Having a whole heap of fun!

That was what the choir did last night, at our World Premiere.  We sang our little hearts out, managed to achieve our bits of (sitting) choreography without making fools of ourselves, and enjoyed listening to the lead actors sing their parts with and without us.  It was a pleasure and a privilege to be part of it....and even if our composer/director/musical director Bill is able to have it orchestrated and produced on a stage somewhere, we will still be able to say "we did it first"!

So now our moment of fame and glory is over, and it's back to everyday reality once more.

The back of Autumn Rhapsody is done.

This is a queen-size bed; the bottom corner was pulled up to show the outer border of that gorgeous leaf print.  Almost all of that pale background piece was used, there was very little leftover.

The strip goes from over an inch at one end to over two inches at the other as it wasn't quite cut straight - not much was wasted, was it?  It won't be thrown out either; you never know when it may be Just The Very Thing for a scrappy project so it will go into the bin of autumn fabrics, and probably be thrown out on some future date when it isn't big enough to use for anything anyway

Stitching down the peeper border is proceeding well, the final side is almost half done.  What an achievement that will be....then quilter Margaret will be contacted and decisions made as to thread colour/s and quilting design.

Words have been read.  Stitches have, of course, been sewn both by hand and by machine.  Songs have been sung and strings plinked.  A little shopping here and there to keep the hungry wolves at bay, and that was it.  The various hurty bits are healing well, for which we are thankful.  Today is the seven month anniversary of the big fall and subsequent damage and, while the hand and arm are still weaker than they were beforehand, they are slowly recovering.

It has rained, wonderful rain, which came with lights and music - thunder and lightning - and more is forecast for tonight and tomorrow.  The rain delayed my sewing the quilt back together as My Lovely New Bernina has computer Stuff in its innards, and according to technical sewing machine people it's not a good idea to use a computerised machine during lightning storms......so I don't.  The plug is even pulled out from the wall socket, because I'm not taking any chances.  About 15 years ago we lost a computer to a lightning strike; it was plugged in at the time, so we know these things happen.

What is blogger playing at these days?  Every comment comes up in my email inbox as a "no reply"; hopefully though I can still reply if you are in my contacts from previous replies.  I love reading  your comments, every one is appreciated, and I endeavour to reply as and when I can.

"A lady obliged to travel alone.

A lady, in travelling alone, may accept services from her fellow-travellers, which she should always acknowledge graciously.  Indeed, it is the business of a gentleman to see that the wants of an unescorted lady are attended to.  He should offer to raise or lower her window if she seems to have any difficulty in doing it herself.  He may offer his assistance in carrying her packages upon leaving the car, or in engaging a carriage or obtaining a trunk.  Still, women should learn to be as self-reliant as possible; and young women particularly should accept proffered assistance from strangers, in all but the slightest offices, very rarely."

Assistance offered to those of us of the more senior persuasion is much appreciated, let me tell you.  One cannot do everything by one's self any more.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Around the back

There has been fabric spread out on the sewing table while Big Decisions were made about the backing for Autumn Rhapsody.

The orange leaf print at the top has been sewn to the brown print.  (That's a fold you can see vertically in the fabrics, not a join.)  Two of these have been made, one for the top and one for the bottom.....or perhaps it's one for the left side and one for the right?  The orange leaf and brown prints will be sewn on each side of the centre panel when it's done, and the back will be complete.

The print with leaves and writing is about six inches short of being wide enough, wouldn't it rot your socks?   Using a piece of the orange leaf print in the centre will, however, make it wide enough and (hopefully!) add interest to the back.

It's a bit tricky trying to get a good pic of fabrics on a cutting table which is higher than a normal dining table when one is short, you know.  The proportions are better in real life.

The tidgy widgy stitching continues, work is now proceeding along the third side.  It's quite slow going because of the tiny stitches; if I had any sense I wouldn't have started off so small, but......ah well.  At least the point of the quilting foot shouldn't poke underneath when Margaret quilter is working her magic.  My hand complains after a while so it takes a break, then I don't always get back to it, something else gets done instead.....

