First stitches

Tumbler quilt is now a started project!

 Two blocks have been joined, and another two started.....836 to go........no special colour scheme to this one, just picking one fabric lighter (or darker, if that's the way your brain works) than the other and joining them.  Over 300 have now been cut, just over 500 to go.

One hexagon flower is done for either the top or bottom of a large pin cushion, the other hexie has a brown centre with red fabrics on the outside row.  I have decided that I'm not cut out for EPP, but that's all right.......

.......whatever floats your boat.

Kevin has painted the walls of my sewing room, they look very nice, and the skirting (base) boards and some of the trim.  That paint has a very strong smell which is making me feel more than a little ill but I am not complaining (trying not to, anyway), I'm just glad it's getting done.

Our son is home, doing very well, and has started back at work; he can work from home, and it's occupying his brain.  His surgery was fairly major, it seems, but he has made a good recovery.

We survived the last heatwave and are now staring down the barrel of another, this time hotter temperatures for more days.  Yuck......I love Australia and couldn't imagine living anywhere else, but during heatwaves living somewhere with a whole heap of snow and ice becomes very a attractive thought.

Our town is filling up with tourists, most of whom are nice folks but there are some very entitled people out there, aren't there?  Many venues have free concerts although you have to pay for the major concerts, but those venues make money from selling food and beverages and the music brings more bums on seats anyway.  However, there are those who arrive early with their packed lunch, their flask of coffee/tea and their bottle of water, plonk themselves right in the front row and don't move all day save to visit the bathroom; they don't spend a cent and hog the good seats, something which cheeses off many other people.  Obviously they are some of the "special" people, the ones who make their own rules and thumb their noses at the rest of us, and they are the ones who leave a bad taste in the mouths of locals.  Probably related to those who hog seats in the buses and glare daggers at any poor local unfortunate who just happens to be going home with a child or children, a stroller and several bags of shopping.

I wonder if any will come to see the ukulele ladies on Sunday morning?  We have practised and hope to go well; we have decided that people will think we're so great because we're there at all that they will overlook any shortcomings.  We'll get them singing with us, then they can drown out any bum notes that we may play.......and there may be the odd one or two.  Or three......

"Singing and playing in society.
A lady in company should never exhibit any anxiety to sing or play; but being requested to do so, if she intends to comply, she should do so at once, without waiting to be urged.  If she refuses, she should do so in a manner that shall make her decision final.  Having complied, she should not monopolize the evening with her performances, but make room for others."

Believe me, we won't be refusing to sing and play on Sunday morning......you won't be able to keep us off that stage.

Enjoy your days!

In which we are one whole week into a new year

Doesn't time fly?  At this rate it will be Christmas again before we know it.

We are on the third day of a predicted four day extreme heatwave, and it is nasty hot.  Not quite record-breaking hot, but still most unpleasant.  It is certainly hot enough that I feel ill, and am guzzling water like there's no tomorrow.  We have today and tomorrow still to survive, then hopefully a little cooler.....for a while, at least.  Rain would be nice too, but we may have to wait for that.

Happy to report that our son is doing very well, and is hoping to go home in a few days.

This morning I took down the decorations, such as they were.  You know how some people just love Christmas and decorate their whole house from top to bottom?  We don't.

 Family room tree, on my grandmother's 1924 Singer 66 treadle.

This tree is on Kevin's mother's Singer from the late 1960s.  Just as well we have sewing machines to decorate, isn't it?  The pretty mat is from my ukulele-playing friend Claire.

That's it, folks.  The extent of Christmas 2017 in this house.

A week before we came home to a flooded house my jumper was finished, too late for last winter but nice and early for winter this year.

My own design.  For the basic jumper I used a Patons Classics book - one of two books sadly lost in the flood, not yet replaced but will be because it's so useful - and the travelling rib panel on the front is from a Patons leaflet with instructions for four different Aran-style jumpers published in the early 1990s.  Yarn is Bendigo Woollen Mills Rustic 8 ply in Hydrangea, blue with a hint of lavender.

Right now I don't have a sewing room at all.  Machines and furniture were moved out a couple of days ago, so the floor could be washed and so the furniture which is being thrown out could be removed.  The marks left by the flood have now been cleaned and the floor is spotless.  While standing in an empty echoing room I looked at the walls and thought to myself.......I thought......."perhaps this is the time to paint the walls?"  Which will be done later in the week when it's not so hot, then machines and stuff can be moved back in, and replacement furniture purchased, and I will be a happy woman again.

The tumbler project is not packed away so at least boredom can be staved off occasionally, and there is always an instrument to pick up and plink because there is a big gig coming up in a couple of weeks.  Those hexies are now being joined into big flowers for the top and bottom of a pincushion.

Now that the Christmas/New Year break is over we are hoping to hear about our house repairs, what is to be done and when.  We're looking forward to having it all done, finished and put back to rights again, we have had enough of living in limbo.

"The obligation of an introduction.
Two persons who have been properly introduced have in future certain claims upon one another's acquaintance which should be recognized, unless there are sufficient reasons for over-looking them.  Even in that case good manners require the formal bow of recognition upon meeting, which of itself, encourages no familiarity.  Only a very ill-bred person will meet another with a stare."

