The bear went over the mountain

On Thursday we will be heading south, this time sans caravan.  After so many years it's going to seem a bit strange not to take our home with us.....but never mind; we will still have fun.

Because we had a busy day yesterday, this week's post is a little late.

Before I retired a work colleague and her husband enjoyed a cruise to Alaska, and she very kindly brought me (and another colleague who was also a quilter) some Alaskan fabric with bears and moose.  Some of mine has already been used in one autumn quilt, but there was still a big enough piece to make a tree.

The bear is nearly disguised among the branches, ready to pounce on an unwary passer-by.  The choice had to be made between using the bears, or the moose.  As moose don't climb trees and bears do, it just had to be the bear - yes?  Unfortunately the remaining fabric isn't long enough to cut another tree, so those errant moose will be used for something else.

Another peacock, this time featuring more peacock-like colours than the last one.

The bear and the peacock.  

Part of the fun of making these blocks is making fabric decisions.  Sometimes a contrast is the right choice - as in this peacock block - and sometimes a co-ordinating fabric, as with the bear and its tree, is better.  Fabrics for the next two blocks have been chosen, and they will be made after we return.

How has everyone been?  We've had a busy few days; on Saturday we took ourselves for our annual drive to Armidale for a quilt show.  As usual there were some very interesting quilts; each year they have a theme for their 'entrance quilts' - small quilts hung immediately in front of the door, the first to be seen on entering the hall - this year's theme was birds, and they ranged from very realistic birds to funny cartoon birds.  

The elevation of our town is about 400 metres above sea level, and Armidale is over 1,000, so there is usually quite a difference in climate....as there was on Saturday, but that, of course, means a downhill run home; unfortunately it took my ears a painfully long time to 'pop' afterward.

Yesterday afternoon we enjoyed a visit to the theatre to see the play written and directed by our choir leader, the second time we had seen it (although last time was several years ago).  The story:  the idea of reviving the fortunes of a very small outback town by growing.....ahem......illegal leafy plants in derelict mining tunnels was the brainchild of a few of the local blokes, but of course it's difficult to keep a secret in such a small place!  The usual Sunday night zoom trivia quiz with The One And Only Grandkid, his mother and her parents (his Other Grandparents), our usual Sunday evening activity, finished off our busy weekend.

This week will be appointments, and clothes washing, and lunch on Wednesday, before starting our drive on Thursday.  Even though it will be a short week, it will be somewhat busy.

Words have been read.  Stitches have been sewn, and more diamonds cut.  Songs were plinked and sung by the hummers and strummers of the ukulele group, and now they will have to do without me for three days.  I'm sure they will cope.  Our neighbour Yvonne has friends who were interested in buying our caravan but they have decided against it, so after we come home we are expecting a woman to come from interstate to check it out; she seems quite keen.  While we will miss it, we know we have made the right decision.

Last weekend's rain was a bit of a non-event.  For quite some time forecasters had been saying our region would get a lot of rain, but no.  We had "some" rain.  We did not get "a lot" of rain.  What we received was very welcome but summer has been quite hot and dry, so while we fared better than the folk further north who suffered floods and associated damage even more would have been appreciated.  

Never mind.  Thursday is the autumn equinox and autumn can be rainy, so we are still cautiously optimistic.

"Learning to ride.

The first thing to do is to learn to ride, and no one should attempt to appear in public until a few preliminary lessons in riding are taken.  Until a person has learned to appear at ease on horseback, he or she should not appear in public.  The advice given in the old rhyme should be kept in mind, viz:

        Keep up your head and your heart,

            Your hands and your heels keep down;

        Press your knees close to your horse's sides,

            And your elbows close to your own."

As I have no intention whatsoever of learning to ride, I can probably safely disregard that sage advice.

Back in a few weeks, but until then - 

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Things which grow on trees

This week's trees has some...interesting...things growing on, or in, them.

