So.....tonight's the night!

Yes folks, tonight marks my debut as a radio announcer with my own weekly program and apparently the station is now streaming so you can listen online, should the time suit.  From 7pm to 9pm Eastern Australian Time, which is probably stupid dark o'clock in some parts of the world - if you would like to listen you can find world clocks on the interwebz; we are in the same time zone as Sydney.  Station details are here.

The ukulele and Beethoven are becoming more friendly toward each other, you will be pleased to hear.  Oh my......last week teacher Sam let me use one of his tenor ukes.  Mine is a soprano, the smallest size, then there's concert size, tenor, with baritone being the biggest.  Tenor is so much easier to play because I am used to playing guitar, my fingers are long and often reach too far on the little soprano's neck so I end up playing wrong notes.  Didn't have that problem with Sam's tenor uke!  I can foresee a tenor uke in my future, and some of the time spent at next month's National Folk Festival will be checking out the hand-made instrument makers' display to find just the right tenor uke.

We need a picture, don't we?  Let's see what we can find.

This really made us chuckle, we thought it was fun!  In Sidney, B.C., Canada, this tree beside the water had bottles hanging from its branches.  You may not be able to see the contents of the bottles, but there were objects like a key ring (with keys attached), a little yellow duck and a red poppy - it was a few days after Remembrance Day.

There was even a sign attached to the tree giving an email address, perhaps it's the Keeper Of The Tree?  One would need to be nimble and a little fearless to hang a bottle from some of those branches.

Last night I received an email to tell me I had won some Aurifil thread from a blog giveaway, isn't that great?  It's a thread I really like, and use often; I've been buying thread online from them for several years.

The other day I checked in with Emma the physiotherapist and she has given me the green light to start walking, but not too far, in addition to the usual walking while shopping etc..  The doctor has said 30 minutes a day, but so far 10 minutes is about all my foot and ankle will happily do - according to Emma, we should stop when it starts hurting so as not to damage still-healing tissues.  That's all right by me, I am so unfit and out of condition that it will take a little time to build up my fitness again.  We live near the top of a hill so walking away from our house is fairly a easy downhill stroll.......but coming home is always uphill.  I can't believe how long this is taking to heal, it seemed a fairly ordinary (if somewhat painful) whack when it was first done!  Just goes to show, you can damage yourself more easily than you think.

Last weekend Kevin and I went to see "Quartet"......it's gently humorous and has some wonderful performers who can still sing and play up a storm although in what would be considered their senior years.  While it's not the best movie I've seen about older people we both enjoyed it, and friends who have seen it have also liked it.  It's good to see a movie which doesn't depend on violence, action, special effects and sex, sex and more sex to tell a story.  Is that really what people want to see these days, or is it what movie-makers want to make regardless of the public's taste?

"After you have visited a friend at her country seat, or after receiving an invitation to visit her, a call is due her upon her return to her town residence.  This is one of the occasions when a call should be made promptly and in person, unless you have a reason for wishing to discontinue the acquaintance; even then it would be more civil to take another opportunity for dropping a friend who wished to show civility, unless her character has been irretrievably lost in the meantime."

Oh dear!  I have sometimes lost my way, or lost an object.....but to lose one's character would be disastrous.

Enjoy your days!

Playing Beethoven on ukulele

Yes folks, indeed we are.  Uke group started up again last Tuesday night and homework is to practice Beethoven's "Ode to Joy", not a difficult tune but it is taking me a wee while to work out some of the fingering, none of which is indicated on the music we were given.  When I had classical guitar lessons many many years ago the fingering was always shown on the music.....made it so much easier when one knew that one had to place one's third finger on the second fret because the second finger, which may have been more obvious to use, was needed for the next note somewhere else.  But never fear, all will work out.

Been thinking of my family and friends in parts of Canada, the snow storms have been quite bad - worst for several years.  Stay warm and safe!

