Looking forward to going away.......

.........and the gardenia given to me by my friends at the folk club in Sydney just before we moved here to the Small Smoke is getting ready to flower, and I will miss its prettiness.......such a shame.

 Several months ago it was repotted as it was outgrowing its pretty red pot, and now it is growing beautifully.

Lots of buds getting ready to open, which of course will happen when we are not here.  Quelle bummer.  Perhaps I shall ask our house sitter to take a photo for me.

The skirt lining is done, zipper is inserted - it was very quick and easy, I don't know why I was so uncertain about it - hem is sewn; now for the outer layer, but as the past few days have taken on a life of their own there will be no time before we go away on Thursday morning to sew even one stitch on that.  However we will be home for ten days between our holiday break and the trip to the Big Smoke for the shoulder operation, so I'll just have to see how fast I can move in that time. Still need a little bag for the wedding to carry my glasses and hanky (because the MotG is probably allowed a little sniffle); so far I haven't seen one I love enough to buy but will keep looking.  Somewhere out there the right bag will be waiting for me.

The wardrobe has increased by a few more shirts to make life easier after the surgery, most of them are soft light cotton voile which is a good choice for summer.  A pretty green one (have I ever mentioned that I am quite fond of green?), a couple of blue ones, even a deep purple one, now have their places in the wardrobe.  It doesn't matter what one wears at home but for trips to the shops etc., one does need to look respectable.  They will probably be worn with capri pants, or as I call them, Old Ladies' Shorts.......because there comes a time in a woman's life when she shouldn't wear shorts in public any more (although it's allowable in a camp ground) but it's a bit warm for long pants.

A few Flower Basket blocks have been prepared to take on holiday, some knitting will go along too, there's a bag of books and my tablet thingy is also loaded with books to read.  And of course my uke and some music - can't leave that behind!  A new song has been learned ready for the singing session on Friday night.  Here is where we will be, then we will be heading towards the north coast.......and who knows where we will end up?

Oh dear, the bushfires of the past few days have been very nasty.  The weather has been very hot and dry with low humidity and strong winds, for several months now rainfall has been well below average, so conditions are right for fire.  Even though the fires are several hours' south of here we don't escape; last Friday morning when I went for my morning walk (at 6.40am, that's the crack of dawn you know) the valley was clear although the distant hills were a little hazy which is not unusual early in the day.  Barely half an hour after I returned home the view had disappeared, the valley was full of smoke and there was a heavy smoky smell.  A south-easterly wind had blown it this way, and it took a few hours to disperse.  I would have stayed indoors if that smoke had been in the air, it's very unhealthy stuff.

We love Australia, but she can be very cruel sometimes.

"The promenade dress.
The dress for the promenade should be in perfect harmony with itself.  All the colours worn should harmonize if they are not strictly identical.  The bonnet should not be of one colour, and parasol of another, the dress of a third and the gloves of a fourth.  Nor should one article be new and another shabby.  The collars and cuffs should be of lace; the kid gloves should be selected to harmonize with the colour of the dress, a perfect fit.  The jewellery worn should be bracelets, cuff-buttons, plain gold ear-rings, a watch-chain and brooch."

Something to keep in mind when I am slopping round the camp ground in shorts.

Enjoy your days!

Best wishes to my Canadian family and friends for Thanksgiving!

I hope you all have a great day, and enjoy the time you spend with your loved ones.

Just looking at the photos taken nearly a year ago in Canada is making me feel cooler......our summer is early this year.  Bayfield is a lovely little town and the fall colours were beautiful.

 Our visit to Inglis Falls was on a showery grey day, much nicer than the heat and wind we have been getting lately.

It's been a quiet week at La Chateau des Wombats.  The skirt is cut out and I am plucking up courage to insert an invisible zip into the lining; the skirt fabric is too fine for the weight so I will just leave an opening to reach the zip.  I started making my own clothes at the age of 18 umpty-um years ago, but would you believe have never put in an invisible zip?  It is said, though, that we are never too old to learn something......let's hope we can do it properly.  In all those years I haven't sewn many fabrics as sheer as this either, so fingers crossed I don't make a mess of it.

It's pathetic, I know, but as we get older we seem to lose a certain amount of confidence.  When I was young and silly I would have just charged ahead, inserted that zip and blundered along with delicate fabric, and not worried if it was a mess.  Now I know I have the skills and experience to do it well, but self-doubt is setting in and it's not good......and this from a woman who was game enough to sing a slightly bawdy song in a crowded pub at a folk festival not so many years ago.

