fiveandtwo

10 x 10

This is the name of an exhibition to be held next month. All work will be on the same 10" x 10" canvas you get with your entry fee. This should turn a tidy profit for the fellow who has the gallery, however, I doubt it's easy to make a living as a gallery owner in this town. It's called The Stables, being the original stables for the hotel next door - renovated of course, and in a good way too. I investigated exhibiting there a couple of years ago but it's too expensive for me at this stage.

Anyway, I bought two entries and after much deliberating I decided to go with painting still life, something I really enjoy. Fruit this time.

 
Pears

 
Apples

And here's a still life from my half hour ago salad preparation. Will be eaten with pork and fennel sausages. Linsey's stopping by for tea!

 
Yum.

Ally's Wurlie

Finally, I pruned the kiwifruit vines. It should have been done earlier in winter but I don't like gardening when everything is all wet. As happens every time something is pruned around here Ally or Clare, or both, make a cubby. Kiwifruit prunings are good for this, they're long and fairly flexible. An added bonus was jasmine that migrates over from next door and gets cut back as well.

 
There's the apricot tree in the background coming into blossom. Actually, I was a bit worried about this in the cold and wet weather we've been having - no bees. And I'm down to my last jar of apricot jam! Disaster has been averted, so far, by plenty of bee activity yesterday and today.

I got around to planting the seeds for summer crops, different varieties of tomato, chilli, capsicum, eggplant, zucchini, cucumber and pumpkin, some lettuce (which is sown successively from now on), celery, silverbeet and basil. I'll sow direct in the garden some more lettuce, rocket, mibuna and mizuna, carrot, beetroot, parsnip and coriander, maybe also some more peas. I need to get seed for leeks and Lazy Housewife climbing bean. The seedlings should be ready to plant out towards the end of October, though the lettuce, silverbeet and celery can go out sooner.

 
Trays accompanied by rhubarb that I need to plant out, and my little fig tree sending out new leaves. It has graduated to a bigger pot this year.

The winter garden is working toward producing seed...the kale, parsley and silver beet are starting to bolt. I can keep the broccoli in check by continuously picking the little florets that follow the main head being picked. Cabbages...nearly ready. Lettuces planted in autumn (as seed just scattered around and raked in where the trees were removed) are going great guns, which is good because I've reached the time of year when I actually crave a green salad! Like towards the end of summer when cold weather, a warm jumper and hot soup is yearned for. I do like the different seasons down here in Victoria now. I didn't at first because I was used to "The Wet" and "The Dry" of the tropics.

Another Jacket

For me this time.

 
It will have buttonholes and buttons, just as soon as I get around to it. I used McCall's 5007 which is a cropped, 3/4 sleeve jacket. I lengthened both the jacket body and the sleeves. I think this pattern is out of print now. I used the same charcoal/black stripe wool that I made Leah's jacket with. None left now, sob, it was from the op-shop. For lining I used the silk I got from the tip shop and overdyed with black.

Speaking of the lining, I was trimming the seam where I sewed it to the jacket neckline, with my shears (no, not a small pair of scissors like I should've), not paying attention, "La-le-lala", and I cut a big hole in the lining. Which I had to patch, by hand.

 

I quite like this jacket, the fit is not spot on but I'll work on that next time I make it. And I must see to the buttonholes and buttons...

A Bit Of A Flood

 
It rained a lot here on Wednesday, but it rained a helluva lot more in the Mitchell River catchment. So the river rose and rose...and flooded.

On Thursday Clare, Al and I went down to a spot called Picnic Point after school.

 
 The river lapping at its banks, rising as we watched.

 
Over there in the middle far left of the photo is Picnic Point, where we were yesterday. The trees mark the usual course of the river.

 
 
 
 
(Gratuitous photo of dog in her coat).

 
The willows follow the road.

 
 
Cattle forced upwards, their paddock on the river flats now inundated. They were complaining loudly. You know you're in the country when cattle are grazed and vegies grown on the river flats in town. Good land for agriculture but not for building. Floods of varying severity are regular here. The last one of this size was in 2007, but the twins, Linsey and I were visiting the oldies in Qld and we missed it. I think I still blogged about it but I am too slack to look it up and provide a link. I'd instructed Giles to "take some photos" and he took about 355 or thereabouts, plus a few three minute "movies". Lucky I have a gigantic memory card in the camera, and a spare, fully charged, battery.

The water will have receded by the time I walk the dog tomorrow, leaving behind debris and mud. lots of mud.

