I have met another one of me!

Just after moving here last year I took this picture of autumn gold in our small back yard - the unidentified tree shed its leaves and made a lovely carpet, until it went mushy and was cleared away. We have noticed the occasional leaf fluttering down lately to show us that seasons are changing. The back yard looks different now; the palm fronds drooping in the background are gone (the palm tree has been removed) and the shrubby thing at the foot of the tree is also gone. The wash line is still in the same place.

A couple of days ago I went for a Nice Sunday Drive to a town 110kms or so away (that's 70 or so miles) for a quilt show. When we moved away from the city I knew there wouldn't be so many things like quilt shows to see, but am determined to attend as many as I can. Seeing what other people make can be inspirational and I don't want to give up being inspired.

While there I met a local quilter who shares my name! Same first name - Jennifer, although she calls herself Jenny - same last name too. Different middle name. While I knew that I wasn't the only one with this name, it's the first time I have met someone who shares it. Have you ever googled your name to see how many more of you there are? There are lots of me. But if I google my maiden name I am the only one to appear, that is on a family history site so it's definitely me.

A question for the quilters among you: what is the smallest size piece of fabric you keep for future use? I decided on 2in square. Several years ago I used 2in squares to make this quilt. At present I am cutting larger 2-1/2in squares for the child's quilt I am being tardy about, and also cutting 2in squares if a small piece of fabric isn't big enough for 2-1/2in. Anything smaller is being thrown out. But there are some 1-1/2in strips of varying lengths, and I am wondering if they should be kept or if that is getting too narrow to be useful. Decisions, decisions........before anyone mentions 'crumb quilts' let me say I'm not interested. Have you ever felt the weight of one of those? With all those little seams they use a huge amount of fabric, much more than one would think, so even handling it to layer and quilt it would be difficult. I don't do much applique so there's not much point in keeping an applique stash of small pieces - if I wanted a small piece I could use what is in the 2in square box.

Last week I had occasion to be in a local medical centre while waiting to see a doctor and was forced to listen to the choice of music of the young women working in the office, very poppy stuff that I don't listen to voluntarily. It irritated me to the extent that when I was finally admitted to the doctor's inner sanctum (after waiting for 40 minutes or so....just as well I had taken my hand-piecing) I complained. He told them to turn it off, and said to me he had already asked several times. They didn't turn it off, so he yelled at them. I felt bad about that, and now I am probably on their Hit List for causing the yell. Studies have shown that selected gentle classical music - I'm not talking Wagner opera here - calms people down and even lowers blood pressure. Mine was much higher than it should have been when it was taken by the doctor, because I could feel myself seething more and more the longer I was forced to sit and listen. In future I shall take along my almost historic Walkman clone (remember them? mine still works so I haven't succumbed to an ipod) and listen to my own choice of music. Next visit is on Friday for a flu shot and believe me, I am not looking forward to that visit.

"If anyone should assume a disagreeable tone of voice or offensive manner toward you, never return it in company, and, above all, do not adopt the same style of conversation with him. Appear not to notice it, and generally it will be discontinued, as it will be seen that it has failed in its object."

Let's hope the medical centre office staff are not disagreeable on Friday.

Enjoy your days!

Green lusciousness

Are these not truly beautiful and gorgeous and green? Yesterday was our 35th wedding anniversary, and Kevin surprised me with these lovely jade earrings. It seems that coral and jade are the symbols for 35 years of wedded bliss, and he knows me well enough by now to know that I would much prefer green jade to pink/red coral. It was a complete surprise as I had no idea he had anything planned, let alone ordered these to be specially made! So I wore them last night when we went out to a restaurant to celebrate.

Yes folks, our small town has a French restaurant, and very good it is too. Home made bread......roast chicken with scallops in an interesting sauce (me).......lamb done three ways (Kevin).........a trio of different fruit desserts, all small but perfectly formed, rhubarb cream brulee, poached tiny pear on chocolate (yum) and passionfruit marshmallow (me)......butterscotch pudding with honeycomb ice cream (Kevin). Add wines and coffee, and you can see we really enjoyed our meal.

Now back to home cooking Chez Jennifer. Tonight's meal won't be anywhere near as interesting as last night's, I can tell you. Or served as beautifully.

Today I have been busy preparing notes to teach a technique at one of my quilt groups next Saturday, the notes and illustrations are ready, now to make a few demonstration pieces showing the various steps. It's not as though I have no fabric with which to do that.........who knows, perhaps it might even be the start of another new quilt.....now that is a scary thought.

