Up to three dozen trees now

Three dozen is 36, so that's several weeks' worth of trees.  A whole forest of trees.

On our visits to Vancouver Island we have been amazed by the trees - in fact, we call it "The Land of Tall Straight Trees".  If memory serves me right this print was bought on Vancouver Island, so it can be one of those tall straight trees.

Several years ago I looked at this print and thought....hmmm, I thought......there's a quilt in that.  Summertime Blues was the result, with the colours reversed; blue was the main colour - every shade of blue from pale turquoise to deep purple - with orange/gold as the contrast.  There was a piece left that was just big enough to cut one tree (fabric is cut 6-1/2in by 9in) and the contrast is also a leftover from my Canadian quilt, used to represent the ocean.  

An interesting pair of trees.  After sewing and trimming, they finish at 6in by 8-1/2in.

Spread out in all their glory.

They really are fun to make.  A group pic will be taken each time another 12 trees are added.

"The Land of Tall Straight Trees", for sure!

How have you all been this past week?  We finished off Easter, then had a few normal days before Anzac Day brought another holiday and another long weekend.  We don't do any special celebrating for Anzac Day, as most of Australia seems to do.  I have memories of that day when I was young, it was never a good day in our house; my father enlisted when he was 20 and was eventually sent overseas to New Guinea, where he served in the War Graves Unit - which would have been horrific  Like many returned servicemen he never joined in the march on Anzac Day, but he did play in a band which marched in the parade.  The march ended with an ecumenical church service at a sports ground, after which the adult band members went around town on a pub crawl.  They would set themselves up outside each pub in turn and play, drinkers would send beers out to them, they would get more and more stonkered - my father did not have a good tolerance for alcohol, it didn't take much to put him under - and eventually he would make his way home.  My mother's fuse was quite short by then (it was never a long fuse at the best of times) so of course there would be fights and arguments for the rest of the day, while my brothers and I tried to keep out from underfoot and away from arm's reach.  

So no, it was never a good day.

Words have been read, stitches have been sewn.  Sorting of the music continues. and will do for quite some time.  Some stitches were knitted; knitting is a good thing to have along when going to the doctor, as I had to a few days ago.  Nothing major or even exciting, just the medical driving check that we in New South Wales have to undertake every year from A Certain Age.  While I was there the nurse asked about having a flu shot....all right, I said, been having them for over 25 years without any problems....although I really hate, detest and loathe having injections.  (I don't like them, either.)  She must have hit a blood vessel because it bled, and we chatted about the fact that redheads - which I was, before going grey - bleed more than other folk.  It's genetic, she said.  Fancy that, I said, and we feel pain more than other people do too.  Apart from unusual tiredness for a couple of days there have, fortunately, been no ill effects from the injection so now I have a whole year to psych myself up for the next one.

A place we visited on our trip away was the Holtermann Museum at Gulgong.  Several years ago, while visiting the Big Smoke, we were lucky enough to see the exhibition which spawned the founding of this museum and found it really interesting.  Considering those photos are over 150 years old they are so clear, and paint a vivid picture of life on the goldfields of the time; women appear to be wearing their best clothes and children have been spruced up for the photographer, while men have also been fluffed and polished despite the mud and dust.  I wonder what they would think of us now, looking at them as they were back then?

It has been raining all night and most of today, gentle soaking rain.  It's been cloudy and misty, not very warm although not too cold, not quite, but an extra layer of clothing is welcome.  The thought of lighting the fire has even crossed our minds.  Quite a lot of rain fell here while we were down south but none since, so this rain will be beneficial.

"If a gentleman, when riding alone, meets a lady who is walking and wishes to enter into conversation with her, he must alight and remain on foot while talking with her."

