Finally getting around to it

More quilting on the border of my Canadian quilt has been done.  The black inner border is now finished; it was quilted with two parallel rows to match the quilting in the black sashing between the blocks, then a row in the ditch between the black and white borders.  (Occasionally the needle jumped out of the ditch, which is why I am not a great fan of stitching in the ditch.....but it passes the ten feet away rule, so that's all right.)

You can see the black and white borders here.  Next will be a row of stitching - once more into the ditch, dear friends, once more, to paraphrase William Shakespeare - on the edge between the white border and the outer red and black leaf print border.  Although it's only straight stitching it's quite a physical workout because the quilt is heavy and stiff, as there are three or four layers of fusible appliqué in some pictures.

And - I now have my own round tuit!  So there is no excuse for procrastination, is there?  I can no longer say "when I get around to it".

A surprise package from a friend in the Big Smoke - thank you, Sandra! - with a 'round tuit', and a wombat coaster made from Silky Oak, both shown on the red back of my Canadian quilt.

Silky Oak - Grevillea Robusta - is not an oak tree at all, but its sleek grain resembles that of European oak.  It makes beautiful furniture, and I remember a building in the Big Smoke whose entrance hall was lined with wall display cases made from Silky Oak.  Way back before my memory starts our town made the decision to plant Silky Oaks as street trees - many still survive; they are now quite large and provide good summer shade but woe betide anyone who parks underneath when they flowering, as the flowers drip their sticky sap onto cars.

The house is quiet without a cat......but we suspect we will be finding white cat hairs on clothing and furniture for some time yet, and a few were even spotted earlier while quilting.

Yesterday the ukulele group's gig went well, people said nice things to us and about us.  There is another gig coming up soon but - guess what! - this time I have been asked to do it solo on my own by myself, how about that?  The theme is 'Roaring Twenties'; I can do the songs easily enough, but clothes.....not so much.  Perhaps I need to hit the op shops and see what's available.  A sparkly or lacy top could be The Very Thing, something I do not currently own as I really don't do sparkly or lacy clothes.  Plain black pants will be the bottom.

As usual, this week some stitches have been knitted, some diamonds have been pieced, words have been read.  The first sleeve on my whatever-it-becomes (either a jumper [probably] or a cardigan [possibly]) is proceeding along well, the armhole decrease is well under way so the further along it is the quicker it goes.  

Continuing on with General Rules for Balls:

"Never be seen without gloves in a ball-room, or with those of any other color than white, unless they are of the most delicate hue."

For women gloves would probably also be long, as the rule 'the shorter the sleeve, the longer the glove' applied.  Gentlemen also wore gloves to a ball so as not to leave oily marks on their partners' skin or clothing while dancing.  Indeed, some folk in these times of plague might wish the custom of wearing gloves would return, and not just for wearing at balls.

Enjoy your days!

Back to vertical

Which is something I most definitely was not, last weekend; the reaction to the booster was every bit as bad as I had feared, in fact it was worse than last time.  As usual Kevin had no reaction at all, which doesn't seem fair.

It has been a sad week, though - on Thursday we had to say goodbye to Bianca, after more than 19 years.

This is my favourite pic of her, taken not long after we moved here.  Our house in the Big Smoke didn't have a Big Black Blob in the corner, a thing which, after some magic words were said and arcane deeds done, could be made to emit warmth.  (We still have a Blob, of a more modern design)  The magic words had been said, the arcane deeds done, a small fire started......and she jumped up!  She didn't stay long, but I couldn't resist a photo.

Back in the Big Smoke, helping to sort and pack.

Just to show what a pretty cat she was.....and yes, she did have eyes of different colours, but she wasn't deaf.

When she was very young she had just a few grey/black hairs on top of her head, something our vet told us could cancel out the gene which often makes odd-eyed white cats deaf.

And now we are catless.  We have always had at least one cat in our 48 years together.  The house is very quiet.

Before succumbing to the booster reaction I did manage to start the quilting on the border of my Canadian quilt, and have high hopes of being able to do more during the coming week.  Enough was done that the layers are now held firmly together, I don't need to worry about it falling apart every time it is picked up.

Some stitches have been knitted.  Some diamonds have been pieced.  Some words have been read.  That is about all I have been capable of doing.  I am seriously thinking about not having any more boosters; I suspect the government and the medical people will try to cajole/bribe/coerce/threaten us with one every six months, but I don't want to be that ill every six months.

The ukulele group has a gig next Saturday afternoon, a 'musical afternoon' we have played at in the past, before the covid plague.  (Our lives seem to be divided into BC and AC, don't they?)  We even have a couple of extra songs in reserve in case we are needed to fill in for someone who may have to cancel at short notice, always a possibility these days; when I spoke to one of the organisers yesterday she was pleased to hear it.

The new dishwasher works, for which we are thankful.  We also now have a light in our walk-in pantry, something which makes our lives easier.  It's set up with a sensor, comes on when the door is opened and goes off when it's closed, so it is not left on when it shouldn't be.

Continuing on with General Rules for Balls:

"It is necessary for a gentleman to bow to his partner before a quadrille; after, it is enough that he offers his arm and walks at least half way round the room with her.  He is not obliged to remain beside her unless he wishes to do so, but may leave her with any lady whom she knows, or conduct her to a seat."

So, gentlemen, don't just dump your quadrille partner like a hot potato.  The bow before beginning the quadrille is performed while the opening chords of the music are being played.  Gentlemen bow - ladies drop a curtsey - to one's partner, then turn and repeat to one's corner person.  Then....begin the first movement of the quadrille.  I used to enjoy dancing quadrilles, whether slow and stately or more enthusiastic.

Enjoy your days!

Pinning progress

The border on my Canadian quilt is pinned, ready to be machine quilted.

The white border won't be quilted, the narrow black inner border and the outer print border will be.  That's the block for Newfoundland and Labrador peeking in the corner.  There are a few things happening this week but - hopefully! - next weekend is free for quilting; I say "hopefully" because we are booked in to have our second covid boosters on Friday, and if I have a reaction to it like I did to the first booster back in February I won't be stirring from my bed for a few days.  Kevin had no reaction at all, but I more than made up for both of us.  

Some folk have expressed surprise that I'm not using English paper piecing to make my diamond hexagon blocks.....well, that's because I find it to be quite unutterably tedious.  This is how I make my diamonds:

First, a piece of fabric is cut four inches by two and a half inches, then the diamond template laid on the wrong side and traced around with a very fine point pencil.  Dark fabrics are done with a silver pencil.  Using a square ruler to add 1/4 in seam outside the pencil lines and a rotary cutter, four cuts later - zip zip zip zip - we have a diamond ready for sewing on the line.  It's a very quick process.

You can see how beautifully they fit together....and then they're done.  No trying to fit the old arthritic hands around paper shapes, just a straight seam from corner to corner.  More diamonds needed to be cut so this project can come with me on Tuesday, for my monthly day volunteering at a gallery.  A surprising amount of stitching can be done if there are not a lot of visitors, and if there are visitors it's often a talking point.

I love the colours in this pic....autumn leaves in the car park at Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island.

We're back in winter, our spell of milder weather (and even a little rain!) has ended again, for now at least.  This morning was very very cold; minus 2 deg C, but the 'feels like' dipped to minus 6 C.  The hill behind us was covered in a white layer of frost; even the weeds looked pretty and lacey, but it wasn't pretty enough to make me want to go outside to frolic barefoot among the dandelions, let me tell you.

The sage of the broken dishwasher continues.  Last weekend we ordered a new one....it'll take at least two to three weeks to get from the warehouse, we were told....but no!  A call came on Friday to tell us it was already in, so arrangements need to be made to have it collected, delivered and installed.  Hopefully those arrangements are already under way.

