Moving along slowly

Arboretum's label is finished, ready to be stitched on the bottom right hand corner of the back.

Two of the label edges have been finished with a narrow border of the backing fabric, the remaining sides will be tucked under the binding; a hem would be slightly bulky, as interfacing was ironed to the label before the embroidery was started.  The thread is DMC floss, colour 3781, using one strand.  I wasn't sure if quilter Margaret wanted her full name slathered across the internet, so....when in doubt, don't.

This is the controlled chaos of Arboretum, with its binding made, pressed and ready to be sewn on.

The Cunning Plan was to have it done by Tuesday morning so it could be taken along to quilt group for hand-stitching the binding to the back, but that may not get done.  Never mind....

.....because.....

tomorrow morning my guitars are coming home from the guitar spa!  They didn't suffer too badly in our two plumbing floods back in 2017 because they were in their cases, but the cases were on the floor sitting in water.  I have been meaning to get them made playable again, but you know how it - life gets in the way sometimes, doesn't it, and there is always something more pressing that needs to be done.  A couple of weeks ago our musician friend stayed with us for a night on his way to warmth and sunshine up north and I showed him my guitars, which he hadn't seen before.....oh, this is nice, rosewood with a cedar top, he said, and the other one has a Brazilian mahogany back, very very nice, he said.....when I'm back here in January I want to play these, he said, so I decided it was time to stop thinking about it and start doing it.  Off they went to Matt the instrument repairer, and it will be wonderful to have them back again.

Now my aging fingers will have to re-learn to play instruments with wider necks than a ukulele, but that's probably good for my equally aging brain.  The classical guitar has softer nylon strings but a wider neck to stretch my fingers, while the steel string guitar has a narrower neck but harder metal strings for my fingertips, so they require slightly different techniques.

It always saddens me when I see instruments in museums used for display but never played.  Some of them may be past playing, I understand that.....but just the same they need to sing, because they all have a voice which shouldn't be silent.

The wattle is now blooming.

It's difficult to take a decent photo of a plant which shivers in the slightest breeze, even my breathing is enough to move it, but hopefully it's in focus.  One needs to breathe even while taking a photo, doesn't one.

How has everyone been this week?  Stitches have been sewn, binding strips has been cut, joined and pressed.  No stitches were knitted but the coming week brings appointments, so they probably will be.  Songs were plinked and sung.  Words have been read.  Food was foraged, and so passed another week.

Despite some quite chilly frosty mornings, and the promise of more to come this week, days have been fairly pleasant.  A sheltered spot to sit on a sunny winter day can be a treat indeed.

We have finished with the duties of groomsmen, so now we move onto to domestic weddings.

"Weddings at home.

Weddings at home vary but little from those at church.  The music, the assembling of friends, the entree of the bridal party to the position selected, are the same.  An altar of flowers, and a place of kneeling can be easily arranged at home.  The space behind the altar need be no wider than is allowed for the clergyman to stand.  The altar is generally only a table with cloth over it.  Other floral accessories, such as the marriage-bell, horse-shoe or white dove, etc., can be arranged with ease by a skilful florist, if desired."

While I have been to weddings which were not held in a church (including our own wedding) I have never been to a wedding at a private home.    As far as my experience was concerned, home weddings only happened in movies.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Plugging along

Still somewhat slowly and painfully, but as I keep telling myself - each day which passes is a day closer to having that heavy plaster removed from my arm.

There are no more pics from the antique quilt exhibition.  Some of the historic quilts have been published in books with much better photos than I could take, and a few just didn't appeal to me; for instance there was a large quilt in pastel pink, blue and cream which didn't really float my boat....although it had an interesting history.  It was made in a country town during the early 1930s and duly entered in the local show, where it won first prize.  No doubt flushed by her success the maker entered it again the following year, when it won first prize again....and again....each year for ten years it was entered, and each year for ten years it won first prize.  Can't you just imagine the conversations around the tea cups.....c'mon, Mildred, don't enter it this year, give someone else a go......

One place we usually call into on our annual trip down south is the Canberra Visitor Centre because they have all manner of interesting things for sale including honey from cold climate trees, which I really like; our local honey is different because our trees grow in a relatively mild climate, while those other honeys are darker in colour and richer in flavour.

On display is an exhibition about the National Carillon, which is currently closed for renovations.  This is a keyboard section.

This shows how it is played.

And this is the other side of the keyboard.

It was interesting to see, and would have been even more interesting if we could have heard a recording of the Carillon as we browsed.

Words have been read.  Medical appointments have taken place.  Songs have been sung.  Thoughts have been thought about how to play ukulele with a plastered arm; it was tried, but was not very successful.  More thoughts are being thought on the subject as we speak.

On Thursday Kevin took me out for lunch because it was my birthday, and I do not cook on my birthday.  Ever.  I managed my birthday meal one-handed; I'm getting better at that, but it's still not easy - although the pecan pie with butterscotch sauce was easier than the salad which preceded it.

Continuing on with Conduct in Opera, Theatre or Public Hall:

"There is no obligation whatever upon a gentleman to give up his seat to a lady.  On the contrary, his duty is solely to the lady whom he accompanies.  He must remain beside her during the evening to converse with her between the acts, and to render the entertainment as agreeable to her as possible."

This is true.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Moving back into the neighbourhood

The big box which until recently held all the requirements for my Canadian quilt now has a new project - the house blocks have moved in.

'There goes the neighbourhood' is back!

Earlier in the week I took the blocks, the cut sashing pieces and my 1950 Singer Featherweight machine to quilt group, and sewed sashings to blocks.  Nearly half the blocks have now had sashing sewn on one side.

Some of the result laid out on my work table to be admired.  The sashings will be joined to one block side first, the blocks laid out to mix the house and background colours to my satisfaction then they will be joined into rows....after that the looong narrow sashings will be made and atttached, and the top made.

It will be a fun happy quilt, with a lot of yellow.

Some diamonds have been cut, no stitches knitted.  Words have been read, notes have been plinked, songs have been sung.  Hunting and gathering has taken place.

Because it's getting to 'that' time of year, here is some New South Wales Christmas bush.

We had a couple of plants in our garden in the Big Smoke but sadly they don't grow here, we're too far away from coastal humidity and don't have the right soil.  We could probably spend an exorbitant amount of money and buy some from a florist, but for now I'll live on the memory of it.  The flowers are teeny tiny little white blooms, nothing much to look at; the red - sometimes it is really vibrant bright red, not pink like this - are the sepals behind the flowers.

Last night we atttended a concert featuring instruments not usually seen here.  We had a saz....and an oud.....flamenco guitar, double bass, clarinet, soprano and tenor saxophones, piano, a singer.....it was a fun night and the music was really interesting, a mix from different cultures.  We were told that there will be more similar music next year - looking forward to that!  It makes a change from twanging country music guitars, usually a popular choice hereabouts.

The weather folk have told us to expect some rain tomorrow, and it will be very welcome.  You wouldn't think that after all our rain and floods of recent times that we would need more rain, but we do; the warmer dry weather of late has really dried out our gardens, our skin and our hair, so we are looking forward to some moisture.

Continuing on with Etiquette of the Street:

"Always recognize acquaintances.

One should always recognize lady acquaintances in the street, either by bowing or words of greeting, a gentleman lifting his hat.  If they stop to speak, it is not obligatory to shake hands.  Shaking hands is not forbidden, but in most cases it is to be avoided in public."

I wonder why that should be the case?  A handshake is not an intimate greeting like a hug or a smoochy kiss, something which a bystander might find embarrassing to witness.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Slowly but surely

That's us, putting the house back together.  Slow, but sure.  You know, this is worse than moving house;  at least when you move you have cupboards and furniture and big stuff which is placed where it needs to go in whichever rooms it needs to be in, then you unpack your boxes of small stuff into said cupboards, and everything is just fine and dandy.

We are shuffling furniture around, and moving stuff, and trying to work out how to fit a larger cupboard's worth of stuff into a smaller cupboards because the larger ones aren't made any more.  Moving house six hours away wasn't this difficult, you know.

Ten days ago the furniture and most of the packed boxes were brought from the garage into the house so now the car can be parked out of the hot sun, something for which, considering the heatwave conditions we have been struggling with for weeks, we are very thankful.

In recent times the population of galahs on the hill behind us has boomed, it must have been a good season for babies!   A few youngsters sitting on our fence, the babies are slimmer than the adults and the colours aren't as bright.

A few of the flock foraging, but as you can see the drought is bad and there's not much of anything to be found.

 A visiting teenager, with some of the flock behind.  Young ones don't have the head crests that adult birds have, either.

I like galahs.  They can be very noisy, raucous even, but they can be very funny birds.  My grandparents had a caged galah when I was a child, goodness knows how old it was....they can live to extraordinary ages in captivity.  They possibly could in the wild too, but how would you know?  One galah in a flock looks much the same as its feathered friend flying alongside.

Yesterday a local guitarist checked out my guitars for water damage, and they are all right.  I am so relieved, you can't begin to know how much, a weight has been lifted from my shoulders; new strings (to be purchased early next week, the spare sets in the cases will be thrown out because they have probably rusted) and they should be good to go......or hot to trot, as once would have been said.

We decided, while we're throwing money around like it's going out of style, to get rid of our dining room table and chairs.  The buffet had to be chucked after the flood....sigh......and trying to buy something which looked good with the table and chairs, with the limited choice available in a country town, had us scratching our heads.  I never loved that setting although I didn't hate it; when we bought it Kevin liked it more than I did, but now it's gone gone gone, collected by a local charity shop a couple of days ago.  New table, chairs, buffet and coffee table will be delivered on Monday.

As I said, slowly but surely.

A few tumblers have been joined, but I am trying to hasten slowly with them although they are very quick to join.  We are planning a trip to Canada later in the year, and I will need a take-along project, so that will be It.  Work has started on another project involving hand work, but no pics yet as it's to be a surprise for its recipient.  Hopefully it will be finished when it needs to be......no guarantees here though, folks. 

"Parents who indulge in gossip, scandal, slander and tale-telling, will rear children possessing the same tastes and deteriorating habits.  A parent's example outlines the child's character.  It sinks down deep into his heart, and influences his whole life for good or for evil.  A parent should carefully avoid speaking evil of others, and should never exhibit faults requiring the mantle of charity to cover.  A parent's example should be such as to excite an abhorrence of evil-speaking, of tattling, and of uncharitable construction of the motives of others.  Let the mother begin the proper training of her children in early life, and she will be able to so mould their characters that not only will they acquire the habit of bridling the tongue, but they will learn to avoid the presence of the slanderer as they do a deadly viper."

Yes.  Much gossip and slander is currently being spoken about our local Member of Parliament, and much of it is true......the wife and four daughters are an established fact, as is the mistress and her expected baby.  There is more, much more, the whiff of corruption is strong, and it is all true.  Who knows where it will end?

Enjoy your days!