All the various hurty bits are now doing well, for which I am thankful.  Words have been read, stitches have been sewn.  Notes have been plinked and sung; only one last rehearsal remaining for our World Premiere Extravaganza next Saturday night, and hopefully all will go well.  We have hunted and gathered, so we won't starve.

A couple of nights ago we treated ourselves to a visit to the theatre where the musical society were performing 'A Grand Night for Singing', a show made up of songs from different musicals by Rogers and Hammerstein.  The small cast of five did a sterling job, the staging was very well done, it was a fun evening.  Many of the songs were familiar - the soundtrack of my childhood!  The costumes weren't fancy; two of the women were in short floaty sequin-trimmed dresses - one rosy red, the other a pinky lilac - while the third was in white pants and sequin-trimmed top accessorised with different scarves and, at one point, a red feather boa with red flower atop her hair.  One of the blokes was in a cream three piece suit, the other in blue-grey; their jackets were on and off for different songs, and a couple of times Mr Cream wore a blue jacket with his cream suit while Mr Grey wore a cream jacket with his grey.....a way to add interest while avoiding elaborate costume changes.  The only quibble I would make was that Ms Pinky Lilac's dress was straight; she is quite short, and a little flare in the skirt would have given her more freedom of movement as she tried to keep pace with the taller members of the cast during dance moves.

We've had a taste of the coming summer during the week, a couple of quite nasty hot days.....don't like that at all....fortunately today is milder, in fact rain is forecast for the next couple of days.  It could be a correct forecast too, the frog in the drainpipe has been croaking away today.  We've been hearing it of late, so perhaps it knows something?  The frog must have a few places where it hangs out because quite a long time can pass when we don't hear it at all, perhaps it's like a cat which visits every house in a neighbourhood but doesn't really belong to any of them.

Continuing on with the duty of a lady to her escort:

"A lady should give her attendant as little trouble and annoyance as possible, and she should make no unnecessary demands upon his good nature and gentlemanly services.  Her hand-baggage should be as small as circumstance will permit, and when once disposed of, it should remain undisturbed until she is about to leave the train, unless she should absolutely require it.  As the train nears the end of her journey, she will deliberately gather together her effects preparatory to departure, so that when the train stops she will be ready to leave it an once, and not wait to hurriedly grab her various parcels, or cause her escort unnecessary delay."

Some of that sage advice would also apply to those travelling by air, these days.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

A busy week with not much to show for it

We all have weeks like that, don't we.  We seem to have been on the go for most of the week, but when we look back not much seems to have been achieved.  

Work is proceeding on sewing down the peeper strip on Autumn Rhapsody.  I had high hopes of getting to the half-way point last night, but alas - it was not to be.  Some of the pieces for the back are pinned ready to be sewn but that doesn't make for an exciting pic, so there isn't one.  

Thoughts have been thought on which project will be worked on next, and it will probably be borders for the house quilt.

I thought there was a pic of the finished top, but it must be hiding in the photo vault.

Imprismed will be worked on. 

I am determined to finish it next year, it's been taking up a project box for long enough.

A quilt found online some time ago has been burning holes in my brain, so it's time it was started.  'Arboretum' ticks a lot of my boxes; mine will be made in batik fabrics rather than the fabrics used in the original.

That should be enough to keep me out of mischief, yes?

The hairdresser was duly visited, and my head now sports its summer cut.  That should keep me going until autumn, making it several months before the next staring-at-myself-in-the-mirror episode.  Summer means bright sunshine, which means wearing sunglasses and a hat outside, and the hat sits better with shorter hair.....but I miss my longer hair.

My hurt eye is doing very well indeed, if I hadn't remembered hurting it I would never have known the injury happened.  Words have been read.  Stitches have been sewn.  Songs have been sung and plinked, there are two more rehearsals before our World Premiere performance, and I'm sure we will be fine.  My nemesis in the U3A ukulele group turned up on Thursday, and true to form was under my skin before we had even sung one song.  I told her she could run it if she wished, and was ready to pack up and walk out; we were drifting along nicely without her.  We hunted and we gathered, often the social highlight of our week.

