was wearing sandals with a higher heel than one is used to wearing these days, one decided to stay indoors and talk to people - friends from our son's time at high school, and friends from his time playing in community bands, and some of his friends in his new life, and his new in-laws.

Our cameras weren't even taken out of the car, but many of the young folk were taking happy snaps and selfies, quite a lot of which have already been put up on facebook.  The official photographer was wandering round taking more happy snaps, and the families lined up in turn for the official shots.  They won't be ready for a few weeks......it probably takes that long to make the groom's mother look human, you know.  Just as well photo editing software is available these days.  For a few days beforehand my shoulder had begun to hurt, and by the time the wedding rolled round I was in quite a lot of pain - which will probably show in the photos.

However, we still need a photo or two for a blog post, don't we?  So here are the little glass wombats which were my Christmas present from our newly-wed son and his wife, a month before they were married.

 Aren't they the cutest little fellers?  The big one is only a couple of inches long, the smaller one is.......smaller.

And here is their penguin friend, brought home when the same son was plying his musical trade on cruise ships - it came all the way from Ushuaia, at the southern tip of South America.  He was amused to see penguins swimming alongside the tender when going from shore to ship one day and brought this little one home with him because he knows I like glass.

Last Friday the physiotherapist said to stop the shoulder strength exercises and to go back to only doing the flexibility ones because the pain had become so bad, she said the bicep is unhappy - it was re-attached to the shoulder during the operation.  Didn't even know it had become unattached.......the long car trip probably didn't do it any good either, it's over 700 kms each way (which is over 435 miles in old money) so double that for the return trip, not all on flat smooth roads either, and then add more for driving round while in Canberra.  Just when it was making good progress too......it could be lifted almost up to shoulder level......ah well, no doubt it will improve again soon.  Right now it hurts to reach out to turn on the kitchen tap.

The two quilt blocks which were cut out recently have been sewn (albeit with a certain amount of agony) so that is tomorrow's quilt group obligations met.  At present it's back to no sewing, just reading and doing crossword puzzles and tootling round on the computer, and living a slightly boring life, while waiting for a very unhappy arm and shoulder to settle down again.

"The congratulations.
At the wedding feast, or At Home, friends who congratulate the newly-married couple should address the bride first, if they have any previous acquaintance with her, then the bridegroom, then the bridesmaids, and after that the parents and family of the bride and groom.  They should give their good wishes to the bride and congratulate the bridegroom.  If they are acquainted with the bridegroom and not with the bride, let them address him first and he will introduce them to his bride."

Indeed.

Enjoy your days!