Home again home again jiggity jig

Who remembers that children's rhyme?  Apparently it has three verses!  Who knew!


Whilst I was at my lovely Ma's, she got a disk of photos from her cousin, who lives in England, with some lovely old black & white pictures of the family.  Some of these date right back to the beginning of the 19th Century, and they're fascinating.  My other great-grandmother (not Isabella) is pictured here, and she was a beauty:

Except I'm somewhat glad I didn't get the nose.  It's a bit of a honker, isn't it?  She was born in 1872 & her name was Edith Fanny Thomas.    Not quite the same zing as Isabella Golightly, but as we have no photos of Izzy, I think we should pay Edith some homage!


Here she is in 1938 or 1939 (at the beach!), with a newspaper showing a defiant pre-war headline.

Don't you just love that beach-going outfit?  Sensible shoes, a dress, some sort of capey-coaty thing, an extremely stylish hat... gorgeous.


And here she is in the 1940's, when my great-grandparents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary:

My lovely Ma is right at the back, with her head slightly tilted.  Happy days.


In other crafty news, Gentle Readers, I am going to attempt an English Wedding Quilt with my pile of Moda's beautiful Lumiere De Noel, and I will provide photos as I progress.  I need to go to Cottage Quiltworks today to find a centre panel for the English Wedding Quilt, and I am also picking up Miss Nelly's quilt, which has returned from being quilted.  Photos, I promise.  


I have an order to make up for a lovely person in St Louis, Missouri (another one (person, that is, not order), and that will be my day today, apart from sewing the binding on Miss Nelly's quilt, which I estimate will take the rest of my life.  I had several lessons from my Lovely Ma whilst in Perth, and I think I have the mighty corners* down pat, but joining the binding?  We shall see.  Expect tears, stamping of the feet and random bouts of swearing.


And finally, it's about 21°C today and cloudy.  Just beautiful.  We've even had some rain, but the garden still looks a bit sad & dry, and one of the Callicomas is looking very distressed, so a bucket or two of water will be applied there.


And now I need to apply water to myself so I can go out in public and not get arrested.  And I can wear jeans!  Bliss!


Ciao!


*Mighty Corners - also known in some sewing circles as 'Mitred Corners'.  Go Tractor Jo!

So much happening, so little time...

Firstly, meet the new dog!  Not mine, sadly, but I wish she were!  This is Nellie, a six-week old long-haired corgi, who has come to reside at the House of Hendy, and who has given a new lease of life to Puddy, the existing Dog of The House.  Kaz, take note...

This is the best I could do, Gentle Readers.  Puppies are hard to photograph, because they never want to sit still & pose, like the more mature pooches we know & love:

.  Plus, I'm sitting on the floor here, trying to snap her as she's running round madly... but I did succeed in the end, when her new owner picked her up & hung on grimly:

What a cutie, hey?  I've never really been a fan of corgis before, but I'd happily have this one!


Next, in other news of great excitement, I start Upholstery school on Monday.  Yes, Gentle Readers, I am doing it.  I thought that an apprenticeship was going to be my only option, and despaired of finding one, but then, the lovely people at our Technical School came through with the goods, and I am about to start a one semester course which will cover everything a first-year apprentice learns.  If I'm really lucky, an apprenticeship may make itself known during the semester, but if not, then we'll go to Plan B.  Don't ask me what it is, I haven't made that bit up yet.  


I haven't dealt with the August Institution yet, but suffice it to say, I need to make some calls.  Heh.  


And finally, in the most exciting news, (see, the rewards for being patient & wading through all this crap are there, they really are...), Angela Pudding put my pouch on the front page of her blog.  OMG.  Do you know how many people follow her blog?  No, me neither.  But judging by the traffic at the bottom of my blog, it's slightly more than 24.  Not that I'm quibbling, Gentle Readers.  I love seeing that counter creep slowly towards 25.   Really.


Anyway, I was touched (and not in the head, either), and gratified, and kind of amazed, really.  And a bit scared.  Am I ready for Internet Fame?  If it means I have to get out of my PJ's earlier, probably not.  


And now, Gentle Readers, it's 4.55am here in Perth, and I think I can put all the excitement behind me & go back to sleep.   Maybe.  Stay safe in the weather!


Cia.......

Leaving, on a jet plane

I'm off to Perth, Gentle Readers, to visit my lovely Ma.  I have left you with something delectable to look at over in the Divine Treasury, and I don't know when I'll be posting again, but don't fret.  I'll definitely be at it this week.  No, not that, Mr Golightly is not coming along.

I've left him a six-serving pot of spaghetti sauce, so hopefully I won't return home after a week to find him surrounded by empty pizza boxes, or worse, being eaten alive by some of the insects which have found their way into the cool of our house this week...

It's going to be 31C in Perth today, much nicer than Sydney, and of course it almost never rains over there, so I'll feel right at home.  How weird is this weather?  Of course, Climate Change is a myth.  Just ask the people in Tully.

And now, Gentle Readers, I must make the most of my annual QANTAS club membership by guzzling another glass of apple juice before my flight.  Ah, the glamour.

Stay safe in the weather.

Ciao!

What was I thinking?

Well, apart from the social obligations, Gentle Readers, sometimes it's nice to get completely out of your comfort zone and go to somewhere you've never been and will probably never go again, just to have lunch with somebody.  My good friend KP is working out at somewhere I consider to be a true AEON*, took me an hour to get there, four motorway/freeway tolls and a deepening conviction that everybody who lives out there is completely nuts.  Here's a picture of the Google Maps directions from Newport (Point A) to my destination (Point B):

That's further than I've been on holidays, some years.  Of course it wasn't the distance (70km each way) that makes me think they're all nuts, it's the temperature.  It was 38.5°C/101.3°F out there, with a hot wind blowing right off the desert, at 2.00pm.  No sea breeze, no prospect of a coastal southerly to cool them down.  OMG.  


So, needless to say, I was very glad to get home & ventilate the house, and joy oh joy, a cool(ish) breeze whipped through about 5.00pm.  Some sleep is in order tonight, I hope.  I also got up into the roof (don't even ask me what the temperature was up there, please!) to get the other fan down, which is noisy but effective - but the way we've been sleeping this week, I'm quite sure the sound won't be keeping us awake.


In other news, I was delighted to see a whole gaggle of visitors from foreign climes (not foreign as in 'strange', but foreign as in 'not living in Orstraya'... hello to all you lovely lurking Gentle Readers in Oxfordshire UK, Garfield, NJ USA, Southsea, Hampshire UK, Philadelphia The City of Lurve, Pennsylvania USA, Hockworthy, Somerset UK, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (or Tronno, as we say here), and good old Wenty, somebody from Wentworthville, NSW, who drops in from time to time but never delurks, that I know of anyway.


I'm wondering if my visitor from Hockworthy, Somerset, is the lovely LucyWithaY from one of my favourite blogs, Lives By The Woods?  Come on, 'fess up if it is you.  You know you want a froggie.


In other, makery type news, I have today found out what a comprehensive PITA** it is to sew PUL***, but how much easier it is with a walking foot - first time I've used it on this machine, and after having to get the book out to work out how to put it on the machine, it was dead easy.  That stuff is so sticky, it gummed up the rotary cutter something fierce, so that's another trap for young players...  anyway, I, who am the master of the boxed-bottom pouch decided that it was a bit disgraceful to keep going on visits with a toilet/cosmetic pouch held together with a safety-pin, so I made myself a new one.  I used that gorgeous Echino Birdsong linen, and kept the nice purple bit at the bottom to match up to the zip.  Shame I couldn't find a zip that colour, but hey, it's close enough.

Also, I found out that if you're careful enough, you can put a zip in using a walking foot.  No zip foot required at all - the topstitching is a little bit close for my taste, but the pouch opens & closes without any dramas.  Also, the label is in the wrong place.  I still can't work out exactly where to put them to avoid them being swallowed up by the box-bottom, but again, it's only for me, so who cares.  It was a bit of a conceit putting the label on it anyway, but you never know what may come of it... commissions from Ma's friends?  Stranger things have happened!


So.  Pics?  You can just see the label there at the bottom left.  Bah.

The absolutely best part is that I can get all the crap I need for a week's visit to my lovely Ma, with room left over - 

And hopefully the PUL lining will keep it nice & clean.  I'm tempted to offer them for sale, 
but suspect the market is flooded already (no pun intended).  What pun?  It's a waterproof lining.  Honestly.  Anyway, any thoughts on the viability of selling them, very welcome, as always.


In other Etsy related news, my lovely Toile lavender bags have been featured in a treasury, again (so excited!), so if you're bored & want something lovely to look at, check this out.  I love treasuries, I really do.  There is some absolutely amazing stuff for sale on Etsy, it never ceases to amaze me what you can find.  I think that might be the theme for my next one!  


And that's it, for me today.  Mr Golightly is wending his weary way home from another very long day, and the dinner sits in the fridge, staying cool.  I hope that wherever you are, you're safe, and the weather is kind to you.

Ciao!








*Arse end of nowhere
**Pain in the arse
***PolyUrethane Laminate(d Polyester).  Dunno why they don't just call it 'PULP'. 

Too darn hot

I keep trying to find the energy to write a post but it's just too hot.  Yesterday was worse, about 38°C/104°F, no breeze, nuthin'.  Today, not quite so bad, at least there's a breeze.


Anyway, not much to report here, because heat-driven apathy has got me in its evil grip - but I did get some lovely pics from MGF Kaz of the bed made up with the pillowcases I made, to show you:

I made the square, lighter ones, too, about six months or so ago - from a pair of table napkins - they've got red backs too.  Not bad, really.


I also finished the tablecloth yesterday, too.  It looks really nice, but I think I should have checked how big her table was first!

I also made some Birthday Bunting for the Birthday Girl's house:

Came out really nice, but I've got to work on the perfect colour for those letters... the green is Jay McCarroll Woodland Wonderland:

which I love because it's so... weird.


In other news:  Queensland is preparing for the worst cyclone in living memory, and our entreaties to the weather gods go their way... Check this out if you want to be really scared... I'm very much looking forward to the end of February, I have to say, when Summer will be over and we only have 16°C days to worry about.


Also, the poor sods in Missouri are facing the worst ice storm in decades, and our thoughts are with everybody there, but especially the Pudding family.  Keep safe & stay warm, Mrs Pudding.


Ciao for now!

Oops..

For some reason I forgot to update the page with this lovely treasury I made late last week - asyouknowBob, I was born in another country and only came here sometimes in the 1420's - and so I have lots of memories of that other place... not sure why I felt like I needed to make this, but I like it!


Anyway, the only reason I'm telling you this is so you can enjoy it before I replace it with the buggy one I'm about to make.  Enjoy indeed, soon all will be creeping and crawling and things that crawl up your nose in the night.


Enjoy, Gentle Readers!


Ciao.

Creepy Crawly Alert

I thought I'd put the non-bug type news first, so the faint-hearted amongst you can avoid it if you don't want to see what goes on in our garden.

I've finally dug out the beautiful fabric I bought in 2009 from here to make a tablecloth for My Best Friend, whose birthday was yesterday - Happy Birthday Deb! and I'm busy sewing french seams on the cloth:

 (Sometimes I hate blogger.  Why won't it put these in the middle?)

I really like these materials & hope MBF does too!  The first print is for the cloth, and the second print is for the border - there was much swearing yesterday when I was trying to work out what size to cut the border to acommodate the whole length (108" X 2 + 43" X 2) but I think I've got it.  I think.

OK, bug alert.  Stop reading now if you don't want to see spiders, half-eaten beetles and insect wars.


We tend not to call them 'critters', down here. They're just the local wildlife. We have an inordinate number of them, see here for details.  But don't look if you're faint-hearted.  We have the White-tail, Wolf, St Andrew's Cross, Redback and Huntsman in our garden, and the daddy-long-legs in our house.  Of all of them, it's the daddy-long-legs that annoy me the most - they make webs in the house, which attract - shock horror - dust.  And then we have cobwebs.  Once you've got them, too, it's almost impossible to get rid of them.  When we were first married, way back in the 17th Century, we didn't have them, then we moved into a rental apartment (which I hated, but that's a whole 'nother story) which had them, and bang!  We had them.  And we've had them ever since.  


Anyway, yesterday morning, Gentle Readers, I was hanging washing out in the garden, as we do here in Australia.  Out in the sunshine, as you will see from the photos.  The St Andrew's Cross spiders have started making their amazing multi-dimensional webs, and there's one right on the clothesline.  I don't mind this at all, because they catch flies and mosquitos, and as I'm still scarred from the sandfly plague, any help I can get from Mother Nature is fine with me.  I don't much like walking into the webs at night, particularly when they try & run over your face to get away.. but I digress.


The St Andrew's Cross spider had just shed its skin.  I didn't even know they did that.  But there it was, an empty skin, and a newly limp spider, just... hanging... there, waiting to warm up, or cool down, or whatever it is they do.  So I whipped back inside to get the camera.


It took me a few goes to get the camera to focus on the spiders and not the roof, the garden, the sky, but I finally achieved it:

Garden

Roof

More Garden

Yet more garden and finally...

Spiders.  Before and after!

Weird, huh?


Then, in another entomological moment, a beetle bit the dust just outside our back door, and made the ants happy for about 300 ant years:

This morning, there's only this left:

And the ants valiantly trying to drag an anntennae down the hole to their nest:

And last night, the battle of the bush spider versus the hornet - I'm not too fond of these little flying orange bundles of nasty, so I try to avoid them at all costs - which is why this was taken from behind my screen door (I'm not that brave!):

The poor paralysed spider is just outside my front door, being eaten alive by ants.  Ick.

And now, Gentle Readers, I must go & get in the shower (11.40am, just about time) & work on the tablecloth!

Have a wonderful (bug-free) Sunday.  Ciao!