Like many of you in blogland, I'm a bit of sucker for animals of all kinds. I've never entered into the "Are you a dog person or a cat person?" debate because I love them both. I love horses, pigs, cows, and sheep, not to mention the beautiful birds and animals that I feel privileged to see at Bowman's park when I go out to visit Matt. (I'm ambivelent about ferrets, but that's only because the ones our uncle used to keep smelled so bad.)
My love of animals meant that this photo really got to me, 
and I've been mulling over what I could do to help the wildlife injured in the fires. I've decided to put some of my animal paintings and drawings in my Etsy shop, and if they sell I'm going to donate the money to Wildlife Victoria. I've had so much enjoyment over the years from animals, Macca and Jessie and Bonnie and all the other dogs and cats I've owned that it just seems right.
And I've enjoyed drawing and painting them for 45 years too!
Here is the link to my etsy page if you think you'd like a Mereth original, and you'd be helping some small ones who really need it. I may put some up on Ebay too later on.
.jpg)
How could you not love animals?
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
I spent this morning as I do most Saturday mornings, a cup of coffee at hand, tidying up my sewing room and putting away all the bits I'd been working on this week. I love it as I gradually restore order, and 'my' space emerges, all ready for the next round of sewing.
I assess what I'm working on, and if there's any extra cutting or ironing I need to do I get that ready; count piles of blocks, try out setting fabrics, just do all those little chores that might be holding the current project(s) up.
I love my Saturday mornings, and this morning I needed to find a little piece of pink for a certain block, so out came the pink drawer. I was going through it all, remembering where I got each piece, where I had used it, idly wondering if it could go in the place I needed when it suddenly struck me how many many memories there are in my stash. How many times have I gone through this same fabric, enjoying it's colour, the patterns, the memories of adding it to the collection. Then I imagined it all gone, incinerated in one dreadful moment, and I just could not grasp the finality of losing everything.
Henrietta commented "Those who have nothing are the lucky ones, they are alive..." and that is so true. But the enormity of having nothing, nothing in the world to call your own is something that few of us in the western world have ever had to cope with, until this sort of disaster comes along.
Gazing at my lovely drawers of fabric I felt for the quilters who have lost everything, and from emails and blog posts I know that soon these poor stunned people are going to be going mad, simply for the lack of something to do. For people who have always kept their hands busy, for pleasure,as relaxation, therapy, as a way of showing love, to sit in donated housing with nothing to occupy their minds and hands is going to be hard. Once the shock wears off, they will need something to direct their creative energy towards.
Blogland has taken on a different dimension to me during these fires. Now we can know of specific needs, answer particular calls for help, send things off knowing that we are donating to people directly, and it makes me proud to be part of this community. I'm thinking of two particular posts, one on Jenny Bowker's blog, and another on Tracey's.
Here in my lovely sewing room, surrounded by what makes me feel "me", I'm going to fill up a box of fabric to send on and pray that it brings comfort to someone else in the same way.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
I think the whole of Australia is in shock over the bushfires in Victoria. I was appalled when the death toll was 14, but it now stands at over 180. I keep thinking "This can't be happening" but it is, and the toll will get worse as the clean up takes place. And the very worst thing is it's not over, the fires are still going. Keryn and I will put our names down to donate blood, and Victorian Textiles are providing a roll of free batting for donation quilts, so we'll organise to quilt some of our tops and those of the local patchwork group. There's nothing to be done at the moment, except perhaps donate money to the Red Cross, but it's hard to feel so helpless.
Quilting does seem a bit irrelevant, but that's what we do, so here are some of the tops I was working on when it was so hot and I was confined to my sewing room.
This was four finished blocks, and the rest of the pinwheels that had languished for some obscure reason. It took very little time to complete the other 5 blocks and add sashes and border. Small top done.
This was a leader-ender project that finally demanded to be put together.
