The town is growing

Another couple of house blocks were made the other day, taking the grand total to nine.

One house doesn't use much fabric as they are only 6-1/2 inches square, so they are a long way from being stashbusting blocks!  It's just for fun......and we all need fun in our lives during what is becoming a trying time, don't we?

Some leaf blocks have been made, six are now finished.  This is how the quilt centre will be arranged, not necessarily with these four blocks.

There are also over 300 half-square blocks to be made each measuring four and a half inches, so they have become leaders and enders while making the fifteen leaf blocks - and I am very happy with it; those gorgeous autumn colours make my heart sing.

Yesterday was quite a momentous occasion, the first Saturday quilt group meeting since late February was held.  We aren't a big group even when everyone is present and there were a few missing anyway, but it was good to be out among friends chatting and sewing together.  To make the day complete we even had our morning tea and lunch at the cafe attached to the store where we meet.  That made the second coffee in a few days that someone else made for me, because we did shout ourselves a coffee and a treat earlier in the week.....and what a treat that was, after so long.

We have had a few cold frosty mornings, not surprising considering that it is, indeed, winter.  I much prefer winter to summer but do feel the cold, so you will usually find me rugged up for all I'm worth.  Our stroll along the main drag for coffee was a chilly stroll, but it was worth every minute when that coffee arrived in front of me.

Kevin has gone back to playing lawn bowls, and I am enjoying a little 'me time' when he does.  Twenty fours hours a day for weeks on end is a lot of togetherness.

We've been in the fortunate position in this town of having very few cases of the current plague with no new cases for two months now, so we're much better off in our smaller community that if we still lived in the Big Smoke.  Providing that things don't get much worse we are tentatively planning a trip to Canberra in September, nearly six months after we would have gone, but it is still tentative.  We won't be going to the folk festival north of here in October because sadly it isn't going to happen this year, and of course the festival at Easter had to be cancelled, but a break away would be nice.

"Requirements for a happy marriage.
Respect for each other is as necessary to a happy marriage as that the husband and wife should have an affection for one another.  Social equality, intellectual sympathy, and sufficient means are very important matters to be considered by those who contemplate matrimony."

I wonder if the writer of those words could anticipate the happy couple being shut up together for months on end?

Enjoy your days!

Time for the autumn leaves

Now that the tree hanging is done, it's time for one of my favourite pastimes - mindlessly feeding fabric through the machine.

A couple of years ago while going through some 'free to good home' magazines at a local quilt shop a front-cover project caught my eye.....can't resist those autumn colours......so it came home with me.  All the fabrics have been cut for a while, some half square triangles sewn as leaders and enders then trimmed to size.  One hundred and twenty 2-1/2 inch squares are a wee bit fiddly-diddly to trim - not all at once, thank goodness - but they are now all done.  Then 15 stems had to be made, because there are 15 leaves.  This will be the first one, pieces are laid out ready to be joined.

The magazine design (an issue from 2007 of a now defunct Aussie magazine) had the leaves all in shades of one colour, all red, all green, etc., but I like my autumn leaves mixed, so mixed they shall be.  Just like leaves are in real life.  Lots of different backgrounds (but no white, the corner piece is actually a pale beige print) and lots and lots of leaf prints, many of which are souvenirs from Canadaian trips.

Then.....would you believe it?  While going through magazines recently to sort out what to keep and what to give to the Rotary Club book shed I found I already had that magazine!  The spare copy has now been donated along with other books and magazines, and a couple of books from the Rotary Club book shed came home with me in return.  We have all missed the Book Shed which has, of course, been closed for a few months but is now open again.

Every town needs a Book Shed.  It's a place for us to donate our unwanted books, magazines, CDs, DVDs, jigsaw puzzles.......and a place to buy more.  Yesterday my $5 bought me two good quilt books (each of which probably cost up to $40 new, and they are both only a few years old) and a CD, and the money raised goes to support various worthy causes.

Welcome to Frédérique from France, the first time I have had a French visitor to my blog!  

What do you think of the new Blogger?  Looks like it is being forced on us whether we want it or not, so I might as well give it a try.  No use postponing the inevitable, is there.  

Today is the winter solstice, the day of the year with the least amount of sunlight.  Pretty right too; it's been a cold grey day with a few showers, a good day to stay indoors and sew.  Or look at those two new books on scrappy quilts.  Or veg out on the computer.

"Always recognize acquaintances.

One should always recognize lady acquaintances in the street, either by bowing or words of greeting, a gentleman lifting his hat.  If they stop to speak, it is not obligatory to shake hands.  Shaking hands is not forbidden, but in most cases it is to be avoided in public."

Looks like that answers last week's question, doesn't it?  Of course, when that was written in 1885 people - most ladies and many gentlemen - would have worn gloves in public, so no touching of actual hands would have taken place.

Enjoy your days!

Is finished!

Ta da!  Quilting is done, binding is on.  Sleeve is yet to be sewn down on the back, but I am still calling this a finish.

The hall leading to our bedroom might be just the place to hang this, there is a blank wall crying out for decoration.  The quilting will never win a prize, but as it won't ever be entered into a competition - that doesn't matter.

It was bought at the Creativ Festival in Toronto way back in October 2012, so it's about time it was finished and enjoyed.  Pattern is called 'Hanging On' by Laundry Basket Quilts.

Even made a couple of houses yesterday afternoon, once my little Featherweight machine stopped having a conniption over something, I know not what.  I stopped for a coffee and a deep breath, and it was fine and dandy after that.

These are very bright little houses; some have a beautifully manicured lawn, while others have flowers in their garden.  They will all have blue skies, because - like Camelot - it's always sunny in my town.

Bianca had her Senior Pet Check on Friday.  Each year in June her vet has 'Senior Pet Month' with a free check-up, so off she went.....we had to drive her, of course, she's not great behind the wheel of a car......and she received a good report.  Considering her advanced age of 17-1/2 years (don't forget the half) she is doing well; coat good, teeth excellent, heart strong.  She has lost a little weight as the elderly often do, but she is in very condition.  We don't know how much longer we will have her, but we'll just enjoy her company while we can.

Activities around town are starting to resume.  While there haven't been many cases of the plague in our region and none at all for over a month, many people are still careful about putting themselves out there again.  Unfortunately it looks as though choral singing is one activity which can spread droplets (infected or not) much further than talking - so that means my choir and ukulele groups are still on hold for a while longer.  I really miss my music.  Playing by one's self isn't the same as playing and harmonising in a group.

This morning we woke to very welcome rain, and it rained steadily for a few more hours before stopping.  So far we have had more rain this year than the same period last year, fingers crossed that pattern continues.

"Shaking hands.

Among friends the shaking of the hand is the most geniune and cordial expression of good-will.  It is not necessary, though in certain cases it is not forbidden upon introduction; but when acquaintanceship has reached any degree of intimacy, it is perfectly proper."

Are we allowed to shake hands yet, or is the official policy strictly "keep your hands to yourself"?

Quilting is done!

Sides have been trimmed......now to add binding and sleeve.  Finished will be a good feeling.

I am not, and never have been, a fan of stippling as a quilt design but it suits this picture, creating a sense of air movement and wind around the leaves and branches.

After all - wind is the reason there are so few leaves left on the tree!

The edges of the leaves are left unstitched, all were cut from one piece of fabric.

A couple of weeks ago when we bought our new rosemary and lavender plants I couldn't resist this pretty cyclamen.

It's difficult to get a good photo; the petals are so large that light shining through them washes out the colour, but you can see those petals have a white edge.  The bird baths are in a shady corner of the garden.

Have you all had a good week?  We have still been staying home except for hunting and gathering, and the weekly drug run.  We used to sweeten said drug run by stopping off in a cafe for coffee and sometimes a treat, but haven't done that now for nearly three months.  Oh well......perhaps one day soon. 

Some more stitches have been knitted on the scarf, more tumblers have been joined.  More books have been read.  Some TV has been watched, even an occasional movie.

We have noticed a popular trend in home renno shows is to get rid of any carpet and replace it with wood floors, while in older houses ceilings  are removed so beams/rafters can be exposed or installed.  Add to that the open plan so popular nowadays with all its togetherness, and bare uncurtained windows........don't these people ever realise how cold and how noisy that house has now become?  Factor in a clodhopping clumping loud-music-loving teenage male or two......I would leave.  Yes, I know carpet has to be cleaned.  We have carpet in some rooms, and tile in others.  We have an open plan kitchen/family room too, but overall it's not a noisy cold house because of the carpet and curtains.

If you have ever had a coffee or a meal in a restaurant with polished cement floors, no window coverings and no seat cushions - a trendy thing over the past few years - you will know how noisy that is, making it difficult to converse with one's table companion/s.  Now imagine living in those surroundings, day in, day out, with no escape.  No, thank you.

Winter has definitely arrived.  Each morning this week has been colder than the day before, and we have even been visited by Jack Frost......a taste of weather to come, no doubt.  Having a fire is lovely - and of course, Bianca thinks so too.

While reading a social media page on fashions of the past I came across the comment "it used to be regarded as a social responsibility to dress as well as possible".  'Social responsibility'......I like that, and I wish it still held.

"Indifference to dress.
Indifference and inattention to dress is a defect of character rather than virtue, and often denotes indolence and slovenliness.  Every woman should aim to make herself look as well as possible with the means at her command.  Among the rich, a fondness for dress promotes exertion and activity of the mental powers, cultivates a correct taste, and fosters industry and ingenuity among those who seek to procure for them the material and designs for dress,  Among the middle classes it encourages diligence, contrivance, planning and deftness of handiwork, and among the poorer classes it promotes industry and economy.  A fondness for dress, when it does not degenerate into vain show, has an elevating and refining influence on society."

You could say so.  Perhaps it's not so much that standards of dress are slipping, as that some people just have very low standards and do their best not to exceed them......which is not quite the same.

Enjoy your days!

Today is World Parrot Day

So let's hear it for the parrots!  Polly want a cracker, and all that......

We have parrots here.  We have Sulphur Crested Cockatoos (large noisy white birds with yellow comb on top of head), noisy Little Corellas (you haven't lived until you have been woken at stupid dark very early o'clock by a flock of corellas), my favourite noisy Galahs (pink and grey - "silly galah" is also used as a good-natured insult), sometimes King Parrots.  We also have Rainbow Lorikeets, Eastern Rosellas, and Crimson Rosellas, which are all parrots in my book.

The larger the bird, the louder the noise.  Parrots are noisy, but I like them.

A galah, taken in winter in Canberra at the campground where we stay.

How could I have forgotten the majestic Major Mitchell Cockatoo with its pink, orange and yellow crest?  Perhaps because we don't see them here.

A male King Parrot - the girl is opposite colours, green with a red back and wings.

This week has been uneventful.  Not much has been done.  The scarf being knitted is growing longer - it's an elongated skinny triangle - the tumblers are stitched by hand when my eyes aren't too tired, the tree is slowly being quilted with only the main trunk to go.  Then lots and lots of background, in small pieces, to be quilted.

On Friday I went for my flu shot.  The medical centre had set up a clinic in the foyer which I was unhappy about - there was absolutely no privacy.  I know there was no intimate examination required, but just to be stuck out in full view of everyone passing is not my idea of a 'medical consultation'.  The doctor called my name, the nurse said my age, a woman hanging around for her turn made a remark about "not looking it".  That's not the point.  My age (and everything else about me) is a matter between me and the doctor.  If that is how it's done next year I shall re-think.  Kevin managed to have his flu shot when he visited the doctor for something else, so I know what to do in future.

Besides which, I do not like pointy medical things.  Come to that, I do not enjoy being poked, prodded or pushed in the name of medical science at all.  Here it is Sunday afternoon, and my arm is still sore and tender.

Oh well.  Moving right along.

Read a book I enjoyed recently, and now I can't remember its name.  The word 'family' was in it, that I can tell you; it was downloaded to my tablet, and when I finish a book I delete it so it's gone.  It's by an Australian author, set in Queensland, and the family in question revolves around the mother of three grown men, their partners and children and their interractions with each other.  Mother was a poisonous old witch, for sure, but it had its light moments.

I like books which revolve around family secrets, perhaps because my own family had secrets so it's easy to relate to those stories.

My 1882 etiquette book has a whole chapter devoted to British and European titles.  I haven't delved into that chapter as it is not information I need in my everyday life......but some of you may need it.

"European titles.
Titles in Continental Europe are so common and so frequently unsustained by landed and moneyed interests, that they have not that significance which they hold in England.  A count may be a penniless scamp, depending on the gambling-table for a precarious subsistence, and looking out for the chance of making a wealthy marriage."

There you have it, ladies.....watch out for those 'penniless scamps', they're only after your fortune.

Enjoy your days!

Shiver me timbers.......

......it's been a bit chilly.  So chilly that yesterday's temperature came within a foofteenth of breaking the record for the coldest day in May ever recorded here; eventually it creaked its way to 9.7 deg yesterday afternoon, while the coldest ever was 9.6 in the 1980s.  That of course means that, while the mercury may have reached 9.7 deg the 'feels like' was several degrees colder.  At least there was almost no wind - we were thankful for small mercies.

Needless to say, we stayed indoors.  Bianca spent much of her day asleep on her bed in front of the fire.

Houses have been built.

 Overcast days mean not-so-good conditions for photos, the palm tree roof is actually purple - not blue.

Here is the village so far:

 Just what I envisaged, bright houses all in a row.  Trees will also be made as spacers.  This isn't one of those "I must finish this as soon as possible" projects, it's more like a "just feel like making a house or two today" projects.

Another view of my pretty tiara, just because.  Lights on this time.

Every girl needs some sparkle-arkle in her life, yes?

All the leaves have been sewn down on the tree, now to quilt some markings on the trunk and branches.  More tumblers have been sewn together.  Stitches have been knitted.  Books have been read.  Not much else has been done.

Our world is gradually opening up.  While I can't see us going out on the town hitting the high (or low) spots when it's possible to do so it will be nice to order a coffee that I don't have to make for myself and sit in a cafe to drink it, with perhaps a treat as well, and watch the world go by.

Some of you have been making masks.  As we don't have to wear them, I have made none.  Even if we did, I wouldn't be making them.  My sewing room is a happy place, a place for having fun, and I don't want to bring the plague into it.

"Dress of hostess at dinner party.

The dress of a hostess at a dinner party should be rich in material, but subdued in tone, so as not to eclipse any of her guests.  A young hostess should wear a dress of rich silk, black or dark in color, with collar and cuffs of fine lace, and if the dinner be by daylight, plain jewellery, but by gaslight, diamonds."

So......I can wear my tiara by gaslight, it seems.......even if those diamonds aren't real.

Enjoy your days!

We're not locked in so tightly now

However I suspect the slight easing of restrictions won't make difference to us, we will still live a fairly circumspect life for a while yet.

Another little house is finished.

More are cut out, ready to be sewn.  This is going to be a very cheerful neighbourhood!

Finally bit the bullet and have started stitching down oak leaves.  The Cunning Plan was to - carefully - stitch around all those wiggly edges (erk) then stitch the veins, but some of the leaves weren't sticking down very well so I stitched the veins on one leaf before getting into the wiggly stuff.  Well, that is it.  Done.  There will be no more stitching on this leaf.  It's not going anywhere; the wind can blow all it likes but this leaf is staying on its branch.

The veins on several other leaves have been stitched since then and there are only a few more to go.  That will be enough to anchor them.

Did you know I own a tiara?

Way back when the internet was much younger than it is now I joined an online quilting group for Aussies and Kiwis.  The suggestion was made to have a get-together for a weekend, a few people put up their hands to organise it, and it happened.  It was such a success that the following year a group in another city put up their hands......and it has continued to this day, in a different city each time.  I have only been to one of those weekend retreats when it was held in the Big Smoke where we lived, but it was fun.  This year it had to be cancelled because of the current plague, but it still happened this weekend online - and what a hoot it has been.  In earlier years a few women decided to add a fun touch to the Saturday night dinner and wore tiaras; they ranged from a child's sparkly plastic tiara to bridal headwear and everything in between.  I bought this 15 years ago at a street market in a small town, it cost me all of $20......the woman from whom I bought it told me "that was my wedding tiara over 40 years ago.......it came all the way from Sydney, you know!"  These days that's less than a four hour trip, but back then it would have taken most of the day.

Kevin doesn't mind the odd drop or two of whisky from time to time, and when I saw the bag it seemed Just The Thing to store my tiara.  The pic was taken with lights off so you can see the design much better, it's not easy to photograph something so shiny and gleaming.

We all need some sparkly fun in our lives, don't we?  Mine is a tiara to wear to a quilting dinner, and it is also worn each year on the last night of the Easter folk festival.

"The full dinner dress.
The full dinner dress for guests admits of great splendor.  It may be of any thick texture of silk or velvet for winter, or light rich goods for summer, and should be long and sweeping.  Every trifle in a lady's costume should be, as far as she can afford it, faultless.  The fan should be perfect in its way, and the gloves should be quite fresh.  Diamonds are used in brooches, pendants, ear-rings and bracelets.  If artificial flowers are worn in the hair, they should be of the choicest description.  All the light neutral tints, and black, dark blue, purple, dark green, garnet, brown and fawn are suited for dinner wear."

There you have it.  I wonder if a rhinestone tiara would be acceptable?

Enjoy your days!