You are currently browsing the monthly archive for April, 2007.
My sister, her husband and their two little girls (aged six and three) have had a horrible experience. Two days ago they were the first people at a triple fatality car accident involving two motorcycles and a car. The driver of the car was drunk. He had three small children in the car with him. He crossed the centre line and hit two motorcyclists and a pillion passenger head on. My sister told me that there was nothing recognisable left of the motorcycles. She said that they looked as if they had been exploded by a bomb. I won’t tell you about the rider. The pillion passenger had been thrown so far that she wasn’t found for two hours.
I’m trying so hard not to feel angry. My family have had to experience the hideous result of this man’s drunk action. His three children and my two little nieces have seen things that no one should have to see, let alone young children. My sister and her husband are left feeling that they didn’t do enough. How could they? How could anyone do anything? They comforted and cared for three hurt and hysterical children for more than half an hour before the emergency vehicles arrived. I think that was more than enough. Their own children sat in the car for two hours and then saw their parents wear someone else’s blood for the rest of the day. That was more than enough. Now they are all trying to sleep at night.
I’m just so mad at this man for what he’s done to so many, many people.
And so thankful that my family weren’t the ones he hit.
Edited : The death toll is now four. The driver has died.
Here’s a question for you. Would you rather live here (A) Outback Queensland…
…or here (B) The BEACH (North Queensland)?
Strangely enough, I don’t find that difficult to answer. So this coming weekend I’m packing up my stuff and my daughter and moving to (B) The Beach (my son is already there, at university). It is fraught with grief and pain, however, because my darling husband has to stay in (A) for work. So for a while to come we will be living in two different places and seeing each other on weekends (waaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!! *sniff*). We hope that it won’t be for too long.
This isn’t an easy decision to make. But, ultimately it seems the better choice for both of our children (although the Boy Who Will be Giving Up His Freedom would beg to differ!!) and I am nearing the end of my rope living in the bush. I like the community out here very much, but I find the remoteness and smallness gets me down. I said I’d come for two years and those were obviously powerful words - I was fine for two years but since February I have been restless and wriggling. It was soooo hard to leave Sydney when I went to stay with my friend, Robyn, in March. To be in the city and then have to come back here was just an agony…
So this week is all about packing things up and wondering how on earth we are all going to squeeze into our little townhouse in Townsville! A shoe horn may be in order…
ps Thank you all very much for The Birthday Wishes 
Today is the Eighteenth Birthday of one of my finest Projects. Happy Birthday, boy! And congratulations on surviving eighteen years in a madhouse.
Over the last few weeks I’ve added quite a few new links that I haven’t pointed out to you. So it’s high time I introduced y’all.
Today I added House & Baby - any mother who gives her 3 yr old the digital camera and opens him a flickr account to boot is Totally Worthy in my books.
Erin at House on Hill Road has been my partner for the Vintage Button swap. She makes all sorts of beautiful sewn things and has wonderful taste!
And, of course,Laeroport has been around the sticks for just ages and ages but somehow she and I only met recently doing 7 Days (the self-portraits we did on Flickr). L is awesome, but most of you know that already
Soozadoo is Tracey’s sister - she’s funny, people, and smart; good combination.
These guys are great! Drop by and say hello.
Today was A Good Day ( a James term, much borrowed by me). Today was the Inaugural Meeting of The Cool Quilters. There are only three of us but, man, we rock. Flo and I went to Tracey’s house and we cut fabric and sewed and ate. Tracey won the competition for the most Lust-worthy Fabric of the Day. She was cutting into a desirable little pile of Prints Charming fat quarters and even left beautiful selvedge strips…
Flo (alas, blog-less, but beautiful and sweet nonetheless) won the prize for Most Excited Binder of Quilts, having learned today that binding isn’t as complicated as she had thought (thanks to expert tuition from Tracey).
And me? I was grateful to be able to borrow a board and cutter, attack my scrap basket and come home with pieces ready to sew. Tonight I finished these…
… for the Scrappy Cabin Challenge on Melly and Me.
Yep, it was A Good Day.
…but this one is different. I made this mirror a few years ago. I wish I could say it is original and only INSPIRED by the glass mosaic artist whose work kicked me off, but really I COPIED her technique slavishly, with her encouragement and instruction. Sadly, I now can’t remember her name! Her first name is Nicky and she is a wildly talented New Zealander. I would love to be reminded of her name if anyone can give me a clue!
