Winter Solstice

Winter is well and truly upon us and to celebrate the solstice we only reached a chilly 12C today. We've also had some incredible rainfalls and yesterday we had an urgent call to go and pick Maisie up from childcare as the centre had been flooded. They are closed for the rest of the week so we had her today as well while Beau was at kindy. She is such wonderful company and so different to Beau in so many ways. I decided to stitch some much needed new potholders today and she was quite content to sit at the table with me and sort all my pins.........

 I lined the potholders with a thermal insulated batting and made them double sided....... William Morris designs of course...........

 I am heading over the border tomorrow to Melbourne and I am not really looking forward to the flight as there are warnings of hail, thunder and gale force winds! It might reach 10C tomorrow and no higher than 12C all weekend so all the thermals are packed! I am teaching for two days in the company of Waverley Patchworkers and over the last day or so I've been busy packing notes and kits and finalising a presentation for Monday night for their monthly meeting. I've been delivering a talk on how I design a quilt from the first drawing to the final stitch and I've called it "Designs from my Kitchen Table" because that is were it all happens! I don't have the luxury of a studio and I've always said I don't need one but secretly I probably would love one. So last weekend Larry got the dreaded news from me that I wanted to rearrange the house! The look on his face reflects his dislike of it all as this is a frequent affliction of mine, but after a lot of grunting from us both we did it! So the space where I stitched and created in the family room previously.......

 is now the 'formal' dining room...........

 And where the previous formal dining room was............

 is now my 'studio' workspace...well a small room for the computer, sewing machine and table......and I love it! .......

I was tired of having to constantly pack up my sewing area to keep it neat in the family room, but now I can leave it set up when I like. Eventually I would like some bi-fold doors like these to shut it away completely....maybe one day if I'm lucky......

So moving furniture is always a chance to do a thorough clean and after two and half years that is a good thing. The glass and wine cabinet revealed memories of this beautiful solid crystal decanter that Larry's father received from his many years in radio...........

 Those of you who live locally might have heard of Merv Hill and I was so thrilled to find this piece written about him on wikipedia .......
"One of the station's most popular locally produced programs of the late 1940s and 50s was "Under the Stars", written for 20 years by 5DN's chief scriptwriter, Merv Hill. He also single handedly wrote the scripts for "Radio Canteen". Begun as an experiment in Saturday night live entertainment, the show ran for 13 years, featuring virtually every leading entertainer in South Australia."

I was also thrilled to find this photo on the State Library archive website and Merv is on the left (and sadly that cigarette probably resulted in his demise at an early age)........

 And another from here...........

So different to the pre-television days and I can recall rushing home from school each day to listen to Jason and the Argonauts and to this day I remember my membership as 'Anazarbus 6"! Sundays were a highlight listening to Sunday Playbill and then Mondays was National Radio theatre!  And then of course it was the daily ritual of my late Mum listening to Blue Hills by Gwen Meredith which ran for an incredible 27 years - I can still hum the theme music by heart! After I'd cleaned the decanter and reflected on it all Larry lamented that no-one gave him such a lovely gift after 40 years of working for the government....but I did remind him he did receive this one off signed football guernsey from his beloved local football team (and they do not usually do this so it is extra special)........

 Personally I was lucky too and after 10 years in a local private hospital I received this beautiful Coalport figurine that I treasure.......

 And the residents of an aged care facility that I managed gave me this beautiful dome clock..........

This week I also completed another 'to do' quilt which has been lurking in the cupboard for many years. A map of the world panel which I quilted randomly and then I ran out of binding.........but Beau will love it as he is intrigued with our world globe and likes to know where we live and where Nanna and Poppa have visited. It is quite large and with wool batting will be warm and snuggly..............

 Not so sure about the spelling here though...........

And I finished another William Morris inspired fabric box too edged with pins like the pinwheels. It is now my sewing box and very useful.........

So my final GOOD news is that I think the cushions have arrived to their destination. This was the first one that was actually delivered to another address - similar street name and thank goodness in the same town so was rescued (as this situation has happened to them before). Thanks so much for the photo Barbara and glad it is safe in its new home!

I've heard that the other two cushions have arrived so it will be lovely to see them in the new homes too! So for now stay safe and warm (or cool) in your home too x