Hello my lovelies
It's been a quiet day today for Papa and me. Papa has been busy pottering in the shed, practicing his guitar and popping out for some shopping.
I did the chores and since lunchtime, I've been working on our budget for next year! Today is 30 June and the end of the financial year here in Australia. Because I keep a very close track on everything Papa and I spend, I was able to print off a report on all our spending for the past twelve months. I am very sorry to inform you that we overspent :) This year, we have vowed to be good and stay within the limits. Papa said that if we overspend in one area, we have to cut back on another. I'm not quite sure what he means by this but I think he might mean we have to cut back on our gin, whisky and wine!
Yesterday I had a lovely day. Robyn has a quilting group that meets at her home each Thursday and she invited me along to yesterday's get-together. It was only a few ladies there as it is the school holidays here at the moment and a lot of people are away. I caught up with a few folk I hadn't seen for ages and ages which was nice. It was also Robyn's sister Dawn's birthday and the group had put together a gorgeous 'birthday box' for her. Dawn loves all things leopard-printy and the ladies made her coasters, place mats, a little make-up bag and an apron, all in different leopard prints. As you can imagine, she was just thrilled to bits. I took along my Hebridean quilt for a 'show and tell'. Everyone loved it. I also took my Christmas quilt to work on.
Frances, one of the ladies was cutting away at material and as I was wondering what she was up to, I went over, sat beside her and asked her to explain what she was doing. Frances works with a pair of scissors a lot in her quilting work. She showed me photographs of some of her projects and girls, they are just wonderful. For example there was one wall-hanging quilt which was a gorgeous duck. In making this duck, Frances used her scissors to cut out, very, very carefully lots and lots of flowers from her chosen fabric - in this case the main colour was pink. These flowers were then laid next to each other and sewn down with the machine. Before she starts the cutting process, she irons on Visoflex to the back of the fabric. Here's a link to see how Visoflex is used. Frances then cuts out the bits she wants from her material and when she has all the bits she needs, she lays them carefully on her backing fabric, and very carefully irons them down. This holds the flowers (or whatever has been cut out) on the fabric until they have been sewn down. The flowers have not been turned under, the edges are raw. The next step is to sew down all the edges of the flowers and Frances does this with her sewing machine, sewing one eighth of an inch from the edge. I've asked Frances if she would mind sending me a photograph of the duck or something similar and when she does, I'll forward on to you.
Talking of photographs, Auntie Emma sent through some photographs that she took on her wee trip to Byron Bay. One special outing was the outing to a gorgeous gallery which features not only the works of Margaret Olley but also a set-up of her home. Here's a description Auntie Emma wrote.
So they constructed the
rooms and installed the some of the actual windows from her home in
Sydney!!! So it was like peering into her world. They had Radio
National (Margaret Throsby) playing inside (but not out) so she must have loved
listening to it while she worked. Then in other areas they had
simple cut outs. Looking in was like seeing hundreds of still lifes.
And here are some photographs:
These two photographs are taken in or around Byron Bay.
Can you see the cows in this photograph above?
Well my lovelies, I'm away to have a hot cuppa as it's freezing in here.
Hope you're enjoying Montpellier.
Love Nanxxx
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