Well yes, so he should.  The average woman - and people were generally shorter then than now - would probably develop a crick in her neck trying to converse with a gentleman seated on horseback while she was on foot.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

Sifting and sorting

Those many piles of music are gradually being sorted.....goodness, I had no idea there was quite that much....but it will be good to have it done, and to have it all in alphabetical order.  It has gotten to the stage where I couldn't find songs I knew I had so I would make another copy, and that is wasteful.

As a resuly not one stitch has been sewn, not one stitch knitted, although that will change once the music is sorted.  Words have been read, songs have been sung and plinked.

Consequently there are no pics of anything in progress, so we will visit the vault instead and enjoy a taste of autumn to come.

The pic doesn't quite do this tree justice - its colouring was spectacular and caught my eye when we parked behind the shops in Midland.

The building behind the tree was a child care centre.  I would have also photographed the carpet of fallen leaves under the tree but a person with a camera approaching a child care centre might seem suspicious, yes?

After several visits we have decided that Vancouver Island should be called 'The Land of Tall Straight Trees'.

Taken on a cool damp day.....the ground under the trees probably doesn't see much sun, so perhaps it never really dries out.  

A fallen tree with its coat of - moss? lichen? - not sure, but it was pretty.

Speaking of knitting, the Big Decision has been made as to the cable pattern on my in-progress jumper.  There will be two repeats of a twirled and twisted cable running up the centre front, and on each side will another narrow rope cable; enough to make it interesting to knit, but not so complicated or difficult that it will never get finished.  So....one will sit down with pencil and paper and write out the pattern sequence, then one will type it in large font so it can be easily read in a moving car.

Later this afternoon we will be taking a trip to the other side of town, across the river - it never ceases to amuse us that locals here, no matter where they live, seem to have an aversion to crossing the river, as though they are going to the deep dark depths of a different country - and collect my wall hanging which I entered in the show.  I could have gone yesterday to see it hanging but it was a bit too warm to venture out, and in any case I very much doubt that it will get an award....but that's all right.  As I have been saying for many years, blessed is she who expecteth nothing, for she shall never be disappointed.

Summer is hanging on by the fingernails, reluctant to let go, but this is usual for March.  We have noticed, however, that many trees are starting to change colour so perhaps they know something we don't.  Our trip down south next month will be a taste of autumn - something to look forward to, indeed.  The autumn equinox is in just a couple of weeks, and another year is rolling on.

My recent visit to the optometrist for the annual eye check-up had a good result, and my reading glasses don't need to be changed for now.  There is a cataract slowly growing on my left eye, it seems, and eventually it will be need to be fixed - but not yet, indeed probably not for quite a while.  Oh, the joys of getting older.....

Continuing on with Etiquette of the Street:

"Smoking upon the streets.

In England a well-bred man never smokes upon the streets.  While this rule does not hold good for this country, yet no gentleman will ever insult a lady by smoking on the streets in her company, and in meeting and saluting a lady he will always remove a cigar from his mouth."

I am not sure which country is meant by "this country", as my book was first published in - I think - North America, but my 1886 edition is "Revised, Illustrated and Compiled expressly as a Household Treasure for Australian Homes".  Either way we prefer that no man, well-bred or otherwise, smokes on the streets, and indeed very few do so nowadays.

Enjoy your days!

Jennifer

A corner has been turned!

A cause for much rejoicing, let me tell you.

The binding was re-joined correctly, and all is good.  Even the final join (often a bit tricky) was done without incident, although I noticed when pinning the binding to the quilt that there could be, just might be, a very small tuck where there shouldn't be one.....but I won't tell if you don't.

The binding is now being sewn down on the back with tidgy widgy little stitches, and more than a quarter is done.  I always start a little way down from a corner so, by the time the fourth corner is turned, there isn't much binding left to be sewn.  The Cunning Plan is to have it finished for show and tell next Saturday morning....not sure if it will be, but I'll give it a go.  I sew until my fingers get tired, have a break, sew some more....

Last week was very busy, this week is quieter.  There is still one ukulele gig on Wednesday evening, and that's it for the month.  Four gigs - I don't think we have ever had that many in the space of just a few weeks!

