what is in your house?

Being an only child, I inherited not
only my life time collecting of odds
and ends and gifts etc, but those of
my Mother. I could no longer really
say for sure whose were originally
whose.
This is a collection in a narrow gap
between two doorways. The sort
of things, that having no decedents
will no doubt end up in a rubbish
skip or op shop.

But they give me joy and I refuse
to throw them out because the
trend is to minimalism.

I may not buy things, apart from
fabric and necessities any longer
but I do resist the trend to just
throw it out because it is old.
Or even worse. Out of fashion.


I a reasonably confident that the bell
was from Mum. We both enjoyed
collecting pottery and I must take
some other photos one day.




What is this odd object?

Mum did find this somewhere
and I should have the leg
properly fixed and use it as
a sewing caddy. Which it is.


Again, to someone else, a useless collection.
The metal base with the seat cover was part of
a set which went each side of a fire and the hole
in the base is where a rod went to link the two.
The flowers are left overs from Mum's especially
the bird, how I used to hate her birds, but had
to keep one.
The books are temporary and I admit are
untidy but are recent childhood books found
in a shed cupboard.

These flowers are high up on my craft magazine
bookshelf. They were the vase I arranged for
Mum in the nursing home, so that at least there
were always some flowers. We had real plants
as well. I keep them as a reminder of those 18
months that Mum spent there prior to her death.


More a Dad reminder here. The barometer
which I really should hang. A photo of my
Dad which the camera flash has washed out
and a collection of books from my Mother.

Mum loved African violets and she used to

keep them on a tray in the back room in her

last house. I was anti for a while, but have

now reverted to type and have my own

flourishing collection in the kitchen window.

The secret to flowers being to keep water

topped up every day in the saucer.

So yes, in my house a lot of people would

say, throw out half that junk... there is much

too much while others come in and love

the warmth and coziness.

I just walked around with the camera

the other night after taking some Moggie

in the cane quilt hutch photos.

Thank goodness for bright eyes.

We managed to stay here from around 6pm until after midnight when we came to the bedroom and went straight under the blankets between the sheets where we radiated heat all night...so much that I was awake and in pain about 4 AM and ended up lying there with the blankets off me until at some stage I had enough weak brain power to get the warm milk and brandy ..but forgot the magnesium tablet until 8 AM when I had breakfast. Then I actually caught up on those lost hours of sleep......and managed to miss Church.

It is a dark dank cold winter day. So strange to feel the cold with rheumatism...I am used to complaining and avoiding the heat, ti's a sad day when I start really feeling the cold.

But the heat that this bundle generates is quite

considerable. A preacher made me somewhat

angry when he was complaining about the money

folk spent on dogs and called the dog their GOD.

I feel like writing him an essay and how much

I save in heating bills by having the CAT.

I contemplated a screed on the value of animals

for the elderly and those alone at the time but

decided he was inflexible and not worth wasting

the time writing to.

It is odd how our experiences can filter how we

see segments of the world. On the farm I always

had a dog as a pet, but now I appreciate my

garden more than dog holes for bones and so my

next door neighbours dogs guard my home better

than their own (there's has been burgled twice)

but the racket should anyone try to get in here

and not be admitted quickly would effectively

put most burglars off.

I sometimes have to talk to them in the odd hours

of the night when I might wake them by coming

out and assure them that it is I...and all is well.

Talking to the animals around here requires

multi tasking across the species.

The sun has emerged and it is lovely to see it

shining in the lounge room. Low winter light

is enjoyable without the intense heat.

Mummy was worried

Moggie was missing.
The call of food did not work.
Mum had burnt the steak, filling in a stupid
involved computer form....and so doors were
opened...and a cat will not be cold.
I called and I called.
Until I saw two bright headlights.
In the cane quilt container no less!!

Never underestimate the ability of a cat both

to hide and to keep warm.

when I should be???

making the last three large 1 hr bags,

2 for my sit and sew group,

one for my giveaway...

the batting has come so I have no excuses......

except this bag of Moda scraps sort of distracted me

Oh bother. I have not shown you the side with the pocket.

So here it is

We are auditioning handles.

The pocket....made of off cut scraps was

originally for the inside, but having sewn it

on the wrong side of the lining I undid it and

figured it could go on the outside as I had

used fusible batting and quilted it anyway.