Wilson, the big black boofy overgrown teenage dog next door, is barking again.....when his owners are away he takes it on himself to bark for the whole neighbourhood......we wouldn't mind the odd bout of laryngitis now and then.  Each and every dog which is walked past his house is greeted; the neighbourhood has become noisier than it used to be as more people now have dogs, so of course there are more greetings.  He's a big softie ('big' being the word, he's a boxer/lab mix) who looks fierce and has a loud voice.  A very loud voice.  Which he uses often...there he goes again.....

Oh well.  Wilson certainly keeps burglars away from their house, and probably from ours too.  

Continuing on with General Rules for Balls:

"Never forget ball-room engagements, nor confuse them, nor promise two dances to one person.  If a lady has forgotten an engagement, the gentleman she has thus slighted must pleasantly accept her apology.  Good breeding and the appearance of good temper are inseparable."

That last sentence holds true for many circumstances, doesn't it?  Not just when forgetting that one has engaged one's self to a dance partner the fact of which has then slipped one's mind, but in other parts of our life.

Enjoy your days!

One of these days....

....this quilt will have its borders pinned ready for quilting.

It seems that every time I have a block of time to get it done, something intervenes....it is so frustrating....time had been reserved yesterday but we went shopping for a dishwasher.  By the time we returned home, had a cuppa, fiddle-faddled around for a bit, there wasn't enough of the day left for something I prefer to do in natural light.

Oh well.  The coming week doesn't look too hectic....fingers crossed....

Just because I love autumn pictures:

Taken on a cool damp day outside our B&B in Goderich, a small town in Ontario.  If I ever moved to Canada (not much chance of that; I don't think I would survive the first winter) I would live in Goderich, it's a very pretty town.

How have you all been this week?  It's still winter here, not much has changed, life for these two Olde Phartes drifts along.  

A few of us from the ukulele group provided some entertainment on Friday for a Refugee Week function, which was interesting; it makes you realise how lucky we are to live in a safe country free from conflict.  When I was a child we heard about 'displaced persons' as European refugees were called after World War II.  Many came to Australia in search of peace; most found it, although life here in what was still considered a colonial outpost would have been so different from the life they were used to.  

When I think about the bland boring food we grew up with - lamb chops served with mashed potato and peas, every week - I am so pleased times have moved on, driven by people who have settled here from other countries.  My mother didn't like cooking, it was a chore she did from necessity, and as a result she was an unimaginative cook.  A pinch of curry powder in the savoury beef mince - always boiled, never browned in oil - was the most adventurous dish she served.

I remember when convenience foods started appearing in shops, and my mother seized the opportunity with both hands.  Packet cake mixes were her favourite, she made two double-sized cakes a week because my father took lunch from home.  'Smoko' (morning tea break) was not considered complete without a large piece of cake for those doing manual labour - including bricklaying, my father's occupation.  Many older Ozzies still call the morning tea break 'smoko' even though a much smaller number of people now smoke than used to, and many of us (myself included) have never ever not once lit up even one surreptitious puff.  Not ever.

Something else which pleased her was the advent of synthetic fabrics, fabrics which advertised themselves as 'wash and wear', no ironing needed.  However Ozzie summers can be fearsomely hot, and the last fabric you want to swathe yourself in is a non-breathable fabric; we have gone back to realising that cotton and linen fabrics are more comfortable.  If ironing bugs you, then don't do it - who is going to care if you are wearing wrinkled clothing?  Not me....

Continuing on with General Rules for Balls:

"When dancing a round dance, a gentleman should never hold a lady's hand behind him, or on his hip, or high in the air, moving her arm as though it were a pump handle, as seen in some of our western cities, but should hold it gracefully by his side."

Yes indeed, gentlemen.  I have danced with blokes whose dancing style is....shall we say.....creative.

Enjoy your days!