For the past few weeks our town has been fortunate to have an exhibition by renowned quiltmaker Jenny Bowker which finishes today and I have, of course, been along to see it a few times.  During the time of the exhibition Jenny has given a couple of lectures, one of which was on my monthly day for volunteering at the gallery - how fortuitous was that? although I would have gone along anyway - and the second was last Friday evening as part of the annual lecture series run by ArtsNational.  The first talk was about Jenny's techniques, how she builds up layers and colours for her appliques, and was very interesting; the second was about her life as the wife of a diplomat in various countries in the Middle East, the theme of the quilts in this exhibition.  The organisers had a fund-raising raffle at the entry table so I duly bought a few tickets - I'm always happy to support worthy causes - and, much to my surprise, one of my tickets was the winner!  So now I am the proud possessor of a beautiful platter made of jacaranda wood and a selection of yummy gourmet goodies which will not, I assure you, go to waste.

I've often said I couldn't win an argument, let alone a raffle, and I am more than happy to be proven wrong.

Summer has arrived, the coming week looks like being a bit warm for my liking, but there's not much I can do about it.  We stay inside during the hottest part of the day; sometimes we have to venture out for an appointment or for shopping, but we head for home as soon as we can.  It's not unusual to have a burst of heat early in the season before it settles down to more moderate temperatures for a while, so let's hope that pattern is followed this year too.

"The duty of a lady to her escort.

The lady may supply her escort with a sum of money ample to pay all the expenses of the journey before purchasing her ticket, or furnish him the exact amount required, or, at the suggestion of her escort, she may allow him to defray the expenses from his own pocket, and settle with him at the end of the journey.  The latter course, however, should only be pursued when the gentleman suggests it, and a strict account of the expenses incurred must be insisted on."

We don't need someone else to be out of pocket on account of our journey, do we?  

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Tidgy widgy teeny weeny

Yesterday at quilt group I spoke to Margaret who will be quilting Autumn Rhapsody for me, showed her the project photograph in the magazine that I am using, and asked about the peeper border.....I had a feeling that she would want it sewn, or at least tacked, down......and sure enough, she does.  Tack it down but don't use big stitches, she said, they can still get caught on the machine foot.

Well, no.  I can't be bothered tacking it down then having to remove those tacking stitches, possibly pulling at the quilting stitches in the process, so the Big Decision was made to applique it down with tidgy widgy teeny weeny stitches which will stay in the quilt.  The peeper across the bottom hasn't been done, the right hand side has - you can see it is already laying flatter than the unsewn one.   

Four sides with 48 inches per side.  One quarter of one side has been done.  That will keep me out of mischief for a while, won't it?

The bag which was in progress last week has been finished and handed over.

The fabrics aren't quite "me", but I hope its new owner likes it.

You can see the four tone on tone fabrics used to trim the handle, ruby, emerald, sapphire, rich teal.  The deep emerald was quite luscious.....now those 22 squares have been moved out of my sewing room.  Yay for me.

Seven years ago this callistemon, 'Wee Johnny', was planted.  It took four years before it managed a single red bloom - Aussie native plants can be finicky - but now it's going along really well.  He lives up to his name, he's not up to my knees and probably won't grow much bigger than he is now; 'Wee Johnny' is a hybrid bred from a larger callistemon called 'Little John'.  The short flowers are very soft, and the leaves are quite stiff.

Not sure what this is, our gardeners - yes, we now have gardeners, a hard-working couple who keep things looking good for us - have planted a couple of them in the back garden.  The flowers are small, each flower is both red and white, and it fills the space nicely.

How has everyone been this week?  We've had a fairly routine week; my injured eye is doing well, thank goodness; the drops are being used as directed.  Exercises for my arm and hand have slackened off since hurting my eye as my energies have been concentrated on that, but as it's now able to be used for more things I reckon the daily activities are probably exercise anyway.  My right hand can now make a fist although not as tightly as the left, but that's still something it couldn't do a couple of months long ago.

