Wordless Wednesday

Blood Moon

Back in June we saw a blue moon - actually all this means is that there were two full moons in the one month and here in Sydney we had one June 1st and the other on the 30th June.

Tonight we will have a 'blood' moon - a total eclipse of the moon, the earth, sun and moon will be in perfect alignment; and if we are lucky the moon will turn anything from yellowish colour to blood red - no-one can predict what colour it will be until it happens, something to do with recent volcanic activity.

Anyway, it will be visible from anywhere in Australia this evening, early enough to take the kids out to see it and of course, much safer to look at than a solar eclipse!

Will have my camera ready and hopefully I can get some pictures but knowing my luck either there will be clouds at the important time or my photos will turn out black.

A few months ago I took Philip to see his parents in Newcastle and we stayed at a lovely motel in Charlestown. At dusk I was standing on the balcony and amazed to see hundreds of flying foxes (bats) so I grabbed my camera and took a pile of photos - guess what? Not one turned out!

I was so disappointed - don't know whether it was because it was getting dark or because the bats were flying swiftly - I wanted to show the family all the bats!

Anyway - tonight the moon will not be moving as fast ... lol - so I won't be able to blame non photos on that! If any turn out (don't hold your breath) I will post them tomorrow.

Degrees of Separation

I read with interest on Miss Frou Frou's blog her article on 6 degrees of separation and realised that I too have coincidences with people to brag about.

1. Many years ago I went to South America for a holiday (long before it was fashionable) and took a train ride and then a bus to Machu Picchu. There was only a couple of Indians, a dozen or two llamas and one other tourist there when I arrived and when meeting up with this person I asked him to take a picture for me with my camera. The person was an Australian and after many questions we discovered that he had gone to school with my elder sister!

2. My middle sister's husband joined the police force and in his class was the man I later married - not very strange but this is - Philip lived in Newcastle and when he came down to Sydney to join the Police he boarded in a house in Waterloo.

That house was the house my father grew up in and opposite the house my mother lived in.

There are other stories of strange connections that have occurred within my life but these two always stand out in my memory.

It really is a small world!!

Experiments with Sashing

Been experimenting with some embroidery to use as sashing with my 'hearts' - I have a lovely set of designs called That's Amore and not to be content with them chopped and hacked at them to make a border strip. What do you think of it? quilt

With groups of hearts then the embroidered sashing then an embroidered block then more hearts.

Been able to get back into sewing a little over the past few days, I am making a quilt for each of my sisters (2) for Christmas and have one top finished and need to get stuck into the other. I also want to put my healing hearts together and complete a couple of UFOs (very funny).

I have some lovely designs for quilts with embroidered blocks that I would like to try and a teddy bear made from calico with lots of embroidery on him. As usual I have more than enough projects on the go at one time. At the end of August is the Stitches and Craft show in Sydney (Rosehill) and my son has promised to babysit his Dad so I can go.

Of course, you know what that means - more projects!! Yea!!

Handfuls of Healing Hearts

I have been so touched by the healing hearts I have been receiving, 45 lovely hearts have entered my life and each one is full of love and comfort.



I have received hearts from my online friends in two quilting groups - the Southern Cross Quilters (SCQuilters) and Picking Up Threads (PUT) plus a couple from lovely friends I have made through blogging.

The big decision now will be how to put them together - I thought about making little goups of 4 and then joining them with a machine embroidered panel of squiggly hearts but knowing me I will fiddle and come up with something completely different.

I thought of using a soft green as the contrast colour because it always goes so well with mauves and purples, so my embroidered hearts could have those colours in them also. If I didn't use squiggly ones I had another idea.

That other idea was to make blocks of four hearts and join them to blocks of embroidered hearts similar to these ones.

Still regardless of how I end up putting them together they are going to be something special in my life. Maybe they could end up on my new bed and I could sleep under all that love and cuddles!!

A really big THANK YOU!!

Just a quick post and BIG THANK YOU to everyone who has sent me wishes and hugs in dealing with the latest blow to Philip.

He is doing remarkably well for someone who the Drs thought would only last a few weeks!

He has been on dexamethazone and this has reduced the swelling in the brain and as a consequence he has regained some use of the right side of his body and his speech has improved.

Through the Palliative care unit I have borrowed an electric hospital bed, wheelchair, commode/shower chair so he is all set up in our lounge room - he can lord it over us all. It has been a rotten few weeks with one day thinking it would be over then the next thinking he would recover - driving back and forth from the unit and spending each day there - I have to admit I am really tired and so glad he is home even though it means more work at least I don't have to travel.

The boys built a ramp to cover the stairs at the front of the house and over the weekend they ripped out the bathtub and the handbasin from our bathroom and tore down the showerscreen. Next weekend they are going to lift up the floor tiles and lay the new tile bed down in preparation for completing the makeover the following weekend. In the meantime I can wheel Philip into the bathroom to use the toilet.

I am hoping that I will be able to get into a routine and be able to spend sometime in my workroom each day, but at the moment ut is all rather new to me. Took me until 12 o'clock this morning to give him breakfast, wahs him, dress him, toilet him, strip the bed and make it with clean linen etc. Hopefully I can get that time down once I get into a better routine. I also bought a baby monitor so I can wander through the house without worrying.

Now as well as everything else that is happening Philip has shingles - down the left buttrock, into the groin and it is now spreading down his leg - never rains it pours!

Anyway - once again thank you for your kind thoughts. A big special thank you to my wonderful two cyber friends Ali and Sheila - you girls have no idea how much your wonderful emails mean to me!!

And to these lovely ladies who sent me Healing Hearts a big hug in thanks!
Gladys S
Marlene A-L
Virginia L
Julie MaM
Debbie McD
Jenni
Sharyn
Jane C
Diana K
Carol R
Kelly H-H
Jan the Gran
Sue P
Cait G
Sue McP
Kathleen A
Barbara D and
Margaret A

If every word I said could make you laugh, I'd talk forever .... meme

If every word I said could make you laugh, I'd talk forever......Frou tagged me for this meme...only one word responses... a bit like Chinese water torture...





Answer all questions using only 1 word :
1. Where is your cell phone? kitchen
2. Relationship? shit
3. Your hair? messy
4. Work? don't
5. Your sister? away
6. Your favorite thing? computer
7. Your dream last night?wow
8. Your favorite drink? zero
9. Your dream car?MGB
10. The room you’re in? work
11. Your shoes? none
12. Your fears? dentist
13. What do you want to be in 10 years? cleverer
14. Who did you hang out with this weekend? grandson
15. What you’re not good at?housework
16. Muffin? chocolate
17. One of your wish list items? lotto
18. Where you grew up? family
19. The last thing you did? read
20. What are you wearing? comfort
21. What aren’t you wearing? makeup
22. Your pet? dog
23. Your computer? Lifeblood
24. Your life? fine
25. Your mood? thoughtful
26. Missing? cuddles
27. What are you thinking about right now? words
28. Your car? RAV4
29. Your kitchen? warm
30. Your summer? hot
31. Your favorite color? PURPLE
32. When is the last time you laughed? today
33. Last time you cried? month
34. School? horrid
35. Love? gone


So who do I inflict this one on .... ? Sorry Ali but it's you - I always love reading you thoughts.