This morning we played for a fundraiser fair and it was fun, although it's always hard work being outside.  We were under cover which is better than being in the open - at least we could be heard - but by the time we finished I just wanted to go home to peace and quiet.  The local pipe band played and, much as I love the sounds of the pipes, they are definitely an outdoor instrument!  Another band played in the same space as we did before and after us, and they were good; a bit jazzy, a bit boppy, and they played songs that we knew so we sang along.

One thing our town is famous for is its beautiful jacaranda trees and this year they have been late to flower, probably due to the cool wet start to the season.  However they have caught up, our trips towards town are now brightened by the beautiful trees in full bloom along the way.

Here we are - we made number 5!  This pic though was taken in our back yard in the Big Smoke where we had a self-seeded jacaranda; it appeared as a small seedling twenty years before we moved out, and we enjoyed its beauty every year.  Looking at maps and satellite pics, though, that lovely tree has now gone.  It wasn't a large yard and by the time we left the tree took up most of it, but we enjoyed it for its shade and its flowers.

The forthcoming season is now making its presence felt more and more.  Shop displays....ads on TV......people out and about today in seasonal clothes.....goodness, I don't even think of getting out my Christmas earrings until at least the first of December!  Our younger son's birthday is 2nd December and we always celebrated his birthday before starting the family Christmas, and even though he has been in Canada for nearly 18 years and had moved out of home before going there, we still keep the same tradition.  He was born early, he wasn't due until 20th December; The One And Only Grandkid's birthday is 19th December, which is even closer to the big day.  

Continuing on with Etiquette of the Street:

"A crowded street.

When a gentleman and lady are walking in the street, if at any place, by reason of the crowd, or from other cause, they are compelled to proceed singly, the gentleman should always precede his companion."

One thing which I notice in old street scene photographs is the number of people out walking.  There would have been few distractions such as movies, television, even radio, so if you wanted a social life you went out.  One could stroll along showing off one's new outfit and admiring - or not! - others' new outfits, too....and of course one would definitely need an escort to precede one, through such a crowd.

Enjoy your days!

Another week of nothing much

Which is probably better than too much excitement, I suppose.

Diamonds have been cut, and sewn.  Stitches have been knitted.  Words have been read.   Music has been played....but no choir because of the public holiday and we meet in council-owned premises, so all council buildings were unavailable for the day.  

Now some of the world has farewelled one monarch and greeted another, can you just imagine how many things will have to be changed?  Currency, for one....those little royal badges on some products which are supposed to endow them with magic because a royal personage has used them.....

Our callistemon is flowering, 'King's Park Special' is blooming, a long way from where it was developed and bred on the other side of the continent.

It's been a case of 'just plant it and stand back', because it has grown quickly; I am wondering, though, if we might have planted it a bit close to the house.  Never mind, Kevin enjoys pruning and cutting plants back, even hacking into them severely, when he is allowed to.

We also have a tree in front of the house which started growing about a year ago, from a seed dropped by a bird (probably) or drifting in the wind (possibly).  It is now just starting to bloom and is a very healthy specimen of whatever-it-is.  I suspected an acacia of some sort so earlier today we took a piece to a horticulturist and were told it's probably Blackwood.  Many acacias don't live very long so I don't suppose we need to worry it it undermining the house, but it is growing very quickly.....very very quickly.....and it might grow huge, it's already as tall as the house......

Another flood, less than a week after the previous one.  We have had a heap ton of rain - if that's not an official liquid measure it should be - the ground is so sodden that it can't soak up any more moisture.  On our way out and back earlier this afternoon we crossed the river on different bridges, and couldn't believe how much water is still flowing.  

