Today's post is brought to you by the letter J

This bird is a Black Neck Stork, commonly called Jabiru in Australia.

Several years ago I recall seeing an Australian alphabet in cross-stitch, and the Jabiru represented J. Don't those legs look fragile to bear the weight and height of the bird? Unfortunately we couldn't get closer to get a better picture.

Speaking of better pictures the quilt I won last week is still un-photographed because the weather has not been kind; strong winds for a few days, followed by rain, rain and more rain. The quilt is too large to get a good picture inside but never mind, outside will improve soon. We hope. Summer may be a little late this year but that's OK, the hot weather will come soon enough. I don't mind if it stays away for a little longer.

This week the sewing room has been in use for making some clothes. I have been digging into my Retirement Stash of fabric and out came a few pieces which will be used to make summer skirts; the one currently under the machine needle is a white faux (that's a fancy word for fake) broderie Anglaise, but instead of the fabric being embroidered it is printed with yellow around the edges of the holes. Because of the holes it is fairly sheer, and I am past the age of wanting the world to see everything I own, so it is being lined in deep gold solid. Last summer I bought a gold tee at a local op shop which matches beautifully, so that and the new skirt will be my Christmas outfit this year.

The next piece to be made will be a gorgeous solid green, not quite teal, not quite jade, a lovely rich cotton fabric bought in Toronto, Canada, in 2007. (Have I ever mentioned that I really like green?) Here in the Small Smoke I was able to find a matching green and white knit fabric for a top, so that's another new outfit. The last piece in this sewing session will be a skirt in a border print which shades from deep blue at the hem to pale aqua at the top, overprinted in black - there was no way the colours in this fabric could be matched, so its top will be black.

I am enjoying the process of making clothes. When I was a sweet young thing of 18 or so I bought a second-hand sewing machine, a pattern for a little top, and a yard of fabric......cut it out and sewed it up.......and was so proud of myself. The only sewing I had done was at school and that wasn't very much; my mother didn't sew, so I just blundered along on my own. Over the past umpteen years I have clothed myself, and my children, and even my husband. I have made wedding gowns, and 19th century-style ball gowns for myself (until just a few years ago I used to do vintage dancing, and made all I needed - gowns, hair ornaments, everything) but now I only sew for myself and just everyday clothing at that, because it suits the life I lead. Have you noticed how many quilters are dismissive of those of us who use our machines to make clothing? "Oh", they say, "I used to do that but now I can't be bothered". That's their choice, just the same as making clothing and quilts is mine. Over the years I have gained many skills in sewing, and how I choose to use them is my business.

"Indifference to dress.

Indifference and inattention to dress is a defect of character rather than virtue, and often denotes indolence and slovenliness. Every woman should aim to make herself look as well as possible with the means at her command. Among the rich, a fondness for dress promotes exertion and activity of the mental powers, cultivates a correct taste, and fosters industry and ingenuity among those who seek to procure for them the material and designs for dress. Among the middle class it encourages diligence, contrivance, planning and deftness of handiwork, and among the poorer classes it promotes industry and economy. A fondness for dress, when it does not degenerate into vain show, has an elevating and refining influence on society."

Correct taste, deftness of handiwork, and economy.......all sound like me.

Enjoy your days!

Lucky lucky me!

What a lucky time I have been having! Today my reward from Sara arrived for choosing Daisy's name, and Sara made me this pretty pillowcase....lots of stars in this galaxy, aren't there? I do like these fabrics.

Yesterday my name was pulled out of the hat, or the box or barrel or whatever was used - I wasn't present so didn't see - and I won a quilt! Pics will be shown, a few were taken today but they didn't turn out very well; it's not easy pressing that little button while balancing on a ladder. It has embroidered blocks (one of which was worked by me) bordered in blue, lots of bright fabrics joining the blocks, and is backed in green. Have I ever mentioned that I am very fond of green? It's a lovely quilt made by the quilt group at the local craft centre, and I am very fortunate to be its owner.

The quilt shown in my last post, 'Windmills of My Mind', has been entered in Quilting Gallery's weekly contest because this week's theme is "stars". You can see the quilts, and vote for your choice, here. Stars are a popular quilt design, aren't they? I have a book entirely about star quilts by Mary Elizabeth Johnson; it was one of the first quilt books I bought many years ago and it's still one of my favourites.

Next week 'Windmills of My Mind' will be delivered to the local gallery as it's going to be in an exhibition of works by gallery volunteers, of whom I am one. We were asked if we painted, or photographed, or knitted, or quilted, or just about anything else, and if so would we like to have something hung in the volunteers' exhibition "Time to Shine 2011". Isn't that something?

This coming weekend will be somewhat busy: Monday night choir practice tomorrow afternoon, Thursday night choir Christmas party tomorrow night, Monday night Christmas carol concert on Sunday evening, somehow need to find time in there to do some baking for contributions to both the party and the concert........I thought retirement meant sitting around and doing not much at all........

"Dining should be ranked among the fine arts. A knowledge of dinner-table etiquette is all important in many respects; but chiefly in this: that it is regarded as one of the strong tests of good breeding. Dinners are generally looked upon as entertainments for married people and the middle aged, but it is often desirable to have some young unmarried persons among the guests."

If dining should be ranked as a fine art.....I wonder if it would be the subject of an exhibition?

Enjoy your days!

All has been revealed......

......and this family of Tawny Frogmouth looks as though they are eagerly awaiting the result. They were a few of the locals we met at Port Macquarie recently.

Ribbons and swirls in the quilting, to give an impression of movement.
The only things bought for this quilt were the gold binding and spotted background fabrics, the wadding, and the off-white Wonderfil Konfetti thread used for quilting the centre panel. All other fabrics and threads, including the backing, are from my probably-larger-than-it-needs-to-be stash.
It's quite bright and cheerful.
The gorgeous variegated Aurilux thread used for quilting the border is such a good match, it's almost not there.
"Windmills of my mind" in all its finished glory.

It was a fun exercise! Ten members of the group joined in this challenge, and ten very different quilts resulted. Four of the makers used their pieced blocks as background for applique, and some of the quilts were muted or dark colours. Mine was the brightest, much to my surprise. There are no prizes, it's all about having a go and perhaps trying something different. Next year's challenge was handed out yesterday and is quite a loose theme - I already know what I will make.

Something to report to my Canadian friends: at a trivia night a couple of weeks ago, guess who was the only person in the room who knew the name and rank of the author of "In Flanders Fields"? That's right.......moi.

Here in the Small Smoke today the locals are indulging in an orgy of clothes washing, and lawn mowing, because for the past week or so we have had a lot of rain - so much so, that our town was on a flood watch until today. But today is gloriously sunny and gently warm, with a little breeze to dry out anything still soggy. While it has not come at a good time for farmers who are waiting to harvest wheat crops, most domestic gardens are smiling. Smaller towns downstream from here will be cut off for a week or so but the floods are moving slowly enough that food can be stocked up and if necessary, people and animals moved to higher ground.

"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."

Considering the amount of water still lying around from our recent rain, this is probably sound advice.....because in springing from the saddle, a lady could well find herself springing straight into a puddle.

Enjoy your days!

To my American friends......

.....best wishes for a happy and safe Thanksgiving weekend!

Slaving over a hot sewing machine

The Big Reveal for my quilt group's 2011 challenge quilts is on Saturday afternoon so I have been dancing up a storm at the sewing machine. My quilt is now quilted and the last of the loose threads are being woven in, then tomorrow the edges will be trimmed and the binding sewn on.

Serves me right for leaving it so late. It has been a finished top for months but making decisions about quilting gets to me every time. It could do with some more quilting in the centre and who knows, that just may get done. Or then again, it may not........after all, finished is better than perfect.

Here are a few of the lovely birds we saw on our holiday.

Major Mitchell's Cockatoo, so pretty with its pink and yellow colours.
Eastern Rosella - we have these here at home too, and they are beautiful. They are smaller than the other cockatoos. This one took a fancy to us and every time we stepped left, it shuffled left along the aviary wire.......if we stepped right, it shuffled right......our new best friend.
Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo. These are big birdies.
See the chewed tree branches? All done by this bird; their beaks are like bolt cutters. There are signs warning not to poke your fingers into the cages and you can see why.

The large aviary where these birds lived was also home to a young magpie, a terrible tease. It was annoying the black cocky, who was jumping up and down and madly sqwarking.....the more it sqwarked, the more the magpie teased......then the magpie hopped away with a "ha ha, gotcha!" look in its beady little eye and a yellow-speckled black tail feather in its beak. We thought it was very funny, although the black cocky was somewhat affronted.

I have a couple of questions about blog stuff: how do I make a header with more than one picture on it? and how do I replace the orange and white B with something different, so in a list of blogs mine has its own little unique symbol? I have seen that on a few blogs and it looks very swish.

We have been having storms lately and even the odd blackout, so the computer is spending some of its time turned off and unplugged as we don't want a repeat of the lightning strike which did so much damage to our last computer and caused it to be replaced. So if I am a bit tardy in replying to comments, or commenting on blogs, please forgive me. It's because I don't want to end up a bright spark.

"Showy dress.

The glaring colors and "loud" costumes, once so common, have given place to sober grays, and browns and olives; black predominating over all. The light, showily-trimmed dresses, which were once displayed in the streets and fashionable promenades, are now only worn in carriages. This display of showy dress and glaring colors is generally confined to those who love ostentation more than comfort."

Perhaps the brightly-coloured birds should be riding in carriages, rather than promenading around their aviary? The yellow and black cockatoo looked very smart and not at all sober.

Enjoy your days!

Some more holiday sights

First, a little background.

In my book collection is a book called "Annabella Boswell's Journal". Annabella Innes was born in New South Wales in 1826 and lived in different places with her parents and younger sister during which time she kept a diary, as did many well-brought up young ladies of the time. When she was still young her father died, and couple of years afterward she, her mother and sister boarded a ship to sail from Sydney north along the New South Wales coast to Port Macquarie. In those days - early 1840s - Port Macquarie was a convict settlement, a far cry from the coastal resort it is now which we visited a couple of weeks ago. Annabella's uncle, Major Archibald Innes, would not hear of his relatives settling in the port so offered them a home on his extensive property a few miles south of the town. Annabella lived there for several years and wrote about life in her uncle's house in her diary, which was published for her family many years later after she married and moved to Scotland.

Today the land that Annabella knew looks like this - that is Lake Innes in the background.

Turn around, and one could be a very long way from anywhere. It is very peaceful.
Turn a little further and see........this.
This sad sight is all that now remains of the large country estate once owned by Major Innes, and of the rooms where Annabella worked on her patchwork, and of the verandah where she and her sister and cousins danced the polka to the latest tunes of the day.
Walkways have been built to make for safe walking, as there is so much rubble and fallen brick.
Even the garden, once so lovely, has encroached on the house walls.

It was a grand estate employing 58 convicts as well as other workers; because it was owned by a Scot one of those workers was Bruce the piper, whose duties included piping the family awake each morning as well as waiting on the table with other servants in livery. Just imagine being rudely woken early in the morning to bagpipes! There were stables for the horses, and some carriages, a farm to keep everyone supplied with food, house servants - a very grand establishment.

However it all came to an end late in the 1840s when convict transportation to New South Wales ceased and convicts in Port Macquarie were relocated. Add to that a rural depression, and Major Innes could no longer keep his grand estate. It was sold, and the years took its toll on the buildings. A bushfire did more damage, and vandalism and theft of building materials finished off the once-proud buildings. If you are interested, there is more information here.

Social history can be fascinating.....how ordinary people lived their lives. In some ways not so different to us today, in other ways a world we can never know because that time has passed forever.

"Certain local rules have been recognized in society at Sydney from the fact that a gentleman's social position is acquired by virtue of certain offices which he holds, and the social status of woman is also in a less degree determined by the official rank of her husband."

How terrible to have one's status in life determined by one's husband, not by one's own achievements.

Enjoy your days!

We've been and gone and come home again

We started in the mountains, this pic was taken just outside Dorrigo. The folk festival we attended was held in the town.

Then we went to the coast, here is Pilot Beach. As you can see, not every day was sunny.
In Port Macquarie we shared our camp site with the local wildlife.
Because it is spring the flowers were blooming everywhere we went, there were native plants like these pretty grevilleas........
..........and introduced species, like these gorgeous jacarandas in Grafton a week before their annual Jacaranda Festival.
We had a lovely time, saw many interesting things, and visited lots of places we had never been to before (and some we had, although it was a long long time ago), so you can expect to see more pics yet. While the beaches are lovely the coastal towns are rapidly spreading as more and more development takes place, so for me the truly luscious part of the country is a little way inland with its green rolling hills and smaller villages and towns.

The local wildlife was entertaining. The caravan park where we stayed in Port Macquarie had a family of Tawny Frogmouths nesting in a tree, and there were many other birds and some large lizards scurrying around. It is also home to a population of koalas, a favourite tree for the koalas' evening meal of eucalyptus leaves was near our caravan. Neither of us had heard koalas before; the noise they make sounds like a grumbly old man trying to start a reluctant lawnmower. The sound of it carries quite a long way.

Did you know that koalas and wombats are related? They share a common ancestor (although it was something like 32 million years ago), but koalas took to climbing trees and wombats started digging holes in the ground.

"Accepting hospitality a sign of good-will.

As eating with another under his own roof is in all conditions of society regarded as a sign of good-will, those who partake of proffered hospitalities, only to gossip about and abuse their host and hostess, should remember, that in the opinion of all honorable persons, they injure themselves by so doing."

I won't abuse our koala friends as we did eat under their roof - at least, in the shade of their favourite tree. But just the same, sometimes they were very noisy.

Enjoy your days!