Glorious oceanic lusciousness!

Late last year I was lucky enough to win a giveaway on Linda's blog, and yesterday my fabrics arrived from Sew Sisters in Toronto, Canada......aren't they gorgeous?

Colours of the ocean, from a tropical lagoon to a stormy sea!  Thank you, Linda, for letting me join in, and thank you to Sew Sisters for such beautiful fabrics and for sending a second parcel when the first one failed to arrive.

The cunning plan is to put these with more blue batik fabrics from my stash and to add touches of yellow/gold for contrast, what do you reckon?

Only one block on Euan's quilt to be quilted, then the border, and then it can be labelled and bound.  It might just be finished in time.......machine quilting is hard on one's neck and shoulders, so after every block I take a break to stand up, stretch, walk around, have coffee or bring in the washing, all of which slows down the quilting but makes for a happier body.  Right now it's coffee o'clock.

If you were here with me now, enjoying coffee, you could also listen to my new CD purchased recently in the Big Smoke, "Pilgrimage to Montserrat" by Australian early music group The Renaissance Players.  Musical from the middle ages really speaks to me, goodness knows why - it's not as though I can remember hearing it when it was new!  We do have shops here where CDs can be purchased but they are not all my taste, so I content myself with online ordering and the occasional visit to a Larger Smoke when I can treat myself to some new old music.

Lately we are seeing signs that summer is on the way out, today is beautifully mild, but looking ahead at the forecast for later in the week hot weather is to return  - with a vengeance!  Hopefully, though, not too hot and not for too long.  We've even had a little more rain, so gardens are smiling.

This quote from my 1885 book is for my friends in colder climes.

"Putting away furs for the summer.
When you are ready to put away furs and woollens, and want to guard against the depredations of moths, pack them securely in paper flour sacks and tie them up well.  This is better than camphor or tobacco or snuff scattered among them in chests and drawers.  Before putting your muffs away for the summer, twirl them by the cords at the ends, so that every hair will straighten.  Put them in their boxes and paste a strip of paper where the lid fits on."

I hope that advice is helpful......are muffs still used anywhere?

Now I am going back to the sewing room to quilt, and to fondle my new fabric again.

Enjoy your days!

Gee, it's good to be back home again!

So goes the song, so I feel.  Kevin was born and bred in the Big Smoke, I lived there for forty years, but we feel so much more at home here since moving to the Small Smoke nearly five years ago.  We enjoyed our visit but aren't in a hurry to return.

However we will be returning later this year, because we have booked (and paid for, so we can't change our minds) plane tickets to Canada in September.....yay!  We will get to see our younger son again and his lovely partner, and spend time with our Canadian friends once more.

We're not getting too excited about that trip yet, though, because we have another trip coming up much closer to home, our annual trip to Canberra to catch up with our older son and his gorgeous wife, and of course our grandkid Euan The Wonder Kid, and to spend time at a folk festival over the Easter weekend - something we have been doing for 20 years now.  Once we return from Canberra we will be able to get excited about our Canadian trip.

This is where we spent some of our time in the Big Smoke.

 Not in the pool, though.......just admiring it.  I don't do water.

These pics were taken on a previous visit but the view hasn't changed, the only difference is that this year it didn't rain.  According to my 1885 etiquette book, in the language of flowers hibiscus stands for 'delicate beauty' - now that's a surprise, I would have thought 'bold and flashy' was more like it.

The day before we drove to the Big Smoke we had a phone call, one we have been expecting for a while, to say that a friend had passed away.  Kevin and Bob were friends of very long standing having played tennis together as teenagers and Bob was best man when we married, so it was a sad goodbye to him at his funeral on Friday.

Progress on Euan's quilt is being resumed......better get a move on, hadn't I!  It has still been fairly warm though, and the last thing one feels like doing in the heat is sitting at the machine, quilting.  Summer can finish now, I am over it, seems like ages since we had a day under 30 deg C.  However we have been thankful for a little rain, not enough to get gardeners excited, just enough to help our dry thirsty gardens slightly, with the possibility of more later today.

"Ladies invited to funeral ceremonies should always wear a black dress, even if they are not in mourning; and it is bad taste to appear with a gay bonnet or shawl, as if for a festive occasion."

Bob's funeral was held in a Catholic church and while some women wore dark colours or black with a touch of colour - myself included, I wore a black skirt with a dark emerald top and black accessories - many wore black from head to toe as is customary at a funeral, but the surprise was the styles being worn.  A black lace dress with almost bare shoulders and very little back at a funeral mass?  Another dress with black lace overlaid on white satin?  We both thought such dresses, pretty as they were, more suitable for a night out than a formal church funeral.......but then, what do we know?

Enjoy your days!

It is said your day is wasted if you don't learn something

Today I learnt a little about praying mantises.