Stitches have been sewn by hand and by machine.  Some diamonds have been sewn, and a few more have been cut.  Notes have been plinked and sung; rehearsals for our World Premiere are coming along well.  Words have been read.  We hunted and gathered, our Big Event of the week, and that was it.

Off to the hairdresser tomorrow morning for a trim, oh dear I really dislike having to stare at myself in the mirror while she flitters around me......a mirror-less salon would be a wonderful thing, wouldn't it, but I don't suppose they exist.  I manage with only two, or at most three trims a year, and that's plenty, I reckon.  Some women enjoy being pampered at the salon, but not me.  I just don't like having Things done to me.  

We were talking to our neighbour the other day who is, like me, disgusted at the lack of women on the new council and the recycling of the former mayor.  We wondered why it happened, and can only assume that many people were too lazy to do anything other than vote 1, 2, 3 down the page without looking at names or local issues.  We also agreed that one particular man needs a makeover; like it or not, people in public office are judged on their appearance, his face reminds us of one which would have been seen on an old-style "Wanted" poster, and his hair looks as though he cuts it himself - badly.

Continuing with Duties of an Escort:

"Upon arriving at her destination, he should conduct her to the ladies' waiting-room or a carriage, until he has attended to her baggage, which he arranges to have delivered where the lady requests it.  He should then escort her to whatever part of the city she is going, and deliver her into the hands of her friends before relaxing his care.  On the following day he should call upon her to inquire after her health.  It is optional with the lady whether the acquaintance shall be prolonged or not after this call.  If the lady does not wish to prolong the acquaintance, she can have no right, nor can her friends, to request a similar favor of him at another time."

That seems fair enough.  A travel escort seems like a very good idea, doesn't it?

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

A poke in the eye with a burnt stick

That's an Aussie expression - saying something is "better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick", although I believe the original was "with a sharp stick".

On Wednesday morning I was finishing getting ready to head off to sewing group, lunch was packed, hand sewing was in the bag, just draw on a couple of eyebrows.  Like many older women what eyebrows still remain are now grey and invisible and I'm naturally pale-skinned anyway, so a little definition is good.  Brows drawn on, grasp the pencil with the brush end out to give a little tweak to the shape, when my not-always-steady-yet right hand flipped and the brush poked me in the eye.  Ouch.  Double ouch and triple ouch. 

So off to the optometrist we go, oh dear says Simone, you have scratched your cornea.....use this antibiotic ointment and these lubricating drops, and come back on Friday afternoon.  Ointment and drops were duly used and Friday afternoon's report was "It's healing well.  Not complete healed yet, but doing fine."  The ointment is not needed now, but the drops will be continued for some time yet.

Talk about pain.  I would rather give birth than ever do that to my eye again.

This week has either been busy or raining (or sometimes both at once) so the pic of my quilt top still hasn't happened.....but it will.  Thoughts have been thought on piecing the back, and some fabric has been cut.  Due to the aforementioned busyness and a sore eye for a few days, that's as far as it has gone.  However, in the bustling around a visit was paid to the red and blue fabric and craft store (which shall be nameless because they don't pay me to advertise, but Aussies will know who it is) for some solid fabric, so the in-progress bag can proceed.

This bright blue - called "new turquoise" on the receipt - was chosen, and it suits quite well.  I wonder what happened to the "old" turquoise?

These are the remaining four squares which will form part of the handle; it was taken late yesterday afternoon under artificial light so the top pic is much closer to the true colour.  The bag will be pretty when done, those 22 squares will be moved out of my sewing room to a new owner, and I can pat myself on the back being careful not to dislocate my shoulders in the process.

How have you all been?  Apart from my mishap with the brow brush, we've been well.  Words have been read, stitches sewn by hand and by machine.  Songs have been sung and notes plinked, as ukulele has started up again.  We have hunted and we have gathered so we can eat once more.

Our new(ish) local council has elected the mayor for the next two years, and surprise, surprise - the old mayor is in the seat again.  I had hoped he would not be elected by his fellow councillors, but alas, he was.  So we have another couple of years of seeing his smirking face on the local news.  The mayor for some councils is elected by the locals on polling day - the person with the most votes wins a seat on the council and gets to sit in the mayoral chair, but our council is one of those whose mayor is elected by the councillors themselves.