Temperatures are warming up but unlike some people I have not yet found it warm enough to flash my bare arms, and certainly not my bare legs.  It's still warm enough for us  to stay covered, and to wear socks; my sandals haven't yet seen the light of day since being put away at the end of last summer.  Never mind, no doubt we will soon be complaining that it's too hot.  If only we could go from spring to autumn, bypassing summer and winter, what a happy woman I would be - but I don't know that there is anywhere in the world with such a climate, is there?

Continuing on with General Rules for Balls, which will finish next week:

"Gentlemen should engage their partners for the approaching dance before the music strikes up."

Indeed.  When the music starts everyone should be ready to take the first step in the dance, they should not still be fumbling and stumbling trying to find a place on the dance floor.

Enjoy your days!

Finally getting around to it

More quilting on the border of my Canadian quilt has been done.  The black inner border is now finished; it was quilted with two parallel rows to match the quilting in the black sashing between the blocks, then a row in the ditch between the black and white borders.  (Occasionally the needle jumped out of the ditch, which is why I am not a great fan of stitching in the ditch.....but it passes the ten feet away rule, so that's all right.)

You can see the black and white borders here.  Next will be a row of stitching - once more into the ditch, dear friends, once more, to paraphrase William Shakespeare - on the edge between the white border and the outer red and black leaf print border.  Although it's only straight stitching it's quite a physical workout because the quilt is heavy and stiff, as there are three or four layers of fusible appliqué in some pictures.

And - I now have my own round tuit!  So there is no excuse for procrastination, is there?  I can no longer say "when I get around to it".

A surprise package from a friend in the Big Smoke - thank you, Sandra! - with a 'round tuit', and a wombat coaster made from Silky Oak, both shown on the red back of my Canadian quilt.

Silky Oak - Grevillea Robusta - is not an oak tree at all, but its sleek grain resembles that of European oak.  It makes beautiful furniture, and I remember a building in the Big Smoke whose entrance hall was lined with wall display cases made from Silky Oak.  Way back before my memory starts our town made the decision to plant Silky Oaks as street trees - many still survive; they are now quite large and provide good summer shade but woe betide anyone who parks underneath when they flowering, as the flowers drip their sticky sap onto cars.

The house is quiet without a cat......but we suspect we will be finding white cat hairs on clothing and furniture for some time yet, and a few were even spotted earlier while quilting.

Yesterday the ukulele group's gig went well, people said nice things to us and about us.  There is another gig coming up soon but - guess what! - this time I have been asked to do it solo on my own by myself, how about that?  The theme is 'Roaring Twenties'; I can do the songs easily enough, but clothes.....not so much.  Perhaps I need to hit the op shops and see what's available.  A sparkly or lacy top could be The Very Thing, something I do not currently own as I really don't do sparkly or lacy clothes.  Plain black pants will be the bottom.

As usual, this week some stitches have been knitted, some diamonds have been pieced, words have been read.  The first sleeve on my whatever-it-becomes (either a jumper [probably] or a cardigan [possibly]) is proceeding along well, the armhole decrease is well under way so the further along it is the quicker it goes.  

Continuing on with General Rules for Balls:

"Never be seen without gloves in a ball-room, or with those of any other color than white, unless they are of the most delicate hue."

For women gloves would probably also be long, as the rule 'the shorter the sleeve, the longer the glove' applied.  Gentlemen also wore gloves to a ball so as not to leave oily marks on their partners' skin or clothing while dancing.  Indeed, some folk in these times of plague might wish the custom of wearing gloves would return, and not just for wearing at balls.

Enjoy your days!

Don't know why there's no sun up in the sky.......

.....stormy weather......stormy indeed; the radar shows storms heading our way while the forecast is for storms and rain.  And more rain.  And still more rain.....and possibly floods......  Thunder is rumbling as we speak and I can smell rain.

Good weather to stay inside and sew, and read, and play music.  Not the weather for frolicking barefoot among the dandelions while wearing a flouncy summer frock.

The next row of the Canadian quilt is done and joined.  It doesn't have a name; it was originally called "Canadian mystery quilt" by the designer, but I quite like "Canadiana".  So, "Canadiana" it is.

There are five more blocks to be done.

Two more houses surrounded.  The black and white star print seemed appropriate for roaming cats, although we know they shouldn't go out at night (that's the last dark print used from my black and white stash) and a large scale scribbly paisley-teardrop print which I quite like.

The binding on the tumbler quilt 'Weeds of Grace' has been sewn down except for one corner, which has been left so the label can be machined into the binding seam; after that's done the remaining corner will be finished.  The label will be hand embroidered onto one of the prints used for some of the tumblers, a pale yellow stripe.  I can embroider much more neatly than I can write.

At present around town jacaranda trees are blooming around town - it's such a pretty tree.  We don't have one now, but more than 30 years ago one just appeared in the backyard of our home in the Big Smoke.  It was quite small, not many inches high, but I recognised what it was and as it had sprouted (probably from a wind-blown seed) in a place that was all right to leave it, that's what we did.  Just a few months later we suffered a very bad hail storm with damage to our house, and water several inches deep flooding through the back yard because of blocked drains.  That will be the end of the little jacaranda, we thought, it's probably several streets away by now......but no!

According to popular wisdom a jacaranda tree will not bloom until it is seven years old - ours popped its first flowers at six, a whole year ahead of schedule.  This was taken when it was much older.

It grew into a very big tree which provided wonderful summer shade for the house, and a great place for Binky (no longer with us) to climb.

A couple of years ago we were checking out houses where we had both lived in our lives - the internet is a wonderful place for such Stuff, yes? - and we see the back yard is now just a square of grass.  That wonderful tree has gone.  It could have been pruned.....it didn't need to be chopped down.  That's one less tree in the world.

Great news, the choir concert will indeed happen at the end of this month!  It was decided that, as we are able to have sufficient people - it is, after all, a charity fundraiser - to go ahead.  The ukulele group will be one of the 'guest artists' and I will be another, with a solo.  (yay me!)  We have been singing these same songs on Thursday nights for nearly two years now, so after the concert they can disappear from our folders never to be sung again.

"Balls.

The requisites for a successful ball are good music and plenty of people to dance.  An English writer says, "The advantage of the ball is, that it brings young people together for a sensible and innocent recreation, and takes them away from silly, if not from bad ones; that it gives them exercise, and that the general effect of the beauty, elegancy and brilliancy of a ball is to elevate rather than to deprave the mind."  It may be that the round dance is monopolizing the ball-room to a too great extent, and it is possible that these may be so frequent as to mar the pleasure of some persons who do not care to participate in them, to the exclusion of other dances.  There should be an equal number of waltzes and quadrilles, with one or two other dances, which would give an opportunity to those who object (or whose parents object) to too many of one sort."

A 'round dance' isn't, it seems, necessarily danced by a circle of people holding hands; it is any dance which progresses around the room in a circular fashion.  I can do many of those.  I can also waltz, and I can - and have - danced many a quadrille.

That was, alas, before fracturing my foot twice......

Enjoy your days!

Been and gone and come home again

My life has taken on a life of its own lately.

Had a fun weekend at the folk festival in Dorrigo catching up with old friends, making new ones, playing music, singing, even joining in a big scratch band on stage to open the Sunday morning concert.  Now back to reality......

Dorrigo has a very nice quilt shop.  A little retail therapy may have been indulged in.    Not all for me, you understand.  It doesn't count when it's a gift for someone else.

On the way there and back we stopped at a village pub, as it was lunch o'clock.  Ebor is a small blink-and-you-miss-it place, but the lunches were quite yummy.  Here are a few Ebor trees for you.

 You can see the road which goes through town.

 I like these trees.

 A tall sentinel - these pics were all taken from the pub car park.