 Sometimes they visit our garden and hang around on the shade cloth blind that keeps hot sun off the back of our house.  This one was bright green but you can't tell that because of the sun glare, and was several inches long.

This morning this large brown girl - for it is a female - was making her ootheca, or egg capsule.....we know what she was up to a week or so ago, don't we!

 This afternoon she was gone and had left this ootheca behind on the post; the colour could be best described as pea soup green and it's a bit over one inch long, or 2.54 cms if you prefer.

When all those new critters hatch we will have lots of new friends here at the Chateau des Wombats.  If they were cute little things I might keep one as a pet, but I don't do insects.  Fur, yes.  Feathers, maybe.  Fins and scales, definitely not.......we're getting further away from warm and fuzzy here, folks.  I only do warm and fuzzy.

However - my day wasn't wasted, was it?

Last week's promised rain didn't happen.  We had a few spots, a bit of a shower, but it was nothing to get excited about.  So we didn't.  Right now it's trying hard to rain, fingers crossed that it does, as this month is on track to be the one of the driest Februaries ever since records were kept.  That's not the sort of record we wish to set.

Work on Euan's quilt is proceeding, with only eight blocks to be quilted before the border is tackled.  It will have to wait for a little while; this coming Saturday is quilt group and I am organising what to take, and making sure my little vintage Singer Featherweight is oiled and working (My Lovely New Bernina is set up for free-motion quilting, and it's staying that way until Euan's quilt is done) as the plan is to work on making quilts for the local Ronald Macdonald House.  It always takes so long to pack up 'stuff' for a day's sewing, doesn't it?  Then when you get there and start to set up there is always something which has been forgotten, which is why I need to prepare in advance.

Next week we will be away for a few days, we will be making our annual pilgrimage to the Big Smoke to see our financial bloke to make sure we can afford to keep living until Christmas, and to catch up with friends, and to do a little shopping for things which just aren't available here - good quality dark chocolate from a proper chocolate shop, perhaps a CD because my kind of music isn't available here in the Small Smoke, a visit to a big huge book shop - we have a book shop here, but it's not big - maybe even take in an exhibition.  It's going to be a busy few days, isn't it?

Then on Friday we will drive back home, and no doubt breathe a sigh of relief as we leave the Big Smoke behind until the next time.  I lived there for forty years, but now when we visit I find it suffocating.  So many people, so much traffic, so much noise.......

"The girl who has so educated and regulated her intellect, her tastes, her emotions and moral sense, as to be able to discern the true from the false, will be ready for the faithful performance of whatever work in life is alloted to her; while she who is allowed to grow up ignorant, idle, vain, frivolous, will find herself fitted for no state of existence, and in after years, with feelings of remorse and despair over a wasted life, may cast reproach upon those in whose trust was reposed her early education."

That sounds to me like a fancy way of saying girls should learn interesting things - for example, studying about praying mantises.

Enjoy your days!

Waiting for the pitter patter

Not of tiny feet, but of raindrops - today's forecast is for showers later today, and for rain tomorrow.  Fingers crossed that it happens.  So far this month we have not had one drop of rain so there is a lot of catching up to be done.

Some of the world is buried under tons of snow right now, we'll send you some of our sun and heat if you like......we have more than enough to spare!

However it appears that summer is losing its grip because we are noticing changes in some of the trees hereabouts; leaves are losing their bright green colour and looking faded, while some are turning yellow and bronze already.  Our neighbour said it's because of the ongoing drought, but I like to think it's because summer is on the way out.

Just looking at these photos makes me feel cooler.

 Canada in autumn is beautiful.

We don't get the same glorious colours, but summer's green still makes way for light gold, red and bronze.....there is more colour here in the change of seasons than when we lived in the Big Smoke.

Last week the medical centre rang to tell me that I don't need to worry, the 'thing' on my forehead is a solar keratosis not deadly skin cancer, so my face won't fall off.  It's good that I don't need to panic......wouldn't want to waste a good panic, would we?

Also last week I managed to scald my stomach when my hand slipped on the kettle handle while pouring boiling water into the kitchen sink, and water splashed onto the edge of the sink and onto me.  Oh dear, it did hurt.  I reckon one of the most painful ways to be injured is by burning or scalding.  Way back when I was a little tacker I pulled a pan of boiling milk off the stove and onto me.  The scars are there to this day, inside my right arm and elbow and on the outside of my right breast.  I'm really glad I have no memory of it, because it must have been horrendously painful.

Work is continuing on Euan's quilt, I tried to get a picture but the bright colours make it hard to photograph indoors - every block looks very orange, even if there is no orange in it.  So take my word for it, progress is continuing and eventually it will be finished.

Then a Big Decision will need to be made, about which of many projects to work on next.

Recently we went for a Nice Sunday Drive on a Friday to Nundle to order a shade for the light in our bedroom.  The current shade was in place when we moved in, and it's not lovely.  We will be glad to get rid of it, and replace it with a glass shade from these glass artists, whose work is gorgeous.

We've been in this house now for nearly five years, and are still finding things we would like to change.  Last year we had the fussy frilly curtains, valances and pink blinds taken away from the kitchen and the living area next to it;  they were replaced by cream blinds and no curtains, so much neater and less cluttered.

"A douche or hip bath may be taken every morning, with the temperature of the water suited to the endurance of the individual.  In summer a sponge bath may be taken upon retiring.  Once a week a warm bath, at from ninety to one hundred degrees, may be taken, with plenty of soap, in order to thoroughly cleanse the pores of the skin.  Rough towels should be vigorously used after these baths, not only to remove the impurities of the skin but for the beneficial friction which will send a glow over the whole body.  The hair glove or fleshbrush may be used to advantage in the bath before the towel is applied."

It seems funny to us these days that people once needed to be reminded to bathe daily, doesn't it?  The thinking, so I have read, was that one bathed once a week whether one needed it or not.....or perhaps it was once a month.  Could even have been once a year......now there's a scary thought.....

Enjoy your days!

Finally......quilting has started!

Yesterday the sewing room was re-organised, small tables were moved to better positions to support the weight, and today the first quilting stitches were taken on Euan's quilt.

 It's quite bright.......that orange sashing and border is only one inch wide, so I am quilting a wavy line down the middle using the walking foot.  My first thought was something more adventurous but it is for a baby, so the quilting doesn't need to be worthy of taking first prize in an international show.

As promised, here are some of the flowers and buds on one of our pretty correa plants.

It's not very big yet, so I hope you appreciate that I had to get down on hands and knees to take this.  Getting down is still not too bad, but getting up again is a different story.........

On Tuesday I had a minor medical procedure.  For some time now there has been a blemish right smack dab in the middle of my forehead; it has been frozen/burnt off twice but still comes back, so I made an appointment to have it seen to.  The doctor didn't think it is anything ominous but as Australia has the highest rate of melanoma and other skin cancers in the world, I felt it was worth checking.  I almost wish I hadn't, now.......first there was an injection at the edge of the blemish, then a couple of minutes later another one nearby.....I don't like injections at the best of times, and having to have two - TWO! - in my forehead was a bit much......then he took two scrapings of skin to be sent for biopsy, one for each injection, because there were two patches of scaly skin.....then the nurse slapped on a large white dressing, and I was given instructions on how to care for the wound.  The dressing looked like a headlight, a beacon shining forth from my head, but as the instructions were to soak it off in the shower the following morning the indignity of wearing it was only for one day.  Then there was the delight of having a scabby forehead that looked as though I had taken on someone bigger and stronger than myself, and lost.......but it is healing nicely now, although a small bruise next to the wound will, I suspect, take a little longer to go away.

If the biopsies don't show a problem then nothing more needs to be done, but if there is cause for concern I will be notified about a follow-up visit.  No news yet, so fingers crossed!

Like many Australians my ancestry is from the British Isles, England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland, and like many Aussies I have skin which would be better off in a milder climate away from our harsh sun.  However I was born here, my parents were born here, two of my four grandparents were born here, some of my great-grandparents were born here, great-great-grandparents too......my family roots in this country go back to at least 1800.  Like many people of my generation we were sent outside to play, we wore no hat, no sunscreen, no shirt - skin cancer hadn't been invented then, obviously.  I can recall being quite badly burnt more than once in my life, and people of my generation are now paying the price for that neglect.

"To remove freckles.
A good freckle lotion is made of honey, one ounce, mixed with one pint of luke-warm water.  Apply when cold."

Ladies in 1885 were really concerned about having freckled skin.  Apparently the reason was, a woman who wasn't a lady might spend time outside, gardening, working in the fields, hanging out washing.....but a true lady didn't do those things.  She stayed inside to preserve her complexion, and if she needed to venture forth she wore a hat, long sleeves, gloves, and kept a parasol over her head at all times.  The emergence of a freckle would have been greeted with horror.

Enjoy your days!

Poor neglected blog

Finally - a chance to sit down and compose some thoughts, without having to race out the door for practice, or to a gig, or to chauffeur Kevin who had an eye operation last week and is doing very well thank you but couldn't drive for a couple of days, or.......or......

A couple of nights ago the last stitches were taken on the fourth large flower basket block, here are all four laid out.  Each block is 18in square finished, and each will be quilted before being joined into a quilt.

 When one is short, as one is, and one has to stand on a chair (which one never quite feels secure about doing) to be able to get far enough away to get all blocks in one photo, one just snaps a quick pic and gets down.  Which one did.  Which is why this is far from being a prize-winning shot.

