A quilt - finally

Finally, I have finished a quilt! It's been so long (too long). But that's just life. This is a special quilt, and had its origins from this book that Juni gave me in January 2010 for a "significant" birthday.

So, I figured I would take the inspiration. No plan, just meandered my way through it. Bought fabric that I liked, chose blocks that gave me some variety. Some hand piecing, some machined. Slowly accumulated blocks - how were they going to come together? The border fabric did it, along with its reverse as some blocks. Thanks to the gorgeous Japanese shop in Melbourne (thanks Heather).

A bit of off-centre placement, a splash of red, and it was ready.

Add both walking foot and free motion quilting, and a backing fabric which actually worked really well.

And the best bit of all, the finished product was given to Juni, from where the inspiration started. She has been a valued member of our team for nearly 4 years. I now wish her well on the next adventure that she embarks on. First, reuniting with family in Indonesia, a holiday in Vietnam, a grand tour of Europe, then hopefully passing that rotten IELTS test ( a con) to be able to be a part of Australian society if that is what she chooses. Good luck Juni, it has been a delight making this for you, hope you enjoy it. x

Musical Moonta Bay

It was fabulous to be welcome at Matt's family Christmas at Moonta Bay. The garage and back yard of the holiday home turned into a makeshift studio for the excellent, but largely impromptu muso's. "The Music Book" may have been a guide, but improvisation was the key to success.

There were a few "karaoke" attempts to sing from this book. Not pretty. Either because we singers had no musical talent, or the wine that had been consumed, or because the musos didn't stick to the script. Mysteriously, no video of this survives...

4 iconic images. Swings. Shed. Sandman. And Kim xx

Rosie with a budding drummer. And what a drum set it was. I think the young man just liked having Rosie enveloping him!

The mosh pit. You can see the keen interest Buddy is showing. Not true, the music was brilliant!!!
The drum kit was built out of buckets, tins and whatever else they found in the shed. The drum solo/duo was fabulous. I tried to upload it, but gave up after an hour. Maybe I'll try and put it on Youtube. Sigh, another challenge.

Moonta Bay was a gorgeous place to spend Christmas, loved the company, the relaxed setting, the beach, the walks, the golf at Wallaroo (well, not as much as I would have liked), the garfish (sigh) and the lobster. Just missed Kate. Thanks to the in-laws. xx

Birds

Meet my friends who visit me fairly regularly. They are a little noisy, but usually that is only to let me know they are there. And that they are hungry! Not knowing a lot about rainbow lorikeets, I am assuming they are a couple - they certainly only come as a pair. So what do they eat? I started with some crackers. Nope, they didn't even look at that. Nuts? I put some pine nuts out. What a waste. Maybe they are like possums and enjoy fruit? So I sliced some apple chunks. What I saw was a sight to behold. Synchronised eating.

Thought both photos were fabulous. The birds were happy to be the stars. They are always welcome here.

Christmas Eve

Sadly, there are no photos to supplement this story, bucause some fool (that would be me) had left the camera memory card in the PC, so there was no card in the camera. The pictures would have been terrific, capturing the fabulous garden at my brothers' house int he Adelaide Hills. All my siblings, 8 great granddaughers, 3 great grandsons, and Dad. Show and Tell gave a glimpse of something that had happened in our lives in 2011, and covered house moves (2 upcoming international ones), a gorgeous new baby (welcome Rafa), a new marriage, career success, dealing with some health issues, a couple of fabulous quilts, and a new Passat (my news..). Think Dad scooped the pool at 94 by having all of us as his show and tell. Well, fair enough, he started it all!

Hopefully, the blog is back on track now. I shall try and keep it chronological, except for the bits that delve back into the past.

Cooking in reverse

Am I the only person who has not only not read "The Da Vinci Code" and also cannot work out how to use Blogger? I have just uploaded photos for this post, and the browser posted them in reverse! So we have a cooking explanation in reverse. You have here a Hollandaise Sauce just about perfect. And in a few minutes of inattention, it split, but strangely, I didn't get a photo of that.




I chose the recipe because I had all the ingredients on hand, unsalted butter, eggs and lemon juice.

If I could edit this program better, I would delete the photo following!

And just use the one below, showing the cookbook. I can't recall which op shop I bought it in, but it is a 1973 publication and it actually has some good home cooking in it. There will be more cooking from it.

And, right at the start of the photos, that is the end of the blog. Sigh, shall have to revert to "Blogger for Dummies".

Slippers

The early cold snap brought cold feet, even in the normally mild Wollstonecraft unit. Needing warmth for toes, and not wanting to spend a huge amounts on Ugg boots, I thought I'd keep an eye out for some slippers. And the Camden Presbyterian Church obliged with their Saturday morning White Elephant stall. And some gorgeous pink fluffy slippers "never used", but they've been in a cupboard for a long time.

They were there just waiting for me, and they actually work. But I do agree with Rosie, they are quite embarrasing. But they belong on my feet. And the bent bow is the left foot.

OK, I admit, I have no idea how to post this with the font I want, and the photos going where I want them. Looks like it is You tube or niece helpline before this goes public. Otherwise the formatting police will be on to me.

But the slippers will keep my feet warm in the meantime.

Be gentle!

We all have to start somewhere in our blog, and I start with no photos, so stay with me, please! Photos will follow. Inspired by nieces, Gina, Elise and Tara, I would like to follow in their footsteps. However, without any adorable toddlers to showcase, I'll have to think of other things to cover. Our PM Julia would have discovered 2 years after me at Mitcham Demonstration School the wonders of grammar. While I confess to not having perfect apostrophe knowledge, I remember in Grade 3 learning what a verb was. It was a doing word. Now nouns are nice, but they just sit there. Adjectives are nice too, but they only describe something, But with a verb you can actually do it, experience it, talk about it, share it and feel good about it. Try doing that with a noun!

So, a (being it) maz (me) ing (doing) is the blog where I will share some of things I do, and hopefully do with some of you. Who knows, maybe Julia will visit someday!