After the mirror was finished, I bandaged my bleeding fingers and vowed to never do glass mosaics again. But, it only took a few months to forget the pain and start wondering if another project might be good.
SORRY.
Sorry, sorry, sorry!! Can’t help it. Isn’t it awesome?? Last one this week. Maybe.
I know I haven’t been very good company lately. Too much with the mosaics; not enough with the talking. I’ve been at a craft show for four days. I’m talked out.
I’ll talk another day.
…there’s a lot to tell you…
Sad, hey? Nothing better to do than mess around on Flickr making mosaics.
So I got a new toy and now I can’t stop playing with it…
Thank you to all the wonderful people who made these beautiful quilts! If you recognise your work and would like a link, feel free to leave one in the comments.
I do know some -
The middle two quilts in the bottom row are by small hands, whose fresh take on fabric always thrills me!
The sweet birdies are by sykossa - she makes
the loveliest things and has an etsy shop.
The little pram quilt in the bottom right corner is by mollychicken - it has really sweet embroidery across the top that you can’t see in this photo.
The spectacular and rather mind-blowing hand-stitched stars in the second row are by moonstitches.
The bottom left Grandmother’s Flower Garden is by Judy Scott, who has a whole collection of very lovely quilts.
And the pretty green and white one is by Shash who has a blog,a web site, too and more gorgeous things on flickr!
Here’s another one - second on the left, Row 2 was made by the Great Grandmother of Jessica of bunnybum, who has just moved to Perth. Welcome to Australia!
I’m not sure why I took so long to do it, but I finally got a Flickr pro account. So now I can upload photos to my heart’s content and do allsorts of cool stuff that I couldn’t do when I had a free account. If you don’t know what Flickr is, click here and check it out! It’s very cool and a great way to perve at other peoples lives be inspired by what other people are doing. I’ve just made a set of the flower photos that I took in New Zealand over Christmas. It’s been a while since I looked at them and I must say, I impress myself - some of them are pretty good. Here are some of my favourites…
I got myself a little bit carried away with the rippling thing. It’s been hard to think about or do anything else for two weeks now. But it’s nearly finished…just the edging to go!
…but then I dropped by Flickr and HALLELUJAH you should just SEE what other people are doing!! Search “crochet” and you will find more than 40 000 images of fabulous stuff.
How about this
made by the extraordinary Marianne. Want to see more? Go here or to her blog (where she also has allsorts of fantastic links to textile-type-stuff).
Then I met Shula (for the life of me I can’t figure out how I have missed her when you guys all seem to know her already!) and, man, can that chick swing a crochet hook!
Great. Like I needed another obsession.
Look what the gorgeous Ali sent me!! She made some yummy pants from this yummy fabric and when I fell in love with it, she sent me some (lots in fact)!
She also sent this…
Oh, Ali, you know me well! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
I haven’t decided what to do with the fabric yet but it will be something special for ME.
It’s been far too long between lists, if you ask me! T is for:
Talent: How thankful I am for the talents I see all around me. One of my favourite net things to do is cruise artists websites and check out the extraordinary visions of others.
Tiffanys: is there a woman in the world who wouldn’t swoon over one of those little blue boxes?
Sojourner Truth: who should be every woman’s heroine and chose the best name for herself that I can imagine (and would have been COMPLETELY unmoved by a Tiffanys box!!).
Shaun Tan: if you have never seen Shaun Tan’s books and artwork GO HERE NOW. Every child (and adult) on the planet should own his books. They encourage thought and compassion and vision. Buy them now.
J R R Tolkien (but not YOU Tolstoy)
Torrents: I love rapids and wild waterfalls and monsoonal rain.
Take-off: Taking off in a plane is ALMOST as good as that intense acceleration you get on a roller coaster. I always sit with my eyes closed to really feel it. I sometimes wonder if the people around me think I’m scared…
Trysts: even the word is luscious.
Teenagers and two years olds: they remind us how to see the world through fresh eyes and they are always the BEST company.
