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

• 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.

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Is there?

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coming soon....

....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?

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

• 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

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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.

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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.

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Quilt: Secondhand Rose

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

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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.

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Alexander McCall Smith interview on ABC TV

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

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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.

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Diana Gabaldon Australian tour 2009

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

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.

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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Waterspring: a story of two quilts

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.) 

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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.

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A bookshop rant

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

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

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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). 

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

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Fat chance.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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

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

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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??).

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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. 

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

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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.

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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.

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Quiltlet: J is for Joadja + Australian quilt fabric designers

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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.

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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

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

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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:

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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.

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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.

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Lunch with friends

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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.

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Quiltlet: G is for Gundagai

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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.

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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.

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Quilt in progress

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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.

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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!

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Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

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Yes, really.  The full title is:

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

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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.

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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.

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What about you?  Tempted? Appalled?

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Quilt in progress (P)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Windflowers

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.

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Easter eggs

0904 Easter eggs
Originally uploaded by rooruu

Aren't they pretty? I made some cupcakes for work last Thursday, and topped them with these. All the cupcakes were eaten.... And now pretty little eggs like this will vanish until next year.
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Kiva: meet Georgette Anayadri

Apart from sharing the name of one of my favourite novelists (Georgette Heyer), I wish I could buy from this Georgette, not just lend her money through Kiva - look at those lustworthy fabrics!

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What better to do to mark Easter than share what you have and help others?  This is what Kiva says about Georgette Anyadri, an entrepreneur in Togo:

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Ms. Georgette ANAYADRI works in the business of selling pagnes (colorful West African cloth). She has been in this business since 2006 in Nukafu. The grand marketplace of Lomé is where she acquires her supplies. She wants to expand her inventory, which is why she’s requesting her first loan from WAGES. This loan will enable her to buy bolts of high quality pagnes. She is married to a gentleman who is a taxi driver. With the revenues she earns from her commerce, she helps her husband with day-to-day household expenses.

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This is my eleventh loan through Kiva - now, some of the money I lend comes from repayments made on earlier loans; it's great to have it serving again to help someone make themselves a better, more secure life.  Mostly, I've looked for people involved in textiles, sewing, craftworking, as this relates to my own interests.  My lender page is here.

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Kiva has gift certificates, too, if you want to give this great opportunity to someone else.  Right now there are LOTS of loan possibilities on the site, so do take a look.

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Happy Easter!

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Where the wild things are (the film)

I have to wait till December for this to be released in Australia, but I'm looking forward to it - love the book and the film version, from this trailer, looks to be wondrous in its own way.
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Source URL:
http://www.trailerspy.com/trailer/3117/Where-the-Wild-Things-Are-Trailer-HD

Daisy, daisy

0903 daisy, daisy
Originally uploaded by rooruu

Easter holidays.

Time to stop, and see the daisies. The house smells of hot cross buns, spice and fruit (I tried one of the choc-chip ones promoted by a bakery chain, but they ain't got nuffin compared to the real proper sort; one supermarket sells hot cross buns labelled 'fruitless', at which I holler, YES!). Hot chocolate is a good accompaniment, though.

The weather is mellowing into autumn. Daylight saving is over, so the mornings are light again and the evenings draw into darkness sooner, and it feels right. Time to switch over clothes, find the flannel jarmies and add a quilt or two to the bed. Invested in new pillows, and it's amazing what a difference it makes - the old ones had flattened out a lot.

Work has been so hectic, it's good to have some time to regroup and re-energise. The quilting pile is full of possibilities, the reading pile ditto, and I want to go through my books again and cull, so some of the newer acquisitions can be shelved. Hmmmm. Does that sound like a peaceful, restful holiday? Or am I just replacing busy with busy?