We have had rain over the past few days and more is forecast. The garden is probably very thankful as things have been a bit dry lately. Using a hose doesn't have the same effect, does it? Rain washes everything sparkling clean and fresh again.

Apparently today, 20th March 2011, is the autumn equinox so summer has now ended. That means shorter days (especially when daylight saving finishes in a couple of weeks thank goodness, it's been very dark in the mornings lately) and cooler nights, so much better for sleeping. Have noticed leaves definitely changing and dropping, although it will be a while until trees are bare. Some people see autumn as an ending but I see it as a time for rest.

The news from Japan about the earthquake and tsunami last week is very sad, so many lives lost, so many families disrupted, and now there are problems with nuclear power stations as a result. Whose idea was it to have nuclear power plants on earthquake faults? Did it not occur to someone that perhaps that was not the best idea the world has ever seen? It's been known for a long time that Japan is somewhat prone to earthquakes. We'll all be glowing in the dark soon.

"If gentleman is walking with two ladies in a rain storm, and there is but one umbrella, he should give it to his companions and walk outside. Nothing can be more absurd than to see a gentleman walking between two ladies holding an umbrella which perfectly protects himself, but half deluges his companions with its dripping streams."

An umbrella wouldn't be much use in a tsunami, would it?

Now I am going to cut fabric.

Enjoy your days!

Back home in the Small Smoke

Oh my, we had forgotten how bad traffic in Sydney can be.....not forgotten exactly, just pushed it to the back of our minds. Never mind, we survived. We stayed a couple of nights in a peaceful place on a creek, just near where it flows into a larger river; lots of bird life (we were woken by cockatoos and kookaburras), and great coffee! It was much nicer than a large impersonal hotel would have been.

On our trip we noticed that leaves are starting to change, yay! That means summer is on its last gasp although it is still fairly warm and a bit humid. However this and the new header pictures were not taken last week, they were taken at Bluffer's Park in Scarborough, Ontario in October 2009 - I don't yet have any pictures of local autumn colour.

We managed to spend a short (very short - just long enough for a coffee) time with our older son before he headed off to his new job three hours further away from us. Never mind, we will see him next month when we make our annual trip to Canberra for the big folk festival.

Am still a bit short on energy since the recent lurgy, but slowly getting on top of things. It is my turn to have friendship blocks made in one of my quilt groups so yesterday I cut and overlocked fabric squares, today I prepared instructions. My block is an appliqued tea cup with just three pieces, cup, handle and saucer, and it needs to be ready for tomorrow. While in Sydney I managed a visit to a quilt shop where I found a lovely background fabric, a very pale soft creamy floral; one needs to be fairly close to see there is a design at all as it is quite subtle (only three colour registration dots on the selvedge), but it is much nicer than a plain fabric would be.

On the trip I started to knit a new scarf from yarn I bought in Canada, and all was well. On the way home again I spent more time un-knitting than I did knitting, so I gave up in the end. But I will persist, as it's an easy pattern and the colours are lovely, green and bronze. Very autumn-y. Have I ever told you that autumn is my favourite season? and that I am quite fond of green?

We took the long but scenic way home and drove through a lovely little village called Wollombi. The first time I ever went there I felt a connection but didn't know why.....then several years ago I found out that my family lived there from the early 1820s until fairly recent times, and for all I know I may still have rellies in the area. In 1870 my maternal great-grandparents were married there in a lovely old stone church, St John's Anglican Church, which dates from 1849; in fact my maternal grandfather's four grandparents all lie in the local cemetery. A few years ago I found out from old maps held at the local museum where the family farm used to be - I wish we still had it, as now the area is prime grape-growing country and the former Davis farm is probably now worth lots of money. But is considered vulgar to speak of money, is it not?

"A gentleman should avoid talking about his business or profession, unless such matters are drawn from him by the person with whom he is conversing. It is in bad taste, particularly, to employ technical or professional terms in general conversation."

Keep your own business to yourself, in other words.

Enjoy your days!

We're heading for the Big Smoke this week

These are pretty, aren't they? But it's a very untidy daisy bush, so it will be cut back severely or perhaps even removed completely. Hidden almost behind and to the left is a gardenia which we didn't discover for months, and I would rather have that than the daisies. Even though I really really love yellow.

Hard to believe that it is a year since we found this house, and ten months tomorrow since we moved in. We both enjoy living here.....it's difficult to remember living anywhere else! On Tuesday we will leave it for a few days and head back to the Big Smoke, aka Sydney, to conduct some business. While there we will meet up with our older son - just before he moves out of Sydney. With a bit of luck I may get to a couple of quilt shops, and a Large City Department Store (something we don't have here) to stock up on lipstick........at this stage that is my Cunning Plan........

The Dreaded Lurgy is slowly moving out and leaving me in peace. The nasty cough has almost gone, my voice is slowly coming back to normal so choir practice tomorrow night looks like being a goer, but I still can't talk for too long at a time. Had a treatment from the chiropractor a few days ago, and she mentioned that other of her clients had what she called "summer flu", which sounds like my ailment too.

Am working on a quilt for the local Ronald Macdonald House and is quite bright, hopefully its new small owner will like it. The blocks are sewn together, and I have pulled out yellow, orange and green fabrics for border and backing. One can never have too much colour in a child's quilt. But it will have to wait until we return from our trip.

This afternoon I noticed a couple of the potted plants in the beer garden looked a bit dry so I picked up the dark green watering can.......and something moved inside it........it was one of the resident frogs.......erk........so I flung it on the grass and waited until Kevin came home, because he is braver than I am when it comes to wildlife. He eventually coaxed it out of its hidey-hole and onto the edge of the new bird bath, where it surveyed the landscape for a while before jumping off into the scrub. I did manage to get a picture of it enjoying life on the edge but it's still in the camera. When I download it you can all see why I was taken aback.......as far as frogs go, it is not very pretty. One would have to be somewhat desperate to think of kissing it, even with the prospect of a handsome prince on the horizon.

"Avoid all coarseness and undue familiarity in addressing others. A person who makes himself offensively familiar will have few friends."

Does this mean I should refer to our amphibious friend as Mr, Mrs or Miss Frog, rather than "Froggy"? I would not wish to offend our wildlife.

Enjoy your days!

A very cute WOW....and an award!

My blog has received an award, isn't that lovely! And as one of the meanings of 'liebster' is lovely it seems appropriate. Bev of Quilton passed it to me, and says nice things about me on her blog too. Thank you Bev.....I shall pass it on in turn.

And thank you to my friend Sandra who made me a wombat, isn't it cute! Made from felt with Christmas trimmings, but too nice to only have out at Christmas time. Shall find a place for this little feller where I can enjoy him/her/it (they're a bit hard to tell, really) all year round. Perhaps I need a wombat tree.
It's nearly two weeks since I have dropped pearls of wisdom in my blog because I have been crook. As crook as Rookwood in fact, and considering Rookwood is a cemetery that's pretty crook. I was struck down by The Dreaded Lurgy........not the flu, not a cold, not sinusitis, not an allergy, probably a bit of all of them. However I am on the road to recovery now, thank you for asking, and once the cough settles down more and I can sleep better at night I will be jumping out of my skin again instead of feebly hopping. The headlight on my forehead is healing nicely, and should soon be completely gone.

Today I noticed that a few leaves on our backyard tree are starting to turn yellow, yippee! as are some other leaves I have noticed on my travels around town. That means that summer will be off and away before too long, we hope, to be replaced by much more pleasant autumn. Apparently it hasn't been a very hot summer as far as summers go, although tomorrow and Tuesday are forecast to be very hot......37 deg C, that's nearly 100 deg F for those who aren't metricated. Some people are rejoicing because, they say, summer ends tomorrow and autumn begins on 1st March.........rubbish, say I.......autumn begins when it begins, and not because someone years ago decided to make an arbitrary date of it. The seasons don't change suddenly anyway, it's a gradual process. When I was at school a thousand years ago we learnt that seasons change around the time of the equinox, and that's a few weeks away yet.

We think the backyard tree may be an apricot tree although we didn't get any fruit from it, it only had a few blossoms and the birds got to the few fruit which appeared before I could identify them. Bummer, because apricots are my very favourite fruit......I love love love them.....and the season for stone fruit has just about finished now, so it's several months until apricot time again.

For several days I couldn't even pick up a needle and thread, it was all I could do to get out of bed (and every time I did I was soon back in it again), but today I am preparing the pieces for my contribution to a block of the month for my quilt group. We take it in turns to choose a block, which is then used to make quilts for the local Ronald Macdonald House. This months is a cute but somewhat fussy variation on Sunbonnet Sue, however everything different is a learning experience isn't it, and I haven't made this block before. Probably won't make it again either. But I shall do the best I can.

