Half done!

One half of the blue and green quilt is done.....

I f I were taller I would be able to get a better pic...but alas, I stopped at five foot two, like the song.  Although my eyes are dark brown, not blue.

Progress is slower on this than on a regular layout, because it isn't rows of blocks sewn into strips which are then joined into a top.  Joining it in sections seems to be the way to go......it's more like assembling a jigsaw puzzle than a quilt, which is fun for a change.  Some of the next sections are pinned ready for sewing; pinning, pinning and more pinning is the way to go with this.  Coloured flower-headed pins are useful for making sure that the pieces are joined correctly - yellow to yellow, orange to orange, etc., otherwise it's a bit too easy to pick up a piece and turn it the wrong way, then get confoozalated.  And we wouldn't want that, would we?

You know.....I don't ever want to make the same quilt twice, there are so many designs I want to try before I leave this life, but this one could make me change my mind.  Just maybe.....possibly......

It's been a fairly quiet week.  Last week's lurgy left me feeling tired and washed out for several days but the worst seems to be over now, for which I am thankful.  Stitches have been sewn, no diamonds were joined.  Stitches were knitted, in fact the neckband of my newest jumper only has two more rows until the cast off - yay!  Words have been read, notes were plinked and sung.

Yesterday I did some work on a song medley arrangement for the ukulele group, something that I once would have never known I could do.  But I can, and sometimes I surprise myself; I have had very little formal music training, and indeed Proper Musicians like our (now-ex) DIL tend to look down their noses at those of us who don't have the benefits of their extensive musical edumacation.  I know many excellent musicians, including some very well known names, who don't read a note - but they don't let that stop them from enjoying their music.  

It's not going to stop me, either.  

A site I follow on social media is the wonderful Grandiloquent Word of the Day.  Yesterday's word was "linguaphile" - one who loves language and words.  Finally....a word that describes folk like me!  

Now we are done with Etiquette of the Street, we can move on to Etiquette for Public Conveyances:

"Etiquette for Public Conveyances.

In street trams, omnibuses and other public street conveyances, it should be the endeavor of each passenger to make room for all persons entering, and no gentleman will retain his seat when there are ladies standing.  When a lady accepts a seat from a gentleman, she expresses her thanks in a kind and pleasant manner."

Indeed, she does.....or she should, for sure.  I am afraid, however, that nowadays many so-called "gentlemen" sit while ladies stand, as I found out when commuting in the Big Smoke.

Enjoy your days!

In which we have an unwelcome visitor

Another busy week in which not much was achieved beyond the necessary hunting and gathering.  Unfortunately a visitor, the Dreaded Lurgy, popped in for a few days and left me feeling tired and fragile.  Things are now on the mend, however, and soon I will be back to jumping out of my skin.

For those of you who are not familiar with the Dreaded Lurgy, it was used in 'The Goon Show', a radio program that many of my generation grew up with.  The Dreaded Lurgy is an illness with vague symptoms that leaves one with a general feeling of lassitude, but probably nothing that can be medically defined; it's not the flu, or even a cold, it's just......The Dreaded Lurgy.  "I have a lurgy", we say, and people know what we mean.

Consequently not much has been achieved, although some diamonds were joined.  A little knitting was done - that neckband might be finished soon - many words were read.  Some notes were plinked and sung.

A couple of pics were taken to aid in sewing the blue and green quilt together, something which will be started this week.  It is laid out on the spare bed and, as I am happy with the placement of the blocks, I have taken a couple of pics to make sure they are joined correctly.  First, the right hand side....

....then the left.  These will be the first two rows.

More pics will be taken as the next pieces are made.  Not all the blocks came from my sewing room; it was a BOM for members of my Tuesday quilt group, so some fabrics are not mine.  However as the Tuesday group is quite small, not many blocks came back - indeed, we have made the decision to do away with the Tuesday BOM due to small numbers, although there are still one or two optimists who hand out instructions and get a few blocks back which they use for charity quilts.  The Saturday group is much larger.

We have had some quite freezy frosty chilly weather this week, certainly enough to remind us that we are still in the coldest month of the year.  Many places hereabouts have had record-breaking morning temperatures recently, the coldest for many years or even since records have been kept, so it's not just us complaining about the chill.  Never mind; it will be back to summer's dreaded heat before we know it, won't it.

On Tuesday afternoon I was at the volunteer desk at the Gallery when a couple came in to browse the exhibitions.  The bloke was, I thought, suitably dressed for the weather, but I'm not sure about the woman's choice of attire; she was wearing long pants (good idea), a puffy jacket (personally I don't like them, but they are currently popular), gloves (so, obviously feeling the cold), shoes that you and I would wear to walk around the block (better than bare tootsies in this weather), and - bare ankles.  No socks.  I screamed to myself as I tucked my sock-clad feet under my desk.....I mentioned it at sewing group the next day and the consensus of opinion was, ankles get cold too.  

When we were in Canberra in April, however, I noticed that many of the Trendy Younger Folk did not wear socks.  Long pants - usually tight leggings, which I don't consider pants - and shoes with laces, and bare ankles.  Canberra is even colder than here in winter, I wonder if they have discovered their sock drawer yet?

Speaking of tight leggings.....when I become Queen Of The World, leggings will be banned outside the walls of a gym.  It can't be healthy wearing tight synthetic fabrics over one's nether regions all day every day, surely?  Actually, when you look it up (as I just did) - it's not.  

Concluding Etiquette of the Street:

"Whispering in a shop is rude.  Loud and showy behaviour is exceedingly vulgar."

It is.  When I was a child we were taught that whispering was not done.

Enjoy your days!

A week gone, and nothing much to show for it

Do you ever have one of those weeks where you are busy, sometimes chasing-your-tail-busy, and at the end of the week there isn't much to show for it?  That was my week.

Last night's choir concert/party was fun, my song was well received, and now there is no singing for a couple of weeks.  The room we use is being renovated - something which was to have been finished several weeks ago, but which had not yet been started when we were in it on Thursday night - and our leader is having eye surgery.  We will miss our choral evenings.

This is my sparkly brooch, worn last night pinned to a lime green silk scarf.  A gen-u-ine 1960s design which is now quite sought-after, if online listings are anything to go by.  I don't know if this is the original box - there is no brand or other information, not even the name of the jeweller who sold it.

This morning my wool order arrived.....is it not bewdiful?  A mix of green, blue and a little purple.  Perhaps it will become a jumper.....

.....or perhaps a cardigan......yet to be decided.  Those big balls are 200 grams each, so not many ends have to be darned in to finish.

The jumper currently on the needles is having its neckband knitted; holding an almost-completed jumper on one's lap is quite warm, and evenings this week haven 't been too freezy.  (Mornings have been freezy frosty chilly, but then I don't knit first thing in the morning.)    Diamonds have been cut. Those yellow sashings which were cut too long have been shortened, and are now - fingers and toes crossed - the correct lengths.  Words have been read.  

The coming week looks like being even busier, too.  Activities which are suspended during school holidays will resume....there is a legal appointment to amend our wills now that there has been a marriage break-up in the family (not ours, I hasten to add)......monthly sewing guild.....quilt group next Saturday......volunteering......if I'm really lucky I may have a chance to turn around and scratch myself, as the old saying goes.  The plan (the hope!) had been to make a start on sewing those blue and green blocks, but alas - it was not to be.  

Never mind, it will happen in due course.  I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't find it easy to use a machine in the evenings when my eyes are tired; it's too easy to make mistakes, as I have learned in the past.  Evenings are for hand work, whether sewing or knitting.

We took advantage of a slight lull earlier today to fit in some hunting and gathering while we could.  As we were leaving the car park we were surprised to see, parked well away from other cars - a Rolls Royce!  Not something one usually sees in the supermarket car park in a country town, for sure; the usual selection of (slightly boring) cars doesn't usually include Rollers.  There was someone sitting in the driver's seat, and we couldn't decide if it was the owner or perhaps a chauffeur.  If it was a chauffeur that would mean the owner was inside hunting and gathering with the hoi polloi - and surely that would never do, would it?

Continuing on with Etiquette of the Street:

"Ladies should not monopolize the time and attention of salesmen in small talk, while other customers are in the shop to be waited upon."

These quotes show that sales staff were male, as the word 'salesman' or 'salesmen' is used.  I would have thought that some shops were using female staff even back in the 1880s - surely goods being marketed to women - women's and children's clothing, fabrics, household furnishings, etc. - might have been sold by female staff?

Enjoy your days!

It's been said before....

....and no doubt will be said again......if I had half a brain, I would be dangerous.

All the narrow sashes for between the house quilt blocks were cut last weekend.  The shorter sashings had already been attached to the left side of each and every block, and the blocks joined into rows.  On Tuesday at quilt group one more sashing was sewn to the right side of every row so now all the blocks are sashed vertically, if one can have 'vertical' in an on point setting.  That just leaves the long strips for joining the rows into a quilt top.  (I dislike the term 'flimsy' used for quilt tops.  Believe me, there is nothing flimsy or insubstantial about this one.)  The shorter strips were the length of the blocks, so were all cut nine inches.  All well and good.  Hunky dory, one might say.

When cutting the longer strips a little voice in the back of my brain said to me "you need to allow nine inches for each block width, plus the half inch sashings, plus two times one quarter inch for the two outer seams".  Calculations were calculated and strips cut.  

However.....when I went to attach the first strip it's too long......because the blocks are not nine inches between the sashings, they are eight and a half inches.  That's what happens when one doesn't measure, one just assumes the guess is right - so now each and every one of those strips will need to be measured again, and shortened.

Oh well......although I suppose it's better than cutting them too short, isn't it?  Silver linings and all that stuff, but still....

Sigh.

I want to start sewing the green and blue blocks, but those sashings need to be corrected first.

My jumper is now being seamed in preparation for knitting the neckband.  Having the weight of a whole jumper on one's lap is really good on a chilly night.  Words have been read.  No diamonds have been cut or joined this week.  Ukulele groups aren't meeting because it's school holidays and some folk have grandparent duty, so it's a quiet couple of weeks.  A little hunting and gathering has been indulged in, although I'm not sure that 'indulged' is the right word for a foray into the supermarket during holiday time when some of the kiddie-widdies are a bit feral.

Some plinking will be done this week as the choir is having a 'Christmas in July' hooley next Saturday night, and I have been asked to reprise my recent prize-winning performance.  It's probably a good idea to practice before that so as not to make a complete and utter fool of myself, yes?  It has been suggested that we wear 'bright clothes', something not easy during the dead of winter.  I have a purple lightweight wool jumper, and a lime green silk scarf, and a sparkly brooch which was my mother's, so that should do nicely; if memory serves me correctly I may have given her that brooch a long time ago either for a birthday or for Mother's Day.  Some of those vintage brooches are quite sought-after now.

Wearing a brooch isn't 'done' as much these days as it used to be, is it?  I wear brooches in winter because they set off a plain jumper or jacket nicely, but summer clothing fabrics don't always lend themselves to a brooch.  Woven fabrics are usually sturdy enough to have a brooch pinned on, but not knits.

Continuing on with Etiquette of the Street:

"It is an insult for the salesman to offensively suggest that you can not do better elsewhere, which should be resented by instant departure."

Indeed.  If it is suggested that I may get a better price or article elsewhere, I shall be off post haste to find out if this is so.

Enjoy your days!

Sleepy wombat comes home

My baby wombat drawing, a birthday gift from our older son, is back from the framer.  It is really cute.

Isn't that sweet?  It's not on the wall yet as I need to find just the right spot to hang it, which is why the protective corners are still in place.  The mat and frame colours were chosen to compliment the muted tones of the little feller; much as I like bright colours they would have been out of place here.

The artist's label is on the back.  Hopefully it's legible, as the 'low battery' light was flashing while I was taking this pic.

Although it says 'Common Wombat' the preferred term is now 'Bare Nosed Wombat'.  Unfortunately they aren't as common as they used to be, and this also differentiates them from Southern and Northern Hairy Nosed Wombats which are two different species again.

Have you all been as busy this week as I have?  In addition to the usual Stuff like hunting and gathering, the ukulele group had its retirement village gig on Wednesday.  Once again our audience enjoyed our performance - they are very responsive, and enjoyed singing along.

We joke among ourselves about "singing for the oldies", but then we remember some of the folk living in these places are younger than we are!  At afternoon tea the woman next to me started chatting, we realised we had been in high school together....and she was in the year behind me, so that makes her younger.  What a hoot.

Our musical friend came for a couple of days, and we attended a house concert in which he played; that was a fun night, and also an opportunity to catch up with some folk we hadn't seen for a while.  After hopefully (!) sorting out his car's oil issues he departed late on Friday morning, and that evening I realised he still had our spare house key.  I sent him a message....."oh gosh yes, I do" he said, "I'll send it back when I get home"......"don't worry", I said, "you'll be back in January and you'll need it again!"  Over the past couple of years he has become a friend rather than just a guest; we enjoy having him to stay, and he enjoys staying here.

Progress on the knitting: the front of my jumper is now done, so three of the raglan seams can be sewn and stitches picked up for the neckband.  That will make a good in-front-of-TV project for the coming week.  Words have been read.  No diamonds have been cut or joined.  Many notes were plinked and sung.

The house quilt is back to the fore.  Those loooong sashing strips need to be pieced; as it's a diagonal setting the strips on either side of the centre row are quite long indeed.  However they are now done, as are the next two.  Quilt group is on Tuesday and the Cunning Plan is to work on some of the sashings while there, as it's easy mindless sewing.

Mindless anything at all is good, really......

Continuing on with Etiquette of the Street:

"Avoid talking down the prices of articles in any way.  If the price does not suit, you may say so quietly, and depart, but it is generally best to say nothing about it."

This is probably a good idea.

Enjoy your days!