One done, two to go

One third of the centre panel of the tumbler quilt is finished.....each and every stitch hand-pieced.  It is 24 inches wide.

It is difficult to get a full picture when one is short.

One thing you notice about many of these repro fabrics from different decades of the 1800s is that stripes were very popular.  Nothing was fussy cut; as with the little houses, the fabrics were cut where they were cut.  Some fabrics are......I hesitate to call them 'ugly' but they are a long way from beautiful; however, once they are put together it doesn't matter.

Now the second panel is underway, and the feeling of achievement has to be felt to be believed.  It still doesn't, however, have a name but that will come.

There is a small amount of derision from a few members of my quilt group who would not ever dream of doing anything by hand ever never.  This is their problem.....not mine.

Despite my good intentions no houses were made this week.  This will be remedied.

It has rained again, indeed as we speak right now there is thunder rumbling and storms showing up on the weather radar.  We had really good rain yesterday and last night......our gardens, include the new plants purchased a few days ago, are beaming their little faces off.

Do you ever have one of those weeks where you don't feel like doing much?  That was me this week, hence the lack of houses.  Notes were plinked though, so that's something.

Had the world not been in the fix it currently is we would be in Dorrigo this weekend, enjoying catching up with friends and listening to (and playing) music at the folk festival......but alas it was not to be, as the festival had to cancel.  Who knows what will happen next year?

People are now looking forward to the occasion at the end of the year, a TV announcer said we have nine weeks left......I thought it was all being cancelled this year, like everything else?  That being so we have made our booking at a restaurant for a Nice Christmas Lunch, because when there are only two of you with no family near the alternative is to stay home and grin at each other.  The sewing group and the quilt group will each have a pre-Christmas party lunch, so that will be something to look forward to.

Continuing our quote from a couple of weeks ago:

"The host must aid the hostess in her efforts.  He should have ease and frankness of manner, a calmness of temper that nothing can ruffle, and a kindness of disposition that can never be exhausted.  He must encourage the timid, draw out the silent and direct conversation rather than sustain it himself."

Does that sound like your bloke?  Maybe......

Enjoy your days!

Wet stuff is falling from the sky!

Do we dare to hope that it's actually raining?  It has also cooled right down, so Kevin is a picture of sartorial splendour in the trakky daks.  I may be joining him soon as my bare tootsies are feeling a little chilly.

Two more houses have been made.

There's definitely an orange and purple vibe going with these two.  The aim is to make two houses a week; I'm not trying to bust a speed record with this, but they are fun and I enjoy making them.  I'm deliberately not matching patterns.......how they are cut is how they are sewn.

All the black and white fabrics for "Imprismed" are now cut, yay!  It will be foundation pieced, so lots of mindless sewing - my favourite kind - is involved.  Some thought is being given to how the edges will be finished, although that decision won't be needed for a while; I am leaning toward a narrow black and white stripe.  Perhaps.  Maybe.  On the other hand I had also thought of a facing sewn to the back, facings are often used on modern and art quilts......but I don't know if mine will be modern enough, or arty enough, or what.  (Probably or what, if truth be known.)  I'll let the quilt tell me what it needs when the time comes. 

Ukulele group met here on Monday afternoon, and we certainly had fun.  It was good to be getting together again after so long, and Clare arrived with these beautiful roses from her garden.  We have been enjoying them, they smell wonderful.

This beautiful tablecloth was made by my mother's Aunty Laura.  It was photographed to show to Karen - now you can all enjoy it.  The centre is linen, probably Irish, and measures 20-1/2 in square.

The tatting border is a bit over nine inches wide all round.

Aunty Laura's two children both died young, in sad circumstances.  She and her husband were left in their mid-forties with no children, so she seems to have turned her hand to making exquisite lace; I don't know whether she could already tat before then, but judging by the pieces she left she was no novice.  I also have several of her doilies (some with linen centres, some all lace) and a padded tea cosy of cream lace lined with pale green taffeta, possbly from the 1930s-early 1940s, as Aunty Laura died in 1948.

The question is, what's going to happen to all this beautiful lace when I die?  I very much doubt that either daughter-in-law will want it, and as I have no female descendants it will probably end up being thrown out or donated to an op shop.  I would prefer the op shop option, because hopefully then someone will see it and love it enough to want it.  

In the meantime, I shall enjoy owning and displaying it.

"Accepting hospitality a sign of good-will.

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

This is true.  

Enjoy your days!

The village is growing

Two houses were made this week.

Bright pink spots - my stash is not entirely lacking in pink - and I don't know what you would call the house on the left, rust, perhaps?  Brick?  It's not quite brown, anyway.  My village will not be Dullsville, and there are a few more cut out ready to be sewn.

It needs a witty name, but that will come in time......probably in a blinding flash of brilliance when least expected.  In the shower, perhaps.

More black and white fabrics have been cut.  A new blade in one's rotary cutter makes a world of difference!  That one does have a name - 'Imprismed', because of the rainbow which will flow through it.

Stitches have been sewn on the tumbler quilt, and the panels are becoming larger; the first of three wide panels is now underway, each panel is eight tumblers wide.  

Blogger has been playing up a little of late - why are we not surprised?  A couple of comments didn't make it into my email inbox, they were dumped into my spam folder which I only check when I remember to, so if you leave a comment and I don't get back to you fairly soon don't worry.  It's in hand.

Our local birds have been active this week.  A male Crested Pigeon has been strutting his stuff to no avail; the object of his affection seems to be muttering "dirty devil" under her breath as she flutters away from him.  Doesn't stop him from pursuing her, though - they are quite funny.  A pair of magpies pop in regularly for some steak, a Grey Butcherbird is aso a regular visitor, a family of Magpie Larks - peewees - tells the larger magpies off, and a Red Wattlebird tells them all off.  Talk about the pecking order......they are very entertaining.

No special outings to report this week, just the usual hunting and gathering.  Quilt group met on Tuesday, choir was on Thursday night - suitably distanced with everyone sitting, as it has been since we resumed - and tomorrow afternoon the remnants of the ukulele group are coming here to play together for the first time in over six months.  If we meet at the golf club (as we did for quite a while) we have to abide by government regulations of sitting, no standing or walking around......most of us prefer to stand while playing......signing in, etc.  By coming here we can be more relaxed and informal.  Our town hasn't had a case of the covid plague since April so we feel confident to go ahead.  Most cases are happening in bigger cities with much larger populations, but everyone has to abide by the same regulations.

The thought of playing music with friends again has me all a-flutter with excitement, I can tell you - notes have even been plinked in preparation!

 "Duties of a hostess and host.

Tact and self-possession are demanded of the hostess, in order that she may perform her duties agreeably, which are not onerous.  She should instruct her servants not to remove her plate until her guests have finished.  If she speaks of any omission by which her servants have inconvenienced her guests, she must do it with dignity, not betraying any undue annoyance.  She must put her guests at their ease, and pay every possible attention to the requirement of each and all around her.  No accident must disturb her; no disappointments embarrass her.  If her precious china and her rare glass are broken before her eyes, she must seem to take but little or no notice of it."

I shall endeavour to be a gracious ukulele hostess tomorrow, but won't be using the precious china or rare glass.

Enjoy your days!

Been and gone and come back again

We've been out and about!

On Friday we took the Nice Sunday Drive that we have been promising ourselves, and oh - it did feel good.  We drove through beautiful country and saw amazing scenery, none of which was immortalised because I left my camera at home.  One would, however, need a very fancy-nancy camera to do it justice because it was a huge view especially when going over a mountain range looking out into the distance; I have no idea how far we could see, but it seemed to be a very very long way.

We started our trip an hour from home with morning tea, in which Kevin partook of a chocolate-y slice with his coffee and I, being very fond of apricots, had apricot and white chocolate slice with mine .  We ended up having lunch in our destination, a small town which was buzzing with folk passing through, but we managed to pick our times and places so we didn't feel crowded.

Just as well we didn't have the caravan with us!  The purpose of the trip was a trial run for future reference, and we have decided that while it's a beautiful trip the road is not a caravan road.  It used to be dirt for much of its length but last year it was upgraded and sealed all the way.  Problem was, however, that heavy rain earlier this year had washed some of that new road away - half a lane width had collapsed over the side of a mountain, not something you would want to be on when it happened!  Now there are repairs to be made at the cost of some squillions of dollars because it wasn't done properly in the first place.  You know what they say......do it once, and do it right.

Apart from our day trip not a whole heap has happened this week.  Stitches have been sewn in the tumbler quilt.  Black and white fabrics are still being cut, some fabrics which I had thought of using have been decided against, decisions are still being made.  Stitches were knitted.  Books have been read.

So - we will be revisiting the photo vault this week.

This was my quilt group's annual challenge, the year after we moved here.  We were given a design to copy which it didn't inspire me, but on looking closer I could see stars hidden among the lines.....and I like star quilts.  It was drawn out in EQ7, lines were erased (there were lots and lots of two inch finished squares and half-square triangles in the original), and I dipped into my stash for this fun stripe.  The black and white was purchased; I wanted all the background to be one fabric rather than scrappy.

Cutting instructions were printed out, and rotary cutter was taken in hand.

The finished quilt - all from stash, except for the background and binding.  Colours for the stars were taken from the stripe.

It was quilted by me too.

See those lavender triangles?  That's the size of the original squares.  

I like my design much better.

Not that there's anything wrong with making someone else's design.....I have done it before and will do so again......but making up one's own design is fun.

We seem to have left winter behind, and are descending headlong into summer - who could believe that, just a week ago, we needed a fire to keep us warm?  I have bared my arms in short sleeved tops, and my toes in sandals, but haven't yet flashed the legs.  That will come, no doubt very soon.

"Monopolizing conversation.

For one or two persons to monopolize a conversation which ought to be general, is exceedingly rude.  If the dinner party is a large one, you may converse with those near you, raising the voice only loud enough to be distinctly heard by the persons you are talking with."

Have you ever been near a group of people who are talking, and noticed that there is often one person who talks louder and more forcefully than anyone else in the group?  We have decided that these folk are the 'special people' of our world, so 'special' in fact that normal rules of polite behaviour don't apply to them.  They are related to the 'special' people who push themselves into a waiting line, or who push their car into a row of traffic.  'Special' people indeed......so special that we should consider ourselves lucky to be on the same earth as they.  As of course we do.  

Enjoy your days!

Brrr.......

Winter hasn't yet gone......this morning was frosty chilly, minus 2 deg C, and the past few days a nasty chilly wind has stopped us from frolicking among the dandelions in our bare feet.  We have even had a fire again, much to Bianca's delight.  Next weekend is supposed to be a different story.

Black and white fabrics have been getting cut out.  The last of this was used.  I'm not into collecting and re-using selvedges, but I will keep this one because......

......my middle name is Grace!

'Jennifer' was a very popular name for girls of my age, there were several other Jennifers in my year at school.  Most were Jennifer Ann/Anne, one was Jennifer Margaret, but I am Jennifer Grace.

My mother had a cousin, Dorothy Grace, who died in 1926 when she was only 15.  While I wasn't the first girl born in the family after her death I was, as far as I know, the first one to be named after Dorothy Grace, whose middle name seems to have been used in preference to her first name.  Thank goodness for that, I say; 'Jennifer Dorothy' would have been a bit of a mouthful.

We will be lying a little low for the next couple of weeks as school holidays may bring visitors (and their germs) to our town, now that the world is opening up a little.  The only outings will be for some hunting and gathering, although the thought of a road trip is taking shape in my mind.  One of the possible routes we take when going to Canberra has an alternative road which we were warned was not suitable for caravans, but it has apparently now been upgraded and sealed......so we might, one day soon, go for a Nice Sunday Drive on a weekday to a smaller town and try out said road sans caravan.  If we think it's a bit hairy for the return trip we can come home via the slightly longer way that we have previously used.

Perhaps one day we may be able to take the caravan away again, but who knows what may happen next year?  Already many events which would have taken place in 2021 are being cancelled.

Thursday night choir is back, although numbers are down.  The ukulele group is in talks, as they say in the media, about returning in a couple of weeks and it's looking positive.  Playing in a group again would be wonderful.

"The table appointments.

A snow-white cloth of the finest damask, beautiful china, glistening or finely-engraved glass, and polished plate are considered essential to a grand dinner.  Choice flowers, ferns and mosses tastefully arranged, add much to the beauty of the table.  A salt-cellar should be placed within the reach of every guest.  Napkins should be folded square and placed with a roll of bread upon each plate.  The dessert is placed on the table amidst the flowers.  An epergne, or a low dish of flowers, graces the centre; stands of bon-bons and confectionery are ranged on both sides of the table, which complete the decorations of the table.  The name of each guest, written upon a card and placed one on each plate, marks the seat assigned."

Oh my.....I wonder what the author of these words would think about the current habit (one in which, I'm afraid, Kevin and I do sometimes indulge, and I would bet some of you do too) of eating from a tray on one's lap while watching television?

Enjoy your days!

A week of firsts

Quite a few 'firsts' have happened this week.  On Tuesday my first volunteer shift happened at a local gallery - volunteers started back last month but I didn't want to appear before the public looking like Dr Frankenstein's monster, so held back for a month - it was good to be out and about again.

Friday afternoon was my first time volunteering at a history museum - that was also postponed for a month - but as no visitors came, there was no social distancing to worry about.  It was also warm enough to wear a short-sleeved top, and......sandals!  First time for both bare arms and bare toes for several months.

It has rained.  The forecast is for more rain.  That will be good.

Following some deep thinking, yesterday a box was taken out of the cupboard in my sewing room and now cutting has re-commenced......not the gorgeous orange batik, but these black and white prints and others not in the pic.

These were already cut; triangles now, they will become diamonds.  

The design was inspired by a workshop a few years ago with Jenny Bowker, whose work I have long admired.  Unfortunately that was also the year of our two floods when nearly everything in our lives was shelved until things returned to a semblance of normality.  The original plan was for light and dark black and white background prints, but a quilt seen on our last Canadian visit which only used light black and white prints turned my mind in a different direction - so, mine will be all light.  The darks will keep for another project.  Or two.  Or maybe more.

I like black and white quilts.....this will be my third.

These creamy iris are flowering again just outside our back fence, planted by the previous owner.  They flowered the first year we moved here but have seldom flowered since, probably due to being trampled and eaten by visiting cattle from the other side of the hill.  The cattle haven't been around for ages......but today I noticed there is one flower, with more to come!

Days are getting longer, those lovely dark winter mornings have ended.  One has never been a person who bounds out of bed at the first sign of light, to cheerfully greet the new day.  One likes dark mornings.  We will have a short reprieve soon when daylight saving starts in a couple of weeks, but that will be it for some months.

Sigh.......

"The success of a dinner.

A host and hostess generally judge of the success of a dinner by the manner in which conversation has been sustained.  It if has flagged often, it is considered proof that the guests have not been congenial; but if a steady stream of talk has been kept up, it shows that they have smoothly amalgamated, as a whole.  No one should monopolize conversation, unless he wishes to win for himself the appellation of a bore, and be avoided as such."

No mention of mobile phones disrupting conversation, you notice.

Enjoy your days!

In which we are still mooching along.......

It has been a week of not doing much.  Stitches have been sewn, none have been knitted.  Books have been read.  Notes have been plinked (yay!) and even sung (double yay!).

Stitching down the applique on the Canadian blocks has resumed.  Nunavut is done, New Brunswick isn't far from being done......in that order.  Nunavut had easier shapes for stitching, so it was done first.  

Pictures of these were shown earlier this year and they don't look much different now because the stitching is being done with see-through polyester thread.  If it wasn't, can't you imagine the squillions of thread colour changes?  Doesn't bear thinking about, does it?

We'll have some flowers instead, because it's spring.  These are all plants from our garden in the Big Smoke.

Love the new shoots on this bottle brush - Callistemon 'Taree Pink'.  It was an impulse buy as a very small plant from the local hardware shop, which had a small but excellent garden section.  I took it home, found a spot on the north-east corner of the front of the house, planted it - then stood back and watched while it grew.  I have never know a plant which grew so quickly.

A pink bottle brush poking its head in at the side, and creamy white Grevillea 'Moonlight'.

Another grevillea - I think this is 'Robyn Gordon'.

'Taree Pink' again.  If everything we planted grew as well as this did, I would be a happy woman!

The Big Smoke's climate is much more humid with milder winters than here, and these plants loved it.  We did plant a 'Taree Pink' here; it turned up its toes at the first sign of a proper winter.......but perhaps I might try again.

I really like our Aussie native plants.  They don't have the gorgeous autumn colour that trees from other countries do but their new growth in spring is often a glorious bronze, just as spectacular in its own way.  They are often rich in nectar which attracts a lot of birds, and of course watching them makes for great entertainment.

Speaking of birds......a few days ago I heard an odd tapping noise, and couldn't think what it could be.  It happened again yesterday morning, and turned out to be one of our resident peewees, more usually seen flying around looking for insects.  They are often seen pecking at the 'other' bird in a car mirror or window - this one was pecking at the bottom corner of the big floor-to-ceiling window; its beak tapping on the window was the odd noise.

Have I ever told you the details of my etiquette book, bought many years at a library cull for just a dollar or two?  It was originally published in 1885, probably in the U.S. judging by the spelling, with an Australian edition in 1886; mine is a 'facsimile edition' (meaning an exact copy, even down to typeface) published in 1980.  It's full title is "Australian etiquette, or the rules and usages of the best society in the Australasian colonies, together with their sports, pastimes, games and amusements.  Revised, illustrated and compiled expressly as a household treasure for Australian homes."  Several years ago bloggers were signing off with a quote from a book or poem, or sometimes a Bible verse or inspirational saying - I decided on advice from my book.  It was published at a time when some people moving into 'society' for the first time may have been unsure how to behave in social situations, but for all that is not too stiff - its advice is more about courtesy and making others, as well as one's self, feel at ease no matter what the occasion.

"Punctuality.

The hour generally selected in cities is after business hours, or from five to eight o'clock.  In the country or villages it may be an hour or two earlier.  To be punctual at the hour mentioned is obligatory.  If you are too early you are in the way; if too late you annoy the hostess, cause impatience among the assembled guests, and perhaps spoil the dinner.  Fifteen minutes is the longest time required to wait for a tardy guest."

Advice as true today as in 1885, yes?

Enjoy your days!