October is always a busy month for our family, with three birthdays to celebrate, but this year there were friends visiting and family staying, and extra work hours at the Post Office, so the last few weeks have just gone by in a blur. 

Dolly enjoyed spending time with our friends Kathy and Paul, who came for coffee one morning.  They are touring here in SA, on a visit from Western Australia.  They treated her the way she thinks she ought to be treated, non-stop attention and cuddles. 

 What a life.What a spoilt puppy.

We've also had our first 39° day for the season, and there's plenty more to come; the heat is so disgusting, there's not much you can do except sit in front of a fan and wait for evening.  The dogs are pathetic, panting nonstop and laying like frogs on any cool floor they can find.  Welcome to another summer.

I haven't sewn a single stitch in the last week, which makes me grumpy and frazzled.  It's Saturday today, and after my garden duties I am going to get my batik half-hexagons in one piece. 

I'm sick of the sight of them on the design wall, they were meant to be a quickie project and they're lingering way past their time.  The gap in the middle is caused by the two rows on my machine, abandoned when work commitments took over.

I maayy have bought a heap of batiks online, but it was a birthday present to myself, and in the process of making my first batik quilt the inadequacy of my stash became apparent very quickly.

 So I'd better start collecting them more seriously, if I ever want to be able to make something without tearing my hair out. 

The effect of this purchase (13 metres) on my Stash numbers was dramatic, it added more than 10% in one go!  This year I have bought 120.4 metres, used 156.15 metres, for a net total of 35.75 metres used.  I'm pretty sure I've accounted for all the purchases, but there are finished projects that I didn't take into account.  It seems silly to count fabric that I used 25 years ago. 

I need to get busy making backings for the tops I finished recently, that will help the spreadsheet look more respectable.  And I think I need to cull some older fabrics from the stash, my tastes are changing and there are pieces that I don't think I'll ever use.  If I'm going to build a batik stash, I'd better make room for it now, or I'll be stacking it on the floor.