I did make another for the inside

But I probably need someone to hold the bag

open.

I love the immediacy of the digital

computer age. I bought these flowers

well over a week ago as a Woolworths

mark down and noted enough buds and

the orchids which last a while anyway

and decided it was worth the investment

of $4. It was.

I often dream of going back and redoing

my qualifications with computer, digital

camera instead of typewriter, darkroom

and make my own books in which I

often presented assignments.

Wow.....think of the marks...but then

everyone else would be so much more

able also.

That Christmas Dresden Plate Quilt

We are now up to 24 and the last time I tried it
on the bed I had 12. I find I have quite a few
more background squares cut and I have quite
a few more plates made so it is off to the salt mines
again.

Here is the start of a mini tutorial of the way

I make these when making a lot of them for

a quilt.

First I determine the length

In this case 4"

So cut a strip 4" deep.

You can cut as much of each

fabric you are going to use into

4" strips

Then you use the Dresden ruler

and cut top and tail...beware of

some patterns. You can still use

them but you need to keep like

with like.

The first cut is the most awkward.

All cut into plates.

If only making one block I would

go to the machine and sew across

the top, but when making a lot I

tend to prepare a little more and

sit and chat while I pin across the

tops. This just makes it quicker

to strip piece them.

And here are some from my

bag of plates already string

pieced and waiting to be cut.

I cut on the open edge as the

leftover bit of cotton is hidden

on the folded side.

Strip pieced and now separated.

Again I tend to sit and turn

them inside out while watching

TV or whatever.

Then I give them a quick press

with the iron so they sit with

the line in the middle.

These are pressed and ready

to be placed on the backing.

Till I am ready to make up

plates which I shall show you

next time, I store these in bags.

Hugs and Kisses...competition

http://hugsnkisses.typepad.com/hugsfromhelen/
go here and drool.
Now this lovely Hugs and Kisses quilt is available for giveaway.
I have given in and purchased some Christmas stitcheries but this one would be my biggest challenge should I be fortunate enought to win.
We have put out the call......home to Mummy....waiting waiting.


Aubirdwoman and The Cat's Mum are very good at leading me astray at Christmas.

The postman cometh

One oriental, I think Hoffman... and three
batik's on special, the blue is better than in
the photo. Probably for bags.
The purple black and white is the Lazy girl.

Two days.. of visits from the postie. The envelope shows a

new pattern called Claire by Lazy Girl and 7 black and white

fat quarters to make it. I knew if I did not buy the kit I

would never try it out in the multiple fabrics.

The others go with the wheatmeal oreo jelly roll by Moda

above. A very very useful one. This is my second or third.

And below.....my latest finished (old) mystery quilt, all ready

to have the binding pinned on for machine sewing.

Was to be sit and sew today but the body has turned negative.

May sit up in bed and do it later.

It is winter

I decided to change the heading to reflect that the shortest day of the year is just past. I used to long for this day when I was teaching and had to get up early in the morning. I hated getting up in the dark and somehow once this day was past it would slowly get better.

Had to chuckle ...as I was out the front taking a couple of these photos and looking at the new footpath up trotted a couple walking calmly and safely in the middle of our quiet road which no more needed re making no needed a footpath than I need to take dancing lessons in this era of my life. Some things are just not needed.

Mind you I wished I had taken those lessons earlier. VBG

So here is a collage of June and the emergence of pieces of spring alongside end bits of Autumn

I have spoken a lot about my desire to have a Christmas quilt on my bed this year. I had done almost enough for a small quilt by last year but have had a blitz to make this a big one.

Heavens only knows what I shall do for the different sized centers. I had contemplated little lace mats......maybe I need to do some knee work on this one. I have several more pinned to the squares and ready to be sewn and then it will be time to check...I think there will be more than enough.

I have heaps more Dresden plates in the process but they can be used for mats and runners etc.

I have finished my 20 blocks for the Four Seasons Quilt Swap. Must put the logo up.

I have decided that the best possible investment in the den of iniquity is a new cutting blade.

You go from cutting cheese with an ordinary knife to cutting butter with a newly sharpened dagger.

I changed blades halfway through the squaring up process, cutting off all those pesky end bits of cotton etc and I am amazed how dumb I can be in persevering with a stupid old blade while wasting money on some silly piece of food that was no where near necessary or worth the cost.

New blades must be the cheapest way to make a quilters life easy that there is.

That and enough water in the iron....and a good iron.

Just need the address and off they go. And oh my shoulder ...I do not want any more bits replaced but oh dear they are getting more and more painful. Thank goodness I was lazy and did not dress today so do not have to struggle to get clothes off. I nearly attacked a top with the scissors the other day.

But if I start getting help to get dressed and undressed it will mean getting dressed and undressed every day and at designated times........yeah for the year of the nightie.

I wanted to make bed by midnight...just a few minutes over.

Blame the computer.

SUNDAY SONG

Today has been a song less day, full of sleep and little else.
Sometimes we wonder when things such as health do not work as we would want them to.
We wonder about answers.

People hurt us, leave us, grieve us.
We wonder about answers.

But ultimately we must accept that we will never know all the answers to our questions in this life. So where do we go....where do we turn.

Many years ago I put this song on tape....I loved it then and I love it still.
Only Jesus is the answer. But yes. He is enough.




When Answers Aren't Enough

Vrs. 1You have faced the mountains of desperation,
You have climbed, you have fought, you have won,
But this valley that lies coldly before you,
Casts a shadow you cannot overcome.
And just when you thought you had it all together
You knew every verse to get you through,
But this time all that sorrow broke more than just your heart
And reciting all those verses just won't do.

Chorus When answers aren't enough there is Jesus,
He is more than just an answer to your prayer,
And your heart will find a safe and peaceful refuge,
When answers aren't enough, He is there.

Vrs. 2
Instead of asking why did it happen,
Think of where it could lead you from here.
And as your pain is slowly easing you can find a greater reason,
To live your life triumphant through the tears.

lost since Wednesday

A quilt on my bed. I do not often have a "real" quilt on my bed but I decided it was time. This was made at Quilters Lane in Sunbury, well most of it. It is a quilt as you go, starting with the centre section and adding borders. Nada kindly did the centre stippling for me as it was painfully obvious I was going to wreck rather expensive fabric. I hated the cheap backing ( there is always a lesson to be learnt) that I had on the back and let it hold me back from finishing it for years. Now who notices. I was going to make it longer all around to be what I call a proper bed quilt but I decided that finished was best. The border and binding between the green and the half square triangles in my signature fabric.
I will try and take a close up of it.

I finished my purple/olive green quilt, very slow to sew single narrow binding on but so glad I did. I shall either have to find someone to hold it or maybe use the first ever clothes line photo.
Nothing has been on my clothes line for so long that I am very very tempted to grow wisteria over it. The only problem being it will shade the vegetable garden. Maybe it is time to take it out and let the next buying whose shoulders will allow them to reach up to decide what sort of clothes line they wish to have.



The very last of the Autumn color in the corner as the front (non flowering as yet) and grown from a cutting Mt Fuji has its show of Autumn. The back one which flowers has long lost its leaves. The leaves of the magnolia are close to falling and the mulberry is bare.

It was so nice to see that machine go. It was a noisy noisy dusty beast.

Notice the quality of the soil they have put on the nature strip.

Mini crushed rock turning to mud in the wet. Just great!! But we have a footpath and the fencing man came to fix the back corner when I was at sit and sew on Thursday so have yet

to ring him and discuss front fence. But I think somehow he already has a clue.

Today being Saturday I slept on and off while the big bang machines managed to put tarmac on the road. I looked out the window yesterday afternoon and lo behold it was black not grey.

It almost looks to be the correct level and completed. Monday will no doubt tell. 7 AM Monday to be precise.

I had intended to go to an international dinner tonight. Bought my rolled lamb roast and had roast vegetables at the ready but the sheer overwhelming thought of once again, going off on my own defeated me. No friends at this venue that I could suggest meeting or even check to see if they would be there. It is remarkable how you can be part of a large group and be so alone in it all.

So I decided to eat my roast alone. Tom eat your heart out and I am just that little less weary from carting things out to the car and into the venue and doing the " I am fine by myself" socializing deal.

Anyone else get fed up with putting on the cheerful social mask when you really do not feel you belong somewhere. Unfortunately the folk who have been my friends have, as usually happens in my life, all left....all for good and appropriate reasons. I think I have a honing device re people who will eventually leave.

