Two photos of the sky

So much going on, and none of it interesting. Just work, and trying to keep track of whatever the boys are up to. Number one is enrolled in an undergraduate university course! He's still got a couple of years at school, but the Australian National University run courses for secondary school students, which actually count as credits apparently. We will see how it goes. We were very encouraging (it's free).



My Dad and I went down the beach for the weekend and it was wonderful! He couldn't swim because of a bad cut on his leg, but I leapt in both days; there was a fairly solid swell and some good surf. It's always nice to be by the sea...



And here is another photo of the sky taken when I was leaving work. I was all frazzled and cranky and stomped up from the underground car park (I had to park in the overflow carpark down the hill because I was in late) to see this lovely sky. It was calm and clear and by the time I reached the car I felt much better.

You're turning violet, Violet

Remember "Free Man on Sunday" when I said I had a better idea for scraps and solids halfway through? It was less solids and more scraps, and it is finally finished.



It is quilted with swirls through the blocks and smaller swirls on the border. Nothing very surprising, but I like it more than the earlier quilt, with its bigger purple blocks.

I called it "You're turning violet, Violet" which should be self-explanatory! And what else could you possibly call a purple quilt?

And the back is even MORE uglies from the stash! Will they ever stop? I didn't think I had that much fabric compared to some committed hoarders out there, but it is never-ending. I haven't bought anything for over a year, and still I could probably make about another fifty quilts without running out.

Still hot

I know I complain a lot about the weather, but it is another 30 degree and windy day, and I'm wondering if winter will ever be here? I know I own cardigans and tights and scarves but I haven't seen them in six months and I'm wondering if I'll ever need them again. In a rare moment of marital togetherness my husband and I took the dog for a walk this morning and I was dripping sweat, at 9 am, at a slow meander (the dog's legs are very short). I am over this heat...

Here is a photo of downtown Sydney from the Law Faculty building of the University of Sydney, where I went on Friday for the day for a conference. It was a long day but worth it to hear some seriously smart people talk about the other side (i.e. the non-pragmatic, non-political side) of something I spend a lot of time thinking about at the moment.  My husband texted me to see how it was going and I said I felt like a teletubby - which is something I usually say when I'm around thin fashionable people - except this time it was the mental rather than physical. I felt I had the intellectual wattage of Lala, or possibly Tinkywinky. Groups of people discussing complex topics in complete sentences, or even paragraphs, when I'd still be struggling with articulating a word or two. I did enjoy it, but I didn't say much.


I
'd never been to this university before, and it has some cute old bits. I never did find out why there was a boat there. The building I was in was super modern with far too much glass and grills (I prefer a real wall when I'm more than one storey up) but it did look very cool and had wonderful views. Sydney airport on the way home was having some kind of meltdown - every flight was delayed, I think it was air traffic control - but I made it home eventually ... my Dad had made the family fish from NZ for dinner. It is lovely to have him here, although we haven't seen much of him this weekend (stamp show....)

I've been sick

Nothing major, just a head cold, but it completely ruined my plans for a productive weekend. I had intended to use my first peaceful weekend at home for ages in doing useful things (and sewing, yes) but I started to feel sick Friday afternoon and spent Saturday and Sunday with a fever and dreadful aches and pains. Nothing serious, and started to come right on Sunday afternoon, but what a nuisance. Monday was a public holiday, which I spent packing to fly to Toowoomba on Monday afternoon for work (three hours in a propellor plane, dear god).

But Toowoomba is a lovely town, lots of gardens and parks, and the weather was delightful. I didn't see a great deal of it but took the photo because I liked the bit of public art. Love some reflective public art. Home again on Wednesday afternoon and arrived in the airport half an hour before my dad who is over from New Zealand for a visit! Lovely. I am not looking forward to getting in a plane again tomorrow morning but I will be home tomorrow night and this time I am going to have a proper weekend.

Girly weekend

I went down the beach last weekend just with a friend and it was delightful! I like being on my own but I also like company, especially company that is happy to swim and eat and nap and watch silly television and chat. The weather was just beautiful and we had lots of swims.





Weirdly the sea spat up a heap of sea foam on the Saturday afternoon. We don't usually get that down there. And this is why I love blogging, because it made me actually google sea foam, which I would never have done before, and I learnt something new. The sea was also an unusual green colour, so there might have been algae breakdown or possibly seaweed. It certainly did not stop us swimming.





I went for a short walk but the broken toe is still a bit sore if I spend more than about half an hour walking. I went for a swim in the pool at my work on Thursday which was lovely - it's only 25 metres so I'm not sure how much of a workout it is. The main problem is I then spend the afternoon feeling relaxed and snoozy. And that has been my exercise for the last few weeks, which isn't enough.


Pam that photo of the dog in the last post does have the same quilt in it - I took it from the back, so that's the edge of the brown backing fabric. I don't have quilts hanging randomly around the garden although, now you mention it, it might look pretty cool....

How Many Michaels

A quilt! A finished quilt!!!! Chunky churn dashes with a weirdly purple sashing and poorly chosen red cornerstones. When scrappy goes wrong.



My two inch strip bags are much emptier now, which is good, but I don't think I class this as one of my proudest quilt-related achievements. It is quilted in big feathers, which might have been overkill because you can hardly see them.



The back is using up more uglies from the stash.



It is called How Many Michaels after a song from the Able Tasmans, a peculiar NZ band from the 80s and 90s. Their Come In Spinner album is one of my all time favourites ... but I'm not sure if that's because it's one of the world's great albums or because it reminds me of a certain time in my life. I can never be objective about music, it's always associated with other things. In the early 90s I was working at the Wellington Public Library which had a wonderful collection of CDs that I could borrow and tape onto cassette. Which was probably completely illegal looking back, but I could never have afforded to buy them. Not as an impoverished student ... the tapes have long gone but Spotify has it all now. I love Spotify.

I will leave you with a photo of the dog looking almost intelligent. Like there is a light flickering behind her eyes and sending some sparks through her brain. There's not.