patterning the world

Rose Garden crochet granny squares

2012-01-29T16:57:00.000+11:00

I learned to crochet as a teenager, from my older sister (who's a better knitter than I will ever be and also better at crochet. But I'm better at quilting, which doesn't interest her at all: we each have our pecularities).

Granny stash: olive/chartreuse greens (and friends).

I remember a small throw, granny square round and round (except it was rectangular, because I botched the middle), in Patons Totem 8 ply worsted whatever that I would probably have bought from a Diskins wool shop, because back then there were Diskins wool shops. I used it on my bed, and I remember that though it was only about 3 feet by 2 feet, it was suprisingly warm on cold feet, despite the holes. I think I also made a 'vest' of granny squares - bright colours edged with black, the front probably 3x3 squares, joined over the shoulder by two strips of squares - you know the kind of thing, I'm sure. Not hard to find in the late 1970s/early 1980s.

Granny stash: olive/mouse browns

As a girl I also learned a bunch of other needlecrafts - tapestry, dressmaking, knitting, patchwork, quilting. And I've pottered about with various ones over the years since.

Granny stash: rose reds

Perhaps inspired by the blogosphere, and people's gorgeous photos of what they're doing, on blogs like Alicia's Posy Gets Cozy and Lucy's Attic 24, and having recently nearly finished a tapestry/needlepoint (more about that another time) - and also being required to spend significant amounts of time resting the most inconvenient sprained ankle... I acquired some wool/yarn and a crochet hook. I've also been reading Mollie Makes magazine via Zinio (as a digital magazine) and it has crochet in it too.

Granny stash: the extra latecomers

It's thirty years, give or take, since I last crocheted anything of consequence. My fingers haven't forgotten - the turn of yarn over my left pinky, the raised left finger over which it travels, the right hand wielding the crochet hook.

Some of the grannys...

And granny squares. Easy, simple (and not yet blocked, so they have a bit of a curly look which blocking will fix), portable. Alicia's granny square throw is here as a work in progress, Scandinavian-cool yet warm; one of Lucy's granny throws here, with clearer, brighter Kaffe Fassett kind of colours.

Some more of the grannys

You can finish a granny square, and feel a glow of satisfaction, and then start another and play with more colours. I found myself choosing the wool like a quilter, by colour and the interplay of colour. Definitely wanted some variegated ones. Kinda knew I was working to an impressionist Rose Garden theme - burgundy to pink, greens in the olive/chartreuse spectrum, some olivey greens that ended up including some mouse browns. And a little purple. Tried this wool with that. Aimed for slightly murky rather than clear colours. Bought some that were close in colour, because I like that slight shift for the eye. Gave the wool shop lady slight conniptions by not actually being entirely bothered if every wool wasn't exactly the same - they're mostly DK weight, 8 ply or so, but a couple shade up to around 10 ply. I'm tending to use the thickest ones in rows one/two/three so they have less impact on the final size of each granny square. The composition of them ranges from 100% wool to mixes which include combinations of wool with alpaca, mohair, silk (and a little acrylic, when it was a yarn that I just had to have).

I'm thinking of making some of the squares four times the size, so I can have one big square next to four smaller squares - fourpatch, in quilting talk. Less ends of threads to weave back in, fewer blocks to sew together and variety for the eye. At the moment I'm planning a blanket/afghan around 60 inches square. These blocks are around 5in square, so if I make them all small that's 144 blocks. If half of them are big, that's 72 little blocks and 18 large blocks. Don't know if I have enough wool, but if I don't, there's more in the shops... At present I have about 1.6kg, around 27 colours. Because just like when I'm quilting, I like a little of a lot of colours to play with. I'm aiming not to make the same colour combination twice.

In the late afternoon, at this end of summer, the sunlight filters through the window by the big red sofa, and it's a peaceful and happy thing to be parked there (ankle on ottoman) with colour to play with, the rhythm of the needle and the wools growing into something more than the sum of their parts, stitch by stitch, afternoon by afternoon. And when winter comes, there will be a warm blanket there to wrap any occupant of the big red sofa. And what is finer than being able to have the work of your hands produce something that fits William Morris' dictum - useful and beautiful?

I've also been exploring Ravelry, and have added this as a project there.

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/rooruu/rose-garden-granny-square-throw

There are a gazillion granny square patterns and tutorials out there to explore on blogs and YouTube and Ravelry. I'm using mostly DK/8 ply yarns, and a size 5mm crochet hook (it's a nice shiny slippery metal one from the local wool/yarn shop, labelled Boye brand and H/8 - 5.00mm, and its slippery shine makes it easier to use than grey metal or plastic, I'm finding). Purl Bee has a good tutorial on granny squares here, and Pip Lincolne at Meet Me at Mikes has Granny Squares 101 here. There are granny-a-day groups too, and lots of various patterns based on the granny square. I'm going plain vanilla, the chain centre and trebles.

When I finish this, I have my eye on two other ideas from Lucy at Attic 24. This gorgeous Japanese flower scarf and this charming retro blooming flower cushion.

But for now, I'm grannying, inspired by crochet from Portland in the Pacific Northwest, the Yorkshire Dales, New York and Melbourne. Bless the internet for the crafting inspiration you can find. Aren't those squares lovely?

Empty nest

2012-01-20T14:34:00.001+11:00

1201 empty nest
Originally uploaded by rooruu

For the third time this summer, the nest is empty. It's the same sort of bird that's laid eggs and raised chicks in it (not sure what kind, haven't been able to identify it).

Across from the front door, it's been a quiet source of fascination for the last few months. I'll be keeping an eye to see when it's next occupied.

Three films

2012-01-18T09:58:00.000+11:00

Yesterday was one of the last cheap film Tuesdays these hols, and the chance for some catchup.

I was looking forward to this. Came out of the cinema having enjoyed it; but in retrospect, not quite as impressed. Apart from some riot footage, it skimmed over the divisiveness and social impact of some of her policies. It didn't really explore the central concept which was presented, about how her interest was/is in ideas, not feelings: and the impact of this on Britain. The film spent a lot of time with Mrs Thatcher in her (imagined) present day age, with hallucinations of Denis. I was interested throughout, and Meryl Streep does what Meryl Streep does better than anyone; but will it last in my memory? Not especially, I don't think. Andrew O'Hehir has a thoughtful review on Salon.com here; the tag line reads:

The ferocious former prime minister becomes almost likable in "The Iron Lady" -- because it ignores her ideas

Watching it, I was struck with the comparison (not shown in the film, just a thought which came to me) between the Queen and Mrs Thatcher; the longevity of the Queen's work and duty, and her ongoing vitality and busyness of life even in age; whereas Mrs Thatcher, more affected by the ailments of age, is now a widow whose public life had to be grasped rather than being granted and who now leads a quieter, more confined life. Not a better or worse comparison, just an interesting contrast to ponder.

The Swedish original films with Noomi Rapace are still in my memory as very good films. This was very good too: not better or worse, but very good in its own presentation/version of Stieg Larsson's book. Still struck by those landscapes at the beginning of the film, in both: the monochrome of a snowbound winter. In both versions, the faces are landscapes too.

I read one review which commented on Daniel Craig's Bond-like competence and calm as Mikael, which implied a rather too Bond-like competence and calm for a journalist; but in the book Mikael has done military service, he knows his way around weaponry from that time, so I didn't find this incongruous or unlikely. I didn't feel or think as though I was watching Bond solving the Vanger family mystery.

It's a couple of years since I read the books, so I don't remember exactly precisely what happened when (and nor do I want to; it's really tedious to be watching a film and ticking off book 'moments' that are there or are not). But this was a good version of the story I remember, well written, well acted, well done. (And no Spain pretending to be Australia...!)

And for a change of pace....

I don't especially hunt out 3D films - I saw Avatar in 3D at the multiplex and then later in 2D at a little local cinema, and it was quite as satisfactory in 2D. Reviews had said, however, that Scorsese had done wonders with 3D with this film, so I took the funny-specs line. I know of the book, but hadn't read it all the way through, so the story was a mystery to be unravelled (and I wouldn't know plot points to tick off).

A delightful film. Again, well written, well acted, a pleasure for eyes and imagination. Asa Butterfield is excellent as Hugo. The automaton was an intriguing character, not just a plot device (and I was fascinated to learn, with some googling, that what it does in the film was not CGI: it was built to do that complex task - amazing workmanship by its builders) (I'm avoiding telling you a spoiler. See the film before you google!). Some people had brought very small children to the cinema, and I'm not sure that it's quite the film for them; but for older children and adults who enjoy thoughtful stories...lovely.

A diverse trio of films. Exploiting cheap Tuesday is a good thing when there are films worth seeing (which is not always the case in school holidays).

Being a statistic: radio diary

2012-01-16T17:45:00.001+11:00

1201 radio diary
Originally uploaded by rooruu

Yeah, yeah, who knows ANYONE who's participated in radio or TV ratings surveys????

But a nice young chappie came to the door last weekend and wasn't trying to get this household to swap telcos or electricity providers.

Listening has to be recorded for every fifteen minutes for seven days. Without giving too much away, let's just say this house's radios are pretty much rusted on to 702ABC Sydney...

Brunch

2012-01-15T16:18:00.001+11:00

1201 brunch
Originally uploaded by rooruu

It seems as though brunch has become a lot more front and centre on weekends in the last ten years..super. It's not just the time to savour food like eggs Benedict (dilemma: smoked salmon? Or crispy bacon?) or, as shown in this pic, proper made-from-scratch baked beans (here with chorizo and a UFO/poached egg . It's the leisurely time to sit and converse with friends. That's the best thing about brunch. Long may it last.

Cafe Lunch

2012-01-14T23:35:00.001+11:00

1201 Lunch
Originally uploaded by rooruu

Salmon, ricotta & dill cake with (equally yummy) salad. Seasoned with good company.

Holiday companions

2012-01-12T15:59:00.001+11:00

1201 holiday companions
Originally uploaded by rooruu

Based on personal experience, I would not recommend spraining your ankle a week before Christmas. Especially when, in the southern hemisphere, this is also your summer holidays. Sigh.

Agapanthus

2011-12-11T10:41:00.001+11:00

1112 agapanthus 1
Originally uploaded by rooruu

After the purple-blue of November's jacarandas, it's December and agapanthus season. They're everywhere, undaunted by the rainy days we've been having, glorious purple-blue with bud after bud opening on each flowerhead.

Peak hour

2011-05-14T09:48:00.001+10:00

1105 peak hour
Originally uploaded by rooruu

Peak hour from an upper storey window.

Taken with Instagram (iPhone app) - new filters/effects to play with!

1105 Remembering

2011-05-09T21:29:00.001+10:00

1105 Remembering
Originally uploaded by rooruu

A friend's father has just died. It is so very strange and sad, the space where once he was, his sudden and absolute absence.

This piece by Raymond Carver will be on the funeral order of service.

A question for the living to ask, not only in relation to him, but to ourselves. Reminds me of Larkin's Arundel Poem/ 'what will survive of us is love'.

My friend's father knew he was beloved.

(posh) shopping trolley

2011-05-06T16:52:00.001+10:00

1104 (posh) shopping trolley
Originally uploaded by rooruu

One of the local supermarkets has been undergoing renovations/extensions/improvement and has just replaced all the trolleys in one go. The new ones include this handy-dandy feature. I hadn't realised how I could have struggled so with flowers and baguettes.

On the downside, the 'improvements' have removed the useful nutritional information booklet in the fruit and veg dept, and also there the digital scales have been replaced with (no doubt designer-chosen) old-style suspended scales. A lot less accurate. Disappointed in those changes/choices.

Not sure that I have immense need of baguette and flower holders while undertaking the weekly shop....

An embroidered life

2011-05-04T17:23:00.001+10:00

It's a while since I made a quilt, or did craft of any kind, as I've been busy with work and other projects, but I'm playing about with some cross stitch and also just ordered an alphabet sampler kit from Alicia Paulson of Posie Gets Cozy/Rosy Little Things (whose writing I have always admired - hers was one of the first blogs I found, back in the day, and remains among my absolute favourites).

Read her blog entry about it and see all the pictures here. It's got great mad typography font letters; and I like the way with projects like this that you can toddle along, one letter at a time, seeing your progress and seeing bits finished as you go. Her blog has the link to pre-order it, too; but if you want the kit you only have till May 10. She says she will later have it as a downloadable pattern, but not till some time after the kits are sent in June.

Maybe it's the season drawing in. Autumn and winter are good evening stitching times, imho. Which is also amusing, because Alicia (being in the northern hemisphere and all) is thinking of this as an excellent summer sewing project.

An embroidered life can happen any time.

The Queen's Jubilee logos

2011-05-03T06:46:00.002+10:00

Digging around for something else, this caught (and delighted) my eye:

Is the official logo for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012 fun or what? It was the winner in a design competition run by the iconic British TV program for kids, Blue Peter, and was designed by Katherine Dewar.

Compare the energy and charm of this with the logos for her previous jubilees:

which did come in assorted colourways/forms:

,,,but seriously, don't they make you yawn just a tad in comparison to Katherine Dewar's design? A bit stuffy, a lot safe...

The Diamond Jubilee logo also comes in a Welsh version:

It's absolutely charming. Has all the gear it needs: Union Jack, crown, fabulous diamonds, necessary text. Read about the logo, the guidelines for using it and find downloadable files in various formats/sizes by clicking here.

Seeing the threee together also gives a neato snapshot of design styles and fashions over this period; no way anything as Establishment as the monarchy would have countenanced Katherine Dewar's design in 1977.

What do you think?

Image sources:
double jubilee logo
silver jubilee logo
white bg golden jubilee logo
diamond jubilee logos

Retro dollhouse

2011-05-01T08:10:00.012+10:00

Rather liked this modest residence amond the display of work/s at the Sydney Miniatures Fair:

Very sweet.

I had the fun of toddling around the show with one pal (who enjoyed her first visit to this event very much) and then chauffeuring an old hand at the show, the shopping sherpa herself, to Ikea (less than ten minutes away by car). Because it's there, and it was lunchtime, and you only have to say IKEA to TSS and she sparkles. Lovely to be able to share the fun of the fair with friends.

A few items from the show came home with me. Will blog them later!

Dollhouse bathroom in a cupboard

2011-04-30T22:30:00.002+10:00

1104 miniature bath cupboard
Originally uploaded by rooruu

It's not only a suave double-level bathroom, but I love the reuse/reimagining of a cupboard.

One of the enjoyable discoveries of a day at the Sydney Miniatures and Doll House Fair today.

The last ones

2011-04-25T13:20:00.001+10:00

1104 the last ones
Originally uploaded by rooruu

The last Easter eggs of 2011

127 Hours

2011-04-22T14:44:00.002+10:00

1104 127 Hours film
Originally uploaded by rooruu

Been meaning to see this for ages. Finally did. Harrowing in parts, but also very good.

Royal wedding cross-stitch: QR code (quirky!)