Not much activity to report this week from the sewing room.  The pants pattern is drafted and has been transferred to pattern tissue and cut, now need to cut out the trial fabric, a very bright red gingham with 1in squares. The large checks make it easy to check any fitting problems, and they can have lines drawn on them to match hips etc.  They will never, ever be worn in public.  Trust me on this.

But because I don't want you all to think that nothing ever gets done here, before we went to Canada I made two more leaf bowls which were needed for an exhibition at a local craft gallery.  A gold one had previously been made and shown on the blog.

This glorious leaf fabric was a gift from Rose Marie a few years ago......

 .....and this fabric was a good match for the other side

 Some more of my stash of leaf fabrics, I'm not sure whether I like this side best..........

 .......or this side.

After these were made they were put together as a trio with the gold bowl, and it has a much narrower zig-zag edging.  Obviously it wasn't checked before going ahead with these two, as their edge stitching is much wider.....but it doesn't look too bad, for all that.  When autumn eventually arrives, La Chateau des Wombats will have a head start on decor.

Speaking of decor, the small bathroom has finally been painted and is now dazzling white rather than the unfortunate yellow/orange sponged finish left by the previous owners.  The small plastic mirrored cabinet has been removed and a large mirror ordered, it should be installed soon.  The mirror had been screwed high on the wall, and I am short, so I could only see from my forehead up.....it was much too high for applying lippy, even standing on tippy toe......perhaps the previous Man Of The House was a tall bloke and put the mirror at a height to suit him.  The ceramic tile in my wombat collection will go on the wall, I only ever managed to find one wombat tile.......surely there must be more than one......

"Etiquette of calls.
There are calls of ceremony, of condolence, of congratulation and of friendship.  All but the latter are usually of short duration.  The call of friendship is usually of less formality and may be of some length."

Calls, and calling cards, seem to have passed by the wayside, haven't they?  Nowadays we are more likely to meet a friend at a café than make a more formal call to their home.  When I was a child people still called on each other, because cafés hadn't yet been invented.

Enjoy your days!

Not sure where the week has gone.....

No doubt about it, the older one gets the quicker time flies.  This week I had great intentions of posting sooner but it just didn't happen.

The quilt top made of those not-very-well-put-together blocks is done, what do you reckon?  Bearing in mind that it still needs to be properly pressed, then layered and quilted.

It's not quite as yellow as it appears - it's lying on the spare bed, and that room has gold walls.  The picture was quickly taken so you could see what a genius I am, both with the design and the border colour choices.

The current sewing room project is to draft a pattern for pants, which is quite an interesting process.  When I was young and slender I used to be able to make pants from a bought pattern which would fit with no alterations needed but as age, genetics and hormones have wrecked my once youthful figure that's not so easy any more.  Properly fitting clothes can make anyone look better.....at least, I hope so!  We now have a branch of the Australian Sewing Guild here in the Small Smoke, and the help and support of like-minded people is great.  It also helps to have someone else to help with fitting and measuring which is difficult to do on one's own.  As the next sewing group meeting will come before the quilt group meeting the pants pattern will get done first; if the quilt isn't done for this month it can wait until next time.

Now that the music festival is over and done with until next January life is slowly returning to what passes for normal.  Monday night choir starts again tomorrow night, ukulele group on Tuesday night.....so far Thursday night choir hasn't been heard from, but no doubt it will start again soon.  This year I had hoped to have a go at square dancing but the foot is not quite yet up to it; yes, I have done square dancing before so I can follow the calls......allemand left with your left hand, do-si-do etc.......my doctor keeps making noises about exercise and that would at least be fun......

Last Wednesday morning I made my radio debut!  Not on my own program yet but Tony who has been training me said "now you take over" and walked out of the studio for a while, so I had the fun of selecting the music to be played, and announcing it, and making sure the correct sponsors' and community announcement messages were played, and answering the phone and playing the requested songs.  Folk who heard it were complimentary, so that's good - I'm looking forward to having my own program.

