Some days....

....I swear some of the rubber bands holding my brain together just snap....

Yesterday afternoon quilting was started on the Canadian table centre.  When this pattern was made several years ago the quilting was a few parallel rows of stitching inside the borders; the first row was 1/4 in inside the border then another row 1/2 in inside that row.  A gap of a couple of inches then two more rows half an inch apart finished the quilting for the centre section.  It was easy and looked good, so the idea was to quilt the Canadian centre the same way.

Fast forward to yesterday afternoon:  first the bobbin thread ran out - my own fault for not checking before I started, that was the first rubber band snapping.  The bobbin was filled so off we went again; the first row was stitched 1/4 in inside the border with no problems, then the second row started 1/2 in inside that.  Somehow, though, when the first corner was turned the second row became 1/4 in inside the first instead of 1/2 in, and that was kept up until the last corner was turned.  When it was realised that those two rows of stitching were not going to line up the decision had to be made - lots of unpicking to sew the second line 1/2 inch away from the first, or a very small amount to continue with 1/4 inch away.  Not much choice, really.....

So the first two rows are now 1/4 inch apart, and will stay that way.

Subsequent lines will be stitched 1/4 in apart, to finish off quilting the centre.  The borders will be quilted in the ditch (not my favourite method of finishing a project, but all that this simple design needs) and it will be bound in a red maple leaf print.

This pic was taken at Mount Tomah Botanic Garden the same day as last week's waratah pics, this is how they grow in the wild.

A flowering waratah bush is quite a sight.  Sadly they don't grow around here as the soil is wrong - they grow on sandy ridges, something we don't have - and being in a valley, our summers are too hot.

How has everyone been?  Fortunately it has cooled here - not a lot, but still better than the extreme heat of late January - a little rain fell last weekend, with more forecast tomorrow.  Just in time, because the garden is getting crispy from the heat.  I had plans earlier in the week but a severe (fortunately only occasional, and not usually this bad) flare up of bursitis and sciatica laid me low for several days.  Never mind; all is much better, I can move again without agonising pain on every step, and my energy is back.

Words have been read, many words, because when one is feeling poorly and in severe pain one finds it difficult to be energetic so sitting in one's supportive chair reading is a good way to pass the time.  Stitches have been knitted, stitches have been sewn, more diamonds have been cut for my tumbling blocks quilt; the design requires 449 hexagons, each made of three diamonds, which by my calculations makes 1347 diamonds in total.  There are three bags each containing 100 completed hexagons, and that fourth hundred is also proceeding nicely.  We hunted and foraged.  That was the week, that was.

Monday afternoon ukulele is back, yay!  We seem to have lost a couple of people but have gained two newies who want to progress beyond easy chords, so that's good.  Choir also started back last Thursday afternoon, so my musical life has resumed once more.  It is very much missed when in recess.

While out and about recently we have become aware that several trees seem to be preparing for their autumn change, something I have noticed happens here in late summer.  Either that, or they are just stressed by the heat the same as humans are.  First the green leaves lose some of their brightness then they begin to look washed-out and faded, even though it's still a couple of months until autumn.  I don't remember seeing these changes when we lived in the Big Smoke, but then the climate is very different down there; autumn passed by in a flash, winter likewise, and before we knew it it was back to summer's never-ending humidity.

The winter sports carnival is on again overseas.  I am not, and never have been, one for sport; at school I managed to get out of most sporting activities, not that it was a difficult decision to do so.  In those days it was all about winning rather than taking part - I suspect it still is - and as I was never going to be a world-beater in any physical activity I had no interest in it at all.  Didn't then, don't now.  For many years my chosen activity was dancing, international dance - Irish and Scottish, dances from Australia's past, just about any form of social (as opposed to theatrical) dance, and great fun it was too, but sadly that twice-broken foot means that my dancing days are done.

Sigh.....

"The position of an engaged woman.

An engaged woman should eschew all flirtations, though it does not follow that she is to cut herself off from all association with the other sex because she has chosen her future husband.  She may still have friends and acquaintances, but she must try to conduct herself in such a manner as to give no offence."

This is so.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Wattle it be?

Today we celebrate Wattle Day, a day on which we pay homage to our floral emblem.

Our wattle is already getting ready to flower next year.  Those bright green shoots are new growth from which next year's blooms will sprout; each year it seems to get healthier and heathier.....and more beautiful.

I've been stripping!

The one inch wide strips for Autumn Rhapsody's peeper border are now cut, joined and trimmed to length.  They still need to be folded in half lengthwise and pressed; the little flashes of different colours will be more interesting than a single colour would have been.

One inch strips are slightly fiddly-diddly to cut, as I found out when cutting the sashing strips for my house quilt.  Wider strips are easier.

This gorgeous fabric was bought at the closing-down sale when the owners of a local quilt shop retired a few years ago.  First I bought half a metre (this was a while before the sale) which was cut for some the blocks in Autumn Rhapsody, then the rest of the bolt was later purchased.  There is more than enough fabric for a border and binding; it will also be used for some of the backing, which will have to be pieced as there isn't enough of this fabric on its own.  The narrower fabric at the bottom will be the inner border - it has twice been rejected for other borders on this quilt, but will make a suitable one inch wide buffer between the medley of background fabrics and the richer leaf border.  I hope.  

There is a large piece of this interesting fabric bought on our first trip to Toronto to visit our wandering son, and not yet used.  It will be pieced with the leaf fabric above, for the back.

The shadowy background leaves are metallic and will, I suspect, eventually rub off, but the printed leaves and writing will stay.  

Stitches have been sewn by hand and machine.  Words have been read.  Songs were sung and notes plinked, our fussy uke player is mellowing; perhaps the fact that I put her in charge of a particular song which needs a bit of work has focused her musical energies.  We hunted and we gathered, my daily physio exercises were done, and that was some of my week.  How was everyone else's?

Here I was thinking that all my medical scans, x-rays and tests were all done, but no....tomorrow there is a bone test to be undergone.  I had one last year - folk in my age group can have a free test every two years but it seems that a fracture can ring alarm bells, so a month ago at my regular quarterly checkup my doctor sent me away with a referral for a bone test.  If it's not covered as a free test I'm not doing it, I said....no problem, she said, in that case next year will do.....I popped into the testing place on Friday and found out that, because of my recent fracture, it will indeed be covered.  So tomorrow morning off I go again, for yet another of the tests that I thought were all finished.

Oh well.  Hopefully this test will, indeed, be the last one for a while.

Continuing with Conduct in an artist's studio:

"Do not ask the artist his prices unless you really intend to become a purchaser; and in this case it is best to attentively observe his works, make your choice, and trust the negotiation to a third person or to a written correspondence with the artist after the visit is concluded.  You may express your desire for the work and obtain the refusal of it from the artist.  If you desire to conclude the bargain at once you may ask his price, and if he names a higher price than you wish to give, you may say as much and mention the sum you are willing to pay, when it will be optional with the artist to maintain his first price or accept your offer."

I don't care how much anyone offers me.....Autumn Rhapsody will not be for sale.  I intend to enjoy it myself.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Pretty things, and things with wings

Pretty flowers growing wild in The Grampians:

A Banksia, but I don't know which one - there are many different species;

 A red correa, the flowers glowed like little red flames against all the greens;

 Probably a melaleuca or ti tree;

 I haven't seen this shrub before, it doesn't grow up here;

 The floral emblem of Victoria, the pink Common Heath, which I had never seen.

Now for the creepy-crawlies.

There were several of these things with wings the morning we left Narrandera......and they were huge!  This would easily be the length of an adult's palm, but I wasn't going to pick it up to find out.  It was well disguised against the roadway, wasn't it?

While we were away we celebrated our 40th anniversary.  Forty years......it doesn't sound like such a long time when you say it quickly......the traditional 40th anniversary gem is ruby, or garnet for those of us with more modern tastes.  I don't care for rubies because they are closer to pink than red and my trinket box already contains garnet earrings, so my anniversary gift was a pair of gorgeous silver-set black onyx and cubic zirconia earrings.

Work has started on making up the bag brought back from Canada.  It was a kit from Flare Fabrics, and the batik fabrics will hopefully complement my autumn/winter wardrobe.  Quite a bit of cutting of fabrics and linings and fusing of interfacing happens before one stitch is sewn, that's done and now it's up to the stitching stage.

