No takers yet for Pay It Forward?

See this post for details - it's the first time I have tried Pay It Forward - it seems like a lovely way to connect with folk elsewhere in this big wide world.

I am trying to get enthusiastic about progressing on my latest bag but it's getting a bit warm, my sewing mojo slinks away for a while in this heat. Even more so does my knitting mojo......at this rate my cardigan won't be finished by autumn......and this weekend the forecast is for 44 degrees C - that's 111 degrees F, for those who count that way - that's not nice. But next week will apparently be much cooler thank goodness, my mojo will come back and I will sew up a storm.

The other day I quilted the layers together in a diamond grid for the bag back, laid it carefully on the desk so it wouldn't get creased, and yesterday evening had to kick Binky (The World's Friendliest Cat) off it. She thought it was a lovely new little Binky-sized quilt. I have news for her......no pics yet, I will take a pic when it is finished. There is still some decorating with beads, buttons and bows for the front to be done, the handles to be made, the lining to be cut and assembled, and the whole bag put together. When it's put that way - it doesn't look as though I am very advanced at all!

If anyone emails me and I don't reply within a day or so, please forgive me; we are having ongoing mailbox/server problems. It is so bad that last week I rang the government ombudsman who helps sort out problems, after being passed around from technician to technician, and country to country, I have had enough. I may be old,* short* and fat* but don't mess with me.

Jennifer
PS *old - not really, I am 29 and some months; *short - can't help that, blame my parents; *fat - no, just carrying a bit more weight that my doctor thinks is good for me. But don't mess with me anyway.

Somehow I seem to have lost a day........it's WOW day already

Today's Wombat of the Week is a cute little feller (I think they are all cute!) - it's a hand puppet. Try as I may I could not get a good picture of this wombat with my hand up its bum, so we will have to settle for a reclining hand puppet resting on one of my quilt books.
This little bag was made as a gift for a visitor from Sweden. The pretty fabric is an Australian wildflower print, the bag is lined with sky blue. The waratah bowl was made at Pilliga Pottery and bought in Tamworth last year; I have a soft spot for our native flowers. And the pretty Teneriffe lace cloth on the table belonged to Kevin's mother, I have a lovely stash of beautiful hand-made linen that belonged to my mother, her mother and aunts, and Kevin's mother and grandmother.

Do you know, I could have sworn that yesterday was still January....had my days mixed up...I thought that February started today. It's all the fault of that big machine in Europe, it's mucking around with time.

Last week Kevin and I hung some net curtains in the lounge room, they are very sheer but help keep some of the hot glare out. The receipt was still in the bag of curtain fabric, it was purchased on 22nd January 2005 which means it sat in that bag for four years and one week. Shame on us. I seem to remember we were waiting for Bianca The Beautiful to grow out of the destructive kitten-climbing-up-the-curtains stage before we hung the new curtains.

For the Aussies, stay cool. For those living in the midst of snow and ice at present, you lucky folk!

Jennifer

There ain't no cure for the summer time blues......

No I'm not depressed, far from it! Last night DH Kevin and I went to see Del Rey perform, Del is visiting Australia and did a show in Sydney last night. We have seen her before and she is fabulous. She spoke of Memphis Minnie...now there's a woman I would have liked to have known, sounds like she would have been a real ripper. Del plays blues/boogie guitar and ukelele.

This little quilt was made a few years when a couple of friends and I challenged each other to make a quilt representing a particular month. My month was January, chosen because I don't really like the heat of summer - after all, it was supposed to be a challenge! The sky in an Australian summer is a very intense blue , so blue that it hurts your eyes on a hot day to look at it, and the heat haze shimmers. As many of my quilts have names with a musical reference I called this little one "There ain't no cure for the summertime blues" from the old song by Eddie Cochrane.

When we visited Canada late in 2007 we - Kevin, the lovely Kiera-Oona and I - spent several hours at the Textile Museum of Canada in Toronto. What a fascinating place....lots of hands-on things to play with, and two exhibitions to see, one of which was called "The Blues" about the influence of indigo fabric on various cultures. There was a lovely old quilt from the late 19th century, indigo blue stars on a white background, as well as fabrics and clothing from Asia, Africa and America, and great blues music (of course!) playing in the background. There was a film showing the making of indigo dye which Kevin found interesting, he likes to know how things are done. If I am lucky enough to visit Toronto again the Textile Museum is definitely on my list of Places To Visit. It also has the best shop I have ever seen for books on textiles. Had to think of the baggage allowance though....and I had already bought the book, 'Ontario's Heritage Quilts', which they had.

