Well, that's February half done

Seems like the year is racing by, and Christmas will be upon us again before we know it.

Yesterday was Kevin's birthday, so off we went for a Nice Sunday Drive - yes, I know it was Saturday, but one can go for a Nice Sunday Drive on any day of the week - to a small town in the hills to the south-east.  Nundle is nearly an hour away; the road is not a multi-lane freeway by any stretch of the imagination, but is a really nice drive through the hills.  The pub has a reputation for being a place for a good feed, and it certainly didn't disappoint, my trout (from a local business) was delicious.  It's a place I have always enjoyed visiting as my family's history is tied up in the area, my maternal grandfather was born not far away, and his birth and the births of several of his siblings were all registered at the Nundle courthouse, a handsome building dating from 1880 which is now a museum.

Which is why the binding on my Canadian table topper isn't yet finished, as there wasn't much of yesterday left by the time we arrived home and I seldom use the machine at night.  Tired eyes, tired brain and machinery make for unhappy results, as I have found out in the past.

As you can see it has been cut, the strips joined and sewn to the topper, but the binding ends need to be joined then turned to the back and sewn down.  This red leafy fabric was in my stash - isn't it delicious?  As it has maple leaves and is red, it seemed just the Very Thing for the binding.

Over the past few days we have been planning our annual March trip down south.  We will be joining with our son to celebrate his 50th birthday - how can I have a 50 year old kid when I am only 29 and some months, I wonder? - and before that our 50th anniversary, which falls a few days earlier.  It didn't matter at the time, and 50 years later it matters even less, although my MIL was a bit shocked and scandalised that her only son would take up with a not-yet-divorced woman.  We are planning a few days in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains, basing ourselves in Tumut and using it as a base to do some exploring.  Then it will be off to Canberra for ten days, before heading off home.  We will be away for three weeks, and are looking forward to it.  We have stayed overnight in Tumut a couple of times, nigh on 30 years ago, and remember it as a very pretty town.

At least I was legally divorced when we married, unlike my grandmother who married my grandfather before her decree was absolute, making their marriage bigamous.....and my mother and her brother illegitimate.  My mother would have been mortified to the ends of the earth, had she known.  I enjoy watching genealogy programs, the scandals are often more interesting than boring everyday living, aren't they?

Words have been read.  Stitches have been sewn but not knitted.  Notes have, once more, been plinked and sung.  Appointments have been kept.  Hunting, gathering and foraging have been on the menu, and so passed another week.

Some rain would be nice....this weekend's forecast was for good rain, but not a drop has fallen from the sky.  Not a dribble, not a drip.  Oh well, no doubt rain will come when it comes.

"Position of an engaged man.

The same rules may be laid down in regard to the other party to the contract.  Neither should assume a masterful or jealous attitude toward the other.  They are neither of them to be shut up away from the rest of the world, but must mingle in society nearly the same as before, and take the same delight in friendship.  The fact that they have confessed their love for each other ought to be deemed a sufficient guarantee of faithfulness; for the rest let there be trust and confidence."

Very sensible words.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Some days....

....I swear some of the rubber bands holding my brain together just snap....

Yesterday afternoon quilting was started on the Canadian table centre.  When this pattern was made several years ago the quilting was a few parallel rows of stitching inside the borders; the first row was 1/4 in inside the border then another row 1/2 in inside that row.  A gap of a couple of inches then two more rows half an inch apart finished the quilting for the centre section.  It was easy and looked good, so the idea was to quilt the Canadian centre the same way.

Fast forward to yesterday afternoon:  first the bobbin thread ran out - my own fault for not checking before I started, that was the first rubber band snapping.  The bobbin was filled so off we went again; the first row was stitched 1/4 in inside the border with no problems, then the second row started 1/2 in inside that.  Somehow, though, when the first corner was turned the second row became 1/4 in inside the first instead of 1/2 in, and that was kept up until the last corner was turned.  When it was realised that those two rows of stitching were not going to line up the decision had to be made - lots of unpicking to sew the second line 1/2 inch away from the first, or a very small amount to continue with 1/4 inch away.  Not much choice, really.....

So the first two rows are now 1/4 inch apart, and will stay that way.

Subsequent lines will be stitched 1/4 in apart, to finish off quilting the centre.  The borders will be quilted in the ditch (not my favourite method of finishing a project, but all that this simple design needs) and it will be bound in a red maple leaf print.

This pic was taken at Mount Tomah Botanic Garden the same day as last week's waratah pics, this is how they grow in the wild.

A flowering waratah bush is quite a sight.  Sadly they don't grow around here as the soil is wrong - they grow on sandy ridges, something we don't have - and being in a valley, our summers are too hot.

How has everyone been?  Fortunately it has cooled here - not a lot, but still better than the extreme heat of late January - a little rain fell last weekend, with more forecast tomorrow.  Just in time, because the garden is getting crispy from the heat.  I had plans earlier in the week but a severe (fortunately only occasional, and not usually this bad) flare up of bursitis and sciatica laid me low for several days.  Never mind; all is much better, I can move again without agonising pain on every step, and my energy is back.

Words have been read, many words, because when one is feeling poorly and in severe pain one finds it difficult to be energetic so sitting in one's supportive chair reading is a good way to pass the time.  Stitches have been knitted, stitches have been sewn, more diamonds have been cut for my tumbling blocks quilt; the design requires 449 hexagons, each made of three diamonds, which by my calculations makes 1347 diamonds in total.  There are three bags each containing 100 completed hexagons, and that fourth hundred is also proceeding nicely.  We hunted and foraged.  That was the week, that was.

Monday afternoon ukulele is back, yay!  We seem to have lost a couple of people but have gained two newies who want to progress beyond easy chords, so that's good.  Choir also started back last Thursday afternoon, so my musical life has resumed once more.  It is very much missed when in recess.

While out and about recently we have become aware that several trees seem to be preparing for their autumn change, something I have noticed happens here in late summer.  Either that, or they are just stressed by the heat the same as humans are.  First the green leaves lose some of their brightness then they begin to look washed-out and faded, even though it's still a couple of months until autumn.  I don't remember seeing these changes when we lived in the Big Smoke, but then the climate is very different down there; autumn passed by in a flash, winter likewise, and before we knew it it was back to summer's never-ending humidity.

The winter sports carnival is on again overseas.  I am not, and never have been, one for sport; at school I managed to get out of most sporting activities, not that it was a difficult decision to do so.  In those days it was all about winning rather than taking part - I suspect it still is - and as I was never going to be a world-beater in any physical activity I had no interest in it at all.  Didn't then, don't now.  For many years my chosen activity was dancing, international dance - Irish and Scottish, dances from Australia's past, just about any form of social (as opposed to theatrical) dance, and great fun it was too, but sadly that twice-broken foot means that my dancing days are done.

Sigh.....

"The position of an engaged woman.

An engaged woman should eschew all flirtations, though it does not follow that she is to cut herself off from all association with the other sex because she has chosen her future husband.  She may still have friends and acquaintances, but she must try to conduct herself in such a manner as to give no offence."

This is so.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Melting, melting.....

The past week has been almost unbearably hot, with many towns seeing record-breaking temperatures.  While our town didn't see records tumble (to quote a favourite media cliché) it has been quite nasty, at times, and we will be glad to see the last of it.  We even have hopes of some rain later; the heatwave has negated any benefit from rain of two or three weeks ago.

As a result almost nothing of consequence happened in the sewing room, certainly nothing worthy of a photo.  The moose table topper is now layered and pinned ready for quilting, which will be done during the coming week once cooler temperatures arrive; my brain turns to mush and I can't concentrate in such extreme heat as we have had.  

Trawling through the photo vault has yielded some gems.

During our last visit to Canada we stayed with friends on Vancouver Island, and while there we visited the Northern Island Wildlife Recovery Centre where we made the acquaintance of this interesting bird.

You have to smile at that comical face, don't you!  It was a large owl which came to the Centre after being hit by a vehicle; due to its damaged wing it could no longer fly and hunt, so it was living out its best life and educating visitors while doing so.

The year before we shook the dust of the Big Smoke from our heels we took ourselves on an outing to Mount Tomah Botanic Garden, which specialises in cool climate plants.  I don't remember the name of this plant but it was spring, so perhaps those autumn-like colours are its new spring growth; many Australian native plants have pale pinkish/bronze colouring for their new shoots.

The visitor centre had a display of waratahs, our state floral emblem.....I love waratahs.  There was a children's colouring competition, a display of individual blooms, mostly red but with some white - yes, white waratahs really exist - and floral arrangements featuring waratahs.

A close up of a vivid red waratah surrounded by its serrated leathery leaves, with a few fern fronds peeking in at the side.

On my bookshelf is a slim book about the waratah as a decorative feature, and very interesting it is too.  Back in the late 1800s there was a great interest in using Australian flora and fauna as decorative motifs, and the waratah was up there with the best;  you could decorate your home with waratahs carved in wood for your fireplace, printed on wallpaper for your wall or fabric for your curtains, painted on plates or cups to decorate your table....just about anything you desired could be decorated with waratahs, and very exuberant they were too.

Words have been read, many words, because staying out of that fierce heat with one's nose buried in a book was one way to spend several hot days.  No stitches have been knitted.  More diamonds have been cut for hand-piecing, and hand-piecing of diamonds continues.  At this rate, I will be able to open my own gem mine in no time at all. We braved the heat to go out for food.

In recent days the socials, as they seem to be called, have been alight with plaintive pleas of "can anyone hem my daughter's school dresses before school goes back next week?".  While I realise that not everyone has advanced or even basic sewing skills, if you have a daughter or two who wear dresses which need to have hems taken up and let down, would it not be an idea to learn some sewing skills in order to do so?  It's not haute couture, after all, just very basic sewing for which basic supplies are needed, and would save you money in the long run.  Basic sewing used to be taught in schools, to my knowledge it no longer is ('Textile and Design' was a subject when I worked in high school before retiring; students could make quite complicated creations, but I could not attest to their hemming skills) but as a 'life skill' it is invaluable.

Off my soap box.....

Our visitors departed on Tuesday morning, our musician friend sporting four new tyres on his blue car ($$$$!), something he wasn't expecting when he arrived here ten days earlier.  At least those new tyres made his long trip home a safe one, albeit something of a sticker shock.  We have sometimes had to sort out mechanical issues while away too, not a fun activity but a necessary one for a trip to continue.

"Conduct of the fiancée.

The conduct of the fiancée should be tender, assiduous and unobtrusive.  He will be kind and polite to the sisters of his betrothed and friendly with her brothers.  Yet he must not be in any way unduly familiar or force himself into family confidences on the ground that he is to be regarded as a member of the family.  Let the advance come rather from them to him, and let him show a due appreciation of any confidences which they may be pleased to bestow upon him.  The family of the young man should make the first advances toward an acquaintance with his future wife.  They should call upon her or write to her, and they may with perfect propriety invite her to visit them in order that they may become acquainted."

No doubt the young woman would be apprehensive to meet her future in-laws, as indeed he was to meet his.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer