Ouch ouch ouch..........

The three quilt tops I have been working on for the bushfire victims are being handed over tomorrow to be quilted and distributed, so here are a few pics. These star blocks were made by Sherry, who did a terrific job with them! I used a Robyn Pandolph blue fabric (it's more smokey turquoise if we are to be precise) with an inner border of deep burnt orange to pick up the colours in Sherry's blocks.
Eight of these blocks were made by Ariane and were set with blue sashing strips and border. The blue sashing fabric shades from a deep cobalt to a paler sky blue and the border fabric has dragonflies with gold highlights on a blue background. The centre block was made by Kiera Oona.
Kiera also made these blocks - as you can see she used lovely vibrant greens in some of her stars (I just lurve green!) so this one has green sashing with a slightly funky print for the border.

The ouch in the title of this post is because today was mammogram day, I know it's a necessary procedure but it is ever so slightly undignified, isn't it? Having one's girl bits laid one at a time (by a complete stranger) on a cold slab with a heavy weight pressing down on them is not my idea of fun. The machine was probably invented by someone with a deep-seated hatred of women. At least that's over for another two years.

Here's another quote from my etiquette book of 1885 -

"Vulgar Exclamations: No lady should make use of any feminine substitute for profanity. The woman who exclaims "The Dickens!" or "Mercy!" or "Goodness!" when she is annoyed or astonished, is as vulgar in spirit, though perhaps not quite so regarded by society, as though she had used expressions which it would require but little stretch of the imagination to be regarded as profane."

Jennifer

Wooden WOW

This is a little wooden wombat made of Rosewood, you can see how small it is by the pear and fruit in the bowl behind.

The last week I have been working on putting together blocks sent from Canada for quilts for the bushfire victims in Victoria, I am down to the last one and it coming along well. But there was sad news a few days ago - do you remember Sam, the little koala who was rescued by a firefighter and given a drink? The picture was everywhere as a symbol of hope after the fires had gone through. Unfortunately Sam (who, it turned out, was a girl) was found to have inoperable cysts due to clamydia and died last week. She was a little fighter and lived for six months after her ordeal by fire, but nature was too strong for her.

The quote from my old etiquette book has sparked replies saying "why is it always the woman who is responsible for manners and morals?" I agree, it seems that is the way of the world and always has been. In times gone by women seem to have been regarded as more civilised than men - whether this is really true or not, who knows! I have found another very different quote for this post, can you imagine the reaction of a young chicky-babe today if she was told she had to wear the following at the beach instead of her brief bikini?

"Flannel is the best material for a bathing costume, and gray is regarded as the most suitable colour. It may be trimmed with light worsted braid. The best form is the loose sacque, or the yoke waist, both of them to be belted in, and falling about mid-way between the knee and the ankle; an oilskin cap to protect the hair from the water, and merino socks to match the dress, complete the costume."

Now I don't know about you, but I'm not a great swimmer and would probably drown if I had to wear all this weight in the water.

Have a lovely week.

Jennifer

WOW Family

These three wombats are obviously made from the same design, although the light one has its head at a different angle from the grey one. They are sold as garden statues so I put them in the garden......well.....near the garden, I picked up a couple of the fallen camellias from the bush nearby. I have no idea of its name, it's very pretty, has pink and white petals with ruffly centres and is one of the few survivors of The Great Hailstorm of 1990. There won't be a WOW post for a few weeks as we will be away, hence the trio.

Yesterday Kevin and I went on a walking tour of the Female Orphanage at Rydalmere, about twenty minutes' drive from here. It was built from 1814 to 1819 and, as well as taking in orphan girls from the age of two to twelve, also took in the daughters of the well-to-do folk to educate them. The girls were taught to read and write at a time when many girls were not even taught those essential skills at home and Aboriginal girls were also cared for under the same conditions as white girls, being educated side-by-side. Like many public buildings of the time it is an imposing brick building and was reached by river, as roads through the bush were practically non-existent in those days. Can you just imagine the impression it would have made on a little girl when, upon stepping out of a boat and walking across a bush path, she was faced by these stone steps she had to climb to get to her new home?
The centre, which had other buildings as well as the main one, functioned as an orphanage until the 1880s, becoming co-ed when boys moved in during the 1850s; their orphanage until then was further away. During the 1880s the foster care system started so the orphanage ceased to be used as such. It then became a psychiatric institution (it was known as 'Rydalmere Asylum for the Insane') for nearly 100 years, many buildings date from 1890-1910. The buildings are interesting and the grounds very peaceful - it is all now part of a university. Unfortunately we were not able to go inside the historic buildings but could look through some of the windows.

Social history is a topic which fascinates me, as you can see! I love finding out how people used to live.

One of the quilts I am making for bushfire victims has the top, backing and binding finished and I have started on the next. They probably won't all get done before we go away next week but it won't be for want of trying....it's a busy week. And the Bernina is behaving itself beautifully since its hissy fit the other day. It was the chocolate that did it.

Have a lovely week, may your seams all be straight.

Jennifer

First WOW for March

I haven't shown a quilt for some time, so here is a Double Wedding Ring quilt that I made a few years ago using foundation piecing. The background is deep rich purple, the squares where the rings meet are two lavender prints with writing; one has tiny hearts with the letters I and U in different colours, the other has words like "sweetheart"and "I'm in the mood for love". The rings range from pale cream through yellow to deep gold. It's 16 inches (40cm) square, is backed with lavender solid fabric, and has a label made of a small embroidered white-on-white doyley. The rings were made and joined into a lattice, then they were appliqued onto the background. And I may live to regret this - but I left the foundation papers in place to give the rings more substance. It has its turn on the wall in rotation with other hangings.....let's hope it never needs washing.
The fridge in our kitchen has several wombat magnets and magnetic notepads, some of which have been gifts over the years and others bought on our travels. There's a little magnetic beanie wombat peeking over the top. The wombats in the picture were part of a beautifully carved chess set, all the pieces were Aussie animals and the wombats, in two different coloured woods, were pawns. It was on display last year at a gallery not far from here; the picture was on the card advertising a woodcarving exhibition. The notepad on the top right has a picture of a wombat lying on a hot water bottle with the caption "so much to do, so little motivation". My thoughts exactly.

Kiera-Oona is busy making stars for the bushfire quilt project, I have been slack in not making any but that will rectified soon. She has posted a pic of a pretty pink star block on her blog and links to the information.

This morning at the local Salvo thrift shop I bought a two-tiered shelf for my sewing room, now I can move my hi-fi out there to have music while I sew. We're old-fashioned, we don't have an ipod, but we have music playing all through our house just the same. Today I am trying to drown out the workmen's radio on the building site next door, and the noise of the big digger thing they are using, and their rather fruity language. Perhaps I should stick my head over the fence and tell them they are offending the little old lady (namely me) next door, but somehow I don't think they would care.

Jennifer