COMPLETING THE QUILTS. aka Carry On Quilting.

Ordered and made thursday/Friday.  Arrived bright and early this cold foggy monday morning. I put my phone in the photo for size comparison.  It is not a 'mums-got-everything-in-there' bag. It's the perfect size for my phone, my wallet and my notebook which is all i need these days. And it has an adjustable strap so I can wear it across the body or on my shoulder. I asked for extra length in the strap so that the bag does not sit at boob level, like other bags I have bought and discarded over recent years, but down on my hip which is more comfortable.  If you are thinking you could do with a nice neat bag, please visit 'Walkers Bags and More' on Facebook. I highly reccomend them.

It's hibernation time in cold old Bathurst.  Frosts and or fogs every morning. And a bit of rain. I feel the cold more now I'm on my own.  I ordered some yarn yesterday so I'm going to be making myself a crochet rectangular shawl when that arrives. Purchased within Australia, from a supplier in Rockhampton that I found on Etsy. (CQBudgetYarns) Cross communications were very helpful in deciding what and how much I needed. Bought the pattern from another source on Etsy. (Stitching Tog) Instant digital download, how cool is that? Haven't followed a crochet pattern for years so this should be interesting. It's touted as being an "easy for confident beginners" pattern. So, fingers crossed. I'm going to be taking it very slowly as my last foray into crochet, a floor rug using torn fabric strips and a gigantic hook, resulted with swollen hands and I've broken my left hand and my right wrist since then.  But meanwhile I've been working on an American ...

Written and recorded in the 1960s, but very prophetic.  https://youtu.be/qfZVu0alU0I (I can't figure out how to get a live link to YouTube). The Eastern world, it is explodin' Violence flarin', bullets loadin' You're old enough to kill but not for votin' You don't believe in war, but what's that gun you're totin'? And even the Jordan river has bodies floatin' But you tell me Over and over and over again, my friend How you don't believe We're on the eve of destruction Don't you understand what I'm trying to say Can't you feel the fears I'm feeling today? If the button is pushed, there's no runnin' away There'll be no one to save with the world in a grave Take a look around you boy, it's bound to scare you, boy And you tell me Over and over and over again, my friend How you don't believe We're on the eve of destruction Yeah, my blood's so mad, feels like coagulatin' I'm sittin' her...

I occasionally think of the people (tourists) who asked me to take their photo in days gone by when we had to wait until the film got developed before we saw how the photo turned out. These days with a digital camera it takes me at least 5-6 tries before I get it right. Speaking of taking photos with film loaded cameras - let me tell you a story. Years ago when film loaded cameras still reigned, Rod and I were at Darling Harbour. We were queued up for entry into something when a bus load of tourists cut into the queue ahead of us. This caused the rest of us to utter a protest that their guides felt the need to answer on behalf of their clients. Their argument was that they, the group, were expected at a time 20 mins earlier, and the little old lady standing by herself in the queue was 'holding their place'. Ummmm, NO. That might work in China but here in Australia it will get you lynched - which it nearly did with the volume of verbal protest rising considerably at this point ...

   The whole idea of this blog was to focus on completing the many quilt tops I have piled up over the past 5 years, and some even going back further, before I complete my orbit in the universe.     This was going to happen along side  my self-taught exploration of the Zen-like slow stitching of the Japanese art of Sashiko.  I'm thinking about making some Japanese knot bags which I can decorate with my my sashiko projects.     I also have some precut quilt kits that I'll be hand piecing as the urge hits. Probably in between sashiko projects.     And, I came across a stack of my own quilt designs yesterday and spent a bit of time considering which ones I really, really, really would like to see completed, even if I do have to cut them myself. 

About me hand sewing.  I very rarely hand quilt. Only really special quilts. Or very small projects like mug mats or place mats.  But I do hand piece these days. I stopped going out into my studio when my husband was ill as I didn't like leaving him alone in the house. He had Vascular Dementia. Because of his declining mobility he could no longer get out to my studio. So, I started hand stitching while we sat and watched TV together. It was a sad time for me watching him decline but there were good things about it.  We chatted a lot, discussed lots and lots of things, reviews many many photo sideshows on the TV, and he liked watching me sew and assemble quilts. I put up a temporary design wall in the lounge room. And even though he died in April 2020. I still sit and sew, in my chair, next to his.