Melbourne

We've just had a few days in Melbourne to see number two's new play!!! As a writer, not an actor ... it is very exciting to see an actual professionally performed production written by our child. The play was great - very funny, very well-paced and, entirely objectively, a work of complete genius that should be studied by future generations :) It had a two week run with good houses and mostly good reviews - as in largely positive but with some criticisms - and all in all a wonderful experience in going from draft script to closing night. We are obviously very impressed!

And of course a few days in Melbourne is always a nice change. Number two has moved flats again so we got to explore another new part of town - an airbnb on the 10th floor this time. It was a really nice area, and good to see the spread of the city out to the edges. 

We caught up with old friends who lived on the bay, so went for a walk with them. It's not one of the world's great beaches but good to walk your dog, and there's some nice swimming spots. 

We went out to Abbotsford Convent which is now a community centre of varying stripes - beautiful gardens and interesting buildings. And had a poke around the shops in the middle of town of course (art supplies and yarn stores! yay!!!) and went and saw Book of Mormon which is having a Melbourne run. Hilarious, we laughed and laughed and listened to the soundtrack on the nine hour drive home. 

Wagon o' poo

Next step on the new bed was to dig in this wonderful load of horse manure, from the neighbours over the back, who have two miniature horses. Nothing miniature about these turds, let me tell you. We also had the neighbours over for a drink - it seemed a bit rude just to use them for their poo - which was very lovely; they are great company.

I think I will keep the seeds in pots over winter, our frosts can be quite brutal. But then I need a greenhouse! What to do? We got the guy who builds the veggie cages around and we are now planning how big we want it (probably 12 m by 9 m, for six beds plus fruit trees) so we can get a quote and get it built! Very exciting.

We've had a bit of rain so everything's green again, and the roses are getting another flush, which is affirming. I am not sure that I did anything right with the roses but they seem unstoppable. 

Here's a photo from July last year when I was worried I'd pruned a bit too close to the sun with the front beds ... and then one from a couple of days ago. Turns out, no need for concern! In fact it could probably do with a bit more of a tidy up this winter....

Finishes! sewing AND knitting

I went down the coast by myself for a couple of days last week and had a little sewing retreat. I love doing this - making a huge mess, doing nothing but sewing and the occasional walk - not cooking properly or doing chores or anything useful. It was too rainy to swim.

Some more linen three-quarter pants - I don't really need more but I'd had the linen-cotton blend fabric for ages so I thought it needed using. And I've worn them a couple of times already, which is good. They have a side zip and darts rather than elastic, very fancy.

Some corduroy shorts - the corduroy was from the quilter's donated stash (we were positively encouraged to help ourselves if we thought we would use anything) - and I had thought pants but there wasn't enough material. Corduroy shorts are a bit peculiar, but they've been great! I did a fly front zip and everything, so they feel like I'm wearing my posh shorts, rather than my casual shorts. This is my life now, my formal clothes are shorts.

The downside of the craft de-stash and sorting out the quilters' donations was this drying rack of shame ... a small fraction of the lengths that I squirrelled away without really thinking I was picking up anything at all. And that's not the half of it, I think I scored nineteen dress lengths of various bits. Slightly shameful, because I absolutely do not need any more clothes, but they were on their way to landfill, so what is a person to do? They mostly smelled like old lady though, so washing was in order.

And lastly but definitely not leastly is my first ever jumper that I knitted. Isn't it amazing? Thank you Florence for the free pattern, incredibly detailed instructions and the two hour youtube video that I watched on half speed, I could not have done it without you. It is 800g of pure wool so perhaps just for the deepest winter, but I am so impressed with myself, despite the many obvious errors. I was so impressed I got my husband to take a nice photo, instead of a mirror selfie.

I have bought a new pattern and some new wool is being shipped as we speak! New hobby unlocked!!!!

Random gardening

It's still a bit hot and humid to do much gardening ... but humid is good for growing. We had some proper rain finally and the plants are relishing it. And I am doing something I have never done before - growing from seed!!!! I cannot imagine this will work but seeds are cheap. 

These are very hardy perennials for the new bed that I haven't finished yet. I'm not sure if I'll plant them in the bed this year or leave them in pots in a sheltered spot until spring. We were planning an overseas holiday in spring but now we're reluctant to fly anywhere ... most flights from Australia go through the Middle East or you can go the other way through the US and who wants to do that? They don't do transit and I will never be in the mood for US immigration. First world problems, that are making me second guess my seed planting and propagation schedule. Did the various regimes think of that? They did not.

This is the tomato bush that mysteriously popped up in the middle of the rose and hellebore bed off the verandah. We have harvested five very delicious tomatoes and there may be more. 

This canna lily is looking lovely in the big blue pot. I like pots in garden beds, and cannas are tough enough for anything. 

And this little fellow came to quilters this week! It is a brush tailed possum joey - about 90 days since gestation so eyes not open yet, and would normally still be in the pouch but his mum was killed. So now he sleeps in a little fleece bag and gets carried around to events in a calico shopping bag and drop fed ten times a day. Super cute, although in NZ possums are a feral pest and we kill them, so I have had to do some mental adjustments.

Basketweave strings

Sorry Pam, but here's another quilt - if it's any consolation it is a real utility one. When we were sorting out all the donated material and trying to get it in shape to be sold there were all sorts of odds and ends going into 'the tub'. So a couple of us decided to make string quilts from the tub and this is mine! The scraps are pieced over squares of calico (there were two whole tubs of that) without any thought or design.

Not pretty in any way! But a quilt, that can be used for something, and all from real scraps.

We had a go at the stash sale up in Gunning over the weekend. There's a big craft group there that puts this on every year but this is the first time our little quilt group had a table. We did OK - didn't get rid of masses of stuff but certainly got rid of some, and made a few hundred dollars to keep the lights on for another month or two ... and the material is all prepped now so we can try again in our own town later on.

I had quite a fun day chatting with crafty people. Gunning is about an hour and half's drive away so it was an early start (still dark! lucky I didn't hit a roo) but quite an interesting drive on roads I haven't been down for a while (if at all). I was resolved not to buy anything but I failed. All yarn! I have finished my first sweater and will take photos of it when it's blocked, so now I'm looking for the next project. Just what I need, another hobby.

There's been a lot of driving this week - Thursday we went in to Canberra to pick up our new (not new, new to us) ute! Very exciting. We bought it off a friend's 17 year old daughter, who chose an enormous diesel twin cab as her first car ... and after about six months has realised it is not the most practical vehicle for suburban life so we happily took it off her hands. It is a tank but our cars were not cutting the rural life. Friday I went back into Canberra for drinks for a colleague who is stopping work and lunch with another friend who has also just gone on long leave pending retirement. I enjoyed both but not as much as these pigeons enjoyed outside the Vietnamese cafe where we had lunch.