My Australia Day in Sydney

I’m forever grateful that, in God’s providence, Captain Arthur Phillip chose January 26 1788 to row ashore in Sydney Cove and proclaim possession of the eastern seaboard of Australia (at that time known as New Holland) in the name of King George III of England. This isn’t because I’m a monarchist, but because his timing ensured near-perfect weather for Australia Day celebrations down the centuries.

January 26 falls right near the end of the school holidays, at the height of our summer, and is usually comfortably warm and sunny.

Today was no exception. This was my view of our glorious Sydney Harbour at 8am.

I enjoyed breakfast with friends, freshly cooked on the barbecue, a great way to start the day and as proud Aussies we hung our flag on the fence.

Colourful bunting decorated the yacht club and the sun shone as the tables on the lawn above the beach quickly filled with picnic-ing members. 

One of the highlights is always the Great Ferry Boat Race where three vintage Sydney ferries, decked out in the bright colours of sponsors and laden with excited passengers, race each other down the harbour, around the island directly opposite the yacht club, and back to Circular Quay. The rivalry is all good-natured and I’m not sure anyone really cares who wins, but with the hundreds of spectator craft providing a busy escort it’s always a spectacular sight.

Helicopters flew past us later with the Naval ensign and the Australian flag, and Air Force jet planes shot past above us with a deafening roar.

 

On the ground, and even more thrilling for me, was a visit by Mr J, seen here after consuming his first ever chocolate Paddle Pop!

 

He’s just at the age where he loves to dig a big hole in the sand with his spade try to fill it with buckets and buckets of water, undeterred as it seeps away just as quickly.

 

I hope I’ve given my overseas readers a sense of my Australia Day, and my pride in our country.

If you’re an Australian reader how did you spend the day? I know Rachael went to a most unusual event.

As for my family, we had a ball!

 Di

Appreciating the small stuff

Some of this week’s Fat Mum Slim Photo a Day prompts really set me thinking. Here’s what I came up with.

Day 15 – An ordinary moment.

Having my hair cut for the last time by my hairdresser of about 5 years. She’s moving to another country, and having a baby, and I’ll really miss her.

That’s pretty ordinary (for me) - but exciting for her .

Day 16 – Two things

I love Georg Jensen designs, and these salt and pepper grinders are great favourites.

Day 17 – Ready

What can I say? With my nails freshly manicured and painted I‘m ready for anything!

Day 18 – Shadow

This one’s from my archives (I took it last January). I just love the play of sun and shadow on my garden lawn in the late afternoon.

 

Day 19 – Delicious

One of my favourite summer fruits, a ripe mango – so juicy that it’s best eaten over a sink or in a bath!

Day 20 – Something you saw.

This water dragon is one of several that live in the grounds of my mother’s home. He was very cheeky last Sunday and came right up to the glass door to listen in on our conversation!

Day 21 – What you do

Of all the activities in my life I chose to highlight the one that keeps me (reasonably) sane – quilting. It’s not the most important thing I do, or even the most useful, but I enjoy it.

 Di

What a surprise!

Michaela is a friend who grasps life with both hands.

She’s been a nanny, so she knows what little people like and she makes really fun quilts for children. We love that she is part of St Mark’s Quilters.

In fact, she was a founding member after graduating from Linda Hungerford’s Stitchin’ Mission at our church in 2009, the only SM ever held outside the USA.

Michaela’s always been full of surprises. 

When she announced that she was spreading her wings and doing a course to become a chocolatier we at St Mark’s Quilters were right behind her, making the supreme sacrifice of eating all her samples (all in the name of quality control, of course).

When she auditioned for the competition of TV show Masterchef we cheered her on. No food samples were involved, but we’re not bitter. Not at all.

We knew our Michaela was fearless and always up for a fresh challenge, but her latest feat has left us gasping with surprise and delight!

Woooohoooo!!! Skydiving!!!!

Michaela, you are a legend and we love you, but this is one challenge where we’re more than happy to stand on the sidelines and applaud.

From a great distance

Di

Did you see that week?

The one that just whizzed by while I wasn’t looking?

My life this week has been full of both marvellous and mundane moments, but I’ve never been too busy to take my daily photos for Fat Mum Slim’s Photo a Day Challenge, and here’s my weekly round-up (it’s even a little quilty!).

Day 8 – Something beginning with T

Tomatoes planted as seedlings by Boak the week before he died, and watered, staked and tied by me. They’re fruiting in abundance, and it’s an absolute joy to collect them each day. To make a salad I add baby bocconcini and torn basil leaves (also from Boak’s veggie garden), drizzle with extra virgin olive  oil, and top with ground pepper and sea salt. Yummmm…. 

Day 9 – Paper

Gift-wrapping paper printed with antique quilts. I love it so much I may never use it!

Day 10 – 1 o’clock

Day 11 – Water

One from my archives – floating on the Dead Sea during our trip to Israel and Jordan last year. What you can’t see are the life guards on the shore with loud hailers making sure everyone floats belly-up! Try to float face-down and you risk swallowing this water, or getting it in your eyes, and you could be very ill. The ambulances are already lined up nearby!

Day 12 – Surprise

Mr J loves playing with this jack-in-the-box when he comes to visit.

Day 13 – Circle

A block from a beautiful free quilt pattern, Circles of Life, designed by Jenny of Elefantz an couple of years ago. I must confess although I’ve finished all the embroidery this quilt is still a work in progress. Maybe I ought to do something about this state of affairs. Very soon.

Day 14 – Something yellow

I’ve been piecing these cheerful hexagons together to make a block for a group quilt being made by members of the Sydney Modern Quilt Guild. I’ve made two blocks, the other one being bright pink! The design is semi-secret for now (it’ll be on display at the Sydney Quilt Show in June) but let me just say it will be gorgeous!

 Di

Stopping to smell the roses (and take the photo!)

Chantelle  had no idea what she was starting when she created her Photo a Day Challenge last year, but now she says it’s changed her life - and the commenters on her post today agree. 

Day 1 – Today (you saw this one on New Year’s Day)

Readers coming to grips with depression, the serious illness of a child, being run ragged by little ones, or just wanting to connect with fellow creative types, all attest to the encouragement and satisfaction they’ve found in the simple act of taking a photo a day to illustrate a prompt from the list Chantelle posts at the beginning of each month.

Day 2 – Something new

Shutterbugs have the choice of posting their daily photos on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, their blog, or all of the above!

Day 3 – Heart

I took up the challenge for a couple of months last year, but when some of my readers told me they missed my regular quilt-related posts I dropped out.

Day 4 – The view from here

But with the start of a new year I’m back joining in the fun and I’ve decided that instead of sharing my photos daily I’ll post a weekly digest here on my blog (with prompts).

Day 5 – Movement

If you can’t wait a whole week, and you’re on Instagram, you’ll find hundreds of challenge photos every day under the hashtag #fmsphotoaday, and mine in particular under my name @darlingdi.

Day 6 – Mine

There’s a Facebook page that’s worth joining too https://www.facebook.com/groups/FMSphotoaday/, if only to see those wonderful daily photos from every corner of the world!

Day 7 – Street

I find it great fun being on the lookout for that one special shot every day - as one reader put it, ‘noticing the artistry in the everyday things of life’- and I really hope you enjoy my first seven photos for 2013.

  Di

2013 ~ The Year of the Finished Project

If there’s a single theme running through my favourite bloggers’ posts this week it’s that of finishing up those UFOs. Everywhere I look we’re being challenged to let our UFOs (Unfinished Objects) and PhDs (Projects Half Finished) see the light, take a deep breath and just do it!

Lynne, here in Sydney, is one of these encouragers and you can read the details of her Linky party here.

Basically, on the first Thursday of the month she asks us to blog about an unfinished project we plan to work on that month and to link that blog post to hers, and to her Linky party, so all the others can pop by our blogs and see what we’re up to. Mighty neighbourly!

On the first Thursday of the following month you can either proudly proclaim your latest finish, show off your progress if it’s still a work-in-progress (WIP), or ‘fess up if you’ve fallen back off the wagon!

I’m starting with my Roebuck Quilt, which has been around for almost 5 years. I have several UFOs, if I’m honest, but this is the only one I feel excited enough to tackle right now.

It’s a reproduction of a quilt made by sisters Lizzie and Margaret Roebuck in 1861 on a ship sailing to Sydney from England, and I started it on Valentine’s Day 2007 at a class with Robyn Evans at Quiltsmith. There are hundreds of scraps in this quilt, mostly in Civil War and reproduction prints, and though I’ve moved on to using brighter, more modern fabrics in my quilts, I still love this one.

This was me working on the hand quilting in August 2010, before I was distracted by dazzlers like the Whirligig Quilt and Daisy a Day. Sometimes I can be so fickle.

Still, I’ve made progress recently. I’ve bound the Roebuck and I’m currently quilting that last border, so the end is nigh.

This is a quilt Boak loved, and he had been encouraging me to apply myself to finishing the quilting, so I have a little extra motivation going on here!

Please pop on over to Lynne’s blog, get her button and join in the fun.

  Di

The first day of the new year

This was where I spent it – beside the water, not in it – with good friends.

I love Sydney in January!

  Di