Doesn't look like much, does it?

However - it is, because this is block number 449.  The (hopefully!) last block which needed to be made for the design I have in mind.

Each block is three inches across, or at least that's the size on the diamond template.  I haven't actually measured them.  It's a useful size to work with, anyway.  The top diamond is lightest in colour, the right-hand side is darkest, and the left-hand side is something in between.

Two blocks have already been joined but not yet pressed, and another two are also being joined.

The Cunning Plan is to alternate rows of 20 blocks and rows of 19 blocks across, each second row needs to be shorter so the blocks fit together and create the design.  The tops and sides will be filled with partial blocks, because I don't like quilts with wiggly edges.  

Arboretum has gone off to quilter Margaret and should be home soon, although she has a few to be done before mine but that's all right; there's no tearing great hurry.  A label still needs to be made (it will be hand-embroidered) and I am dithering over the wording.  Name of quilt, of course....name of designer....name of maker (me)....name of quilter, because the quilting plays a part in how it looks....date (2025-26).....and a quote I found which appealed to me, "Trees are always a relief, after people" by writer David Mitchell (although I have left his name off the label, something which I plan to remedy before making it).  There are many quotes about trees but most of them are quite long-winded; I like this one because it is short, sharp and sweet, if slightly cynical.  Like what I am.

How has everyone been?  As you can see stitches have been sewn, and also knitted.  There are a couple of appointments in the coming week, so the knitting will come along to pass the time; I need to attend Kevin's appointments with him now as his speech is not always easy to understand, sometimes a translator is needed.  Songs have been sung and plinked, the uke group is now on holidays as U3A only meets during school terms, so we will be back later in July.  Words have been read.  Stocking up of the pantry took place, so we won't starve.

The great excitement during our week was on Friday afternoon when our electric kettle shorted out and blew all the power - we had lights, but no power.  We didn't realise at first what had happened.  When we arrived home from shopping Kevin brought the bags in while I poured coffee beans into the grinder and pressed the button on the kettle to heat water.  But - oh dear! - the grinder didn't work....bugger, I thought, and probably said too....then I became aware that the computer (which I had also turned on) was showing a blank screen, then I noticed the lack of music as the radio had stopped working too....then I checked the kettle.....all dead as the proverbial dodo.  Rang our neighbour whose husband is an electrician, he won't be home for a couple of hours she said....looked inside the fuse box but all that technical Stuff is a mystery to me, so closed it again....we rang an electrician who has done work for us in the past, and one of "the boys" (I'll send one of the boys to have a look" he said) came out to check.  He found the source of the problem fairly quickly; we managed by boiling water in a saucepan on the stove when needed, then yesterday we went shopping for a new kettle.  It works, it's the same brand as the previous one but a slightly different design, and is basic white.  I could have had a pretty pale green kettle, you know....but our basic model was $39 and the pretty green one was (gulp) $239 (gulp)!  $200 difference!!  So reluctantly (because it is a very pretty colour) I said, no, we'll take the white one.  Even though the green one is very pretty.....

"The latest ceremonials.

The latest Australian form for conducting the marriage ceremony is substantially as follows:

When the bridal party has arranged itself for entrance, the groomsmen, in pairs, march slowly up to the alter and turn to the right.  Behind them follows the groom alone.  When he reaches the alter he turns, faces the aisle and watches intently for the coming of his bride.  After a slight interval the bridesmaids follow in pairs, and at the alter turn to the left.  After another brief interval, the bride, alone and entirely veiled, with her eyes cast down, follows her companions.  The groom comes forward a few steps to meet her, takes her hand, and places her at the altar.  Both kneel for a moment's silent devotion.  The parents of the bride, having followed her, stand just behind her and partly to the left.  The services by the clergyman now proceed as usual."

Back in 1885 wedding parties must have been somewhat substantial, if there were enough bridesmaids and groomsmen for them to walk in pairs.  

If you search for "1885 wedding dress" you can see some amazing creations.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Green, green, it's green they say....

....on the far side of the hill.....

Anyone else remember that song?  It seems appropriate, considering that I've been cutting green fabrics for the outer border of the neighbourhood.  This is what's been cut so far.