On Friday night the Thursday night choir put on a concert for a local charity and to our surprise and delight we had a packed house - we were sending out for more chairs!  Some members of the uke group played too; four of us belong to both that choir and the ukes, one was away but the other three of us had quite a busy evening.  Nice things were said to and about us by audience members, and we think we raised quite a lot of money.  And no, I didn't sing a solo - but I copped the job of introducing the uke group and of counting them in for each song, 1-2-3-4, because neither of our tutors were there and no one else would do it.

So why am I bothered about that zip?

The date for the operation is looming, but first we are going to a folk festival and having a holiday at the coast.  I am checking out op shops to find tops and shirts which button down the front; my wardrobe has a few but they will be useful after the operation when I can't raise my left arm for a while.  It's not a style I wear often so I am not going to pay huge prices for new clothes, and I don't have the time to make several tops.  So far a few new shirts have entered my wardrobe including a green linen sleeveless top with buttons down the front, which should be cool for the coming summer.  If I don't love the tops enough to keep them after the need is passed, they will be donated back to the worthy cause from which they came but will serve the purpose in the meantime.  My summer wardrobe is mostly tee shirts, casual and dressy, but they may be a little difficult to wear for a while.

"But a love of dress has its peril for weak minds.  Uncontrolled by good sense and stimulated by personal vanity, it becomes a temptation at first, and then a curse.  When it is indulged in to the detriment of better employments, and beyond the compass of means, it cannot be too severely condemned.  It then becomes criminal."

To commit a crime because of one's love of dress would not be good.  However, you and I have seen people who commit crimes by their choice of clothing, haven't we?

Enjoy your days!

Some fabrics

These are the fabrics I will be wearing in my role as Mother of the Groom next February, what do you think?  The rather scrumptious green cotton on the left will be a top, while the multi-coloured fabric will be a flared skirt.  The dull teal behind is the skirt lining, we tried out different colours at the fabric shop and believe it or not this was the choice which brought out the fabric's colours best.....even better than a deep olive/gold lining, which was surprising.  Extra skirt fabric was bought to make a matching scarf/wrap, the plan is to bead the ends to give it weight as it's a very light silky poly fabric, almost as light as chiffon.

Fabric for the next bag, the blue Jinny Beyer paisley is the outer fabric and the smokey green (would you believe it's from a range of Christmas fabrics?) is the trim and lining.  Managed to get most of the large piece quilted last Saturday at quilt group, finished it off earlier in the week and cut it out yesterday.  I wasn't going to cut it, but then decided that the project would be easier to pack in the cupboard if it was cut out first, so cut out it was.  It won't be touched again until the wedding sewing is done.

Had my visit to the specialist on Monday and he confirmed what I have been suspecting for over a year, that my shoulder will not get better unless it is surgically fixed.  The operation date is now set for next month after we come home from our holiday, so on Tuesday 19th November I will be Going Under The Knife.  While that is something that doesn't see me dancing round with glee it will be good to - eventually! - be pain free.

Last week when I posted it was a horribly windy day, and it is again today....and it was on Tuesday, too......no doubt about it, we are certainly being blown into summer.  At least we had some rain a few nights ago so the hill behind us isn't looking too dry now.  Our garden is doing well, our plants except for one which is to be replaced are flourishing, and more pics will be taken soon so you can see how pretty they are.

Oh dear, one sees some unfortunate sights these days.  Who decided that tight leggings, which should never be worn outside a gym in my opinion, are outer wear?  And quite honestly, why do large girls wear stretched-to-the-max black leggings with a top which doesn't cover their bum, in public?  It's not pretty.  I'm not exactly svelte myself these days....once I was, alas.......but some of these young women would make at least two of me.  Occasionally one sees a larger girl dressed in clothes which flatter her and don't draw attention to the bits she would probably rather not feature, and she looks really good.  Really tight pants don't flatter very skinny legs either.

I don't watch TV shows which take women in hand and dress them in clothes they probably wouldn't choose for themselves - I find them too arrogant for my taste -  but I do wish some people would look at the back view in their mirror before they set out.

"Indifference to dress.
Indifference and inattention to dress is a defect of character rather than virtue, and often denotes indolence and slovenliness.  Every woman should aim to make herself look as well as possible with the means at her command."

I do try.

Enjoy your days!