Uke group has started back, and we have a bloke!  A token bloke!  We have had men in the group before but for some reason they don't stay long......perhaps we frighten them away.  One thing is for sure, this bloke will have to learn not to race ahead when we are playing - for instance, "Walking after midnight" should be walking, not running at full pelt.

Things here in the Small Smoke are looking up, because last weekend we had good rain!  Since the rain in January almost no moisture has fallen from the sky, and all the way to and from south-western Victoria (nigh on 1400 kms south of here) there was very little green to be seen.  However, the grass on the hill behind us is getting greener each day now and more rain is forecast for early next week to help it even further.  Local farmers are cautious about being too optimistic, but the feeling is of hope where, until recently, there was despair.

"Bring one of the commonest field flowers into a room, place it on a table, or chimney-piece, and you seem to have brought a ray of sunshine into the place.  There is a cheerfulness about flowers.  What a delight are they to the drooping invalid!  They are a sweet enjoyment, coming as messengers from the country, and seeming to say, "Come and see the place where we grow, and let your heart be glad in our presence."

We were lucky enough to see a place where wild flowers grow, glowing bright against the duller colours of the surrounding bush.

Enjoy your days!

Fraying at the edges

Isn't this a fun block?  It's called Frayed Sawtooth Star and comes from EQ7.

 Next month is my turn to provide a sample block and instructions to make it, for my quilt group.  Some of the women seem to have an aversion to triangles, so I always make sure that my blocks have some.  The background is white on white, my sewing table is white....can't tell where one ends and the other begins, can you?  When several blocks are set together a secondary diagonal line is quite noticeable.

Here is the current project, a new purse for me.  This is the lining, with one of the side seams having self-made bias binding applied over the seam; all the inside seams are finished this way.  It's a more attractive colour that this, the machine light was shining onto it and making it appear washed-out.......and yes, all that quilting was done on My Lovely New Bernina by me before the pieces were cut out.

Sewing has become possible again, so long as I take plenty of breaks and don't reach forward too much.  Wednesday last week was one of the worst days since I went Under The Knife; at sewing guild my machine was set up on a table and it was a bit high for me to use comfortably, so after a short while I stopped sewing.  However by the time I arrived home it was agony, and it was for the rest of the day too.  Ever since then I have been very careful with what I do, which is why, for a while, I am sitting here at the computer having coffee instead of sewing.

Was I the only person in the world who was annoyed by the treatment given to various country's flags by many idiots at the sports carnival which recently finished?  Flags have their own protocol; as far as I know they are not to be dropped on the ground at any time and should always be treated with dignity.  Wearing your country's flag round your shoulders as a cloak is not dignified.  If you want to dress up, use your mother's old curtains.  While I don't think Australia's flag design is relevant these days and would love to see it changed, I respect what it stands for.

Only two days of February to go, and we have had less than half the average rainfall for the month again.  Rain is forecast for tomorrow but it's doubtful that we will get much.  Last year's rainfall was well below average and the past two summers have been hotter than average, so water supplies in many places have dried up.  A local bloke told me recently he thinks we are in for an early, long and cold winter because he has seen snakes on the move shedding their skins.  As one who doesn't do reptiles I will take his word for that......I am not going out and about looking for snakes, believe me.  Australia has some very deadly snakes and many of them live in our area.  On our recent trip to Canberra we noticed that many trees are looking autumnal, poor things have gone into an early dormancy because it's been so hot and dry.  Autumn won't arrive for a while yet, but colours are already changing and leaves are dropping.  Hopefully there will be some colour left when we go back to Canberra in April for the folk festival.

Some pics of the wedding have appeared on the photographer's web site, so if you would like to see them let me know and I will send you the link.

"Can any one fancy what our society might be, if all its members were perfect gentlemen and true ladies, if all the inhabitants of the earth were kind-hearted ; if, instead of contending with the faults of our fellows, we were each to wage war against our own faults?  Every one needs to guard constantly against the evil from within as well as from without, for, as has been truly said, "A man's greatest foe dwells in his own heart"."

The folks writing the etiquette book in 1885 knew a thing or two, didn't they?

Enjoy your days!