The four patches were so easy to whizz through the machine, and the blocks were done before I knew it. The colour in this photo is very dodgy, it looks so washed out but it's not in real life. I used an old ebay quilt for my inspiration, and the original had a final peachy-pink border. I have chosen the fabric, but am in two minds about whether to add it or not. It's such a different colour to the double pinks in the blocks, and yet I love the old quilt so I can't really see why I'm hesitating. It will be the work of half an hour to sew it on, so in my mind it's finished already.
Here's the original, a much brighter yellow sashing, but I'm not quite that brave.
I have a customer quilt to take off the frame this morning, and another to go on, so I'm back in business. It was nice to sew for all those days, but now I've got to earn some money!
Saturday, February 07, 2009
The heat continues, every day has been over 100 degrees for the last ten days but a cool change is supposed to be coming tomorrow. I'm at the stage of believing it will never be cool again, and I certainly can't imagine wearing my beloved wool socks any time soon. It's just so Boring being hot all the time, and everyone is sick of it. Not to mention the short tempers- I snap at Keryn and apologise, then she snaps at me and says sorry....Honestly I think we're all partly insane at this time of year and it's just because we're TOO HOT!!!!!
I have customer quilts waiting but it's over 100 in the workroom and I don't want to run the machine in those temperatures, let alone stand there myself. So I've been doing things at home, mainly pulling out old projects and sorting through the UFO's.
I've nearly finished three tops, but I took them around Keryn's to photograph and forgot them, so no photos yet. I still need to put borders on two of them, but they're well on the way to being completed.
I'm trying to pull these assorted brown blocks into some sort of top, but I don't think it's very interesting. I obviously have to try a bit harder, but I keep getting side tracked with other UFOs. I have so very many to choose from!
And very shortly plastic shopping bags will be illegal in South Australia, so I've been making some sturdy grocery bags. I don't like the green ones you can get at the supermarket, mainly because the handles are too long. I'm so short that the bag sits on the ground unless I wrap the handles around my fist, and that hurts. My bags are much stronger and they're nice and stripey too.
This morning I looked out of the sunroom window and saw these five parrots sitting on the clothes line. They'd been having a lovely splash and freshen up in Macca's pool and they were preening and fluffing themselves out to dry.Excuse the photo quality, but I stuck the camera between the venetian blinds, and the window was quite dusty, so I'm just amazed that anything came out!
I hadn't thought of the birds enjoying the water, and I won't empty it out now; they can come and have a bath whenever they want. I'll put a couple of bricks in there though, so that it's easier for them to get in and out.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
I can't begin to tell you what a horrible day it is here today. It's disgustingly hot and the thought of turning on the machine and quilting is ludicrous. No binding of the Double delight either, or I'd probably faint!
I watered the shadehouse early, then came in and spent a while preparing some applique, basting the shapes and marking the blocks. However the pencil I'm using is water soluble and the marks were disappearing so I had to give that up.
I tried to do some watercolours, but the paint dried almost instantly on the brush, so after fiddling for a while I had to abandon that too.
I pulled a kit of cut pieces out and made a few blocks, but everything was sticking to me in a most irritating fashion, so I stopped and went into the kitchen, where I made a cheesecake to have for tea tonight. I think it's too hot to have anything but a salad and a nice dessert, definitely no cooking!
The online weather page for our district has updates from various centres; the town on the coast which is always cooler is 42.5 C (107 F) and the other nearest observation station is 45.1 C (113 F). We're in between the two towns, and I don't need to go outside with a thermometer to know it's HOT!!
It never ceases to amaze me that I can sit here in blogland reading about the northern winter, and see the most fantastic pictures of snow and ice, while sweltering in our absurd summer heat.
No doubt some of you are envying us our warm weather, but I've had enough already! And I have air conditioning which is a blessing, even though it's it's not coping so well at these temperatures. I'd be a nutcase without it but it's not making enough of a difference today sigh...
Monday, January 26, 2009
Today was Australia Day, and Keryn and I joined the breakfast festivities that were held in the town square, just a few steps from her house. It's so handy that she lives in the centre of everything! We took chairs and a cup of coffee in our travel mugs and once we'd set ourselves up we stood in line at the sausage sizzle. We had bacon and sausages and there were eggs and toast and champers and orange juice- what a breakfast! And no washing up afterwards.
