Crowded House

Another weekend has completely flown by.  We've had family houseguests here for the last four days and as we owed some cousins an invite to the house, I thought that it would be a good idea to get the family together on this weekend.  Which meant 13 for dinner.  Fortunately, the meals area is big enough to cope, we have a couple of tables and enough chairs that we didn't have to raid the outdoor furniture.  Food wasn't too tricky - a slow cooker chicken and chickpea "tagine", Moroccan vegetable stew, lamb shoulder roasted in the barbeque and baked tomatoes and beetroot.  For dessert, Nigella came to the rescue with her Anglo-Italian trifle.  I think it needs a little tweaking (cutting down on the marscapone and limoncello) but it is a quick and impressive dish that serves 12 - 14, depending on how greedy they are. 

As we had a guest with lactose intolerance, I thought I'd make a flourless orange and almond cake, however it got overcooked (OK, burnt).  But with a trim, and instructions to the guests to cut off any additional carbon, it was tasty.  It just didn't look like it should have. 

We had a great night catching up with everyone and look forward to doing it again.  At someone else's place!

A hazy shade of winter

I hate winter.  This is a well known fact in our household.  Unfortunately for Stos, I feel obliged to remind him of this every year.  I loathe the cold (except when I go skiing) and moan about that I am sick of being cold, starting around May.  But I was greatly cheered up by the sunny weather this weekend and this beautiful sunset:

I keep reminding myself that after winter solstice summer is on its way.  And that makes me very happy.

Our Creative Space

Back to the MMQG "Oh Beehave" block swap. This one is the July block for Frogdancer and involved learning another new technique; quilt as you go. Basically we sewed the fabric to the batting and added on quarter inch quilting lines were sewn on on to each component and this was quite time consuming, particularly since my quarter inch foot isn't symetrical so I couldn't pivot and sew the other way after finishing one line. I'm curious to see how the back will be added and how it will be joined without having bulky seams.

What I enjoyed about this month's challenge was constructing a block out of colours that I wouldn't have thought to use but really loving the way that they came together and the end result.  I had to add some fabric and the hardest part of this was looking for something to buy that I knew would work with the rest of the block and not succumbing to something that I loved on an individual basis. A good lesson in combining colours outside my comfort zone.

For more creativity, go to this spot.

Goodbye

On Saturday July 2nd, a lovely lady left us after a long life and on Friday 8 July, we said goodbye to her and laid her to rest with her beloved Herb.  This was my Great Aunt Jean who was an important part of our family's life, particularly my mother's.  Her funeral was an opportunity to celebrate her life and also Uncle Herb's.  My uncle died suddenly and unexpectedly 28 years ago and being in a state of shock, celebration was the last thing on our collective family's mind. 

For many people, the term “Great Aunt or Uncle” may mean elderly relatives that you visit dutifully every so often for tea, biscuits and a nice chat.  For me, having no Aunts, Uncles or first cousins, the term “Great” meant ‘terrific”.  I am fortunate in that my memories of Auntie Jean and Uncle Herb are associated with celebrations, fun and the beach.  In particular we loved our visits to Carrum where we would head out the back gate to the beach and swim in all kinds of weather.  Afterwards, we would race back to the house for something to eat and before setting off for the long drive home, Auntie Jean would whip up a batch of delicious scones. We enjoyed all sorts of occasions together and I have the feeling that I might have had my first sip of champagne to celebrate R and K’s engagement.  I certainly remember having oysters for the first time and champagne at J’s wedding, which was again celebrated by a beach. 

Auntie Jean was very special to Mum and she saw a lot of her when she was young, being my grandmother’s only surviving sister.  Grandma and Auntie Jean were close and I remember the support that she provided Grandma during Uncle Bill’s final illness.  Uncle Herb was always the genial host at family gatherings and I remember him gently teasing Mum about being her “illegal guardian”, calling her “Marmee” and referring to my unborn brother as “Sebastian”.  He was like a father figure to Mum, having lost her own at a young age, and this realationship extended to him giving her away at her wedding.  Although he was not there for my wedding, Auntie Jean made our day special by lending me the diamond earrings to make up my set of old, new, borrowed and blue. 

Other clear memories of the good times we had are R’s birthday parties at Melbourne Zoo, barbeques around the pool at North Balwyn, Auntie Jean’s trifle, a week spent at Carrum over school holidays, the family visiting the new born K in hospital and our mass family christening.  The only dark time was the terrible shock of Uncle Herb’s sudden and untimely death and the devastating effect on our family, particularly my mother.

While time moved on and Auntie Jean’s health deteriorated, visits were still special.  These included a family Christmas at our last house and Auntie Jean’s 80^th birthday celebration (although I think I remember her not being impressed about turning 80).  Until the last year or so, I know Auntie Jean recognised Stos and I when we saw her and with J and R, we usually tried to get out of the nursing home for a coffee or lunch.  If the offer of a glass of French champagne was made, she would spark up immediately, which always raised a laugh.  More recently I remember visiting with R, having been told on the way there that J had given instructions that we had to do Auntie Jean’s hair as she had missed the hairdresser's visit that week.  With Stos heating up the rollers, R and I exercised our non-existent hairdressing skills on a very patient and tolerant Auntie Jean, until she was rescued by a staff member who knew how to put rollers in the right way around.  We still haven't told J that the presentable hairstyle was courtesy of Y.

I will miss my lovely Aunt but can look back and remember the good times.  I am lucky that there were a lot of them.

Our Creative Space

After months of procrastinating, I had to get on with it and cut up fabric for my month in the "Oh Beehave" MMQG quilt block swap.  The reason - Marg is going on a lovely sailing holiday and won't be back for a while, so wanted her fabric before she left.  But my revised month is not that far away (August) so the fabric has to go out by 15 July anyway.

I've decided that preparing to make a quilt is like painting - the preparation is a drag but the doing is OK.  Cutting up the fabric takes quite a long time but once you get going it's not too bad.  Not like preparing for painting at all, come to think of it.  Next job is to divide it up amongst the other girls.  This will hopefully become two quilts for the single beds in one of the spare rooms.

I just hope this stack of fabric (with some white as a neutral) all look good sewn together.

To see what other clever folks are up to, head over here.

Birthday Boy

You know those times when the trickle of milestone birthdays becomes a flood?  Well, it's one of those years.  Two big birthday celebrations a week apart - last week a family member, this week a friend's - with Stos's next milestone due in the next few months.  But no celebration, he tells me.

Anyway, this was a fun night out with old friends.  Who like a dress up.  Fortunately the birthday boy obliged by telling guests to wear what they would have worn to the Royal Wedding if they had been asked.  There were the predicatable long frocks and tiaras but honourable mentions go to the gent in ecclesiastic robes and our friend C who donned the outfit that she wore to the birthday boy's wedding MANY years ago.  She gets extra points because it still fits.

 We sang, danced and did some silly things.  As usual.  A great time was had by all.

Teddy Bear's picnic

We have a new resident in the house.  He's not here for a long time, but we hope it is a good time.  Meet Marty:

Marty is a gift for my new niece or nephew due in September.  If I can bring myself to part with him. He is a fully jointed, handmade mohair bear created by lovely Jess of Teddy Bears Wednesday.  I think he will be a very good first friend for the new arrival.

Brothers in Arms

I'm not sure what happened to this Queen's Birthday long weekend.  It has literally zoomed by.  But it has been fabulous;  full of family and good times.  The NY STLT fan is out here for a fleeting visit and one of his (many) friends organised a bus trip to a wine region north of the city on Saturday.  We were looking forward to going because it was not only a chance to see G, but also his mates who we have got to know quite well over the years and only see on his trips back to Aus.  They are a very entertaining bunch which makes the mass get togethers a lot of fun.  Surprisingly, the weather was beautiful and quite warm once out in the sun on what we had expected to be a chilly winter's day; perfect for a trip to the country.  We tasted wine, had a delicious lunch, caught up with old friends, looked at lovely scenery, met some fun new people and sang songs on the way home (but I never want to hear "Only Girl in the World" ever again). 

We miss our NY fan.  But he hasn't finished with the Big Apple quite yet.  The distance makes the infrequent times that we catch up even more special.

Sitting around

We've gone a bit quiet on house updates because, other than putting up some of our pictures, we haven't done much other than gradually plant up the garden.  And after being told that I couldn't have a beautiful Arts and Crafts sideboard because it won't fit into the house, I'd given up on buying more furniture.  However there is one spot for stuff to go; under the kitchen bench.  I actually hate the concept of the "breakfast bar".  We eat at the table.  But I do like people talking to me while I cook, dish up etc and am quite amenable to them having a seat close by, so we thought that some stools without backs that fit neatly under the edge of the kitchen bench would work nicely.  We spotted some lab stools on the Grandfather's Axe but by the time we got around to looking at them, they had been sold.  But look what we found at Know Your Product!

All we know is that they are Scandinavian, possible 70's and they have nice joinery (even I can see that).  And there was a sale on all current stock so even better!  The vinyl seats are a bit ordinary but I'm thinking of getting them recovered in the bark cloth shown on the stool on the right.  Bought from lovely Retro Age Vintage Fabrics.  This is a match made in heaven - combining stuff from two of my favourite shops.  Now I think that we really are at our furniture limit.  But I'm still trying to work out if a sideboard would look good in a bathroom.....

Our Creative Space

I am feeling quitely smug that all my "Oh Beehave" blocks are up to date.  Last weekend at the MMQG retreat, I finished Shirley's Mondrian block and popped it in the post on Monday:

This is a deceptive block.  A wolf in sheep's clothing.  I thought I could get away with making it up as I went along, but a bit of planning would have been useful.  This spontaneous approach resulted in running out of the black borders, however once more was received, order was restored.  I was relieved to hear that other, more experienced quilters ran into strife with this one.

For other crafty bibs and bobs, head over here.