Guinea Pigs

No, I haven't gone and got guinea pigs, but on one of my dog walk routes I often see a lot of them out grazing in a front yard and on the nature strip. I've counted fourteen. I think they live under the house, at least that's where they run when disturbed.

 
 

I wonder what the collective noun for guinea pigs is? I looked up my book An Exaltation of Larks (by James Lipton) and didn't find one. I did find: a colony of rabbits; a husk of hare; a dray, or scurry, of squirrels and a ruination of rodents. An Exaltation of Larks  is a wonderful book if you're a wordy type.

Here is the dog across the road and yearning to cross over and chase some of those critters.

 

I Shouldn't Let This Bother Me...

Had a "family twenty-first" party for Linsey on the weekend. She had a bash with friends in Melbourne earlier. It's good fun to get all the local family together.

 
 

Classic "girls inside and (most) boys outside".

 

Linsey, rather partial to prawns, is watched as she devours yet another prawn skewer.

 

Candles lit by Giles and Clare.

Anyway, amongst general chit-chat Linsey said she wasn't looking forward to starting work at 6.30am the next day. One of her aunties said she wasn't looking forward to work tomorrow either, so I joined in saying I wasn't keen on it either. "Where do you work?", responded the aunty. "At Tint-a-Car, every Monday". "Oh that's nothing, just family stuff". Ahem. I shouldn't let it bother me because this woman  said to me a while ago, "Once you've done the washing and the housework, and organised tea there's nothing to do, and nothing on TV".

I am prone to brooding, but now I feel better.

So...What've I Been Up To?

After a bit of a blog silence.

I made a jacket for Leah, at her request. The Jacket. First time I've ever made a lined jacket with a bit of tailoring thrown in. It turned out ...reasonable.

 
I thought it fitted really well but, looking at this photo, I don't think so. I've fixed that twisted sleeve, by the way. Fortunately it only required unpicking of the sleeve and lining at the wrist, repositioning the lining and re-sewing. Twistyness solved.

 
Pockets you can actually use. Also a nice feature of the jacket.

 
I do like this pleaty feature at the back. Fit is good across the shoulders.

 
The buttons Leah wanted were quite large and I didn't think large buttonholes would be a good feature so I put big snaps as closures with the buttons sewn on as decoration (the snaps are black in reality).

Stats: Pattern from Ottobre Design 5/2009 "Flower Vine" jacket. Changes I made: I made the jacket smaller in the waist by increasing the waist darts (and reducing the front peplum thingy accordingly). I used the snaps + buttons described above. Fabric is a lovely lightweight wool from the oppy. I've cut out a jacket shell for myself from the rest (must've been over 4 metres of fabric). The charcoal/black of the fabric is much more subtle than in the photos. Buttons from Spotlight, annoyed that I didn't have enough of the same button in my collection. Lining is that Bemsilk stuff from Spotty.

I'd like to make this jacket for myself but it doesn't go big enough. I know I could probably make the pattern bigger, but I can't be fagged. I'm using a McCalls pattern for my own jacket. In hindsight, with Leah's jacket I should have done a full bust adjustment for a smaller size. Tiny girl with full bust. I have to do this for myself. It's not hard but, you know, sometimes I just want to sew a pattern without all the alterations. Don't think it's going to happen any time soon.

So, what else? The fruit trees arrived by courier last week. Wednesday. I was able to plant them on Thursday. Very easy digging since new trees were being planted where stumps of old were removed. Some sited over animal graves and the only one I didn't dig - Hootie-rabbit's - was the one where I exhumed a bit of rabbit. Disgusting, I nearly threw up. I then chose the apple tree with the least roots for that hole...Then went to a local rural supplies place for star pickets and wire for the espaliers.

Working on a sculpture after a ghastly inspiration drought.

Spent a long weekend in Melbourne helping Linsey move and having a break from Bairnsdale. The move was executed in one go with the Tarago, Linsey's Camry and Lachie's Mum's car. From West Brunswick to Armadale. Much cheaper rent (truly), a lovely sort-of duplex place (1920's?) and closer to her Swinburne TAFE campus in Prahran. I much prefer Brunswick, I have to say. Armadale & Toorak are a bit fancy for me. Too many antique shops and bridal shops. Not interesting enough.

I got some fabric for hot weather clothes from Rathdowne Remnants & Fabrics. Clare and Ally bought some stretch knit stuff for "costumes". I bought a couple of books at Brunswick Bound and a number of CDs at Title.

And now, I'm back in Bairnsdale. Work today, work tomorrow etc etc. Weekend becomes a pleasant memory.