I hope your Easter break is proving peaceful.
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Leaf

0903 leaf
Originally uploaded by rooruu

I feel a bit like this leaf, I think. Some colour left, but a bit battered and tired around the edges. As you can likely tell from the rather intermittent nature of this blog in recent weeks, other things - mostly work and several demanding tasks there - have been taking time and energy and thought and imagination, and at day's end there's not as much left over for other things, or re-creation, however important it is (it is).
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Easter's coming soon, and a break/holiday and a bit of time for work to sink back into a smaller role, other things to rise and take their place. Time to restore, renew. I know autumn's not spring cleaning time, but the holiday will be time to clean in that way - clean out what's not needed any more, make space for what's new. Let some things fall away, their time over. See what's come. Focus on the present, think about the future.
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There's a certain peace to autumn that I don't find in summer. Perhaps it's the weather, more easily borne, more livable than summer's hectic heat, not as demanding as winter (although a Sydney winter is hardly the world's most demanding winter, I know). Perhaps it's the sense of the year underway, and then a break to restore and renew, gather energy to go forward.
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It's almost time to think about dinner. Prawn (shrimp) and mushroom risotto, I think. Seafood's plentiful and reasonably priced right now, and it's a warm, comforting bowl of crunch and salty and sweet, and just a little rich that will give savour to the end of the day. It's started raining - they've forecast showers for most of this week - and comfort food will be on the menu.
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A Homemade Life

0903 book
Originally uploaded by rooruu

I've been reading Molly Wizenberg's blog, Orangette, for a while, and do enjoy her writing. She and Posy get Cozy's Alicia make you feel like you're sitting at their kitchen tables, having a lovely chat. If you want the flavour of either, their blogs are the place to start. Some successful bloggers I've found, over time, to have acquired an edge of smug that I don't enjoy, but not Molly or Alicia.
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This week's been nutty-busy with work, and little else achieved in the evenings, partly but not entirely due to two power cut evenings. I know I COULD sew by candlelight, but I won't. And I needed the extra sleep, anyway. One of the two nights, the storm was violently spectacular.
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So the weekend's going to include housework and sewing and family time and reading and more sleep and all the good things that the weekend makes possible. I hope yours is the same.
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I got my copy of this book from The Book Depository, since I guessed it would be a bit of an obscurity here and I wanted it on publication. Rather like this photograph of it on the back of several unfinished quilting projects from my homemade life.
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Luckily...

Here's an entirely silly and amusing game to play, which I saw here on Meet Me at Mikes.

Google LUCKILY and your name, eg. "luckily Egbert" (how happy I am to not be called Egbert).

And then blog the results. I added the italic commentary...  eg:

• Luckily Ruth realised where she put it...sometimes
• Luckily Ruth answered our requests...yes and no
• Luckily Ruth suggested that we take things one step at a time...very sensible
• Luckily Ruth agreed (or insisted) that she went along... I hope that was wise
• Luckily Ruth remembers that the home had an old bomb shelter...don't remember remembering that!
• Luckily Ruth got here first...not usually
• Luckily Ruth followed my lead... smart thinking?
• Luckily Ruth realises she's supposed to teach us...ooops - better not forget that!
• Luckily, Ruth piped in with just the right big sister question..I have a good role model
• Luckily Ruth saw the funny side...an essential survival skill
• Luckily Ruth paid more attention in her classes and was able to sort most things out...learning from experience (see above!)
• Luckily Ruth believed me...guillible or kind?
• Luckily, Ruth appeared...happens eventually
• Luckily Ruth has a good friend...more than one.  Lucky me.
• Luckily Ruth was at the ready to rescue us if we had problems and to answer any queries...a day in the life, that.

If you play too, leave a comment so I can go and read your ones!
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The Carrington

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I went to two quilt shows today, one at Wentworth Falls in the School of Arts there, and one at the Carrington Hotel in Katoomba.  This is one part of the Carrington - as you can see, an historic hotel with some beautiful spaces - chandeliers, leadlight, etched glass, this dome...

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Some beautiful, inspiring quilts to see too.  As there can be kerfuffle about showing images from quilt shows, I haven't put any quilt pictures here.  But well done to everyone - just lovely work.

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EDITED later to add: Brenda notes in a comment that there is no kerfuffle if you ask permission from the quiltmaker or include a link, and this made me think about the issues involved.

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In this case, there is no link available of which I'm aware that has pictures of the quilts.  Winners are listed here, but no pictures of the quilts.  As to contacting the quiltmakers - for the purposes of a blog (like mine here, which is day-in-the-life in style), this would take a lot of effort and indeed time, working through the quilt show organisers, waiting to hear from the quiltmakers etc, by which time the blog's moved on to other things.  I don't really want to blog "three weeks ago I saw this quilt...".  At this show, I didn't see any signage about photography - yes/no/limitations/policy.

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Perhaps it would be useful if all quilt shows clearly indicated their photography policy and procedures, including a clear method of contacting quiltmakers (through the show organisers, I'd guess, for privacy reasons).  Some do, but not always fully, and some don't at all.  In the internet/blogging age, it's an issue that needs consideration.  On the one hand, quiltmakers want control of images related to their work.  On the other hand, an enthusiastic blogaccount of a quilt show may well bring more visitors.  This show had an airing of the quilts on the outside verandahs of the Carrington, and it would not have been inconceivable that a mug punter could have walked past, photographed what they saw and published this on the internet without going anywhere nearer to see a photography policy, if they even thought about a photography policy.

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Also, any show with photographs on its site is most likely to present the winning quilts, whereas a blogger's more idiosyncratic view may include a different range of quilts, depending on what caught their eye.

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Rant over.

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'shroom

0903 mushrooms 03
Originally uploaded by rooruu

We've had some bits and pieces of rain recently, and so afterwards, sometimes, when you look down, there are some remarkable geometries to observe. What I like about this is its imperfections - not the indentation so much as the fact that it has such evenness and yet it's not even - the ruffles around the edge vary, and the rays from the centre, too. Symmetry without symmetry.
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Kiva: meet Luis Alberto Torrez Gutiérrez

Luis Alberto Torrez Gutiérrez is 63 years old and is married. All of his children work independently. Don Luis has a tailor’s shop. He has had the business for 22 years, and he began because he needed work and needed to contribute to the family expenses and in this way help his wife. Don Luis’s goals are to become more well-known for the production of his suits, for which he waits day after day to improve the quality of his products and offer his clients the best. This loan will be used as working capital so he can buy necessary products such as thread, fabric, scissors and pins. Don Luis’s greatest desires are to establish a dressmaking workshop to create jobs for those who really need them. He is requesting a loan for 10,000 córdobas.  See more info here.

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This is my tenth Kiva loan.  Will I admit to being swayed by the sewing machine? (he's sewing suits with a treadle machine) - well, that, and his cheerful grin.  And the sewing associations.

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Kiva involves lending to the working poor, entrepreneurs in the third world, and it's such fun!  Once I've loaned, I don't take out the repayments, but loan again. 

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There's a Kiva widget in the sidebar.  Why don't you lend to the person whose info is there?  Or browse the Kiva site for someone else you can help?

This morning.....

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

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Also, its friend, equally large, on the wall above.  Huntsman spiders are much better outside, eating insects.  Don't see them in the house often, thanks be!

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Another Sunday catchup....

Listening: in the car, to the audiobook Sunshine by Robin McKinley; at home The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon - finally managed to get hold of a copy of this to listen to.

Writing: quilt instructions and budget submissions.  And the odd Facebook entry.

Watching: tonight, Lost in Austen on ABC TV.

Making: finished a quiltlet this week, O is for... well, wait and see (a glimpse above).  Making banners for work.

Celebrating: with friends last night we unexpectedly celebrated Barbie's 50th birthday.  Because she-who-hosted the long-planned dinner gathering collects vintage Barbie dolls and because the men's faces were a Treat to see when the cake came out... The icing tasted very Pink.

Reading: I'm up to the last book in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, the most recently published one, Teatime for the Traditionally Built.  What's on the reading pile?  Lots of things.  Always.

Visiting: went to DFO (discount factory outlets) Sydney yesterday with a pal.  Hmmmm.  Not sure I'll be busting a chop to go again, didn't find much there.  But Ikea up the road?  Ah, some bits and pieces for work.  Always something to find at Ikea.

Appreciating: the kind sender of issue 2 of the Irish Quilting magazine.  A couple of beautiful bits of handmade costume jewellery I've bought to support the Victorian bushfire appeal (pics to come).

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Happenings

What's been happening?  Work.  Busy busy. Putting together a strong argument for a larger budget for my area of responsibility, currently notably underfunded in comparison with similar areas.  I know.  I've been doing the research....

Visited a friend yesterday - her sweet baby is about six months old, a smiling and very interested in everything girl who thinks BOO! is just one of the best and most original games EVER.  And is there anything much sweeter than a little one, tired but not wanting to sleep, who you rock and rock, and croon boring things to, and rock a bit more, and then you feel her getting heavier, and her eyes droop to half mast but spring open, but then they're half mast again, and she's getting heavier, and then you look and her eyes are closed...and you keep rocking like the grenade will go off if you change anything, and then you walk carefully to put her in her cot and the grenade doesn't go off, she doesn't wake, but has the nap we were hoping for..... so there was time to play with the baby, and talk of all sorts of things too, and sew down a quilt binding.

I've been catching up with a few quilting projects - have to put up some pictures of the more recent quiltlets, H is for Humpty Doo and I is for Innamincka have both been out, and I believe Joadja is visiting the Australian Quilt Convention in Melbourne as we speak - but as I don't have them to hand I'm waiting to photograph them with their respective issues of Australian Patchwork & Quilting magazine.  I'm wrangling O is for.... and P is for.... this weekend, just finished quilting (and binding, see above) a repro fabric quilt for APQ and have another to quilt for Australian Country Threads, plus two going off to the machine quilter, one for Handmade and one for Australian Country Craft and Decorating.   Plus instruction-writing for them all....

Still thinking about a quilting studio, not the little sewing room that's just too small, but something larger...2009 feels like the year to do it.  More later, after I've mulled.

In the last few weeks I've read all the Alexander McCall Smith "Sunday Philosophy Club" series; all the "44 Scotland St" series (can somebody tell me if The Unbearable Lightness of Scones is the last? It goes to ep. 99 and the series ran for 110 eps, apparently), I'm up to In the Company of Cheerful Ladies in "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series and have finished La's Orchestra Saves the World. And after I'm done, they go off on journeys to be read by friends/relatives.  It's been an AMcSfest around here.  By way of contrast, I've been watching True Blood, based on the Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse novels (vampires &tc in the American South) - a different kind of amusing.  The music/images of the introductory credits are among the cleverest in creating tone and atmosphere that I've ever seen.  Current audiobooks are Sunshine by Robin McKinley and The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon (I've read them both in print more than once, and am enjoying another view of them in audio).

Photos will follow, but I've acquired several lovely bits from Etsy, all but one from the Handmade Help blog's listing of things for sale where the money goes to the Victorian Bushfire Fund.  Go and look at what they have, and what you can do.  The button is at the top of my sidebar.

Now it's back to O is for... and P is for.... I need some fabric stabiliser for some oriental charmeusey fabric that's as slippery as all get out, and to think out how I'm combining hand-dyed felt and hand-dyed cotton.  Washing on the line, the sun's shining, it's autumn thanks be! and so the weekend goes.  Hope you're having a good one too.

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Still here...

It's been busy chez rooruu - but there will be more blog entries next week!  I changed the header, as a start...

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Card and compass

0902 card and compass
Originally uploaded by rooruu

One of the kids in my family is 21, and we were asked to bring something that reminds us of the birthday one. I got a compass, for the birthday one's strong sense of direction in life, and wrote this in the card:

Time flies! I remember you only a few days old, looking, looking, paying attention to everything around you. Little, when you were very precise about tidy things, like getting rid of price stickers. The Christmas you were two, and hopped with joy from foot to foot, unable to contain your excitement.

It's a joy to see you grown into the person we saw as a baby - change, and not change.

Happy 21st! (the quilt* will come) and every good wish and hope for the realisation of dreams, and the discovery of new ones.


*quilt has already been discussed, and is on the to-make slate.

They grow so fast!

Handmade Help for the Victorian bushfires

Read more here.

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Pool, rain

0902 pool
Originally uploaded by rooruu

Round about this time every year I attend a swimming carnival. And, as I do round about this time every year, I take a photo of the water. Today was cloudy, all day, but the rain held off till all was almost done. Such a relief, rain, after the relentless, scorching heat. The temperature's close to half of what it was - from over 40degC to around 20degC. Quite a change. The hot weather may not be all gone, though, they're saying...

Craft helps bushfire appeal - buy on etsy

The death toll in the Victorian bushfire now stands at 131 people.  Over 750 homes destroyed. 

One way to help?  Go to etsy and buy handmade craft from sellers donating the proceeds to the bushfire appeal fund. (But do check  the listing page and their shop main page to ensure they are planning to donate with the listing that interests you - this search can throw up sellers using the word 'bushfire' for legit contexts other than appeal donation.  Some donating sellers are donating with every listing, some with some of their listings.  Another tag to search is "bushfire appeal"; or buy from or donate to this shop).

Here are some examples:

screenprint from janallsopp

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Bushfire red repositionable insects from 3DInsects

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Limited edition linocut by LightAndShade

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Radical cross stitch and craftivism zine from radicalrags

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Voluptuous heart necklace from michvanetta

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Beautiful things.  Beautiful thought.  Well done to them.

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Hot weather and bushfires

We've had four days over 40degC - so relentlessly hot that the state government relaxed water restrictions that have been in place for years, and allowed backyard sprinklers for children to play under, to cool them down.  Apparently, Ivanhoe in inland NSW was likely to be the hottest place on earth today at 47degC, or so one newspaper reported.

In Victoria, over eighty lives have been lost in dreadful bushfires.  Read more here: (http://www.theage.com.au/national/death-toll-rises-from-bushfires-20090208-80jv.html?page=-1).  Entire towns/villages wiped out.

Online donations can be made at the Bendigo Bank at this link or the National Australia Bank at this link.

Last month I was in Bendigo.  Yesterday, thirty homes on its outskirts were burned out completely.  As we drove through the countryside then, we saw how very very dry it was.  Add fire and wind, and disaster is horribly easy to understand.  When you learn that half of Australia's bushfires are the work of arsonists (likely including some of these Victorian fires), you're even more horrified.

And not forgetting that in North Queensland, floods that had receded are returning.  It's a "wilful, lavish land" all right, "droughts and flooding rains" (see Dorothea Mackellar's poem, "My Country", which I won't put here in full because it's still copyright).

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It is very hot.

It is very hot.  Day and night.  Teetering around 40degC/over 100degF.  Very hot.  Not cooling down much at night, either.  Tiring.  Hot.  That is all (for now).

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An artist's view of the inauguration

Whether you're over Obama inauguration hoopla or not, take a look at this artist's piece in the New York Times - illustrator Maira Kelman's very individual take on the day in thoughtful watercolours and engaging observations: The Inauguration. At Last. from her blog, And the pursuit of happiness.

It reminds me a bit of the work of Australian cartoonist Michael Leunig (who was officially declared to be a National Living Treasure a couple of years ago).

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Vintage cutlery II

0902 vintage cutlery - knives
Originally uploaded by rooruu

It's all very well finding a cache of lovely vintage forks and spoons, but you do need knives...

A sharp eyed friend spotted a mixed box of vintage cutlery in an old wares shop we were liking very much. A bit of sorting and hunting, and I had a set of knives. I gather the handle on these isn't bone, but some sort of early plastic (xyrene or some name like that, someone said) and they're stainless steel.

But now we lay the table with beautiful cutlery - not all quite matching, esp. if there are more than six people. But like the spoons and forks, these are happy in the hand. My previous set of cutlery, basic plain vanilla 80s stainless steel, has served well. But these vintage pieces just add something extra to the ordinary business of daily meals.

I did look at modern sets, and never quite found one that I liked. Either they didn't work in the hand, or were too moderne one way or another, or trying to be too clever or designed, or felt somehow flimsy. The sturdy, plain design of the vintage cutlery that's come my way is just right. Just right.

And then I chuckle, because it's very much like the cutlery I grew up with, except now (I don't remember why) my parents use a moderne set.

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Vintage cutlery I

0902 vintage cutlery - spoons, forks
Originally uploaded by rooruu

I've picked up a few vintage epns cutlery pieces from market stalls and vintage shops over time. In daily use, I found them to be distinctly stronger than the cutlery I bought years ago when I moved out of home. So I sort-of had my eye idly out for a set - and this one came to my attention.

Plain as anything, as you can see, and with the faint scratchings of use by their former owners. But, like the pieces I have, strong and beautiful in their simplicity, comfortable in the hand and weighted right. Such a little grace, good cutlery. It's like the new china I bought last year, a daily pleasure as part of everyday life.

So now, unwrapped from the newspaper bundled around them, released from rubber bands and washed, they're ready to use.

When I was little, my lovely grandmother used to clean our family silverplated cutlery with Silvo polish, and I remember the next meal always tasted just a tad funny, as the polish hadn't quite gone...

No knives? Ah, stay tuned...

Doubt film flyer

0902 Doubt film flyer
Originally uploaded by rooruu

The cinema foyer wasn't brightly lit, so even though I kept my camera as still as possible, this was the best photo I got. And then I thought, it's oddly appropriate to the film's subject matter. I know all four major performances are Oscar nominated, but overall while I'm happy to have seen it, it's not on my Pete-Repeat list. If any of them do win Oscars, I can nod sagely and say, ah yes, I saw that film....

(in an airconditioned cinema.  werry welcome, in this weather!  not the only reason to go, of course, but additionally appealing.)

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Morning mist

0902 morning mist 01
Originally uploaded by rooruu

Don't be fooled. It's not winter, but a balmy summer morning, early. That mist is soon gone, and then it's been heating up and up and up. The seven day forecast still has our part of the world being 35degC or more every day (close to 100F) or in the forties (definitely over 100F) next weekend.

February's the hardest month of summer - heat, humidity. Mind you, it's been hotter in Adelaide and Melbourne, enough to cause power outages and buckling of railway tracks.

Roll on autumn.

Alexander McCall Smith books

0901 Alexander McCall Smith books
Originally uploaded by rooruu

Now why would this photo make you think that this house has been holding an Alexander McCall Smith readfest?

With the holidays over, the pace has slowed a bit. But so far, having read all the published Isabel Dalhousie books, the first No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency book (the second will be here any day) and being partway through the first 44 Scotland St book, I've enjoyed each in their different but similar/similar but different ways (the sly observational humour in each of them, for instance).

Just have to get his latest daily novel, Corduroy Mansions, onto my bloglines (which it doesn't seem to want to do, so I've added it to my favourites Feeds folder. If you know how to bloglines it, do let me know!). You can find Corduroy Mansions here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/corduroymansionsbyalexandermcca/
and there's a daily audio feed/podcast as well as the text feed.

What's really happening? Up early, it's hot. Go to work, it's hot. Work hard, it's hot. Come home, the house is hot despite drawn curtains. Sleep, but it's hot. Wake up, it's still hot. Seven days of 35degC or more (that's 95degF) is rather wearying. Lots to do at work, though, and friendly faces. Roll on March (when it cools down a bit and is less humid).

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Australia Day

0901 Sydney Morning Herald Australia Day
Originally uploaded by rooruu

Thought I'd better mark Australia Day, so here's the front cover of today's Sydney Morning Herald. Surreal artwork by Reg Mombassa.

It's thankfully cooler today, much better for a day when people are out and about.

I've just done a catchup of blog entries on films and books and more (can you tell it's work tomorrow, holidays over?).

Yesterday the extended family gathered to celebrate a big-0 birthday, and just sitting around talking across the generations was one of the best days of the holidays.  Hearing more of Dad's stories of the RAF in WW2, talking sushi trains and Thai food with the older kids, talking books and films and who's done what, all sorts of conversations big and small, and much laughter.  So good.

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