Whirligigs and stars and pinwheels

How is everyone this fine day?

I have been sewing, as you can see! Lots of different bright colours to make whirligig star blocks for my challenge quilt. Here are some more ready to be joined.

And here is the first completed block. One block was assembled so I could work out the piecing order, because this is My Very Own Design and not from a book or magazine. Just me and EQ7.
Each 12in finished block will have a different coloured star in the centre, and the lavender corner triangles will make pinwheels when the blocks are joined together. Can't wait to see how it looks......seeing it on the computer screen, and seeing it in real life, can be two different things.

Still have one applique block to made for my group quilt, the next raffle quilt is to have both pieced (made mine already) and floral applique or embroidered blocks. Because I don't have an embroidery machine mine will be be machine appliqued because it's quicker than by hand. I will be glad to have it done. I have no idea which flower design I am going to do......

This week we had some rain, but as they say on the news more follow-up rain is needed. Still - I'm sure the gardens were thankful for what they received. We have a couple of things to be planted so hopefully they will go in the next day or so. This afternoon I noticed some pretty pink things in the front garden, I think they are Nerines. Nerine sounds like a woman's name from years gone by, doesn't it? Those old-fashioned flower names seem to be making a comeback, names like Rose, Lily, Daisy and Violet. My paternal grandmother was Florence, which is nearly a flowery name. She had a sister called Adelong (there is a town in New South Wales called Adelong), and one of her brothers was named Australia. Before Australia became one federated country in 1901 it was a collection of different states, although federation had been talked about for quite some time. As it drew closer some people became quite patriotic about many things including children's names, and Australia was not an uncommon name.

Several years ago I remember a friend telling me that when an elderly member of her family died his name was also found out to have been Australia. He was always called Ozzie, so it was generally thought by family and friends that his name was Oswald. But not so.

Makes you wonder what people will think about the current choice of names in a hundred years or so, doesn't it? To say nothing of the somewhat creative spellings that some children have to carry all their lives, just because their parents felt like being different.

"With some it is customary to name children after some renowned person, either living or dead. There are objections to this plan, however, for if the person be still living, he may commit some act which will bring opprobrium to his name, and so cause both the parent and child to be ashamed of bearing such a disgraced name. If the person after whom the child is named be dead, it may be that the child's character may be so entirely different from the person who formerly bore it, that the name shall be made a reproach or satire."

My parents chose my first name (so I was told) because they liked it, and my middle name - Grace - is after a cousin of my mother's who died young. But I am still here, and I hope I am graceful. Not disgraced.

Enjoy your days!

Did the world end for you?

It hasn't come to a glowing end, I am still here. We'll see what happens in October but I suspect the same result will come about.

My scarf from the beautiful Fleece Artist yarn purchased in Canada is finally finished! Good old feather and fan stitch, easy to knit and I think it shows off the gorgeous yarn colours. It's not blocked, and knowing me it probably won't be; it will block itself as it is worn. This pic taken on the fallen leaves from the we-don't-know-what-it-is-but suspect-it-could-be-an-apricot tree in our backyard.

Another pic draped over the same tree, isn't the yarn scrumptious?
And isn't the grass over the fence brown and dead? You can see why we are eagerly awaiting the rain forecast for later today. Even the trees up the hill look dry.

Today I am noodling around in my sewing room making blocks for charity quilts for my quilt group. It's just as fiddly making one block as making 100, isn't it? By the time one makes fabric choices, and cuts the required number of pieces, then sews just the one block, one could just about make an entire quilt top. There are still three single blocks to be made before I can get started on my own sewing. I am feeling a slight lack of enthusiasm about single blocks by now.

However the next challenge quilt is cut out, so that's something isn't it. I am looking forward to making it - my own design, based on the block we were given. When I finally have a chance to start sewing it I will show pics, I promise. After all the pieces were cut I laid out a couple of blocks to see how it would look and surprised myself, it is so fantastic. Says she modestly.

"Ostentatious display of knowledge.

In refined and intelligent society one should always display himself at his best, and make a proper and legitimate use of all such acquirements as he may happen to have. But there should be no ostentatious or pedantic show of erudition. Besides being vulgar, such a show subjects the person to ridicule."

We wouldn't want to be subject to ridicule, would we? And we are never vulgar.

Enjoy your days!

Haven't been doing much lately

However I did make two shoe bags for a gift, isn't the fabric cute? Kiera-Oona sent it all the way from Canada. It's very fun girly fabric.

One bag was lined with aqua solid and has purple ribbon for the drawstring - the other bag was lined with purple solid, and has turquoise ribbon for its casing. They are now on the way to their new owner.
The current project in the sewing room is an applique block for a friendship quilt, mine has yellow and orange flowers in a dark blue checked jug on a deep green checked background. We were asked to use checks and stripes. My stash doesn't contain many of those, I wonder why? Could it be that they have often been associated with the 'country' style of quilting and decorating, and that's not......quite........me?

During the past week I plucked up my courage, loaded it into my purse and went shopping for undies. On our recent trip to Canberra I took advantage of being in a large city and bought a couple of new bras, because there isn't much choice here in the Small Smoke if one wants to be properly fitted rather than buying cheap stuff from a chain store and taking a guess at sizes. My heavens - it can be a very demoralising experience, can it not? If one is looking for a bra without underwire (because they can be uncomfortable to the point of pain) and without padding (because age, genetics and hormones have combined to make it unnecessary) there is very little choice. There is even less choice if one would like pretty fabric or lace that doesn't look like something my grandmother would have worn in 1956. And why, for goodness' sake, are they nearly all beige? I don't care how it's described, you can call it blush, or peach, or nude, or skintone........it's still beige.

I am not a beige person.

I am a lime green person. Or a turquoise person. Or an orange person, or a yellow person. Not beige.

I was overjoyed to find one style in a pretty embroidered white fabric, so I bought one and have ordered a couple more. While I don't go round flashing my undies to the world (the world is probably thankful for that) I like to know I am wearing pretty things underneath.

And it is now official: I have received word from the government to say I am an Olde Pharte. I have a card which says so. It arrived in today's mail.

Last weekend our town held its first ever inaugural premiere Choral Festival, and one of my choirs sang - a good time was had by all, and we were complimented on our singing. That choir is now preparing for the local eisteddfod later this month. At Monday night's choir practice a smaller choir was created to sing in one of the eisteddfod sections and I was honoured to be chosen for it. I'm not into competitive singing (or competitive anything......competition was beaten out of me as a child) but will go along with it, as it seems to be the norm here. The other choir is practising for its annual concert too, so things are quite musical here. It's all good fun.

We are now getting frost most mornings but the days have been lovely. However some rain would not go amiss, we are now watering plants we want to keep alive as nature has fallen down on the job. The other day we cut down a nandina bush and when the remaining bits of it have been chopped out of the ground that will be one less nandina.......yay! We have more unwanted plants to go, but go they will. The front garden needs to be opened up.

"Perfumes.

Perfumes, if used at all, should be used in the strictest moderation, and be of the most recherchè kind. Musk and patchouli should always be avoided, as, to many people of sensitive temperament, their odor is exceedingly disagreeable. Cologne water of the best quality is never offensive."

Just remember that, when you are squirting yourself tomorrow morning. We wouldn't want to offend, would we?

Enjoy your days!

Happy birthday to me......

.....happy birthday to me,

happy birthday to meeeeeeee,

happy birthday to me!

One year ago today........

.......we moved into this house.......that's four seasons........autumn, winter, spring, summer and now it's autumn again. Neither of us now can imagine living anywhere else, certainly not going back to the Big Smoke.

Today we went for a Nice Weekend Drive to a smaller town an hour or so north from here, and after having lunch drove out to this lovely little chapel in the bush. The pictures have uploaded in reverse order but never mind, we can cope with that can't we.

The board outside the chapel gives the information that it was built as a memorial after World War I to a male member of the family who own the land hereabouts, and in fact have done so since 1834.....a long time in Australian history for one family to stay in the same place.

The full board - because it was in dappled sunlight the dedication on the bottom is difficult to read, hence the close-up.
An avenue of 200 elm trees planted in the early 1920s, by a man specially brought out from England for the job. Does this mean there was no one living in Australia at the time who could dig a hole and plant a tree, even 200 times? I find that difficult to believe.
The little chapel built in 1921 with Boston Ivy clinging to its walls, a lovely autumn sight.
We followed that up with coffee and cake at a small village called Kentucky - why it is called that, no one knows. The cafe at the local general store serves excellent coffee and very yummy cakes; we can recommend it if you are ever up that way.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day, so best wishes to all the mums - I hope you are all spoiled rotten by your families! Is it only in Australia that families are urged to give their mother a new electrical appliance or household gadget? I don't know about you, but if I were to be given something as prosaic as - say - an iron or toaster for Mother's Day, Christmas or birthday (unless I had specifically asked for it) I would wonder if my family thought of me as just another household gadget.

"Mere costliness does not constitute the soul of a present; it is the kind feeling that it manifests which gives it its value. People who possess noble natures do not make gifts where they feel neither affection nor respect, but their gifts are bestowed out of the fulness of kind hearts."

Surely if one's family had a noble nature, they would not consider a household appliance a suitable gift for the mother they love and esteem.

Enjoy your days!

We're home again!

Just to show that we get some fall colours in Australia! The large green trees are Aussie natives, the smaller coloured ones are I know not what. But they were very pretty. Taken in a park in Bathurst, New South Wales, last Friday.

We had a good visit to Canberra, spent some time with our son and caught up with many friends both at the folk festival and out of it. For some reason though this year my festival experience wasn't as enjoyable as in past years.....I wonder why? It's difficult to say. Perhaps the fact that I spent more time volunteering than in previous years had a lot to do with it; I did my compulsory 20 hours but due to a misunderstanding was rostered on to work for an additional 13.5 hours. I won't do that again. The music I caught up with was good, but because of working so many hours I was unable to see as much as I would have liked - I seemed to be continually looking at my watch to see if it was time to report for duty. Never mind, there's always next year.

We took the long way home, and had a leisurely three day drive with many stops in towns along the way.....some we had visited before, some were new to us and every town we drove through was glorious in their autumn colours. We drove through hills in an area which was teeming in the mid 1800s with gold miners, up and over mountains, and could see for a very very long way - I didn't know it was possible to see that far! We didn't take any pics of the view because neither of us has a camera which would do it justice, but it is imprinted on my brain just the same.

We arrived home to a lovely surprise, a package from our son and his lovely girl in Canada, which we collected this morning from the post office. All sorts of goodies! Pretty Canadian fabrics with blue jays, and totem poles, and lovely hand-made yarn and stitch markers, and books, a CD, and a DVD of 'Corner Gas' - a show I really enjoy, it's a hoot. We are very lucky.

And to make our homecoming even more fun I received a call the other day to say the craft table I ordered several weeks ago had arrived in the shop, so we also picked it up this morning and had the fun of unpacking three large boxes and a smaller package. Kevin is putting it together as we speak. I am keeping out of the way.

Did you all watch The Wedding last Friday night? We didn't, because our small caravan isn't blessed (or cursed, depending on one's point of view) with TV but we caught up with some of the footage after arriving home on Saturday. What a lovely elegant gown, and such pretty sparkly diamond earrings and tiara, and that wow of a bridesmaid dress worn by the bride's sister, all topped off with gorgeous happy smiles. It's good to see something happy and cheerful on TV instead of the murder and mayhem which usually fills the news. And it is very good to see a bride and her attendant wearing gowns which aren't strapless. Let's hope it starts a trend.........

Now we are home I don't know where to start. Before we went away I had started making myself a new tee shirt to try out a pattern, so that will be finished first. Then there is a quilt block to be made for next Monday. And I am thinking I could do with some new winter jammies, the fabric is already in my (obscenely large) stash. And many many weeks ago before I came down with the lurgy I pinned a quilt, and am tracing the quilting design on paper ready for quilting; it is still no further ahead. And I need to practice a few songs.

So many things, so little time..........

"Keep yourself quiet and composed under all circumstances. Do not get fidgety. If you feel that time drags heavily, do not let this be apparent to others by any visible sign of uneasiness."

So there you have it. Stay calm at all times. Even if your ship is sinking and you cannot swim.

Enjoy your days!

See you next month!

Tomorrow morning we are hitching up our caravan and heading off to Canberra, to spend time with our son and to take in the National Folk Festival. Volunteers help this festival run and have done so for many years, and I am proud to be one of them. This year Kevin will be joining me in their ranks - but we will be working in different areas.

We will see friends whom we haven't seen for a year, and taking in some great music, and eating and drinking (in moderation) and being merry. We will be enjoying the autumn colours and doing our best to keep warm, because the nights may be rather cold; hopefully the days will be glorious.

"Foreigners are given to embracing. In France and Germany the parent kisses his grown-up son on the forehead, men throw their arms around the necks of their friends, and brothers embrace like lovers. It is a curious sight to Australians, with their natural prejudices against publicity in kissing."

We will be do our best to be restrained when greeting family and friends.......but it will be good to see them!

So you all be good, and best wishes for Easter.

Enjoy your days!