Oh well.  Hopefully at the next election in four years, we can get some women back on council again.

"Duties of an escort.

However self-possessed and lady-like in all her deportment and general bearing a lady may be, and though capable of undertaking any journey, howsoever long it may be, an escort is at all times preferable, much more pleasant, and generally acceptable.  When a gentleman undertakes the escort of a lady, he should proceed with her to the depot, or meet her there, a sufficient time before the departure of the train, to attend to her baggage, procure her ticket, and obtain for her an eligible seat in the carriage, allowing her to choose such seat as she desires.  He will then dispose of her packages and hand-baggage in their proper receptacle, and make her seat and surroundings as agreeable for her as possible, taking a seat near her, or by the side of her if she requests it, and do all he can to make her journey a pleasant one.

Sounds like a good idea, to me.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

I have a finished top!

However - I'm afraid you'll have to take my word for it because it's quite large (86in square) and my quilt holder-upper isn't a tall enough bloke with a wide enough wingspan.  We shall have to come up with Plan B to get the photo.  The kids next door are growing, a couple are now teens, they are always helpful......

Never mind.  Here, at least, is one of the perfectly mitred corners.

There are another three just like it, too.  You have no idea how pleased I am about them, my shoulder is nearly dislocated from patting myself on the back.....and they do look better than straight borders would have done.  The binding will be the same fabric as the outer borders.

Now my thoughts are turning to piecing the back.  There are a few metres of that gorgeous leaf print used in the border and blocks, and a couple of metres of a different leaf print, and some of the inner border fabric......I'll make it work.  It's going off to be quilted by a long-armer, because it's too big for me to do it justice with My Lovely New Bernina - and, all being well, I hope to enter it in the local show early next year.

How has everyone been this week?  We've been doing well, my formerly broken bits sometimes complain, but I just ignore them.  We had some rain, and more is forecast; when it rains, the neighbourhood kangaroos come around for a visit.

There were several more, too.  It wasn't raining that day but had rained the day before, so the grass was still damp and juicy.  It's a bit difficult getting good pictures of the roos because they don't stay still for long, and we don't want to encourage them down to our fence; kangaroos have been known to attack people they see as a threat, so we stay on our side of the fence when they are out and about.  There is nothing in our garden for them, we are quite happy to see them from a distance, and hope they subscribe to the belief that we hold - "if you don't bother us, we won't bother you".

One thing I did this week was to start making a bag from a pack of five inch squares that came back from Canada with me.  On our last trip a friend took me to a store not far from her house, 'Huckleberry's Fabrics Inc.', which was having a morning of demonstrations, new products and giveaways.  It was a fun day and one of my goodies was a pack of squares - but there were only 22.  What can you do with just 22 squares, without having to buy more co-ordinating fabric?  The idea finally came a couple of days ago; the 18 floral squares were laid out in six rows of three, joined together, then seamed across the bottom to make a bag.  The remaining squares, deep jewel tone-on-tones, will be used to trim the handles.  Sometime soon I will hit the big craft and fabric store for a metre of solid homespun in a suitable colour and the bag will be finished, then off it will go to be filled with toiletries and other necessities to be given to a woman in hospital who may have been admitted with no time to gather what was needed.  Our group has been making such bags for a couple of years now, and they are gratefully received.

Words have been read.  Stitches have been sewn by hand, and by machine.  Songs have been sung.  Exercises are still being done, although not as diligently as a couple of months ago.  We hunted and gathered for the weekly requirements, and that was about it, really.

Last month elections were held to fill places on the local council and I am shocked and surprised by the result, which was recently announced.  Our council now holds the record, not one to be proud of, for being the only council in the state without a single woman.  Not one.  Apparently the last time it happened here was in 1971, and I had already moved to the Big Smoke by then.  Even sitting female councillors who were up for re-election were not voted back in.  Now we have four years of local issues being decided by blokes, despite probably half the population being female.  A much smaller town an hour away has ended up with six women in a council of nine people, but we have none.

If I were younger I would stand for council, but I fear I have left my run thirty years too late.  The older I get, the more of a political animal I have become; back when I was of an age to be useful I didn't have as much interest in politics as I do now.

We have come to the end of Etiquette of Public Places, so now we will turn to Etiquette of Travelling.

"There is nothing that tests the natural politeness of men and women so thoroughly as travelling.  We all desire as much comfort as possible, and as a rule are selfish.  In these days of railroad travel, when every railway is equipped with elegant carriages for the comfort and convenience of its passengers, and provided with conductors and servants, the longest journeys by railroad can be made with perfect safety and but little annoyance."

To which I can only say, so many of these words could also be applied to modern plane travel.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

One down.....

.....three to go.

The four border strips have been assembled for Autumn Rhapsody; they were laid out on the design bed to keep them from being creased.  I'm pleased with the fabric choice for the inner border; it had already been rejected for other parts of the quilt, perhaps it was just waiting for its perfect spot.  The design bed is, of course, not flat, but this was enough to give the idea of how it will look.

A short while ago the first border was sewn to the quilt, then pressed......I am more than happy with the result!  The tan/gold/brown inner border is a good buffer between the different background fabrics and the bright border.  

Three more borders still to be added, then the corners will be mitred.  Mitred borders have a higher fiddly-diddly factor than straight borders, but sometimes they are just what the design needs.

How has everyone's week been?  Ours has been fairly quiet; some of my regular activities cease during school holidays, so there is still another quiet week to go.  The following week it will be a case of hitting the ground running, I suspect.

The big thing here is probably the start of daylight saving, which was at stupid dark o'clock this morning.  We set the clocks before we went to bed so at least, when we stirred, we could look at a clock and say "ah.....so that's what time it is!"  There has already been a whinge on social media about it, as there is every year; I'm not bothered enough by it to wail and whine, because that won't change things.  Must admit, not being a morning person, it was nice to have a darker morning again.  Many years ago we were visiting a state which doesn't have daylight saving; after 30 years we were already attuned to it, so having the day start very early (it was getting light at 4 a.m.!) was quite a shock to the system.

Words have been read.  Stitches have been sewn by machine and by hand, diamonds have been made into hexagons and more diamonds have been cut.  Exercises have been done, although not as diligently as a few months ago.  We hunted and we gathered, doing our best to avoid school holiday crowds.  Songs have been sung, practice for our world premiere is coming along nicely, and all is well with our world.

A couple of years ago some areas on the north coast were hit by very bad flooding.  Even though one of the towns, Lismore, has a well-deserved reputation as being flood-prone the waters surprised everyone by how high they rose, even higher floors in buildings which were thought to be safe turned out not to be so.  Mind you, it is a low-lying town at the junction of two rivers, and no doubt flooding over many years has brought down silt which has raised the river bed level - so flooding is higher than it once was.  

On some of our trips to Canberra we have visited the Woodworks Gallery at Bungendore, a short drive away, and been amazed by the work on display, none more so than the Hannah Cabinet.  We have seen other cabinets made by Geoff Hannah, but this one is really special - and is worth well over a million dollars.  The people of Lismore raised funds to purchase it and it was, until the last big flood a couple of years ago, in the gallery.  Despite being on a higher floor it suffered a great deal of damage, and having seen up close how beautiful it is, we found that heartbreaking.  (Yes, I know people are more important than 'things'.....but this is a truly exquisite 'thing' of amazing beauty)  A few days ago I read that it is to be restored, the restoration will be overseen by its maker, and it will be beautiful once more......and this time, hopefully, out of flood reach.

"Where gentlemen may keep their hats on.

At garden parties and at all assemblies held in the open air, gentlemen keep their hats on their heads.  If draughts of cold air, or other causes, make it necessary for them to retain their hats on their heads, when in the presence of ladies within doors, they explain the necessity and ask permission of the ladies whom they accompany."

I can remember my maternal grandfather, a man who lived all his life in the country (he was born in 1885) raising his hat to a lady when out and about, and always - always! taking it off inside.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer