May the fourth, and all that Stuff

Although I'm not a Star Wars fan....my brain doesn't do science fiction, I have never seen any of the movies and don't really care for the music either, but they are popular.  So, May the fourth be with you, and all that.

Moving right along.

This print has different background colours including pink and green but many of the flowers on the green background have solid petals, making them dark blobs.  That might be good on a larger block but not one this size, so just the orange background was used.  

This blue fabric was the back of Summertime Blues - as soon my eyes hit on it at the quilt shop, I knew it was perfect.  The orange fabric has been used on another tree, a dark green one, but it looks different here because of the background.  I'm not going to be precious about only using fabrics once....if they look good they will be used, and this looks good.

This week's bright trees.

During our visit to Canberra in March we managed to find a parking spot at the National Arboretum, a rare thing indeed as it's a very popular place to visit, so we had lunch at their cafe with the wonderful views.  We were too early for the autumn colour, although some plantings were starting to change.  We don't visit the Arboretum every time we are in Canberra, but we go often enough that we can enjoy its progress over time.

How have you all been?  We survived an election yesterday; some people may be disappointed by the result but, as it was well and truly a majority win, many people are obviously pleased.  Our MP has been returned....he wasn't part of the winning team....perhaps one day he won't be our MP any more, either.  We can only live in hope.

Words have been read, and music has been sorted.  Stitches have been sewn.  There is mending in the sewing room waiting to be done, a bed sheet which has a small hole to be fixed before it gets washed, otherwise that small hole may become a much larger hole during its time in the washing machine.  Songs were sung at choir.  We hunted and gathered to avert starvation, and that was the week.

Best of all, it's definitely autumn!  For the past few nights we have had a fire to keep us warm, and to stop the house from cooling down too much overnight.  Earlier in the week the slow cooker came out for the first time in quite a while, to be used for maple mustard chicken; it's a bit like honey mustard but with maple syrup instead of honey - it's quite yummy.  Shorts have been put away and longer sleeves brought out.  I don't mind cooler weather but do feel the cold, so need to warmly dressed for it; the maximum daytime temperature is deceiving, as the wind chill takes it down several degrees.  Lovely in the sun, but as soon as you turn a corner into that south-easterly breeze it's a different story.

We have an anniversary coming up this week - on Wednesday 7th May it will be 15 years since we shook the dust of the city off our heels and moved here, to the Small Smoke.  It's been a good decision; nowhere in the world is perfect, but it comes pretty darn close for us.  15 years is a whole decade and a half....it doesn't seem that long!

"Assisting a lady to alight from her horse.

After the ride, the gentleman must assist his companion to alight.  She must first free her knee from the pommel, and be certain that her habit is entirely disengaged.  He must then take her left hand in his right, and offer his left hand as a step for her foot.  He then lowers his hand slowly and allows her to reach the ground gently without springing.  A lady should not attempt to spring from the saddle."

That sounds complicated, doesn't it?  I wouldn't blame a lady for springing, you know.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

A poke in the eye with a burnt stick

That's an Aussie expression - saying something is "better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick", although I believe the original was "with a sharp stick".

On Wednesday morning I was finishing getting ready to head off to sewing group, lunch was packed, hand sewing was in the bag, just draw on a couple of eyebrows.  Like many older women what eyebrows still remain are now grey and invisible and I'm naturally pale-skinned anyway, so a little definition is good.  Brows drawn on, grasp the pencil with the brush end out to give a little tweak to the shape, when my not-always-steady-yet right hand flipped and the brush poked me in the eye.  Ouch.  Double ouch and triple ouch. 

So off to the optometrist we go, oh dear says Simone, you have scratched your cornea.....use this antibiotic ointment and these lubricating drops, and come back on Friday afternoon.  Ointment and drops were duly used and Friday afternoon's report was "It's healing well.  Not complete healed yet, but doing fine."  The ointment is not needed now, but the drops will be continued for some time yet.

Talk about pain.  I would rather give birth than ever do that to my eye again.

This week has either been busy or raining (or sometimes both at once) so the pic of my quilt top still hasn't happened.....but it will.  Thoughts have been thought on piecing the back, and some fabric has been cut.  Due to the aforementioned busyness and a sore eye for a few days, that's as far as it has gone.  However, in the bustling around a visit was paid to the red and blue fabric and craft store (which shall be nameless because they don't pay me to advertise, but Aussies will know who it is) for some solid fabric, so the in-progress bag can proceed.

This bright blue - called "new turquoise" on the receipt - was chosen, and it suits quite well.  I wonder what happened to the "old" turquoise?

