Are you kidding me?

Yesterday in Townsville a lady accidentally drove her car into the Ross Creek. All was OK. Today we bought the local paper. (We do this just once a month so that we can “tut-tut” the real estate prices.) The incident was reported as below.

“Police said while investigations were continuing, it was believed the vehicle had been parked in the carpark and the woman had hit the accelerator rather than the reverse peddle when she tried to leave.”

Well, I think the investigative journalists at the Townsville Bulletin have cracked the case. It was the “reverse peddle”!

What the ….. is a reverse “peddle”? It must have been a fancy car. I have to use the reverse gear in my car because it only came with three “peddles”. I guess you had to pay extra for a fourth reverse PEDAL! Good grief, who writes or edits this paper! No one old enough to actually have a licence.

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My daughter absolutley blitz her interview for exchange. She was confident, articulate and intelligent in her answers. She didn’t look to us for assistance once. She spoke about world politics, her own feelings toward exchange and acceptance of the belief of others. The only question that she struggled to answer was to discuss a difficult decision that she has had to make. She looked across the table and said “My life had been blissful, the hardest decision I have ever had to make is which subjects I should study.” What a fabulous childhood she is having!

As the interviewer left confided to me that she felt certain that my daughter would be very successful in the next stages of the process. She had no doubt that she would be the perfect candidate for exchange.

In April my daughter will attend a live-in camp with other applicants. She is really looking forwards to the camp.

And finally some quilting content.

I enjoyed a lovely day sewing with Flo. We are making use of the fabrics that we have dyed. Flo is making a beautiful piece with fused fish – lots of details on her fish. I was piecing using improvised methods to make a background for some appliqued flowers. I used colours which were all very similar and really quite bland. My husband thinks it has a bit of an outback look to it.

This week I have to get back to work on client quilts. I have enjoyed a break for Christmas, but it is time to earn money again!

Manly Fish

Not as in the place Manly, but as in not girly fish.

Yesterday I made this for my husband to take to work and hang on his noticeboard near his desk.

I had some fish left over from my current project and I wanted to experiment with some quilting. Through the day we spoke on the phone and I told him that I was making something for him to take to work.
“That sounds lovely”, he said. “Is it something…manly?”
Now this surprised me. I wouldn’t have expected my lovely, gentle, softly-spoken guy to say that. At home he wouldn’t have worried, but he obviously has an image to uphold at his mostly male office. A manly image.

If I had had the time I would have whipped up something with purple and pink bunnies surrounded by lovehearts and roses. Instead I just did this…

Now he has to explain to everyone why those fish come from Sydney.


Part Two: CONFLICTED

Today some people are coming to our house to do a preliminary interview of our daughter. She wants to go overseas on exchange next year. My sister listed to me all the reasons why she will be selected: independence, confidence, intelligence, involvement, leadership. These things are all true and I agree that she is a wonderful candidate and would represent her country proudly. She would learn and grow and develop, she will become an adult. These are all great things.

BUT…when I offer my support for her, I am giving tacit approval for her to leave our house. It won’t be the same house again. There will be three, one missing. A good mother supports the dreams of her children (that’s me). A bad mother sends her children away (that’s also me). I raised her to be her own person, this is what should be, but I don’t want to stand up and help her out the door.

A New Year

Well, welcome to 2007! There was a time in my life when each new year was a shock, but now time seems to be going so quickly that I am noticing the decades more!

Last night we enjoyed over an hour of heavy tropical rain. We were just about to head off to see the fireworks when it started, a quick check of the weather radar was enough to make us stay home. (Obviously the spirit of adventure does not dwell in this house!) Today there are still a few puddles around.

Today everything is fresh and clean, and humid and hot!

I spent ages today trying to take a photo of a big, beautiful Ulysses Butterfly as it flew through our yard. Unfortunately they fly quickly and rather eratically and I am not that good a photographer. We planted lots of Euodia trees in our yard. These trees attract the butterflies and are the host plant for the caterpillars. They are in flower at the moment and, as you can see the blossom also attracts the lorikeets.

The beginning of a new year is traditionally a time to make resolutions. I don’t like to do this, it just provides with me with ways to be a failure! Instead I prefer to look back at the year that has past and reflect on it, learn from it and consider how I might proceed into the new year.

2006…I really loved 2006! I took a year away from my teaching job and stayed home to be a quilter. This was a risk for me, a scary risk which caused a few mini-meltdowns early in the piece. These are the things that I learnt about myself
* I can succeed as a quilter – my ideas and my skills are good enough
* I need a deadline to kick me along sometimes – the freedom of time at home does not always make me more productive
* I like company – a year alone always sounded so appealing, but I am pretty boring company! Thank you blogging for becoming a surrogate social group
* I adore my husband – he has done everything he possibly could to make this year possible for me. He pins up my quilts, he follows me around cleaning up the messes that I leave behind, he ferries children, cooks food and hangs out washing (he doesn’t like ironing or toilet cleaning though) Oh, and he will talk to me on the phone three or four times in a day when I am craving human company.
* I am messy – it comes with creativity
* I have raised completely independent children – these guys are amazing
* I can just say thank you when someone offers me kind words about my work – I am in the habit of immediately pointing out all the faults or problems with my work when someone compliments my work. I am consciously stopping this habit

My childhood conditioning says that I am never quite good enough. Why is it that even though I am many years beyond my childhood this can colour my every thought. This year I have shown myself that I can succeed. Now I just need to believe in myself enough to allow myself to continue like this – not get scared and run away.