Does this remind you of fireworks - or 'crackers', as we used to call them?  Because it certainly reminds me of those bursts of colour when they explode in the sky and everyone looks up and says "....aaaahhhh....."

Or perhaps they are spiky plant seeds which catch in clothing and irritate one's skin.  Nasty things they are, too.

On second thoughts, I prefer fireworks.

Some large flowers growing in this tree.  The bright lemon/lime at the top appeals to me, it certainly contrasts with the rest of the fabrics.

They look quite good together, but I prefer the fireworks tree.

Back in my childhood we used to have an annual "cracker night"; we would save our pennies and buy ourselves some crackers which we would light - under parental supervision, of course.  In those far-off days 'Empire Day' was celebrated on 24th May, Queen Victoria's birthday, and we had a half-day off from school.  Since then the sale of crackers for home consumption has been banned, the half-holiday is no more, and we're apparently all about the Commonwealth rather than the Empire.

How has everyone been this week?  We have drifted along on our merry way; a visit to the hairdresser on Monday for me....there are few things worse than having to look at one's reflection for what seems like far too long, in my book.  A mirrorless trim would be ideal.  Still, it won't need trimming again for several months, so that's something, I suppose.  My hair was long for many years and I still miss it - mainly because it meant fewer meetings with that dreaded mirror.  It's shorter now because the eye surgery of a few years ago - good heavens, it will be five years in August - means that my vision is now so big and broad that my eyes need protection from the sun making a hat necessary, and shorter hair is easier for wearing a hat.

Words were read.  Stitches were sewn, and more diamonds to add to the travelling stash were cut.  Songs were plinked and sung, choir is still in recess but the ukulele group warbles along.  We hunted and we gathered, and that was about it.  No more nibbles from anyone interested in buying our caravan, but we are forever hopeful.

Next weekend looks like being a bit busy:  a trip for a quilt show an hour north on Saturday, and a visit to the theatre on Sunday to attend the play written and directed by our choir leader.  The following week will be short as we head off for our trip south on Thursday 20th March, and a day before that we will take ourselves out for a (hopefully) nice lunch to celebrate our 49th anniversary. 

Best of all, it is starting to lightly rain!  Our forecast indicates that we should get more worthwhile rain in the next two days that we have had for several months.  The tropical cyclone which was hanging around before being downgraded is responsible for that, even though we are further inland and further south from the main areas of rain and damage.  I, for one, would not have liked to have been in one of those high (very high) rise buildings when the storm was raging, I reckon it would have been swaying enough to cause sea sickness.

We have now moved on from travel in railway carriages, tram cars and steamers.

"Riding and driving.

One of the most exhilarating and enjoyable amusements that can be indulged in by either ladies or gentlemen is that of riding on horseback, and it is participated to a very great extent in Australia.  The etiquette of riding, though meagre, is exact and important."

Well, yes - it probably is. Don't want to frighten the horse by inexact etiquette, do we?

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Well, golly gosh!

As a character in a long-ago TV show used to say.....I can't remember the name of the show or the character, but I remember "Oh......g-g-g-golly gosh!"

Two more trees done this week.

Both of these fabrics were used in 'Summertime Blues'.....I like the contrast between the light orange and the blue/green.

This yellow and blue fabric was pulled out to use in that quilt too, but the yellow was too.....yellow.  It wasn't gold/orange, the colour I was going for, so it wasn't used.  The purple is a remnant from a long-ago project.

They hold hands nicely together, don't they?

Here's the g-g-g-golly gosh - two dozen trees have been made, so it's time they lined up for a photo.  Don't they look good together!

A design wall would be a Very Useful Thing; these were spread out on the spare bed, and you can see how the random layout works..  This won't be the final layout, by any means, because many more trees still need to be made.  Perhaps it will be a colourwash layout, or perhaps I will just stick to random.  I quite like random.

