Little WOWs

A notebook with a wombat cover - a gift from a friend - and a wombat car window hanger and sticker, gifts from another friend. I have never decided what to stick the sticker on, so it is still unstuck. The picture on the sticker is similar to highway warning signs in areas where wombats live, although the highway signs are of course much larger.
This is my Pay It Forward gift from Debbie, a very useful basket and pincushion kit which I will have fun sewing. I love the plaids, they look toasty-warm!
And this is my Maple Greetings bag, the fabric is "Greetings From Canada" released about 18 months ago by Thimbleberries, and the pattern is from Hopscotch Quilt Shop, Alberta. When the fabric was released several shops designed patterns to use the range, I bought the pattern and fabric from the Creativ Festival and finished it a few days ago. It is lined with the same blue print as the centre stripe which is printed with maple leaves and all the Canadian provincial flowers. It's a very useful souvenir of our trip to Toronto, a much nicer momento than my damaged arm and shoulder, don't you think? I also have extra of the blue flower print and also of the deep red and gold wheat print next to it, a friend in Victoria B.C. sent it to me - thank you, Lois! The red print Lois gave me has already been used to make a Bear's Paw block for my Bearly Autumn quilt of the future, and I think the flower print might make another.

It's quite silent here tonight, just the kitties and me, Kevin is spending the night in hospital following a minor surgical procedure. He's not a particularly noisy person but it is very quiet without him. The radio is playing on a classical station, and the TV is off. It will be good to have him home tomorrow.

On Friday I have to take my shoulder to the orthopedic specialist again. The x-ray and ultrasound last week showed an 8mm tear in my shoulder tendon. Now 8mm doesn't sound very big, it's quite a narrow seam allowance if one is sewing, but apparently it's considered a fairly large tendon tear. The words "surgical repair" have been heard, but not from my lips I assure you. The physio strapped it up on Friday and said to take the strapping off tonight, which I did carefully, but still took some skin with it. My skin does not like adhesive tape, not even sensitive skin bandaids. I have rubbed it liberally with vitamin E cream which is good for skin and will do so again at bed time....let's hope it feels more normal tomorrow.

Today I cut pieces to make a table runner using the pattern and pack of Thimbleberries charms that I won recently in Tammy's giveaway, and I used my leftover blue Canadian flower fabric as the feature fabric - the other fabrics in the charm pack complimented it well. Tomorrow I'm hoping to cut something else. Cutting is not my favourite part of making anything, I really like joining pieces at the machine, but if I have a few projects cut and made into kits with their instructions it will give me something to sew in odd moments when we move.

We have had a couple of 'lookers' through the house and another is coming tomorrow. But we missed a sale last week when a man who had said he would come cancelled at the last minute. Our house number is 24, and apparently "twenty four" sounds like "violent death" to Chinese people, so he decided the house wasn't for him. But it hasn't worried the other people who have come through.

Summer heat has come back to Sydney, yesterday and today have been most unpleasant. The quilt show on Saturday was an hour south of here in the Southern Highlands, it was lovely and cool - and not humid. I forgot to take my camera with me, but I don't usually take pics at a quilt show as the conditions are far from ideal to take good photos; the quilts are too close together. The challenge was to make an apron, and there were some gorgeous ones! Tomorrow is supposed to be a bit more reasonable here in Sydney, thank goodness. But although it's not the end of February I have seen some trees with leaves changing colour already, that's early! Perhaps it's just shock from the hot summer we have had this year. It was a bit hot today cutting quilt pieces so we hope tomorrow brings some coolth, I have had enough warmth. It's nearly 10pm and it is still horribly hot.

"Walking with a lady acquaintance.
A gentleman should not join a lady acquaintance on the street for the purpose of walking with her, unless he ascertains that his company would be perfectly agreeable to her. It might be otherwise, and she should frankly say so, if asked."

Have a wonderful week.

Jennifer

It's all happening!

This is the bag I sent to Sherry for her Pay It Forward gift, it has gone way across the other side of the world to Ontario, Canada. I was getting anxious when I hadn't heard that it had arrived but Sherry had been away. I made the background before we went to Canada (being organised, as I sometimes am) but then all projects came to a halt when I broke my arm. However when I had the use of two hands again I finished the applique and posted it off, so here it is, a flower garden bag.

Well, it's all happening here.....the 'For Sale' sign was hammered into the front lawn this morning and the house is advertised in the local paper today as well as being on the internet. The agent is confident that he will have a buyer very soon, so we may have the sale moving along quicker than we had thought. I am taking a break from tidying up and throwing out to have a coffee (I do like my coffee but I only have three cups a day) then I will get back into it.

On Saturday a friend and I are going to a quilt show about an hour from here, I was hoping to have my Maple Leaf bag finished to take along with me. Only need to finish quilting the outer layer, then make the handles and attach then, then line it. Only...... Between now and then there are things like physio appointments to allow for, but I will try. The shoulder is just fine if I don't use it. Like that is going to happen......just getting dressed in the morning is a pain, but the world is not yet ready for the alternative. I was supposed to have a physio treatment this morning but the receptionist rang yesterday to say the physio wouldn't be in today due to a family problem. Another appointment is scheduled for Friday with the other physio (there are two) so let's hope it goes ahead. But I don't know how physio is going to repair a torn tendon.

The wombat quilt I showed the other day has been bugging me so I have decided to take off the outer border, the one I have never been sure of, and look for an alternative. Yesterday a friend and I went fabric shopping (as you do), I bought the fabrics for my Plastered Pinwheels quilt. Lots of white-on-white print for the alternate blocks, setting triangles and narrow inner border, a pretty blue for the next narrow border and binding, and a lovely yellow and blue April Cornell print for the outer border. When I wash the fabric I will cut it out and make a kit for the quilt, then I'm more likely to press on with it. I get stumped at cutting out......have lots of fabrics and ideas but lack the oomph to cut them out......need to get over that and make kits.

"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."

Now back to the - achoo! - dusting and tidying.

Jennifer

WOW through the window

A few years ago my online quilt group ran an "Angel Exchange" - a bit like a six month long Secret Santa. My angel made me a wombat block each month as part of my surprise, I set them into Attic Windows and bordered them with a dandelion print. She even made a label! However it has stayed a top for two reasons, one is I am not a confident machine quilter and the other is that I have never been sure that the light border print is right for this quilt. I might take it off and get something in a darker colour, perhaps even something Australian. The backing fabric is a green grass print, as wombats like to eat grass, and when it's quilted it will be bound with the same deep dark brown as the sashing. Perhaps it could have been ironed before I took its picture but that didn't get done, as you can see.

A few days ago I received my Pay It Forward gift from Debbie at Makin' Quilts - Debbie made me a lovely little quilted basket in warm plaids, and popped a pincushion kit inside. Thank you very much, Debbie! I took a photo which looked really good on the little screen of my camera but when I uploaded it to the computer was really bad, so I deleted it and will take another tomorrow so you can all see. When I started looking at quilting blogs Debbie's blog was one of the first I found, I wrote to her and she was very encouraging so I started this one. That was another gift from her, and I really appreciate it.

We had a very nice day yesterday, it was Kevin's birthday. I know it's also Valentine's Day but that has become a very commercial thing, while a birthday is a special day! We met with our older son and his lovely girlfriend for late breakfast, we think they had plans for a romantic dinner in the evening. We do well for birthdays, his is always Valentine's Day while mine hovers around Mother's Day depending on how the days go with leap years. Every five or six years it actually falls on Mother's Day - and this year is one of the years.

Today I took my sore shoulder for an x-ray and an ultrasound to see if the cause of the soreness could be found, and sure enough I have a torn tendon in my shoulder. That, plus an inflamed bursa in the same area, is what is causing the pain and restricted movement. The technician couldn't say for sure if it was damaged when I fell and broke my arm (four months ago today - how time flies) as I landed with my arm underneath me and probably wrenched my shoulder, but it's possible that may have been the cause. The orthopedic specialist wants to see me again next week after I have had four sessions of physiotheraphy so we will see what he says.

The other day I bought a ukulele! While I can play some chords on my guitar there are some which are still so difficult and painful as to be nearly impossible, so I thought that a smaller version would help my fingers get back to making chord shapes. I learnt three chords on it in a minute or two, and played it to accompany myself in a song at the folk club's first night for this year on Friday night - a few hours after it was bought. Some of the people who go along to the club also play ukes so I'm sure I won't lack for advice, and there are lots of fun uke videos on the interwebz.

"Intrusive Inquiries.
If you meet or join or are visited by a person who has any article whatever, under his arm or in his hand, and he does not offer to show it to you, you should not, even if it be your most intimate friend, take it from him and look at it. That intrusive curiosity is very inconsistent with the delicacy of a well-bred man, and always offends in some degree."

Just remember that, next time you meet a friend who has been shopping.

Jennifer

Packed Up WOW

A friend gave me this wombat as a thank-you for driving her to quilt group....he can leave his little house, but I think he looks cute with that little head peeking out! And of course - this is one wombat all packed and ready to move.
Last week I made one of these little bags as a gift, it's now on its way to America with some fabric. The fabric is Australian flannel flowers and it's lined with soft green. I hope its recipient likes it.

