540 pieces of fabric later......

All 540 pieces for the UFO weekend quilt were cut out in time, although it took a certain amount of effort on Friday night to get it done.......but, done it was.

Over the weekend My Lovely New Bernina (17 years old this month but until the day I die it will always be My Lovely New Bernina) and I made 30 of these:

 ......and 120 of these......

 ......and then 30 of these.

Would you believe there are 30 blocks in the quilt?

However it has now been put aside until later this month, because I have decided to make it the project I work on at monthly quilt group meetings.  It's an easy chain-pieced project, so I can work on more complicated stuff at home and save up the easy ones for the meetings.

Big night tomorrow night!  Our local music school has a number of adults who have music lessons for various reasons - continuing something they have done for a long time, starting again after playing when younger then giving it up, or in the case of some of the uke group players, doing something they have always wanted to do.  In early September each year Australia celebrates Adult Learners Week during which our music school has a concert featuring its adult students.  It's a fun night, we get to meet other adult musicians, and the night ends with drinkies and nibblies served in the studio where we practise.  We'll be playing "Ain't Misbehavin'", "Dream a Little Dream" and one for the ABBA fans (of whom I am not one) "Mamma Mia".  As Dot, one of the uke group, said last night - "it's quite funny, Jennifer......you don't like that song, but you still play it better than the rest of us do!"

The new light fixtures have been installed and they are so much better than the old ones were.  The chandelier......yes, folks, we now have a gorjuss modern crystal chandelier in our entrance hall......is truly beautiful and we love it, Tash Next Door and her mum also think it's very flash.  The light in my sewing room was changed for a plain LED fitting and the old one was to have been switched to a spare bedroom; waste not, want not and all that stuff.  Sadly, however, someone who shall remain nameless but who shares my bed, is male and whose name does not start with J was going to wash the dead critters out before the electrician changed it over, but he bumped it on the sink and broke it.

So now we still have to buy one more light.

AS we speak there is rain on the way and the weather people tell us that we can expect a significant amount of rain over the next few days.  Remind me to stay out of puddles, because I am a short person.

The John Williams CDs arrived, 58 of them and one DVD, all those hours and hours of wonderful music.....if we play just one CD a day we will have enough to last a couple of months before starting again.

Following on from the last quote about hairy masculine faces:

Those who shave should be careful to do so every morning.  Nothing looks worse than a shabby beard.  Some persons whose beards are strong should shave twice a day, especially if they are going to a party in the evening."

I wonder how one defines a shabby beard?  One which has been straining soup?  Erk......

Enjoy your days!

A finish, and a start

First, the finish:

The Maple Leaf runner is done!  It's another souvenir of our holiday in Canada.

Then the start:

The next project, what do you reckon?  Batik fabrics, lots of different shades of blue with pops of yellow, gold and orange.  The blue fabrics range from almost green to almost purple, right around the colour wheel.  The small pieces on the left are mostly leftovers from Maritime Beauty a couple of years ago.

Next weekend is my quilt group's annual UFO weekend (mine is still a USO, not a stitch has yet been taken) so I hope to goodness it will all be cut out in time.  It has at least been started, a few pieces have been cut......

Last Sunday's concert went well, the uke group was allowed two songs (we didn't play "Ain't misbehavin'" so it will go in the next concert in a couple more weeks), we didn't disgrace ourselves, and people told us how much they enjoyed us.  The following day Kevin and I were trundling around a local supermarket - the weekly shop is a great social outing here in the Small Smoke, these days we take our thrills where we can get them - when we were approached by a local councilor and his wife who had been at the concert.  We had a nice chat in the frozen food section, they said how much they liked our music......perhaps we should ask the council if we can be official uke players to our fair city?  I can just imagine us strutting along escorting the mayor during a civic procession, plinking as we go......

Lately, money has been flying out the door here at Chez Wombats like you wouldn't believe.  New light fittings have been bought to replace some already here when we moved in; they aren't our taste so out they go, and anyway lights now are much more efficient than they used to be.  The very 1980s lights in the entrance hall, bedroom hallway and Good Room will, thank goodness, be going.  Should you be in the market for some fittings with scrolly brass arms, painted flowers on the middle bits (don't know the technical word, sorry) and tinted glass chimneys, we will shortly have some available.   All offers welcome.  One more fixture to arrive, the shop has it on order, then the electrician can install them for us.  We don't play around with live electricity, we're not that silly, you know.

On Friday my weekly newsletter from The Fabulous CD Shop In The Big Smoke arrived in my inbox, and you probably heard me gasp from your place......there was an entire boxed set of guitarist John Williams on special.  It's now on its way here.  It cost a certain amount of dollars but oh, all that wonderful music......how can you put a price on it......many years ago I saw John Williams play and it was such an experience, I have never forgotten it.

 Continuing on from the last etiquette post, more words of wisdom aimed at the blokes in our lives:

"The beard.
The style of the growth of the beard should be governed by the character of the face.  But whatever the style be, the great point is to keep it well brushed and trimmed, and to avoid any appearance of wildness or inattention.  The full, flowing beard of course requires more looking after in the way of cleanliness than any other.  It should be thoroughly washed and brushed at least twice a day, as dust is sure to accumulate in it, and it is very easy to suffer it to become objectionable to one's self as well as to others.  If it is naturally glossy, it is better to avoid the use of oil or pomatum.  The moustache should be worn neatly and not over-large.  There is nothing that so adds to native manliness as the full beard if carefully and neatly kept."

Beards were certainly popular in the late 1800s, weren't they?  In photographs taken at the time it's rare to see a clean-shaven bloke.  I wonder what women thought of their menfolk when the beards became a bit wild?  Perhaps they were so taken by the native manliness that they didn't mind.  Just imagine how a wild beard would tickle.......

On that note I shall leave you, and head back to the sewing room and the rotary cutter.

Enjoy your days!

279 is not 275

The next row of the beaded scarf didn't go so well, it was supposed to end up with 275 stitches, instead of which there were 279.  Bugger.  So the whole row was un-knitted and will have to be done again.  Bugger again.  That will teach me to watch murder mysteries on TV while knitting something that needs a bit of concentration, won't it?

Many thanks for the comments on last week's waratahs!  Here are some more:

 Waratahs were being featured at the time of our visit.  The white ones are interesting, but I think they lack the oomph (technical word here, folks) of the red ones.

 An interesting post which has information about the waratah, including the Aboriginal legend of how they came to be, can be found here.

I would love to be able to grow them here......but, sadly, cannot.

Not a whole heap to report from the sewing room today.  The quilting on the maple leaf runner had to pause because of a couple of BOM obligations; they have now been handed over, so the machine can be set up for quilting again.  Later this month my quilt group is having its annual UFO weekend, or in some cases USO (for projects not yet started), so between now and then I will be cutting out batik fabrics in all shades of blue with a little yellow/gold for an accent.  The blues range from light turquoise to deep almost-purple, and the pattern is a scrappy one I have been wanting to do for a while.  While it's very dubious indeed that all the blocks will be done on that weekend it will at least have been started, which is a Good Thing.

Currently there is a sports carnival happening on the other side of the world, but as this humble blogger is not much of a sports fan (not any kind of a sports fan at all, really - much or otherwise) this blog is a sport-free zone.......except for one thing I found out the other day, which makes me laugh every time I think of it.

Did you know there used to be a spot in the carnival for solo synchronised swimming?  Can you imagine it?  "Solo synchronised" sounds like an oxymoron to me - how on earth does one swim (or indeed do anything else solo) in synch with one's self?

The problem with blogger seems to have fixed itself, I think the site was being gussied-up because things are different to how they used to be.  All is well now, so no need to panic.  We don't want to waste a good panic, do we?

The uke group will be playing my arrangement at a concert on Sunday afternoon, how about that!  Plus a couple of other songs from our book, "Ain't misbehavin'" and "Sway".  All together now......when marimba rhythms start to play, dance with me, make me sway.......la la la laaahhhh.........

"Long, flowing hair on a man is not in good taste, and will indicate him to the observer as a person of unbalanced mind and unpleasantly erratic character - a man, in brief, who seeks to impress others with the fact that he is eccentric, something which a really eccentric person never attempts."

Remember when blokes wore long hair?  It was fashionable for quite a long time in my giddy youth......but I don't think many of the males of my acquaintance were eccentric, just dedicated followers of fashion.

Enjoy your days!

It's never too late!

This week two new skills have entered my life, thereby proving that you can teach an old dog new tricks......how about that?

Last weekend I arranged two songs into a medley for the uke group - a couple of oldies, "Ain't she sweet" and "Five foot two, eyes of blue".  Ukuleles were very popular in the 1920s and 30s and those songs date from that era; they are both fun to play and sing, and I felt they needed to go together.  I also found out that there are many other arrangements of those two songs on the internet so my idea isn't completely original, but most of those arrangements have one song followed by the other while mine takes elements of both songs and weaves them together.  Our teacher Young Michael thinks it's a very good arrangement (he actually said "great") and the other members liked it, so it will go into our repertoire.

Our musical son would no doubt turn up his nose at my modest achievement because he has done a lot of arranging, but then he had something I didn't - a proper musical education.  Because I'm mostly self-taught I am just so pleased to have attempted it and succeeded.

The second new skill, knitting with beads, is finally mastered.  I am making a Dragonfly Wings scarf (look it up if you are on Ravelry) and bought the beads ages ago.  There are over 270 stitches to the row now - there will be over 300 by the time it's complete - so a beaded row isn't quite speedy yet, but hopefully that will come.

We have a couple of uke gigs coming up and Young Michael wants us to play my arrangement - in public! in front of an audience! - but I won't be knitting with beads on stage, no matter how proficient I become.

Some Aussie native flowers to brighten up your day.

 I love waratahs - they are our state flower.  Sadly they won't grow here, the soil is wrong.

Waratahs growing wild in the bush are a lovely sight, I managed to get some in this photo.  Just.

I don't miss living in the Big Smoke, but I do miss being just an hour or so away from places like Mount Tomah botanic gardens where these pics were taken.

The painting is continuing, machine quilting on the maple leaf runner likewise - I had no idea what to quilt, but have decided on some maple leaves.  Once they are done they will be linked by swirls and squiggles and loops, hopefully the quilting doesn't look too disjointed.  Ah well......it won't ever be entered in a competition, so that's all right.

I have been trying to change my blog background for some time, but Blogger seems to have other ideas.  Anyone else having similar problems?

"Value of pleasing manners.
The man who succeeds in any calling in life is almost invariably he who has shown a willingness to please and be pleased, who has responded heartily to the advances of others, through nature and habit, while his rival has sniffed and frowned and snubbed away every helping hand."

As I read through my 1886 book of manners and etiquette I wish that many modern people would take note of its suggestions.  When did courtesy go out of style, I wonder?

Enjoy your days!

Staying cosy by the fire today

It's quite chilly outside, no wind - just cold cold air.  A good day to stay inside and do nothing, just veg out and read or sew or knit, or paint.  Or blog.

Not many of the old walls left to repaint now!  The bedroom hallway is done, the kitchen is next, and it doesn't have much wall space because of tiles, cupboards, fridge and all the other stuff that goes into a kitchen.  During the week we had some unseasonably warm weather, the fire stayed unlit for a few days so Kevin was able to scrape off the remaining wallpaper.......and now it's all gorn!!!  Finally gorn!!!  The forecast for the coming week is for more wintry weather, so that corner by the fire will just have to wait for its new paint.

There has been some progress on quilting the maple leaf runner.  There will be more in the coming week.  Genius can't be rushed, you know.

Some of the pictures I took last year in Ontario, Canada, which inspired me to make the maple leaf runner.

Fort York is such a fascinating place!  So old - it dates from 1793 - and right in the middle of a very modern city, with many original buildings still in place.  You can just see the roof and chimney of one.

 Isn't this interesting?  The orange side of the tree was - I think - on the south side of the tree, the sunny side.  The north side had a bit of catching-up to do.

 We spent a night in Midland, and this is the view from our upstairs window.  The late afternoon sun on those leaves made them glow like golden fire.