These are the remaining four squares which will form part of the handle; it was taken late yesterday afternoon under artificial light so the top pic is much closer to the true colour.  The bag will be pretty when done, those 22 squares will be moved out of my sewing room to a new owner, and I can pat myself on the back being careful not to dislocate my shoulders in the process.

How have you all been?  Apart from my mishap with the brow brush, we've been well.  Words have been read, stitches sewn by hand and by machine.  Songs have been sung and notes plinked, as ukulele has started up again.  We have hunted and we have gathered so we can eat once more.

Our new(ish) local council has elected the mayor for the next two years, and surprise, surprise - the old mayor is in the seat again.  I had hoped he would not be elected by his fellow councillors, but alas, he was.  So we have another couple of years of seeing his smirking face on the local news.  The mayor for some councils is elected by the locals on polling day - the person with the most votes wins a seat on the council and gets to sit in the mayoral chair, but our council is one of those whose mayor is elected by the councillors themselves.

Oh well.  Hopefully at the next election in four years, we can get some women back on council again.

"Duties of an escort.

However self-possessed and lady-like in all her deportment and general bearing a lady may be, and though capable of undertaking any journey, howsoever long it may be, an escort is at all times preferable, much more pleasant, and generally acceptable.  When a gentleman undertakes the escort of a lady, he should proceed with her to the depot, or meet her there, a sufficient time before the departure of the train, to attend to her baggage, procure her ticket, and obtain for her an eligible seat in the carriage, allowing her to choose such seat as she desires.  He will then dispose of her packages and hand-baggage in their proper receptacle, and make her seat and surroundings as agreeable for her as possible, taking a seat near her, or by the side of her if she requests it, and do all he can to make her journey a pleasant one.

Sounds like a good idea, to me.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

I have a finished top!

However - I'm afraid you'll have to take my word for it because it's quite large (86in square) and my quilt holder-upper isn't a tall enough bloke with a wide enough wingspan.  We shall have to come up with Plan B to get the photo.  The kids next door are growing, a couple are now teens, they are always helpful......

Never mind.  Here, at least, is one of the perfectly mitred corners.

There are another three just like it, too.  You have no idea how pleased I am about them, my shoulder is nearly dislocated from patting myself on the back.....and they do look better than straight borders would have done.  The binding will be the same fabric as the outer borders.

Now my thoughts are turning to piecing the back.  There are a few metres of that gorgeous leaf print used in the border and blocks, and a couple of metres of a different leaf print, and some of the inner border fabric......I'll make it work.  It's going off to be quilted by a long-armer, because it's too big for me to do it justice with My Lovely New Bernina - and, all being well, I hope to enter it in the local show early next year.

How has everyone been this week?  We've been doing well, my formerly broken bits sometimes complain, but I just ignore them.  We had some rain, and more is forecast; when it rains, the neighbourhood kangaroos come around for a visit.

There were several more, too.  It wasn't raining that day but had rained the day before, so the grass was still damp and juicy.  It's a bit difficult getting good pictures of the roos because they don't stay still for long, and we don't want to encourage them down to our fence; kangaroos have been known to attack people they see as a threat, so we stay on our side of the fence when they are out and about.  There is nothing in our garden for them, we are quite happy to see them from a distance, and hope they subscribe to the belief that we hold - "if you don't bother us, we won't bother you".

One thing I did this week was to start making a bag from a pack of five inch squares that came back from Canada with me.  On our last trip a friend took me to a store not far from her house, 'Huckleberry's Fabrics Inc.', which was having a morning of demonstrations, new products and giveaways.  It was a fun day and one of my goodies was a pack of squares - but there were only 22.  What can you do with just 22 squares, without having to buy more co-ordinating fabric?  The idea finally came a couple of days ago; the 18 floral squares were laid out in six rows of three, joined together, then seamed across the bottom to make a bag.  The remaining squares, deep jewel tone-on-tones, will be used to trim the handles.  Sometime soon I will hit the big craft and fabric store for a metre of solid homespun in a suitable colour and the bag will be finished, then off it will go to be filled with toiletries and other necessities to be given to a woman in hospital who may have been admitted with no time to gather what was needed.  Our group has been making such bags for a couple of years now, and they are gratefully received.

Words have been read.  Stitches have been sewn by hand, and by machine.  Songs have been sung.  Exercises are still being done, although not as diligently as a couple of months ago.  We hunted and gathered for the weekly requirements, and that was about it, really.

Last month elections were held to fill places on the local council and I am shocked and surprised by the result, which was recently announced.  Our council now holds the record, not one to be proud of, for being the only council in the state without a single woman.  Not one.  Apparently the last time it happened here was in 1971, and I had already moved to the Big Smoke by then.  Even sitting female councillors who were up for re-election were not voted back in.  Now we have four years of local issues being decided by blokes, despite probably half the population being female.  A much smaller town an hour away has ended up with six women in a council of nine people, but we have none.

If I were younger I would stand for council, but I fear I have left my run thirty years too late.  The older I get, the more of a political animal I have become; back when I was of an age to be useful I didn't have as much interest in politics as I do now.

We have come to the end of Etiquette of Public Places, so now we will turn to Etiquette of Travelling.

"There is nothing that tests the natural politeness of men and women so thoroughly as travelling.  We all desire as much comfort as possible, and as a rule are selfish.  In these days of railroad travel, when every railway is equipped with elegant carriages for the comfort and convenience of its passengers, and provided with conductors and servants, the longest journeys by railroad can be made with perfect safety and but little annoyance."

To which I can only say, so many of these words could also be applied to modern plane travel.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Driving to......distraction?

Yesterday I drove the car for the first time in several months, yay for me!

Council elections were held yesterday, and instead of voting here in town we drove to a small village not far from us; we have voted there before, parking is easy and there are no queues, making it simple to place one's mark on the paper for one's candidate/s of choice.  The local school was running a barbecue outside the hall so one could buy a Democracy Sausage and help out a small school's fundraising efforts at the same time.  Kevin enjoyed a bacon and egg roll while I had a sausage, my sausage was one of the nicest I have had for a long time while Kevin said his roll and its contents were delicious.  The meat came from a butcher in a town further away from us.....I can feel a Nice Sunday Drive coming up on a weekday to visit that butcher and bring home some of its meat for ourselves.

And - I drove home!  I sat behind the wheel of the car for the first time in several months, turned it on, made it work and drove 15 minutes home.  It felt a little odd; the vibration coming from the motor to the steering wheel into my hand and arm was an odd feeling, but one I will no doubt get used to.  My hand is strong enough to hold the wheel now although it still can't make a tight fist, but that's another milestone passed - so that feels good.  There can't be many milestones left now, but I will a happy woman again when my hand finally stops hurting.

There has been progress on the quilting front, too.  All four peepers were sewn to Autumn Rhapsody's centre panel, and the two side borders joined as well.  The peeper isn't as prominent as in the magazine illustration because of my different fabric and colour choices, but it still draws a line between the centre and the borders.

The top and bottom borders will be added over the next few days then only the outer borders will remain to be done, and they still need to be cut.  I love it.....it's very mellow, isn't it?

The binding was cut for my blue and green quilt, and machine sewn to the front.  I'm glad that Fossil Fern 'Bluebell' fabric was used, it has turned out to be a good choice.

Sewing it down on the back is my in-front-of-TV project.  The weather has turned wintery again - today is downright chilly - so having a small quilt on one's lap isn't a problem at all.  Those olive greens don't, unfortunately, photograph well, they are much nicer in real life than in this pic; one of these days I will try to find out why this happens, and see if there is something which can be done to correct it.

As usual the daily wrist/hand exercises have been done.  Words have been read.   Stitches were sewn by hand and machine.  Songs have ben sung and notes plinked.  We shopped for supplies to get us through the week, and that's another seven days gone by.

Here we are, halfway through September already!  Daylight saving starts in this state on Sunday 6th October, just a few weeks away now.  Mornings are getting quite light quite early now, something not enjoyed by those of us who are not morning people, so darker mornings for a while will be good.  One summer many years ago we took our little caravan to southern Queensland, a state which does not have daylight saving, and those sunny early mornings were quite a shock to the system for those of us no longer used to them.  We have had daylight saving since the very early 1970s, indeed for much of my life.

Our rapidly approaching summer has been forecast to be either quite warm, or cooler and wetter than last year, depending on who you believe.  Personally, I like the idea of cooler and wetter, but if it's warmer - well then, there is nothing I can do about it, is there.  We will just have to suffer.  We will try to suffer in silence, but perhaps you will have to suffer with us.

Continuing with Conduct in an artist's studio:

"If you have engaged to sit for your portrait never keep the artist waiting one moment beyond the appointed time.  If you do so you should in justice pay for the time you make him lose."

Indeed, you should.  

We have been to the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra which has an excellent café and gift shop, and many many portraits.....so many that, after a time, I found myself longing for an occasional landscape.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

A week in which not much has happened.....

Today is a cold grey cloudy day, a good day to stay inside and sew, or read, or toodle around on the computer, or just do very little.  As the saying goes, time you enjoyed wasting is not wasted time.

There is progress on the green purse.

That doesn't look like progress, but believe me it is.  Next step is to sew the inner pockets to the outer bag, which may be done today......and if not, why then it will be done on another day.  It will be a cheerful bright purse, just the Very Thing for our forthcoming spring.