This week we have had more welcome rain, the hill behind us is now green and lush again.  Before last weekend it was dry and yellow-brown, but within two days of the rain it had changed completely; it was getting greener as we watched, I'm sure.  This morning I noticed a slight change of colour on some of the leaves of a large deciduous tree near the local railway station, perhaps we are coming to the beginning of the end of summer!  Or perhaps the tree was like many of us, tired and stressed by the heat of the last few months.

"As culture is the first requirement of good society, so self-improvement should be the aim of each and all of its members.  Manners will improve with the cultivation of the mind, until the pleasure and harmony of social intercourse are no longer marred by the introduction of discordant elements, and they only will be excluded from the best society whose lack of education and whose rude manners will totally unfit them for its enjoyments and appreciation.  Good manners are even more essential to harmony in society than a good education, and may be considered as valuable an acquisition as knowledge in any form."

That's very true, isn't it?  We can forgive people many things, if they have good manners.

Enjoy your days!

Hey, rain.....

....rain coming down,
On the cane, on the roofs of the town......

From a poem by Aussie Bill Scott, and very apt today because we are having some very welcome rain.  It's not so welcome in Queensland, they are having tornadoes and floods, but it has been so dry here lately that we will take whatever we can get and be grateful for it.

It rained the day we visited Kincardine, too.  That's Lake Huron in the distance.

 Don't you love the different colours of autumn?  It's not all orange, or gold, or red....there is such a mix of colours.

Just taking a coffee break from sewing blocks together for a charity quilt.  The blocks were made by group members and when I measured them I found that some folk were rather creative with their seams.......one in particular was not well made, it had equal sides but wasn't square, more of a parallelogram and the sides may have measured equal but they weren't straight......but I was determined to use it because there were nine blocks and if that one wasn't used another would have had to be made in its place.......so its sides were trimmed as straight as possible, and all blocks were bordered with 2-1/2in borders of cream fabric.  Then, genius what I am, I made a paper template 9-1/2in square and used it to cut all the blocks on an angle to get wonky squares.  They are now in the process of being sashed with pale blue solid, then bordered with mid and dark blue solids.  The block design is a bird, a swallow, hence the blue borders - and because they are wonky they look as though they are darting round the sky.  A pic will be taken when it's all together, I promise.  Those blocks have been taking up space in my sewing room for well over a year so it's time they were moved out.

For the border design and measurements I used EQ7, drew it up , used their measurements to buy the border fabrics, and to cut them, then wondered why they wouldn't fit the by-then-trimmed-to-size blocks, and realised that although I had cut the fabrics to the measurements given, I had put the wrong size into my design in the first place.  Fortunately the error was easily fixed as I had put in a bigger size and the sashings and borders needed a little trimmed off them; it would not have been good had I put in a smaller size.  So if you would like 24 pieces of light blue solid fabric each half an inch by 1-1/2 inches, speak up now.

We have been enjoying some of the festival music, even though it's called a country music festival I wouldn't call all the music we have heard 'country'.  Why put music in boxes?  You either enjoy it, or you don't.  We spent yesterday afternoon at a pub on The Other Side Of The River......yes indeed, we crossed over......listening to a musician we have heard play at folk festivals in past years, Andy Baylor.  Great music, really danceable; some people took to the floor, and we enjoyed watching them dance as much as they enjoyed dancing.  We came home with three new CDs and are looking forward to hearing them.  Next month Andy will be playing at a jazz festival - see what I mean about boxes?  Folk festival, country music festival, jazz festival.....who decides how these genres are defined?