Also this week, a few books have been read.  I've always been a quick reader, and if a book really has me in its grasp I find it difficult to put it down.  One was "The dressmaker" by Rosalie Ham - we saw the movie late last year, just after returning from Canada.  Oh my, the frocks......I loved the frocks, that red silk frock she wore to the football......such a statement.  I like how the author uses clothes to delineate characters in the book, something the film stayed very close to.  Another book was "Bodies of water" by T. (Tammy) Greenwood, following one of Linda's recommendations.  The local library didn't have "Two rivers" but I reckon rivers and water are similar, so one would be as good as another.  It's a love story, but it's not mushy.  I don't do mush.

Much of my reading is mystery/detective stories because I like unravelling mysteries; some are 'real' books made of paper, and some I read on my tablet.  Many of the tablet books are freebies from a mystery book site that I pick up on their daily email, sometimes it is difficult finding books that appeal, and some days there are three or four, but the price is always right.  Subjects I don't care for include most 'cosy' (or cozy, if you are American) mysteries because they are quite short and are finished almost before they are started and I'm sure that not everyone who lives in a small community is as dotty as some of those folks are; "the world will end in three minutes if Our Hero and/or Heroine don't get to the switch/virus/madman in time" thrillers, anything labelled "romantic suspense" (I don't mind a bit of bedroom stuff but honestly, how relevant is it to the story really?) so that rules out anything with an unclothed muscular - they are always muscular - bloke on the cover; anything which entails chasing after the Holy Grail or some other relic suddenly reappearing after 2,000 or so years (really?  and you expect me to believe that no one already knew about it?)......you get the picture.  Just give me a policeman or a private investigator solving a murder with some forensic stuff and a bit of gore, and I am a happy woman.

Although I don't do serial killers.  They can be quite sadistic, and I don't like that.

"Manners and personal appearance.
A charming manner not only enhances personal beauty, but even hides ugliness and makes plainness agreeable.  An ill-favored countenance is not necessarily a stumbling-block, at the outset, to its owner, which cannot be surmounted, for who does not know how much a happy manner often does to neutralize the ill effects of forbidding looks?"

In other words, do not judge a book by its cover - even if if has an unclothed muscular bloke on it.

Enjoy your days!

There is no more pink!

Those walls are all cream now, and the whole house looks lighter and brighter as a result.  There is more painting to do but, as it means painting a lighter shade of cream over a slightly darker shade, it won't be as obvious.

Before buying this house we looked at others, and one thing we noticed was that coloured 'feature' walls were popular.  Brightly coloured bedrooms were too; one house had a lime green and deep blue bedroom (very teenage boy, but we no longer had teenage boys) and a fairy floss sugar Barbie doll pink and lilac bedroom which was enough to make one feel quite nauseous.  There were several reasons not to buy that house, those coloured rooms were just one.

In comparison, our pink walls were quite tame......but they were rather pink.

I don't mind pink flowers, so long as they stay outside.  I just don't want pink in my house, or on my person.

A pink rose which used to be in our front garden, when it was removed early this year we gave it to a neighbour.

 A pink nerine lily which pops up every year or so, a legacy from the previous pink-wall-loving owner.  The pink walls were a slightly deeper shade of this colour.

 I suppose this is deep pink?  A cyclamen which is doing well to this day, still in the same pot too.

 An Aussie native, Geraldton Wax Flower, a gift from a neighbour's garden.  A large clump was 'pruned' from their plant when a branch fell from a higher tree and broke this one off, so we enjoyed it until it wilted.

 The most heavenly smelling rose I have ever smelled in my life.  Such a shame it wasn't yellow.

 Isn't this interesting?  I have no idea what it is, we saw it last year in Toronto.

With the exception of the vase of Geraldton Wax Flower these were all taken outside.  Not inside.  That's quite all right, you know.

When I was a child my mother sometimes dressed me in pink, and believe me it wasn't a pretty sight.  Way back in the dark ages when I was young every mother's ideal little girl was a slightly chubby blue-eyed curly-haired blonde moppet.  I wasn't.  I was slightly skinny (but no longer, sadly) with auburn hair, dark brown eyes, and freckles.  My mother made it clear that I was a disappointment from the moment I crawled into the world, a fact made worse by the lack of blue eyes and blonde hair.  Some redheads look great in pink - I, alas, am not one of them; my skin tone doesn't take kindly to pink.

Now green, on the other hand......any shade of green.......or teal, or blue, or aqua, or peacock......even yellow, which is a hard colour to wear for some people, and orange.......black is good......not white, or cream, or brown.  I lived through the seventies, I did brown then, I don't need to do brown again.  The seventies were a very brown decade, weren't they?

The maple leaf table runner has had some quilting done, the leaves have been quilted in the ditch, and now I need to get artistic and swirly in the background.    Artistic and swirly aren't always natural for me, you know......it's much easier to draw a line with a ruler than to swirl freehand.

Following on from last week's quote from my 1885 etiquette book:

"There is no society where smiles, pleasant looks and animal spirits are not welcomed and deemed of more importance than sallies of wit, or refinements of understanding.  The little civilities which form the small change of life may appear separately of little movement, but, like the spare pennies which amount to such large fortunes in a lifetime, they owe their importance to repetition and accumulation."

Indeed.  How much nicer it is to be the giver or recipient of more than one kindness, even if it's only a smile.

Enjoy your days!

A foggy day.....in the Small Smoke......

Not quite as good as the original song!  The Small Smoke was enveloped, as they say (love those media clichés, don't you?) in heavy fog this morning, and it didn't lift until midday or so.  Usually fog burns off as the sun rises, but not today.  Our view up the hill looking slightly right:

 Looking left:

 Getting artistic here, taking in some of our garden as well as the hill:

Shame about the unlovely wire fence, but as the view is focused on it disappears from one's vision.

Out the front we could see the houses across the road - just - but nothing beyond them.  No glorious view of the valley, no distant hills, nothing.  Just wet misty whiteness.

One pink wall has gone gone gone!  The wall behind the computer desk, the largest of the pink walls, is now buttery cream......and it looks good enough to eat.  The entrance hall is now being done (Kevin is wielding roller and applying undercoat as we speak) and, with the removal of so much pink, the whole colour of the house is changing.  With the exception of doors and windows every wall in the almost-square entrance hall was pink, so as one entered the house one felt as though one was being gobbled up by a rose.  At night with the lights on it was even more noticeable.  Once the hall is done there is only one small pink wall remaining; once that is repainted all other walls, currently a darker cream than our chosen colour, will be painted to match.

I, for one, am looking forward to that!

Because life has been somewhat hectic lately the gorgeous autumn-toned variegated thread bought to quilt the maple leaf table runner hasn't even been wound onto a bobbin.  There might be a chance tomorrow......there's a possible small window of opportunity which is looking hopeful......all has not been completely untouched in the sewing room, however, as the ten black and white Winding Ways blocks which were cut out have been made up.  They, together with the 23 previously made, are reposing on the design wall, i.e. the spare bed.  It is looking good so far, she says modestly.  That quilt was to have 49 blocks set seven across by seven down and no borders, but now my mind is leaning towards a light (black on white) inner border then a dark (white on black) outer border.  It would mean purchasing fabric though and I am trying to just use what is in my stash apart from buying backing so we shall see........decisions, decisions......at least the binding fabric has been selected, an uneven black and white plaid which will be cut on the bias.

Making a completely colourless quilt is a departure from my usual cheerful choices.  It has been said that "value does the work but colour gets the credit" so here is my chance to prove it.  Some of my fabrics are dark when paired with lighter fabrics but lighter when paired with something darker so the interlocking circles of the design keep changing direction or disappearing, only to re-emerge somewhere else on the quilt.

That sounds as though I know what I'm talking about, doesn't it?

Don't be fooled.  I really haven't a clue.

"The importance of trifles"
Some people are wont to depreciate kind and tender qualities as trifles; but trifles, it must be remembered, make up the aggregate of human life.  The petty incivilities, slight rudenesses and neglects of which men are guilty, without thought, or from lack of foresight or sympathy, are often remembered, while the great acts performed by the same person are often forgotten."

Sadly, that is true.  How often we fasten on the negative, to the detriment of something more joyful and positive.

Enjoy your days!