Greening up nicely

Oh my, it's windy today!  I am staying inside so I don't get blown away, as I nearly did when it was time to bring in the washing.  It's also a long way from being cold despite the fact that it's still winter, the warm breeze may bring rain......and it's a bit soon to put away the winter woollies just yet, as the coming week will be much cooler than today.

The park is coming along well, as are this week's blocks.

These are two of the outer corner triangles, two more need to be made for the other two corners.  These are four by four squares cut once on the diagonal; the side triangles are seven by seven, and are each cut into four quarter-square triangles.  They are slightly larger than the measurements given in the book if cutting from yardage, but hey......you can always trim off half an inch, but you can't add it on so easily should it be a bit small.

The black and white fabric around the pale spotted house is left over from a skirt made several years ago.  The fabric was bought from a quilt store, I really liked it, but sadly the skirt wasn't a good fit so I ended up giving it away.  The leftovers still find themselves turning up in the odd quilt here and there.

This is one from several years ago.

The same black and white print is in the inner corner of each block, fussy cut to feature the floral design.  It was also used in the piano key border and for the binding.

All the applique on the Canadian blocks is stitched down, a great sigh of relief was heaved when the last stitch was done.  Now the stabiliser is being torn away from the back......then the blocks can be joined, yippee!   

It has been another quiet stay-at-home week.  A time for sewing, for playing music, for reading, for knitting the odd stitch or two.....a time for just......being.  We have stopped watching the news again (as we did last year, for several months) and we do not click on links to stories about doom and gloom.  Some might say we are sticking our heads in the sand - I prefer to say we're looking after our mental health.

The television is off more than it's on because so little appeals to us.  We don't mind some renno porn shows - house hunting and renovating - we have our favourites, but there are many we never watch.  Other so-called "reality" shows - never.  Not ever.  There isn't much drama that we like and we don't want to watch the same British police shows for the unpteenth time; they were good the first time, all right the second, but lose their gloss after that.  There are the online channels, occasionally I remember to look through their offerings but then forget to put it on.

Back in the days when I was young our town didn't have television; it didn't arrive in major Australian cities until the mid-1950s, and not in country towns for several more years.  We, three deprived little kids from a country town, were mesmerised when we visited our Posh Melbourne Grandparents because they had T.V.  The soundtrack to my childhood and growing up was radio rather than television, and I still prefer it.  My mother used to listen to her radio serials - now, that's something you don't hear any more!  She sang along to the radio and we learned all those old songs by osmosis, they just soaked into our brains.

"Strive to keep the cloth as clean as possible, and use the edge of the plate or a side dish for potato skins and other refuse."

The history of the tablecloth is interesting.  Apparently, several centuries ago, people would blow their noses on it, wipe their mouths on it during eating instead of using a napkin.....a bit gross, really.  Makes you pity the poor servants who had to wash the table linen, doesn't it?

Enjoy your days!