Do people still bow on meeting?  It seems they did back in the early 1880s, at least.

Enjoy your days!

Happy New Year!

Best wishes for wonderful things in 2018.  We would just settle for no more floods in our house......hopefully it will be a better year for us than 2017 was.

How many of you made it to midnight last night?  We didn't, we were in bed by then, but we did hear some loud bangs at what was probably midnight.  Perhaps someone had managed to get their hands on a couple of fireworks.

Something to report:  I have been sewing hexies!  Me!!  Who normally finds sewing hexies unutterably tedious!  Early last year the New South Wales state guild visited our town (they have an annual 'away' meeting, when they venture out of the Big Smoke and dip their toes into the country) and at the fun part of the meeting I was lucky enough to win one of the lucky door prizes, a kit for a large pin cushion complete with precut 2-1/2in squares, hexagon papers, and pattern.  First one makes two hexagon flowers each using 19 hexies, these become the top and bottom of the cushion; the rest is assembled by machine, so this part makes an easy project for stitching in front of TV.

 Hexies for the centre of one flower laid out but not joined, the outer ring fabrics will have a brown background.

While we were staying at our home-away-from-home I started cutting 3-1/2 in tumblers from 19th century reproduction fabrics for the next hand-pieced project.  Each fabric had a 3-1/2 in strip cut, then that was cut into tumblers; the number from each strip varied according to whether it was a fat eighth, fat quarter, skinny quarter, or larger piece.  There are 20 tumblers in a clip, so that makes 240 tumblers in this pic. 

There are also some warm gold fabrics to be cut, although they are not repros I think they will stop the quilt looking too dark and gloomy - some of those repros are dark, because fabrics way back then often were.  Once the hexies are done, the first stitches will be taken on this project. 

It will need a name......'Tumbling Tumbleweeds', perhaps?  Nearly all my quilts have musical names.  Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds......

Forgot to say, the last block in my Flower Basket quilt is finished too!  It took months to do the last one; I was in no hurry, because once it was finished there would be no take-along portable project until another was prepared.  The first 24 blocks are packed in a box somewhere in the garage.  Still haven't decided if I will join them and have it quilted by a long armer, or quilt it as I go (can't say 'quilt as you go', because you're not doing it - I am) one block at a time myself.  It's quite large, it would cost a fair bit to have quilted, so perhaps I will Do It Myself.  Eventually.

We have had a fairly warm start to the new year, while over there in Canada if our son wasn't in hospital he would be freezing.  His poor partner certainly is; at least he has now been moved to a facility very close to where they live so she doesn't have to travel too far.  His operation went well, tumours were removed, bone was grafted from his hip to his hand.  I believe hip bone grafts are incredibly painful and he will require a lot of physiotherapy and rehabilitation.  Walking, even standing, was out of the question for several days.  He has lost his index finger; the alternative was to have it fused at a 90 degree angle to his hand which would make using the hand very difficult, so he and the doctors decided on amputation.  Fortunately it's his left hand, which isn't his dominant hand.

Canada is so very far away.......

"Be careful always to dry the hands thoroughly, and rub them briskly for some time afterward.  When this is not sufficiently attended to in cold weather, the hands chap and crack.  When this occurs, rub a few drops of honey over them when dry, or anoint them with cold cream or glycerine before going to bed."

Extreme cold is not good for one's skin whether on the hands or elsewhere, and right now Canada is extremely cold.  Record-breakingly cold.  Coldest temperatures for over 100 years cold.

Enjoy your days!

Wherever you are, and whatever you celebrate........

........best wishes for a time of love and peace.

And chocolate.  Lots and lots of chocolate.

Back home again......in an empty house

Finally - we moved back home a couple of days ago, seven weeks after moving out.  The house isn't fixed; we have no carpet, very little furniture, and the kitchen has to have major repair work done.....but we are home, and Bianca The White Cat is also home after her extended holiday.

Just as well we weren't expecting guests for Christmas, isn't it?  There are no spare beds, they had to be thrown out because of water/mould, but our bed is safe

Ah well.  No sense crying over that which is gone.  There is still some packing and sorting to be done here, but we are gradually making the place livable.

Big celebration this week, Young Euan turned three a couple of days ago!  He loves his dinosaur shirt and Lego animals from his distant grandparents.

However, our Canaussian son over there on the far side of the known universe isn't doing too well.  For some time now he has been having treatment for a vascular tumour in his hand, and tomorrow goes into hospital for an operation to remove it (the tumour, not the hand).  He's been in pain for quite a while and doctors have tried various treatments, but have now opted for surgery.  The treatments he has been having are experimental as it seems there are only about fifty cases known world-wide.  We always knew our boys were special, but making medical history is not how we wanted them to be unique.....he has a wonderful partner who will keep us updated on his progress, and supportive friends who will be waiting in hospital with her.

Most of my stash didn't suffer in the flood, but my plastic basket of batik fabrics was sitting on the floor.  Note that I said "basket", not "box", which means there were lots of holes for water to enter.  There are a few interesting colour runs, but they will be taken care of in due course - they certainly looked pretty hanging out to dry.

 It was a warm sunny day, so much so that my arms did get a little sunburnt from spending so much time hanging fabrics out, bringing them in, hanging out the next batch......

Those fabrics dried very quickly!

One morning when we were staying in our apartment home-away-from-home we noticed that this gorgeous moth had made itself at home on the wall in the entrance hall.  According to an online friend it's an Emperor Gum Moth - they are quite spectacular, and very big.  This one's wingspan would have been the length of my hand from wrist to fingertip.

There are pictures online of these moths compared to a human hand for size.  I don't think I would hold one just to show you all but take my word for it - they are huge.  We had one in our garden a few years ago too.

Over the past few weeks the uke group has had a few gigs, which has been a good distraction from getting upset over a flood-damaged house.  We're getting quite good at playing Christmas stuff, you know.  We've even been invited to play at a gospel breakfast at a small church a little way out of town next month, isn't that something?  Fame at last......who would have thought that at my advanced age I would be arranging gigs for a musical group......

Are you all organised for Christmas?  We're not, but then we wouldn't be organised for anything else right now either.  We have two small tabletop trees each surrounded by tiny lights, so at least the house does feel a bit festive.

"The hand.
The beautiful hand is long and slender, with tapering fingers and pink, filbert shaped nails.  The hand to be in proper proportion to the rest of the body should be as long as from the point of the chin to the edge of the hair on the forehead."

Somehow I don't think our boy is worrying about his pretty pink nails right now.

Enjoy your days!

Not back to normal yet

Like that shampoo ad said on TV a few years ago, it won't happen overnight......but it will happen.

Well, it seems this flood really caused damage.  The bottoms of several doors soaked up moisture from sitting on wet carpet, so they will also be replaced.  Some skirting (base) boards will need to go, but only a couple - most are made of proper wood, so they have less damage.  We can't help wonder why real wood was used for some, and cheap crappy artificial wood for others?  We have noticed that some odd short cuts were taken when this house was built 25 years ago.  At least one inside wall has to be partially removed to check for moisture between inner and outer walls.

Two of my books were lost.  One was a Mon Tricot knitting and crochet stitch and technique dictionary which I bought new in 1974, and to which I refer often; even though all that stuff can be found online sometimes there is no substitute for a proper book with real pages, is there?  Guess what - I found a copy on Ebay!  A small thing to be sure but something to cheer me a little, it should arrive soon.  The other was a book of basic women's knitting patterns which is still available, so that will also be done soon.  Both those books had their pages stuck together too firmly to be separated, because of the paper used.

However we aren't buying 'stuff' at present, because there is nowhere to put it!  Much of the house has been emptied, and furniture which hasn't been hauled away is stored in the garage.  We are trying to keep floors as clear as possible to make it easier for whoever puts down the new carpet.  One thing is for sure, though......we won't be going back to the store where the last replacement carpet was furnished, the owner bloke wasn't wonderful to deal with.  When we said to the assessor/builder from the insurance company that we would prefer to use another supplier he asked was it because of the boss man......we said yes......funny, he said, several other people have told me the same thing. 

Having said that......this morning a fundraising Christmas Fair was held and I couldn't resist some pretty blue and green earrings, they won't take up much room will they......and a necklace made in Madagascar from cow horn dyed in bright colours, which I am wearing as we speak.  I will call them my Christmas present.

My guitars and tenor ukulele were sitting on the wet floor but because they were in their cases I think they will be all right, and my cheapie soprano uke is probably some sort of plastic which would be impervious to water anyway.  On another cheery note, there have been a couple of ukulele gigs lately, playing music is more fun than moping about our spoiled house! 

Our town has two big used book sales a year, one in May organised by a Rotary Club and one in November organised by a Lions Club.  Since moving here I have found some wonderful treasures at these sales, but didn't go to the current sale in case I was carried away and bought books.......and right now we have nowhere to put them.

Sigh.  I do enjoy those book sales.......

"Never hold your companion in conversation by the buttonhole.  If you are obliged to detain him forcibly in order to say what you wish, you are pressing upon him what is disagreeable or unwelcome, and you commit a gross breach of etiquette in so doing."

Oh my - I would never do that to anyone, and I hope no one would ever do it to me.

Enjoy your days!

Been here before, you know.......

On Monday last week we arrived home from a great weekend at the Dorrigo Folk and Bluegrass Festival to a flooded house again, courtesy of a broken pipe under the bathroom sink..  This time is much worse than last time, the entire houseful of carpet was saturated, and it and nearly everything which stood on it has to be thrown out.

Our new three months old furniture......the new carpet......plus some other stuff which I am trying not to think about.  The water tripped a power board which caused a blackout and we had food in the freezer, so that's gone.  I had alpaca knitting yarn in the freezer because I spied a little thing with wings being interested in it......that's gone too.

Right now we are feeling slightly shell shocked, but this too will pass.  Normal blogging will resume as soon as possible.