It is much greener in Ebor and Dorrigo than it is here.  Dust, dust and more dust is currently the order of our day, and added to that is smoke from fires not too far away.  Air quality is quite bad; we are being warned to limit our time outside, and people who have breathing difficulties are being told not to go outside at all if possible.  Waking up in the morning with a raw throat is not much fun, and singing becomes next to impossible.

Never mind.  This, too, shall pass.

Speaking of retail, have you noticed that many stores don't give bags for our purchases these days?  When one needs to buy undies (as one did yesterday) one must make sure to take a bag (one did), or one may be faced with the prospect of twirling one's new undies around one's index finger while sashaying along the main drag, no doubt to the scandalised gaze of locals.  It's a good thing to use less plastic, but that doesn't really address the problem of the over-packaged items placed in one's take-along bag, does it?

Recently new shoes were added to my less than extensive shoe collection.  I really really don't like shopping for shoes, but these were a necessity; leather lace-up shoes in a light nothing colour called "stone", support for the occasionally broken foot.  I have black shoes but wanted light ones for summer, and I dislike white athletic shoes even more than I dislike shoe shopping, so "stone" it had to be.

Some stitches have been taken.  No fabric has been cut out.  Friends from Canada are arriving on Saturday for a visit, so cutting out is on the back burner for a while while we enjoy their company.

"The feet.
A well-formed foot is broad at the sole, the toes well spread, each separate toe perfect and rounded in form.  The nails are regular and perfect in shape as those of the fingers.  The second toe projects a little beyond the others, and the first, or big toe, stands slightly apart from the rest and is slightly lifted.  The feet, from the circumstance of their being so much confined by boots and shoes, require more care in washing than the rest of the body.  Yet they do not always get this care."

Not a word about a twice-broken foot, you notice.

Enjoy your days!

A quarter of the year has gone

Doesn't seem like the year is already one quarter over, does it?  Do you ever feel as though your life is flashing by before your eyes, while you sit back and watch it?  Because I do. 

We had very good rain yesterday, the most rain to fall in one day for over two years.  Not enough to break the drought - the water table is so low it will take more than 50 mls (or two inches in old money) to make much difference, but it has created optimism.  Gloom and doom has been the order of the day for quite a while now, it would be nice to see a smile on people's faces.

The rain also brought some cool weather with it - just like that, today is autumn!  If I could snap my fingers to show you how suddenly the seasons changed I would, but alas......I cannot snap my fingers.  Today is downright chilly, and several hours south of here in the Australian Alps it has been snowing. 

As it's near enough as dammit to the start of a new month, the table centre was changed today.

This was made from a kit purchased on one of our trips to Canada several years ago.  The little tree was a gift from our Canaussian son a while before he took off for Canada early in 2005; the tiny leaves, each one individually wired to the trunk, are green aventurine while the base is a solid chunk of bloodstone which is heavier than it looks.  Trunk and leaves are silver wire.

This table is in our 'good room'.  Aussies of A Certain Age may remember when children were not allowed in the formal living room, if the house had one; their domain was the kitchen where the family ate.  The 'good room' was kept tidy in case of visitors.  Our house has an informal kitchen/family room and a more formal living/dining room, so we refer to that room with a touch of irony as our 'good room'.  In days of yore it was probably called 'the parlour'.

However - it has become my music room, and has several bookcases full of books and CDs and a good sound system, so it does get used. 

Like many of you, I suspect, we like watching renno porn.  You know the home renovation shows, and house hunting shows, and others of that kind?  We have been noticing that the open plan kitchen/living/dining single room is quite the trend now, and I'm not sure that I am a fan.  If one has small children or teenagers it would be very noisy, especially as hardwood floors, hard surfaces and curtainless windows also seem to be popular.  I remember when our boys were teens the older one was very heavy-footed; I was very thankful that we had a single story home as I would not have liked to hear his great clodhoppers clumping over my head on a wood floor, especially when he came home late (or early morning, more like) after a music gig.  These new/renovated homes are not made for hobbies either, there is never a music room or sewing room, and the master suite takes up nearly half the house while everyone else is squashed into what's left.  How much room does one need for a bedroom - apart from bed activities of all kinds why do people think they need so much space? and who needs a TV in their bedroom anyway?

