We all put in a good days work yesterday, and now we can't go any further till we get another tin of paint.  It was so annoying to run out, but there was no more in the shop on Thursday, so it wasn't our fault.  I'll be tearing in there on Tuesday to buy that final can, which we were assured would be there by then.  There is one wall left to put the final coat on, and some filling of gaps and tidying up, and then the real work can begin.

Mereth painted for a few hours and then went back to the candlewick quilt on the Statler, while Doug and I slogged on.  He made putting the second coat on the ceiling look so easy, whereas Mereth and I laboured for hours to get that first coat done.  The second coat is always easier, when the paint is going on over more paint, but he was able to reach higher than us too.  Mereth threatened to take a picture of me using the roller on the ceiling, she said I looked ridiculously short; well I AM ridiculously short!

With Doug weilding the roller on the walls I chose to do all the touching up and cutting in, and climbed the 4m ladder about a hundred times.  I was weary at the end of the day.  I recently read all through the archives of Becky Goldsmith's blog , and while I greatly admire her applique, I admire her skill with a paintbrush even more.  My gosh that woman can work!  I don't really like painting, and I hate rollers with a passion, so I really respect someone who does a good job painting.  It's so not me.

This latex paint doesn't want to come off either, I'll have to attack my hands with some orange oil later, to get rid of the yellow-green drips.  Don't  you love choosing a colour from the colour cards, like a nice pale ochre-green, and when you take the lid off the tin it's like 'Wow!  Citrus screaming yellow green!!'  I keep saying it will be cheerful in winter.  The photos look nothing like the reality, it's more like this, but much, much greener. Sigh.

What to do with myself today?  The garden was watered by the gentle rain last night, and it's too muddy to work out there.  I think I will sew some strips for my Road to California quilt, and tidy up some things, and do some cooking.  I hope Mereth is enjoying her day off too, she's been working very hard on the workshop and helping me move, and she deserves some time off.  I just hope she shows up when the next round of work is set to begin.......

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My goodness we've been busy here.  The move has been accomplished, and it went smoothly enough. Mereth and I were pretty tired after all that frantic activity, so we tried to take it easy for the last few days, but work seems to pop up out of nowhere.  The garden can't be neglected and there is quilting work to attend to, and furniture and boxes of stuff to find homes for.  It will be lovely when a whole day goes past where I don't have to lift anything heavier than a coffee cup.

THe other night I actually cleared enough space to put up my sewing machine, and sewed several seams just to say I'd done it.  It's not ideal, but it will do for now.  And I got to watch Bonnie on Quilt Cam too.

The power is connected to the shed, which I'm really thrilled about, and we've started the painting.   Mereth and I will do as much as we can, and then holler for help from the Dear Brother.  I know he would do the whole lot for me, but it's truly exhausting when he comes around.  He does things at the speed of light, with no breaks for coffee, and I feel compelled to match his speed and work alongside him.  Plus if you turn your back on him for a moment he'll paint something you didn't want touched, or throw out something you wanted.  It's a constant chorus of  'No, not that, not there, but I don't want it like that, it needs to be like this, just leave that please, STOP!!!'  Those of you with retired husbands can probably sympathise; the DSIL just rolls her eyes and says, 'You know what he's like....'

It will probably be another whole week before we've done everything that needs to be done so that we can move the Statler, so it's not time to rest just yet.

The cooler weather is lovely, makes my thoughts turn to spinning and knitting.  And hand quilting.  And cooking soup.All of which I will be able to do once the work is finished and the workshop is functional. 

Well actually, the soup can go in the crockpot this morning, and will be done by lunchtime.  Mmm, butternut pumpkin soup.....

Best get onto that.

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I realised a while ago that I was in danger of turning into a grumpy, crusty old lady who never had a nice word to say about anything.  I know someone like that, and I didn't want to be like Her!  My instant reaction to everything was to complain, or feel hard done by, or depressed.  So I've made a conscious decision to try and see the good in every situation, and accept things that happen, and to work through them with good grace.  Mereth finds that pretty tiring, and calls me Pollyanna, but I'm much happier with my new attitude.  Sometimes, Pollyanna leaves the building, but for the most part I still try and be cheerful and just do what must be done.

My Postie bike conked out yesterday, about the furtherest from the PO that it's possible to be on my run, but that meant I had a nice walk  back in beautiful autumn weather.  I finished my run on Mereth's bike, so that was good.  My bike is not fixed today, but we've decided that she'll sort all the mail and I will deliver it all, so that's good too.  I get to stay home an extra hour, which is a bit special; I love early mornings here, and I only get to experience them on weekends and public holidays.

So I'm enjoying the luxury of a second cup of coffee, time to tend to my early morning email, and a chance to make a plan for my living quarters.  It will all be temporary, because we have yet to pull the Statler down and move it to the shed, but I can cope with that.  I just need to be able to find what I need, and not trip over anything as I go looking for what I need.

There are still two days of cleaning and tidying up to get through, and I know we'll both be exhausted by the end of it, but it will be such a nice feeling to have it all done.  I don't know what our reward will be; a trip out in the country, a meal at a country hotel, running away to another town, or maybe a splurge online at a favourite quilt shop.  I'm looking forward to that, but I'd better go earn it.

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I always knew March was going to be a tough month with all the extra work, but my gosh, it's been even harder than I imagined.  There were so many things going on anyway, but toss in the loss of a family member and it became that much harder.  It's been an emotional hard slog, as well as physical.  However, (I hesitate to say the end is in sight, not wanting to jinx it and bring on another calamity) Doug and Bev are back after extending their trip by two weeks, Mereth is back and doing her job again, and I don't need to look after their gardens.  The weather is so much kinder on us all, and I have accomplished most of the move back to the hall.  All that's left is the mopping up of remnants left in the house, and the cleaning.  I hand the keys back on Wednesday, so I'm looking forward to Thursday, knowing that I have done what I had to do.

My place looks like a crowded secondhand furniture store.  But I have internet again, and that is truly wonderful.

My shed is fully lined, but not quite finished yet.  The electrician has been working, and promises that the power will be hooked up tomorrow.  I think the first time I put on the lights and turn on the airconditioner I just might have a little cry.  It's been such a long wait to have a workspace that is bright and comfortable and efficient.  Even the bank building had it's drawbacks, it was a freezing pit in winter and too hot in summer, and it leaked catastrophically.  It was beautiful though....

So after the power is connected it will be time to move the Statler, which is daunting, but I've done it once before so I'm not as apprehensive this time.  Doug will help paint the walls and floor, what a good brother he is!  So there is still plenty of work to do, but the results will be well worth it.

Will I fall in a heap then and just rest?  I hope I don't.  I hope I take all the energy that I have and throw myself into setting up my new living space.  And my sewing room.  I haven't sewn a stitch in two weeks, I'm itching to get back to my projects.  My deconstructed sewing room is scattered throughout the big room of the hall, tucked into corners where I can't get to it until we move the Statler down into the shed. That's an incentive to get moving.

Every year we choose a word for the year; this year it's Connect.  I'll let you know how that goes.  A couple of years ago my word was Onward, and I found that such an encouraging thing to say that it has become my second mantra. My number one mantra is  I Can Do This.  I'll bear both of them in mind as I tackle the next few weeks of work.

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Yesterday John, Liz and I took the dogs to Telowie Beach.  It's very flat and shallow, not a beach for swimming.  You have to fall over to get your knees wet.

 Meet Digby, the dog that John and Liz are fostering (I think he's part of the family now though).  He's an odd mix of breeds, Kelpie and maybe Chihauhau?  Very slight and lithe, unlike our little armoured tanks.

I don't know that Pippi is really at ease with him yet, he gets excited and yips and yelps and she doesn't know what to make of him.

We  walked out to the water's edge, and when we got there realised the tide was on it's way in.  Because the beach is so flat the water comes in quickly, without a sound, which is quite un-nerving.  It travelled at walking pace, we had to keep moving as we took photos, or it would noiselessly overtake our feet.

That little speck in the distance is someone's 4WD.  In under a minute the water came in this far; shortly after I took this photo someone came hurrying down the beach to move the truck.

I love this action shot of Dolly in pursuit of a seagull.  She's never going to catch one, but that doesn't stop her trying.

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When life gets so busy with work and chores (like moving house) there is only one way to get any sewing done.  I wait till it's time for a coffee break, then head into the sewing room on a mission.

 This cute little timer was a gift from DD,and he keeps me honest.  Half an hour's sewing, and no more.

I'm certainly focussed while I can hear him ticking away, and this morning I made the units for one block, and sewed and cut the strips  for another.  Next time I sit down to sew it will all be set up and waiting.

It's so tempting to keep on going, but Mr Pig says NO!  Times Up.

I've managed to complete one more block in my stolen minutes, and it's a lovely thing not to be dealing with triangles.

 I love them, but my gosh I've sewn a heap of them just lately.  Squares and rectangles are so relaxing.  They might be the plain vanilla of sewing, but even that can be satsifying.  Not everything has to be triple choc honeycomb caramel crunch!

In gardening news, there is a harvest to report.  A single tomato from Mereth's garden. There are more on the vines, but who knows if they will ripen.

This year has been terrible for tomatoes.  In spring a friend spent a lot of money on self-watering pots, tomato stakes and fertiliser, potting mix and 4 heirloom tomato plants.  To date the yield has been one small tomato.  She picked it and unselfishly gave it to her husband to eat.
'How was it?' she asked eagerly, 'was it nice?'
'Yeah' he said, then seeing the look on her face, amended that to 'It was great, fantastic!  Much better than store bought.'
Should be' she muttered, 'it cost $80'.

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It's raining today, proper autumn rain, and therefore I can't shift any more boxes of stuff.  I had a clear conscience about spending the afternoon in the sewing room, where I managed to finish the Stack&Whack quilt. It's a lousy photo, but there was no natural light and the fluoro light was pretty pitiful.

  I love it, it's so pretty and intruiging with all the different patterns swirling through it.  It was a fun quilt to make, I'm very glad I bought that material in both sizes.

I found the book that the new madder quilt came from, and the original pattern was called Road to California.

I've cut a whole heap of strips for the blocks, but I haven't tried to match any of them up for individual blocks yet.  There are so many parts to this block, I'll be able to sew the 4 and 9 patches for ages before I have to make any more decisions.  I'm looking forward to these, but there are other things to do first.

I unfolded one piece of treasured fabric to find a fade line on it. 

It's about 12 years old, so it's been in the stash for a long while, but it's still disappointing to find that materials deteriorate like that.  I've used it in countless quilts over the years, so I suppose they will all end up fading too. It didn't stop me using it in this quilt though, I just cut around the fade mark.  One of the things I love about old quilts is the unpredictable way the colours have changed, so I'll trust that my quilts will end up being charmingly faded, not dreary and washed out.

The dogs don't have much logic to the way they think.  In their minds, the cure for boredom is going for a walk.  They've been lying around all day, eyeing the wet weather outside and sighing dramatically.  Then one of them will bounce up to me 'I'm bored with all this rain.  Can we go for a walk???' When we get to the door they stop and turn to me 'It's RAINING!!  I'm not going out in that...'  Five minutes later, 'Can we go for a walk??'  It's going to be a long night.

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I never used to be so fixated on the weather report, but now that I have a job that invoves 2-5 hours outside every day, the weather is very important.  Mereth and I don't mind the cold, or even the rain, but it's not fun on hot days to be wearing a helmet and protective vest, and trying to keep the sun out of the eyes. So this forecast makes me feel very relieved.

That's the end of summer in sight there, and the temperatures range from a high of 93° to a low of 79° ; no 108° degree days amongst the lot.  Everyone here is getting very tired of heat and having to water the gardens, and it seems that the last weeks of it are harder to bear.   But 93° is not unpleasant, so if that's the worst we get in the next 10 days I'll be happy.  Delerious even!  My gardening chores will be much lighter if I don't have to water every day.

The sewing room is looking emptier now; I keep discovering other things that I've tucked away, ready for the day when my sewing room is completely packed.  Two more kits came to light, one hand applique (as if that's going to happen!) and the other one involving 1.5" HSTs.  I don't think I'll be doing either of those when I'm tired out from work and moving, so they can go up the hall this afternoon.  I need to get drastic, and realistic, right about now, or I"m going to be sorry later on.  Declutter, downsize, purge, streamline, simplify; call it what you will, it needs to happen soon.

I'm having fun cutting strips for the madder quilt, and I'm justifying it by pointing out to myself that four boxes of fabric will be ready to leave by tonight.  Whatever I haven't done by then will have to wait.

Would it be wrong to make another test block?

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Every day that goes past brings moving day closer, and I'm trying to move all the small stuff ahead of time, so that the movers only deal with the large furniture.  Gradually the sewing room is getting emptier, as I ferry unneeded things back to the hall.  It's hard to let go of it though, I like to have everything here in case I need to cut more pieces, or try a new colour combination.  The only fabrics left in the sewing room now are my cream and white FQs, all my madders and greys, some weird large print reproductions and 4 drawers of scraps.  And my project boxes, all 9 of them.

I figure that if I run out of things to sew I can use the scrap drawers and the creams to make blocks at random.  There are the project boxes that I can work though.  I have two prepared kits that I can work on, but that doesn't seem enough somehow.  So today I started kitting up some blocks to go with the leftovers from my Double Anvil quilt, from all the way back in December 2007.

 I had enough pieces for 12 blocks, and the best thing seemed to be to cut some more to make a decent size quilt.  My resolve not to start something new hardly lasted 24 hours, sigh.  But I love the block, and a lot of the pieces were cut anyway, so I'm actually sort of finishing a UFO (even if it wasn't really started at all).

The large print repros were the perfect choice, I'm really happy to have found a place for the ones from the Battle Hymn line.  I love them, but the effect is lost when they're cut into small pieces.

I had to pull out the madder fabric to cut squares, and fell in love all over again with the beautiful fabrics I've collected over the last few years.  The greys from the Metropolitan Fair range will work well with them too.

I've never made a madder quilt, and it's high time I did, I have boxes of them.  On an impluse I decided to cut out another quilt I've had earmarked for these fabrics, and just had to make a test block.  It's from a quilt history book, but I can't remember which one, and they are all up at the hall now.

The block turned out just the way I wanted it to, so now I can go on a cutting spree to kit up at least 20 of them.  I love slicing up piles of fabric, I really enjoy unfolding the fabric and ironing it and cutting the strips and then folding it up again.  It's all very meditative.  And somewhat messy, as piles of fabric appear on every surface.
The madders made me remember a project I started in about 2005, so I dug that out and had a look. 

 55 six inch Sawtooth Stars, the pieces for another 12, and dozens of strips cut for more. 

 I rather think I wanted this to be a medallion quilt, but apart from that I can't recall a single thing about what I was planning to do.  Guess that allows me to do anything I want now.

 I love these madder prints, so rich and luscious.  I'm going to have fun inventing a plan for them.

I'm giving myself till Sunday night to get as much kitted up as possible, and then it's all going back to the hall.  Can't sit here and fiddle with fabric when I should be shifting and lugging and toting.  It would help if I wasn't so distractible.......

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There's not going to be much time for blogging in the next few weeks.  I'm looking after Pippi for Mereth while she's away; I'm also doing her job at the Post Office.  And as if that isn't enough I'm also watering her garden and my brothers garden, which is a big job in summer.  The last four days have been spent working or running from one property to another, turning hoses on and off and watering pots.  It didn't help that Monday was one of the hottest days we've had this summer, it was an absolute scorcher.  Not a day to remember and cherish, that's for sure.

Pips has been neurotic, looking for her mum, but is slowly getting better.  She sat outside Mereth's back door and whined for an hour the first time we went there, poor baby.  There's a lot of hiding under beds as well, but she's coming good, and in a few days time she won't even remember that she's been abandoned.  Until Mereth comes back, and then there will be hysterics.



Sorting and delivering mail is very hard on the hands, and my right hand in particular is feeling the strain, so I banned myself from doing anything yesterday; no sewing, no ironing, no packing or lifting boxes, not even any computer time.  Gak, it was so boring I couldn't stand it.  Watering the garden was OK to do, as I could hold the hose in my left hand.  Except that I sort of forgot and repotted three plants and then remembered that I wasn't going to do any lifting; apparently heavy bags of potting mix don't matter. 

I did some reading while I was banned from sewing; I recently downloaded Lord Of The Rings onto my Kindle, and I'm using that as my reading on the treadmill.  Love it so much, my copies of the books from 1975 have tiny print and brittle pages, and I don't want to handle them any more than I have to.  The Kindle is so great on the treadmill, I doubt I'll buy paper books any more, I'm a complete convert, except for quilt books.

This is a bad photo of the Churn Dash quilt I finished last week sometime.

 I bought 5 different fabrics to try on this for the borders, and nothing pleased it except this old Judie Rothermel print.  I planned to put a different border on the fourth side, and I like how it looks, plus I will always know which way to put the quilt on the bed.  So that's another top finished.

I'm still clearing out my sewing room, and I'm not allowed to start anything new yet.  I found another top that just needs borders, so that will go on the to-do list after I've got the borders on the Stack&Whack, which should be any day soon.The fabrics are chosen and waiting to be cut, I just need a couple of extra hours in the day so I can get it done. 

The orangey-pink was from the same Winterhur range, and I bought enough of the large print  to border several quilts.  It's scale is so excessive, I just love it.

My hands have recovered enough to wield the iron, so there will be sewing and pressing this afternoon.

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In the distant mists of time I began a Stack & Whack quilt. 

Well, it was March 2010, but that's three years ago, and an awful lot has happened between then and now.  I made about 30 blocks in a white heat ofexcitement, and then it all got shelved when other things became more important.  In the interests of Finishing Things I pulled out the box of pieces and laid them out on the design wall to consider the possibilities.

INSTANT obsession.  Can't think of anything else until I get this in one piece. 

I wonder how I can have put it away for three years.  It's so much fun!  I've chosen to set the hexagons right next to each other, like a One Block Wonder quilt, and I love how they look, like a kaleidoscope.  I'm enjoying every minute of this.

 I don't own the One Block Wonder book, so I don't know the correct way to do this; I'm just making it up as I go along.  I'd already sewn together a heap of hexagons, so I had to build on them.  I laid out a net of hesagons, leaving spaces to add the unsewn pieces of alternate hexagons.  Then I sewed triangles to the hexagons to make large triangles, and now I'm sewing them into rows.

I will need to be careful to get all the points to intersect properly, but I don't mind.  I want this quilt to hang on the wall, and I"ll look at it constantly, so I want to be very painstaking and do the best job I can.

I had 1 set of pieces left over, which was amazing, seeing as I cut it out with no plan, and only decided what size I wanted it to be once I had the pieces on the design wall.  It's meant to be.

I did put the borders on the scrap Churn Dash, but I have nowhere to take a picture of it, as the design wall is taken up with little pieces that I can't shift.  So there will be a picture of that soon.

Things are happening here again: I've been renting a house since Christmas 2011, as I needed a/c over the summer, and accommodation for family through the year.  Now that this summer is nearly over I can go back to the hall, and concentrate on starting to renovate that.  In order to make room for me to live there, the shed is finally being insulated and lined, and it is going to be the workroom for the Statler.  

It took so long to work out what I wanted to use the shed for, but I'm happy with the decision now.  I was going to live out there, but decided having a dedicated workroom was a better use of the space.  Customers won't need to enter the hall now, so I won't have to deal with people dropping quilts off in my living room anymore. 

There's still so much to be done, but I'm hopeful that it will be done in a month, and the machine shifted before I have to move all my stuff back from the house.  Oh well, it will all get done, it just might not be pretty to watch.

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I didn't mean to have a quiltathon this weekend, it just turned into one.  I was organising and sorting and cleaning up, and then, suddenly, there was a new quilt on the design wall.  I remember thinking that
I would  '..just use up these triangles' and before I knew it there was chaos and uncontrollable sewing.

In my clearing away I uncovered a pile of 6.5" squares, and they were what made me choose to make the little churndash blocks.  I've been moving those squares from container to box to shelf for more than 5 years, and it was time to deal with them.

I finished all the blocks yesterday, 50 of them, and it didn't take me long.  The HST were there already, and so were the squares.  It took about 5 minutes per block to assemble them, but I also cut a few new pieces to put some more colour into the quilt.  I know that's madness, when I was trying to use up the scraps I already had, but I didn't want it to look dingy.  There are 4 blocks leftover, the colours didn't really fit in, so they can go into the orphan pile.
It took nearly all day today to cut the extra setting squares and assemble the blocks into one piece, but I'm really happy with how it looks, just the border to go now.  And look at all the empty containers!

I admit I didn't use up every piece, I just gave what remained to Mereth; she was happy with her little treasures and I was glad to see the empty boxes.  Maybe I should have given them to her at the start of the weekend, it would have meant a lot less work for me.

As leader-enders I used the 16-patches and the pinwheels that I sewed last week.  I made 10 blocks  like the one below, and they can wait for a home in a scrappy sampler quilt.  I'm sick of the sight of them right now, so a deep cupboard shelf is where they are going.

I now have 55 16-patches, it won't take much to finish that quilt; it's scary how many I'm churning out here!  Mind you, I don't sleep much, and there's definitely no housework taking place!  And the sewing room is now a complete shambles, so I will have to start all over again.  I don't think this cleaning up thing is working for me.....

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January 26th is Australia Day, and because it was a Saturday the holiday is being observed on Monday, so we have a long weekend.  It's bliss on Sunday morning to know I have a whole extra day to spend at home.  I actually slept in till 7.40, which is 2 hours past my normal rising time, but I certainly appreciated the extra rest.  I hope to tackle the remainder of the day with twice my normal enthusiasm.

I did catalogue the contents of the wire backet, and this is what was in there;

 cross blocks

album blocks

a whole pile of sample blocks from quilts I started last year

extras

 These Random 9-patches are the beginnings of more of the album blocks I think; who knows, I no longer remember what I was planning.  There was a lot more flotsam and jetsam in there, mainly pieces for more of the above.  I need to whip up some more of the blocks I like, and the extras etc can be filed with all the other orphan blocks, ready for that time when I want to make another Frankenstein quilt out of all these parts.  I've made three or four of those already, no enthusiasm for another one quite yet.

Before the end of the month I want to make a collage of all the finished quilt tops in recent memory, because I just make'em and stack 'em and forget'em.  Time to see what is there and what the quilting lineup should be.  It's been a long time since I quilted one of my own quilts, and that has to be one of my priorities this year.

If only I could stop the endless procession of new tops, I might actually make some progress, but the new ones are the fun part aren't they.  (I may have a new quilt on the design wall, I don't know how it happened.....)

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 I was all set to do a long rambly post this morning, and thenreceived an invite for a day out with the brother and family, so I need to go and get ready for that.  The real world can't wait, a blog post can.

I did manage to finish the Plaid quillt top, and I lovethe way it turned out, even if it was a lot more work than just adding a few strips of material. 

It also cleared out a lot of those pieced strips, but not all of them, so there is another quilt brewing from the leftovers.  At this rate I won't get to my new fabrics until 2023.

Last year a farmer friend gave me 4 strawberry plants, who knows what variety, donated from a very old garden.  I don't really like strawberries, so four was plenty, until they began producing the most amazing fruit.  I eat these every morning on my rounds of the garden, and they are truly divine.  Luckily they produce as many runners as fruit, so I'm propogating every single one so I can have a huge strawberry patch next year.  I love my gifted plants, and I'll be passing these on to my friends as well.

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