540 pieces of fabric later......

All 540 pieces for the UFO weekend quilt were cut out in time, although it took a certain amount of effort on Friday night to get it done.......but, done it was.

Over the weekend My Lovely New Bernina (17 years old this month but until the day I die it will always be My Lovely New Bernina) and I made 30 of these:

 ......and 120 of these......

 ......and then 30 of these.

Would you believe there are 30 blocks in the quilt?

However it has now been put aside until later this month, because I have decided to make it the project I work on at monthly quilt group meetings.  It's an easy chain-pieced project, so I can work on more complicated stuff at home and save up the easy ones for the meetings.

Big night tomorrow night!  Our local music school has a number of adults who have music lessons for various reasons - continuing something they have done for a long time, starting again after playing when younger then giving it up, or in the case of some of the uke group players, doing something they have always wanted to do.  In early September each year Australia celebrates Adult Learners Week during which our music school has a concert featuring its adult students.  It's a fun night, we get to meet other adult musicians, and the night ends with drinkies and nibblies served in the studio where we practise.  We'll be playing "Ain't Misbehavin'", "Dream a Little Dream" and one for the ABBA fans (of whom I am not one) "Mamma Mia".  As Dot, one of the uke group, said last night - "it's quite funny, Jennifer......you don't like that song, but you still play it better than the rest of us do!"

The new light fixtures have been installed and they are so much better than the old ones were.  The chandelier......yes, folks, we now have a gorjuss modern crystal chandelier in our entrance hall......is truly beautiful and we love it, Tash Next Door and her mum also think it's very flash.  The light in my sewing room was changed for a plain LED fitting and the old one was to have been switched to a spare bedroom; waste not, want not and all that stuff.  Sadly, however, someone who shall remain nameless but who shares my bed, is male and whose name does not start with J was going to wash the dead critters out before the electrician changed it over, but he bumped it on the sink and broke it.

So now we still have to buy one more light.

AS we speak there is rain on the way and the weather people tell us that we can expect a significant amount of rain over the next few days.  Remind me to stay out of puddles, because I am a short person.

The John Williams CDs arrived, 58 of them and one DVD, all those hours and hours of wonderful music.....if we play just one CD a day we will have enough to last a couple of months before starting again.

Following on from the last quote about hairy masculine faces:

Those who shave should be careful to do so every morning.  Nothing looks worse than a shabby beard.  Some persons whose beards are strong should shave twice a day, especially if they are going to a party in the evening."

I wonder how one defines a shabby beard?  One which has been straining soup?  Erk......

Enjoy your days!

A finish, and a start

First, the finish:

The Maple Leaf runner is done!  It's another souvenir of our holiday in Canada.

Then the start:

The next project, what do you reckon?  Batik fabrics, lots of different shades of blue with pops of yellow, gold and orange.  The blue fabrics range from almost green to almost purple, right around the colour wheel.  The small pieces on the left are mostly leftovers from Maritime Beauty a couple of years ago.

Next weekend is my quilt group's annual UFO weekend (mine is still a USO, not a stitch has yet been taken) so I hope to goodness it will all be cut out in time.  It has at least been started, a few pieces have been cut......

Last Sunday's concert went well, the uke group was allowed two songs (we didn't play "Ain't misbehavin'" so it will go in the next concert in a couple more weeks), we didn't disgrace ourselves, and people told us how much they enjoyed us.  The following day Kevin and I were trundling around a local supermarket - the weekly shop is a great social outing here in the Small Smoke, these days we take our thrills where we can get them - when we were approached by a local councilor and his wife who had been at the concert.  We had a nice chat in the frozen food section, they said how much they liked our music......perhaps we should ask the council if we can be official uke players to our fair city?  I can just imagine us strutting along escorting the mayor during a civic procession, plinking as we go......

Lately, money has been flying out the door here at Chez Wombats like you wouldn't believe.  New light fittings have been bought to replace some already here when we moved in; they aren't our taste so out they go, and anyway lights now are much more efficient than they used to be.  The very 1980s lights in the entrance hall, bedroom hallway and Good Room will, thank goodness, be going.  Should you be in the market for some fittings with scrolly brass arms, painted flowers on the middle bits (don't know the technical word, sorry) and tinted glass chimneys, we will shortly have some available.   All offers welcome.  One more fixture to arrive, the shop has it on order, then the electrician can install them for us.  We don't play around with live electricity, we're not that silly, you know.

On Friday my weekly newsletter from The Fabulous CD Shop In The Big Smoke arrived in my inbox, and you probably heard me gasp from your place......there was an entire boxed set of guitarist John Williams on special.  It's now on its way here.  It cost a certain amount of dollars but oh, all that wonderful music......how can you put a price on it......many years ago I saw John Williams play and it was such an experience, I have never forgotten it.

 Continuing on from the last etiquette post, more words of wisdom aimed at the blokes in our lives:

"The beard.
The style of the growth of the beard should be governed by the character of the face.  But whatever the style be, the great point is to keep it well brushed and trimmed, and to avoid any appearance of wildness or inattention.  The full, flowing beard of course requires more looking after in the way of cleanliness than any other.  It should be thoroughly washed and brushed at least twice a day, as dust is sure to accumulate in it, and it is very easy to suffer it to become objectionable to one's self as well as to others.  If it is naturally glossy, it is better to avoid the use of oil or pomatum.  The moustache should be worn neatly and not over-large.  There is nothing that so adds to native manliness as the full beard if carefully and neatly kept."

Beards were certainly popular in the late 1800s, weren't they?  In photographs taken at the time it's rare to see a clean-shaven bloke.  I wonder what women thought of their menfolk when the beards became a bit wild?  Perhaps they were so taken by the native manliness that they didn't mind.  Just imagine how a wild beard would tickle.......

On that note I shall leave you, and head back to the sewing room and the rotary cutter.

Enjoy your days!

279 is not 275

The next row of the beaded scarf didn't go so well, it was supposed to end up with 275 stitches, instead of which there were 279.  Bugger.  So the whole row was un-knitted and will have to be done again.  Bugger again.  That will teach me to watch murder mysteries on TV while knitting something that needs a bit of concentration, won't it?

Many thanks for the comments on last week's waratahs!  Here are some more:

 Waratahs were being featured at the time of our visit.  The white ones are interesting, but I think they lack the oomph (technical word here, folks) of the red ones.

 An interesting post which has information about the waratah, including the Aboriginal legend of how they came to be, can be found here.

I would love to be able to grow them here......but, sadly, cannot.

Not a whole heap to report from the sewing room today.  The quilting on the maple leaf runner had to pause because of a couple of BOM obligations; they have now been handed over, so the machine can be set up for quilting again.  Later this month my quilt group is having its annual UFO weekend, or in some cases USO (for projects not yet started), so between now and then I will be cutting out batik fabrics in all shades of blue with a little yellow/gold for an accent.  The blues range from light turquoise to deep almost-purple, and the pattern is a scrappy one I have been wanting to do for a while.  While it's very dubious indeed that all the blocks will be done on that weekend it will at least have been started, which is a Good Thing.

Currently there is a sports carnival happening on the other side of the world, but as this humble blogger is not much of a sports fan (not any kind of a sports fan at all, really - much or otherwise) this blog is a sport-free zone.......except for one thing I found out the other day, which makes me laugh every time I think of it.

Did you know there used to be a spot in the carnival for solo synchronised swimming?  Can you imagine it?  "Solo synchronised" sounds like an oxymoron to me - how on earth does one swim (or indeed do anything else solo) in synch with one's self?

The problem with blogger seems to have fixed itself, I think the site was being gussied-up because things are different to how they used to be.  All is well now, so no need to panic.  We don't want to waste a good panic, do we?

The uke group will be playing my arrangement at a concert on Sunday afternoon, how about that!  Plus a couple of other songs from our book, "Ain't misbehavin'" and "Sway".  All together now......when marimba rhythms start to play, dance with me, make me sway.......la la la laaahhhh.........

"Long, flowing hair on a man is not in good taste, and will indicate him to the observer as a person of unbalanced mind and unpleasantly erratic character - a man, in brief, who seeks to impress others with the fact that he is eccentric, something which a really eccentric person never attempts."

Remember when blokes wore long hair?  It was fashionable for quite a long time in my giddy youth......but I don't think many of the males of my acquaintance were eccentric, just dedicated followers of fashion.

Enjoy your days!