We watched a friend receive his Citizen of the Year award, listened to a few speeches and saw the flag unfurled, then stood to sing the national anthem. The magpies carolled in the trees, a warm breeze gave a hint of the heat to come and I was grateful once again that we have such a lovely place to live in. Australians don't make a big deal about their patriotism, but it's there all the same and it was nice to share it with all our friends.
And of course there had to be cake, our famous Aussie lamingtons, and then home to a quiet day of sewing and watching the tennis or cricket. Good stuff.
And this is the last photo of the Double Delight, even though it's not bound I promise I won't show it again.
Keryn digitised her Double Plume panto, which is what Bonnie used on the original, and now I just have to make the binding and it's done. The backing was made from a precious fabric that was so old that I was quite devastated to use it, but as Keryn pointed out it was dull as ditchwater. Loved the print but it couldn't be used happily with any other fabric. A few strips bought it out to the right size and I was satisfied knowing that the whole quilt was made with scraps and pieces that I wanted to use up.
I did enjoy this, and love the effect of all those pieces, but now I have to get back to my own projects after that very entertaining sidetrack.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
This customer quilt is done and waiting to be picked up, and it really irks me that the embroideries are puffy from not being quilted. The customer is looking forward to hand quilting around these by herself, but I don't like giving things back that don't look 'finished'. Keryn says I should just get over it, but I do want everything to look as good as I can make it when it leaves here.
Finally this top is finished, after who knows how many years.It joins the stack of tops waiting to be quilted, and those empty areas of shirting should provide some fun.
And Ta Da! The Double Delight mystery is finished. I had it almost sewn together a week ago and then I just couldn't face the last two long rows across the middle for some reason. I kept putting it off until I made myself sit down and do them- strange how we get hung up on certain steps.
Although, come to think of it, this may have been why I temporarily abandoned it. Excuse my extremely stubby fingers, this looks more like a thumb but is my left index finger.
It has a partly healed cut, a blood blister, innumerable pinpricks from the applique needle, and the whitish area is a blister from a steam burn when I was ironing. When I was pinning those seams(every three inches, mind you!) the pins kept slipping into the cut, and making it bleed, and the air was pretty blue with not-so-muffled oaths. By gum it hurt. Perhaps my subconcious was just telling me to give it a rest while the poor finger healed.
When Rob was little he called all injuries "damages". I can still remember an accident prone week and his anguished wail of "How can a boy survive FOUR damages on one leg!" (He did.) I feel the same way about my poor finger- how can I survive all those damages? Well I obviously will, and the process goes quicker if I stop sticking sharp metal things in it.......
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Phew, the blocks are finally done. I'm going to try to get these all together this weekend, I love the top so far and I want to know what the borders are going to be. I just adore this colour scheme, and I've seen some lovely versions in blogland.Most people seem to have followed Bonnies colours exactly though- why not if they work so beautifully?
I have to put the binding on this quilt and the customer intends to hand quilt all the embroidered blocks herself. It should look absolutely gorgeous when she's finished.
I gave Macca this tug of war toy for Christmas, but everyone quickly tired of having their wrists dislocated and shoulders pulled out of their sockets by his enthusiastic wrestles. Matt hung it from a tree , and now Mac can entertain himself and onlookers without anyone being injured.
He chases this thing around until he's exhausted, leaping and swinging from it, and because it's rubber it bounces under his weight.
He's delighted with it, and when he's so out of breath he needs a rest, he just swings lazily around
with it gripped in his teeth. 
"Watcha doing, Macca?"
His eyes flick happily in my direction, but he won't let go. "Nothing" he grins, "Just hangin' around!"
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
How does Bonnie do it? I've been sewing as much as I can, but there's no way I could keep up with all the steps. However, isn't it very convenient to have a nice sister to make the ninepatch blocks for me? And lest you think it's all one sided I'd like to point out that I did cut out most of her green Sister's Choice and made a few of those blocks for her. I'm a good sister too!!
I'm really enjoying this block, but it's not a mystery anymore because I peeked at the remaining steps. I'm quite unrepentant and I love how it's set together, so that's only fueled my desire to see this in one piece.
And I have to say the wine really helped motivate us, we sewed until 3.30 in the morning!
Saturday, January 03, 2009
I decided after much argy-bargying back and forth that I would do Bonnies mystery. I've never been brave enough to attempt one before because I couldn't bear the thought of not knowing what it was going to look like. Would I like the fabrics in those placements, what if I'd rather the pink where the blue was... what if it would look better with brown instead of indigo? And the pressing, how would I know which way to press the seams? Yes, this is Contol Freakishness at it's most constraining.Much easier to abandon the whole idea rather than attempt the Unknown.
And then Bonnie started with the square in square units, which I'm inordinately fond of. I don't know why, but I just love this little unit and have made hundreds and hundreds of them from my scraps, just for the fun of it. How could I resist them? I had a pile of cheddar scraps that I wanted to use, a drawer of triangles already cut, and the indigo fabric ironed for another project. It seemed as if I was fated to start this project,and it's proving painless so far.
I'm round at Keryn's place at the moment having a delicous meal of curried homegrown vegies, and a bottle of nice wine. I have sneakily suggested that she make the pink nine patches (because she Loves them so..) while I do the brown and cheddar units from step two. It's mostly from scraps so far, so I feel quite virtuous, and if Keryn helps we might be able to keep up.
I'm pleasantly surprised at how much I'm enjoying being told what to do! Bonnie has taught me Obedience!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Yes Henrietta, I'm still here,thanks for the wake-up shout! I don't know what happened to the last week, one moment it was Christmas and now it's New Year. I have hazy memories of a food
induced torpor (mm, leftovers!!) and a massive book binge that saw me finish four books in four days. One was 600 odd pages long, and they have all run together in my mind so that the characters and plots are completely jumbled. Next year I don't think I'll indulge myself like that again, I have literary indigestion.
The family got on great, there were games with the dogs and mock sword fights on the lawn like a scene from the Princess Bride, hysterical bouts of Pictionary and companionable laughter in front of the telly. I do love my boys and the girls they've chosen....
Exactly 21 years ago I was in labour with Matthew, not the most comfortable way to welcome in the New Year. But he was worth it, and I can't believe it was that long ago. Keryn and I are now going to watch a dvd and raise our glasses to the New Year,and Matt's coming of age, remember the old year and make plans for the next. I hope 2009 is a great year for all of us and that you'll hang around and see what Keryn and I get up to!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
I managed to put the binding on this runner yesterday, so I have another finished object. The centre square in square blocks were made with the leftover red triangles from this project, and extra square in square blocks from this top. I was going to add them to the orphans pile when by accident they were jumbled up with the paler green fabric. "Hmm", I thought, "Why not add another round of triangles...." and so I did, and then I decided to make a little project, something I could use straight away. The orphan pile is tottering anyway!
It took no time at all to piece, and when Keryn was quilting her runners I threw this onto the remaining backing fabric and had it quilted before I even knew it. Yay for little projects.
But I'd made nine blocks to use up all the bits, so there was still one block to donate to the orphans anyway. I can't use up Everything it seems.
I don't know what this block is called; I've been referring to it as "Fancy Churn Dash" but I suppose I should go look it up somewhere. It's finally in one piece, except for the corner setting triangles and the borders, but I know what I want to do and hopefully it won't take too long.
I started these ages ago and kitted them up from some reproductions my friend Kaye gave me. I was so thrilled at the time, but now they appear a bit dull, in light of what I've added to the stash since then. But I'll always remember how special they were to me when genuine reproduction fabric was rare here and usually more than I could afford.
I don't know why, but I just adore on-point settings. I tip blocks on their point as a matter of course and there's very few that I don't like from this angle. There are so many possibilities with every block, how could we run out of ideas?
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Here are the red and yellow blocks set together, and looking a bit washed out. It's very red in real life. 