I have been watching TV and sewing Christmas Dresden's. This quilt must be finished this Christmas and making my 6.5" squares. So have been a relatively busy bunny in the midst of trying to read a book by an author that others say is wonderful and this is my second try at one of her books and it is just not gelling. She is Diana Gabaldon and I think the title is
"Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade "(2007)
Maybe I should have read the prior one.

If someone can tell me a good book of hers to begin with I would be grateful. I seldom have to work this hard to enjoy and author.

Fortunately the last three were more enjoyable.

So a combination of utter weariness after sit and sew and the shopping that followed has left me

somewhat mute in the latter part of this week.

At least I am ticking off a few of the UFO items.

WORD FILLED WEDNESDAY

People have often said over the years...." I wish I had your faith".

I have tried to explain that it is a gift, that yes you reach out and ask for faith with the same confidence as you sit on a chair.

The chair is there for the purpose of sitting on, and why would you not test it. If you were wary, you may test it gingerly but you would sit on the chair..most times in utter faith that it will hold you.

So we reach out to God to ask for the gift of faith to believe, to receive from Him, with that same sense of confidence. In fact with much more confidence because God is a loving being who longs for you to reach out in faith to know and love Him. He is no inanimate object.

God created us for relationship.

Relationship is always a two way highway. One reaches out, the other reaches to meet and there is the beginning of relationship. Relationship involves responsibilities.

A child in relationship with its parents has the responsibility to be obedient and in a right family relationship to grow in love and trust with the parents and their ability to assist him/her in their growth to individual personality.

God created Adam. He was in relationship with Adam. He created Eve for relationship with Adam and with God. That relationship had one stipulation. It was to obey God in the one command He had given them.

To know that the love and wisdom of God was always better than the best of their created minds. But the serpent appealed to the individuality rather than to the relationship.

To individual choice rather than faith and obedience.

And so relationship with God was broken and sin entered into a world that was no longer the ideal creation of God.

They had failed the crucial test. The test of faith in the ultimate goodness and love of God.

They had lost the substance of faith being the things hoped for and things believed.

All through the years since that time, mankind has reached out for faith in something/someone.
Some reached to God and others reached to idols, things of their own creation.

Then God reached down in giving His Son so that all who believe in the Son of God, in His death for their sins, His resurrection for their salvation and eternal hope.

So what are we doing with this gift of faith....do we reach out, take it, open it and grow in it, or is it like many a dusty Bible sitting in some old box of books...if even there is one in the modern home at all.

How could an individual face death and not look at the evidence for a life after death ?

Faith....

It is not exclusive, it is available to all who will take that step to reach out.

And then it was Monday

Four days up and dressed in a row and three of them out of the house. Maybe we are winning over chronic fatigue after all.

I did somewhat lapse into sleep all day today. One poor man rang the door bell....took one look at me holding a gown across my front and almost ran.

I muttered "sorry I am not well", and he recovered enough to ask did I have insulation. I said "yes" and fell back into bed before I dared look in the mirror.

The mail is still in the post box but it will still be there tomorrow.

It was a good run, sit and sew here on Thursday and that is after having been dragged out in dressing gown (white I might add, white gown, white nightie, white slippers) on Wednesday to oversee the hunt for books in the shed. We fought as usual about what can stay and what he can throw out, and he had a few wins and I managed to keep the chocolate shell trays, remember them...shall probably never use them again but we did find the Pollyanna books.

So of course it was hit the shower and the washing machine after that little episode out in the shed and the rain. Teach me to think I was having a peaceful morning.


Friday was the message day, the get hair done day and oh I am so thankful, then Saturday was

Wyndham patchworkers and Sunday morning I made it to church, very close to 8 am for rehearsal. I gather someone may have muttered something about me living the closest as the other lass singing asked did I live near by. Oh course the people who live closest are latest..it is a classic Murphy's Law.

Sang through the 9 AM service and the 10.45 AM service having a lovely baby cuddle in between and a coffee and fresh air break. I contemplated returning a garment and then contemplated bed and made it to bed in approx 15 minutes and slept until 5.1 5pm.

So for someone who has barely left the house for a month...it was not a bad run.


I have just made the 4Th, 5Th & 6Th I think of this group of 20 x 6.5" squares which need to be posted by the end of the month.

I thought this was going to be easy peasy and looked at the directions and freaked.


My clever friend read them and said, they are good and clear.....Yeah thinks me,to you they are, but wait till my paws get to them...but believe it or not..they work.

The colors look washed out and yes I read the other day you should not put bad photos in you blog ...so I tried the put on the floor and zoom trick. And now I know I have only made 5.

Oh the joy when I get the energy to go buy the digital SLR....spring will drive me to it, when there are flowers to photograph.

So apart from little bits of reading in between falling sound asleep again, I hate to admit
that two of these blocks is all I have achieved today. I had planned to spend the day
sewing but oh I was a tired, tired baby. An old one to be sure....but slept as soundly as a baby.

oh my...I lost Friday!

My Carer/cleaning lady is away for two weeks and they have been sending men which when one is not expecting them is a little shock to the system.
But today I was a little more aware of possibilities so when a nice Filipino gentleman came I was ready and had the vacuum cleaner assembled and the equipment out and ready. He had trained for two years as a nurse in NZ and was enjoying fitting this work in with his studies to work in aged care.
Nice to hear peoples stories.

I had a wee sleep after making a hair appointment for 3.15pm and then around 1pm set off for the chemist. I am so used to the lovely girls they have there and they all know me well but they have a new one and poor girl seems to tread on my corns each time I get her.....and get her I do. I handed her two different brands of cream to put with my order and she asked did I want both of them. Oh breath deeply woman.
Do not say the obvious...why the heck would I have given them to you......
Funny how when you think you are a nice patient tra la person someone will stand right on that corn and show what a real rat is hidden under that nice pie persona.
Well I escaped without laying her in the aisles and fled to the library where they oozed the usual charm on my wounded feathers. Had a lovely lady at Safeway while I waited for the chemist, so I guess she was my patience test for the day.
I then headed into town and even had time to pick up a pair of glasses from the option that had been waiting for me to collect old glasses in new frame since last year. At least I they cost me nothing and I had used up my HBA allowance last year, so a wait was a good thing.
I then managed to park in the supermarket and use a trolley to get me to the hairdressers...poor lady wondered what was happening till she realized my purpose and we hid it while I had a hair color and trim and then crawled through the new Coles which was very poorly stocked in some areas.
It has four layers of color. But that is as much as you are going to see from the look in the mirror while you try to take your own photo.
How did my nose become so prominent???

Fell in car with Chinese from the takeaway stand and somehow got the shopping inside.
After a month, almost exclusively at home I was a tad tired. I managed to get the fridge/freezer things away and then fell onto the bed with my meal. Then into shower and slept through part of Master chef. Not happy!
Decided at the end of Better homes and gardens that I had no energy for anything but turning off the light I breathed a prayer of thanks that I had not even switched the computer on and hoped there were no other lights on in the house. I was asleep barely before my eyes fully checked the darkness.
It was an odd night of freezing and boiling and woke at 3.30AM and had the hot milk and brandy trick and painkillers and general night tablets, then tossed for a couple more hours till mine or the external temperature miraculously stabilized around 6 am.
Lovely sleep for another three hours then decided that it really was a good thing to go to patchwork and quilting. Got there to find out I had been apologised for.......oh ye of little faith...lol.
How accurate it would have normally been. But got a cute yell of.....ha she is not an apology at all and scratched out my name. Won a towel with a crocheted top which I just might machine embroider to match the color of the top in the last raffle prize option.
Dragged my big bad of goodies for gadget day and was duly ragged...I deserve it.
If I only quilted as much or as well as I collect.....lol!
Came home gently via the supermarket and collected a little more cat food on special plus a few odds and ends...one of them being a loaf of bread which I have no idea where it now resides........go on a hunt after this. Two books from the library and some 50c magazines...so have some reading matter of the quilting variety.
I managed to make some lamb shank broth which is yummy except I put the vegetables through the food processor and the leek was so thin that it is looking burnt. Has not affected the taste...but has not improved the appearance.
I cooked some sausages and some new potato thingies in the oven and made it to 7.30 and the beginning of "new tricks" when to my disgust I fell asleep.

So now to bed and ready for the 7 am alarm tomorrow for music rehearsal at 8 am.

I am so ashamed of the fact that I have not been to church since May 4Th when I came home and fell into bed and did not really emerge much until a month later.

It is good to be feeling a little more human.
And that was Friday.