But - there is still lots to go, because in my wisdom (not sure that it was very wise, but there you are) I have been cutting short pieces, and it's a fairly big quilt.  It might be a good idea to get cracking and cut some longer strips, those shorter pieces can be used between the longer ones.

This is Butchart Garden on Vancouver Island, Canada, in autumn.  That garden is famed world-wide for it's wonderful floral displays but when it's not flower season all the tones of green are highlighted, as they were back in November 2012 when this was taken.

Speaking of colour - no doubt you may have already heard that the Pantone colour of the year for 2026 has been released, and after so many colourful years it seems like a cop-out that white has been chosen.  It's been gussied up with a fancy name.....'Cloud Dancer'.....but white is still white.  I always thought that white was the absence of colour - yes?  If that's so, how can it be chosen as colour of the year?  I must admit to being somewhat....underwhelmed.

Here's a site I found which shows the colours of the year going back to 2000.  While I don't care for them all (although I do quite like 2017's colour) each and every one of them is more inspiring than boring white.

For many years now home renno shows have been showing white kitchens, which remind me of hospital laboratories.  Give me some colour any day.  Our kitchen (which came with the house but we like it, so it's been left) is light creamy-beige; it's not brown, it has warm yellow undertones with enough colour not to be boring but is still light enough to be practical.  There is also a fad on those shows to have dark kitchens with dark floors, dark cabinets, dark bench tops.....why, fergawdssake?  You would have to have the lights on all day, and even then you would need a magnifying glass to chop vegies so you didn't chop your fingers instead.

We have had more storms, and a few more small branches have fallen from our front yard tree.  They seem to recover, though, so we won't panic just yet.  Don't want to waste a good panic, do we.

The festive season is getting closer.  On Wednesday my sewing group had our Christmas lunch and jolly nice it was too, while the ukulele group finished for the year on Monday.  One of the members, Chris, gave me a jar of sweet onion chutney that she made herself (which is very nice too, it's already been opened and tried) together with a card, the hand-written message inside thanking me for, as Chris put it, "sharing your love of music with us".....isn't that sweet?  So, that's the end of music groups for the year...but I can always plink and sing away to myself, can't I.

Words have been read.  Stitches have been knitted and sewn but that summer top isn't yet repaired, as time just ran away from me; while the coming week also has some appointments, I live in hope that the top will be done by next weekend.  We hunted and foraged and will do some more this week because, even though there will just be the two of us for Christmas, we can still enjoy some festive foods.  The idea of going out to a restaurant for an indulgent Christmas lunch has been left in the dirt as these days it's way out of our budget, so we will just have to indulge at home.

When you are the person responsible for meal planning, and shopping, and preparation, though, Christmas is just like any other day.  Compared to a meal which someone else has prepared, served and cleaned up here's nothing special about a meal you have had to make yourself, is there?

The One And Only Grandkid has an upcoming birthday.  He will turn eleven next Friday.  We have deposited some money in his father's account so he can be taken shopping and choose what he would like; there is an excellent children's book shop in Canberra, and we are told there are also good toy shops.  We don't see him enough to know what he would like (although you can bet that fantasy/superheroes would feature somewhere, just like his father at that age) so it's better that he makes his own choice and has something he would like.

"How to treat a refusal.

As a woman is not bound to accept the first offer that is made to her, so no sensible man will think the worse of her, nor feel himself personally injured by a refusal.  That it will give him pain is most probable.  A scornful "no" or a simpering promise to "think about it" is the reverse of generous."

We certainly don't wish to be ungenerous, do we?

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Birthday trees

On Friday I completed another circuit around the sun.  I am not saying how old I am now, suffice it to say that I am probably older than dirt.  It was a pleasant day and I was taken out to lunch; I always enjoy a meal I haven't had to cook and I never cook on my birthday anyway, so it was doubly enjoyable.

And now I am a bigger number.

This week's trees, started on Friday and finished yesterday, so they can still be called birthday trees.

A geometric tree, just right for autumn.  The contrast was used for a tree several weeks ago, and it suits this print well.....I quite like the combination.

Another blue and green tree, because it's a pairing that always works.  The blue is leftover from 'Summertime Blues', and the green is a tone on tone from the Big Basket.  The contrast was originally going to be a different fabric but it was one which suffered from the flooding several years ago - the fabrics were dried off but not checked at the time for any problems as we had to put the house back together and replace ruined carpets, furniture, etc.  Damaged fabric was the least of my worries.