Keryn has since added the outer row of sashing and we'll do something about borders today, hopefully. Another top to join the pile! I like how these turned out but didn't get excited until the indigo corner posts were added. I LOVE green and indigo for some reason.
I just finished making two heat bags for a friend who wants them for Christmas gifts. She did the cute stitcheries from an Anni Downes pattern and I sewed them up for her. I still have two more to do today, and although I don't usually 'do' little things I'm intrigued by how fast you can finish them. It's nice to see progress on something in hours instead of weeks!
How cute.
Monday, December 08, 2008
Well, it seems that my talents could be in demand, judging by your response! Keryn and I will organise the Stash Tidy Tour 2009 and let you know when we'll be in your area. She's just along to carry the bags of course.....
Judy had a Quiltathon weekend, and we decided to join in. I sewed at home on Saturday and jumped all over the place with lots of different projects.
I started these green Duck Paddle blocks last month, based yet again on a quilt I saw on ebay. I wanted to use a pile of old greens and try to stay just in two colour mode, so green and cream it is. I've got about 14 of these done now and lots more cut out.
I began setting these blocks and got all the rows done, now I just need to cut out the setting triangles for the sides and that can be finished.
I had a heap of these cream triangles cut so I'm thinking of cross blocks for my next leader ender project, hmmm, skinny or fat? I'm just making both at the moment...
And these are my old leader ender blocks which are coming to an end, have to see about a setting for them too.
I cut out dozens of blocks for other projects, if Keryn can't stop sewing, I can't stop cutting! I know Christmas plans will derail the sewing for a bit, and I figure that if everything's cut I might be able to put a few bits together at odd moments. I have a mountain of tiny offcuts on the floor by my table, it's quite impressive actually. SOOO much fabric has been chopped up in the last few days I'm feeling quite virtuous.
After tea I went around to Keryn's place and we sewed until the very early hours. The coffee kept coming, the tv entertained us and both sewing machines whirred steadily along. I can't believe how much we got done, and it all seemed effortless. How nice to sew with good company and be spurred on by each other's efforts.
I got the last ten of these album blocks finished, except for those two missing corner triangles. I couldn't find them anywhere, but yesterday I got down and ferreted under the machine table and found them behind a stack of drawers. Won't take me long to sew them on.
I went home at 3.30 and I wasn't even yawning! Talking to Keryn later the next day we discovered that we both woke up at exactly 11.20, must have been on the same internal clock.
I went back last night and we sewed again , but I don't have any pictures of my progress on the red and yellow Pensylvania Dutch blocks that I was setting together. I got half of it in one piece, but I made sure I was home in my own bed by twelve o'clock. We're not as young as we used to be, after all......
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
When Keryn and I lived 3000k away from each other I laboured under the impression that our work methods were fairly similar. She did a lot more cutting than I , resulting in parcels of excess strips and scraps being sent my way at regular intervals, but I really thought that we operated under the same principles.
But after a year of observing her in her natural envoironment I'm forced to conclude that when it comes to the sewing room we have different outlooks.
Recently she cut some scraps up, and this is her 2 1/2" drawer afterwards. Can you see the problem of trying to force this back where it belongs? The solution is to either get a bigger drawer, or to leave it stacked somewhere with other drawers that won't fit in their respective places.
OR...... your sister could come along and sort and stack it all so that it does actually fit in the container and then put it away.
Likewise when cutting half square triangles for a project, you could do this, and have teetering piles that you can't move quickly, and that get creased and rumpled
or your little quilting elf could stack them into dark and light piles and then put them in a little container to keep next to your machine.
Now no-one who knows me could accuse me of being neat and housework is the very bottom of my list, but for some reason I love to organise my sewing room. I like everything to be sorted and projects together, scraps ironed while they wait to be cut, drawers tidy. Sometimes while I'm having a cup of coffee, in between bouts of sewing I'll just pull out a drawer and quickly tidy it, because I like to do it. I like to fossick through what I've got, I like to handle the fabric and I like to dream of what I can do with it.