Things will be different when I rule the world, you know.

During the week we attended a performance of "The Three Musketeers" by a local amateur group, with real swords! and much fighting!  It was all jolly fun; the actors were entertaining, while King Louis and Cardinal Richelieu were excellent.  Next local production is "Beauty and the Beast" which we will probably miss although I am sure every eight year old girl in town will be there.

"The dress for the theatre."
The promenade dress with the addition of a handsome cloak or shawl, which may be thrown aside if it is uncomfortable, is suitable for a theatre.  The dress should be quiet and plain, without any attempt at display.  Either a bonnet or hat may be worn.  Gloves should be dark, harmonizing with the dress."

How about black pants with a lemon/lime shirt, all in linen?  I felt quite overdressed as quite a few of the audience were very casual, some even wearing shorts......although I think several may have been friends of the caste members, many of whom were young.  We come from the generation where one dresses up a little to attend the theatre; it pays the actors a compliment.  To me, too casual says "we don't care enough to dress up to see your performance, you're not worth the effort".

Enjoy your days!

Green too!

Not all the leaves we saw were traditional autumn colours.....Vancouver Island is very green.

Mossy trees.....

 ......more mossy trees, aren't they interesting shapes?

 Moss on a fallen tree.

 Not a wonderfully fabulous shot of the sign, however it was taken to remind us where we were.

I suspect if you stayed in the forest too long you would grow mossy arms and legs too.

Sadly our trip is receding in our memories as we have been really busy since returning, but we have souvenirs, photos and memories to remind us.

We have been so busy that one decoration, not one bauble, not one strand of tinsel, has been put out to decorate for Christmas!  Oh well, there's always later today or perhaps tomorrow morning.  Probably should make the effort to glitz the place up a bit.

Now my thoughts are turning to the quilt group challenge due at the end of February, to make a quilt for donation to the local Ronald McDonald House out of fabric we were given.  My fabric is random orange spots on white, very bright and cheerful; when we first drew our wrapped fabrics out of the bag I scored a piece with pretty pink flowers and green leaves and bits of blue.  Oh so pretty, and oh so not me.  Margaret sitting next to me drew the orange spots and shuddered......I was shuddering at my draw......so we swapped.  Found this pattern which will do nicely; the diagonals will be made in yellow-gold solid so when the large pieces are sliced and diced it will have gold setting triangles.  I worked it out carefully.  I am such a freakin' genius, am I not?

Meanwhile, the tumbler quilt is coming along nicely.  To start with they are being joined in pairs, one darker (or one lighter, depending on where you stand with such things) than the other.  No colour matching, nothing, just totally random.  Then they will be joined in fours, once again randomly.  Quite a lot was sewn in Canada so that will also be a souvenir when it's finished; even the quilting thread was bought in Toronto.

It's warming up here in the Small Smoke, and I am not enjoying it.  Because we're inland we don't usually have to suffer much humidity, but it's the stormy season which has raised humidity levels.  Last night's storm was a doozy.  When one is at home one sheds layers, but there are limits to what one removes in public when one is no longer young and slender. 

Ah well.  One suffers in silence, or tries to.

All the music gigs are done for the year, the only commitment remaining is a two-hour stint at the historical museum tomorrow afternoon with my 87 year old friend Bonnie who grew up with my aunt in a town a couple of hours north of here.  We always have quite a laugh, even if we are laughing at something we laughed at last time we were on duty together.

"Deference to elderly people.
A young lady should show the same deference to an elderly lady that a gentleman does to a lady.  It may also be said that a young man should show proper deference to elderly gentlemen."

Yes, that sounds like Bonnie and me.

Enjoy your days!