Monthly Archive

Here is Meredith’s newest work. She’s not too thrilled with the photo, but it’s the best we can do. This precious little girl is her daughter. Oh, and look! More parrots! These are budgies. They gather in flocks of thousands in Australia. It always seems so cruel to me that they should be alone in a cage.

The plan with this quilt (photo in last post) is to have New York Beauty blocks across the bottom, which will form a base for an appliqued garden. The flowers will stretch up as far as her dress and be quite elaborate. Lots of foliage, lots of flowers, predominantly pink/red/green; bottom centre and right are loudest part of the quilt. The left side will have climbing, flowering vines (green/turquoise leaves, blue/white flowers) on top of blue and white print fabrics (probably pieced blocks of some kind). Top edge will be more pieced blocks in blue/white prints (maybe more NY beauties?). Right side - don’t know yet but fancy intricate piecing with the fabric shown.
The blue stripe, lavender-chartreuse and lavender print are definites. Eveything placed around the outside is to give me an impression of colour/tonal/print density.

The idea is to have the flowers as the first impression, followed by Flora and then a gradual realisation that there’s some Stunt Piecing* in the background.

The problem with working like this (as opposed to elaborate drawings and plans) is that it can take a very long time. People always ask how long a quilt takes to MAKE. They should ask how long it takes to THINK. I reckon 95% of my effort is in the thinking.

Thanks for the comments! It’s like having quilting mates over for coffee, who all throw their two cents in! It can be very helpful. I was thrilled to get the Klimt references (even at this embryonic stage) because that’s exactly where I’m heading!

*difficult/showing-off type piecing done to impress non-quilters who don’t realise how many tricks and shortcuts you know.

In case you think I don’t make quilts any more, here is what is presently spread over my floor. I look at it as I walk past, I sit and stare at it, sometimes I poke it or move something. It isn’t happening in my head yet. I hope it does soon. It’s taking too damn long.

48 things about me that you probably aren’t interested in at all but I’m going to tell you anyway

A few nights ago I stated,”I’m not opinionated. I’m just always right.” Peter nearly choked on his dinner. Peter, here is proof…Make one here.

These parrots were in the tree under which we ate our lunch on the last day of our holiday (dangerous to eat under them, I know!). They are rainbow lorikeets and they were in a lilly-pilly tree, eating the little pink fruits. I also saw some beautiful big parrots which I’ve never seen before. They were bigger than cockatoos and were predominantly a luscious azure blue. I have no idea what they are. If I find a link, I’ll edit to include it. Couldn’t get any photos - I only have a little digital camera with a 5x zoom, so I can’t usually get close enough.

It’s so flat out here that, as the sun is setting, you can turn your back to it and watch the night rising! I love the stripey effect this has on the sky.
The galah photo is truly terrible (I don’t have a telephoto lens) but I really wanted to show you one of these amzing, annoying, enchanting parrots. We have huge flocks of them and they can make an extraordinary amount of noise. In the evenings they line up on the powerlines and shout at each other. Here are a couple more (equally dreadful) photos of galahs around town…

I don’t very often read funny emails that really make me laugh. Like belly-laugh, fall off the chair laugh. But this one hit the spot…

“After every flight, pilots complete a gripe sheet which conveys to the mechanics problems encountered with the aircraft during the flight that need repair or correction. The form is a piece of paper that the pilot completes, and then the mechanics read and correct the problem. They then respond by writing on the lower half of the form what remedial action was taken and the pilot reviews the gripe sheets before the next flight. Here are some actual logged maintenance complaints and problems, as submitted by QANTAS Pilots, and the solution recorded by maintenance engineers. By the way, Qantas is the only major airline that has never had an accident.

P = The problem logged by the pilot
S = The solution and action taken by the engineers

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except autoland very rough.
S: Autoland not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on backorder.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 FPM descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That’s what they’re there for.

P: IFF inoperative.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you’re right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with words. “

As a follow-up to yesterday’s post (and, as she has pointed out, my ‘M’ list!), go visit the Mater today and be inspired by what real women have instore for them as they approach their sixties and seventies! This, my friends, is Growing Up. The maturity for which we should all aim. And being a descendent of women such as this probably helps a little, too.

As the mother of a young teenaged girl (and as a woman who has been overweight her entire adult life) I am becoming more and more alert to the ways in which we are manipulated to believe certain things about female beauty.
This morning I stumbled on this. No doubt all the Americans are aware of it, but I haven’t seen it here in Australia. We do have Dove’s great print ads. The cynic in me says,”What an exceptionally clever advertising campaign!” The ever-hopeful idealist says,”Maybe it will open some eyes.”