Sorry…that was deep. I guess it is the time of the year for personal reflection. I hope that when you look at your year you will like the person you see. I am pretty damn happy with where I am right now. I would be happy anywhere so long as I had my Pete with me!!

One fish, two fish, Purple fish, blue fish

Well kind of green actually, but that didn’t rhyme!

These fish are on the same quilt as the purple ones. These are the positive shapes cut from the fabric around the purple fish. I hadn’t actually planned to use them on this quilt, but they seemed to fit. I had to go and buy more shimmery paint for these! I also bought beads, but they won’t be added until after quilting. (Once I added them first, then found that they got in the way of the quilting foot – lesson learnt!)

For Christmas my daughter bought me an electric rice cooker and a beautiful sushi recipe book. This is a very thoughtful gift. I love sushi, she really put herself into my place when considering a gift for me. I love this girl!! She is turning into a wonderful adult.

SO here is my first sushi…

I am having tofu and avocado with my sushi. My daughter made hers with bacon. Mmmm bacon, that well known Japanese ingredient. We have been making some every day. Delicious!

Hope everyone has a happy new year!

Something Fishy

Yesterday was a day spent drawing, cutting, fusing, painting and stitching. Just fabulous! Here is a sneak peek.

The fish are reverse appliqued, then the body is painted with shimmer paint. I have only applied it lightly as I didn’t want to create a strong colour difference, just to add some shine. The white dots are shimmer paint too. They break up the strong purple.

Usually I would add the stitching details as a part of the quilting. This time I stitched over the fish first so that they won’t flatten when they are quilted.

I think that today I will head for the bead shop. These fish need beads! Don’t you think so?

Rain

Yesterday it rained, but only in our suburb. When we went driving all other roads were completely dry. Very odd.

Can you tell that I got a new camera for Christmas. Isn’t this a quality photo? The leaves of the swamp bloodwood are so oily that the water just beads there. This has to be one of my all time favourite trees. They are beautiful in flower, and they have beautifully shaped leaves.

I finally put my hands onto fabric yesterday. It has only been a week since I did some sewing, but in the life of an obsessive that is a long time. These are some hand-dyed pieces.

It’s not much to look at yet, but it’s a start.

Christmas Frenzy

Our Christmas frenzy has ended.

We spent an entire day baking.

I made shortbread. We have a Scottish heritage, so this is a Christmas essential. The recipe is a family one which was told to me by my great-aunt. It can only be told and not written down. She also said that to do it properly I had to do it all by hand. What! Cream butter and sugar without an electric beater? I do not follow this rule, however quaint it may be.

My daughter made pavlova and we made vanilla cakes in Christmas tree molds and iced them with green icing. By the end of the day sugar was oozing from my very pores.

Christmas Day was calm, but we didn’t stay still for long. Breakfast here, lunch with my husband’s family, dinner at my sister’s. Yesterday was the first chance my children had to really look at their gifts.

I spent the entire day yesterday reading a book, from start to finish. It was a blissful way to spend my time. You can imagine the state of my house today! Oh well, mess always waits for us. We’ll get to it!

I hope that everyone had a restful and peaceful few days. Thanks goodness it only happens once each year!

World Premiere!

This afternoon was the premiere of the movie that my son made this week with his cousins (aged six, five, one and ten months). The premiere was held at the Christmas afternoon tea and attended by all members of my family and all of the movie’s stars. The script, about a princess who would not wash and a dragon who squirted water instead of breathing fire, was written by my son. All members of the audience enjoyed the lively wit and the performances of the young stars.

This project has kept my son busy all week; writing, filming and editing. The script involved the princess seeking advice from a mage. The mage provided her with some water defending hounds (our dogs will chase water), a water repelling shield on a stick (an umbrella) and a magic water coat (a raincoat). Each of these had its own problems. Finally the mage gave her a magical bar of soap and she had a shower. The final part of the movie was a blooper reel….absolutely hilarious! This was much better than any Christmas gift that we could buy. Do you think that this is how Baz Luhrman started?

A backyard script conference. Note the costumes – just fabric held together with a safety pin.

I have been noticing that neat little chew marks a…

I have been noticing that neat little chew marks are appearing on the edges of the ginger leaves near the front door. As I walked past this week I noticed these little guys sitting on the leaf.

I am wondering whether they are responsible for the damage. I thought it brave of them to show themselves as our garden is full of birds. These look like they would make a tasty morsel. Unfortunatley they grow into these monsters. Enormous brown, prickly grasshoppers. I stopped to photograph when they were little, but when they’re grown up I’ll just be running away!

A Valuable, if embarrassing, Service

Yesterday my husband and I went on a five hour shopping frenzy. We completed all of our Christmas shopping in one go. This does not make us procrastinators. It makes us efficient! We have only had to listen to those carols over the PA system once. We only had to face the holiday carpark once. We only had to listen to that one screaming child and their very angry parents once.

We were three hours into our consuming when my mobile phone rang. A call from the bank. They had noticed an unusual amount of activity on our credit card and wanted to confirm that it was us spending recklessly, that our cards had not been stolen.

This is a good service. It would be greatly appreciated, if indeed our cards had been stolen. BUT…I just felt naughty! I imagined a large red light flashing, with a sounding alarm, alerting the bank to our over-indulgent behaviour. I thought that we should immediately stop spending and go home. We perservered though, and finished our shopping.

It is all wrapped and under the tree – I love having teenage children who find wrapping to be fun.