Half done!

One half of the blue and green quilt is done.....

I f I were taller I would be able to get a better pic...but alas, I stopped at five foot two, like the song.  Although my eyes are dark brown, not blue.

Progress is slower on this than on a regular layout, because it isn't rows of blocks sewn into strips which are then joined into a top.  Joining it in sections seems to be the way to go......it's more like assembling a jigsaw puzzle than a quilt, which is fun for a change.  Some of the next sections are pinned ready for sewing; pinning, pinning and more pinning is the way to go with this.  Coloured flower-headed pins are useful for making sure that the pieces are joined correctly - yellow to yellow, orange to orange, etc., otherwise it's a bit too easy to pick up a piece and turn it the wrong way, then get confoozalated.  And we wouldn't want that, would we?

You know.....I don't ever want to make the same quilt twice, there are so many designs I want to try before I leave this life, but this one could make me change my mind.  Just maybe.....possibly......

It's been a fairly quiet week.  Last week's lurgy left me feeling tired and washed out for several days but the worst seems to be over now, for which I am thankful.  Stitches have been sewn, no diamonds were joined.  Stitches were knitted, in fact the neckband of my newest jumper only has two more rows until the cast off - yay!  Words have been read, notes were plinked and sung.

Yesterday I did some work on a song medley arrangement for the ukulele group, something that I once would have never known I could do.  But I can, and sometimes I surprise myself; I have had very little formal music training, and indeed Proper Musicians like our (now-ex) DIL tend to look down their noses at those of us who don't have the benefits of their extensive musical edumacation.  I know many excellent musicians, including some very well known names, who don't read a note - but they don't let that stop them from enjoying their music.  

It's not going to stop me, either.  

A site I follow on social media is the wonderful Grandiloquent Word of the Day.  Yesterday's word was "linguaphile" - one who loves language and words.  Finally....a word that describes folk like me!  

Now we are done with Etiquette of the Street, we can move on to Etiquette for Public Conveyances:

"Etiquette for Public Conveyances.

In street trams, omnibuses and other public street conveyances, it should be the endeavor of each passenger to make room for all persons entering, and no gentleman will retain his seat when there are ladies standing.  When a lady accepts a seat from a gentleman, she expresses her thanks in a kind and pleasant manner."

Indeed, she does.....or she should, for sure.  I am afraid, however, that nowadays many so-called "gentlemen" sit while ladies stand, as I found out when commuting in the Big Smoke.

Enjoy your days!

Sad sad sad......

The on again, off again choir concert is definitely off.  We are so disappointed.  The charity committee which would have benefited had to comply with so many rules and regulations that it was too difficult to make it happen; the hall is owned by the council which has its hands tied by state government rules, and so it goes on.  Or doesn't, in this case.  We have hopes of a concert happening early next year, but our director is facing some health issues.......so, we can only see what next year brings, can't we.

At least the ukulele group can play next weekend at a charity fundraising fair, which will be fun.  We've even been practising!

A couple more houses.

A cat house and a house surrounded by birds, bugs and blooms, both of whom shop at the same garden store.  

'Weeds of Grace' is nearly finished, yay!  The label is attached, now the last corner needs to be bound - there is not much to do now, and then it can be photographed in all its gorgeous glory.  'Canadiana' is also coming along nicely; Ontario and Alberta have been quilted and joined, Quebec is quilted.

This is a pic from the past.  When we lived in the Big Smoke there was a block of shops not far away; a newsagent, pharmacy/post office agency, small supermarket, etc., and on the top corner a hardware shop with a small but very good plant nursery.  This is one of the plants bought there, a Callistemon called 'Taree Pink' - Taree is a town east of here, near the coast.  It's a pretty plant with pink blooms, and the new leaf growth shown here is pinky-bronze.  

I don't think we have ever had a plant which grew as quickly as this did!  It was a case of "plant it and stand back"; it lived on the front north-east corner of the house so it had direct sun for much of the day, and also reflected warmth from the brick and glass wall behind......and was the complete opposite of 'Wee Johnnie' which took four years to flower.  We planted one here but the drier inland climate didn't suit, because after a time spent doing nothing much at all it turned up its toes, folded its tent and stole away into the night - such a pity, because it was very pretty.

Our drive to town now has a new landmark, and it's not a good one.  On the four corners of a busy intersection are a small but useful shopping centre, the craft shed which has facilities for makers of just about anything you could think of, a sports ground, and until recently a vacant block which was used as overflow parking by both the sports ground and the shopping centre but which now holds a fast food place - I refuse to call it a 'restaurant', because to me that implies something nicer - which has the yellow arches on top; I won't name it because they aren't paying me to advertise, but I'm sure you can guess who I mean.  The corner also has a roundabout which is poorly planned and executed; the first week it was installed there were several accidents, we expect there will be many more now.  There is much gnashing of teeth by people who think it the wrong use of the land, especially as that roundabout is tricky to drive through with the traffic it already has.

Sadly our local council seems to feel that 'development at all costs' trumps traffic safety and the amenity of the aged care facility alongside.  There are supposed to be conditions about business hours etc., but you can bet your boots that it will eventually be allowed to trade for the longer hours it wants, and too bad about the oldies who live on the other side of the fence.  We don't have to use that corner on our trips to and from town, but it's an easier route if we do.

On to happier stuff.

Do you ever wonder what is going through an author's mind when they write their books, apart from telling the story?  I for one do like to see attention paid to spelling and grammar and syntax and Stuff like that, so I was floored a couple of days ago to read 'aquatint' instead of 'acquaint'.  Yes, no doubt it was run through spell check which said "that's fine, it's spelled correctly, you can use it"......but it's not the correct use, is it?  We both had a chuckle over that one; an 'aquatint' is a way of making an etching, to 'acquaint' is to make someone aware of something or someone.

A lot of rain fell this week but the promised flood didn't eventuate.  This is probably a good thing as it was forecast to be of biblical proportions, something not seen here for several years.  Winter popped back for a visit yesterday and hasn't quite left yet, quite a shock to the system - we have become used to spring's warmer temperatures, although there have  been one or two days you would call 'hot'.  It certainly hasn't been weather for barefoot frolicking around the garden in a flouncy summer frock; your frock would have been blown away into the wild blue yonder, leaving you covered in embarassment and very little else.

"Preparations for a ball.

There should be dressing-rooms for ladies and gentlemen, with a servant or servants to each.  There should be cards with the names of the invited guests upon them, or checks with duplicates to be given to the guests ready to pin upon the wraps of each one.  Each dressing room should be supplied with a complete set of toilet articles.  It is customary to decorate the house elaborately with flowers.  Although this is an expensive luxury, it adds much to beautifying the rooms."

                                                                                                      Perhaps we could beautify the rooms with 'Wee Johnnie' and 'Taree Pink"?                              

Enjoy your days!

Big MUSIC is done!

Finished......completed......whatever.  It has now moved from the sewing room to the dining room table.

I used a black and random spot fabric from my stash for the binding after finding out that my original choice (tiny black spots and stars on a white background) clashed horribly.  Its background was dazzlingly blindingly white, this background is off white, and never should those twain meet.

Even the backing has spots to match the front fabrics, I was thrilled to find it at - guess where? - our local Spotlight store, known to Aussies as 'Spotties'!

Minimal quilting - in the ditch around the letters, and two rows of wiggly stitch (I think its proper name is serpentine zig zag stitch, but wiggly will do) in the border.  It will never win prizes at a quilt show but it was a fun project, a souvenir of our trip to Canada in late 2018.

The latest news on every web site and news bulletin is, or course, the dreaded virus sweeping the world and making otherwise sane people act like idiots.  Therefore, in the interests of your sanity and mine, this blog is hereby declared a virus free zone.

Do really obvious errors in spelling and grammar leap out at everyone, or is it just me?  I don't go looking for them, but some are so obvious they are hard to ignore.  Our town has a paper published every day except Sunday, and once a week a free paper with gleanings from the almost-daily paper, plus a few other articles - a local historian has an interesting article, for instance - makes its way round town.  It also contains the real estate insert from the previous Saturday's paper.  While browsing through said insert a few days ago I happened across a listing for a two bedroom unit near the centre of town which, and I quote, "epidermises lifestyle and convenience!"

Those conveniences are probably only skin deep, you know......

Does anyone name their sewing machines?  I don't.  They are inanimate objects, so as such don't need a name.  Never in my life have I seen the sense in naming a car, or a machine, although many people do.

We are now in my favourite part of summer, the wind-down stage.  Trees are starting to look a little faded and less bright than a month ago although it will be a while yet before leaves change colour, and temperatures are actually quite pleasant.  We don't need to sprint from shady spot to shady spot when out and about as it's now possible to spend a short time in the sun without worrying about frying.  The only sad note is, apricot season is over.  I lurve apricots.  Dried just aren't the same as fresh.  Sigh.......

"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 requirements 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."

This is true.  I do, however, know enough to know that there is quite a difference between "epidermises" and "epitomises", and how to use them correctly.  If in doubt I would consult a dictionary for spelling and usage, not my computer's spell check.

Enjoy your days!

Just so you can see.....

.......how far we can see from our front verandah, on a clear day.  Judging by the weather radar when it's raining and how far away the showers are, we estimate that those hills in the far distance would be somewhere between 20 and 30 kilometres away.  That's approximately 12 to 18 miles, but it could be further.  Last week's rainy day pic is what we can see during heavy rain........not much really, except a white mist over the top of Rose-the-neighbour's house with its green striped blinds.

My parents' house here had a lovely view across the town to the hills in the south-east, and when we were looking for a house to buy the requirement at the top of my list was "a view of hills"......and I have it, even though this is looking south-west-ish rather than south-east.  And as we live part-way up a hill there is more hill behind us, so lots of hills here.  That makes me happy, because I need hills in my life.

Did you all have a lovely Valentine's Day?  We took ourselves out to dinner and had a fabulous meal because 14th February is my husband's birthday - yes, he's a Valentine's Day baby.  But his name is not Valentine, it's Kevin.  There was once a Saint Kevin, it seems, and his feast day is 3rd June.  Perhaps we should celebrate then, too.  I always enjoy a meal I haven't had to cook.  Don't get me wrong, I don't mind cooking.......but after more than 40 years of being a domestic goddess in one form or another, the novelty has worn off.

You should all be proud of me, because this week I put up my hand to be newsletter editor for the craft group at our local craft centre.    It will be a bit of a learning curve, but after having a blog for a few years hopefully it won't be too difficult.  As I said at the meeting, I can do a good line in bull dust.  Except I didn't say dust.  I said the other word that starts with sh and ends with it.

According to this morning's local paper we are having the coolest mildest summer since records began, over 100 years ago.  Today is warmer than it has been for a couple of weeks, but it's still not as hot as last summer was.  There is a large deciduous tree which we drive past on our way into town - and during the week I noticed that it's changing into its autumn clothes!  So is the it's-either-Virgina-creeper-or-ornamental-grape growing on the wire fence of the local football ground, and so is the we-think-it's-an-apricot-tree in our backyard.  Perhaps it's because we are in for an early autumn - it's certainly not for lack of rain.  Considering we should still have at least 6-8 weeks of summer left, those leaves are changing quite early.

Today is a day for cutting out fabric, there are a couple of monthly block obligations to be done and there are more Bears Paw blocks being cut out.  There's no scheme in mind for them so far, it's just the fun of playing with lovely leafy prints and my favourite autumn colours.  When that's done, the skirt from the fabric shown in the last post will be cut out.  I don't know about the rest of you but I find cutting out very tedious, wonder why that is?  I start with good intentions then drift off into doing something else.......meanwhile the fabric is still sitting partly cut.......my neck, shoulders and upper back give me problems sometimes, standing with bent head for long periods of time does them no favours so I keep having breaks.  Like this present blogging and coffee break.  Then I don't always get back to cutting.  But I have promised myself that I will, because I want to make that skirt.

"Trifling with a lady.
A man should never make a declaration in a jesting manner.  It is most unfair to a lady.  He has no right to trifle with her feelings for mere sport, nor has he a right to hide his own meaning under the guise of a jest."

Something to ponder on for Valentine's Day next year while accompanied by beautiful red roses such as those in my blog header, cut in our garden one day last summer when their flowers were bowed down by rain.

Enjoy your days!