Friday 27 January 2017

Australia Day

Australia Day is always an interesting day for me.  It’s my brother’s birthday, and it’s only a day or two away from my eldest’s birthday, so for the most part the actual Australia Day part isn’t really the big deal.  We get a holiday for it, and it’s always on The Day, rather than making a long weekend out of it (which is a great Aussie tradition!).  So this year it was on a Thursday.

It didn’t really matter much to the rest of our family – we are on school holidays still – but my husband had to work either side (poor him!).  We had friends up river camping and they invited us up there, so we took the opportunity to put the boat in and take the girls up for an afternoon/evening and a barbecue tea.

This is what people do in my neck of the woods.  We have the river on our doorstep, and people set up camps alongside it.  It’s a holiday tradition.  We don’t do the whole camping thing (I’m so much more a glamper) but I love to sit by the river so it’s the best of both worlds!  I can stay all day and then come home and have a shower!

I took the opportunity to go for a walk and take some photos so I could share!

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We’ve had a high river (not allowed to call it a flood lest it scare away the tourists), and that’s subsided now, leaving fields of clay that were once covered in water, now slowly drying up.  I caught this photo of kangaroo tracks – there were many signs of kangaroos everywhere.

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Not the main river, just a side creek that hadn’t gone down all the way.  Still very pretty.

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Clay flood banks slowly drying up.  Very interesting pattern – my quilty brain was whirring.

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Don’t know if you can see from the photo above but halfway up the tree is a very subtle colour change – that’s how high the river had gone over the flood plains.

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This tree had fallen over and started to grow upwards again.  Clever tree.

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Do you know what this is? 

Classic Long Drop Loo.  Not for the faint hearted.  I’d rather go behind a bush to be honest.

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Not the main river, just another creek.  Filled with ducks, though you can’t see them here.  Everything is THRIVING at the moment.  It’s great to see.

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And that was my stroll.  I hope you enjoyed it!

Wednesday 25 January 2017

Tidying up loose ends

As much as I’ve loved all my family being home during the Christmas school holidays, the time is nearly ready for them all to go back to school and work, so that I can get my groove back.

So many things are sitting, waiting for me to turn my attention to them.  Most of them are boring (ironing, washing sticky, sticky floors) but sewing is calling me also.  Proper sewing – not ten minutes here and there, but get stuck into it and really create something sewing.

I did manage to unpack a UFO that’s been languishing far too long – a hundred years ago I began a series of blocks by Pat Speth of Nickel Quilts called the Deli Geese Project.  Something new at the time, but one of those things that halfway through I realised I didn’t really like and of course, it got put away.

I’d made 22 blocks.  I ended up buying some sashing fabric on my last fabric trip, and I’m going to sash the blocks with some of that fabric and set them on point.  What do you think?

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I’m really ready to finish this one. 

I’ve been good this year so far.  I’ve not started anything major apart from my star quilt blocks and I think the light has finally dawned that I won’t live to be 823 and will never make all the things in my head, and starting new things isn’t giving me the pleasure it used to anyway.  I’ve been trying hard – finally – to change my way of approaching quilting.  It’s not a race to finish quickly, because then I stuff things up and make quilts I’m embarrassed to show.  I need to slow down and enjoy the process more.

Anyway.  Just putting it out there.  We’ll see what happens when my groove gets back!

Monday 16 January 2017

So much for daily writing

Good thing I didn’t promise to write daily, because I’ve bombed out on that one!

School holidays are always a flexible, juggly time.  Now that we have Christmas out of the way, we are firmly into playdates here and away, and messes being made everywhere (I try very hard not to call them messes to the kids, but they are Messes with a capital M!)  They are playing together so lovely though, I don’t want to make them clean up their Creative Endeavours (messes) too often, so I just grin and bear it.  Or try to.

I’ve been feeling rather flat lately, which is more than likely a reaction to the rush of Christmas and then the ‘I don’t have to be anywhere today’ wind down that goes with it, plus the heat is AWFUL.  I’m turning into such an English Rose lately.

As I was feeling flat, and the children have been nagging me to watch A Series of Unfortunate Events on Netflix with them, I took the opportunity to sit and finish my first UFO for the year. 

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Obviously it’s decidedly NOT quilting.  I’ve made a few of these afghans, this is by far not my best.  Each square is a different size, and although I’m not an expert crocheter by any stretch, I do think that my problem was yarn, not tension.  I’ve used a literal mixed bag of yarn in this rug, and I think each 8 ply is different.

I’ve stitched it together though and crocheted around the outside, so I’ll call it done.  I will block it another day but for now it’s quite happy on the spare bed.  I do see some stray threads I must weave in too.  Funny how you think you’ve got them all and then out of the blue they appear!

I must apologise again for the not replying to your comments.  I have yet to fix the computer problem (or organise for someone else to fix it) and so I am limping along on half speed with only half the things working.  Comments obviously aren’t working right now.

Gotta love technology.

Happy crafting!

Saturday 7 January 2017

Fold And Stitch Wreath

We sweltered through another hot day today – it was so hot they were greeting visitors at the airport, handing out bottled water and information sheets on how to survive the heat.  I can’t imagine how it must feel to fly from the Northern Hemisphere to here, from one extreme to another.

Needless to say we spent most of the day at home inside, under the airconditioning.  The pool is getting quite the work out.

I’ve not really spent much time sewing today – I took the tree and all the trimmings down and now the house looks a little bare.  Perhaps I need to rearrange the quilts on the walls to give the house a bit of a lift.

I’ve also, in the interest of decluttering, been trying to declutter the photos on my computer.  I’ve found so many projects I’ve not shared with you, so I’d love you to indulge me for a while.

This is the Fold and Stitch Wreath I made as a display for our quilting group.  Totally not my colour scheme, and to be honest I think the whole Fold And Stitch Wreath is a bit overdone (or done to death) here now.  One of those things that everyone and his mother made once.

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It’s pretty enough but I doubt I’ll have it out anytime soon. 

I hope you had some quilty time today!

Thursday 5 January 2017

more stars

Hello lovely readers.

Stinking hot day here today, not suitable for very much at all which is why we chose to go into town and buy new school shoes. 

Isn’t school shoe buying the best fun ever!??!

It wasn’t too painful, school doesn’t start for another month but if I left it too late they would sell out, and I’m currently dealing with an 11 year old who is *very* determined what she will wear and what she won’t – so buying the wrong shoes would have been far too stressful for us!  She wears a strict uniform that suggests enclosed black school shoes or roman sandals for summer wear, and I kid you not – there is not a shop that sells them in town.  You would think that the local shops would stock the local school uniform?  Apparently not.

Thank goodness the younger child doesn’t give a fig about shoes.  She just complains she has to wear them at all.  But that’s a whole other argument!

I did manage to sew today – more star blocks.  I’m currently squeezing in old X Files episodes on Netflix while I do it – Love, Love, Love the old X files.  The ones before it got all weird.  Or more weird!

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I also spent a lot of time trying to sort out why my husband’s text messages from his phone to his customers appear on my ipad suddenly.  I’ve tried everything I can think of, including deleting any trace of him on my Ipad and giving myself a new apple sign in – still doesn’t work.  That’s a job for tomorrow.  I love Apple, I really, really do – but my lordy they have some annoying rules.

Anyway, that’s it for me today.  Hope you’ve had some time to sew!

Wednesday 4 January 2017

Seeing Stars

I found some leftover bright stars while having my annual clean up in the sewing room. 

Not enough to make anything with, of course. 

So what’s a girl with a million ufo’s to do?

Start another project, of course.  You even needed to ask?

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Tuesday 3 January 2017

loving this technology stuff

Hi lovely readers.

So I wrote a long blog post and published it, and now it’s not showing.  And I still can’t use half the internet on the new computer.  I have to be honest with you, I’m not really loving this technology stuff right now.  It all needs sorting – one thing doesn’t work on one machine, something else doesn’t work on another, it all takes way too long to sort out.  And blogger – oh blogger – keeps on logging me out and not recognising my password.  Blogger and I are not really friends at the moment.

We don’t have a local techie guy (comes with living in the country) so I have to go to the next town to sort out why I can’t log on.  Which will have to wait, sadly.

All first world problems, I guess.  Don’t you hate that saying??

I’ve not much to update you on – I went to Adelaide over the last few days to join my husband’s extended family to scatter a great aunt’s ashes.  We picked the ocean, which on a hot day in South Australia means busy, busy, busy – so it was all rather stealthily and quietly done so as not to upset the people nearby.  Lots of giggling and laughing happening, with ample drinking of champagne which I suspect the Great Aunt would have loved.

And then, we spent a day or so just chilling in the local water park – the kids went nuts over it and everyone got burned and worn out and had a wonderful time.  Followed that by having a lovely family meal and reminiscing over old family photos – I really need to crack open the Family History box that I’ve neglected for so long, I’m very keen to start that again.

Not a purchase of fabric or yarn happened.  I was very, very well behaved.

Now we are home and life will go on – I must get stuck into my chores tomorrow.  Why is it that chores never end?  Groundhog day.

I hope you are warm if you need to be, cool if you need to be, and always quilting!  See you soon!

Sunday 1 January 2017

Happy New Year!!

You are most likely yet to celebrate your New Year yet, judging by where most of my readers live. 

We have had ours.  Mine was alcohol and party free – though I did see out the night by being up at 12.00 doing last minute before bed chores (we have a very busy next two days, I had no time other than last night!).  So consequently hangover free but very tired.  Kinda feels the same, though it’s been a long (LONG) time since I’ve had a hangover.

Just wanted to pop in though and wish you all a lovely night, and a great 2017.  Mine will be productive, restrained, health changing and joyful.  Okay?  I’ve put it down on paper so I have to stick to it now.

See you soon!