The blue and the green

Finally - a finish!

There are still a few bluebells flowering which wanted to be in the picture, too.  This has been a while waiting to be finished but the last stitches were put in the binding during the week, so I can claim a finish....the first for several months.

A close-up of the vertical quilting design.

All the unevenly spaced lines go in one direction, crossing and re-crossing.  Quilter Ann used a similar design on one of my quilts a few years ago which I quite like so I asked for the same idea, but this time using as many different threads as she wished - provided they were blue or green.  What a great idea, she said....there is always thread left over after working on a quilt....so there is a mix of blues and greens in both solid and variegated threads.    Both Ann and I were thrilled with the result.  Size is 48in by 60 in, no borders, just binding to finish the edge.

Finished is a great feeling!

The strips for the inner border of Autumn Rhapsody have been cut.  They still need to be joined into one long strip, and the outer border fabric needs to be cut; the fabric is nearly six metres long, so the borders will be cut along the length rather than across.  That means there will be no joins to interrupt the leaf pattern, it's too gorgeous to break up.....and, of course, the borders will be mitred.

The promised rain came during the week, now the garden looks washed and refreshed.  One of our resident magpie family popped in for a visit and perched on our verandah railing out of the falling rain, talk about looking bedraggled and despondent.....poor Maggie.....

The babies have hatched, and can now be heard clamouring to be fed.  Their appetite seems insatiable but I suppose, like most young folk, they are in a hurry to grow and get out into the world.

Ozzie Magpies have a bad reputation due to their habit of swooping anyone who comes near their nest when the babies are young.  Being swooped is quite a scary experience; many many years ago I was swooped and pecked on the head, so I very smartly moved away from the tree under which I was standing.  Being away from home at the time meant I was unfamiliar with local nests!  They are very smart birds and can recognise faces and voices - our resident maggies from the trees on the hill certainly know us and sometimes come for a visit, and we love their melodious song.  The swoopers are usually male birds, and the worst thing a swoopee can do is run, or try to cycle away quickly......better to get off that bike and walk, cross to the other side of the road if possible, and quietly go about your business without annoying any more magpies.  Last spring there was a problem with swooping magpies near a couple of shops here, but rather than walkers or cyclists those being swooped were women with prams or strollers.  I would guess that a woman with a pram chased a magpie away or annoyed it in some way, and it didn't forget.....but, after all, those birds are protecting their babies, too.

Words have been read.  Diamonds have been cut and sewn.  Notes have been plinked and sung, but now the ukulele groups are on holiday as several members are on grandparent duty, so we will resume in a few weeks.  We hunted and we gathered.  My exercises were diligently done and, as they used to say back in much earlier times, so has another sennight passed.

Over the past few days I have noticed that the nails on the three middle fingers of my right hand each have a bump going across their width.  I can only assume that damage was done when I fell and broke my arm; it happened so quickly that my recollections of how I landed are hazy, but I think that my clenched fingers were caught underneath my hand when I landed on it.  The fingers were certainly bruised and sore for quite some time, and indeed are still tender.  Eventually the nails will regrow, hopefully without bumps.

Oh well.  At least nothing has fallen off.

"Gentlemen passing before ladies.

Gentlemen having occasion to pass before ladies who are already seated in lecture and concert rooms, theatres and other public places, should beg pardon for disturbing them; passing with their faces and never with their backs toward them."

A favourite café of ours on our trips to Canberra is much frequented by cyclists.  Their lycra shorts leave nothing to the imagination, and we certainly don't want their backsides in our face; on one occasion Kevin murmured quietly to me, as those tight black bums passed much too closely to where we were sitting......"it's not very becoming, is it?"

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Leafy inspiration

The centre panel of Autumn Rhapsody is done.

The fabric on the sides is the bed sheet laid over the slightly rough wire fence, to protect the quilt.  Because of plants and rocks it wouldn't ~quite~ hang straight, but you get the idea; just two borders, a narrow inner and a wider outer, and the top will be done.  It's been good therapy while my damaged bits have been healing, so yay for me!

