Finally - some progress

It's been ages since my Canadian quilt was worked on.....since before we want down south early last month, certainly.  However, in recent times it has been prominent on the sewing table.

The original Cunning Plan was worked out after watching various quilt-as-you-go tutorials, and this bit - inserting the border batting between the front and back of the quilt - looked to be easy peasy.  One video suggested using batting joining tape which I didn't have, but I had been assured that iron-on interfacing would do as well.  Well, it didn't......I suspect the problem was the temperature of the iron; the interfacing needed a hotter temperature to make it bond than I used.  The quilt fabrics being cotton batiks could take a hot temperature but the batting is a wool/poly blend, so a hot temperature could cause the poly in the blend to melt.

So, a new Cunning Plan was needed.

I have been tacking the border batting to the quilt centre panel batting using herringbone stitch, as you can see; it only needs to stay tacked until the border quilting is done, to hold it in place.  Three and a half sides have been tacked.  It is tedious work but will soon be finished, then the border can be pinned and quilted.  That's the folded-back quilt border that you can see.

A quiet corner of the lake at the caravan park where we stayed last month, just north of Canberra.  We would certainly stay there again.....just not between April and, say, September/October.

It has been cold, and the fire is welcome.  Today is quite pleasant out in the sun, but once around a shady corner it's a different story.  Our gig this morning went well but oh my.....what a freezy frosty start to the day it was.  Fortunately we were inside.

Yesterday afternoon's Eisteddfod performance went well; I was pleased with how I played and sang.  Although I wasn't judged the winner several people came up to me afterwards to say how much they enjoyed my funny song, and our choir director Bill, who was judging, has already booked me to sing it at the next choir concert later in the year.  Woohoo, fame!  I don't mind at all not winning; it's the feedback and comments from the audience members - mostly fellow musicians - that I value more, and can learn from.

We thought we were in for a rather expensive week as the kitchen light packed it in....did you know that many LED light fittings can't just have the lights inside changed?  the whole thing has to be replaced by an electrician....so now we have a plainer but very bright - my heavens it's bright! - new light.  That same day the dishwasher seemed to be having a few conniptions so the electrician also looked at it for us but couldn't find anything wrong.  It's fine, he said.  We have taken his word for it, but I'm not quite convinced.

Last month while we weren't here a milestone was passed, it was twelve years since we shook the dust of the Big Smoke from our heels and moved into this house.  My goodness....how time does fly!  It's been a good move for the most part; being in a smaller town compared to very big city does have a few drawbacks, but the sense of community and lack of traffic congestion more than make up for that.

Continuing on with General Rules for Balls:

"Common civility requires that those who have not been present, but who were among the guests invited, should, when meeting the hostess the first time after an entertainment, make it a point to express some acknowledgement of their appreciation of the invitation, by regretting their inability to be present."

Indeed.  No need to make a big song and dance about it, just "thank you for the invitation, I'm sorry I wasn't able to attend" will suffice.

Enjoy your days!