On leave this week

It's the first week of the school holidays and I'm on leave looking after the children. Well, not really looking after, more driving them places. Number one son spent four very long days at a friend's house filming for their media project - not exactly sure what they're filming but he came home covered in dust and blue dye. Apparently most of it is in front of a green screen (sheet over the clothesline I think) and the friend is going to do computer graphics. Maybe. He was very tired by Tuesday night. Number two son has another theatre production - rehearsals every day this week for opening night on Friday. He's not sure if they'll be ready in time ... is anybody ever sure they're ready for opening night? We are going along to watch regardless.



Between the driving around, I've done a bit of grocery shopping, washing, errands and general tidying up. I've been postponing everything for the past month to do in my week off, which is always a foolish strategy. I never get it all done. Mostly because I've been distracted by scraps, which I am making into colour co-ordinated blocks this time.

The sugar bowl blocks were a good scrappy introduction, but then I decided to get real scrappy and make a rainbow quilt, because everything's coming up rainbows in Australia at the moment as we have our "non-binding postal survey" on same sex marriage. Despite every poll for the past two decades showing majority support for gay marriage the government doesn't have the guts to just legislate it, so they're having a postal survey (not a vote, the legislation for a vote didn't get through, long boring story). Waste of time and money but not a complete waste if I can get some quilt inspiration out of it.

Sometimes I hate my cat

A week without a post! Not because I've been busy but because life has been quiet and boring, and there's been nothing to talk about. Working, yawn, cooking, yawn, parent-teacher interviews and ordering socks on-line. Hardly the stuff to share with the world ... although there I go. Sharing.



So this is why I hate my cat. Despite being seventeen years old, and deaf, and a bit blind, and creaky in the joints, she can still destroy the back of a brand new sofa in the five minutes we leave it uncovered. Normally there is a carefully draped rug there for just this reason. We used to shout at her and she'd run off (because very early on we shouted then squirted her with a water sprayer, and she remembers that) but now she can't hear us shout. She just scratches until we get up and push her away, and she acts all surprised - why didn't you warn me? and stomps off. Having made the sofa look like crap.



Last night my husband and I went back to the war memorial for the roll of honour projections for a distant relative of my uncle - a 20 year old second lieutenant from Toorak who died in 1917. There was no-one else around on a still night - the war memorial is very atmospheric. I failed to do it justice with my iPhone.

The flowerpots

I've finished my Freddy and Gwen flowerpots - I put them horizontally in the end rather than vertically. I was going to do a border but couldn't quite find the right border fabric, or the right piecing pattern, so just left it without one. We mostly use single-size quilts to be honest - the boys have them on their beds and my husband and I sleep at such different temperatures that we both have our individual pile of quilts on ourselves, no sharing.

It is called "The Thoughts of Others", no reason why. As you can see from the photo below it is raw edge machine applique (using fusible to stick it down, then stitch around the edge) so it is quite likely to fray with repeated washing but I don't really care. It bows dreadfully at the edges too, because the fabric cut from old shirts is so soft and doesn't want to hold its shape. I don't care about that either. I quilted it in big fat feathers because they are fun to do and I could guide the feathers to make sure most of the dodgy applique edges were held down with at least a little bit of quilting.



And on the back I dragged some very ugly fabric out of my shelves - possibly flower related? Definitely colourful. Strange lady hippies on one side, and something that looks like sad 1980s duvet cover on the other.



Overall this quilt didn't use up a lot of stash, which is a shame, but when the urge comes to make peculiar little flowers in vases you just have to run with it.

 

Another weekend

The weekend came and went quietly. I was a bit unwell on Saturday - just one of those days where the side effects from the drugs all gang up and make me sick. I think I've mentioned this before - I tolerate the drugs pretty well most of the time but every couple of months I have a shocking day of muscle and bone pain, nausea and headaches. It goes away by dinner time so I just take painkillers and lie down, but it's pretty miserable. It started two years ago when I went onto these new injections so there must be something strange they're doing to me!

But Sunday was a lovely day, starting with a book club brunch. A couple of the ladies have been off on overseas postings and are now back, so we had a bit of a reunion and revitalisation over eggs benedict and coffee. I love brunch, I think it's my favourite meal. We've set up a new facebook group and we are going to be regular and focussed in our literary efforts from now on. Honestly. The photo is the fountain outside the National Library, where we brunched. There is an extremely popular cafe in the foyer.



And Sunday afternoon I went for the usual run around the lake, admiring the spring blossoms and everyone out and about. I used fancy filters on these photos - can you tell? I kind of think filters are for twelve year old girls and people with no life but it is fun to do. I might branch out into noir-esque black and white numbers.

 

Sugar bowls

I was thinking of something scrappy next up - but not sure what to do - I was thinking maybe pinks? And then, just when I needed it, Bonnie Hunter pops up with sugar bowl blocks. I'm making mine bigger than hers, nine-inch finished instead of six-inch finished. It means I only need 64 blocks for a decent size quilt instead of 144! Bugger that.

 

 

I am going with pinks, or close to pinks, whatever I have in the scrap strips and yardage. They are fun to make and should be a lovely friendly quilt in the end.

Two different runs

On Saturday I was full of the joys of spring - a nice fresh morning with the blossoms just starting out - a gentle breeze, a blue sky and a nice 7 km run around the lake to start the weekend.

 



 

And little adorable fluffballs of cygnets! They are so cute, and their parents are so fierce that I couldn't get any closer and just had to use the crappy iphone zoom. But trust me, they were tiny and cute and so grey and fluffy that I just wanted to give them a cuddle. But I didn't because mama swan would have literally bitten my hands off, it has been known to happen. They are mean birds.

But this spring loveliness lasted about two hours and since then it has been windy and showery and cold. Snow again on the hills. I thought I would go for a lunchtime run yesterday, even though the apparent temperature (taking into account windchill) never got above zero, because I don't mind the cold usually ... but it was HORRIBLE. Wind nearly knocked me off my feet, the ear infection was screaming at the cold air and then I turned onto my usual lake side path and there were waves across it! That doesn't ever happen, and I wasn't too enthusiastic about swallowing lake water with my run. So I pathetically gave up and went back to work. Yuck.

 

The baby cheeses

Remember the murky mid-creams and browns I was working on a few months ago? With some red corner stones they became this scrap quilt. I called it "The baby cheeses" because I am watching the new series of "Cheese Slices" which is a wonderful show about cheese hosted by a man who takes love of cheese to the crazy extreme. Number one son and I were watching a show a couple of weeks ago that had monks carefully turning the new cheeses which was just beyond bonkers. Praise the baby cheeses.



It is an indoor shot today because it is windy and showery and sunny all coming two minutes after each other and I didn't like my chances of getting a good shot outdoors. And the washing line was full, although I keep taking it in and putting it out again ... well, until I got sick of it and shoved it all in the dryer. Bugger the planet, it was getting too difficult. And I've got an ear infection which is painful! I've never had one before and it sucks - I went to the doctor on Thursday and got antibiotics and drops, so fingers crossed it will improve soon. Here is a shot of the quilting ... kind of loops. Kind of.



The back of this quilt is more of the ugly mid-browns in an attempt to use them all up. I haven't got close, but on the other hand I haven't bought any quilting fabric at all since the couple of metres in California in January, so I must be shrinking my stash a tiny bit? Yes?