Earlier today I was tootling around in EQ7, when I came across a project I had forgotten about.

Many (many!) years ago I saw a similar quilt at a show.  From memory its blocks were fairly small - possibly three inch finished HSTs - but the thought popped into my head that those 78 leftover HST blocks would also work with this design; the finished block size was enlarged to four inches which, with borders, will make a quilt.58 inches square.  That means only 66 more HSTs are needed so just 33 squares to be cut....that's not much, is it....it isn't as though I lack for fabric, after all!  This colouring uses batik fabrics (that, too, must have been part of my original brainwave) and one background, but my autumn fabrics will have mixed backgrounds.  The twisted pole design which was my original idea for the leftovers can wait its turn, this design will use up those leftover blocks very quickly.

Since we moved here 14 years ago we have had surprises in the garden, one of which is these bluebells which pop up every now and then.  They don't flower every year, but are pretty when they do; they share their spot with the white snowdrops which flowered a few weeks ago.

The binding on my blue and green quilt is almost all sewn to the back; one more evening's TV viewing should do it then it, too, can be photographed in the garden, with a bit of luck before the bluebells finish flowering.....because they, too, are blue and green.

Words have been read.  Stitches have been sewn by hand and by machine.  Exercises have been diligently done each day.  Songs have been sung and notes plinked, a little shopping so we don't starve, and that's been our week.

Speaking of songs....our choir director, Bill, is a very clever musician.  He has written plays and musicals, some of whose songs have been sung by the choir at concerts.  For a while now he has been talking of his latest musical based on a famous Australian book 'We of the Never-Never' by Jeannie Gunn.  (I'm ashamed to say I have never read it, but plan to do so in the near future.)  Since late last year we have been learning songs from the musical, and really enjoying it....and now it is to be performed, with the choir in the cast.  Its first performance will be a concert performance so there will be no scenery, no fancy lighting or costumes; singers playing the leads will wear performance black, with their character being shown by a hat, or a costume prop to set the scene.  We in the chorus - the 'ensemble' - will wear black pants with bright tops or shirts, one single colour each.  So....in mid-November we will take part in a World Premiere Performance, how amazing is that!  It's a great honour to be part of such an occasion.

Nights and mornings are still cool enough to have a fire which we let go out during the day ,before lighting it again in the evening.  Rain is forecast for later in the coming week, we'll see if it falls.  From the various forecasts it's going to be fairly widespread and, in some places, quite heavy.  Some rain would be welcome as things are currently a bit dry, but we don't want a flood.  This evening is the spring equinox, so - like it or not - we can look forward to several months of warm, if not hot, weather.

Concluding Conduct in an artist's studio:

"A visitor should never stand behind an artist and watch him at his work; for if he is a man of nervous temperament it will be likely to disturb him greatly."

To which I might add, don't stand behind me when I am sewing and creating.  Even though I wouldn't describe myself as being of  "nervous temperament" it still puts me off.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Driving to......distraction?

Yesterday I drove the car for the first time in several months, yay for me!

Council elections were held yesterday, and instead of voting here in town we drove to a small village not far from us; we have voted there before, parking is easy and there are no queues, making it simple to place one's mark on the paper for one's candidate/s of choice.  The local school was running a barbecue outside the hall so one could buy a Democracy Sausage and help out a small school's fundraising efforts at the same time.  Kevin enjoyed a bacon and egg roll while I had a sausage, my sausage was one of the nicest I have had for a long time while Kevin said his roll and its contents were delicious.  The meat came from a butcher in a town further away from us.....I can feel a Nice Sunday Drive coming up on a weekday to visit that butcher and bring home some of its meat for ourselves.

And - I drove home!  I sat behind the wheel of the car for the first time in several months, turned it on, made it work and drove 15 minutes home.  It felt a little odd; the vibration coming from the motor to the steering wheel into my hand and arm was an odd feeling, but one I will no doubt get used to.  My hand is strong enough to hold the wheel now although it still can't make a tight fist, but that's another milestone passed - so that feels good.  There can't be many milestones left now, but I will a happy woman again when my hand finally stops hurting.