Unfortunately my healing foot didn't allow me up on the dance floor, but I would have if I could have, and if I had a partner.  But it is getting better, the swelling has nearly all gone down which makes it easier to move, which in turn means that I move more.  However, this year was to be the year that my torn shoulder was fixed, I had psyched myself up to Going Under The Knife and was looking forward to being pain-free, until Kevin (being a tough Aussie bloke and not asking for help) hurt his shoulder loading a suitcase into our car at the very start of our Canadian holiday last year, we hadn't even left home. He has now found out he has torn two muscles in his shoulder, so bang goes my chance to be fixed....I only have one torn tendon, even though it was done a few years ago and it is uncomfortable and sometimes annoying.....can you blame me for being slightly miffed?  I was told that immediately after the operation I would have to keep my arm in a fixed position for six weeks, then limited movement while having physiotherapy, all of which would take at least three months; I had been hoping to have it done before next summer, as having one's arm strapped to one's body could be uncomfortable in hot weather.  Being one-armed means depending on one's partner for help with tasks like hair washing, so the aforementioned partner needs to have two working hands, arms and shoulders.  By the time Kevin gets to see a specialist (probably in the Big Smoke), and arranges for his operation, and goes through his rehabilitation of at least three months, it will be getting on for summer again......so there goes my chance to be fixed this year.  I am peeved, and more than a little resentful.

Ah well.  No doubt these things happen for a reason.  I have yet to decide what that reason is, in this case.

"In society, everybody should receive equal attention, the young as well as the old.  A high authority says 'If we wish our young people to grow up self-possessed and at ease, we must early train them in those graces by giving them the same attention and consideration we do those of maturer years.  If we snub them, and systematically neglect them, they will acquire an awkwardness and a deprecatory manner, which will be very difficult for them to overcome'"

If we were both to receive equal attention then we could both have our shoulders fixed at the same time.....but how would we cope, with both of us being one-armed for a while?

Enjoy your days!

Summer is definitely overrated

It's been very hot, I have decided I am over summer.  I wish I was back in nice cool Canada with its rain, and cloud, and a little bit of snow, and mist like the days we visited Butchart Gardens.  In summer this is a mass of coloured flowers and visitors, but in autumn it is peaceful.

 The pic below is part of the famous Sunken Garden.  Have I ever mentioned that I am quite fond of green?  The different shades of green make it a year-round garden.

 Sometimes one leaf stands out from its surroundings, as this one did.

 This maple leaf on a driveway seemed to be on fire.....it was glowing on a dull afternoon.

Much cooler weather than we are currently having, and much more pleasant.  Many Canadians we met on our holiday were surprised that we would choose cool weather to visit them, but if those nice folk were to suffer (and I do mean suffer) weather like we are having this summer they would know why we enjoyed their fall.  Oh well, only a few months until autumn rolls round once more.......hope we can survive that long.

Yesterday morning the broken foot and I had a session with Emma the Physiotherapist, and I am pleased to report that we - the foot and I - are now moving much more freely and with less pain.  The swelling isn't as bad as it was, and we have some exercises to do to help the healing along and an elastic bandage to wear to help keep the swelling down.  Halloween was many many weeks ago and my foot has been swollen and sore since then, and I am fed up with not being able to take a step without it hurting.  I was pleased, though, to have a reason for the swelling and pain, that it wasn't just me being a wuss.  According to the medical report it is "still healing", so things are being taken gently.......dancing the rumba will have to wait a little longer.

Unfortunately it has also curtailed my machine sewing, but the new jammies are getting closer to be finished.  One pair is already done, while the other only needs hems on the top and pants to be measured, pinned and sewn.  That won't take long, indeed it may even get done today.

A few hours west of here over the past few days have been suffering very bad bush fires with many houses and farms destroyed, but no lives lost thank goodness.  It saddens me to watch, on news reports, people who have lost nearly all they own except the clothes they are wearing being asked by reporters "and how did you feel when you saw that your house and everything in it was gone?"  How crass and insensitive is that?  For heaven's sake, leave them to grieve their losses in peace and privacy.