Have you noticed for a few years now that almost every bride and her female attendants wear strapless gowns? For goodness' sake, why? If they are well padded then there are unflattering little rolls poking over the top and sides, and if they are somewhat under-endowed then the dress looks as though it would remain rigid even if its wearer turned a circle inside it. For what it's worth, I have a theory..........back in The Good Old Days when life was a little more formal young (and not so young) women wore well-made cocktail or evening gowns, sometimes even strapless ones, and they knew how to walk and move in them. These days strapless dresses and tops are worn without much in the way of 'underneaths', so the wearer spends her time hunched over in case........quelle horreur!........that little sliver of fabric should slip, exposing her all. Nowadays the wedding dress is possibly the first formal gown worn by many a young woman who hasn't had the previous experience of dances and balls while similarly attired, and.....to put it quite frankly.......she doesn't know how to wear it.

"The wedding dress.

A full bridal costume should be white from head to foot. The dress may be of silk, heavily corded, moire antique, satin or plain silk, merino, alpaca, crape, lawn or muslin. The veil may be of lace, tulle or illusion, but it must be long and full. It may or may not descend over the face. Orange blossoms or other white flowers and maiden blush roses should form the bridal wreath and bouquet. The dress is high and the arms covered. Slippers of white satin and white kid gloves complete the dress."

There we have it, the dress is high and the arms covered. Not strapless. And not looking like something one would wear to bed either. Wonder how many of today's girls would wear a dress like that to her wedding?

Enjoy your days!

Ouch ouch ouch.......

........today I went to the doctor about a little 'thing' on my forehead, and sure enough it was a little lesion that had to be burnt off. By gosh it stings. My forehead looks as though someone has punched it hard or I walked into a door. I feel like Cyclops with that eye in the middle of his forehead. Unfortunately that's the price those of us with northern European ancestry pay for living in sunny Australia. For the next week or so, while it heals, I will not look as lovely as usual.

So to cheer me up you are all invited round for a cuppa and a nice piece of cake. I'll even get out the good china. This very pretty set (four cups, saucers and plates, plus a creamer and sugar basin) were inherited when my mother died several years ago, and I think may have been a wedding present when my parents married in 1946. The design is "English Rose" by Royal Doulton and possibly dates from the 1930s. The oh-so-glam tea cosy was made by my mother's Aunt Laura, my grandmother's sister. I have some of her tatted lace, isn't it delicate? The lining is pale green rayon taffeta and is ruched over the curve, there is a padded lining of white cotton inside.

The fabric which suffered a colour run last week is still ever-so-slightly pale green. So I have put it away in the stash cupboard for the time being, and bought new fabric for the challenge quilt. Pretty though it is, for this quilt I don't want pale green, I want white. It will be worth it, when it's all done.

We have no wildlife reports this week. Haven't seen the blue-tongue lizard again, and the frog(s) have been quiet too. But the garden is growing well, and some of the decisions as to what to keep and what to get rid of are gradually being made. We have been here now for nine months so we don't think there will be many more garden surprises - soon the plants will be thinking about their winter sleep.

Did you all have a lovely Valentine's Day? We went out to dinner to celebrate Kevin's birthday, Aussies of our generation don't generally do the Valentine's Day thing. It seems to be bigger with the younger folk and is really pushed at them by the media.

Now that's over we will be bombarded with Easter......chocolate, yum.......hot cross buns, yum again...........

It was surprising how many of you don't do retreats either, for the same reasons that I don't. Makes me feel better about not going, as reaction from several of those who will be attending made me think I must be a bit weird for not wanting to share a bedroom with several strangers. But that's how I am, and that's how you are too.

"If a gentleman calls upon a lady, his duty and his respect for her demand that he shall appear not only in good clothes, but with well-combed hair, exquisitely clean hands, well-trimmed beard or cleanly shaven face, while the lady will not show herself in an untidy dress or disheveled hair. They should appear at their best."

Untidy and disheveled? Doesn't sound like any of us, does it?

Enjoy your days!

WOW for February

We haven't had a wombat for a long time, have we? Not since the computer issues late last year. So here is a very little one, or a little one and an even littler one. They are really tiny, the big one is only a couple of inches high.

This gorgeous feller is named Darwin, isn't he something? Has eyelashes to die for, too.......
We met him last year on Open Day at a local alpaca farm. When I first saw him I thought he had an interesting grey fleck to his fleece, but on closer inspection it was some kind of grass seed caught there instead. If you click on the picture it should enlarge, and you can see why we were deceived.
A couple of mums and bubs. Little alpacas are called crias, and are really sweet. And fluffy. And gorgeous.......I would love a pet alpaca.