There has been progress on the quilting front, too.  All four peepers were sewn to Autumn Rhapsody's centre panel, and the two side borders joined as well.  The peeper isn't as prominent as in the magazine illustration because of my different fabric and colour choices, but it still draws a line between the centre and the borders.

The top and bottom borders will be added over the next few days then only the outer borders will remain to be done, and they still need to be cut.  I love it.....it's very mellow, isn't it?

The binding was cut for my blue and green quilt, and machine sewn to the front.  I'm glad that Fossil Fern 'Bluebell' fabric was used, it has turned out to be a good choice.

Sewing it down on the back is my in-front-of-TV project.  The weather has turned wintery again - today is downright chilly - so having a small quilt on one's lap isn't a problem at all.  Those olive greens don't, unfortunately, photograph well, they are much nicer in real life than in this pic; one of these days I will try to find out why this happens, and see if there is something which can be done to correct it.

As usual the daily wrist/hand exercises have been done.  Words have been read.   Stitches were sewn by hand and machine.  Songs have ben sung and notes plinked.  We shopped for supplies to get us through the week, and that's another seven days gone by.

Here we are, halfway through September already!  Daylight saving starts in this state on Sunday 6th October, just a few weeks away now.  Mornings are getting quite light quite early now, something not enjoyed by those of us who are not morning people, so darker mornings for a while will be good.  One summer many years ago we took our little caravan to southern Queensland, a state which does not have daylight saving, and those sunny early mornings were quite a shock to the system for those of us no longer used to them.  We have had daylight saving since the very early 1970s, indeed for much of my life.

Our rapidly approaching summer has been forecast to be either quite warm, or cooler and wetter than last year, depending on who you believe.  Personally, I like the idea of cooler and wetter, but if it's warmer - well then, there is nothing I can do about it, is there.  We will just have to suffer.  We will try to suffer in silence, but perhaps you will have to suffer with us.

Continuing with Conduct in an artist's studio:

"If you have engaged to sit for your portrait never keep the artist waiting one moment beyond the appointed time.  If you do so you should in justice pay for the time you make him lose."

Indeed, you should.  

We have been to the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra which has an excellent café and gift shop, and many many portraits.....so many that, after a time, I found myself longing for an occasional landscape.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

One peeper peeping

Sounds like a line from "The Twelve Days of Christmas", doesn't it?  But no - two of the peeper borders have been sewn to the centre panel of Autumn Splendour.

Those one inch strips were folded in half lengthwise and pressed (something which added a whole new dimension to the meaning of fiddly-diddly, especially pressing with my left hand) then sewn to opposite sides of the centre panel.  The remaining two sides will, hopefully, be added to the remaining two sides later this afternoon....or, if not, tomorrow.  The seam is one eighth inch rather than a quarter inch but it's just to hold the strips in place for the next step; the outer borders will be joined on with the usual quarter inch seam, and the peepers will be peeping.

Now that I can use a rotary cutter my thoughts have been turning to my blue and green quilt, which needs binding.  It was collected from the quilter before we left for our holiday in March, and has since been languishing waiting to be bound.  There is a piece of fabric in my stash which will serve the purpose and which will, I hope, look good; I really wanted to use a dark blue tone on tone for binding, but there isn't enough of it left in my stash.  Oh, well, on to Plan B.  The proposed binding fabric is from the Fossil Fern range, from several years ago - is it still available?  it was a very useful range - in a deep blue, with touches of lighter blue, purple and green.  

Well, what do you know - Fossil Fern is still available, in a rainbow of over 100 colours.  I just looked up the Benartex Fabrics website and found out that my colour is called 'Bluebell', something not shown on the selvedge.

The next meeting of the quilt group is on the fourth Saturday of this month and it would be good to have a completed project for show and tell, something not possible for the past several months.

How has everyone's week been?  Mine has been marked by another milestone in the ever onward and upward progress of my injured hand and wrist - I managed to complete a few clues in a crossword! For some weeks now I have been able - just - to sign myself into choir, and quilting and sewing groups, albeit somewhat slowly and painfully, but yesterday I managed to complete a few words in a crossword, and that feels good.  On Monday I duly trotted along to have my bone test and when I get around to it will contact my doctor about the results.  I'm not in a hurry to do that, I've had enough of medical appointments and Stuff over the last few months to do me for quite a while.  

Words have been read.  Stitches have been sewn by hand, and by machine.  No diamonds have been cut this week.  Songs have been sung and plinked.  Physio exercises are being done daily.  We hunted and gathered.  That's it for the week, folks.

Ads are frequently shown on TV for an Aussie home renovation show which has several couples vying for the big prize, sniping against each other, taking it in turns to storm off the set in a huff and/or in tears, and being judged for their results room by room.  Although I enjoy some renno shows I never ever watch that show, as it seems to be more about the drama and fights and less about the renno.  My ideal renno are just that - home ideas, no drama, no sniping.  Friday nights currently bring us a Canadian show which has gorgeous autumn scenery...sigh...and no dramatic huffs and puffs, and sometimes we can point at the screen and say, "yay, we've been there!"

Continuing with Conduct in an artist's studio:

"It is not proper to visit the studio of an artist except by special invitation or permission, and at an appointed time, for you cannot estimate how much you may disturb him at his work.  The hours of daylight are all golden to him; and steadiness of hand in manipulating a pencil is sometimes only acquired each day after hours of practice, and may be instantly lost on the irruption and consequent interruption of visitors."

Indeed.  Daylight is when I sew by machine; as the day draws on my brain and particularly my eyes tire, and I am more likely to make mistakes.  Consequently, hand sewing is for evenings in front of TV and machine sewing is done during golden daylight hours.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Wattle it be?

Today we celebrate Wattle Day, a day on which we pay homage to our floral emblem.

Our wattle is already getting ready to flower next year.  Those bright green shoots are new growth from which next year's blooms will sprout; each year it seems to get healthier and heathier.....and more beautiful.

I've been stripping!

The one inch wide strips for Autumn Rhapsody's peeper border are now cut, joined and trimmed to length.  They still need to be folded in half lengthwise and pressed; the little flashes of different colours will be more interesting than a single colour would have been.

One inch strips are slightly fiddly-diddly to cut, as I found out when cutting the sashing strips for my house quilt.  Wider strips are easier.

This gorgeous fabric was bought at the closing-down sale when the owners of a local quilt shop retired a few years ago.  First I bought half a metre (this was a while before the sale) which was cut for some the blocks in Autumn Rhapsody, then the rest of the bolt was later purchased.  There is more than enough fabric for a border and binding; it will also be used for some of the backing, which will have to be pieced as there isn't enough of this fabric on its own.  The narrower fabric at the bottom will be the inner border - it has twice been rejected for other borders on this quilt, but will make a suitable one inch wide buffer between the medley of background fabrics and the richer leaf border.  I hope.  

There is a large piece of this interesting fabric bought on our first trip to Toronto to visit our wandering son, and not yet used.  It will be pieced with the leaf fabric above, for the back.

The shadowy background leaves are metallic and will, I suspect, eventually rub off, but the printed leaves and writing will stay.  

Stitches have been sewn by hand and machine.  Words have been read.  Songs were sung and notes plinked, our fussy uke player is mellowing; perhaps the fact that I put her in charge of a particular song which needs a bit of work has focused her musical energies.  We hunted and we gathered, my daily physio exercises were done, and that was some of my week.  How was everyone else's?

Here I was thinking that all my medical scans, x-rays and tests were all done, but no....tomorrow there is a bone test to be undergone.  I had one last year - folk in my age group can have a free test every two years but it seems that a fracture can ring alarm bells, so a month ago at my regular quarterly checkup my doctor sent me away with a referral for a bone test.  If it's not covered as a free test I'm not doing it, I said....no problem, she said, in that case next year will do.....I popped into the testing place on Friday and found out that, because of my recent fracture, it will indeed be covered.  So tomorrow morning off I go again, for yet another of the tests that I thought were all finished.

Oh well.  Hopefully this test will, indeed, be the last one for a while.

Continuing with Conduct in an artist's studio:

"Do not ask the artist his prices unless you really intend to become a purchaser; and in this case it is best to attentively observe his works, make your choice, and trust the negotiation to a third person or to a written correspondence with the artist after the visit is concluded.  You may express your desire for the work and obtain the refusal of it from the artist.  If you desire to conclude the bargain at once you may ask his price, and if he names a higher price than you wish to give, you may say as much and mention the sum you are willing to pay, when it will be optional with the artist to maintain his first price or accept your offer."

I don't care how much anyone offers me.....Autumn Rhapsody will not be for sale.  I intend to enjoy it myself.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Strolling around

Our weather this week has been distinctly un-wintery, although overcast, so it's not a bad day for a stroll around our small - very small - back yard.

The rosemary bush in front is threatening to take over the universe; it was planted a few years ago during the last drought and seems to quite like being where it is.  We also planted one in our front garden but as it doesn't get as much sun - the back gets sun nearly all day - it's much smaller.

Another rosemary planted not long after we moved here several years ago and now growing through the fence, this one has lighter-coloured flowers.  The rather scrappy-looking shrub (which is actually very healthy, this is just how they grow) behind is 'Eremophila Aurea'.  Eremophila is an Aussie plant which is much loved by birds and pollinating insects - this yellow flowering one ('Aurea' means yellow or gold coloured) is a favourite with honeyeaters and with Eastern Rosellas.  Honeyeaters have long beaks and tongues which they poke inside the flowers to reach the sweet nectar, while the rosellas bite the flowers off at the base and extract nectar that way, leaving dropped flowers in their wake.

A clump of snowdrops, which we didn't plant!   They were left by the previous owner and pop up nearly every year.....not bad, considering we have been here for 14 years now.

Our disappearing fence.  The back yard is narrow, so a wire fence - once again, it was in place when we moved here - visually 'disappears' giving the illusion that our backyard is extensive instead of small and easy-care.....and yes, sometimes kangaroos come fairly close to the fence.

The week hasn't been entirely wasted, as the third border for Autumn Rhapsody was finished.  This is how the design wraps around the corners.

A start has been made on pinning some of the final border.

Words have been read. and both hand and machine sewing has been done.  Diamonds have been cut.  Songs have been sung, and notes plinked; our U3A ukulele group is drifting along nicely, although there are always people away.  We hunted and gathered to keep the wolf from the door, and that was the week.

I had my final visit to the orthopedic surgeon on Friday, and he is pleased with how my arm, wrist and hand are progressing.  Talk about a run around; on my previous visit to Emma physio we made my next appointment for Friday as the appointment with the orthopedic bloke was tomorrow, Monday, and Emma wanted to see me beforehand.  Early in the week a phone call from the ortho bloke's receptionist full of apologies, so sorry, Jennifer, he has a full day of surgery on Monday, can we re-schedule.....no problem, says I, so an appointment was made for 11.15 a.m. on Friday.  My physio appointment was at 10.30 a.m. the same day but the receptionist and I decided that, as they were only a few streets apart, it shouldn't be a problem getting from one to the other on a tight schedule.  Then, blow me down as they used to say, while Emma was going through my exercises with me on Friday morning another call came from the receptionist....so sorry, Jennifer, he's had to go to hospital (presumably to check up on a patient, not on his own account) so can we change it to this afternoon.  Once again, no problem, in fact it took the pressure off the morning, but that was pretty much a whole day gone for just two appointments.

It's no wonder I seem to run around like a mad thing on some days but achieve very little, is it?  That was the final physio visit unless I feel I need a follow-up - just keep doing the exercises says Emma physio, which I am doing - and although it will still take several months, I should have most of the use of my hand back again.  Most isn't as good as all, but it's better than just some.  It is getting stronger and activities which used to be quite painful aren't so bad now; full strength isn't yet there but I'm sure that, too, will come.

At least that frees up some of my calendar for something other than medical Stuff!

Here's an interesting article for you to read - it's been 100 years since the last mail coach run and a recreation is planned.  However, I take exception with the bloke who said "it was a better way of life".  No, it wasn't.  The "good old days" weren't always good; many children didn't live long enough to celebrate their first birthday, women died in childbirth, domestic violence was something to be suffered in silence.  Medical conditions and accidents which are classed as trivial today could, and did, kill within a short time.  These days life has its challenges, but I wouldn't go back for any amount of money....no matter how glamorous the hats were.

Continuing on with Conduct in an artist's studio:

"Never take a young child to a studio, for it may do much mischief in spite of the most careful watching.  At any rate, the juvenile visitor will try the artist's temper and nerves by keeping him in a constant state of apprehension."

I heartily concur.  Keep those little kiddie-widdies out of my studio, please.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

It's wattle time again!

Once more our wattle is blooming in all its golden gorgeousness.  This is our view from just outside our kitchen window, on a cloudy grey day......

.....and from outside.  The bush is getting so big that's it's difficult to fit in one photo, and it has grown into a beautiful shrub.  Isn't it a glorious shade of yellow?

Many Aussie native plants aren't long-lived, so we enjoy them while we can.  I have had large healthy plants suddenly keel over and depart this earth forever - especially grevilleas; much as I like them, they can be so finicky that I have given up on them.  We know that our lovely wattle may one day suffer the same fate, but until it does we will enjoy its annual display and try not to trip on those low branches when we go outside.

Bees like it, too.  The world needs more bees, so any plant that they like is a good thing to have.

We are noticing more signs that winter's days are on the way out, even though it will be a while before we can say "yippee - it's spring!"  Magnolia and blossom trees are blooming, and some bulbs are popping up although I haven't seen daffodils anywhere.

How has everyone's week been?  Mine has seen some time spent in the sewing room; a couple of blocks made for members of my quilt group's monthly BOM were made now that I am able to use a rotary cutter again, and some of the third border on the autumn leaf was made.  Before we went off on our holiday back in March I had cut a good supply of diamonds as a take-along project; some were made while we were away, and since being able to sew again more have been assembled.....so much so, that the supply of cut diamonds was diminishing at an ever-increasing rate, so more needed to be cut.  That is being attended to, each day I try to cut enough to make two, three-diamond hexagons - so, two light, two dark, and two somewhere in between.  That's enough for my hand; no matter what I do it usually complains after a short while anyway, so frequent breaks are the way to go.

While tootling around on the internet (as one does) I came across another tutorial for the twisted column quilt, this time as a runner called 'Ribbon pole quilt'.  Check out this bloke's videos - he has some fun projects; the tool pouch is a good idea, and I really like his 'Fields from above' quilt.  

Words have been read.  Songs have been sung, and notes have been plinked.  Our challenging friend wasn't at U3A on Thursday so we had to manage without her, and manage we did.  Jolly good for us.  The usual hunting and gathering to round out the week and stave off hunger, and that was our week.

We have had more rain this week, something we probably didn't need....the ground is already saturated from the last lot.....but with every drop that falls we remember the bad drought of just a few short years ago, and we don't complain about rain.

Another anniversary coming up in the week ahead.  On Tuesday it will be 25 years since my mother died, a whole quarter of a century ago.  We didn't have a close relationship; during my childhood she was emotionally and physically abusive and I was glad to move out when I married, even though it was to the wrong bloke for the wrong reasons. 

Ah well.  

Continuing on with Conduct in an artist's studio:

"Use no strong expression either of delight or disapprobation at anything presented for your inspection.  If a picture or a statue please you, show your approval and appreciation by close attention, and a few quiet, well-chosen words, rather than by extravagant praise."

That seems like a good idea.  Extravagant and fulsome praise can, and indeed probably is, insincere.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer