Some potted cheer

A dear little rose in a pot, probably one of Mums, is showing its appreciation
of a little water and looking cheerful and red and green as I walk to
collect the mail.

I must tidy up these pots, but was grateful for this little piece of
cheer today.

Just holding onto shreds of green

The sad end of summer without the joyful color of Autumn
as leaves fall early in an attempt to save the trees as they
are stressed by lack of rains and watering.

I have never seen hydrangea droop as they have this year.
Usually it is just a reaction to one hot day and some water
at night and they are fine again and grow to the roof line and
are full of flowers.

I am keeping them alive with shower water...big blue buckets
that you will see elsewhere in the blog, heavy to carry but
must be as good as using weights at the gym.

Late summer sun in the background and a dry dusty dead
grass and leaf landscape.

Let us hope for something much different in 12 months time.

May hope not be deferred again, but may prayers be answered
in the falling of safe, steady rains that will not cause damage, but will renew our land.

Pathways in a desert landscape

Well the weeping Mulberry has been saved so far. It is huge, like
a fairy dell where children can hide and play.

And what an early Autumn as summer plays out her dying days.
Leaves from the liquid amber are falling as it tries to conserve
it energies.

Dry lawn and dry leaves, not a normal sight. My lawn is Kikuyu and
normally so drought tolerant that it is more likely to look like this
after a frost.

Carting grey water has kept a little green where the roots of the trees
reach to.

The council have asked that we water the trunk of the trees in
our nature strip. I am not sure that they know that the feeding
line of a tree, the drip line is equal to the boundary of the tree, as in the Mulberry, or is equal to the height of the tree and the reach of the branches. So I am not too sure what a bucket of water is going to do to the trunk of the trees. Where they are young it will help. Fortunately my trees are ones of my choice and not that of the council so I have a vested interest in keeping some 20 years of growth
in some cases.

Dance in La Nina or whoever you are.......dance and shed your tears of joy in being back in the reigning place in our land.

But Dear Heavenly Father, who sees our needs and promises to supply them, we thank you for the promise of rain and
ask that you give us safe steady rain that is able to fill catchment areas and not cause flooding and do damage.
Give us rain that will heal this land that we may sing our praise in tune to the rain drops.

Edges of the desert

Well there is a little green to be seen,
but there are three of those silver
birches in that bed and one of them
alas has lost its leaves and while it is
still green I have not lost all hope, however
the display of petunias is not as it should
be and while there are patches of green
to show that there once was a lawn.


Alas until La 'what's her name' dances in
with some rain, all my carting of water
is at least keeping some green on the
trees and some pathetic flowers on
the petunias.

But I truly did not realise how much
my soul was fed by my garden.
And it it hurts for me, what about those
folk, older than I am, even more infirm,
who have lived for their gardens and are on stage 4, and are too frail to carry water
to help things life. I feel so sad that if gardens use 20% of all household water they
are the ones that are made to be restricted the most. And the flow on to Nurseries
and other businesses, the flow on to cracks coming in buildings, and above all else, the
loss of our once proud garden state.

Such a shame that politicians who could so name it, could not understand that provision
needed to be made for the times of hardship. Such a shame that tanks were not allowed.
Such a shame that housing developments were allowed to be developed once that stupid
decision was overturned without tanks being mandatory.
Surely in an area such as this which is one of the fastest growing in the state we have
known about the problem for long enough for tanks to have been made an essential feature of
all new homes for the past few years ...the past few years when we have been experiencing
droughts.

Yes it is so much worse for the farmers. It is their livelihood but it is also the livelihood of the
whole garden industry and associated companies.

And my heart still breaks for the elderly to whom their garden has been their whole life
time's abiding interest and pastime and reason to get up and go outside each day.
For those who have grown all their own fruit and vegetables on a city allotment.

These are the unseen sorrowing ones.

The Four or so orchids

My dear garden friend was wandering around my desert of a garden and saw a walkway, that only I really knew was a walkway, and it had a cluster of orchids on it. She looked at them and said, there are about 4 to 6 there, get the handyman to put them in the shed and I will use the potting mix you bought and pot them for you......oh what a gift of grace. One that I could not resist.

So I got them carried around. However they seemed to be more than 4 or 6, there seemed to be quite a lot.
Oh well I thought...they all look half dead, despite the fact that they had flowered last year.......about 4 of them had, vbg.

So I watered them. No one had told me you give orchids a drink every day. And they began to grow. And she called in and saw them
and almost fainted. However being the more mathematical of the pair of us I was quite happy to stick to the numbers she has suggested.......lol.

Kind and generous friend that she is, she took them home and re potted them all and she and her DH, he who was disgusted at the den of iniquity, brought them around as I was in my most shameful having been in bed for 12 days state, without even hair washed and I almost have to be dead before I do not keep my hair as decent as possible......so clutching a short nightie....all the rest are long and decent, and a robe around me I watched in awe as this beautiful collection of orchids came back.

Not quite sure where they will live after finishing off the summer in here.
Got told by the DH that I do not re pot. He is quite right......it has become something that has got a little out of hand of late. I have been too busy getting the garden into a respectable state and mulched and weeded and the potting was done for the impatiens and the bulbs but not the cacti and other things inherited from Mother.

So.........it will be so interested to see my orchid collection now. My Mother would be proud of us. A lot of them were hers, some were from a friend's Father and I guess I must have bought some over the years myself.

And here they are. A whole truck load of them came back and were tended under the carport till it was safe to move them to this spot which fortunately my handyman had cleared last year.

There has to be some garden somewhere

Bless the inpatients.

They are doing so well on water from the sink with a little sea sol,

or Maxicrop in the top of a 3Lt bottle.

I could have swept the path, but let us be real here.

Leaves fall and they have.

Decided I needed baggy pants and then the clown act would be complete.

So added plain blue to tartan summer dacks and would be believe......of course you would.....I sewed them so that the bottoms were the waist and vice versa......more reverse sewing.....but this is the right way now.....and proof that the sewing table has actually been used.

Can it be that something like patchwork has taken place.

Yes a block has been made to go into a group quilt. From scraps of pansy material.

It is so long since I made Dresden Plates that instead of sewing across the top to make the point I sewed down the sides.........thought, sheesh, these are narrow

was going great guns with chain piecing.

Went equal great guns with chain unpicking and finally finished

and miracles or miracles it is in the post.
Yeah.......

From the door

Enter at own risk. I let a male friend have his first look in here the other day......he was delivering orchids with his wife.....more on that later.....and he actually went in and of course in typical male fashion ......he is a tidy freak.......said.......what a mess. What an untidy mess!

Poor pet.....He is male.

However his wife is even more tidy if possible

But I have to agree I love it when it is tidy, but nothing much gets done

when it is tidy.

Oh for a good nights sleep and then ...wheee, a day out.

http://www.aqc.com.au/2007/convention.php





This is the place to which I am attempting to go tomorrow.


All I need is a good nights sleep.



One of us is already there and sleeping.

Lets hope it is catching.

Does it not look like the Queen of Sheba?

One spoilt brat.

The sewing table

That sewing table. See the containers underneath.....some are color coded with the colors of the Kingstar threads in them.
Now all I need to do is sew. And see the lovely bucket at the back that I was given at Christmas for my scraps.

The cutting table, also Horn. Has another side that will extend out further.

You can see the floor if you step back..........vbg

sewing tables and rooms

Well this is the cutting table. List of hearts to make, tartan bag with templates, quilt top waiting to be basted
two pair of summer pants to be made baggy....have done one...skirt material on top put away..at back a bag to be finished for
friends birthday. Yellow bag is stabilizers etc. Never sure where to store those. Stool under table and stack of
crates on the left under table.

all sins revealed...the stash under the table and the other stool which came in from the shed and which is
more stable and safe for me to perch on when ironing.

I was told to post a warning...........about giving a man a saw and letting him into a garden.......vbg

This is the narrow side of my house from the driveway next door. Taken in winter, before the spring growth but while the rhododendron are in full flower.

It has become very messy and very overgrown and the ground cover needed a very good clean.

Since I had not slept for the last two nights and in fact went out at 6am to water not having been to sleep last night, I as well asleep when my kind handyman/gardener came at 1.30PM.

I staggered out for a while and pruned a climbing rose to allow some access down the side and did suggest that there was one dead piece of branch which could be sawn off to allow easier access.....I had been squeezing around the back on the fence line.......no real path down the middle any more.

I had a shower after my pruning exertions....started to attack a tree which has grown a few too many branches in the middle of my back lawn and which I think can do with a prune to allow sun through to the stupid wisteria which refuses to flower. Also think that sun will be needed when we get moisture to get a decent lawn growing again.

I came out and happened to look out the kitchen window..........my beady little eye saw something unfamiliar....something that looked like big branches of camellia and rhododendron.

I went to investigate......as all good gardeners do when there is a man with a saw, and said, in what I hoped were stern tones, but friendly...........what is this??

I was assured it would never be missed..........hmmmm, 20 years growth and never be missed, and I picked up the rhododendron and pointed out all the buds soon to come into flower.

I forgot to explain that I prune those when they are actually flowering so I get flowers for inside as well as trimmed bushes. I picked them off and put them in a vase inside to see if they will do the early flowering inside bit and hastened inside and to bed, least I see something else I did not want to see.......vbg.

I then got told that I could write in my blog, about the dangers of men and saws being let lose in a garden, or over possessive women and their plants.........it all depends on the viewpoint doesn't it!!

But I went out tonight and it did look tidy and I did see a possible alternative site for a tank, rather than the spot I had intended to put one in. A lovely Azalea bush has gone to God in the time of drought and neglect of that narrow side of the house. It was the last area that we were tackling. I say we, in very lose terms, as my input these days is not the get in there and work like a mallee bull gone mad as it used to be.

But I saw something strange and black tonight when I looked out..........I ventured out and it was the filter part of the pump for the pond and it was sitting on a stone. Not quite sure about that one but I put it together and it worked well for a while, then it seemed to have either been knocked by a bird or fallen by the time I came in..........at which time I was too tired to care.

So all you fair maidens............take care, beware, stand guard if you let a man with a saw into your garden.

However when he went and got me milk and bread, posted my mail and took back the library book which was accumulating fines.........as I did not see myself getting out in the next couple of days..........what could I do but be thankful.

You cannot have roses without thorns.......and plants that are pruned will usually grow again.

I shall venture down tomorrow in the daylight with a walking stick to steady me and check out just which bushes had the haircut...........vbg.

There...........I have been a good girl..........that is today's entry for my blog........and I do not think bed will be too far away.

I resewed the trousers that I had made baggy with strips down the side and then sewn the legs together to make a waist.......they are now in correct order and I might need to do more sewing of clothes.

I have cut out two more hearts in an effort to catch up and received some more lovely birthday fat quarters in the mail tonight....and now have to find some nice blues, to make some more hearts. I think this is the slackest I have been for a long time.

At around 5.00am I did clear the dining room table and get it ready to baste a quilt........but alas that did not happen today. But I can feel myself falling asleep so as long as I stay that way once I get back into bed...........all is well that ends well.

spoilt again

The cat tray shows three cats doing their gym work. Hmmmmmmm, sad about the writer.
The lovely oriental bathroom products are to put me in the mood for my oriental Baltimore.
Am I not lucky to have such kind thoughtful friends?

All jokes aside..........I am blessed out of my socks.

just a few fabric purchases.

This really belongs with confessions of a fabric addict, but I eventually worked out

how to load two pictures from Picassa....so had to try.

Now how long do you estimate it will be before you see me

actually USE some of this fabric?

pigeon holes for a sewing room..what is not on my table!

After all fabric does make one think of nesting.
These are the pigeon holes the builders
made for my crates,
sometimes they are tidy....

They took half a cupboard, behind the door, that now no one knows is there, still has
material from my Knitwit days in it.....

so to replace my half cupboard which was used by the bathroom
when it was renovated I traded off for a wall of pigeon holes.

It was not a bad trade. Most of the crates fit well, or in some places some
fit on top of others. This picture just shows the beginning of the cut away detail
on the door edge of the room.



Who asked what was on your sewing table and made me insane enough to take all these photos.??

Colors I normally Hate

These are the colors of my nightmares,

but look and wonder

at what the

Master Artist has done with them.

Even though I would really class these as colors I loath

and would never choose to use them in

quilting or wear them, yet the blending here is perfect.

wake me if you dare

Now you know I am settled her and my eyes were closed

and now I have to open one a slit just to see what you

are doing with that silver thing that flashes lights

in my poor eyes.

Go away Mum......let me sleep.

Why do they say let sleeping dogs lie?

What about us cats??

Confessions of a fabric addict

Go stand in the corner and say.......I am addicted to buying fabric...say it again..........
Especially when it is new and I cannot resist, from a collection such as Moda Botanicals which I had to try, the daffodil collection and could I go past a fossil fern when it in on special.
Of course some of these are for gifts and swaps, so those are justifiable purchases.

The whole lot would be a lot more justifiable if I would get off my butt and sew it.
Oh dear.........more public humiliation.

But is it any worse than collecting Lladro or Copenhagen ware?

http://lladro.stores.yahoo.net/jbebarshop.html

http://www.barsbyantiques.com.au/danish-set.htm

I do not have any Lladro but have a glorious Copenhagen ware vase in the soft blues in the picture above. I cherish it. Guess I should go take a photo....vbg.

At least this does not break.

What is on my sewing table

Someone started a thread on a list, asking what is on your sewing table. Since my friend kindly sort of gently bullied me into needing one........I bought this one on special in Spotlight.

It is a Horn and matches my cutting table which can usually be identified by junk under or on top of it.

Well this is actually the sewing table. Note the reels of cotton on the Martha Pullen stand behind the machine. Note also the lovely bucket to the left of the machine at the back. My friend Sue had one for her sewing rubbish. She gave me this one at Christmas. Yes she spoils me, and I am keeping threads only in mine. It is great for threads which I collect and then sew under organza to make the front of a bag.

I did get a clearer version of this photo but it has vanished for now......but

you get the general idea of the top of my cutting table.

I can see a quilt top ...with a stripe running vertically, I can see the list of healing hearts

that I want to make, some material for hearts, then that lump in the middle

is composed of two pairs of trousers I mean to add a strip down both sides to

make them very loose for hot days.

Then there is a piece of red fabric I purchased to make a skirt.

That is two pieces in two years and it is about 10 years since I have made a skirt.

Then at the back is a bag which only needs a bit of work to finish....

It is a present for my friend's birthday back in Sept and since she has taken what

we both thought we about 4 pots of orchids and turned out to be more like 20+ and

the bags of orchid mix are well used and more is being purchased.....

and then......I am told I will have beautiful orchids and babies, and I truly believe her,

but we are both a little bemused as to where they will live.

Meanwhile....I think the bag should be completed.

Someone mentioned yesterday that they had actually seen it cleared last time.!!

What is on my sewing table

Well not exactly the sewing table, but part of the cutting table.......

Hearts on the stool ready to be sewn and block ready to be sent.....hope it is in the mail tomorrow. As you can see there is another category. On the floor.!!!

Lots of goodies on the floor.

I loved that ironing cover when I purchased it some years ago in the market and an iron cover to match it. Note it does not live on the iron. I am always afraid of fires.

The cerise bag under the green curtain has a bag all cut out ready to make. Oh dear and here I spent a night on this machine.

Shame shame. Good for the soul ...nothing to be proud of there.

My favourite spot to sleep

The blue in this picture is the turn over top of my sheet....madam is perched on my chest/tummy wherever it is flat......and I am falling back on the pillows to get the photo and will she move........not bloomin' likely. Mummy has gone to bed for the night and she is in her place on top of Mum. She gets shunted to the European pillow on the bed beside me when I actually go to sleep, but what we also like is a little play around at this point.............then we settle. Tough on Mum who may not want 6.5kg on her chest/tummy region.

Water Mummy water.

I have always maintained good behaviour in my cats by squirting water at them.........alas....this one knows it is punishment but she also then comes running for a drink after she has licked herself dry.

Now I have seen these pictures........I can see this one......and I know how stupid I look........the little paws grip around my hand and I have to squeeze the water in the furry mouth.

She loved water. Turn on the spa and she is in........I can barely get out of the shower for her pushing her way in.

Crazy cat. What normal cat sits on a seat in the spa to watch it filling up?

Bendigo retreat angel swap birthday gifts.

Am feeling very spoilt this week with a lovely parcel from my angel. I should be a good mortal after such tender loving care.
I must find her first parcel and take a photo also......this is a lovely bag......it has the rings in it that I once purchased after seeing them used in a bag like this and have not yet used them. And as for my pincushion with my name on it.
That is just super special. The card behind does not match the angel gifts but was a lovely surprise in my pigeon hole at church as I did not say boo about a birthday this year and somehow this lovely lady has noted my birthday down and so had a card for me.
I felt so special and spoilt.

birthday fat quarter swap

I chose fossil ferns or oriental fabrics and am so thrilled with my lovely stash. I can see that I am going to have to actually sew something this year. There is after all, only so much material one can store.

Another bag.......and a cute cute card

This one is from my friend Sue who is one of the super prolific members of our small sit and sew group. I provide the magazines to read and criticize when they come to my place....bake Macadamia pie and show the material I have purchased and generall try to distract them from asking what have I made.......vbg.

We are getting very organized this year....I started off by buying 8 lovely plates from Mikasa that sort of have a patchwork pattern on them and thought that would be the basis of my present with some fabric or if I ever do make something......some other goodie.

So we have a Sue bag and a Lynn bag.

I just bet you are jealous that you are not in this yummy group......vbg.
This bag has a needle/pin spot under the lid. and is just right for putting hearts in waiting to be stitched and then grabbing it as you race out the door.