2011-04-20T12:46:00.001+10:00

Inspired by a QR code cross stitch sampler by Omega Chicken on Craftster - I found it on Mr X stitch here - I got to thinking about QR codes, and how their grid lends itself to cross stitch. (I'd been thinking about them in relation to their possibilities for work, and this took me sideways into stitching options).

OK, why not stitch a QR code royal wedding cross stitch? Very 2011! Bamboozle 'em proper in fifty years' time!

There is a recommended wording for royal wedding souvenirs. Read all about it here. The wording is:
To Commemorate the Marriage of Prince William of Wales and Miss Catherine Middleton, 29th April 2011

And that wording is represented by this QR code. Really and truly. I generated it using the free online QR code generator here. Try this online QR code decoder if you wish to check my veracity: http://zxing.org/w/decode.jspx. If you have a smartphone, you can get free QR reader apps - just point your smartphone's camera at a QR code using the app, and bingo, up comes the information in the QR code.

If, at this point, you are wondering what the heck a QR code is, it's like a barcode but it can do more, convey more information than a number. Read the Wikipedia entry here. You'll see them around - the SMH sometimes uses them to link readers to further contents, and advertisers are jumping on the bandwagon.

The size of the QR code is influenced by the amount of content. So just : Will + Kate looks like this:

(Generated that with the same QR code generator as above).

Will I get stitching myself? Dunno. But if you'd like to borrow the idea for your own personal use, you are welcome. If you do, or you link to this entry, do leave a comment so I can follow your progress!

Cheers

Ruth

Will & Kate: Royal wedding samplers

2011-04-18T14:48:00.002+10:00

I am intrigued to see how crafters are choosing to document the royal wedding - most particularly with cross stitch/embroidery. There's a commitment of time involved, and the fact that people feel engaged enough (um, bad pun) to spend that time. The social history of it interests me.

Having had a couple of other vintage royal samplers find their way to me (although I'm not exactly a rabid royalist - or republican, either: but social history, yes, I'm interested!), I went looking to see what's about in the royal wedding sampler/craft stakes - stuff to stitch and sew, rather than commemorative souvenirs to buy. Some of these are free/downloadable patterns, some are commercial patterns and kits. A snapshot of designers' responses to the challenge of this event.

If you plan to download/print/buy/sew any of these, I'd suggest getting in sooner rather than later, as after 29 April 2011 the interest in William and Kate's nuptials will likely wane; links may disappear, kits run out and not be replaced.

My utter favourite is this one:

Designed by Julie Jackson of Subversive Cross Stitch, it is a free pattern. Find out more here, including the link to the free PDF. I gather it was designed in response to a challenge from the Independent newspaper to young designers for something a bit quirky by way of royal wedding souvenirs. See the entire collection of ideas by clicking here. With Keep Calm and its many cousins and variants being so popular at present, this is a fun nod to a current trend. The tag line at the bottom is about the royal wedding being brought to you in association with the coalition government - perhaps an allusion most clear to those in the UK/familiar with current UK politics (I know there is currently a coalition govt in the UK, but the finer nuances of this tag line escape me).

Kell Smurthwaite of Kincavel Crosses has designed a couple of free royal wedding sampler patterns. She blogged about this one here; find a larger image of the graph here.

From the same designer, another free pattern for a smaller sampler. Read about it here.

From the same designer (has she been busy or what??) this one, called Kind Hearts and Coronets:

It's also a freebie pattern. Read about it and find the chart by clicking here.

I note, in passing, (is that a bad pun?) that a lot of samplers I've seen have been carefully avoiding the happy couple's formal initials: WC having Other Associations......

Another quick and simple vintage style initial sampler is this freebie from Sarah Lindfield of Craftymoo:

Read her blog entry about the design here. See a finished version as an ornie (ornament) here. She went with WK.....

Taking a moment out for knitting, which I don't do...Selling gangbusters, and a hoot to boot is Fiona Goble's Knit Your Own Royal Wedding book

Love the corgis! Available all sorts of places: if you're in Australia and can't find it easily, Book Depository (either http://www.bookdepository.com/ or http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/ offer free shipping; or check at http://www.booko.com.au/ for other prices/sources).

Among the commercially available samplers is this tapestry in two colourways from Beth Russell of Designers Forum:

Find out more on her website by clicking here.

US-based The Sampler Girl has this design, referencing the charming randomness of vintage samplers:

Read her blog entry about it here. Buy the e-pattern or a mailed version of the pattern, and read details of size etc by clicking here. The ribbon at the bottom is a printed one she sourced from Etsy (she provides the link).

The UK cross stitch magazines have jumped on the bandwagon: one that seems to be turning up all over (and which cleverly includes the current Cool Britannia decor enthusiasm for Union Jacks and bunting) is this one in Cross Stitcher magazine issue 238 (not yet out in Australia, but you can find it on http://www.ebay.co.uk/ if you just can't wait).

Read about it here and here. It was designed by Jacqui Pearce of Granny Knits. You can buy the pattern from her here, or a kit (canvas, wool, chart etc) from her here.

If you like that pretty look but want something even simpler, Laura Howard of Bugs and Fishes designed this:

Click here for her free pattern and instructions.

Referencing the charming illustrations from children's books, Bustle and Sew has this royal wedding embroidery pattern:

It's available from this Etsy shop: listing link; shop link. As an e-pattern, I'm sure if that listing is sold you can convo (converse with/contact) the seller to enquire about another one. Found this via the Feeling Stitchy blog here.

Taking another slight detour, Makower in the UK have updated their Charles and Diana wedding fabric design into a William and Kate design, which they have produced as a limited edition in two colourways:

They sold 40,000 metres of the Charles and Diana fabric, so 'limited edition' means time rather than quantity, I would guess... Read more on the Makower site by clicking here. It's for sale from quilt/fabric shops (esp. in the UK, I would guess; less likely to make it abroad) and from sellers on http://www.ebay.co.uk/ and likely http://www.etsy.com/ . There are etsy sellers using this to make bags/tea cosies etc.

Majesty magazine's shop offers this sampler from One Off designs - they got in early with an engagement version:

Click here for the shop page (the pattern offers engagement/wedding lettering).

You can see (and also buy) the wedding version from Sew Inspiring here.

Coats Crafts has a free downloadable pdf pattern for their wedding sampler:

Click here for more information and the PDF link.

The Royal School of Needlework has a whitework kit in their shop.

Sorry it's so blurry, but the pic's just tiny on their website. Read all about it (and buy if you wish) here.

Florashell offer this coat of arms royal wedding sampler:

They sell through their website (click here) and also have this listed on http://www.ebay.co.uk/. Chart only, or complete kits.

This design is from Mary Hickmott:

On her website you can order the chart, or kits with Belfast/aida. Click here for the link.

On http://www.ebay.co.uk/, seller cathduff52 is selling this blackwork design:

The item number is 170628849170 and she is selling multiple copies (of the same chart) at this item number. Blackwork Royal Wedding Embroidery Chart is the item's title.

If blackwork's your thing, this is (yet another) free chart from Lady Kell of Kincavel, aka Kell Smurthwaite:

Click here for the blog entry and chart. Unlike some of the others, this is a wedding sampler that could be adapted to other people.

DMC has a range of royal wedding samplers in kit form.

Read about the DMC kits here.

John Clayton Royal Collection has a pictorial cross stitch kit, rather than a sampler.

Find out more by clicking here.

Monica Solorio-Snow of the blog, Happy Zombie (unsupervised and armed with scissors!) has this colour-in style modern embroidery as a free pattern on her site:

Read more about here "Kiss Me Kate" design here. PDF link is here.

Crafter News had this collage of royal wedding crafts:

Click here for the links to each of the crafts/designers/designs illustrated.

There are a few designs where I can only find images, not links to buy. Some may be findable on eBay etc, or by you doing more creative googling than I have managed. I'm putting them here to record the range/variety of items available.

Cross Stitch Collection magazine issue 195 includes a huge royal wedding souvenir cross stitch, another pictorial one:

An unknown magazine had this cushion design:

I think this one is also from a magazine pattern:

One keen stitcher blogging about her royal wedding sampler stitching is Linens and Royals. Her projects include the One Off sampler and the John Clifton design. Playing with Needles has an entry on royal wedding blogs here: and her needlework based on the Queen's coronation gown - together with extensive information in photos and text - is definitely worth reading.

If you know of any other Will and Kate/William and Catherine/ WC/WK/Royal Wedding samplers or stitcheries etc that I've missed, please leave a comment with linkydinks so folks reading this can follow and find more!

Is this the most comprehensive roundup of royal wedding samplers and patterns on the internet right now?

Dunno.

But it's fun to have recorded them. For me, a number have really cliched fonts/lettering, and I wonder how they will wear over time. There are classic design elements that don't date - coat of arms as a f''r'instance: but the silhouettes on the DMC design look cliched to me, as do their curlicues. Given that I prefer vintage-style samplers, the hugely pictorial ones (like the John Clifton, or or the Cross Stitch Collection one) are less to my taste. Partly, it's because when I've done cross-stitch, I avoid the patterns/designs that occupy every inch of the linen with a stitch: I like the white space (and it's faster to stitch up, too!). To each their own: a friend of mine does astonishing, prize-winning cross stitches of the pictorial kind, which are beautiful. I just know I wouldn't choose to sew them myself.

Cheers

Ruth

PS if you would like to boggle at the range of royal wedding souvenirs available, http://royalweddingtat.tumblr.com/ will enable you to boggle comprehensively.

Hot air balloon

2011-04-18T10:43:00.001+10:00

1104 hot air balloon
Originally uploaded by rooruu

Perhaps hard to tell from this picture, but it was floating lower than I've ever seen one over a suburban area without a large park nearby. Maybe the passengers wanted to see their house from above.

Not something I've ever hankered to do, hot air ballooning.

Annie Leibovitz

2011-01-22T17:22:00.001+11:00

1101 exhibition ticket
Originally uploaded by rooruu

This exhibition, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, is definitely worth seeing. Then toddle on up to the State Library for the Jeff Carter photographs on exhibit there. Brilliant.

Queensland Flood Relief Auctions

2011-01-16T18:06:00.005+11:00

Click on the button to find out about wonderful work being auctioned by craftspeople to aid those affected by the floods in Queensland.

Summer's shoes

2011-01-16T10:36:00.001+11:00

1101 summer's shoes
Originally uploaded by rooruu

They aren't elegant, or smart, or really anything but functional. But oh, they are that. Easy. Simple. Accommodating. Not hot on your feet (?cool!) Comfortable. Washable, adaptable - yup, simple for pottering around in summer. Crocs, fakes, whatever. Summer's shoes.

Washing up

2011-01-13T10:41:00.001+11:00

1101 washing up
Originally uploaded by rooruu

The quiche tin, the plates, the baking trays used for soda bread...the dish rack reminds me of an enjoyable lunch with a friend.

Waiting

2011-01-08T11:00:00.001+11:00

1101 face 01
Originally uploaded by rooruu

In the middle of a vintage shop glass cabinet, she looks like she is waiting with such sweet anticipation.

And I'm having fun with Hipstamatic.

The end of 2010

2011-01-04T01:00:00.001+11:00

The end of 2010
Originally uploaded by rooruu

Ah, the fun of playing with the Hipstamatic app! Happy new year.

weekend

2010-08-09T12:25:00.001+10:00

Had a lovely weekend in Canberra. Saturday was the quilt show (big NO PHOTOGRAPHY signs up, so no photos to show you) and the charming company of friends. One of whom always has inspiring new creative books to show me, and had some Cath Kidston treasures for me. One of my favourite quilts was a New York Beauty by a first-time exhibitor - wonderful colours, and I especially liked how if you looked at it closely, while a number of the fabrics might have qualified as 'fuglies', it all worked together really well to make a vibrant and beautiful quilt. (Brenda has provided a winners' gallery link in her comment, but this quilt isn't there. Trust me, it was a corker!)

There was white, white frost on Saturday morning, and ice on the car (doesn't get as cold and frosty at home). I forgot to take a photo, but enjoyed it with my eyes...

On Sunday morning at Jamison trash and treasure markets there were things I recognised and was so very glad I'd never bought, way back when, because I'd be trying to sell them now too.. (if I hadn't already tossed 'em).

And there was some treasure. The Shopping Sherpa found some, and I came home with a vintage leather suitcase ($20), a painted/worn wooden lidded box ($10 - perfect for using for the week's recyclables in the kitchen) and a rather too gynaecological (in a sinister way) vintage Singer buttonholing attachment in a box ($2). Not a painting, because the chap wanted too much; nor the interesting tin box, ditto. There were people selling less usual (okra) and more usual vegetables and fruits, flats of brightly coloured pansies and polyanthus and a cheerful crowd of people of all sorts and kinds browsing the wares (after all, my trash could be their treasure...). Many nice friendly stallholders, too.

No snow on the way home (as happened a few years ago), just clear blue winter skies. There was some water in Lake George, which hasn't been the case the last few times I've driven past (um, that's about the only thing I photographed... photo here soon). Those wind farm turbines must be eNORmous, if they look as big as they do from the lookout on the main road side of the lake.

I'll have to get the camera out next time...

Irish Soda Bread

2010-05-26T23:40:00.001+10:00

I've blogged about this before - one of my absolutely favourite foods. Took me a while to find the recipe I liked best, but I have. Went looking for it this evening and GADS!! couldn't at first find the recipe notebook into which I'd written it. And while I've said I'll put it on this blog more than once, turns out I don't seem to have done so. So here it is, enshrined here for you to enjoy and me to find when that notebook grows legs again...

My handwritten recipe attributes this version to (Australian) Better Homes and Gardens, June 1991 - so it's been My Recipe for soda bread for almost twenty years; and never superseded in that time. I'm giving you gold...

IRISH OATMEAL SODA BREAD

Measurements use Australian standard cups and spoons. I'm sure you can find a website to translate if you need to...

Ingredients:

250g (2 cups) plain flour
200g (1 1/2 cups) wholemeal flour
3 tablespoons quick rolled oats
1 tsp salt (don't leave this out)
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb soda
60g cold butter, cut into chunks
450ml buttermilk
1 small egg

Method:

Oven to 200degC
Combine flours and oats in a food processor, mix until finely ground.
Add salt, baking powder and bicarb, process to mix.
Add butter and process until butter is thoroughly blended
Transfer mixture to a bowl, make a well in the centre.
Beat buttermilk and egg together, pour into well, mix until dry and spongy; if too slack, bread will be heavy.
Tip onto a floured board and knead for a few minutes until smooth. Just lightly, just enough - don't overhandle it. I probably do no more than a minute. Shape into two rounds (or one large round) about 5cm thick.
Place on baking trays that are either covered in baking paper or lightly floured.
Cut a cross in the bread that goes down the to base - four quarters if two small rounds, two crosses/eighths if one large round. This allows the bread to rise evenly and gives it its characteristic look.
If you want to glaze it, beat an egg yolk with 2 tsp water, glaze and scatter 1 1/2 tablespoons of quick rolled oats on top. Me, I just don't bother.
Bake 35-40 min or until bread is golden and sounds hollow when tapped on the base. Cool on rack, but serve warm with butter. It's good with home made jam or marmalade, or with a nice bitey cheddar; I'm happy as anything to have simple soda bread with butter. It can be microwaved to reheat, but you might lose a little of its crustiness. It's a great accompaniment for soup -eg pumpkin soup.
If you don't have a food processor, rub in the butter by hand and use oatmeal.
It only keeps a day or two, so eat it fresh or freeze it. When I was a child and bakers didn't bake seven days a week, or on public holidays, this is what my mother would make to tide us over.

Righto! Now this recipe is on the internet I'll never lose it (!) And you can enjoy it too.

I think one of the secrets of this recipe is the egg - it does add to the flavour. And, as noted, don't leave out the salt. I don't madly salt food, but the salt in this is necessary (left it out once and the taste wasn't right).

It's been a while since I blogged here - golly gee work has been busy this year!

Back soon!

Kiva: meet Shirley Macedo Garcia

2010-03-14T16:12:00.008+11:00

Meet Shirely Macedo Garcia, who will receive my sixteenth Kiva loan.

Located in San Martín, Peru, she is an upholsterer and will use this loan to buy rolls of fabric, and different colors of thread to make the upholstery.

Ms. Shirley belongs to the Communal Bank “Las Decididas II” in the Tarapoto District, San Martín Region and the San Martín Department. She is married and she is 57 years old. She is the mother of 2 children, 1 child is still studying and is attending university.

With the first loan of de S/. 300.00 Nuevos Soles, based on a friend’s idea, she now works on upholstery in her home with the help of her sewing machine. She works with her husband.

Currently they work in the same business and the clients’ requests come to the home daily. With this loan of S/2,000.00 Nuevos Soles, she will expand her business by buying rolls of fabric, thread for sewing the upholstery for the furniture, a moto-taxi and motorized vehicles. She is proud of her work.

She feels like an accomplished woman therefore she is grateful for the opportunity offered by the Manuela Ramos Movement, so she can develop as a woman and businesswoman.

There's a Kiva button over on the right of this blog. Kiva is microfinance - you usually get your loan back, and then you can reloan it. The recipients are the working poor, entrepreneurs; it's hugely rewarding to know a little from here can mean so much there.

I've been undertaking Kiva loans for over two years, and it's a great charitable enterprise. The borrowers' stories are a fascinating window on other parts of the world and other lives. I often, but not always, choose people engaged with textiles in some way, reflecting my own interests. As it happens, I've just had some chairs reupholstered, so this loan seemed apt.

Minimum loan is $25US, so not a large amount. Worth doing. Click here to see people needing loans.

I know we had February...

2010-03-13T14:36:00.000+11:00

I know we had February. Always the hardest month to endure, weatherwise - the heat of summer and the humidity. Slogging and sweating through the start of the school year and thinking, longingly, of March, and autumn.

It's March, and the weather seems to know. Humidity not a problem, the days a little cooler, and overnight too, so you can sleep.

I went back to work after Australia Day and it's been so very busy. Which is the cliche, but also the truth. Productive at work and not much happening on the home front.

It's hard for ME to believe, but I haven't sewn anything for nearly two months. Nothing, not a quilt, not even a button or a hem. I haven't gone that long without sewing for years and years. Maybe that gives you an idea of how all-consuming work has been. Perhaps what I'll do for Easter is schedule a quilt project I'd like to play with, clear the decks and give it air and time and see what happens. No deadlines, no commissions or anything, just let it happen and go from there.

Mind you, my hardworking Bernina sewing machine is probably very happy to be getting a service. And I've been invited to give a 'quilt talk' to a patchworking group later this month.

There's a bit of public speaking going on in the next while, on the work front - three presenter gigs coming up. I did a couple towards the end of last year, and not only did I enjoy them, so did the audiences (and they found them useful). They're fun, and a good way for me to reflect on my own working practices and challenges as well as share ideas with others.

I've kept reading blogs (yay for bloglines), and found a couple of new ones to read too.

Must do some autumnal clearing up and replanting in the (rather neglected) garden. There are tight green buds on the pink camellia...

Waltzing Matilda

2010-01-26T23:27:00.000+11:00

With several Australia Day celebration options, I decided to go up the Blue Mountains to Katoomba so I could see the Bushwackers perform. They're an Australian bush band; no, THE Australian bush band, nearly forty years old (with various personnel over that time) and I've loved their music for, oh, over thirty of those years... it's kinda folk/Celtic/country, distinctive whether they're playing instrumental or songs. Some songs are traditional, others new. Whatever, it's all good stuff.

They played two sets, and in between was time to happily wander the antiquey/junky shops and bookshops (new and second-hand) of Katoomba. Had a great day. It was hot in Katoomba (32degC), and very hot (ten degrees hotter) at home. Definitely a day for a hat and slipslopslapping with the sunscreen.

I bought two of their albums which I didn't have, and have been enjoying them very much this evening. Definitely an Australian day (well, except for the American chocolate brownies I baked this evening ready to take to work tomorrow).

Book 005: The Grand Sophy

2010-01-26T22:33:00.000+11:00

The Grand Sophy, by Georgette Heyer.

Hmmm. I may not restrict myself to a single Heyer, but this would have to be in my top three. I've just been listening (again) to an unabridged audiobook of it, which is terrific and highlights the wit and irony of Heyer's writing. And the utter fun of the story.

This image came from here; it's the edition I have of the book (but am too lazy right now to photograph and upload...). That blog entry compares Sophy to Jane Austen's Emma. Sophy being Much cleverer at managing people.

Kiva: Meet Nieva Salabe

2010-01-20T21:18:00.001+11:00

One of my great daily pleasures is reading the newspaper - generally the Sydney Morning Herald in paper form, the New York Times online. On my recent holiday away, it was great fun to read the local newspapers in each district, and get a perspective on local concerns and activities through them. You can see why I chose Nieva Salabe for my latest Kiva loan.

Kiva is an avenue for lending to the working poor. I first learned about it almost two years ago, and since then have done fifteen loans - some are now paid back, the rest are being paid back. When I'm repaid, I recycle the money to lend again, as well as putting in more from time to time. While I most often have chosen women who are engaged with needlework/fabric, due to my own interests, I've also lent to grow flowers in Cambodia, sell fruit and vegetables in Peru, and other things. It's a window on other worlds, and chance to make a difference through the brilliantly simple idea of microfinance.

Here's more about Nieva:

Nieva V. Salabe, 51, is making sure that her family has enough provision for their daily needs. Married to Jose Salabe Jr., a driver, they are blessed with three children. She makes sure that she helps her husband earn income so that their family can have a better life. She has been selling newspapers for many years.

Nieva has been a regular member of Center for Community Transformation* (CCT) for several years now. She regularly attends their weekly fellowship meetings and pays her weekly dues consistently. Because of her good repayment performance with her previous loans, she was able to borrow 12 times from CCT’s Cooperative. She is consistent in paying her dues because she used the money she borrowed to buy more stock of different newspapers for her business. Her business lets her earn a profit of PHP 14,000 per month.

Now with your help, she would like to apply for a PHP 38,000 loan. This amount will be used as a source of added capital to her expanding business by buying more newspapers to sell.

She dreams that her business will continue to grow so that she can help her children achieve their ambitions in life.

* All CCT community partners / clients are organized into fellowship groups that meet on a weekly basis. A fellowship group is composed of 15 to 30 community partners. The fellowship groups gather each week to study the Word of God, build social capital, and pay Micro Finance loans.

It's not at all difficult to lend via Kiva - do try it. Minimum loan is $US25, plus a suggested 15% of your loan to support Kiva's own costs.

Book 004: A River Runs Through It

2010-01-20T06:37:00.009+11:00

Image source

I think I came to Norman McLean's book, A River Runs Through It and other stories, thanks to the 1992 film, directed by Robert Redford. Such a strong, graceful, wise, sad book (semi-autobiographical) and film, about two brothers, one responsible, one not, the ties that hold a family and the losses that never quite heal; and flyfishing, which is absolutely about itself but also a metaphor for much more. The book was rewarding too, and has one of my favourite pieces of prose, which is the ending of both the book and film.

"It is those we live with and love and should know who elude us."

Now nearly all those I loved and did not understand when I was young are dead, but I still reach out to them.

Of course, now I am too old to be much of a fisherman, and now of course I usually fish the big waters alone, alhtough some friends think I shouldn't. Like many fly fishermen in western Montana where teh summer days are almost Arctic in length, I often do not start fishing until the cool of the evening. Then in the Arctic half-light of the canyon, all existence fades to a being with my soul and memories and the sounds of the Big Blackfoot River and a four-count rhythm and the hope that a fish will rise.

Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the worlds' great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.

I am haunted by waters.

In the film, most of this is done as a final voiceover by Robert Redford (as the voice of the older Norman McLean - Redford doesn't appear on camera in the film). The rhythm of this piece of prose, its simplicity and craft, its wisdom and mystery, catch me every time I hear or read it. I don't fully understand it, and yet I do.

Here's this section from the film:

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJkzmS_WTQI if the link below doesn't work)

Here's the film's trailer, in case you're interested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z7yeXtBQMU&NR=1

Such a visually beautiful film too'; it did justice to the original writing. Must hunt out my DVD...

PS. The mention of 'ties' was an utterly unintentional allusion. Sorry!!!

On spelling

2010-01-19T21:08:00.000+11:00

Just a quick note. Why is Caesar so hard to spell? As in Caesar Salad? As opposed to Cesar, Cesaer, Cesear, Ceseaer??? I recently saw a single cafe which spelled this two ways in one menu, and it's misspelled everywhere....

Its vs it's. Always bewilders me when I see an expensive ad in which clearly much moolah has been expended on photography, immortal prose and marketing, but omigosh, they haven't got it proofread properly. They're trying to convince me to spend bunches of money on their quality product, and they can't get its/it's right. I lose confidence. I do. I start wondering if the quality of your product is all you say...

PS there are no spelling mistakes on this blog, of course. Only typos. !!!

Book 003: Stupid Sock Creatures

2010-01-19T11:57:00.001+11:00

Stupid Sock Creatures, by John Murphy

Just when you thought it was all going to be tragic novels, here's a change of pace. This book is hilarious, clever, witty and fun to browse. The imagination it shares is utterly delightful and inspirational, so many quirky, individual sock creatures. I still have my old school hockey socks (red, yellow and green stripes, white 'feet') and someday, this book is the one that will make them become something new. Found this book at the Sydney Needlecraft and Quilt Fair at Darling Harbour several years ago. I do like the way people are shaking up the world of softies/soft toys with books like this. John Murphy's website is here.

Book 002: The Time Traveler's Wife

2010-01-18T11:51:00.004+11:00

The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger

After a little discombobulation at the start, getting used to the dual voices of Henry and Clare, and the time-travelling, this is one of my greatest favourites, a great, rich, tragic, hopeful story about love and loss and the ordinary things that matter so much. The unabridged audiobook read by William Hope and Laurel Lefkow is utterly brilliant, the best performance of this book (the film wasn't able to hold the narrative richness and detail of the book) and my favourite audiobook ever.

Book 001: I heard the owl call my name

2010-01-17T11:49:00.001+11:00

I thought I'd document, here on the blog, a year-full of favourite books. Or 365 favourites. Given that this house houses hundreds (OK, thousands), it will be fun to choose especial favourites.

I heard the owl call my name, by Margaret Craven

Love this book. Found it as a teenager, and by the end of it, I still cry. Margaret Craven's writing is powerfully simple, plain clear storytelling that leaves room for you to engage, rather than forcing you to do so. A young priest, Mark, is sent by his bishop to be the minister in a remote Canadian village, because he doesn't have much time and the challenges of this will make the most of his time. The native Canadian people (first people? I'm not sure of the current correct terminology) view him at first with suspicion, and he has to earn their trust and find his way in an unfamiliar culture. It's not all a pretty story, or unrealistically neat, but it's one that resonates. It's not a 'religious' book per se, so whether or not you're a believer, it's worth reading.

Holidays: Lakes Entrance

2010-01-17T11:31:00.001+11:00

Fishing (and other) boats at Lakes Entrance, in Victoria.

Walking back from dinner, there were people fishing from the boardwalk.

And it was cooler, after a hot day.

I changed the blog header, but of course if you're reading this in a reader, you wouldn't know. I'm sure I miss lots of blog prettification by using bloglines...

On wrapping presents

2009-12-26T10:52:00.010+11:00

Mine is a large family, with no Kris Kringling going on, so present wrapping takes some time, something to wrap for each one. Even if it isn't fancy-schmancy, but just paper and stickytape and labels. Some time I'll do the fancier thing, but at weary-time on Christmas Eve, the other works too. I chose the red and white patterned paper with care, and it will all end up scrunched in the large large box necessary for all the paper from a large family's large unwrapping...

So I put on a CD of Handel's Messiah (the Combined Church Choirs highlights one that isn't three hours) (and which has me singing as part of the choir) and got out the boxes of presents. Some I'd bought a while ago, some only on Christmas Eve, tidying up the ends of what-for-who and omigosh-I-haven't-forgotten-anyone-have-I? It was the family presents - pretty much all the rest have already been wrapped and given to colleagues and friends.

Comfort ye - com-for-ort ye, my pe-ee-ple

This one isn't always easy to buy for. I hope she likes what I've chosen. I pack it round with tissue and it goes in a gift bag, being breakable.

And the glory, the glory of the Lord, shall be re-vea - e-led

I'm so happy about this idea for one of the girls - it's a bit quirky, different. Don't know if she knows these exist. She often likes vintage, and this is hand-made too...

Behold, darkness shall co-ver the earth, and gross darkness the people

I never sang this, it's one of the solo pieces. Love the way it ends, both music and words...

then the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the bright-ness, of, thy ri-sing.

Bring out a present, cut enough paper, wrap and stick and label. Some are rectangular-easy.

One poses a particular challenge. Another one of the girls asked me, a while ago, if I could maybe find her a vintage hatbox. I said, in the way of such things, that it would need to find me, but I would look. And, at markets and garage sales and op shops and antiquey-junky shops and on eBay, I looked. At one market a few weeks ago, I mentioned this quest to the friend I was with. "LOOK! she said.

Have you tried wrapping a vintage hatbox so it doesn't look like a vintage hatbox? You can't disguise the size...maybe the shape... I resort to an extra box, and roll out a large piece of paper.

Foooooo-r unto us a child is born...for unto us a - for unto us a -

The parts roll over each other, a glorious tide of sound. I sang in that Messiah for a decade, every Christmas in the Sydney Town Hall, practices every Monday night in the city from early October. Any time I hear Messiah now, I hear the soprano choral parts, and sing them in my mind. I remember Professor Clive Pascoe, the conductor, how he demanded excellence from a most diverse group of voices, and how he gave us excellence, and the gift of his knowledge of this work. How he believed, and made us believe, that we could create something marvellous.

I'm giving the next boy a pixel present. Have you ever tried wrapping kilobytes or an audiobook (delivered online)? He loves Skulduggery Pleasant, and we have an arrangement that his birthday present each year is the next SP book (the fourth one is due out next April). He's never heard the spiffing audio version by Rupert Degas, as far as I know. Hmmmm. Can't make it too easy, though, can I? So I wrap and wrap and make it a parcel with layers of wrapping paper, and finally inside a card... Mean, but fun!

Good-will - good-will - good-will, goooood-willll tooooo - to - all men

I can't sing in this choir any more. Logistically, my current work makes getting into the city more difficult, but the accumulated impact of years of teaching has had its impact on my voice. A decade ago, the last time I sang in the choir, there was at least one song I 'fished' (mimed) because I didn't find the notes - nothing at all came out - or if anything, nothing more than a strangled squeak that hurt. I sing along to this CD at home, where it doesn't matter if I sing the soprano part an octave lower, and sing along to the solo pieces. On my bookshelf is my well-worn copy of the Prout edition of Messiah, but I know it pretty much by heart (at least for singing along like this). I can't imagine relearning the oratorio with the alto parts - I'm sure I'd unintentionally revert to the soprano ones, and a large choir like that works because you sing when you should and what you should, subsuming yourself to the created whole.

I'm nearly done. There are several large bags of presents waiting to go into the car. Each one, being wrapped, is a moment thinking of the recipient, a grace-moment as I wrestle paper and tape and my own tiredness, and wrap in, invisibly, love and affection and good wishes and all those family things which are so much more important that the glitzy stuff of Christmas commerce.

Worthy is the Lamb, that was slain - and hath reee-deem-ed us to God, to God, by his Son....

One present isn't wrapped, because I've only just bought it today and it needs a little bit of sewing-related tweaking, a special label. I make them up using the computer, and find I'm out of black ink. Will the newsagent up the road that sells ink be open on Boxing Day, even for a little while? Maybe? Fingers crossed.

...and ho-nour, and glo-ry, and bles-sing...

The CD's nearly finished. I sit on the sofa, and close my eyes, and remember singing the Amen (my favourite, much more than the more famous Hallelujah chorus). For the sopranos, it rises and rises, and just near the end is the highest note of the soprano choral part, an Aaaa- that cascades down. I remember singing that. Exhilarated, from the joy of performance. Determined to finish it well. Waiting for the note I only ever reached while singing this piece, in this choir. I remember how it rose through the body, through your throat, out of your mouth and somehow too the top of your head, how it felt to be filled with this one glorious note, surrounded by it in this choir....and then the last part of the Amen, and the final note of the oratorio. Sustained, because in a choir this big (over 600 choristers) you can take a quick breath and go on, and the note stays full, fills the hall, rolls over the raised faces of the audience like a blessing, the organ sound is all stops out, the percussionist drumming, the soloists singing with us, the sound of the trumpet, keep watching the conductor and then, a quick movement of the baton and silence. A deep moment of silent completion, something achieved, something wonderful created and now finished, and then the applause.

I don't think many of us ever sang it for the applause. We sang for the singing. We sang because the organising charity, Radio Community Chest, meant that others benefited from the two performances, and their Christmases, their lives, were made better too. (The RCC/Messiah website is here - this annual presentation has been going in Sydney for decades). I sang - and the hundreds of people who come each year from diverse denominations still sing - to be a part of something extraordinary. This music will never leave me, it is deep in my bones and I am fortunate.

I hope you and yours have had a peaceful and happy Christmas.

(PS. I've scheduled this entry for after the presents have been opened...!)
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Tomatoes

2009-11-29T20:04:00.008+11:00

The tomatoes have grown with amazing energy - six weeks after planting the seedlings, they're nearly five foot tall and have needed new ties every few days, not to mention taller stakes. They are four different cherry varieties (which always seem to have the best flavour). I'm waiting for the fruit to come...

White in the garden

2009-11-28T20:27:00.003+11:00

I like what white does in the garden, particularly in summer as the light fades - it lasts longer, as something you see, than the brighter colours which catch your eye during the daylight. The front bed has ordinary white petunias scattered through it, as well as white daisies, for just this reason. Along the verandah are several hanging baskets, planted with white verbena (as in the photograph above), a white petunia, the label of which said it was especially good for hanging baskets, and erigeron daisies, which are doing less than the others (although they're going great guns in the front garden bed)...

And I hope that, as the plants in the baskets grow, that they will be, too, visible for an extra while, at dawn and dusk. They add a cool effect too, given the heat of spring/summer - it's been a hot few weeks here.

Years ago, a gardening friend lent me a book of Vita Sackville-West's columns about the garden she created at Sissinghurst, which includes of course the famous White Garden. I'm not disciplined enough to have a garden only in whites and silvers (also, I don't have quite such extensive grounds!!) but the idea is one which has remained with me. I notice from The Book Depository (bookdepository.com or bookdepository.co.uk) that you can buy four books containing these columns, from Frances Lincoln Publishers). I'll bung them on my wishlist.

The ladybird climbing energetically all over the white verbena this morning seemed to like it too.

(Treasure that photo - my discard folder has at least a dozen in which the ladybird has gone behind a leaf, was moving too quickly for my camera to catch!)

Verbena

2009-11-23T07:46:00.000+11:00

I don't remember growing verbena before. This plant was in a little pot in the cottage plant section of the nursery, and the candy-stripe caught my eye. I bought both the ones they had, and each plant is romping away happily and flowering generously. I think I'll try to catch seeds from them when they're nearing the end of their season. I've since bought white verbena in a punnet, and a coloured mix, also in a punnet, and added them to the garden - with some of the white ones in the hanging baskets of white flowers I've potted up for the verandah.

Fresh herbs from the garden

2009-11-21T19:46:00.000+11:00

A couple of nights ago, accompanying spinach and ricotta ravioli, was a salad of lettuce leaves from the garden, topped generously with an assortment of chopped/torn herbs, also from the garden: parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme (tra-la!), ordinary basil and lime basil, rosemary and oregano. The greens were sweet and tender, so very fresh, their combined aroma adding to the taste. The herbs smelled so very good, complex, interesting, simple, inviting. Aaaaah.

No tomatoes, yet: but the promise of them. The tomato plants, put in about five weeks ago (various cherry tomato varieties) are leaping skyward - I had to buy taller stakes. There are flowers on them, and so soon there will be fruit. I do love the slightly odd scent of tomato leaves and plants.

From this...

to this...

...in five weeks. Look at those tall tomato plants on the right! The white petunias planted throughout are too many to count, the dahlias are almost flowering and nothing has failed/died. The last few days have been heatwave conditions, over 40degC two days in a row, nearly so today and the same again tomorrow, so watering is part of the daily schedule while it's so hot. (The worst of such temperatures is when it doesn't cool down at night - it's hard to sleep when it's still 30degC because it's hot outside and the house hasn't cooled).

Now where are those gardening books I shelved in the study some years ago?!

Reading and Writing (and 'rithmetic)

2009-11-01T21:07:00.001+11:00

Reading this. Wonderful!! If you haven't read this, or Kit Whitfield's earlier novel, Bareback (UK title) (aka Benighted in the US), you are missing out. Are they literary? Genre? Scifi? Fantasy? Dunno. Bareback is about werewolves, and In Great Waters about mermaids (or deepsmen, in the book's terminology). That's simplistic, given the quality of the writing and storytelling. I came across her first book by accident, and bought the second in hardback, Because I Couldn't Wait... and when I've finished this one, I'm going to read Bareback again.

I'm playing this game again. Just under 1700 words a day, to reach 50,000 in the month. NaNoWriMo is a great way to get yourself writing, fishing out things you didn't even know were in your head, getting you writing every day. It's not too late to start... I plan to carry my (work-supplied) baby laptop around everywhere this month, so I have No Excuse (and don't have to transcribe my sometimes 'orrible scrawl). Some of the kids are NaNo-ing too (with a smaller goal through the Young Writer version) and so I hope to encourage them and be motivated in my turn.

'rithmetic? 1700 words a day.... I didn't make it the first year I did NaNo; last year I managed just over 51,000 words, and this year I've got an idea I want to chase - not sure entirely where it's going to go, but I'll find out...

And I've read and enjoyed Diana Gabaldon's latest, An Echo in the Bone, and now wonder if it will be another four years before all the loose ends get to be explored further... The audiobook (yes, it's on Audible, hurrah!) has just been loaded on the iPod and I'm sure I'll notice things I missed on that first fast read. At over forty hours, you can see why I like a download rather than CDs, and not only to avoid postage but to avoid the tedium of transferring them to iTunes.

Narelle Grieve: celebrating a quilter's life

2009-10-18T11:05:00.000+11:00

Although it was sad to know she had died, it was great to see Narelle Grieve's many achievements as a quilter honoured in the Sydney Morning Herald. She was enormously and generously influential in Australian quilting. Click on the link to read the full obituary.

The scrapbooking cupboard project: 4

2009-10-17T19:51:00.000+11:00

Now where was I? Painting cream/taffy window frames. Well, that's done, and the red roof too, and there was just the little matter of window furnishings...
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Which was sorted with the dinky cordless screwdriver, cuphooks, fine dowel and some Denyse Schmidt fabric from her County Fair line. New handles replaced old (old nasty, not nice vintage).

Et voila!

It's quite tall, isn't it? I'm of average height, and thisi is me looking up to take the photo.

There's plenty of storage...

...as you can see. Enough for the scrapbooking gear, I hope!

OK, here's the full view:

Isn't that fun? And useful? This is the back of the house - the house's front door/entrance is on the other side, but this is the side with the big opening doors, so for my cupboardish purposes it is the 'front'.

A couple of construction notes. I was able to find tiny hinges for the door that had broken hinges - found them at the hardware barn (I'm sure that's cheaper than sourcing them from a miniatures supplier). On the bottom of the house, I put two thick strips of self-adhesive heavy-duty felt, so it will sit well and not scratch the top of the record cabinet.

It's now in the house and about to get put to use!

Garden progress: perseverance

2009-10-17T17:53:00.002+11:00

The garden bed after clearing.

The garden bed after planting.

Now in a couple of months....

As I spent time on the dollhouse/scrapbooking cupboard (painting the record cupboard in particular was awkward, with those narrow slots) and weeding/clearing this garden bed, in which boston fern baubles seem to be endless, I was thinking about perseverance. There were points at which I could happily have given up, and sometimes did (temporarily). Points at which I was grimly continuing, without much joy at all. And that's process, isn't it? Perseverance, persistence. Which we learn from all sorts of places and experiences. I know kids who just don't have 'it' - if something isn't instant, they abandon it. And miss out on the satisfaction of a job, with which one persisted, being complete. The lesson of a garden, too is patience - I hope in a couple of months to be picking parsley whenever I want it, eating cherry tomatoes and seeing a riot of colourful flowers. For now, it's potential and progress, and patience. I do not doubt that there will be more boston fern to weed out... (since it is a plant of patience, persistence and perseverance!)

Gardening like a quilter

2009-10-15T23:19:00.000+11:00

I used to garden, before I became as absorbed in quilting as I have been for a number of years - I gardened in each place I've lived. The garden here, what was gardenable of it, got, after an initial flurry, some native shrubs, grevilleas and so forth, and pretty much did its own thing. My palette, my way of playing with colour and design, was fabric.
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There's a circular-ish bed in the front garden which I've cleared out these holidays - overgrown shrubs cut down, bags filled with weeds and trimmings, trips to the tip. The scrapbooking cupboard project has been suspended these last two days in favour of seizing the opportunity (but here's a glimpse of the next stage...).
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Sometimes it's been tedious, weed after weed - fishbone fern baubles seem to be endless, every time you turn the soil there's another one, or six, to remove. It's certainly been good exercise, bending and stretching and levering out stumps and so on.
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After all the clearing, it was time to plant. I had some agapanthus which had been a tad overwhelmed by everything else, so those got put together in a group. I hope they will flower this summer, blue and round and nodding in the breeze, like there's a cheerful conversation going on, only you can't quite hear it.

I've created native gardens, with grevilleas and other Australian native plants. I really have. But the garden of my heart is a cottage garden, the profusion of colour, the mad wonderful mix of flowers and vegetables and whatever you like, no rules broken because there are none to break. So I toddled around a couple of nurseries and let my eyes and heart have their way. Parsley, because I like having that to pick from the garden, and the price for a bought bunch is ridiculous (I think it was $1.50 or $2 last time I bought some). Cherry tomatoes, for their prolific fruiting and the burst of sunlight and flavour on the tongue. Daisies, in white and in pink. Lavenders. More herbs - rosemary, and thyme and sage, to complete the rhyme; basil, for its summer fragrance and taste, and as companion planting for the tomatoes. Pink geraniums - one with a pointed petal, another with a wonderfully splotched look. Dianthus, for their wonderful scent. White petunias and white salvia, for calm and their ghostly grace in evening light. Compact dahlias, for their gaudy fifties look, hot bright colours for the height of summer. I did see a punnet or two of pansies, but they're past their time, for this year at least.

I had what we thought an discussion, and what others thought was bickering, the other night at dinner with friends. He said, the garden bed out the front of a house should be a showcase. I said, no, I'm planting it cottage style. He said, but that's wrong, you do the messy stuff in the back garden. I pointed out that the back garden is a shallow depth of soil over rock - not promising for gardening. This front bed has decent soil, decent sun and lots of potential. OK, I said, going on the offensive, what exactly SHOULD I be planting there? At which point he got vague, and mentioned potted colour. Really? I said, thinking, costabunch planting of what anybody's got... And then it was time for rack of lamb and roast vegetables and for dessert, raspberries and posh vanilla icecream, and the conversation moved on to other things.
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But as I chose plants today, I realised that I was gardening like a quilter - assembling my palette, choosing not necessarily based on a specific plan, but a general idea - cottage-style - and a general principle - choose things you like. I have four shades of pink, and at least one clashes with the others. Am I bovvered? Nope. There are perennials and annuals, flowers and vegetables, herbs and so it goes. I believe it will all go together, because I've chosen them and nature is forgiving - maybe plants are even more forgiving than fabric. A certain amount of my quilting is instinct rather than logic, and I did the same here. Going with the heart, trusting that it will work out as I create it - quilt, or garden.
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I had forgotten the mindless state you can get into, gardening. Just thinking about what might go where. Wondering how it will be, in a couple of months, to taste veges grown on my land - it's years since I grew any veges. The young boys next door, whose soccer ball didn't hit my head despite their best efforts, came to retrieve it from time to time when it cleared the fence, and commented that this was looking better (very observant, for boys, although the change is quite dramatic). An optimistic kookaburra flew down to land quite close to me, to see if my efforts had unearthed any promising worms or other foodstuff - they're such confident birds, with a cheerful, jaunty air.
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Having a slight hose-connection issue I can solve tomorrow, I filled the watering can several times to put over the planting I got done before the light faded. The boys headed indoors for their supper. The kookaburra found some of his, and flew off in search of more, or a roost for the night. I looked at the parsley seedlings, and the sturdy beginnings of the tomato plants, and the tiny tender leaves of basil, and the deep pink daisy bush, and the lavender hybrid with flying petals - the soil damp around them, the darkness gathering them in, the promise of more to plant tomorrow morning, when a hot shower will have eased the stiffness in my shoulders. It's good to have my hands in the dirt again, and to be again attuned to the timescale of growing plants.
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Just don't tell my mother. She's a Notable Gardener and will be far too pleased that I appear to have learned the error of my ways and returned to the fold of Gardens and Wisdom. She gardens like a gardener. I garden like a quilter. And there's nothing wrong with either approach.
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The scrapbooking cupboard project: 3

2009-10-13T21:26:00.001+11:00

Am I prepared to admit that I toddled off to the hardware store AGAIN? Not sure. Keep reading....
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Well, you knew I had the main paint already: Ta-daaaah, Dulux Young Leaf:

and a paintbrush that wishes it was elsewhere. It's not an expensive one, and I'm not treating it all that well, what with wriggling it about in confined spaces and into many corners.

Why this colour? Dunno. Just felt like it. I'd pondered pale dirty yellows, and not-too-sweet-pale pinks, and blues various, all reasonable options for a dollhouse, but when push came to shove in the hardware barn, this green was the one.

And it looks just dandy - see?

Fresh and cheerful and it's working for me. I am not painting different colours in the different rooms of the dollhouse cupboard. It's a cupboard, not about to be furnished as a house (given that there are a couple of other furnished/partly furnished dollhouses already in this house). So the whole lot is now green:

inside and out. This is after the first coat of paint. Once the second coat is dry, I'll paint the roof and window frames. It was madly windy today, so I'm sure they'll be dry tomorrow. (Possibly with a little dust, but phooey to that).

And here's the record cupboard after its first coat:

Did I tell you the utter charm of the fact that the lower two sets of shelves are designed to easily accommodate LP records, so are around 14in high and deep? And scrapbooking paper is sold in 12in squares? Utterly charmingly amazingly perfect for my ~~porpoises~~ purposes. Woohoo! The top shelves - maybe smaller to accommodate 45s - will fit folders of smaller papers etc.

OK, I went to the hardware store again. I needed handles for both cupboards, OK? And, all right, I was thinking about window treatments (with eleven windows to consider). So I got some itty-bitty cuphooks and the thinnest dowel they sell. Pondered fabric for curtains (you know, I think there might just be some fabric around here somewhere - who'da'thunk??????!!!!!) and tonight I've got a little bit of sewing planned. Easiest curtains I'll have ever made... (I decided to go with curtains rather than the acetate 'glass' option).

I am not going to add up the investment in these cupboards, I think. It might be scary. Still, it's going to be a decent size piece - each of the cupboards is about a metre in height (over 3 feet). If tomorrow goes as planned, they'll be finished and ready to use. (Except perhaps for window boxes, as suggested by TSS in a comment yesterday - I'm thinking about that).

If they'd done this on a homes and gardens show as a project, it would have taken ten minutes, tops. They're much cleverer than me! Or possibly have more minions to hand.

I also hope I will be able to plant some parsley tomorrow. Ah, holidays...

The scrapbooking cupboard project: 2

2009-10-12T19:17:00.002+11:00

My good intentions regarding hand sanding (rather than investing in a detail sander) fell by the wayside today. I didn't show you the inside of the dollhouse cupboard, did I?

There be felt 'carpet', glued down. I got out the scraper, and drizzled some methylated spirits on the felt, with the thought that it might loosen up the glue and enable me to scrape off the felt. It worked to an extent, but only to an extent.

I thought about citrus-based glue removers (the potion option) and sanding (the mechanical option). Sanding won. I went back to the hardware store (isn't it great that you can be wearing your grotty painting clothes and you fit right in at the hardware barn?!) and for $35 bought a detail sander with a three year replacement guarantee (hint if you're buying an inexpensive detail sander: check how much the triangular sandpaper bits cost. For this one, it's $10 for ten; for another inexpensive sander, it's $7.50 for five. That would add up over time...). I know I'll use it again, so it was a worthwhile investment. Rather a lot of noise later...

and you can see the difference. While plugging away at this (not a job completed in five minutes), I thought about what I might have done:

...by the time you add up the sealing undercoat, paint, sander, bits and bobs, plus the original cost of both cupboards, I'm shading into the price of one of these white melamine flatpack cupboards. Easy, functional, would serve the purpose of storage...but not as much fun. And I'll be able to look at my combo scrapbook cupboard when it's done, and have a different sense of achievement to wrangling an allen key and white melamine. My cupboard will be more beautiful, and maybe more lasting, and repurposes instead of using new stuff (well, apart from all the stuff I bought!) and will be, perhaps unique. At the very least, quirky and unusual.

I finally got the sanding done (and it needed both the sander and the hand-blocks). I couldn't get all the felt off, but did the best I could and figured it's not a competition, anyway. But it sure takes time to prepare before you start wrangling paint. I took off the handles from both cupboards, too - there's an odd bit of damage near the record cupboard's handle, a bit of unexplainable gouging. I figure it's just part of the rustic charm of it all - not worth fiddling about with Spakfilla. The woodgrain floor on the right (?Contact plastic) peeled up without much bother, and without a glue residue either (hurrah!). Some work with an old toothbrush and (new) sugarsoap helped clean out dirty corners and windowframes.

I wondered about original colours: I suspect it was white or cream on the outside, pale green inside and this mustard or green on the floors. I don't know how long ago it might have been made in a handyman's workshop. 1950s? 1960s? The people from whom I bought it couldn't tell me anything of its history.

Finally, in the afternoon, after a morning of sanding and scraping, I got to open a can of paint - well, one coat sealer undercoat. First, the record cupboard:

and I will not tell you how fiddly it was to paint those narrow slots. I think I'll need a short-handled paintbrush to get into a couple of the corners when I'm topcoating. I tipped it over onto the cupboard back to get into each slot properly, then tipped it back upright for the door/sides/top. Then the dollhouse, which was actually easier to paint, even with the fiddly bits:

It's an improvement on where they started, isn't it?

It's a good beginning. More to do tomorrow. It's nice to see progress, and think about how they'll look when they're done. I'll need to get hold of dollhouse sized hinges to attach one of the doors, which has come off; and will need to think about whether I'll put curtains on the dollhouse windows, to keep out dust (and if I do, how I'll attach them - or should I use interesting acetate from a scrapbooking shop instead? Decisions, decisions). (And I haven't shown you the paint colours yet either, have I? Tomorrow....).

The scrapbooking cupboard project: 1

2009-10-11T09:39:00.078+11:00

A long time ago when the world was young and you could still buy second-hand furniture at the Salvos op shop in Bowral (alas, no more, and it was an industrial unit and FULL of promise...) I went hunting for a cupboard for my scrapbooking gear.
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As I said, an industrial unit - a warehouse with narrow aisles some rather dimly lit, and you needed to look in EVERY aisle, for who knows where you might find the right thing? I wasn't quite sure what the right cupboard for scrapbooking might look like. I wanted to store paper, of course - 12" squares of paper being a scrapbooking basic. Also, I already had a cupboard for bits and pieces, such as stamps and punches and scissors and so on. Here's what that one looks like:
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This one was an eBay find, from a fairly local seller, so I was able to pick it up AND it fitted in the car. I never planned this as a dollhouse, but always saw it as quirky storage. My guess is that it's a home made dollhouse, possibly from a commercial pattern/plans. The windows are rather nicely detailed, aren't they? Let's not talk about the lilac, though... So what I wanted now was a second cupboard to be a base for this one, and more storage, preferably for paper.

Principle of op-shopping/vintage furniture shopping: know kinda what you want it to do, but don't assume you'll know what it looks like. Size-wise, I wanted something this dollhouse/cupboard could sit on, and the space I have in mind is only a little wider (between a door and a built-in) so a standard bureau/chest of drawers was likely too wide for the space. And this one needed to fit in the car too, so it could come home (delivery was not an option).

Up and down the aisles, looking, looking. A couple of quite old pot/bedside cupboards had potential - and price tags a bit higher than I was hoping for. Looking, looking... and then, at the end of an aisle, tucked away up the back, this:

I'm quite prepared to admit it's not the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. Horrible handle (of course that can be changed). Not very interesting timber. BUT... look at its dimensions. Very good, in relation to the lilac dollhouse. Do you recognise this sort of cupboard? I don't remember seeing one before, although I'm old enough that they would likely have been in houses in my yoof. Take a gander inside, though...

It's a cupboard intended for the storage of LPs and other vinyl records. Whoopee! Paper storage, anyone? I'm guessing it dates from the 1950s/1960s (if you know more than my limited knowledge, please do leave a comment!).

And so they have both sat waiting to be Renovated and Installed, and I finally got round to getting the gear I needed today at the hardware store. I plan to paint both, to unify them. Not sure how much going to town I'll do on the dollhouse - different colour for the roof? window frames? Hmmmm.... But for now, painting, inside and out.

It's never that simple, is it? Having invested under $100 in total for the above two cupboards, my toddling around the hardware store paint section was not a cheap venture. I got a couple of those spongy sanding blocks, because the last ones I had are looking Sad and Well-Used. I was tempted by a cheap sander (how are power tools under $30 unless Chinese people are making them for nothing at all?) but stayed with the hand-powered spongy sanding blocks. One coat sealer will seal the timber (not good to have paper against unfinished timber) and also deal with whatever the lilac paint may be (?acrylic?enamel?). While I got four litres of that (it's likely to come in handy for other projects), I chose two litres of paint and hope it will be enough for both cupboards. I did get a sample pot of a different colour of paint for the roof...a couple more minor bits and pieces and well, that's well over another $100.

But I know, when I'm done, I'll have had the enjoyment of giving both these pieces a new life; they'll be fun to use as well as practical; and a new $200 cupboard from a pine shop or some such just wouldn't be the same at all at all (as one of my Irish aunts would say). It will also be good to have the scrapbooking stuff corralled, organised and findable in one place.

So tomorrow, it's out with the daggy painting clothes. We've been having some rain every day this last week, so I'm not sure how long it will take each coat to dry if it's showery again.

I'll let you know how it goes.

PS. I do some scrapbooking on the side - mostly for presents. My quilting paraphernalia, as you might expect, doesn't have a hope in Hades of fitting into two cupboards....!

Starting holidays

2009-10-07T10:49:00.001+11:00

go to an art exhibition and then out to dinner with friends
sleep for the best part of two days (and almost two nights) - yup, I was rather tired.
eat lunch with more friends
finish some quilt projects
plan some more quilt projects
listen to the excellent audio version of Georgette Heyer's The Grand Sophy and immensely enjoy the wit with which it was written and is interpreted by whatsisface (can't remember his name right now)
download An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon (it's on Audible! Yay!). Well, begin to download, it's in several parts and totals the thick end of fifty hours....
eat another lunch with different friends
think about the spring cleaning scheduled for these holidays
read the Sydney Morning Herald on sunny mornings (it's only the afternoons when it's been overcast and we've had thunderstorms)
plan a film/dinner outing with yet more friends
enjoy being on holidays. For sure.

Back in October...(and in the pink)

2009-10-05T22:59:00.000+11:00

Yes, you're right. Work has been busy. It's good to be on hols for a couple of weeks.

Here's one of my October projects: sell 50 pink ribbon day silicon bracelets.

Well, that's the number I've ordered from the Pink Ribbon Day site. I know too many people who've had breast cancer - some survivors, some gone. Haven't tried doing this before, although I always buy a pink breast cancer silicon bracelet when I see one, so I'll see how I go. Why don't you try? You can order as few as ten - surely you could sell ten?

Dreaming about rugs

2009-09-15T15:10:00.002+10:00

I have someday plans to buy a new rug for the living room. If the ordinary obstacles of everyday life were swept aside (you know, money, availability &tc so forth!), then my shortlist for browsing would certainly include the Gee's Bend rugs from ABC Carpet and Home (take a look here) or Amy Butler's new range of rugs (take a look here). It's nice to dream...!

"Making Toast" by Roger Rosenblatt

2009-09-13T14:53:00.000+10:00

"Making Toast" was in this weekend's Spectrum magazine, in the Sydney Morning Herald, but it originally appeared in the New Yorker here. It's wonderful, simple, complicated, clear writing, about the time when his adult daughter died suddenly, and her parents moved to live with her widowed husband and young children. Small telling details, rendered in prose that isn't soppy or over-egged, so you feel all you should in this snapshot of grief and mourning and travelling into the days and weeks after such a death, but without manipulation.
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Worth reading.
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Spring blossom

2009-09-10T04:35:00.002+10:00

Isn't that beautiful? Just about to burst! My favourite sort of blossom (?crabapple) - deep pink buds, paler as they open then white in bloom.

It was windy last night, and this morning the garden had a confetti of white blossom petals on the grass - not even sure where the tree may be (the one above was photographed while I was Out'n'About); but it's another sign of spring.

Wattle in sunlight

2009-09-08T09:05:00.001+10:00

Just because it's beautiful.

Quilt in progress - one from the scraps

2009-09-06T08:49:00.009+10:00

Last summer, I sat down with a box of scraps from the previous twelve months, and started sewing. One result was Scrap Box Jig, one of my entries in this year's Sydney Quilt Show.

Lots of fun there!

Another result was another Scrap Box quilt that's off being quilted and will be in Australian Patchwork & Quilting magazine early next year:

What surprised me was that from a not enormous box of scraps (10 litre box, about the size I'd use to hold the fabrics for a single project) I easily got two quilts, a throw-ish size and a bed size. And I can look at each and name the quilts from which each fabric came. They're a great sort of memory quilt, and happy ones to look at, with lots of good, cheerful energy. The fabrics are varied, but I think they work well together. I didn't try for matchy-matchy as I sewed each block, nor when I assembled the blocks together into a quilt. Just went with next please! and let them work as they would. And they did.

Red camellias

2009-09-04T08:33:00.001+10:00

These are from my parents' garden. Just beautiful.

Breakfast at a café: II

2009-09-02T08:24:00.001+10:00

Different café, different breakfast from another weekend.

One way and another, I'd never had Eggs Benedict, despite seeing them mentioned often in books/food articles etc etc.

Two poached eggs, two slices of Turkish bread, bacon and hollandaise sauce.

Also yum. When cut into, the egg yolk oozed delightfully over the bread. Aaaaaah.

No lunch required after this one, either: just a spot of tiffin mid-afternoon to tide over till dinner time.

Breakfast at a café: I

2009-08-31T08:20:00.001+10:00

This one landed at the lavish end of the scale for sure. I don't know if I remember everything on the plate, but it included two poached eggs on thick toast, bacon, a cafe-made hash brown, smoked salmon, chutney, greens, mushrooms, I can see a strawberry...

No lunch was required. Unsurprisingly.

There is something rather nice about breakfast out at a café on a weekend. Certainly one eats more lavishly than one might at home. And there's the company, and conversation, and it's all rather civilised, not to mention having the day ahead of you still.
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Here's a recent breakfast:

The best chicken stuffing (seasoning) imho

2009-08-29T08:00:00.013+10:00

The best stuffing for chicken I have ever tasted is, in my humble opinion, my mother's recipe. (Stuffing or seasoning - what you put in the bird's cavity before roasting it). It's dead simple, and I've never seen a formal recipe for it anywhere, or tasted it anywhere else but when it's been made by Mum, or another one of my family. It's not one where I can give exact quantities, but you'll get the idea and be able to make it yourself. Quantities also depend on the size of the chook you're cooking. If you make too much, cook the leftover in a small ovenproof bowl, but it will probably need less time than the stuffed chook. (If the stuffing in the bowl burns, that was probably too long...).
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Start by setting some butter to melt - maybe a couple of tablespoonsful?

You need bread: maybe two or three slices of fresh bread, whizzed in the blender.

A couple of rashers of bacon. Take off the rinds and chop or whizz the rest (I put the rinds on top of the bird, where they crisp while it cooks and often don't make it to the final plates of dinner...)

Parsley. I like a bit of this, maybe 1/3 of a bunch (four or five decently bushy stalks) - whizz in the blender, stalks and all (the flavour's in the stalks and the greenery adds green). Also nice when picked from your garden.

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix - the melted butter will bind them together. You want it just sort of holding together, not sloppy with butter.

Don't get fancy-schmancy with adding more herbs, or anything else (except maybe a little coarse-ground black pepper). Just try this once the simple way. You can make fancier stuffings/seasonings, but this one, simple as it is, is hard to beat. Fill the cavity of the chook, and roast it as you normally would (a chicken with stuffing always needs longer than a chicken without). Another family habit is to cover the chicken with bacon when you put it in to cook. Take the bacon off when it's nearly done so it can brown up nicely. See?

Yum.

Tranquillity

2009-08-28T09:22:00.002+10:00

I just liked this, the simplicity of the colours, the contrast of the feather's delicacy and the rustic, weathered verandah floor boards.

Quilt binding essentials

2009-08-27T07:19:00.002+10:00

When I'm binding a quilt, some things are essential:

This Clover design is my favourite sort of thimble; this is my second one. The first (eventually) needed replacing as the leather had stretched too much. Binding clips (less stabby than pins), thread and a needle (I prefer crowbar-sized ones for binding, just because I do). The lid is useful too - it corrals the thread and binding clips as I go. I know some people don't enjoy binding, but I do - usually watching a film or TV program, or listening to an audiobook, as it's not exactly the most complex bit of a making a quilt, but it's soothingly repetitive. And satisfying when you put in the last stitch. Oh, and then remember you're not finished, there's the label to go....

Operation Art

2009-08-26T09:08:00.015+10:00

Operation Art is a brilliant initiative, a judged exhibition/competition in which works by children are selected to hang in children's hospital wards and other public areas to brighten them up and encourage healing in a cheerful environment. The exhibition of entries tours regional areas: I caught it at the Lewers Gallery in Penrith, where it's on till 6 September 2009. Definitely worth seeing - I wish I could have photographed the exhibits (a CD of images is available for sale to schools etc).

Recent travels: Surry Hills

2009-08-25T06:44:00.034+10:00

From reading various Australian home magazines such as Home Beautiful, Real Living, and Inside Out, there were a couple of shops I'd had on my to-visit list for a while. A couple of weeks ago I had a chance to toddle over to that part of Sydney - Surry Hills - and see them.

One was DavidMetNicole (?sp). Often mentioned in the mags, with quirky vintage items. Not a large shop; and to me, the prices were high. The assistant was charming, and I enjoyed browsing, but $100 journals covered in bus destination blinds (much as I love bus destination blinds) are a bit out of my budget. They had vintage Scrabble tiles, and vintage rubber stamps, and a bunch of interesting things to be inspired by, but I don't know that I'll be returning. Love the aesthetic, but I think I can find a lot of similar sorts of things from other places, less expensively (they had an identical spice rack to one I'd found in an antiquey-junk shop a year or two ago for $30, marked in their shop at around $90).

At Doug up on Bourke I mooched and browsed and mentally decorated more than one house I'd love to live in. Industrial-commercial-rustic antiques/vintage items, and lots and lots of them - dozens of stools, tables, desks, all sorts of items, and at generally acceptable prices (according to my scale). If I was decorating a house from scratch, this is the kind of shop I'd like to go to for furniture, rather than some shiny-new shop (well, Ikea excepted). It's the kind of place where you enjoy observing the history of things, as well as the browsing. They had bus destination blinds too (over $500 each - I'm so glad I picked one up for substantially less than that last year; part of my luck was that the route had historical significance for me but wasn't of much interest to others, as the places are not trendy locations - weren't then, aren't now).

Bird Textile was across the road from davidmetnicole and I invested in some of their scrap packs (which are sold by the weight of the fabric). Lovely Australian designer original fabrics.

And then I went home, back from the inner city to its outskirts. Some Saturday I'll plan more and do a bit of a Surry Hills trawl. There are a lot of interesting shops there, homewares and also food shops in the Danks St area of Waterloo (I drove through that on this trip, but couldn't find parking so I drove on). Bird Textile had a handy shop-crawl map of Surry Hills put together by local businesses; although it didn't look like they were all within walking distance of each other, and thus parking does become an issue.

It was a good day, good to get out and about to somewhere different and see and be inspired by new things.

Fresh fabrics from Australian designers: II: Loot

2009-08-23T18:44:00.000+10:00

Loot from the Stitches and Craft Show 2009:

Not exactly fabric, but certainly craft inspiration: Mixtape: http://www.mixtapezine.com/

A pack of oddments and a big fat quarter (love those nests!) from Pippijoe: http://www.pippijoe.com/

A fabric piece (can you see an emerging bird theme??) from Surface Art: http://www.surfaceart.com.au/

The background fabric in this shot (which I've used in all the pictures here) is, like the scrap bundle, from Kristen Doran Design: http://www.kristendoran.com/

Another bird, and some delicious red/cream trees from Ink & Spindle: http://www.inkandspindle.com.au/

A scrap pack and several small pieces (oh my, another bird!) from Cloth: http://www.clothfabric.com/

These scrap bundles were acquired on a recent trip to Surry Hills in Sydney, where I found Bird Textile: http://www.birdtextile.com/

Note to all these businesses: a quilter like me rather does like scrap bundles/oddment bags and so forth. Little of a lot collections. Since these often hand-screened fabrics are generally more expensive than commercially printed/mass-produced fabrics, I like being able to buy a variety of scrap pieces.

There's a rather nice quilt waiting to emerge from that lot, don't you think?

I also acquired/assembled this little collection:

...from Amitie: http://www.amitie.com.au/

A couple of the designers said that the latest thing (owls having been done a lot) is going to be donkeys. I'll take their word for it. Think I'll work with the bird theme. Hmmm. Reminds me of the daily china around here. And I think I remember buying some Australian designer bird-themed fabric at the Sydney Quilt Show, too. It will be added to the mix for the quilt, methinks.

Fresh fabrics from Australian designers: I

2009-08-23T18:01:00.002+10:00

At the Stitches and Craft Show today I spent the most time on the third floor, where the smaller stalls were with wonderful work from craft businesses designing fabric and softies and more. Here are some of the ones I browsed:

Mixtape: mixtapezine.com

Madeit handmade marketplace: madeit.com.au

Sprout Design fabrics (Rebekah Chichero): sproutdesign.net.au

Pippijoe printed textiles (Caitlin Klooger): http://www.pippijoe.com/

la rara (Lara Raymond): http://www.larara.etsy.com/

Stencil Gallery: http://www.stencilgallery.com.au/

Amitie quilt fabric shop: http://www.amitie.com.au/

surface art printed textiles: http://www.surfaceart.com.au/

cloth printed textiles: http://www.clothfabric.com/

ink & spindle hand printed textiles (Lara Cameron, Bianca van Meeuwen and Tegan Rose): www.inkandspindle.com.au/shop

kristen doran design, hand printed textiles: http://www.kristendoran.com/

For a list of all the retailers at this year's Sydney show (with links): click here.

Stay toooooned for some pics of my loot....they sure have revitalised the Stitches and Craft Show, it had dropped off my radar, but it's now right back on as an August unmissable. Amitie was on the second floor, as a not so small business retailer: I also browsed Just Patchwork on the ground floor - she has some fabulous jelly rolls cut from shop stock, and they're corkers (I'm going to play with an Anna Maria Horner Good Folks range one).

I also really enjoyed the only opportunity I've had to see the recent documentary on craft in the US: Handmade Nation.

What's happening?

2009-08-19T22:19:00.000+10:00

Making : what feels like uphill progress; also a little time for this poor neglected (but not forgotten) blog

Cooking : no-brainer food

Drinking : diet Coke

Reading: intermittently execrable, intermittently adorable student fiction. And then aiming to find constructive things to suggest.

Wanting: an end to unnecessary frustrations

Looking: at photos of Melbourne from last weekend. I have this quilt idea...

Playing: not much.

Wasting: mental energy on things that won't change

Sewing: is on the agenda for the weekend

Wishing: things that won't change, would

Enjoying: the things the kids say and do

Waiting: for the latest Diana Gabaldon book, An Echo in the Bone (about a month away)

Liking: the unabridged audiobooks of Naomi Novik's Temeraire series.

Wondering: what it would be like to have a dragon like Temeraire as a companion. The garden isn't big enough...

Loving: family and friends

Hoping: that the films I'm looking forward to seeing - Young Victoria, Julie and Julia, The Lovely Bones, The Time Traveler's Wife, etc, will live up to my expectations.

Marvelling: at the convict-sewn dress worn by Mrs King, Governor King's wife, in the early years of the colony of NSW - it's part of the Persuasion/Jane Austen clothing exhibit at the National Gallery of Victoria

Needing: peace and quiet

Smelling: the perfume I wear every day, Tea Rose by Perfumer's Workshop. Been wearing it for many years. Never tire of it - it catches the planty-green of roses, as well as the florals.

Wearing: the necklace and earrings I bought at the Pompeii exhibition shop at the Melbourne Museum last weekend. They had some really lovely pieces at affordable prices

Following: up reviews of the films above from Roger Ebert and Salon

Noticing: jonquils and daffodils

Knowing: if the jonquils and daffodils are about, then strawberries will smell sweet and taste good

Thinking: too much and to little effect

Feeling: frustrated (I think you've worked that out?)

Bookmarking: more sites than I may ever have time to revisit

Opening: emails, as time permits

Giggling: not enough

Borrowed the meme from Meet Me At Mike's.

"In due season"

2009-07-17T06:48:00.004+10:00

You may remember the Will.i.am music video based on a Barack Obama speech.

The Chaser created a spiffing version of their own, based on the (it has to be said) rather less inspiring rhetoric of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Trailer: Julie and Julia

2009-07-16T09:05:00.001+10:00

I enjoyed the book and audiobook of this one, so it's on my list (but not out in Australia until October).

Scones. Easiest recipe ever.

2009-07-15T15:31:00.001+10:00

I think these are called 'biscuits' in America; to me, biscuits are what Americans call cookies, and these are most definitely scones (uncooked, in the picture below, but keep reading...).

There is something very simple and delicious about a scone, warm from the oven, with raspberry jam and proper whipped cream (not the spray rubbish, which has no guts at all).

I was meeting some travelling family members today, so I made a batch of scones for them to take on their way.

You may have your simple scone recipe, and I respect that. But if you want my simple scone recipe...I'm happy to share. Three reasons I like it: the scones taste great, it's very quick and you don't have to rub any butter into flour (which I always found to be something I didn't much enjoy) as the fat is added more cleverly. This also means a less handled dough, and softer/lighter scones.

ROORUU'S EASIEST SCONE RECIPE EVER

Note: Australian cup measurements are used: mess around a tad with your own measures and you'll be able to get it right. I don't have measures from other countries, so I can't do assorted versions of this. But it's not a hard recipe to tweak.

2 cups self raising flour
pinch salt (best left in, it does add to the flavour)
1/2 cup thickened cream*
3/4 cup milk

Oven at 220degC.

Put flour and salt in a bowl, mix, make a well. Pour in the cream and milk, mix till it's a soft (still slightly sticky, not dry) dough. Place the dough on a floured board, lightly flour it (and your hands) then knead very lightly, just turning the top in until the bottom is smooth and you can flip it over and pat it out.

Line a lamington tin with baking paper and cut out about 12 scones (I like decently sized ones). Place them touching in the tin (my theory being that they push each other up and have softer sides this way, rather than being individual bullets). You can do the glaze thing if you want to, but I don't - wastes an egg and I prefer the floury look.

Bake for 12-20 minutes (depends on your oven).

Enjoy.

*Thickened cream contains (in descending order): cream, skim milk, sugar, halal gelatine, thickener, emulsifier, dextrose and a minimum 35% milk fat. The last item is the key, as this is the replacement for butter in the scones. If you don't have thickened cream around, use 35% milk fat cream, not skinny. Mind you, I usually use skinny milk for the milk, as it's what's most often in the fridge.

Yum.

btw, if you use this recipe or put it on your blog, could you bing a link back here as your source? My source for this recipe was a colleague, Margaret, twenty years ago. And I'm still grateful.
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You can of course play with this. Savoury ones, cheese, or spinach and feta? I worked out a spinach and feta version here. And, on checking, I've blogged this recipe before. But what the heck. It was part of today, it still works, and maybe you weren't reading this blog back then. Or you just want a scone recipe now. (I was amused to read how I wrote it then - the same but different. Also, it wasn't illustrated).

Finally...

2009-07-14T11:26:00.002+10:00

Finally, holidays. My goodness, my Guinness as is the saying of an Irish aunt. To arrive on a sunny winter's day, the neighbour's new puppy NOT yapping endlessly, one set of quilting instructions written (another one to go...), the day full of possibilities, is a Good Thing.

A while ago my digital camera went bung. It was repaired under warranty, and now, although the other problem was fixed, it can't be connected by its lead to upload pictures. You have to have a card reader to hand. The intermittency of this blog over the last while is partly testament to this hurdle - another bit of equipment to find and fish out... still haven't worked out why Blogger won't let me upload pictures directly any more, so I have to detour through Flickr. Between these two inconveniences - and a very very very busy time at work - well, hello, I'm here again at the moment. (And I just can't be bothered going through the whole warranty, gone for up to a month business to get this new glitch fixed). Although don't assume I didn't keep up reading my Bloglines list - I did. You've all been doing all sorts of interesting things.

It's Tuesday, of course, and it would be a lovely day to spend at the cinema on cheap tickets day. That would, of course, be if there was anything on worth seeing. Usually there's something, even if I do end up travelling a little bit to the larger megaplex with enough cinemas and a local demographic that leads it to assume it might want to screen something other than blockbusters for fourteen year old boys. But no, no joy there either. I'm looking forward to seeing Young Victoria (yes, Isabelle, it may undoubtedly be piffle, but watchable piffle I hope!), and have promised to take assorted dear and lovely kids to films coming out later this year (Where the Wild Things Are, and Twilight: New Moon - on its first weekend, that promise includes) and if Warner/Roadshow gets its act in gear and releases The Time Traveler's Wife more in line with the US release date (August) than, gods forbid, not until November....then I'll SO be there to see that... but casting my eye over the current cinema offerings, cinema will not be part of these holidays. Unless I travel to the city in search of an arthouse. I will see the new Harry Potter film, but assume that right now the cinemas will be crammed to bursting for that one. So I'll wait.

On the to-read pile is a mix of lowbrow and higher brow and probably medium brow. Assorted levels of brainpower/attention required, really. Alicia Paulson over at Posy gets Cozy blogged about The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and Little, Big so I have both of those on hand to try thanks to her account of them. A nascent book group to which I've been invited has set Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin as its first text (I use the words 'set' and 'text' with some precision there) and luckily the local second hand book shop had a nice copy at a good price. From my teenlit sources, the prizewinning The Graveyard Book and the megapopular City of Bones have landed on the pile too. On Sunday, between quilting, I spent time scooting for the umpteenth happy time through The Unknown Ajax and enjoyed Georgette Heyer's wit and characters just as much as I always do.

Quilting? There are, not unexpectedly, a few items on the to-do pile. I've just finished a top based on Saffron Craig's Fields range - pretty pinks and yellows - and am doing some perle cotton quilting on the S quiltlet, both for Australian Patchwork & Quilting magazine. Some mad colours are waiting for the T quiltlet and there are plenty more fabric bundles and designs waiting for my sewing attention.

Lunches with friends, spring cleaning (it's not spring, but that's irrelevant), a niece wants to spend a day sewing a bag....oh, lots to stay busy with around here, let alone ventures and adventures elsewhere. Went into work yesterday for a few hours, and will go another day, but apart from that, o joy it's HOLIDAYS!
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blog? what blog?

2009-06-27T18:58:00.001+10:00

0903 water dragon
Originally uploaded by rooruu

Well you might ask. I've been, in the lovely Australian expression, flat out like a lizard drinking, and when it's that busy, something goes. Haven't even been TAKING a photo a day recently, let alone blogging one.

I've been reading other people's blogs, as time permits, and it's good to keep up there, but as to the rest.... there's a break coming up in a few weeks, thanks be.

Went Out and About today. Reverse Garbage in Marrickville is always good for a look: I only invested in a backpack ($2.50, bargain!) and a bag made out of an advertising vinyl banner (cool!) but came away with ideas I want to investigate further. (Reverse Garbage recycles clean industrial waste, and there are lots of things and lots of possibilities in that tin warehouse).

The Remnant Warehouse and Quiltsmith are two inner city (Sydney) quilt shops (Alexandria and Annandale) that I don't get to very often - lots of yummy things at both of them, but I was restrained, buying much more with my eyes than with my wallet.

Most of my driving is on the outskirts of the city, where I live and where I work, so it was not my usual situation today to be crawling along a major highway into the city with traffic lights every fifty metres, or so it seems. You can have stress, I figure, or enjoy the view. King St in Newtown certainly has a different array of shops to see and people to observe (as your car remains stalled in traffic) to those on my normal rounds. So what the hey, I saw and observed and it was part of the day too. A different view of the world.

Headed back west into the sunset at day's end with a couple of finds I wouldn't have found around here, and having had a change of scene. It's not as good as a holiday, but it's not bad. And still one more day of the weekend to go, hurrah!
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The Young Victoria (trailer)

2009-06-14T18:33:00.000+10:00

This is another film I'm looking forward to seeing - although it was released in the UK in March, its Australian release date isn't till August.

The Young Victoria stars Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend and Paul Bettany, plus a bunch of other excellent actors.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-l_IsIdjAg

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0962736/

Reviews: http://au.rottentomatoes.com/m/young_victoria/
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The Time Traveler's Wife - official trailer

2009-06-13T19:59:00.001+10:00

Finally, finally, the first official trailer for the film/movie version of The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger. Release date in the US: August. Release date in Australia? November. Sob. Sniff. I wish Village Roadshow Film Distributors would be wiser/smarter/nicer/more co-operative. Especially since the film has been held up for a long time already.

Anyway, here's the trailer:

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YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPfpi1XoLm0
or
Yahoo Movies: http://movies.yahoo.com/summer-movies/the-time-travelers-wife/1809937231/trailers/216/1757
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Interesting, the way they've done Henry vanishing. It will be so good, eventually, to see the complete film..
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Village Roadshow Film Distributors, are you listening? August would be a GREAT month to release this - winter is a good film time, why wait till spring? Oh, and I want it released at the same time as in the US (as you do with so many films). Because I do. Please. Thank you.
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PS. There is a pic of the film's poster on this blog.
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Sydney Quilt Show winners 2009

2009-06-10T13:51:00.002+10:00

Head on over here and see some absolutely wonderful quilts!

http://www.quiltersguildnsw.com/quiltshow/index.html

You can click on the thumbnails for larger views to enjoy.

what to do on quite a, I mean a quiet Sunday

2009-05-31T07:46:00.003+10:00

Breakfast. Tigger Tail bread (because the label saying it's made from "local and important" ingredients makes me chuckle) and the last of the double brie
Download audiobooks in my ISP's bonus time (so this doesn't vacuum up the megabytes quite so much) - first up, I've succumbed to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, because in the sample the reader did a spiffing job - and I might be able to use bits of this at work. I'm behind in downloading - the list also includes Bill Bryson (Notes from a Big Country) and Skulduggery Pleasant books 2 and 3 (because Rupert Degas' narration is beyond brilliant).
Wonder again why authors/agents/publishers/audible.com conspire to make so many books I'd like to download 'unavailable to my geographic area'. Don't they want my custom/money? Sometimes you can get them on CD, but really truly, I don't want to mess around with CDs and boxes and postage. Just want to download them to my computer and transfer them to my iPod. And listen, and enjoy.
Cut out the Christmas table runner (I gave up and chose entirely new fabrics that are happy to co-operate with my design ideas)
Make the Christmas table runner
Bind the other Christmas quilt that I sewed and quilted yesterday
Feel pretty much unChristmassy, but then you never do in April/May, even though that's the season when you're designing magazine projects
Listen to The Time Traveler's Wife on audiobook again while addressing the above items (William Hope and Laurel Lefkow, your work is brilliant!) and wonder why the dogs, I mean gods of film distribution think that it's OK to release The Time Traveler's Wife film/movie in August in the US and not until November in Australia - even after they've been sitting on it for months (AND Eric Bana, who plays Henry, is A Local Boy).
Cut out and sew another quiltlet (letter S is next on my making list)
Work out yardage/meterage for another quilt project from some deeeeelicious new Australian designed fabrics
Finish planning Monday's presentations at the work seminar that's on
Aim to write a 1000 word draft of an article that's due, oh, by the end of May for a work-related publication
Write a short blurb for another work-related conference presentation that needs to be in early this week
Feel happy that I have till mid-June before another work-related article for a publication is due
Try not to think that there are going to be five quilt projects requiring instructions to be written
Plan to quilt, bind and write instructions for another table runner that's due next week
Plan to quilt, bind and label one quilt show entry quilt (due in by Wednesday) and bung some velcro on the other entry
Breathe. Eat lunch and dinner sometime, too.
Stop writing an entry for my recently-sparse blog and get back to the list above....

Nothing like a quiet Sunday.

Is there?

coming soon....

2009-05-29T23:37:00.001+10:00

....more blog entries. Work's been crazy-busy, and I've been working on other deadlines too. Hope your lives have been calmer! It felt wintry today (wintry for here) - a nip in the air, and wanting a coaty layer while heading for the car, and the heater went on at home for the first time this evening. So it's kinda amusing to be reading northern hemisphere blogs with delighted/delightful effusions about spring and summer. Still, after the summer we had, there are no complaints about cooler weather, no siree!
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This evening I've been trying to get a Christmas project together, and the fabrics just won't cooperate. I haven't cut any, am still working on the design. Fabrics are fine, I'm happy with what I have, but I just haven't yet landed on exactly how they should go together, block/layout. I don't usually find this particularly difficult, but tonight, with a tired tired brain, I've been messing about in EQ for a couple of hours and nuffin is working. Think I'll sleep on it. Tomorrow is another day!
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And the weekend. Hurrah!
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Do you know Booko?

2009-05-16T17:59:00.000+10:00

This house contains quite a few books (cough). Recently, some have been coming from The Book Depository (gimmick: free shipping worldwide) - it's a UK online bookshop, and with our dollar being strong against the pound, plus free shipping (most books arrive in a week), it's been pretty good. Certainly cheaper than buying the identical books locally, sad to say. And well packed, so they don't get bingled (unlike some Amazon orders which thumped about in their boxes and arrived the worse for wear).
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But what if you wonder if you're getting the best price, and you can't be bothered checking a whole shebang bunch of online shops for what you want? This week I learned about Booko (http://booko.com.au/). Bung in the title you want (or for greatest precision, the book's ISBN/International Standard Book Number) and hey presto, a whole bunch of prices from a multitude on online bookshops, INCLUDING freight costs and ALL CONVERTED to Australian dollars.
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Great little online toy, that one. Another good one if you do want to convert currencies is the Oanda VisualFX converter. What I like about this is that it doesn't have to load another page to show you the conversions.
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Of course if you're buying a certain number of books, or over a certain dollar value, some sites will offer free shipping too, but for a one-book comparison, Booko's handy-dandy to know about. (I've just reread its info page: it can calculate shipping for multiple items from one supplier).
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Small domestic pleasures

2009-05-09T15:31:00.000+10:00

The warmth of sunshine on clothes from the washing line
Quiet time to read the Saturday newspaper on the verandah
The smell of baking that you know is almost ready
A new book you've been looking forward to reading
The corner of the sofa to curl up into to read
Watching a quilt come together, something that was an idea and is now real
Flannelette sheets on cold evenings
New season Pink Lady apples, crisp and sweet and tart

What would be on your list?

Quilt: Charm and Charisma

2009-05-02T08:41:00.007+10:00

I've been making an intermittent series of table runners for Australian Country Threads magazine, basing them on charm square packs. This is Charm and Charisma, from vol. 9 no. 6. Such pretty colours, this fabric range! Sometimes all you want to do is play with a little bit of a lot of fabrics you like, to enjoy them and make something useful from them. Do let me know if you make your own version of this.

I've got some more design ideas in the works - these are great for quick hand made gifts, too, and not vastly expensive. Here's a pic of Festive Charm.

Quilt: Secondhand Rose

2009-04-30T08:28:00.002+10:00

So Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine decided to do a Recycled-theme issue, and asked me to design a larger quilt as well as the Kalgoorlie quiltlet. OK, I thought, shirt quilt coming up, I always enjoy making shirt quilts and I won't have to go out to buy anything, I know that....
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And then the editor said, oh, we already have a shirt quilt, it would be good to have something done with only a couple of fabrics.
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Now that's a harder call, with recycled fabrics. I thought for a bit, then remembered a tablecloth I'd bought with Recycled Threads in mind, when I was writing and designing that for Australian Country Threads magazine. I found it, and looked at it, and thought. Washed it, for starters. Began harvesting the largest pieces I could from it, since it had frayed sections. I then bought some pink cotton gingham in two different scales, and started a jigsaw game.
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It resulted in Secondhand Rose, in the current issue of APQ, vol. 17. no. 11. You may not have a tablecloth the same size, but I hope it's an inspiration for what is possible. I had it commercially quilted by Kim Bradley, who is a brilliant machine quilter with so many designs to choose from (not all machine quilters have so many)...this quilt, I thought, needed that extra surface texture, given the areas of white space and gingham. Hasn't one old tablecloth, with frayed and shabby bits, come up nicely?
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Quiltlet: K is for Kalgoorlie

2009-04-28T08:53:00.004+10:00

There wouldn't be many quilters without the odd doyley or ten stashed away somewhere, with plans to use them sometime, somehow... Australian Patchwork and Quilting vol. 17 no. 11 (the current issue) has a focus on recycled quilts, so I turned to the doyley stash here for inspiration. The cottage doyley was charming, the bluebirds sweet and I had a length of linen ready to hand. The linen came from an art supply shop - worth trying if you're after linen, as it was a LOT less expensive than fabric shop linen. (This is where I found it, but I bought it from a (physical) shop, so I'm not sure if this is exactly the same. But it's the correct retailer, so you can email them and enquire). I added some simple embroidery inspired by the fancywork, and stash doyleys became something I could put on display to enjoy.

Alexander McCall Smith interview on ABC TV

2009-04-27T18:12:00.000+10:00

Geraldine Doogue interviews Alexander McCall Smith on this week's Compass program - this Sunday night coming on ABC1, repeated 1 May on ABC2. TV guide details here, Compass program website here.
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Since I've read so many of his books this year, I will be interested to hear him speak.
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Also this week on the ABC is the doco about Tim Minchin, Rock and Roll Nerd. Dang, but he's a clever man with words and music, and his Required grand piano. Program info here. Thursday night.

Today, it feels like the season turning. Warm in the sun in the middle of the day, but cool at beginning and end, and you start to think about winter clothes, and the heater, and hot water bottles and flannelette, and pea and ham soup, and other things which were impossible and unthinkable in January's scorchers. A curious thing: however well it's dusted, the living room heater always has crevices of dust that whiff up its first firing.
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Quiltlet: I is for Innamincka

2009-04-26T09:52:00.000+10:00

This quiltlet is the result of spotting an irresistible charm square pack at Post Office Patchwork in Glenbrook NSW. One charm pack, then add your own red centre fabric/wadding/backing/binding, and you have a lovely vintage-look little quilt. If you buy one from POP, be sure to tell Rhonda it's for Innamincka, and she'll include the four extra charm squares you need (free) - I just needed a tad more than the pack held. The pattern was in Australian Patchwork & Quilting magazine vol. 17 no. 9. I wanted to do one of the quiltlets as a log cabin, and these reproduction fabrics suited it so well. Rhonda takes her shop to the Sydney Quilt Show each year, too, and will have these charm packs there.

Diana Gabaldon Australian tour 2009

2009-04-25T19:21:00.000+10:00

According to her website, Diana Gabaldon's UK publishers are planning an Australian and New Zealand tour in November 2009. The seventh book in her Cross Stitch/Outlander series about Jamie and Claire Fraser is due out in late September this year: it's called An Echo in the Bone.
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If you don't know this series of historical/time travel/damn-good-read fiction books, you have a treat in store. Read more here. I've lost count of the number of pals I've added to the Gabaldon fan base (only two have said it didn't work for them, but most zoom through the whole series with great enjoyment). The UNABRIDGED audiobooks are great, too (don't bother with the abridged ones, you'll miss too much).
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Springwood Quilt Show

2009-04-24T20:11:00.000+10:00

After a day spent in and out of the car, two more projects are now with the magazine editors - the Q quiltlet to Australian Patchwork and Quilting, and a medallion/frame quilt, Song of the Country, with Australian Country Threads. They'll be on the news-stands in four or five months. And I forgot to take proper macro-esque obscure-detail photos of either to blog here so you could have a glimpse. So here is a little bit of each, grainy but the best I can do:
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And then, stopping at a couple of op shops (not finding a lot, but it's always nice to have enough time to stop for a squizz) I headed up to Springwood to see the Springwood Community Quilt Show.

Which is absolutely worth visiting (it's on this weekend, Saturday 11am - 5pm, Sunday 10am - 4pm) for two reasons: a great array of quilts, and a great array of shops and stalls. There are all sorts of quilts, from intricate to simple, repro through oriental through pretties through brights. Lots of inspiration, with contributions from quilters living in the Blue Mountains and beyond.

The Springwood High School auditorium in which the show is held is a very high ceilinged polygon shape, so there can be quilts high on the walls too - it's spacious in the aisles of quilts, and well/evenly lit, so you can examine the quilts without peering. All around the outside are stalls from local shops in the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury - it's as good as a quilt shop crawl, gives you a great snapshot of shops to go and see in greater detail, but here you can see them all (in abbreviated form) and only have to park your car once. There are some local designers/teachers with stalls selling their patterns/fabrics too.

This general view of some of the hall was taken with permission from the show convenor, who was standing right next to me.

If you're a quilter who can get to this show, do. I didn't take refreshments, but the coffee and the hot chocolate smelled very fine indeed - there is a quilt show cafe with teas and lunch available. Admission is $5 and the school is on Grose Road in Faulconbridge - turn right off the Great Western Highway just past the Faulconbridge shops, at the traffic lights with a sign to Norman Lindsay's house.

Waterspring: a story of two quilts

2009-04-24T08:30:00.000+10:00

Last year, a friend with a particular form of cancer needed a special form of radiation therapy - the one where you get to swallow a radioactive tablet offered to you at the end of tongs by thoroughly garbed medical staff, and then you are in an isolation ward for several days until it's safe for you to mix with people again. Not the easiest experience. So a bunch of us decided to make her a quilt - she could take it with her to the hospital isolation ward, and it would be there for her afterwards while she recovered at home. She's a keen canoeist, so blues and greens seemed like the best colours. The sewing experience of the group varied (from very to hardly any), so something simple was called for. Our colleague, who is thankfully well now, knew nothing about it, and loved it (you can see her reaction here.)

The thing was, I'd bought the fabric on special (to be economical), and so needed to buy the minimum cut, and had leftovers; I'd also bought more of the border/sashing fabric. Add to the mix a nevvy who had plaintively pointed out, on more than one occasion, that he was Too Big Now for the quilt he'd had since being a baby. See, Aunty Ruth? he said, his feet sticking way out beyond the bottom of the farmyard quilt. O-kay. So I made another Waterspring quilt, and this one went into the magazine and then onto the nevvy - it's big enough to keep him warm and happy for the long haul. Here's Waterspring, as published in Australian Patchwork & Quilting vol. 17 no. 10 - not photographed with either original, as they're both long since wrapping up lovely people to tell them they're loved and appreciated. Which quilts do rather well.

A bookshop rant

2009-04-23T21:27:00.001+10:00

Myer department store in Sydney (the city store) has a book department. It looks like this:

The sign on the left indicates why I was prepared to travel up four escalators to take a look today.

I shouldn't have bothered. Firstly, because of the stock. If I had wanted a cookbook, or a war book, or a sport book, or the latest in publisher-pushed popular fiction, maybe there would have been something for me. But no, and so no. Take a look at that black and white sign. Does it give you any clues as to their expected target market for their book dept? (Hint: the reading glasses).

And they have soft chairs and chairs at tables, in case you want to browse.

Fat chance.

Behind the camera, the adjacent dept (with incredible logic on the part of the shop-layout-planners) is a section they call The Basement (it's on Level 4, HELLO GUYS, THAT'S A TAD DOPEY!), which sells, as far as I could tell, funky modern T shirts and associated garb to young fellows. Who apparently need the lure of music to pull their wallets out of their pockets. Not any music, but (I can't spell dufduf/ douf-douf) techno. Driving, insistent beats, thudding away throughout the floor.

So very relaxing for the middle aged reading-glasses wearing book customer. I feel deeply sorry for the book department staff. There was no way God made little green apples I was even vaguely tempted to sit in one of the comfortable lounges there to browse, since I didn't have noise-cancelling earphones with me. (Probably because I don't own any).

You will be pleased to know, dear reader, that since a Myer Feedback form could not be found, I went in search of a manager. I had to put some effort into this, and eventually found one, two floors down. He was very polite, as was I. I advised him that few book customers, a very different demographic to dufduf Tshirt wearing young chaps, were unlikely to be charmed by the experience of being trapped in a techno-fan's iPod while browsing the books, as was the current situation. Oh, he said, he'd check the speakers. Why, I asked (not unreasonably, I thought) was this conjunction of departments deemed to be smart marketing? Oh, he said, well, they are on the same floor, that's the way things are. Ah well, I thought: somebody in Myer can choose to put them on the same floor, and madden book customers with loud music. Customers, however, also have a choice: not to bother going anywhere near the Myer city store book department. Even if they have got 40% off every book, for one day only.

I would, of course, be so pleased to know that my efforts at feedback will be of use to Myer. Snort.

So then I went off to my more favourite city bookshop venues: Borders and Kinokuniya.

Aaaah. No techno music of any kind. And a vastly superior choice (Kinokuniya had even sold out of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, according to a sign near the door. Who'd'a thunk??).

The Borders in Skygarden is closing on 15 May as the building is being redeveloped. I browsed happily, and picked up a few bargains on the 75% off table, including some for me, some for presents and some for work.

Laden (I admit nothing) I then headed off to Kinokuniya. And browsed some more, equally happily.

I may have had other things planned for a day in the city, but at this point the books were, um, not at all burdensome, of course, but not getting any lighter... so I figured that I hadn't planned at all well, and didn't really care either.

It was way too early for the evening commuters, so I easily got a seat on the train (and one for the bags of books) and had a hassle-free trip home, reading.

Quiltlet: J is for Joadja + Australian quilt fabric designers

2009-04-23T09:01:00.001+10:00

Last year at the Sydney Quilt Show, I saw Saffron Craig's fabrics, and especially liked this red bird (I've got a bird thing happening at the moment - bird china I've blogged about before, and some other bird homewares have found their way into the house). So I bought some (served with great style and care by her little daughter, who was helping on their stand at the time) and it became part of this quiltlet. Joadja was in Australian Patchwork & Quilting magazine vol. 17 no. 10. Saffron blogged about it here, and if you follow the links from there you can see and buy her gorgeous fabrics (always good to promote an Australian designer!). She still has stock of the red birds - and a couple of other colourways too, last time I checked.

For each quiltlet, I also write a one-page article about something related to/inspired by making that quiltlet. For Joadja, I wrote about Australian fabric designers (many doing short run/hand made fabrics). The magazine didn't have room for all the links to designers and retailers stocking their designs, so here they are for you to follow and enjoy.

Kelani and the Kelani blog
Quilt Fabric Delights http://www.quiltfabricdelights.com.au/
Belsize Square http://www.belsizesquare.com.au/store/
Sarah London http://sarah-london.blogspot.com/
Saffron Craig http://saffroncraig.com/
Prints Charming http://printscharming.com.au/
Shannon Lamden (Aunty Cookie) http://www.auntycookie.com/
Sprout Design http://www.sproutdesign.net.au/
Ink and Spindle http://www.inkandspindle.com.au/

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Of course there is always the online marketplace Etsy, which you can search by country, too.

Etsy http://www.etsy.com/
Etsy – Australian shops (not just fabric) http://www.etsy.com/shop_local.php?place=australia

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Please let me know any other Australian fabric designers I should add to the list - drop me a note in the comments.

The wisdom of crowds and the vocabulary of emotion

2009-04-22T20:38:00.004+10:00

If you haven't yet seen Susan Boyle singing I dreamed a dream from Les Mis on the TV show Britain's Got Talent, then here's the YouTube URL that shows the lot, from glimpses beforehand to her reaction afterwards:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY
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You can't embed it (it's the one from the TV show producers, I think that's why).
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And you'll be one of tens of millions to have seen this.
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What I find interesting is, having seen this, to read analyses of what it means, or might mean, maybe as an example of the wisdom of crowds as enabled by technology (Paul Sheehan writes in the Sydney Morning Herald here, linking this to Kevin Rudd and the Australian economy).
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Helen Elliot in The Age takes another tack here, seeing in the viral spread of this through YouTube and Twitter an example of the vocabulary of emotion. She links Susan's story to Cinderella archetypes, and wonders just what the future may hold for this (wait for the cliches) Scottish middle-aged unemployed church choir singing spinster who lives alone with her cat.
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Sam De Brito in the SMH canvasses various responses, including the idea that to be respected, you need to fit some accepted idea of beauty.
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At over 100 million views of Susan Boyle online videos (mostly the original BGT appearance), she's apparently within 15 million of being the most-watched online video EVER, according to a company that tracks such things (as also reported in the SMH).
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One YouTube video of contestants on this program had me falling off my chair, because it was silly and hilarious and the father and son were obviously having a GREAT time: Stavros Flatley. (Greek-Irish dancing, they said). Enjoy.
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Quiltlet: H is for Humpty Doo + Colour Me Happy

2009-04-21T09:38:00.002+10:00

Yes, Humpty Doo is a real Australian place name. It's in the Northern Territory. This one was in Australian Patchwork & Quilting vol. 17 no. 8. Sometimes for these quiltlets I start with new fabrics, bought specially to explore an idea. This one came about from the scraps left over from another project, a large quilt, Colour Me Happy, that was in the same issue of APQ. It looks like this:

So you can see how one begat the other. The scraps weren't large, particularly the coloured fabric ones, but I had fun playing with them and making them into something, rather than just tossing them out. There's a lot you can do with scraps...both my entries in this year's Sydney Quilt Show (on in June at Darling Harbour) are the result of using scraps, and were a lot of fun to make.

Colour Me Happy actually started with that great black and white floral; it's an Alexander Henry fabric - they do some great, different, quirky fabrics and luckily there's a local shop that stocks such things.

Lunch with friends

2009-04-20T13:38:00.000+10:00

Lunch with friends yesterday, at a favourite cafe. It's hard to beat their pumpkin, feta and pesto frittata with salad, and dressings\ + chutney on the side. Yum. Let alone when you add good company and conversation to the mix. And you've thought ahead and reserved the best table in the place, so you can just arrive, order, sit and enjoy it all.

Quiltlet: G is for Gundagai

2009-04-19T13:26:00.000+10:00

It's past time I caught up with recording my quiltlet series for Australian Patchwork & Quilting magazine, so here's G is for Gundagai. I used the Clover heart-shaped yoyo/Suffolk Puff gadget (without which...). This was in APQ vol. 17 no. 7, out a little while ago (current issue is 17/11) - actually, Februaryish, now I remember, because the hearts seemed apt for Valentine's Day.

Why Gundagai? I'm naming all these quiltlets after Australian place names, usually ones derived from Australian Aboriginal languages; in the magazine, I add some brief information about each place name. Quilting is full (understandably so) of American place names - Ohio and Pennsylvania and so forth - so I figured I'd be a bit local and add some other place names to the mix. Besides, the Aboriginal words in particular have a rhythm and individuality that's hard to beat. GUN-da-GUY - just rolls off the tongue.

Quilt in progress

2009-04-18T08:48:00.022+10:00

I finished this quilt over Easter, and it's off in the hands of the Australian Patchwork and Quilting editors, for publication in vol. 18 no. 4 in four or five months' time. I used a bunch of scrap fabrics from other quilts in it - that green dotty fabric was always a favourite, so it's nice to have a bit included. Looking at the quilt, though, I found to be a snapshot of a whole lot of quilts, and I could remember where many of the fabrics had been first used. It's one of the nice things about scrap quilts that do use up your scraps, they also become visual memories; and if some of the other quilts have been given away and don't live with you any more, a reminder of each game you played with fabric, and what you made, and the pleasure of giving.

Mind you, I also make scrap quilts with charm packs, and they're fun too, the chance to include a little of a lot of ranges I like, without having to buy lots of fabric. Charm packs exert a lethal influence on me...I've designed a number of projects with them, and while the current Australian Country Threads has another of my charm pack table runners in it, I'm now playing with yet another... Dang, those charm packs come with free hypnotic side effects!

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

2009-04-17T09:43:00.011+10:00

Yes, really. The full title is:

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance, Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!

And I can't decide if I want to read it and will laugh like a drain, or whether I'll be utterly repelled, horrified and appalled.

Image source, from which you can also order it with free delivery worldwide. Always attractive, if you're not in an Amazon-free-delivery country.

What about you? Tempted? Appalled?

Quilt in progress (P)

2009-04-16T20:43:00.000+10:00

Just a glimpse of the P quiltlet that will be in Australian Patchwork and Quilting vol. 18 no. 4 on sale in about five months' time. Yes, it really does take five months from a project going to the magazine's editors to it being published - which is why, sometimes, fabrics are harder to find. It takes that time to edit instructions, take photographs, design the magazine, organise printing, check colour proofs and so on and so forth. None of it dawdling time, either. So while you can see K for Kalgoorlie in the latest Australian Patchwork and Quilting, vol. 17 no. 11, P is with the editors and going through the same process to come to you in time.

I chuckled at the chartreuse in this one - I've been on a chartreuse kick this year, it's a GREAT colour in quilts. But I chuckled again when I went past this sign today.

It's OK, this is Australia, we drive on the left and the driver's on the right of the car, I was a passenger ... Every time I go past this sign I think, hmmm, those could be interesting quilt colours. I actually visited DFO (Discount Factory Outlets) for the first time recently and didn't find it an especially exciting experience, or one I had much enthusiasm for repeating. What I WAS fascinated to discover, in the sunless/artificially lit depths of the covered carpark, was that this interesting colour scheme is not the original, but a very faded version of same. The original ones didn't do anything for me.

And now, in this quiltlet, I've played with at least one of the colour combinations. You never can tell where inspiration will find you.

Windflowers

2009-04-14T10:33:00.007+10:00

The Easter long weekend involved reading, sleeping, time with family, some craft-and-assorted-stuff markets, afternoon naps, sewing/quilting, and the admiring of some Japanese windflowers. My dear mama likes the white ones best. I think I agree. Having nearly caught up on sleep, I might even have a brain with which to consider the matter.