More nuns?? Then and now...

In my previous post I wrote about my dressing up as a nun for Book Week in 1999...well I came across some old photos a little while back which I put aside thinking they could be used in a future post...so that time is now :-) 

The story starts in December 1971 when, for some reason or other, I bought a cookie jar for my soon to be Sister in Law...the jar was in the shaped of a monk! I have no idea why I felt that it was a perfect Christmas gift for her...but it had quite taken my fancy. I had found it in Myer's city store here in Brisbane, where I had purchased most of the gifts on my list. At the last minute I kept the cookie jar for my self and bought another gift for Marlene...Now from here the story become quite bizarre and you might 'wonder about me'? lol

Then a few years later my mother found more cookie jars in the same range in a local gift shop...and she bought both another monk and a nun! Then my MiL bought me a nun cookie jar in her home city of Melbourne...before I knew it, I had a bit of a collection going without any real effort from me! Lol. And here are some photos from circa 1973-4...it's alright to snigger/laugh uproariously at these photos because The 2014 me certainly is! Lol

Eventually after extensive renovations at our home in 1979-80, my 'monastery/convent collection' as friends called it, eventually found a home on the ledge beside the new internal staircase... 

Here is DD2, aged about 2 and the lineup of the collection can be seen in the background...

In 2000, I moved out of the family home taking very little with me...and certainly not the collection! In 2003, after settlement, I took over the house again to prepare it for sale, and the collection had gone with my former husband to Victoria. He claimed that he had bought and paid for all of the cookie jars???? So they were gone and that was that...realistically I didn't really have room in the house I now lived in. ( One beautiful German-made jug in the shape of a monk remained in the house for me to recover, as it had been in a cupboard and had not been found)  

But unknown to me DD1 was searching for replacements and one Christmas, she presented me with a box, and in that box was a monk cookie jar which she had found on Ebay. Dear DD1 was to go on to find another one a year of so later.

I then found out that she was trying to find a nun jar...I was a bit concerned as these cookie jars were quite expensive and I didn't want her spending so much...so I pre-empted her and bought one myself on Ebay from the US...the jar wasn't expensive but the postage was! lol. So once again I had a Monastery/Convent collection! They 'live' on top of the buffet hutch but during a recent dust and clean session, I took a photo of them 'posing' on the dining table! lol

The little nun was bought on a visit to Rome in 2008 and that jug previously mentioned is on the left. 

(I have seen these jars in Antique shops and prices were around the $75 mark...a big difference from the $5.99 I paid for that first one in 1971)

Book Week!

In the last few weeks I've been hearing friends discussing Book Week which is an annual initiative of the Children's Book Council ofAustralia and the aim of this organisation is to promote  the enjoyment and engagement of children with Literature. At various levels in the Community, it is a week of activities promoting children's literature...most families become involved at the school, daycare, kindergarten  levels and it was this involvement that my friends were discussing...and in particular the costumes that have become part of the week's celebration. Apparently it can be a stressful time for mums, aunts, grandmas etc who have been put to work making a costume...one friend informed me that the standards and expectations of these costumes have grown exponentially from her  early memories of Book Week. 

Well in my occasional series of posts that look back at my time/career in the classroom, I am going back to Book Week 1999. 

I was team teaching with Nola on Year 1. We decided that we would visit a local Costume Hire store in our lunch break one day (yes a free lunch break; it did happen once upon a time!) and check out outfits. Hmmm, most of the costumes were in tiny sizes and we were starting to get a bit concerned about whether we would find anything suitable to wear as a character from a children's book....then Nola found the very loose witch costume. Our Year 1 class loved a book called 'Witch, Witch, Come to my Party?', so one costume had been found.

Then I found a loose nun's outfit, but the problem was, what children's book had a nun as a character?  Nola knew one! Miss Clavell in the Madeline books! So we both had costumes which we booked to collect the day before the dress up day at school. 

The photo was taken in the staffroom at morning tea...

And aren't I very pious there with my fruit for morning tea, ignoring the plates of cakes! Lol

Some background...one of the Year 1 girls would not come near Nola for the whole 2 sessions that we stayed in costume...she wouldn't believe that it was Nola under that makeup. That little girl is still in touch with me and there don't seem to be any long term ill  effects of being scared that day! Lol. 

At lunch time Nola and I walked out of the school grounds to the local shops just so Nola could buy some lunch...needless to say we did get tooted at a bit by cars on busy Kelvin Grove Rd. 

The wonders of the Internet...here is a reading of the Witch Witch book...I'd forgotten how much I liked this book as it really entranced the children!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UYXQj_bMDm8

Hexies

Last month I missed out linking up with Sarah's Help for Hexaholics monthly post and link up. I was running late this month too, on account of the sore wrists/forearms that have bugged me a lot of this past week. But a little late nonetheless, I have made progress with those Hexies from the kit I bought at the Liberty shop.

I didn't manage to use all 30 hexagons but Lin gave me an idea that may assist in using all 30 rather than just 19 :-). I plan to make a cushion eventually but I have only made this motif so far. I ended up using an idea I had seen on Pinterest ages ago and pinned it.
It involves arranging the 2 colours in a swirl pattern rather than the traditional Grandma's Garden motif.

My brain was in a bit of a fog the other night when I was trying to layout the hexies like the pinned diagram from Pinterest...when I finally got it right, I labelled each hexie...made it so much easier!

Now a little bit of Trivia. I worked on this project yesterday at Sunday Stitchers and one of my fellow Stitchers commented that the design look like a swastika...I remarked that that was a bit unfortunate but I couldn't really see it myself....I could see swirls. :-) I was a bit appalled actually....:-:

 But then I remembered something I had read years ago...the swastika was actually based on an Ancient Greek Symbol. A little research today showed that the same symbol is featured in many cultures including being a symbol of auspiciousness in Hindu culture.     http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika

 So that explains the crocheted insert on a vintage table centre that came in a bundle of old linens that I bought on EBay many years ago...when I saw this design, I thought hmmm...maybe I won't bother to clean this up and reuse the lace...it obviously was a design that was around long before the Second World War...

Visit Sarah's blog here...http://sarahdidit.blogspot.com.au

That secret project...

A little while ago I wrote about a secret knitting project that I was working on and I showed a rather blurry photo of the back of the work...

Doesn't show much at all does it?

Last weekend I handed over the finished throw to Nanette, the new owner, so now I can show the front of it here on the blog :-)

Like most of my throws, I folded this one up and tied it with a bow...thus...but still only showing the wrong side...lol

But before I did that I got DH to take a photo of the rug with me holding it out to show all the colours. Nanette chose pinks, mauves and purples with a soft mid grey main colour as the background. It turned out to be a lovely soft throw with that beautiful lightness typical of mohair yarns.

Thank you for all those messages wishing me a speedy recovery from the RSI...the good news is that since having a 4 day break from crafting, knitting does not produce the soreness and aching that crocheting does...so more throws to come! (I do use the ergonomic crochet hooks too) But also, in the garden, I will  avoid pulling up tough clumps of grass and weeds and use the long handled secateurs for pruning and trimming. A life without crafting would be horrible so 'an ounce of prevention, is worth a pound of cure'...as they say! 

FNSI with RSI...

Looks like I'm 'talking in initials' doesn't? Apparently the weakness in my right hand when I was pulling out weeds a couple of weeks ago is linked to the ache I developed in both my wrists early this week...somehow I've managed to develop a Repetitive Strain Injury and have had to take a bit of a backward step from sewing, knitting and especially crocheting. The last time I did any crocheting was last Monday and it hurt, which is rather sad as I was on such a roll joining squares into blankets and making granny squares. The good news is that there is a definite improvement and I have relented and purchased a pair of wrist and hand support gloves from Judy Hall (Punch with Judy) and hopefully they will arrive next week. 

So this month's Friday Night Sew In has been a little different...but I kept myself busy nonetheless :-)

Firstly, I took photos of the lovely items my sister in law and her friend made for K4BN....I can now send these photos to the group's Facebook page...

Firstly some baby blankets made by Ada my SiL's friend...5 beautifully made blankies....

A gorgeous crocheted rug from Mary, my SiL....

And Mary has sewn lots of children's quilts for the group as well...

And Mary made some drawstring bags too...

I sandwiched the layers of the 'dog quilt'...I cheated and used some iron on batting and I used polar fleece for the backing. My friend Pamela often backs quilts with polar fleece, even ones that go to the professional quilter, so I thought I'd give it a go. Missy the dog might get her quilt this winter! But I think the quilting will just be 'stitch in the ditch'. 

I had 6 Liberty hexagons to attach (I still stitch them) to the papers, so this evening I did that and then played with layouts. I want to make a cushion with them and was hoping to get a symmetrical layout that used all 30 of the hexagons that were in the kit that I bought from the Liberty shop. 

But there were either 1-3 left over or not enough to complete a proposed layout...

Time to put them away and await inspiration! Lol

The turkeys are back!

A few weeks ago I saw 2 bush turkeys wandering around our back yard, so it was time for 'Tommy Turkey' aka Faux Turkey to be brought out of storage.

For now, I've placed Tommy Turkey near an empty veggie patch

DH's friend Tim made the corflute bush turkey for me last year, as he said it would cause any male turkeys to look elsewhere for a place to build the mound it makes for its mate to lay eggs in. The male turkey tends to wreak havoc while it is building the mound and so it was in 2012 that I had my vegie gardens completely destroyed. Tommy Turkey appears to have kept the males away last year but the females continued to come for a visit each day and dig up and eat my sweet potatoes and ordinary potatoes! But no wholesale destruction like the year before!

The same day I took a photo of the bed that I had planted up after we came back from our holiday...(just in case it got destroyed by a turkey, I could at least look back at what the bed had looked like! lol) 

This morning, 2 weeks later, I took another photo...

Yep! Turkey has left it alone...for now!

And in a large pot on the other side of the backyard, I have an eggplant; but one of the small varieties. In 2012 I had to put rocks etc in the pot plants to stop the turkeys digging in the pots...so fingers crossed that my eggplant may continue to bear fruit.

Former posts about my 'battles' with the bush turkeys can be found here, here and here. 

Another development in the street...

When DH and I arrived back home from overseas in early May, there was a Notice of Proposed Development sign on the two houses across the road. The renter in the house directly opposite had to vacate that property by the end of June. In late July the owner started clearing trees on the site. I 'had my eye' on some bromeliads which grew beside one house. I felt guilty about just going over and taking some, and the owner/developer seem to be popping by at all different times but I hadn't had the courage to ask if I could have the plants.

Then early one morning I heard trucks outside, so quickly got dressed and grabbed the camera as I thought that the demolition was about to start.

I called out to the owner, 'So today is the day is it'? He replied that the equipment was just to flatten the garden beds between the 2 houses...so I then asked if he minded if I took some bromeliads. He didn't but suggested I be quick about it before the machinery was unloaded. So a quick trip back home to get some gardening gloves and a plastic bag...

 I grabbed an armful and all have been planted in various spots around our garden

The garden bed on the other side of the house was left untouched, so quite early next morning ,while dressed in my nightie and dressing gown, I went back and got an armful of agave plants...DH was inside watching the golf on TV so no photos that time! lol
These plants will remind me of Phillip the young man who rented the house for 6 or so years and was a landscape gardener and really made the yard of the rented house look lovely.

Both houses will be demolished and 7 houses will be built on each block. So dust and noise for a long time yet.
Those who followed the saga of the 7 new houses next door to us...they are all available for rent. Only 1 has been rented at $510 per week. The rumour on the street is that the unrented ones are now offering lower rent of $470 p/w...no renters equals no returns for all those new owners.