How has everyone been?  We have had a busy week; on Wednesday we took our little caravan to a flat car park to get some pics, and it has now been listed for sale on a social media page dedicated to that model.  There have already been a few nibbles, so perhaps we will be saying goodbye to it sooner rather than later.

It's not very big, but it has taken us to some amazing places.....and it's better than sleeping on the ground in a tent.  After so many years, we will miss it.

Words have been read.  Stitches have been sewn, and several diamonds have been cut to add to the travelling stash.  Songs were sung and plinked, and a certain amount of fun was had by the ukulele group - I hope!  Choir is taking a break until the end of next month as our leader is directing a play which is taking quite a lot of his time and energy, and I will miss my Wednesday night singing.

It's been a fairly hot week, the "h" word - heatwave - was even used, but hopefully today will be the last hot day for a while.  Temperatures in the coming week look like being a lot milder and we may even get some rain, something we certainly hope to get.  It's been a hot dry summer, and we're more than ready for cooler damper weather.....fingers crossed.  We've been noticing signs of autumn colour on many trees; perhaps they are just stressed by the heat, as most of us are.

Some plans are being made for activities during our trip to Canberra next month.  For me, op shops are a great drawcard; those Canberra folk donate quite nice clothing, and in the past some has come home with me.  Even Kevin finds the occasional bargain, too.  No doubt there will be an exhibition or two, and there are family and friends to catch up with, so we won't be lacking for things to do.

Continuing on from last week's etiquette post:

"On the other hand, no man who pretends to be a gentleman will attempt any familiarity.  The practice of some young girls just entering into womanhood, of flirting with any young man they may chance to meet, either in a railway carriage or on a steamboat, indicates low-breeding in the extreme.  If, however, the journey is long, and especially if it be on a steamboat, a certain sociability may be allowed, and a married lady or a lady of middle age may use her privileges to make the journey an enjoyable one, for fellow passengers should always be sociable to each other."

A steamboat ride sounds quite jolly, doesn't it?  It might be more fun than a long plane trip stuck in a tin box with several hundred of one's new best friends and 97 crying babies.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

There are quiet trees, and there are noisy trees

As you can see from this week's additions to the forest.

First, a quiet tree.....

Quiet trees wear quiet raiment, and enjoy quiet music, and they mix with quiet company.

Noisy trees never quite let go of their 1980s neon clothing, and there is nothing they like more than a disco party with their friends.

However - they still like to hang out together, having more in common they they realise.  Despite their differences, they are both still trees.

Last week's pics didn't do justice to the pretty colour of the butterfly wing print, this is much more accurate.

How have you all been this week?  We have mooched around, and done some Stuff, and continued to get the caravan ready to sell.  We have found a flat car park not far from home, so the photos will be taken early in the coming week.  A few days ago we dropped off a box of caravan Stuff to an op shop, items that we don't need; we already have enough Stuff in the house, so anything from the caravan is surplus to our current requirements.  All cutlery, cooking pots and pans, and plate and bowls will stay with it.  It's a small van, ideal for beginning caravanners (as we were ourselves, all those years ago) and beginners may not have everything they need to just hitch up and go.  We have, however, taken out pillows and linen; although some of it is many years old we can use it up ourselves - and anyway, who would want someone else's 27 year old pillows?  Far better for the new owners to use their own.

Words have been read, stitches have been sewn.  Autumn Rhapsody is - finally - finished, yay!  Pics will be taken when I work out how to photograph such a large quilt.  Sadly, I have given up on the idea of entering it in this year's show.  Even though the binding is done it still needs a hanging sleeve, and there just wasn't enough time to sew one on before entries have to be handed in on Wednesday.  Never mind.....there is always next year, isn't there.  Thoughts have turned again to hand-piecing diamonds, so more of them need to be cut.  They will make a good travel project when we go away next month.

Notes have been plinked, and sung.  We have a new lady at U3A ukulele, and fortunately she can already play.  My nemesis from last year has not returned, in fact she hasn't renewed her membership, and the previous leader hasn't turned up either.  She is not my favourite person anyway since she announced in the middle of last year "I'm not doing this any more"; we were co-leaders, but nothing was said to me before it was all suddenly dropped in my lap.  Actually, we're managing quite well without her.

On Valentine's Day we betook ourselves to a fairly new restaurant to celebrate Kevin's birthday, and jolly nice it was too.  He had grilled steak and I had chicken scallopini in creamy mustard sauce with mushrooms and capers, then we finished with chocolate and walnut brownie with vanilla gelato and chocolate sauce (for him) and honeycomb ice cream parfait with chocolate sauce (for me).  It was all jolly nice, and we would go again....I always enjoy a meal that someone else has cooked.  The only jarring note was the background music, vocal country music played a bit too loud.  Instrumental jazz is less obtrusive - I hope it was switched for something more mellow before all the young lovers went out for their Valentine's Day dinners in the evening, else the sweet nothings murmured in ears would be wasted.

"Discretion in forming acquaintances.

While an acquaintance formed in a railway carriage or on a steamboat continues only during the trip, discretion should be used in making acquaintances.  Ladies may, as has been stated, accept small courtesies and favors from strangers, but must check at once any attempt at familiarity.  On the other hand, no man who pretends to be a gentleman will attempt any familiarity."

Advice which could be heeded today, as much as when it was penned in 1885.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Blue butterfly wings

This week's trees are quite different to each other.

First, we have the aforementioned blue butterfly wings....at least, that's what this print says to me.  There is a little distortion in the colour, the cloth in the background is really white - I didn't realise morning light in my sewing room has a pink tinge.

The green and yellow spot fabric was, I think, one of the strips in the strip scrap bag purchased some years ago, and the blue was very useful in my 'Summertime blues' quilt.

A rich gold tree, taken just a minute after the previous photo on the same white surface.

The tan fabric used for the trunk and branches, if memory serves me correctly, was once purchased as a background; it has some yellow in it, which makes it sit well with the gold.

This week's trees on - believe it or not - a white surface.

While thinking about the colour choices for the gold tree I looked up the word 'khaki', and found out the word means 'soil coloured'.  The examples in that article range from light gold, through tan, to deep olive green....but they are all considered 'khaki'!  So perhaps my tree trunk is khaki rather than gold, although I like the connotations of gold better.

This is the Big Basket of  Batiks.

There is a lot more fabric in it that you would think; indeed, it's quite heavy.  The fabric stack reaches over nine inches high.....perhaps it's time to find another container!  Smaller pieces, including strips, are in their own much smaller basket.

Words have been read, stitches have been sewn.  The binding on Autumn Rhapsody is coming along nicely, a few more sewing sessions and it will be done, yay!   The hanging sleeve still needs to be made and attached - it won't be beautifully sewn down either, I can tell you - and the label covered, but there are still ten days to get that done.  You can do it, you can, I keep telling myself.....notes have been plinked and songs sung.  The Thursday ukulele group is progressing, I joked that we should call ourselves 'The Hummers and Strummers'....we still might do that.

The caravan is cleaned out ready for sale.  We will hitch it up and drive to a flat road to take pics, inside and out; we live on a hill, so getting photos here without making the van look as though it is leaning unevenly will not be easy.  We have even started planning our first van-less trip for many years.  Next month is our Canberra son's birthday, so our annual trip down south will be a little different this year.  With the exception of trips to Canberra for our son's wedding and to meet The One And Only Grandkid for the first time, every trip we have taken since that first trek in March 1998 has been with the van.

Here's an interesting story I found earlier today - I didn't know that we had two Canadian-made totem poles in Australia!  We often drove by Victoria Park when we lived in the Big Smoke, but I never knew about the pole there.

Mother Nature has thrown quite a lot at us this week.  We have had heat, and wind, and storms which promised a lot but delivered very little rain, and today is almost autumnal.  I usually slop around the house in shorts but today is cool enough for capri pants, or "Olde Lady's Shorts" as I call them, the garment one wears when one considers one is past wearing shorts in public.....although not all Olde Ladies seem to feel the same about the matter as I do.

We are still travelling in public conveyances, but we have moved on from railway carriages to trams.

"In the street tram-cars the case is different.  No woman should be allowed to stand while there is a seat occupied by a man.  The inconvenience to the man will be temporary and trifling at the most, and he can well afford to suffer it rather to do an uncourteous act."

Our last tram rides were in Toronto, in Canada, and I have been given a seat on more than one occasion.  While it was appreciated, it is another sign that I am no longer considered young.....except in my own mind.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Have you ever seen a red peacock?

Neither have I.

This fabric was in the Big Basket of Batiks, and I thought it deserved to be a tree.

Definitely a peacock feather thing going on.....the blue contrast was a strip left over from one of the blocks in my Canadian applique quilt.  

It's several years too late, but if you had some spare moolah back in 2008 you could have bought yourself a magnificent embroidered peacock feather cape......the 'eyes' are embroidered, the rest of the feathers are filaments from real peacock feathers, and it is lined with yellow silk.  Perhaps it was intended for an Empress or Emperor to wear.

I think the green fabric might be sideways but it wasn't wide enough to be cut vertically, so sideways it had to be.  Perhaps it's a windblown tree.

Many years ago I bought a bag of leftover batik strips from a well-known quilter in the Big Smoke who did a lot of strip piecing.....perhaps one day they will become a bag, I thought to myself.  They never did, but are now coming in useful as trunks and branches.  This cheerful orange was one of those strips, and others have been used so far too.

A week of bright trees.

Did you know about the Blue Tree Project?  We have a few trees in our town - one we pass regularly is in a park next to the river, at the bridge - and the small town half an hour away with the two excellent butcher's shops also has one.  I have made two blue trees so far, so I suppose I'm doing my bit too.

How is everyone this week?  Not much has happened here.....on Friday I had my quarterly medical check-up, and all is mostly well.  A slight tweak of one medication should fix that, she said.  Jolly good.  Don't need to go back for a few months again now, it's not my favourite place to be.

Sewing the binding down on Autumn Rhapsody continues.  Some stupid little bug in my brain must have told me to use very small stitches, which is why it's taking a while; two weeks into it, and it's not quite half done.  The Cunning Plan was to have it done by the last week of this month so it could be entered in the annual show but there is still a lot of binding to be sewn down, then the sleeve to be done, then the label covered up (quilts are anonymously judged) and that may not be done by 26th February when entries have to be delivered.  Oh well.....there's always next year, isn't there.....

Words have been read.  Stitches have been sewn.  Songs have been sung because choir resumed for the year last week, and plinking has happened because U3A ukulele group is also back.  We have some raw beginners.  I am not a trained teacher, neither am I a properly trained musician, so I find it very stressful.  No doubt we'll blunder along; the holidays at the end of each term will certainly be welcome.

One thing which has been in our brains lately - we have come to the point of selling our caravan.  Last year's trip home from Victoria was difficult for Kevin as, being plastered for the broken arm and in a certain amount of pain, I couldn't help with the daily set-up at all.  He found getting the roof up by himself quite difficult; we usually push it up together.  We compromised by staying in motels or cabins in caravan parks where the van could be parked nearby and which also made it easy for Kevin to help me shower; while caravan parks have facilities for those with disabilities (which I certainly was then) they weren't stand-alone facilities.  That van was an impulse buy 27 years ago and has taken us to many places we would not have visited otherwise, but it is getting a bit tired....so perhaps it's time to pass it on to another owner who will enjoy using it as much as we have.

We will miss it.  There are still so many places I want to go but I suspect never will now as we, too, are 27 years older.

Still on our train journey:

"It is not required of a gentleman in a railway carriage to relinquish his seat in favor of a lady, although a gentleman of genuine breeding will do so rather than allow the lady to stand or suffer inconvenience from poor accommodation."