A pair of interesting trees.

We haven't seen the kangaroos on the hill behind us for some time because this herd of cattle roam around, and we are told that kangaroos don't like cattle and vice versa.  We think they belong to a bloke on the other side of the hill.

The breed is 'Speckle Park', or 'dalmatian cows' as our son called them when we told him.  They are apparently good eating.  When they visit, we notice that the air wafting around is definitely more.....rural.

How has everyone been this week?  Apart from Birthday Friday it was the usual uneventful week; stitches were sewn, words were read.  Songs were plinked and sung.  Hunting and gathering occurred, and that was about it.  It is now Mother's Day which we are spending quietly, with a welcome phone call from our Canberra son earlier.

During the week the previous U3A leader contacted me to say she would be absent for some time as she has shoulder problems, the message was very affable and friendly.  I have not replied, because I don't care.  She left me in the lurch last year without a word of warning or apology when I was still recovering from the broken arm and other injuries, so she can take a running jump.  I'm not usually nasty unless I consider I have been wronged, and in this case I do.  All sweetness and light, that's me, folks.

Moving right along.

It's been cool enough at night to have a fire burning, although we let it go out in the mornings.  This house cools down once the sun moves around by mid-afternoon, so it feels a little cooler than we like to be.  Having the fire burning on low all night means that the house warms up quickly when the sun hits it, rather than having to wait for the warmth of the sun to do so.  The first couple of winters after moving here we wondered why it was so cold in winter despite the fire, and closing doors to rooms not in use at the time etc., so we had the ceiling checked - only to find that there was absolutely no insulation in the ceiling at all.  Not a skerrick, as my Nana Davis used to say.  We soon had that remedied, and immediately noticed the difference.  There seem to have been budgetary short-cuts taken in many areas of this house when it was built; some we have had fixed, others we can live with.

"Driving.

The choicest seat in a double carriage is the one facing the horses, and gentlemen should always yield this seat to the ladies.  If only one gentleman and one lady are riding in a two-seated carriage, the gentleman must sit opposite the lady, unless she invites him to a seat by her side."

This week's quote is a wee bit long, so we will have the rest next week.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

We are home....the caravan is home....and all is well

For which we are thankful.  

The van had its broken spring fixed in Tooraweenah, for which many grateful thanks to the manager of the caravan park, Scott, and to Paul, a fellow visitor, who was 'volunteered' by Scott to help!  The tyre damaged by the broken spring has also been replaced, and our little van is now once more chugging along happily.

As a bonus - just a few doors along from the mechanic who replaced the tyre, there is a quilt shop!  How good is that!  Another piece of blue fabric came home with me after that stopover, fabric which looks like the night sky; very appropriate as Coonabarabran is an important centre for astronomy.  We also found a coffee shop tucked away at the back of a women's clothing shop, so while we waited for the tyre to be replaced we had a very good coffee and a very yummy chocolate cake (for Kevin) and freshly made that morning Monte Carlo bikky (for me), both of which were delicious.

We had a day to spare in Tooraweenah as the spring was fixed the afternoon we arrived and we had booked ourselves in for two nights, so the following day we did the touristy thing and went for a Nice Sunday Drive (on Wednesday) to visit an emu farm, Emu Logic.  Don't you love their 'welcome to our shop' emu?

Emus are quite large.

Young emus aren't quite as big....you can see the blue skin on the face of this one.

We were told that once the female emu had laid her eggs, she is off and away.  "Bye, Fred, it's been nice, but I have better things to do with my life than raise your chicks....."so the male incubates the eggs and looks after the striped chicks when they hatch.  The females can be quite aggressive to other emus, even to their own chicks.  Talk about women's lib!

A comparison of eggs.  The ostrich egg on the right is the largest, the emu egg next to it is still fairly big.  We were told that it takes 45 minutes to hard-boil one emu egg!

The farm dog, whose name we didn't get.  Anyone who throws her red ball is her New Best Friend, a label now applied to both of us.

I couldn't resist a souvenir of Tooraweenah Caravan Park!  Painted by Janelle, the manager's wife, whose paintings add a lot of fun to walls around the park.  Emus are ripe for caricature, while the background colours remind me of a cloudless summer sunset.

After that extended adventure we now feel that our holiday is finally over, and we can settle back into normality.

Winter has arrived - we didn't quite get the 'warm' welcome home we had expected!  The fire has been alight for a few days and we even had frost yesterday morning, with more forecast in coming days.  

Today is the 13th anniversary of the day we shook the dust of the Big Smoke off our feet and moved into this house.  Although we lived in our previous house for 23 years it is now but a distant memory, and it feels like we have been here forever.  It's been a good move.

Words have been read, notes have been plinked and sung.  Diamonds have been joined, blue and green fabrics have been cut out including some of the new holiday blues shown in the last post.  Stitches have been knitted, and now the placement for the cable pattern on the front of my jumper can be worked out.  That's about it for my week...how about yours?

Continuing on with Etiquette of the Street:

"Crossing the street with a lady.

If a gentleman is walking with a lady who has his arm, and they cross the street, it is better not to disengage the arm, and go round on the outside.  Such effort evinces a palpable attention to form, and that is always to be avoided."

Of course it is.

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!

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!

And - it's done!

My quilt top is finished!

You can count the full and half tumblers if you wish, or you can take my word that there are 792.  Add the eight border strips, and there are exactly 800 pieces in this quilt.

The narrow dark stripe ws placed along the inner edge of the outer border, and the inner border fabric will also be used for binding.

One of the four mitred borders.  I don't want to fritter away mitred borders on a quilt which is unworthy of them; however, I think this quilt is worthy.  It was taken to quilt group yesterday for show and tell......when I unfolded it and held it up with Kate's help there were gasps of "oh, Jennifer!" which I am taking as a compliment.

It's difficult to find somewhere in our house to photograph a large quilt but pelmet brackets at the top of the window meant there was somewhere to prop the pinned-to-a-sheet top for a picture......so that's where it had to be.  Both inner and outer blinds were closed behind the quilt, but light still comes in unless it's night.

A name popped into my head this morning almost as a joke: "Why Not?"  I couldn't begin to count the number of people who asked me why I was sewing by hand, to which my reply was inevitably  - "why not?"  The more I think about it, the more I like it.

No houses were made this week as it has been quite busy, but I have hopes of doing better next week.  Some of the leftover tumblers have been joined for the backing.  That's about it.

We have had a small piece of excitement in our miserable lives.  Last night we actually went to a concert, a real concert with real musicians playing on a real stage for us!  Audience numbers were limited, we had to sit stay (like well-trained dogs) unless we were going for food, drink or bathroom, no singing along or jigging around.  Everyone behaved as they should, and it was a fun night.

Here's your piece of useless information for the week:  did you know that if you forget about a large tin of apricot halves in your pantry for goodness knows how long, there's a chance it may explode?  We found that out recently.  One evening we were sitting quietly when we heard a really loud bang.  We couldn't find the cause; there were no storms so it wasn't thunder, and we forgot about it.  Last Sunday night I reached into the pantry for a jar of olives (I like olives on my home-made salmon pizza) and noticed it was dripping as I took it to the bench.  Olives were decanted to another container, glass jar was checked......no, no cracks.  Check pantry and......woops.  The ring pull lid on the tin of fruit was half open, obviously the cause of the explosion.  Fermented apricot juice on the wall, on the shelf......not good......it has now been cleaned, but the pantry needs to be emptied, de-cluttered and re-organised, a task long overdue.  Needless to say, 'use by' dates on cans, bottles and packets will be checked in the process.

It was, as far as explosions go, quite an almighty one.

More on table manners, continuing from our last.

"Even when persons habitually eat alone, they should pay due regard to the rules of etiquette, for by so doing they form habits of ease and gracefulness which are requisite in refined circles; otherwise they speedily acquire rude and awkward habits which they cannot shake off without great difficulty, and which are at times embarrassing to themselves and their friends."

Hopefully while you are not embarrassing your friends, they in turn are not embarrassing you.

Enjoy your days!

It's a big world out there

I didn't realise it was so huge!  Best of all, I can sew - or read, or knit, or do just about anything - without having to stop for frequent breaks because of muscle tiredness around my eyes.  The deterioration was probably such a gradual process for several years that I hadn't realised how bad it had become, so when the surgeon muttered words like "take out at least seven to eight millimetres" which is way over a quarter of an inch......all I could think of was "ohmygawd", but every millimetre has been worth it.  Thankfully the bruises are finally fading now and stitches are becoming less noticeable.

Another house was made, this time twice as big.

It's a bit on the lairy side, isn't it?  For the non-Aussies "lairy" is a word meaning flashy or showy; it is first documented in print in 1906 but sadly isn't heard as much these days, although was still common when I was growing up.  The world needs more lairy houses, doesn't it?

Because our quilt group didn't meet for several months I missed out on my turns for block of the month, so when Madame Presidente asked if I would do one for early October I thought I should say yes.  I did think of handing out the instructions for my little houses but, because some members seem to have an aversion to anything with small pieces, the house size was doubled to 12 inches.  These blocks are often used to make kids' quilts for charity, so bright houses will be fine.  That pink/purple/gold/black stripe is one of my "whatever was I thinking when I bought this?" fabrics but it makes a cheerful house, while the yellow door is nearly the last of that fabric; I shall miss it.

Spring has been springing ever higher now.  Wattle Day came and went with nary a morsel of gold on our little bush, but there has still been plenty of golden gorgeousness around town.

Speaking of lairy houses, isn't it about time that grey has had its day?  It has been popular, inside and out, for some time now.  While we're making changes, whose bright idea was it to paint ceilings and/or walls black, and add dark floors?  Dark kitchens too - dark cupboard doors with black (granite, of course) bench tops suck the light out of a room.  I'm not a fan of white on white kitchens - too cold and clinical for me - but surely there is a happy medium which is not grey.

Those folk who hand over the keys to a renovator and give them carte blanche to do what they like are very trusting, aren't they? I would be saying no black, no grey, absolutely no pink whatsoever, no red, purple or shades thereof, no white, grey or black kitchen, no granite or marble at all.......it still leaves green, and blue, and yellow, and orange, and cream, which is warmer than white.

We have also noticed tables disappearing in some houses, replaced by a high island at which one perches on a stool.  Not for me; I like to sit on a proper chair at a proper table, thank you, and enjoy my meal.

While looking at accommodation options online before our last trip to Canada we saw some apartments which had no table, just the aforementioned bench with stools - which is why the apartment we rented had a table and chairs by a window, with a view over a sometimes busy but always interesting street.

"Dinner a la Russe.

The latest and most satisfactory plan for serving dinners is the dinner a la Russe (the Russian style) - all the food being placed upon a side table, and servants do the carving and waiting.  This style gives an opportunity for more profuse ornamentation of the table, which, as the meal progresses, does not become encumbered with partially empty dishes and platters."

That sounds very civilised to me, but due to the lack of servants in this household is unlikely to happen.

Enjoy your days!

Reporting a finish!

'Ontario' is done......finished......completed.

It's 40 inches long, so it's a bit difficult for a short person as what I am to get a good photo without standing on a ladder.

Trees and foreground quilted, and the borders.  I love that rich dark yellow-green border fabric, found in my stash.

Some rays around the sun.  The background was quilted in the ditch.

The pics above are truer to colour, this one isn't; the paler green is a beautiful soft green, not a washed-out grey.  However, you can see how the back is finished, those stripes are offset from the centre.

A souvenir of our trip to Canada in October/November 2015, gifted to me by Rose Marie - thank you, my friend!  It looks great on our dining table, and brings back memories of a wnderful time.

Trying out the new Blogger again; I tried it several weeks ago but found it clunky, so went back to the old one.  However it's time to bite the bullet, put on my big girl duds (which are, sadly, several sizes bigger than they used to be) and go for it, clunky or not.

Life has been going on swimmingly.  Books have been read, stitches have been knitted, tumblers have been sewn.  Socially-distanced notes have been sung at choir.  Same as for the past several months, and probably the same for goodness knows how many more months to come.

The sole topic of many people's conversations currently is, of course, the covid plague.  I refuse to join in those conversations, just as we refuse to watch the news.  We are doing what we can to keep ourselves safe, and what other people do is out of our control - so I will not waste my emotional energy worrying about them, in the interest of my well-being.  Many is the post which has been made to disappear from my facebook feed for that reason.

Some of our TV time......all right, more than some.......is spent watching renno porn.  I like those shows; we see some beautiful parts of the world and some interesting houses we would never see otherwise.  Some of the people though......imagine our smiling agent showing the happy couple around with many flourishes, they come to a room with cupboards, a stove, a fridge, etc., and the agent says "this here is your kitchen".  No!  Really?  No flies on him......it never ceases to amaze me how many couples - sometimes the woman, sometimes the man - says as soon as they walk into a room "this will have to be gutted".  Never mind that it was renovated a month before to the highest standard, if it's not to our taste we have to 'gut it' before we could even think of setting foot in that house to live.  Such a waste.  I know that unless one has a house built to one's exacting taste there will be things to change, we have made changes here, but unless they are in really bad shape that doesn't have to be done before moving in.

Another thing which has us puzzled is the propensity for putting boys and girls, even as teens, together in one bedroom.  Mum and dad have a spacious bedroom and en suite bathroom, while everyone else is crammed into a small bedroom.  We were completely floored recently, however, by a family who bought a holiday home, a one bedroom condo, despite having a boy of 12 and a girl of 10.  It was - of course - renovated before they moved in; mum and dad's bedroom has plenty of space......but the kids will share a fold-down bed in the living room with not even a bedroom to call their own.  Are we the only people who think that is just a teeny bit off?  Would you let your teenage son and daughter, who will both be teens in a few short years, share a bed?

Oh well.  Not my circus, not my monkeys, as they say.

"Politeness.

Politeness is kindness of manner.  This is the outgrowth of kindness of heart, of nobleness, and of courage.  But in some persons we find an abundance of courage, nobleness and kindness of heart, without kindness of manner, and we can only think and speak of them as not only impolite, but even rude and gruff."

This is true.

Enjoy your days!

We're just.....hopping along, you might say

Back when we lived in the Big Smoke our view was of neighbours' yards, and the street out the front with more houses across the road.  We now have an uninhabited hill behind us which is home to a mob of kangaroos; sometimes male roos, being fueled by testosterone and the desire to win the heart of of a young female roo, get stuck into each other.

These aren't the most brilliant shots ever taken, I was inside the house and had to zoom in; that's our wash line in the way.

When I - very quietly and carefully - opened the door to go outside for a better pic they hopped away, but not before I heard the grunts of the fight.  There's nothing wrong with their hearing, for sure.

They were back at it again this morning, too far away to even try for a photo.

The Ontario runner has had its backing pieced, and is layered and pinned ready for quilting.  Hopefully that will be done this week.......I want to have it finished!

Stitches have been knitted on the redacted scarf, and already I am much happier with it than I was with the previous design.  Stitches have also been taken on more rows of tumblers.  Books have been read......I'm a quick reader, and have been known to read a book in one sitting.  It's very hard to tear one's self away from a book one is enjoying, yes?

Today we're trying a different slant on a favourite soup recipe.  I have sometimes made cauliflower and bacon soup (which looks quite uninspiring, but tastes delicious) but this time chorizo is being substituted for bacon.  Hopefully its smokey flavour will do wonders for the otherwise fairly bland taste of cauliflower - which is why bacon is usually added - and we will have soup for several lunches. 

It has rained.  More rain is forecast, very welcome rain, because we are still in drought.  Not such a welcome story to the south-east along the coast, where some very expensive houses will probably fall into the ocean due to erosion.  Someone - original owner/s, developer, local council who has to give approval for such things - perhaps should have gazed into their crystal ball and thought "hey......building on unstable sand dunes isn't really a great idea, is it?"  It's not a new problem; back in 1978 a house in the same area fell into the ocean during a storm, but of course, as some folk say on the renno porn TV shows, "we wanna be right on the water!"  So we will ignore the history of such events, and ignore the science, and then weep and wail and gnash our teeth when our mansion topples into the sea.

I'm sorry these people have lost their homes, having survived two plumbing floods we have a small taste of what they are going through.....but honestly, did they just think their houses would stay on that high soft dune above the ocean forever?  Hindsight is easy, but perhaps a moratorium on all development within a couple of kilometres (or a mile, in old money) of the coast should have been considered a long time ago.

"Manner an index of character.
A rude person, though well-meaning, is avoided by all.  Manners, in fact, are minor morals; and a rude person is often assumed to be a bad person.  The manner in which a person says or does a thing, furnishes a better index of his character than what he does or says, for it is by the incidental expression given to his thoughts and feelings, by his looks, tones and gestures, rather than by his words and deeds, that we prefer to judge him, for the reason that the former are involuntary."

Probably.

Enjoy your days!

In which we are still mooching along

It's the times for mooching, isn't it?  Very little outside social life, not much happening at all.......so we mooch along, day by day.

Not a whole heap has been done, although thoughts have been thunk about doing Stuff.

A couple more houses have been built.

 Cats peeking through a window, and kittens playing on a door.  I hesitate to use the term "cat house" because it has connotations......so these are houses with cats, not cat houses; the peeking cats have flowers in their garden, while the playing kittens just have lawn.

These are two Row By Rows which were gifts on our visit to Canada in 2015 - I love the colours!  Top one is from B.C., bottom from Ontario.  They are both supposed to finish the same width but don't, because after the Ontario row was assembled I saw the line I had missed in the instructions:  "Trim strips to 1-1/2 in wide before joining."  Oops......mine are wider but I like the extra width; it is going to have borders added and will be a table runner.

They have been sitting patiently waiting to rise to the top of the pile of Stuff to be finished.  Ontario will have a narrow border of brown to match the trunks then a wider border of green to compliment the trees.  Thoughts are still being thought about finishing B.C.

Thoughts have also been thought about the scarf currently on the needles, and the thought is that it might be pulled undone and a different pattern knitted.  It's self-striping yarn and I don't care for how the stripes are falling.

There is supposed to be a lot of rain forecast, but apart from a dribble early yesterday morning we are still waiting.  Never mind......if it comes, it comes, and if it doesn't - why then, there is nothing we can do about it, is there?  This morning was very foggy, so at least there is moisture around.

When we tire of mooching, one way to switch our brains off is to watch renno porn - house hunting and renovation shows.  We have our favourites although there are some we don't watch because we don't like the presenters, but the scenery is often gorgeous and the houses are interesting.  One thing, however, which has me saying "ew" is carpet in bathrooms......why?  I get the thing about warmth underfoot on a cold morning, but in the toidy area.......ew.  Obviously put in by someone who never had to toilet train small boys.

There are, however, many evenings when we just turn the TV off and listen to classical radio or find an internet station which plays our kind of music.  Doesn't seem to matter how many channels there are, there's still no guarantee that there will be something which appeals, is there?  We both grew up in an era before TV, so not having it doesn't bother us; if it were to suddenly stop working tomorrow I wouldn't be worried, but Kevin might miss his occasional sport fix - although it must be said, there isn't as much sport as usual in these current times of plague because so many events have been cancelled.

"Australians indulge and excel in all kinds of manly sports, and healthy and invigorating pastimes, games and amusements - boys and girls at a very early age are adepts in nearly every kind of out-door bodily exercise, and would seem to have inherited a natural aptitude for attaining in early youth proficiency in nearly all the sports for which their Anglo-Saxon forebears have been famed.  Climate undoubtedly has had much to do with this, for the youths of the "Radiant Land" of Australia are peculiarly favored in this respect."

That may have been thought to be true in 1885 when it was written, but not every Australian has "Anglo-Saxon forebears" - and certainly did not back then either!  We are a mix, a melting pot of ancestors from many nations, as are other countries.

Enjoy your days!

Quilting is done!

Sides have been trimmed......now to add binding and sleeve.  Finished will be a good feeling.

I am not, and never have been, a fan of stippling as a quilt design but it suits this picture, creating a sense of air movement and wind around the leaves and branches.

After all - wind is the reason there are so few leaves left on the tree!

The edges of the leaves are left unstitched, all were cut from one piece of fabric.

A couple of weeks ago when we bought our new rosemary and lavender plants I couldn't resist this pretty cyclamen.

It's difficult to get a good photo; the petals are so large that light shining through them washes out the colour, but you can see those petals have a white edge.  The bird baths are in a shady corner of the garden.

Have you all had a good week?  We have still been staying home except for hunting and gathering, and the weekly drug run.  We used to sweeten said drug run by stopping off in a cafe for coffee and sometimes a treat, but haven't done that now for nearly three months.  Oh well......perhaps one day soon. 

Some more stitches have been knitted on the scarf, more tumblers have been joined.  More books have been read.  Some TV has been watched, even an occasional movie.

We have noticed a popular trend in home renno shows is to get rid of any carpet and replace it with wood floors, while in older houses ceilings  are removed so beams/rafters can be exposed or installed.  Add to that the open plan so popular nowadays with all its togetherness, and bare uncurtained windows........don't these people ever realise how cold and how noisy that house has now become?  Factor in a clodhopping clumping loud-music-loving teenage male or two......I would leave.  Yes, I know carpet has to be cleaned.  We have carpet in some rooms, and tile in others.  We have an open plan kitchen/family room too, but overall it's not a noisy cold house because of the carpet and curtains.

If you have ever had a coffee or a meal in a restaurant with polished cement floors, no window coverings and no seat cushions - a trendy thing over the past few years - you will know how noisy that is, making it difficult to converse with one's table companion/s.  Now imagine living in those surroundings, day in, day out, with no escape.  No, thank you.

Winter has definitely arrived.  Each morning this week has been colder than the day before, and we have even been visited by Jack Frost......a taste of weather to come, no doubt.  Having a fire is lovely - and of course, Bianca thinks so too.

While reading a social media page on fashions of the past I came across the comment "it used to be regarded as a social responsibility to dress as well as possible".  'Social responsibility'......I like that, and I wish it still held.

"Indifference to dress.
Indifference and inattention to dress is a defect of character rather than virtue, and often denotes indolence and slovenliness.  Every woman should aim to make herself look as well as possible with the means at her command.  Among the rich, a fondness for dress promotes exertion and activity of the mental powers, cultivates a correct taste, and fosters industry and ingenuity among those who seek to procure for them the material and designs for dress,  Among the middle classes it encourages diligence, contrivance, planning and deftness of handiwork, and among the poorer classes it promotes industry and economy.  A fondness for dress, when it does not degenerate into vain show, has an elevating and refining influence on society."

You could say so.  Perhaps it's not so much that standards of dress are slipping, as that some people just have very low standards and do their best not to exceed them......which is not quite the same.

Enjoy your days!

Is done!

We have new electronic gimcrackery for the fancy-nancy new computer, so now pics can be downloaded from my camera card.

Some finished half square pieces for what is hoped will be a gorgeous quilt.

 Block number one from the Canadian mystery quilt - New Brunswick, with a covered bridge and a black-capped chickadee.  We've seen those little birds in Canada, they are very cute with a sweet call.

Block number two - Nunavut, snow, ice, glaciers, an inukshuk and a ptarmigan, a bird which is white in winter and brown in summer.

These are 'lick and stick' applique using fusible web, the pieces still need to be stitched down.  The cunning plan is to do these quilt-as-you-go, a process I haven't tried before.  Two are done, several more still to go.

Some of our own white birds, a flock of sulphur crested cockatoos on the hill.  As you can see there had been a little rain so there were small patches of green......and now it's green all over, because we have had more rain!  Had to zoom in on these.

 A spectacular sunset last week, rubbish bins, neighbour's car and all, taken from our front verandah.  The faint lights in the far right distance are from the airport.

The best news is, we have had rain and there is more to come!  Not as much as we would like and nowhere near enough to break the continuing drought, but each and every little drop is welcome.  People are feeling more optimistic than they have done for quite a while.

Fires elsewhere in the state are still burning but some are out, and people are coming to terms with what has been lost.  The rest of us are being urged to visit these places and spend-spend-spend to help local economies......but there are still fires burning, and many people aren't inclined to travel for that reason; none of us want to be suddenly evacuated or possibly trapped.  Also, while there is enormous sympathy and both monetary and practical help being given to those communities, a lot of people just don't have extra cash to splash around.  At the end of the day we all get to decide where, when and how we spend our money and no amount of emotional blackmail will change that.

My passport has been renewed.  Merciful heavens......if the person in that picture is really me, then I certainly need and deserve a holiday!

"Use no strong expression either of delight or disapprobation at anything presented for your inspection.  If a picture or a statue please you, show your approval and appreciation by close attention, and a few quiet-well-chosen words, rather than by extravagant praise."

That passport picture certainly elicited no extravagant praise from me, I can tell you.

Enjoy your days!