Thin Lizzy, “This Boy” by Tom Baxter - let’s face it, ANYTHING by Tom Baxter -the man is gorgeous, “We’re Not Gonna Take It” by Twisted Sister, T-Rex, doing the Time Warp, “Three Little Maids” from The Mikado
Tea with Mussolini, Three Men and a Cradle, Thumbsucker
Tremors and tornados: I’m the only person I know who likes being in earthquakes and I have a morbid fascination with Tornados (ever since I was about eight or nine and experienced a small one). I also realise that they have tragic consequences for many people and that a large earthquake or tornado would cure my interest quickly.
Tosca, Twelfth Night: Tosca always makes me cry and Twelfth Night always makes me laugh.
Television: oh I have such a love/hate thing with TV. I so wish I could say with conceit that I don’t watch TV. It would be a lie. I don’t like much that’s on TV but there are some things I adore - Thunderbirds, Top Gear…
The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass has long been a favourite book and I really enjoyed the movie, too.
Remember Fee Waybill and The Tubes?
Traveling: I’ve done so little, but I dream of traveling constantly. I can see myself living from a suitcase for years.
thistle, tremble,tranquil,tangerine, Tallulah (I wanted to call my daughter this, but it was one of the many names my husband REJECTED), tiaras, tiger lilies, truffles
Tracey tagged me nearly a week ago to do the Real Women meme. It certainly got me thinking (but not writing!) and those brain waves must have floated out into the world cos then Stomper nominated me for a Thinking Blogger Award.
See, the problem is that as soon as anyone suggests that I might be in any way cerebral or even slightly smart, my brain atrophies. I can feel my tongue thickening. Not that that will stop a Real Woman from thinking that she has something worthwhile to say…
So, Real Women Know What They Are and What They Aren’t.
I went to one of those slightly posh private girls’ schools and two things stand out for me from my school years as having been significant in forming my beliefs about Real Women. The first is the school motto - Veritate, Simplicitate, Fidelitate. It means that we should live our lives truthfully, straightforwardly and with integrity (and I know that because I studied Latin for four years at that school. Very useful.*cough* If anyone tries to lay waste your country villa, call me - I know how to tell them to fuck off in Latin). At school I was surrounded by female staff members who really did live their lives according to the school motto and they were quite remarkable women.
The second thing that I remember is being aware of some of The Mothers associated with school -The Mothers who over-dressed in designer clothes, drove luxury cars that they didn’t own and spoke like The Queen. They were despicable. Because they were the antithesis of who we were taught to be. They pretended to be something other than what they were. It’s just such a sad way to live your life! If you don’t show the world who you really are then it must mean that you don’t think that the real you is worthy. And the rest of us miss out on the unique gifts that the real you has to offer.
Having just bagged The School Mothers, I will also state that:
Real Women Don’t Stand in Judgment of Others (or pay any attention to their own hypocrisy, it would seem!!).
Most of us try to be the best mothers we can be, most of us have stretchmarks/cellulite/wrinkly necks, most of us clean our own toilets, most of us have at least one toad in our dating past, most of us have had a child who threw a wobbly in a shopping mall, most of us will never own a pair of Manolo Blahniks, most of us could have suffered a lifetime of regret from a poor teenage choice if we hadn’t been so lucky.
Real Women have figured out that life can be hard. Some of us have had blessings beyond what we have deserved; some of us do it tough. Real Women know that we are all in this together and it’s just easier on everyone if we hold hands instead of hitting each other.
I’m meeting so many Real Women in Blogworld - that’s one of the best aspects of blogging. I won’t tag you. You can tag yourself, but I would love to see this meme continue because we all need to remind each other from time to time that we are doing a good job, that we each have a special place in the world and that NO ONE can lay waste our villas if we’re watching each other’s backs.
Maybe some of my Thinking Blogger Award nominees might take up the challenge :
megan, who makes us ALL think with her gentle observations of life
kirsten, a mother whose careful considerations of her children’s needs will bless the world
laura who is clearly a deep feeler and thinker - her sensitivities are more than itchy, rashy skin deep!
caity who thinks of others and lately has been thinking of me!
the mater whose wisdom is worthy of attention and whose humour softens life’s hardships
I think the deal is that you are supposed to nominate five others.You also get to display this badge: 
If you have already been nominated, well, just regard yourself as a Thinking Superstar - none of us Real Women will disagree!
Peter fly fishing in New Zealand.