Up to ‘M’ already…

Massage: Wonderful. Bliss. Heaven on a stick.
Moon: I’m a night person. I love the moon and stars. Not so keen on the sun. Hate being hot and burn easily. Gimme moonlight and shooting stars.
This is the setting moon, taken as we were leaving on our holiday a week ago…
Marilyn Manson: I have to admit that I don’t like this guys music but I love his aesthetic. How a dweeby little guy like that can create such an amazing persona should be inspiration for us all. Why do we live so beigely?? Check out this for a magnificent wedding photo.
Malachite: gorgeous layers of green yummyness.
Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are”.
A.A. Milne: my childhood was filled with Winnie THER Pooh. I still love the poignancy and humour of these great stories and the beautiful drawings by Ernest Shepherd. Disney Pooh has never grabbed me in any way whatsoever.
Music: Music is so important to me. I can’t play any instruments (and don’t feel a need to) but I love singing (only to myself. God forbid I should injure someone!) and I listen to music most of the time that I’m alone. I like a wide range of music - Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Costello, Led Zeppelin, REM, and French and Italian opera (esp. Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Cosi Fan Tutte) and even stuff like Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette Standin’ by Her Man (although Dan Ackroyds version in The Blues Bros was pretty damn spectacular!) and Dusty Springfield Getting it on with a Preachers Son. I also realised recently how much of Dolly Parton’s music has gripped me. I will admit that I was somewhat horrified by that epiphany, but she is just so sweet and gorgeous that it’s easy to overlook what an amazing songwriter she is.
Marcella bedspreads.
The Monkees: I was in love with Micky Dolenz.
M*A*S*H, Malcolm in the Middle, Men Behaving Badly, Myth Busters (how nerdy is this? I’ve been watching this long enough now to start finding Adam rather cute. A.D.A.M. The Ginger One. Cute. ahem)
The Muppets: esp. Miss Piggy, who has been one of my role models in life, and Animal, because he’s wild.
Movies, movies, movies! LOVE movies! Some ‘M’ favourites…
Monsoon Wedding: beautiful, funny and romantic.
My Beautiful Laundrette: sweet love story with two gorgeous boys.
Moonstruck and Mermaids: Love Cher to bits - she is so great in both of these movies.
Misery: Kathy Bates was superbly creepy!
Muriel’s Wedding: if you haven’t seen this one YOU SHOULD!!! It’s brilliant.
My Name is Joe: I always enjoy Ken Loach’s movies, even though this one could have done with subtitles. That Scottish brogue can be pretty hard to follow! (ha!! when I looked for a link to this I found out that it IS subtitled in the USA)
Mushrooms: yummy.
Mohawks: one of the worlds best haircuts when done well, one of worlds worst tragedies when done poorly.
Finally, this photo has nothing to do with’M', but I drove out of town 50 km this morning specifically to take some photos of the land , and I really like this one! It’s tumbleweeds snagged in a fence. In some places the fences are completely encrusted with them!

‘M’ words I like the sound of…
maelstrom, manifesto,Medusa, machiavellian, Mephistopheles.

(why are they mostly evil???)

ps I also like Mummy and Meredith *raspberry*

I was away the week we were supposed to do turquoise, but I was so disappointed to miss out on this gorgeous colour that I’m doing it now anyway! (especially now that I have a cool jellyfish shot to include!) This weeks colour is Tan (blech) - I’ll post that later in the week.

Prepare yourself for several days of intense JEALOUSY as I tell you about our week away. Peter was attending an engineering conference on Queenslands Sunshine Coast. It has several things going for it - it’s one hour from Brisbane, a Beach from Heaven and, best of all, it’s about ten degrees (Celsius) cooler than here! This is the view from the reclining lounge chairs in our unit……those are my feet, which spent a good deal of the week coated in white sand.
This is the view from the balcony (these three photos form a panorama but I don’t have the techno savvy to put them side by side)…The trees are growing on the sand dunes so, as you can see, we could SPIT ON THE BEACH from our own bedrooms and lounge. The kids even saw whales and dolphins from the Recliner Rockers to which their Butts were Glued. They barely had to divert their eyes from the cable TV and Playstation. Downstairs was a tennis court (yes, we played), pool and cafe with handsome waiters wearing nothing but speedos.

OK, so I lied about the waiters, but there was coffee and cakes.

We had a fantastic time! Shopping, eating, sleeping, walking on the beach, shopping…
And the fellow conference attendees were charming and pleasant company. Phew. I went on three of the partners tours. Two were shopping trips to Brisbane, some local markets and Noosa (preferred beach habitat of the Well-Heeled and Over-Tanned and my favourite beach in Queensland.) and one day was a visit to Australia Zoo (Steve Irwins zoo). I’ll post about that soon- let me tell you that it is SUPERB.
But now, real life beckons and I have to iron my clothes for work…

Home again from Marcoola! We had a fantastic week and I’ve got heaps of great photos but for now it’s time for a BIG sleep. So here are some images of beautiful jellyfish that were washed up on the beach one morning. Aren’t they the most exquisite colour? I’ll tell you more when I’m more awake!

OK, I’ll shut up soon, I promise. It’s just that after a week there’s so much to say. The best thing about getting home yesterday was the mail. I HAD A PRESENT!! Sarah the Magnificent made these for me…
…I love the beautiful wooden buttons , especially. She did such a good job Thank you, Sarah xxxx
Megan, have you noticed your influence in this photo?? All those self-portraits have rubbed off on me. We must be a house of weirdos, though. NO ONE asked me why I was taking photos of myself in the bathroom mirror!

Update: The Tote has been Christened. It just had its first outing to the hairdresser. Tote worked wonderfully. Won’t mention haircut.

We’ve just been in Townsville for a week and a half, now I’m home for two days and then we are off to Brisbane and Coolum for a week. We had a relaxing break in Townsville. Lots of eating out, cruising the shops, walks on the Strand and a number of visitors, including this guy…

This is a goanna right outside our lounge window. Ugh. They are a type of monitor lizard. He’s more than a metre long but they can get much bigger (maybe 2 1/2-3 metres??). They give me the creeps BIG TIME because they can run very fast and they have a tendency to run UP things (including your legs). But they do eat snakes, so I suppose all God’s chillun got a place.
The Boys had to come back to Hughenden earlier than the Girls because Son had his driving test (he passed. yay.) so we had a couple of girly days without them. We saw The Devil Wears Prada. Laugh? You bet. It was pretty funny. Light and entertaining. Not a kmart label to be seen.

So we leave for Brisbane at 4:00 am tomorrow. It’s a l o o o n g drive from here (about 1400 km). Pete has an engineering conference at Coolum (gorgeous beach just north of Brisbane) and when he mentioned beach-front apartments with 180 degree ocean views, I said,”Oh YES. We are coming with you!” We will only have a couple of days in Brisbane but it will give us a chance to catch up with family and maybe do some shopping. Then five days of conference. The worst part of these things is always the dinners; I hate them. A whole room of people in designer clothes (that they paid for with credit cards) trying to impress each other, while I stand there without a single intelligent thing to say wondering if my kmart label is showing. Phooey.

You know how I said I’d post from the coast? I went to an i-cafe. I had my lap top with me. This is what happened.
Me: Hello. Can I plug my handy dandy lap top into your modem?
12 yr old boy i-cafe manager: Certainly, madam. Follow me. (”Madam”??? Am I THAT old????)

walk walk walk

Boy: Put it here on this desk and I’ll connect it up.

I open bag and remove lap top.

Boy, mouth gaping: How OLD is that?
Me: Um, probably older than you.

I turn the now Proven Antique on.

Boy (four seconds later): Does it always take this long to start?
Me (lying): It’s usually a lot faster than this. It must be sick or something.

TWENTY MINUTES LATER, after lots of wire-checking, lead-poking and software manipulation by Boy Genius Manager.

Boy: I don’t think this is going to work. Have you thought about updating? (indicates toward the emaciated, greasy university student sitting next to me who is staring dully out of the window while his fingers frantically attack the keyboard of a lap top so thin you could slice cheese with it) One like this is only about $4 grand these days.
Me: Hmmm. (thinking: yeah, let’s see-Mortgage. Food. Car. Kids. Or new lap top? And who paid for that spotty kid’s $4000 computer anyway? I bet it was his MOTHER, who still has a laptop that weighs 15 kg and takes 5 minutes to boot.)

By now want to crawl out of i-cafe backwards, yelling “But really, I AM cool! Honestly! Well, I used to be… In 1987 I was… um… well, when I was a teenager…I…I…”
Decided not to humiliate Teenaged Offspring who were gaming in the Same Room (fortunately wearing headsets so they didn’t hear the Whole Sad Thing).

So, that’s why you haven’t heard from me. I ran very fast in the opposite direction and went for a walk on the beach instead.
This is Rowes Bay, which is just down the road a bit from our townhouse. I love it there. It’s a beautiful beach, in town and there’s hardly ever anyone there!