The books are still not in order, but now there is A Plan in my head for doing that.  Meanwhile, it has been fun searching through shelves for a particular volume and being surprised by what is found.

The treadle practice also hasn't started because I have been unable to find the spare leather belt bought several years ago, and obviously put in the proverbial Safe Place when we moved here.  In the back of my brain I can still see the design on the plastic bag with the belt inside, but do you think I can remember where it was last seen?  At the time we bought two belts; Kevin installed one but the other machine is still beltless.  We have decided it will just be easier to buy another, because both machines need to be tried out to see which one is easiest to use.

Someone said to me at a meeting last week "I hear you are leading the U3A ukulele class"......"Oh, am I?  That's news to me" said I......I suspect (in fact I know) I am the most advanced in the group so it looks like it has fallen to me to lead, and I am in two minds about that.  We'll see what happens by the end of the year.

Lately our Federal Parliament has been in somewhat of a tizzy.  One section of our Constitution, put together in the closing years of the 19th century, requires that all members of Parliament must be Australia citizens - fair enough, I have no problem with that - and also that they must not be dual citizens of other countries.  Therein lies the fun......recently it has transpired that several MPs are, indeed, dual citizens although they all claim not to have previously known that fact.  Our local MP found out he is a dual citizen of New Zealand because his father was born there, and for 30 years from 1949 a child born anywhere in the world to a N.Z. parent automatically became a citizen of N.Z.  All these cases are going before our High Court, the highest in the land, for the learned judges to make their decision.  Personally, I hope they say that our local bloke (for whom I didn't and would never vote) is not eligible to be in Parliament and has to leave and, even better, has to pay back all the whopping salary he has been given since taking up his seat.  I would laugh loud and long.

We take our pleasures where we can find them, don't we?

I wish to goodness that TV and radio announcers would learn how to pronounce big words.  Don't they learn in school how words are put together?  A young woman reading the radio news has just said "prodiggus", but we're sure she meant "prodigious".  The woman who often reads our local TV news bulletin adds extra syllables to many words - "three" becomes "the-ree", "threat" becomes "the-reat".  She also mispronounces many local place names.  It has become quite irritating, and I am turning into one of those Olde Phartes who yells at the TV because of it.

"Writing as an aid to correct talking.
To converse correctly - to use correct language in conversation - is also a matter of importance, and while this can be acquired by a strict attention to grammatical rules, it can be greatly facilitated by the habit of writing down one's thoughts.  In writing, strict regard is, or should be, paid to the correct use of language, and when a person, from constant writing, acquires the habit of using correct language, this habit will follow him in talking.  A person who is accustomed to much writing, will always be found to use language correctly in speaking."

Newsreaders, please take note.  Not only do you need to pronounce words correctly and in context, you also need to be able to string words together on screen or paper to make sense.

Enjoy your days!

Pumpkin Spice Muffins......

yummm..........When we visited Toronto, Canada, last October it was pumpkin spice muffin season at Tim Hortons and I have been thinking about making some ever since. Yesterday I went searching on line and found this recipe from Canadian Living Magazine. Had to make my own pumpkin puree because it doesn't seem to be available in Australia, but that was easy - just cut up a butternut into large pieces, scrape out the strings and seeds, bake in a moderate oven for about 45 minutes to an hour, then cut off the skin and puree the flesh. We don't get the spherical bright orange pumpkins here so I thought butternut would be a good substitute.

To make a long story short, after lunch today I made the muffins, they turned out well, we have already tried them fresh out of the oven. They're a little different to Tim's recipe but not bad, if I do say so myself. I didn't make the maple cream cheese spread either, and I used pecans (because I had some) instead of walnuts (because I had none), a whole pecan half on each muffin.

Geez the election at the weekend was much ado about nothing, we still don't know who won......don't know who our government will be for the next few years.......so long as the bloke who leads one of the parties doesn't become prime minister, he has to be the scariest bloke ever in my opinion. For what it's worth. I don't care if his wife thinks he is lovely and his daughters love him and he helps little old ladies across the road, he still scares the living daylights out of me.

No pics today because the camera battery needs to be charged, but they will come in due course. You know what they say, if it's worth having it's worth waiting for. I could pop out and take a photo of the tiny pink and white wild flowers that are slowly appearing in the reserve, and the lovely wattle trees flowering just up the hill, but it's raining, cold and misty. So I won't. You wouldn't want me to get cold and wet, would you?

"How to reprove.

Parents should never check expressions of tenderness in their children, nor humiliate them before others. This will not only cause suffering to little sensitive hearts, but will tend to harden them. Reproof, if needed, should be administered to each child singly and alone."

Now I am off to make Big Decisions about cutting fabric. Have a wonderful week!

Jennifer