Well, we have done it....our house is now listed for sale. We are feeling quite excited! For many years now we have dreamed of leaving Sydney, and hoped for and sort-of planned for, and now it getting much closer. We still have a son living here so of course we won't be able to see as much of him as we do now, but he has his life. I will miss friends, my sewing and musical friends, but I won't miss Sydney. We won't miss the inconsiderate neighbours, and we won't miss the horrendous traffic. We are hoping to make new friends, and to learn all about living in a smaller community, and it will be an adventure. We are looking forward - not back.

On my sidebar you can see one of the blogs I follow is "Freebies for Crafters", they have a link to the cutest cat stitcheries by Bronwyn Hayes - I don't need any more projects in my life just at the moment, but that is very cute - I might need a project to help with the stress of moving our own cats, might I not? Can't you just imagine two kitties, each in their own cages, howling and wailing their way through a six hour car journey? Not really looking forward to that......

"Dress of hostess at a dinner party.
The dress of a hostess at a dinner party should be rich in material, but subdued in tone, so as not to eclipse any of her guests. A young hostess should wear a dress of rich silk, black or dark in color, with collar and cuffs of fine lace, and if the dinner be by daylight, plain jewellery, but by gaslight, diamonds."

At present the house is open to the weather, we have the windows and doors open to get fresh air - the past week has brought a lot of rain! The last thing we want now is to have a musty house. I love to have the windows open when it's raining but that's not always possible, as rain blows in depending on the direction of the wind.

Now I am going to finish my coffee, and try to sew; today has been quite exciting! Last time we signed papers to sell a house was early in 1987. The new bag has been started, the pieces to make five Maple Leaf blocks - each three inches square - are all laid out ready to be joined. If I get a move on I could have them all made before I head out to choir practice this evening.

Wonder if there will be a choir to join in our new town?

Have a wonderful week, may your seams all match and your points not be too far off matching!

Jennifer

Pretty things!

This is the skirt I finished making recently.....as you can see, it's quite bright. It looks small, but I'm a fairly short person. The colours are even brighter than they look here, and my wardrobe contains a few bright tops that I plan to wear with it; red, orange, green. It's a Kwik Sew pattern. Not bad for just a few dollars - $2 for fabric, not much for a zip, and I already had the yoke lining, interfacing and pattern.
The Kiwi place mats have been given to their recipient, and she likes them. I left off the applique that spelled out various Kiwi words for a less casual look, which was the look I wanted. Six fat quarters was all it took, the fabrics which look like solid black and white are in fact printed, and I quilted them using black and white variegated thread.
My giveaway parcel from Tammy has arrived, I am so lucky! Thank you Tammy, you are very generous. A lovely pattern, and two packs of charm squares - Village Green by Thimbleberries and Garden Party by Moda, some little scissors and........
some very pretty Valentine's Day fabrics - and - chocolate! Should have taken the pattern out of the packet as the glare is a bit bright, it says "Little Charmers 5". The little scissors will replace the embroidery scissors I had confiscated at Sydney airport on our way to Canada last October. (It was my own fault - I had swapped things from different bags around, and forgot the scissors were still in the bag that I put in my backpack instead of the one I put in my checked case - but I had those scissors for over 20 years, and I was quite peeved to lose them.) (and of course women like me with our little embroidery scissors are a dreadful threat to air travel aren't we.....can't have that)

Nice young physio bloke said yesterday he is pleased with my progress, to keep doing the exercises, and only go back to him if I feel it's necessary. While I was there I mentioned my left shoulder to him, it's been sore ever since I broke my arm, but I put that down to carrying the weight of two casts on my arm and to having restricted movement for a while. He checked it out and suggested I have an ultrasound done, as he thinks I may have torn a shoulder tendon when I fell - my left arm (the one which broke) ended up under my body, so I probably wrenched my shoulder at the same time. I still can't extend that arm out to have a stretch as it's too painful, and it also hurts if I put my arm behind my back. So it's worth checking out, but I'm a bit sad as I thought my arm was getting back to normal.

On the home front......we have contacted the agent we decided to go with, and he will come on Monday to start the paperwork to sell the house! Yay! Last time we did this was 1987 and things may have changed in that time. We certainly have.

Next sewing project will be to make a bag using the Thimbleberries Canadian fabrics I bought in Toronto - it was a "Twice The Charm" roll - and the Maple Greetings bag pattern from Hopscotch Quilt Shop, Alberta. The last few projects I have made have been for other people but this one is for me!

"The plan of reviving the old Saxon names has been adopted by some, and it has been claimed that the names of Edgar, Edwin, Arthur, Alfred, Ethel, Maud, Edith, Theresa, and many others of the Saxon names are pleasant sounding and strong, and a desirable contrast to the Fannies, Mamies, Minnies, Lizzies, Sadies, and other pretty diminutives which have taken the place of better sounding and stronger names."

My maternal grandmother was named Edith, and she was born in 1887 - just two years after the book from which this is taken was published. One of her sisters was named Ethel, and a brother was Alfred.

Have a great weekend!

Jennifer

Musical WOW

Remember those beanie kid's toys that were around some years ago - this is my very own beanie wombat. The radio/CD player is in my sewing room so I can have music while I sew, and it is a comfy spot for a floppy wombat to rest while he listens to music too. The yellow pot is an oil burner so the room can smell of lavender, or rose, or whatever takes my fancy at the time.

It has been quite a musical week! Last Tuesday, Australia Day, was Australian folk music, Wednesday night was Irish music, Saturday night we went to hear a local band play Fleetwood Mac - 'cover' or tribute bands seem to be doing well in Australia these days, our older son Stephen The Drummer plays in this one - it was quite loud and the lead guitarist had the volume on his instrument cranked up to the point of pain, but the crowd seemed to like them. They applauded Stephen's big solos thereby showing great discernment, I thought. Then yesterday morning at 10am music played by a clarinet, accordion, drum and singing started up across the road from us. It continued on and off between rain showers until about 3pm and was celebrating a wedding; every time more guests arrived they would join hands and dance Zorba-style around the front yard then join the other guests. It was really good to have live music instead of recordings! The street was quite crowded as it's a cul de sac, I don't know how the bridal limo managed to get to their driveway but they did, everyone left for the wedding and all was quiet again.

This morning we had another agent come to look at our house - that makes three agents now, so we will make our choice over the next few days and decide which agent we will ask to sell our house for us. Moving out of Sydney is something we have talked about for years and now that it's getting closer it's exciting and scary at the same time. Kevin has lived in Sydney all his life, I have lived here for nearly 40 years (but I am still aged only 29 and some months), so it will be a big change for both of us. In that time Sydney's population has doubled to about 5 million people, and the area it covers has doubled in size. Traffic has increased to a frightening amount and speed. The town we will be moving to has a population of about 50,000 and - compared to Sydney - not much traffic! It has fabric shops, and quilt shops, and music shops, and a thriving craft society including a quilting group, and five lawn bowls clubs for Kevin to play, so we will be happy with our lot in life.

The belated Christmas gift is coming along well, all the place mats have been assembled, they just need a final press then a line of quilting 1/4in inside the outer edge. Then they will be ready to be handed over! I am using my black and white variegated thread for the quilting, as black and white are New Zealand colours and some of the fabrics are black and white. The stiffness still in my fingers made holding the mats awkward, as I stitched up the openings left to turn them out the right way - but it's getting easier to hold things now. Kevin has to have a minor surgical procedure that he was all set to have when we returned from Canada but he postponed it, as I was pretty much useless for a while. So it has been re-scheduled for three weeks time when I will be able to drive the car again; my next physio appointment is on Friday so I will see what the nice young physio bloke says about driving.

Next project is to make a small bag as a gift, I am swapping some fabric with a fellow quilter on a music list we're both on and thought I would send hers in a little drawstring bag. Then perhaps I will print out a few copies of my Summer Serenade quilt and draw lines on it to help me visualise what quilting designs to use. I am really having trouble deciding what to do with this one but I would like to have it finished, it has been a top for long enough.

"Trusting the driver.
While driving with another who holds the reins, you must not interfere with the driver, as anything of this kind implies a reproof, which is very offensive. If you think his conduct wrong, or are in fear of danger resulting, you may delicately suggest a change, apologizing therefor. You should resign yourself to the driver's control, and be perfectly calm and self-possessed during the course of a drive."

Just remember that, when you are a little concerned by the driving ability of the person getting you from point A to point B.

Have a wonderful week!

Jennifer

A bit of excitement in our dull lives

This afternoon we went to our local post office so I could post off Sherry's Pay It Forward gift, and having done that we popped into the supermarket next door for a couple of things. Being the polite person I am I excused myself as I walked past a bloke squatting on the floor looking at the display of hair shampoos and conditioners, we paid for our purchases and started to walk back to our car parked round the corner. As we walked toward the corner the same bloke hurried passed us looking furtively over his shoulder as he went - I said to Kevin "stop and see where he goes, he's a bit suspicious" - he went round the corner, up the cul-de-sac and turned right at the end. He was carrying one of the red plastic baskets provided by the supermarket for purchases (but not for taking home) filled with what looked like a sweatshirt and bottles of shampoo and conditioner. We went back to the supermarket where the staff had, by then, realised what he had done but not what he had taken.

We didn't stop him ourselves because he was younger than us and looked a bit strange - these days you doesn't know if someone has a wee problem, or may be drunk or on drugs, which can cause their behaviour to be erratic. It's a small supermarket mostly used by locals, but the staff didn't know the man although they thought he may live locally in a block of units (condos) - seems there may have been issues with some of the residents before.

So, Sherry, your gift is on its way, and our dull lives have had enough excitement for one day!

Jennifer