My Baby Jane

Feel like a challenge? I decided to make a mini Baby Jane for a project our group was working on - but never actually finished. The blocks were from the beautiful Dear Jane quilt that so many of us have attempted (and not yet finished in my case!!)Here is my miniature quilt - all 2 inch blocks. I did this in a bit of a hurry and fully intend to sit down one day and spend more time on it. I really enjoyed making this little quilt.



I think I could get addicted to miniatures one day.

Liz

More Civil War Blocks

Here are my next Civil War Challenge blocks. I am having fun making them although the strange measurements drive me mad sometimes.


This one is 'Birds in the Air'.











Cotton Boll








Lincoln's Platform






Texas Tears






Log Cabin












Seven Sisters




The link for this challenge is Civil War Challenge. Join in. It's fun.

Liz

Civil War Quilt

Well, I have found a project to get me going again. I just haven't felt like sewing anything except ATCs - and then not very many!!

Barbara Brackman has a Civil War Quilt challenge - a block a week for the year. The blocks aren't all that difficult - except she has designed them all as 8 inch blocks, and that is proving a challenge - sizes like 3 3/16ths etc. Still I am enjoying it. Has a number of plus points for it:

1. It is using up many of my old repro fabrics - oh goodie, an excuse to buy new ones! Some of mine date back 15 years and there are so many lovely new collections around that I couldn't justify buying while I had boxes of the earlier ones!!

2. I love repro scrap quilts and I can indulge to my heart's content.

3. I also love the old traditional blocks, though I like using modern methods of making them.

4. I have a week to finish a block - that I can manage.

5. I am enjoying the online group - Barbara's blog and the Flickr group with comments and photos. Amazing how computers and quilting can bring people of like interests together across miles of land and ocean!

Here are some of my blocks - not always to my satisfaction, but hey - I have a year to play with them if I don't like them.

Catch me if you can















North Star






Richmond













Kansas Troubles

More to come.

Liz

My Kindle

Great excitement. My Kindle, a Christmas present, has arrived. I love it!! Just one problem that I cannot solve. I bought the model with Wi-Fi and 3G capabilities, only to find that I am unable to connect at home. I can drive 6 kms to the nearest town where I teach and connect straight away but not at home.

I really have no idea how all this technology works. I wish I had my Year 7 boys from last year: they were able to help me out with all my computer problems. Where are they when you want them?

I think the problem is that there is no 3G coverage where I live, although my mobile phone works here. I am probably going to have to get a wireless thingo so I can connect that way. I wonder whether that will work?

Meantime I can get around it by ordering books online from home and they download as soon as I get to school next day. Very frustrating though!

BUT, I love my Kindle and am having fun finding books for it.

Liz

Hydrangeas etc

That very wet Spring has done wonders for my hydrangeas, though they did burn a bit in that short hot spell. I love the range of shades on the same and adjacent bushes.

A very pretty little Fuchsia


And a colourful rose - 'Shady Lady'.



Luckily the weeds are not showing - and there are plenty of them.

Liz

Christmas

This Christmas was one of mixed feelings for us. Don went into hospital on Dec 16th for a knee replacement having been given the all clear by his heart specialist. He was expecting to be home about the 23rd and we planned to have christmas at home as he probably wasn't going to be able to travel by car.

Three days after the operation which had gone very smoothly, he had a massive heart attack at 6.00am and was raced to Intensive Care with all the drama of a TV soapy - doctors working on him as they raced the crash cart down the corridors, nurses following carrying all the paraphenalia. They didn't tell him until later that they actually thought he wouldn't make it as his heart stopped and wouldn't start for nearly 2 minutes. By the time I got there, the crisis was over and he was actually giving the nurses cheek.

The conclusion was that they overestimated the strength of his heart and the trauma of the op plus all the drugs he had been given was too much for an already dicky heart. Strangely though, his heart which had been in fibrillation before the op is now beating steadily.

With all this drama happening we decided that Christmas would be at Jo (eldest daughter) and Steve's not at our place and I really didn't have the heart to even do anything about a tree. The Sydney contingent were due to arrive on the Thursday and they were staying with Jo.

Mark surprised me by cutting down a lovely tree for me on the Thursday and the girls and grandkids came over on Christmas Eve and decorated it, as is our custom. My youngest GD even commented that the tree touched the ceiling, also according to a long held family tradition.

What with racing up and down the hills to Adelaide sometimes several times a day, worrying about Don, trying to do all the necessary work around the place and coping with Christmas, I was not really in a Chrissie mood by the big day!! However it is difficult not to feel Christmassy with kids around and although I didn't celebrate with my usual gusto, I did have a very pleasant day. I did feel for Don stuck in the hospital - he does love Christmas so.

Jo's tree - and all the pressies.

Don came home 5 days after Christmas and was able to spend some precious time with the girls before they all went back to Sydney. The knee seems to be an unqualified success and although he gets tired very quickly, we are hopeful that he will soon be back to his normal self.


Liz

They've gone

So much has happened in the last couple of weeks - and no time to record it. First I'll update you, my readers (?) on the fantail story.

I came home a week or so before Christmas and the three babies were bursting out of their nest. We had a few quite warm days aso little mother didn't need to sit on the nest, which was just as well as there was no way she would have been able to.

I grabbed the camera and took this shot. As I was snapping, one of the babies hopped out of the nest and perched on the branch.


Then, he suddenly took off like a bullet and disappeared over the mulberry tree. Meanwhile mum was swooping around my head and dive bombing me.

And then there were two.

I was a little worried that I might have pre-empted the departure, but by next morning the nest was empty and all three and the parents had gone.

Two days later later Don reported that he had seen the two parents with the three little ones flying around the silver birch in the back garden. So all is well. I wonder if they will nest so close to the house next time.

I hope so.

Liz

The Happy Christmas Song

The Happy Christmas Song

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone.

Liz

The Babies

Our baby fantails have hatched amid great excitement. We can see it all from the kitchen window, but the little things are so used to us that I can go right up close and snap the progress. The other day I was taking a photo of the babies while neither parent was home. One parent flew in with a mouthful of food. She fluttered around me for a moment then flew straight in and fed her brood.

There are three of them - now getting too big for the little nest.


Close up. Only a mother could love 'em.


They don't seem at all worried by us or the camera. I am about a metre away.


It's funny watching them sitting on the nest now. Not really enough room in this abode for 4!!


We are hoping the little nest will last until the babies are ready to leave home. It's starting to get quite misshapen and squashed looking.

Liz

Canadian Postal Truck

The Roaring Twenties

I didn't realise until I had completed the 1930s blog that I had skipped the important 10 years of the 1920s, so here they are - The Roaring Twenties.

The Jazz era and the legendary Louis 'Satchmo' Armstrong and his golden trumpet. This ATC was the work of Cathy Smith

The first feature length film, "The Jazz Singer" starring Al Jolson premiered in 1927. This was my contribution to great moments in the 20s.

In 1921Australian author May Gibbs published 'The Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie" and delighted generations of Australian children with her captivating gumnut children. Pam Murray created this delicate little ATC.



The 20s were known for a fashion revolution when women through off their long skirts and corsets for shorter skirts and modern designs. This ATC, crafted by Christine McKenna, depicts a 'flapper' from an Art Deco fashion poster.

Margaret Ware added to the fashion theme with a beautifully decorated cloche.

And finally, that great Australian icon on which millions of Australian children have been raised - Vegemite. This clever ATC was devised by Karen Rosewarne.


Liz

The Mating Game

We love to sit on the verandah and watch the birds in the garden. We have been watching with delight the courting of a pair of grey fantails. These little birds are quite fearless and often join us on the verandah, sitting on the rail or even perching on a spare chair.

We watched their nest building, marvelling in the delicately woven nest, built from spider webs from the verandah eaves just in front of the kitchen window. As the nest progressed we chuckled at the little creatures as they added soft strands to the inside of the nest then sat in the nest and spun around shaping it to fit perfectly.

The camellia they have chosen for their nest is right up against a verandah post and we have to pass within a metre of the nest everytime we go into the garden. They seem to have no objection to us stopping to have a chat, watching us with bright eyes and no sign of fear.

On cool days they snuggle right down, but on warmer days they seem to sit quite high in the nest. We are just hoping they escape the notice of the marauding wattle birds. We have also noticed a couple of little ravens on the back lawn recently. Not sure whether they would attack a nest, but they haven't been around before.

They've been sitting for just over a week now and we are getting quite excited about the forthcoming happy event. We have had numerous blackbird nests close to the house, but this is a first.

Yesterday we also spied a very large koala in one of our gum trees. He was gone today, but he'll be back.

Liz

1930's ATCs

The 4th decade of last century attracted fewer particiapnts, but the three of us who did swap were not stuck for ideas. It was a decade of despair and misery with the Depression affecting so many lives. Cathy Smith depicts this in her poignant portait.

Through those years popular heroes arose to capture the hearts and spirits of the people. One such in Australia was the cricketer Don Bradman - "Our Don Bradman", whose exploits on the cricket field gave rise to great national pride.


This ATC was my creation for the 1930's.

Shirley Temple captured the hearts of people all over the world with her bright, bubbly screen personality. She was one of the Delights of the Thirties.

Christine McKenna created this delightful ATC in her memory.



Liz

Late Spring

Spring was late this year in the garden, but the plants have flourished after the wet winter and most have recovered or are recovering from the long hot summer years. Those that did not survive will be remembered in the photo albums we have built up over the years.

Despite the weeds there are many corners of the garden that lift the spirit and refresh my soul.

I love the brilliant blue of the babiana with this little yellow iris. Both flourish in our garden.

This close up gives you a better idea of the colour in the iris.



Another variety if the same iris species. They thrive in our cooler area. Last year I took a fancy to the larger species of irises and they are just beginning to flower this season.


I love hellebore and though they are now well past their best, they still look beautiful with their faded old world beauty.




You don't see flowering chestnuts often in SA, but they are a beautiful tree and grow easily in the hills. This is a white flowering one. My glorious pink flowering chestnut was smashed when a tree came down on it last winter. Fingers crossed that it will come good.



The fuchsias have struggled with the drought, but this little one is a fighter and has managed to soldier on.

And finally the exquisite and delicate beauty of Solomon's Seal. A real oldtimer. I struggled with this for years, but it has finally rewarded me with a good clump of bulbs.

In the words of a wonderful old gardener, "That's your lot for today." Off to snap some of my new irises and the the lovely old roses that are just starting to flower.

Liz