I'm wearing a blue shirt today, somehow it seems appropriate.

Jennifer

First two projects for 2009

Isn't this cute. Too small to leave its mother. While we were visiting Cooma I bought a kit to make this little bag, which is made of eight rectangles - four for the outside, four for the lining. The beads were included in the kit to be used for the bag trim but I haven't decided if I will use them. I had always wanted to know how these bags were made.
The bright bag - these pretty fabrics are the Maypole range by April Cornell for Moda, florals, bright spots and tone-on-tone florals and spots. I used all 40 squares. First one side.......
.......then the other.
I used all 40 squares, the last six made pretty pockets inside. The lining is a teensy weensy tiny soft lime green print on cream. And I made a rigid bottom so it would stand better. I like the prints but I'm not sure the bag is really "me", however it will get used. Bags are always handy.

Ain't technology wonderful! The weather pixie on my sidebar changes her clothes according to the weather! We had soft rain overnight and this morning, so she put up her umbrella. This pixie is the closest to me, I have long hair too and most of it is still auburn.

And for those of you who would like to get rid of your snow and ice, hang in there. Our weather forecast is for 39 degrees C again this weekend. Just keep it packed ready to send.

One of these days I shall see how my guitars are surviving the heat and start learning my new song for the first meeting of the folk club in mid-February.

Jennifer

Australia Day WOW

This wombat is appliqued on a pyjama top, when I made the pyjamas in a dark grey-blue knit I decided they needed brightening up, hence the applique. I even bravely free-motioned the features - eye and nose - and the grass in two shades of green. I never iron pyjamas (I don't iron many clothes at all) but perhaps this wombat could have been pressed before being immortalised on the interwebs. Too late now!

Today is Australia Day, it's the anniversary of the day when the first fleet of convicts and soldiers set up camp in what was to become Sydney in 1788. While I don't have ancestors in that fleet I know of two who came in 1794 and two more in 1800. That's a long time ago by Australian standards as we are a young country, in terms of European settlement. The indigenous Australians would have us not celebrate as to them it is a day when they were invaded, but no one can turn their back on history. The French were hot on the trail of the British, if the French had arrived first we would all be parlez vous-ing...and who knows if the indigenous folk would have better or worse off under French colonisation? We will never know.

Jennifer

Another post today - Pay It Forward

This is a new experience for me! but it seems to be a nice way of connecting with folk. I have joined in Debbie's PIF .

Three people need to join in my PIF. I must send a hand made gift to the 3 people on my list within 365 days. In turn, the 3 people who have joined my PIF must also host their own and ask for 3 people to join. They then must send a handmade gift to each of their 3 players within 365 days. And on and on it goes, spreading the goodness around. There is no set time to send the gifts, so long as they are sent within 365 days of hosting your PIF.

So...... I need 3 people to join in.... post the logo and rules on your blog, and get three people to join their PIF..... any takers? Any gifts I send will most probably have a sewing/quilting theme. Maybe even chocolate.

Jennifer

I has a finish!

The bag is finished, I will take pics and post them over the weekend. It's larger than I had remembered, the one and only time I had seen the bag was at the craft show where I purchased the fabric, in June last year. The pattern had a photo of the finished bag (the only illustration in the instructions) but no finished size measurements. So now I have a new tote bag rather than the new handbag I was expecting to have; never mind, I can cope with that.

That makes two projects finished already for 2009 - the first was a small origami bag. I bought a kit while we were visiting Cooma as these bags had always intrigued me, and now I know how they are made I might try more.

It's been very hot, and it's not just me complaining (although I have been known to do that from time to time), but a couple of nights ago was Sydney's warmest night for twelve years. Already the temperature is 35 degrees C and it's only just after midday, unfortunately there's not much we can do about it except to grin and bear it. Can the folks in the northern hemisphere who are having lots of snow and ice please send some our way? It would be appreciated.

Now I shall put my foot (which is very sore today for some reason) up on a heap of cushions and work on my 89th Flower Basket block.

Jennifer