There are no more unfortunate lapses of good taste in clothing to report this week, you will be pleased to hear.  However, as the town is now having its annual influx of music fans we can expect to see more.  Why is it that many people, when on holiday, don't think that ordinary rules of dressing decently apply to them?  Do they leave their good taste (if, indeed, they have any) at home?  Just because you are visiting a town you don't live in is no reason for sloppiness.

"Opera dress.
Opera dress for matinees maybe as elegant as for morning calls.  A head dress is generally worn even by those who occupy boxes, it may be as dressy as one chooses to make it.  In the evening ladies are at liberty to wear evening dresses, with ornaments in their hair, instead of a bonnet, and as the effect of light colors is much better than dark in a well-lighted opera house, they should predominate."

Performances during The Festival will be in a variety of venues from small halls to large theatres, but except for one gala night people don't generally dress up to this extent.  Wouldn't it be nice if they did?

Enjoy your days!

We're having a heatwave.....

.......a tropical heatwave,
It isn't surprising the temperature's rising,
She certainly can.....can can!

Remember that song?

We are indeed having a heatwave, although it's not tropical.  For over a week now it's been very hot with the occasional day of 40 deg C, that's over 100F in old numbers, and more to come in the next week or so.  Bush fires have burnt many properties in different states, although, touch wood, so far no lives have been lost.  But people have lost their homes, businesses, all their possessions, schools have gone; while it's not as catastrophic as the fires of a few years ago it's not over yet.  Coastal towns which usually have milder temperatures than we get have been hot - some even hotter than us.

These are some of the bags which came home from Canada with me.  Isn't this a fun bag?  The pattern and fabric were a gift from Rose Marie when we stayed with her.

The fabric is Stonehenge by Northcott, both the prints and the black tone-on-tone, and is beautiful fabric to work with.  The pattern didn't use lining, but I added one - the base is quite sturdy so I felt the sides needed more than one layer of fabric.

This is a bag from my friend Lois who doesn't have a blog, it's a Canadian postcard print - I would love to visit all the places in the pictures!  It's a good-sized bag, both ends fold in and are closed with studs; when the studs are open it holds a lot of shopping.  Or knitting.  Or fabric.......Lois and I had a great time at a quilt shop, you know.  I could have come home with much more fabric than I did........and I feel very lucky to have such generous friends.

 Last but definitely not least a small bag won on Bev's blog which contained some sewing goodies - spotted white fabric, thread in a very useful colour, a tape measure and a packet of emery nail files.  Rough fingernail edges can catch on fabric edges, so emery files are very handy.  The bag lining fabric is a black on white print of vintage sewing machines, and yes, the zipper on the bag is indeed purple.  Bev and I were hoping to get to meet while we were in Toronto, but sadly it was not able to happen.

Last week I mentioned to my doctor that I was having trouble with a very sore ankle which didn't want to work properly, probably because I hurt my right foot while in Canada - it's difficult to walk when every step hurts, which it did for several weeks, indeed the foot and ankle are still swollen a couple of months later - she suggested having an X-ray to see what happened in there, and guess what she told me today......my foot had indeed been broken.  The second little toe broke, and the rest of the foot was bruised and injured.  But being a tough Aussie I just continued walking on it.....walked round Butchart Gardens and goodness knows where else......I drew the line at climbing up Mount Doug in Victoria, B.C. even though the view was glorious, because that did hurt.

While at the doctor today we saw a sight that is still burned on my eyelids.  Picture, if you will, a somewhat-less-than-slender middle aged woman wearing a summer dress, floor length as are many of the current styles, the top being two triangles joined onto the waistband.....not all the sagging flesh was contained, if you get my meaning......front, back and sides.......it was not pretty.  Unfortunately the current hot weather has brought out the worst in some people's clothing taste.  While at home I do admit to wearing very casual clothing, but out in public - no.

