A bit of sillyness

This is just one of those silly videos that turn up on You Tube.  One of the comments was that they believed it was the birth of Irish dancing.  Maybe, maybe not.

 

Extremes

Looks like the weather is going to give us trouble again as there are two cyclones sitting off the coast.  Everyone north of Gladstone have been told to prepare their cyclone stocks etc.  Poor Rockhampton they are in the line of fire again and they haven't finished their flood clean up as yet.

To happier things.  I found a blog yesterday called "Two ducks swimming"    which is the official blog of Luetenegger Fabrics.  They have the agency for Kaufman Fabrics who have this fantastic app for your phone.  I downloaded it straight away and am off to the quilt shop to try it out.

It also has some rather cute cross stitch patterns plus lots of other goodies.  (Don't you love it when you find something different?)

Summer weather

Summer is beating us down with the heat so it is a good time to go to the movies and sit in the air conditioning. So my movie for today was "The King's Speech".

I loved it, as did the rest of the audience who all applauded at the end.  You  don't get that very often at the movies.  I don't think there was an actor that didn't play their part to perfection, and that's another thing that you can't say very often.  I was looking at a painting of the Queen's Mother when she was young.  Quiet different to the images that I grew up with.  She was really very pretty.

I see that this movie has been nominated for lots of Academy Awards along with one of my favourite authors, Shaun Tan, for the animated feature of his story "The Lost Thing".

 

I have ordered the DVD to go with the book I already own.  I was introduced to Shaun Tan by my English students, (at one stage I had a class of advanced students who I think I learnt more from than I taught.)  On the surface his work just looks like books for young adults but there is so much depth and his illustrations are so expressive.  The book "The Arrival"  has no written words but it says so much.  It is now available in a large collectors edition and this is very high on my wish list.

 

 

Australia Day 2011

This day marks the end of the summer holidays and the last day before the school term starts in earnest.  A lot has happened in this first month of the year and we think of those that have lost so much in the floods, those who gave without thinking of themselves and read of the cost of getting back to where we were.  It also marks a new beginning and although we all know there is a lot of work ahead you just have to get on with it.  So today is a special day for all Australians.

Where is Sarah Jane?

I have got the dressmaking bug at the moment and I went looking for Sarah Jane, who is my dressmakers dummy.  No where to be found.  I mentioned this to my daughter who said, "You haven't used if for so long I didn't think you wanted it anymore, so it's at my place."  Now every woman knows just because you don't use something for years doesn't mean you don't want it anymore.  I think I might have to purchase another one!

I bought some printed cottons by Martin and Savage, who have a wonderful collection of prints, at my discount fabric store on the Sunshine Coast, Brian's Fabrics.  When I went to make it up I didn't have enough fabric to centre the design and now it's driving me crazy.  It isn't that bad but I know it is slightly off centre.

Looking at Martin and Savages web site I see that they are in an area that was flooded.  Brian might have some more fabric for sale soon.

New Shoes

I have been busy crocheting some new shoes for Monique for when the weather turns cooler, I have now idea when that will be.  I bought this pattern from Hook Candy through Ravelry and have had to play around with it a bit to get their right size.  The problem is that the pattern calls for worstered  yarn, which is equivalent to about 10ply.  In Australia this is very hard to come by and as the country has millions of sheep I just can't bring myself to buy wool from overseas.  (Maybe New Zealand doesn't count as overseas.)

I had to hunt around to find the self covered button kits I wanted.  I needed to be able to leave a bit more fabric on the edge as I was using Chirimen fabric from Japan.  The weave of this is a bit loose and it tends to frey.

Also, I have been looking at the work of Jimmie Mr Bride.  I really like his intergalactic quilts and he has made a video story about some of them.

 

 

Old film

I came across this old movie that was made in 1906.  The camera was mounted on the front of a tram so that you really get the feeling of how it felt.  it was filmed only 4 days before the great earthquake in San Fransisco and was saved by the fact that it was shipped east for processing.   This was filmed in the days before road rules.  Heavens some of the pedestrians took their lives in their hand and some of those cart and horse drivers!  Then there are the those in cars.  Good thing these vehicles couldn't go too fast.  It is even better if you go to Youtube and watch it in full screen.  There is so much to took at.  What were the fashions, for men and women,  all the mix of vehicles, the way people walk.  The list just goes on.

 

An early morning

I picked up a bundle of books from the library yesterday and after dinner sat down to start reading.  I have read everyone of C.J. Sansom's books.  They are historical "Who dunits" set in the time of Henry VIII.  This one is as good as all the others and is called "Heartstone."

Now I can get really engrossed in a good book, anyway that is my excuse for what happened.  I had been reading for some time and thought " that sun hasn't gone down yet tonight?"  Then I realised it was the sun rising!   I had been reading ALL NIGHT.  As I said it's a good book.

 

Second Day of Children's Classes

It was all go, go, for the second day.  But, there was a lot of socialising as well.  Kids caught up with each other from the first day and we had a few extras.  Chatter, chatter, chatter.  Then it was down to work and intense concentration.

As I suspected the pattern was too difficult for a number of the students so there was lots of discussion about how it could be adjusted.

Some of the older students didn't have any problems at all but still kept to the basic design.

Some of the smaller students just worked very hard to get finished.

 So in the end we had some work that we backed with felt to make squarish pin cushions.

Some were just a bit smaller but still looked good.

Some actually got the full sized result.

But the most important thing was that everyone had lots of fun.

 

A bit slow

That is how I am feeling at the moment, not only mentally but physically as well.  Firstly, I have sat in the Powerhouse Theatre so many times and looked at kids playing on this sculpture and never "seen" it properly until the flood come through and then I realised what it said.

 

Yesterday I did some dressmaking and it took all day to make a pair of slacks when it would only normally only take a morning. 

Next thing is Children's Embroidery classes again, I will have to get my skates on for that.