600 posts!

That's a lot of words, a big milestone for celebration.  I started blogging sometime in October 2008, and am still here.  There have been times when I wasn't here - when we've been away - so no words were written for a while.  The best part is, most of me is still in pretty much the same condition as then.

That row of tumblers that I was so pleased with last week......

well.......

it was too long.  Note that I said "was".  It isn't now.

According to my design in EQ7 it was to be 65 inches wide, plus borders.  Not 75 inches.  I then checked out EQ7's tumbler template only to find out that, while they are both three inches high finished, theirs is skinnier than mine so 35 across was ten inches too wide.  The border fabrics were bought with 65 inches in mind.  Bugger.  Double bugger and triple bugger.  So out came the fine-pointed scissors, four tumblers were taken out of each row, then the rows seamed together again to finish at 67 inches.  As they have been made in blocks of four that wasn't as arduous as it might otherwise have been, and these extra blocks will find a home on the back anyway.

Still......having to unpick all that hand stitching then sew it up again......sigh......

Nova Scotia is done, block four of the Canadian quilt.

Sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean would be quite a sight to see, if one was a morning person.  Which one isn't, so this will have to do.  I am loving these batik fabrics, they give such a wonderful texture.

Bianca the White Cat and I are having a very quiet weekend as Kevin has gone to a town several hours north-west from us to play lawn bowls.  He's not all that noisy when he's here anyway (except when he's watching sport on TV), but it is very quiet without him.  The TV has stayed off except for one hour last night when I watched a music documentary, and will stay off tonight too.  Even the news.  I am not watching the news, it's mostly murder and mayhem and never anything good, and very little in the regular programming appeals.  Doesn't matter how many channels there are, there is seldom anything worthwhile to watch.

The uke group is playing for a seniors concert on Wednesday morning, so this afternoon will be a good chance to run through the songs.  "Bye bye love....bye bye happiness....." etc.  I can let you have the rest of the words if you like......

"Requirements for a happy marriage.
Respect for each other is as necessary to a happy marriage as that the husband and wife should have an affection for one another.  Social equality, intellectual sympathy, and sufficient means are very important matters to be considered by those who contemplate matrimony."

When these words were written in 1885 they didn't have to put up with noisy sports on television.  We have reached a compromise - the sport is on TV with the volume off, the radio still plays its gentle classical music, and everyone is happy.

Enjoy your days!

Green, green, it's green they say, on the far side of the hill.......

You'll be singing that all day now, won't you?

We have lots of rain, and more is forecast.  These pics were taken a few days ago and since then the grass is even greener, if that's possible.  It's also quite a bit longer.

Yes, that's our wash line.  Most Australian houses use an outside line rather than a dryer; in all my (very many) years on this earth I have never owned a dryer.

The rise you can see in the far distance of this photo is now also bright green - a sight for sore eyes, if ever there was one.

There is, however, a slight drawback to so much moisture - the humidity, normally not something we need to worry about, is very unpleasant!

17 more HSTs made, plus their trimmings.  Trimming is quite tedious, but necessary.

Block number three in the Canadian mystery quilt, Alberta, is stuck down.

Last night the final stitch was taken on this panel, four tumblers deep by 35 (plus half-tumblers for the ends) wide.  There are another five of these to go.

It measures 75 inches long - I'm nowhere near that tall! - so had to be photographed in two sections.

My method to keep the rows in the order I want, is to write numbers with a fine marker on small pieces of scrap fabric and safety pin then to the left-hand edge. 

Row 1 is at the bottom; they were spread out on the spare bed and it was easy to start numbering from the bottom first.  Those tags will stay in place until it's all together.  The blocks for one row are held together by a tacking stitch in the top corner, one at a time is slipped off and joined to the right hand side until the row is done.

You have no idea how good cutting the thread on that final stitch felt last night, this is quite a mammoth undertaking!  It has given me the courage to dig out the flower basket blocks and finish them, too; it seemed a bit too big a mouthful at the time.  

We don't celebrate Valentine's Day in this household, when I was a Sweet Young Thing (and still slender......sigh) all the hearts and flowers stuff hadn't yet been invented.  We do, however, celebrate Kevin's birthday which is on the same day, so we took ourselves off to a restaurant for an excellent lunch.  We were so stuffed that we couldn't eat another thing until breakfast on Friday morning.

"Dining should be ranked among the fine arts.  A knowledge of dinner-table etiquette is all important in many respects; but chiefly in this: that it is regarded as one of the strong tests of good breeding.  Dinners are generally looked upon as entertainments for married people and the middle aged, but it is often desirable to have some young unmarried persons among the guests."  

Perhaps lunch would at a restaurant could also be considered among the fine arts?  The youngest unmarried person we could see was a young baby whose mum was lunching with a group of women.

Enjoy your days!

Is done!

We have new electronic gimcrackery for the fancy-nancy new computer, so now pics can be downloaded from my camera card.

Some finished half square pieces for what is hoped will be a gorgeous quilt.

 Block number one from the Canadian mystery quilt - New Brunswick, with a covered bridge and a black-capped chickadee.  We've seen those little birds in Canada, they are very cute with a sweet call.

Block number two - Nunavut, snow, ice, glaciers, an inukshuk and a ptarmigan, a bird which is white in winter and brown in summer.

These are 'lick and stick' applique using fusible web, the pieces still need to be stitched down.  The cunning plan is to do these quilt-as-you-go, a process I haven't tried before.  Two are done, several more still to go.

Some of our own white birds, a flock of sulphur crested cockatoos on the hill.  As you can see there had been a little rain so there were small patches of green......and now it's green all over, because we have had more rain!  Had to zoom in on these.

 A spectacular sunset last week, rubbish bins, neighbour's car and all, taken from our front verandah.  The faint lights in the far right distance are from the airport.

The best news is, we have had rain and there is more to come!  Not as much as we would like and nowhere near enough to break the continuing drought, but each and every little drop is welcome.  People are feeling more optimistic than they have done for quite a while.

Fires elsewhere in the state are still burning but some are out, and people are coming to terms with what has been lost.  The rest of us are being urged to visit these places and spend-spend-spend to help local economies......but there are still fires burning, and many people aren't inclined to travel for that reason; none of us want to be suddenly evacuated or possibly trapped.  Also, while there is enormous sympathy and both monetary and practical help being given to those communities, a lot of people just don't have extra cash to splash around.  At the end of the day we all get to decide where, when and how we spend our money and no amount of emotional blackmail will change that.

My passport has been renewed.  Merciful heavens......if the person in that picture is really me, then I certainly need and deserve a holiday!

"Use no strong expression either of delight or disapprobation at anything presented for your inspection.  If a picture or a statue please you, show your approval and appreciation by close attention, and a few quiet-well-chosen words, rather than by extravagant praise."

That passport picture certainly elicited no extravagant praise from me, I can tell you.

Enjoy your days!