The new pjs are progressing nicely considering that the broken foot is the pedal foot, so the sewing is being done in short bursts rather than long marathons.  Next project will be a kid's charity quilt, the blocks for which which have been sitting in my sewing room for over a year - then fabrics will be gathered for one of my Canadian patterns.  There are some batiks in my stash which are calling my name......

My own radio program is getting closer, there have been a couple of training sessions with more to come.  Once I get the hang of which button to press, and when, and some other details to remember, I might be ready.

"Dress for morning calls.
Morning calls may be made either in walking or carriage dress, provided the latter is justified by the presence of the carriage,  The dress should be silk; collar and cuffs of the finest lace; light gloves; a full dress bonnet and jewellery of gold, either dead, burnished or enamelled, or of cameo or coral.  Diamonds are not usually worn in daylight.  A dress of black or neutral tint, in which light colours are introduced only in small quantities, is the most appropriate for a morning call."

Well.....this morning's woman did wear (but only just) a dress of black and white, while small quantities of light colours were introduced by way of the tattoo on her back.  And it was morning, even though a visit to the doctor is not considered a social call.  However, as she wore no bonnet or gloves, or collar and cuffs, her dress probably would not be considered appropriate.

Enjoy your days!

Here we are in 2013

It seems like yesterday that the world was so worried about the Y2K bug.....remember that?  It was a bit of a fizzer, from memory.  We spent New Year's Eve watching the last night of the proms on TV, drinking bubbly, and eating nibblies; we even made it to past midnight, a feat not accomplished every year.

Here's a pretty party frock for you to drool over.

 I'm sorry about the reflections but as it was behind glass it was difficult to avoid them.  Believe it or not, this pretty dress and flower bouquet are made of table napkins!  It was a display at the Butchart Gardens.

Joan's Bench looks over a beautiful view in Sidney, on Vancouver Island.

We also enjoyed the view and the wonder of it all.  Benches overlooking the bay were dedicated to different people.

How are you going with your new year's resolutions....have you broken them yet?  I decided years ago that I would only have one, and that was not to make any resolutions at all.  Saves a lot of strife and heartbreak, don't you think?

It's been a lazy time over Christmas and the new year.  Our older son and his girlfriend came to visit and it was good to see them.  Next time we're together will be at Easter.

The sewing room has a project on the go, or rather two projects - some new summer jammies for me.  Bright yellow jammies, just shorts and a tank top in knit fabric, comfy and cool for the heat we've been having.  Solid yellow fabric and yellow spot fabric, with the pieces being mixed and matched.  There may be a pic of the finished garments, but not with me in them.  Trust me on this.   There are also blocks to be made into charity quilts so perhaps that should get done....and I am itching to get stuck into the projects brought back from Canada.  Karen very generously sent me a couple of her patterns, they were waiting for me when we arrived in Toronto, and some fabrics purchased in Victoria (that's B.C. not Aust.) will be just The Very Thing for one of them.

A few days ago while having the fit of the new glasses tweaked I had the opportunity of watching the passing parade, as the optometrist is situated on a corner of the main street.  When will people realise that rubber thongs (that's footwear, flip flops, not underwear) do not constitute fashion wear?  One young chicky was wearing a pretty dress, carried a nice bag, and had rubber thongs on her little tootsies.  I felt like taking her to the shoe shop across the road and pointing out the pretty sandals which were on sale.

"Visiting costumes.
Visiting costumes, or those worn at a funeral or informal calls, are of richer material than walking suits.  The bonnet is either simple or rich, according to the taste of the wearer.  A jacket of velvet, or shawl, or fur-trimmed mantle are the concomitants of the carriage dress for winter.  In summer all should be bright, cool, agreeable to wear and pleasant to look at."  

"Pleasant to look at"......I'm afraid that rubber footwear is not.  It may be very comfortable in the privacy of one's own home, and that's where it should stay.  It does have its uses I will admit, but in public, worn with a pretty dress, is not it.

Enjoy your days!