Last year we fell in love with this pretty Aussie native plant and ordered two from a local nursery.  The young bloke who works there kept shaking his head and saying "you shouldn't be able to grow correas where you are......I love correas but I can't get them to grow for me, they don't grow well in this town" however they are thriving in our garden so well that they are now flowering!  When it stops raining I will sit on the ground to photograph them (because the plants aren't yet very tall, although they are growing beautifully) and you can seen their pretty pink bells.  To give an idea of scale, each flower bell is about three quarters to one inch long.

The music festival is over and the uke group has no more gigs for a while, so Euan's quilt can be layered, pinned and quilted.  The orange sashing will have a vine design, the blocks will have a variation on a continuous curve design, and the borders will have cats on two borders with dogs on the other two.  Euan's parents have a dog and his Other Grandparents have a dog, but we have a cat so he might as well learn early that dogs aren't the only animals in the whole universe.

Uke class starts again next week, and the other day I pushed the boat out and changed the strings on my uke because they were sounding muddy and didn't have the clear ring that new strings do.  It should have been done before our festival gigs but it's a bit late to think of that now, isn't it?  Now one item on tomorrow's 'to do' list is 'call in at music shop and buy new set of strings' because it's a good idea to keep a spare set.

By golly, those new strings do sound nice......

Not only has it been raining again, it has turned quite cool for this time of year.  Not that we are complaining - it makes a change from being too hot.  Our plants are very happy with the rain, because restrictions mean that we can only water them sparingly.

"Signature of ladies.
A married lady should not sign herself with the "Mrs." before her baptismal name, or a single lady with the "Miss."  In writing to strangers who do not know whether to address you as Mrs. or Miss, the address should be given in full, after signing your letter, as "Mrs John Smith," followed by the direction; or if unmarried, the "Miss" should be placed in brackets a short distance preceding the signature.
Only the letters of unmarried ladies and widows are addressed with their baptismal names.  The letters of married ladies are addressed with their husbands' names, as "Mrs John Smith."

In other words, when a woman married in the 1800s she ceased to exist as herself and became "Mrs husband's-first-and-last-name".  I wonder what the good folk of that time would have thought of the idea, now widely used, of married women retaining their maiden name - whether for business (as our daughter-in-law does) or personal purposes?

Enjoy your days!

Happy New Year to everyone!

As it's the first time we have been together since the start of the new year, I would like to send everyone best wishes for a wonderful 2015.

Meet our grandkid Euan, who is a nice little feller.

He was 16 days old when this was taken, and supposedly a few weeks early when born......doesn't look undercooked, does he?  Like all babies at this age he does very little other than eat, poop, sleep and cry, but as he gets a little older that will change......and by the time we get together again in a few months he will no doubt be walking and talking.

We enjoyed our trip to Canberra, and of course loved meeting the newest twig on the family tree and his parents, and the Other Grandparents (with whom we stayed).  While I didn't get to the fabric shop or the book shop, they will still be there in a few months calling my name.  We did manage to each get some new summer sandals, and some undies for me (because here in the Small Smoke we only have one specialist lingerie shop, although we can of course buy undies in various chain stores) and some lovely scented lotions as I was given a gift card to the Beautifully Scented Lotion Shop for Christmas.

We enjoyed the trip each way although it is a long drive, but it takes us through some interesting small towns and it is fun finding places to stop for coffee or lunch.  Each trip we enjoy revisiting places we like, and looking for new ones.

Visitors are arriving in town for the big huge country music festival which starts here next week - some hit town early last month, that's keenness for you!  It's not unknown to have 50,000 extra people in town.  Some locals love the festival and the crowds, most tolerate it, some hate it, while one woman I know loathes it, detests it with a passion, and is very nasty and vitriolic about it.  I don't see the point of that; it's been happening for over 40 years, she hasn't lived here for that long so would have known about it before she moved in.  Many people leave town for the duration and often let out their houses to festival goers, while others move in with friends or family and rent out their house to get some extra money for their mortgage or household expenses.

By the end of the month it will all be over for another year, and next year it will happen again. The world keeps turning, doesn't it?

The uke group has two gigs; we will be opening one concert at a popular venue (yay for us!) and playing at an outdoor concert, once again opening for a couple of well-known performers......not well-known to me, I'm afraid.  I don't follow modern country music, although I don't mind some of it - but my tastes run to old country music, the older the better.  Think Hank Williams......early Johnny Cash......1950s, and even before.  Songs to which we all know the words, and probably sing along with every time we hear them.

"Be always mild and cheerful in their presence, communicative, but never extravagant, trifling or vulgar in language or gesture.  Never trifle with a child nor speak beseechingly when it is doing wrong."

Indeed.  We shall endeavour to remember this advice when next we meet up with our grandkid.

Enjoy your days!