Remember the circles I ran around in last week, buying extra fabric for the challenge quilt because I was working with the wrong measurements? The sorry saga continues. This morning I overlocked the edges of a few pieces of fabric, both quilting and dressmaking, to pre-wash them. I don't always bother with pre-washing quilt fabric, but thought I would this time. There was a the spotted background fabric, the striped border fabric, a piece of brown fabric for the border of another quilt, a piece of pale blue and white cotton batiste, and a piece of jade green poly/cotton blend. To save water and power (we're always being told to save energy, aren't we) I threw them all in the washing machine together.........

and the colour of the jade green fabric ran.......

and the only fabric it ran onto was the white-background-with-black-spots fabric for the challenge quilt.......

.....so now it is pale-green-splotched white-background-with-black-spots........

Wouldn't it rot your socks.

Please don't tell me what I did wrong, I already know. I should have (but forgot) to use a dye magnet. I probably shouldn't have thrown so many different fabrics all in together. Etc........etc...... There is a wonderful product which removes colour run, it comes in two formulations, one for white fabrics only not to be used on coloured fabrics under any circumstances whatsoever, and one for coloured fabrics. There are three packets of it in the laundry cupboard, all the same. Guess which one.....yes, the wrong one. But I have some Synthrapol which is used to rinse out excess dye when dyeing fabrics, so I am washing the offending fabric in it right now. At present I am at home sans automobile because it is with Kevin at the bowls club, so I can't even take a quick trip to the supermarket for some of the right product and I am buggered if I am going to walk 45 minutes there and 45 minutes home again. If the fabric is totally wrecked then there will be another trip to the Big Fabric And Homewares Store for more. I am determined to make this quilt and equally determined to use that particular fabric, because it is so right.

Moving right along.

We have had a certain amount of wildlife this week. There was a green tree frog on the outside of a window early in the week, which entertained Bianca The Beautiful (but slightly brainless) a great deal. A few weeks ago we had one inside, erk. We convinced it to leave. Then a couple of evenings ago we wondered why a bird was acting strangely in the backyard and why Bianca was so agitated at the same time, and found a very large blue tongue lizard crawling along the edge of the garden. Kevin, who is much braver than I am, picked it up and brought it over to the window to show Bianca. She was inside the house and the lizard was outside, but they hissed at each other through the window screen and honour was satisfied on both sides. We haven't seen it since but apparently they are active at this time of year, so we may see it again.

Yesterday we met the new cat which recently moved next door, seems it is an outside cat. When we suggested it leave and go home it pounced on a bird, as bold as brass, so Kevin squirted it with the hose. It came around later and was squirted again. We will continue to squirt it whenever we see it. Our cats are inside cats for a reason - this is an area with many birds, and some of them are using our backyard as a place to socialise. We like that. We have a bowl of water in the shade of a shrub and today I have seen some birds having a drink - first time I have seen it being used. If next door's killing machine keeps using our yard as its personal buffet we will lose the birds, and that would be very sad. We like cats but their place is not out in the Australian bush.

The washed-again fabric has just come out of the washing machine and it is still streaked with green. Time for Plan B, which is the product suitable for coloured fabric dye runs when I can get to the shop to buy it later. Plan C is to buy more fabric.

Next week I plan to ask at a local fabric shop about sewing classes. Now so much how to join fabric by machine, that's easy - but how to alter a pattern to fit me, now that my shape is the middle-aged barrel. When I was svelter I had no trouble with patterns, but such is not the case now. Ready-made clothes are getting rather unexciting, do you think? They are fine if one is a chickybabe (although even when I was a chicky I was never a babe) or if one is 'a working woman of a certain age', but as one is neither of those and one needs some new clothes, one is jolly well going to make one's own. There are some very nice fabrics in my stash and I have a machine, and the skill to cut out and assemble the fabric, just need a pattern to fit properly. Could have a go myself at home but it's something that is probably easier with a helper.

One of the local groups is planning its annual weekend away in a few months, but I can't see myself going. This may sound very "princess and the pea" but the accommodation is in dormitories and I have never shared a bedroom in my life, except with the blokes I have married. (there have been two, don't ask, it's a long story) Because I didn't have sisters, only brothers, I had a bedroom to myself as a child, didn't go to a boarding school and there were no school or holiday camps in those days. Seems there is no possibility of a room to oneself at this weekend away, so I would prefer not to go. But that's OK.

"To appear at all times neat, clean and tidy is demanded of every well-bred person. The dress may be plain, rich or extravagant, but there must be a neatness and cleanliness of the person. Whether a lady is possessed of few or many personal attractions, it is her duty at all times to appear tidy and clean, and to make oneself as comely and attractive as circumstances and surroundings will permit. The same may be said of a gentleman."

Comely........attractive......sounds like me, for sure.

Enjoy your days!