Perhaps it depends on the length of the journey.  Standing for a trip of several hours would not be fun, whether one is a lady or a gentleman.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Marching along

A couple of days into February already....where has the year gone?

How is everyone coping with the heat?  We had some very hot weather during the week - including the hottest day of the year.  Fortunately it has eased off a bit now, and once we get further into February it will get a little cooler.  We hope.  At least we are not being flooded out of house and home unlike those poor people in the far north, or burnt out like those in parts of Victoria.  As the poem says: "I love a sunburnt country....droughts and flooding rains" indeed.

Because it has been so hot I didn't get as much of the binding sewn down on my quilt as I had hoped.  There's nothing like a large heavy quilt on one's lap when the temperature hits 40 deg C, is there?

Proof that some binding was, indeed sewn down.  One side is nearly done; the quilt is about 85 inches square, so one side is a lot of stitching with a sometimes tender hand....let along multiplied by four.

This week's trees.  I had hoped to have them done by Australia Day, but it was not to be....never mind, they are done now.  This dull green is the colour of some eucalypt trees; if we drive just an hour north-west, or an hour west, these are the colours we see.  It's very different to the brighter green around here.

A bright yellow block, because our National Flower is the Golden Wattle.

The colours of Australia.

The two fabrics used as trunk and branches were part of a bundle which came home with me from one of our trips to Canada, all of which have been useful for trees.

Our musical guest sent a message the day after arriving home to say he had tested positive for the covid plague, but we have been free of symptoms.  Apparently a few of the musicians also came down with it, but they were spending a lot of time rehearsing, performing or just hanging out together playing music - we attended a few concerts, but we weren't spending time in the same confined spaces as they were.  We certainly weren't still playing music at 2 a.m.  Although I have done so in the past, you know......

Stitches have been sewn.  Words have been read.  Not many notes have been plinked; considering that today is World Play Your Ukulele Day I shall play a few later, because it would be the right thing to do so - yes?  We have ventured out to hunt and to gather, an easier process now that the musical tourists have gone back from whence they came.

We have a good local op shop which posts regularly on social media, and on Thursday - "Random Thursday" - their post showed two really nice chairs.  Hmm....I thought, showed the picture to Kevin who liked them too, so after lunch we drove across the river to check them out......but they were gone!  Already sold!  What a disappointment.  Never mind; while we were there I found something else I have been looking for, so far in vain.  I now have a two-drawer wooden filing cabinet to organise all those sheets of music which have been copied and printed, a piece of furniture which doesn't scream "office" and which can sit neatly in a corner.  Sometimes you can be lucky after all, can't you?

On Wednesday our U3A group had their annual 'Launch Day' for people to put their name down for courses which interest them, and we have a couple of new people for the ukulele group.  A few of the names from last year were nowhere in sight - including the previous leader, the person who with no notice dropped the role in my lap while I was still recovering from the Big Fall and its aftermath.  I know it's probably not very nice of me, but I hope she doesn't come; I always feel she is testing me to see how I am doing and giving me a score of nil out of 20.

Ah well.  We shall see how it goes.

"Retaining possession of a seat. 

A gentleman in travelling may take possession of a seat and then go to purchase tickets or look after baggage or procure a lunch, leaving the seat in charge of a companion, or depositing travelling-bag or overcoat upon it to show that it is engaged.  When a seat is thus occupied, the right of possession must be respected, and no one should presume to take a seat thus previously engaged, even though it may be wanted for a lady.  A gentleman cannot, however, in justice, vacate his seat to take another in the smoking-car, and at the same time reserve his rights to the first seat.  He pays but for one seat, and by taking another he forfeits the first."

These days, if a gentleman left a travelling-bag or overcoat on a seat while stepping away for a short while, he may find his possessions gone and another person occupying the seat in his place.  One would hope that is not the case, but one fears it might be.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer