Sending my baby out into the wide world

'Autumn Rhapsody' has gone off to spend time with quilter Margaret.  It has taken so much of my life for the past several months that I will be quite bereft until it comes home again.....but it will be much closer to being a finished quilt when it does.

Now I wasn't going to succumb to another project straight away but the little buzz in my brain said, go for it.....so this morning I pulled some fabrics from the Big Basket of Batiks.

These fabrics will be the first two blocks of 'Arboretum'.  There are smaller pieces in the Big Basket which will be suitable for the leaf veins, and which will be paired with a print in a similar range for the leaf.  The bright orange print came out first and was paired with a blue and green print but, much as I loved the contrast, I decided to go in a different direction.  When the houses for the neighbourhood quilt were being made a couple of years ago the decision was taken to make two a week, so that's what I will do with this quilt too.  

That should keep the brain buzz from getting too annoying, yes?  In the meantime, other projects will be worked on too.

Thoughts have been thought on a label for 'Autumn Rhapsody', but none have settled.  It will probably be embroidered rather than written as my embroidery stitches are neater and nicer than my writing, these days.  Thoughts will continue to be thought on the subject.  

Words have been read.  Stitches have been sewn; after the peeper border was all stitched down during the week a few diamonds were picked up again, so more will need to be cut to keep the supply going.  Notes have been plinked and songs sung even though the choir is now in its end-of-year recess, because of course the ukulele players sing too.  (Well, some of them sing.....)  My various hurty bits are healing well.  The usual weekly hunting and gathering was done to avert starvation, and so passed another week.

The year is winding down....yesterday the quilt group went out for its Christmas/end of year lunch, and jolly nice it was too.  I had a radicchio, fennel and orange salad with citrus dressing served with grilled haloumi, and oh my - that was good.  It wasn't as heavy as a hot meal in the middle of the day would have been, and was quite different to the salad I would normally choose.  What's more, unlike many salads, it didn't contain tomato!  One of my earliest memories is of my mother holding me down with one hand and trying to force me to eat tomato with the other.  I didn't like it then, and I don't like it now.  Don't like the taste, especially don't like the texture, so now that I am an adult - I don't eat it.

Decorations are appearing in shops and I suppose it won't be long before the fat bloke in the red suit perches on his throne for photos with the kiddie-widdies.  Festive food has been available for some time now, and Glorias and ding dongs have been creeping into radio programming.

Summer is well and truly upon us, the next few days are forecast to be fairly hot before rain later in the week.  Roll on the rain and cloud, I say, because those clouds provide a little shade and keep the hot sun from frying us, even though they raise the humidity as they do so.....but as we live in a dry inland town, a little humidity doesn't matter.  I couldn't go back to living in coastal humidity, something the Big Smoke has in plenty.

"Ladies may assist other ladies.

It is not only the right, but the duty of ladies to render any assistance or be of any service to younger ladies, or those less experienced in travelling than themselves.  They may show many little courtesies which will make the journey less tedious to the inexperienced traveller, and may give her important advice or assistance which may be of benefit to her.  An acquaintance formed in travelling need never be retained afterwards.  It is optional whether it is or not."

In other words, spending a little time helping a less experienced traveller doesn't mean to say she will hang around you like a bad smell for the next few years.......at least, we hope not.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Having a whole heap of fun!

That was what the choir did last night, at our World Premiere.  We sang our little hearts out, managed to achieve our bits of (sitting) choreography without making fools of ourselves, and enjoyed listening to the lead actors sing their parts with and without us.  It was a pleasure and a privilege to be part of it....and even if our composer/director/musical director Bill is able to have it orchestrated and produced on a stage somewhere, we will still be able to say "we did it first"!

So now our moment of fame and glory is over, and it's back to everyday reality once more.

The back of Autumn Rhapsody is done.

This is a queen-size bed; the bottom corner was pulled up to show the outer border of that gorgeous leaf print.  Almost all of that pale background piece was used, there was very little leftover.

The strip goes from over an inch at one end to over two inches at the other as it wasn't quite cut straight - not much was wasted, was it?  It won't be thrown out either; you never know when it may be Just The Very Thing for a scrappy project so it will go into the bin of autumn fabrics, and probably be thrown out on some future date when it isn't big enough to use for anything anyway

Stitching down the peeper border is proceeding well, the final side is almost half done.  What an achievement that will be....then quilter Margaret will be contacted and decisions made as to thread colour/s and quilting design.

Words have been read.  Stitches have, of course, been sewn both by hand and by machine.  Songs have been sung and strings plinked.  A little shopping here and there to keep the hungry wolves at bay, and that was it.  The various hurty bits are healing well, for which we are thankful.  Today is the seven month anniversary of the big fall and subsequent damage and, while the hand and arm are still weaker than they were beforehand, they are slowly recovering.

It has rained, wonderful rain, which came with lights and music - thunder and lightning - and more is forecast for tonight and tomorrow.  The rain delayed my sewing the quilt back together as My Lovely New Bernina has computer Stuff in its innards, and according to technical sewing machine people it's not a good idea to use a computerised machine during lightning storms......so I don't.  The plug is even pulled out from the wall socket, because I'm not taking any chances.  About 15 years ago we lost a computer to a lightning strike; it was plugged in at the time, so we know these things happen.

What is blogger playing at these days?  Every comment comes up in my email inbox as a "no reply"; hopefully though I can still reply if you are in my contacts from previous replies.  I love reading  your comments, every one is appreciated, and I endeavour to reply as and when I can.

"A lady obliged to travel alone.

A lady, in travelling alone, may accept services from her fellow-travellers, which she should always acknowledge graciously.  Indeed, it is the business of a gentleman to see that the wants of an unescorted lady are attended to.  He should offer to raise or lower her window if she seems to have any difficulty in doing it herself.  He may offer his assistance in carrying her packages upon leaving the car, or in engaging a carriage or obtaining a trunk.  Still, women should learn to be as self-reliant as possible; and young women particularly should accept proffered assistance from strangers, in all but the slightest offices, very rarely."

Assistance offered to those of us of the more senior persuasion is much appreciated, let me tell you.  One cannot do everything by one's self any more.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Around the back

There has been fabric spread out on the sewing table while Big Decisions were made about the backing for Autumn Rhapsody.

The orange leaf print at the top has been sewn to the brown print.  (That's a fold you can see vertically in the fabrics, not a join.)  Two of these have been made, one for the top and one for the bottom.....or perhaps it's one for the left side and one for the right?  The orange leaf and brown prints will be sewn on each side of the centre panel when it's done, and the back will be complete.

The print with leaves and writing is about six inches short of being wide enough, wouldn't it rot your socks?   Using a piece of the orange leaf print in the centre will, however, make it wide enough and (hopefully!) add interest to the back.

It's a bit tricky trying to get a good pic of fabrics on a cutting table which is higher than a normal dining table when one is short, you know.  The proportions are better in real life.

The tidgy widgy stitching continues, work is now proceeding along the third side.  It's quite slow going because of the tiny stitches; if I had any sense I wouldn't have started off so small, but......ah well.  At least the point of the quilting foot shouldn't poke underneath when Margaret quilter is working her magic.  My hand complains after a while so it takes a break, then I don't always get back to it, something else gets done instead.....

All the various hurty bits are now doing well, for which I am thankful.  Words have been read, stitches have been sewn.  Notes have been plinked and sung; only one last rehearsal remaining for our World Premiere Extravaganza next Saturday night, and hopefully all will go well.  We have hunted and gathered, so we won't starve.

A couple of nights ago we treated ourselves to a visit to the theatre where the musical society were performing 'A Grand Night for Singing', a show made up of songs from different musicals by Rogers and Hammerstein.  The small cast of five did a sterling job, the staging was very well done, it was a fun evening.  Many of the songs were familiar - the soundtrack of my childhood!  The costumes weren't fancy; two of the women were in short floaty sequin-trimmed dresses - one rosy red, the other a pinky lilac - while the third was in white pants and sequin-trimmed top accessorised with different scarves and, at one point, a red feather boa with red flower atop her hair.  One of the blokes was in a cream three piece suit, the other in blue-grey; their jackets were on and off for different songs, and a couple of times Mr Cream wore a blue jacket with his cream suit while Mr Grey wore a cream jacket with his grey.....a way to add interest while avoiding elaborate costume changes.  The only quibble I would make was that Ms Pinky Lilac's dress was straight; she is quite short, and a little flare in the skirt would have given her more freedom of movement as she tried to keep pace with the taller members of the cast during dance moves.

We've had a taste of the coming summer during the week, a couple of quite nasty hot days.....don't like that at all....fortunately today is milder, in fact rain is forecast for the next couple of days.  It could be a correct forecast too, the frog in the drainpipe has been croaking away today.  We've been hearing it of late, so perhaps it knows something?  The frog must have a few places where it hangs out because quite a long time can pass when we don't hear it at all, perhaps it's like a cat which visits every house in a neighbourhood but doesn't really belong to any of them.

Continuing on with the duty of a lady to her escort:

"A lady should give her attendant as little trouble and annoyance as possible, and she should make no unnecessary demands upon his good nature and gentlemanly services.  Her hand-baggage should be as small as circumstance will permit, and when once disposed of, it should remain undisturbed until she is about to leave the train, unless she should absolutely require it.  As the train nears the end of her journey, she will deliberately gather together her effects preparatory to departure, so that when the train stops she will be ready to leave it an once, and not wait to hurriedly grab her various parcels, or cause her escort unnecessary delay."

Some of that sage advice would also apply to those travelling by air, these days.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

A busy week with not much to show for it

We all have weeks like that, don't we.  We seem to have been on the go for most of the week, but when we look back not much seems to have been achieved.  

Work is proceeding on sewing down the peeper strip on Autumn Rhapsody.  I had high hopes of getting to the half-way point last night, but alas - it was not to be.  Some of the pieces for the back are pinned ready to be sewn but that doesn't make for an exciting pic, so there isn't one.  

Thoughts have been thought on which project will be worked on next, and it will probably be borders for the house quilt.

I thought there was a pic of the finished top, but it must be hiding in the photo vault.

Imprismed will be worked on. 

I am determined to finish it next year, it's been taking up a project box for long enough.

A quilt found online some time ago has been burning holes in my brain, so it's time it was started.  'Arboretum' ticks a lot of my boxes; mine will be made in batik fabrics rather than the fabrics used in the original.

That should be enough to keep me out of mischief, yes?

The hairdresser was duly visited, and my head now sports its summer cut.  That should keep me going until autumn, making it several months before the next staring-at-myself-in-the-mirror episode.  Summer means bright sunshine, which means wearing sunglasses and a hat outside, and the hat sits better with shorter hair.....but I miss my longer hair.

My hurt eye is doing very well indeed, if I hadn't remembered hurting it I would never have known the injury happened.  Words have been read.  Stitches have been sewn.  Songs have been sung and plinked, there are two more rehearsals before our World Premiere performance, and I'm sure we will be fine.  My nemesis in the U3A ukulele group turned up on Thursday, and true to form was under my skin before we had even sung one song.  I told her she could run it if she wished, and was ready to pack up and walk out; we were drifting along nicely without her.  We hunted and we gathered, often the social highlight of our week.

For the past few weeks our town has been fortunate to have an exhibition by renowned quiltmaker Jenny Bowker which finishes today and I have, of course, been along to see it a few times.  During the time of the exhibition Jenny has given a couple of lectures, one of which was on my monthly day for volunteering at the gallery - how fortuitous was that? although I would have gone along anyway - and the second was last Friday evening as part of the annual lecture series run by ArtsNational.  The first talk was about Jenny's techniques, how she builds up layers and colours for her appliques, and was very interesting; the second was about her life as the wife of a diplomat in various countries in the Middle East, the theme of the quilts in this exhibition.  The organisers had a fund-raising raffle at the entry table so I duly bought a few tickets - I'm always happy to support worthy causes - and, much to my surprise, one of my tickets was the winner!  So now I am the proud possessor of a beautiful platter made of jacaranda wood and a selection of yummy gourmet goodies which will not, I assure you, go to waste.

I've often said I couldn't win an argument, let alone a raffle, and I am more than happy to be proven wrong.

Summer has arrived, the coming week looks like being a bit warm for my liking, but there's not much I can do about it.  We stay inside during the hottest part of the day; sometimes we have to venture out for an appointment or for shopping, but we head for home as soon as we can.  It's not unusual to have a burst of heat early in the season before it settles down to more moderate temperatures for a while, so let's hope that pattern is followed this year too.

"The duty of a lady to her escort.

The lady may supply her escort with a sum of money ample to pay all the expenses of the journey before purchasing her ticket, or furnish him the exact amount required, or, at the suggestion of her escort, she may allow him to defray the expenses from his own pocket, and settle with him at the end of the journey.  The latter course, however, should only be pursued when the gentleman suggests it, and a strict account of the expenses incurred must be insisted on."

We don't need someone else to be out of pocket on account of our journey, do we?  

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer