Still More Tote Bags

In between other things I don't seem to be able to get away from making tote bags from unused pieces of embroidery, this time some butterflies, a kookaburra and an unused piece from a Batlimore quilt.   All those years I've needed to have a piece of embroidery in my hands when going to various groups has ended up with a stack of interesting smaller embroideries which have never been framed for hanging on the wall - no room left for them anyway. But I find they make most interesting tote bags.  Just simple lined bags, no pockets inside.

I hope the recipients of the bags like them as much as I do.

More Tote Bags

I decided I would try and make some tote bags in preparation for Christmas, i.e. do without wrapping paper and just pop each present into a tote bag for the ladies of the family.  The idea is to try and only use scraps left over from other projects.

For the first two I used patterns and instructions from magazines.

Includes Thai silk scraps

Has a button trim

 Then I branched out with ideas of my own.  There is a limit to the number of framed pieces of cross stitch you can fit on the walls so I thought why not include the unframed pieces into tote bags.  And at one stage a few years ago  I was very keen on Baltimore quilts but  after a few blocks I decided that those interminable stems and leaves done with needle turning was not my idea of fun so a couple of them are also becoming tote bags.

Cross stitch parrot

Baltimore Quilt block

 I've already given away the Baltimore tote and I'm hoping I can get enough totes made so that I can keep the parrot tote for myself as I rather fancy that one ! I love the colours in it.

And my favourite book for the month - Gregory Day's "The Grand Hotel".  It's the third in a series set in the imaginary coastal town of  Mangowak (think Airey's Inlet), a quirky, amusing tale of small-town Australian life.

Linen Tote Bag

I only finished this linen tote bag this week and promptly gave it to my daughter as a birthday present. It had been my "go visiting" piece of embroidery for a while - nice and small for carrying to a friend's house for an afternoon or evening of embroidery.  So now it's on to other projects.  Must think about more tote bags.  They're fun to do and make a pretty but useful present.


It's been raining steadily overnight and again this morning - would be a perfect day for sitting and sewing but it will have to wait for a while - perhaps this afternoon.

Australian Election

Federal Election Day tomorrow.  I really despair for the human race.  These last few weeks leading up to the election has shown the character of  Australia and the Australian people at their worst.  Ugly, bigoted, lying. I fail to understand how a temporary prime minister can stand there and deliberately lie about the opposition and say it again and again and again when it is blatantly untrue.  And then it gets repeated again and again among my contemporaries regardless of any proof to the contrary.. It makes me weep.  They just treat us as though we don't have a brain in our body.

What we need is some ethnic cleansing in the Parliament.,  Get rid of the lot of them.  No-one who has stood for Parliament before would be allowed to stand again. I would love that.

I just hope that tomorrow's results give us a government that we can trust to spend our money wisely.  I hate to see a government throwing money around with no thought to the consequences.

Regardless of anything else, never trust a woman who dyes her hair.  She's trying to be something she isn't !!!!

Online Scrabble

Are there degrees of addiction ?  I wouldn't like to say that I am addicted to online Scrabble but I must say that I do enjoy it and often neglect things I should be doing to sit and juggle letters into improbable words.  The magic words are  "Your Turn".  I couldn't possibly ignore such an instruction.  My Scrabble partner could be waiting anxiously somewhere in the world for me to respond.

The Online Scrabble which I play (via Facebook) is labelled "Worldwide excluding U.S. and Canada"  Interesting.   I wonder why.  A bit racist, isn't it ?   Could we call that a sanction ?  Actually I'm quite happy with UK, NZ and Aussie players but would like it if Canada was included in our group.  The different time zones makes the game active at different times of the day.  Breakfast and supper are my main times for a bit of interaction.

In a different but similar game you can choose to use either their English or American dictionary.  I don't know what dictionary Scrabble uses but sometime words which I consider normal are not included.   Two that come to mind are Aran - a style of knitting - and tute -  as short for tutorial.

Just heard the little beep which indicates that "Your Turn" is again showing, so bye-bye !

Newspaper Cartoons

I don't know whether or not I'm a lazy person who doesn't add to her blog or whether life just gets too busy and complicated at times.

One thing that  captures my attention every day are the newspaper cartoons.  Those cartoonists are just so clever the way they get to the heart of the matter.  Fortunately the Herald Sun puts Mark Knight's cartoon online each day at  

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion      (part of the way down the page).

And about 9.50 am each Sunday morning ABC1's Insiders program has a delightful segment where a guest cartoonist discusses the best of the cartoons for the week from the major newspapers.

dinner

Once upon a time I ticked a box that gave me a weekly newsletter from a Canadian food site, http://www.oneroastvegetable.com/ .

This week they wrote about the lost art of dinner and the necessity of once a week  having the family sit down to a nice home cooked meal at the dining room table which has been attractively set with candles, napkins, the full works. That's a lovely idea, encouraging people to make dinner a time of meeting and communication, seen so little these days but always one of my favorite times in days gone by.

But the newsletter  made me want to stand up and throw my arms wide and sing "What about me" like the chap in the insurance ad as he surveys others rolling their cars and having accidents

Don't forget we live-alone oldies. We need a different kind of mealtime.

My dinnertime is spent surrounded by all the things I might need for my entertainment for the next hour or two - TV program and remote controls, cryptic  crossword with one word still missing, my current book to read, and the current embroidery to continue, extremely good lighting and a radio - anything that keeps the mind occupied. Dinnertime is not a time to emphasize aloneness. And forget the candles - I need decent lighting and if I used a candle I'd probably end up burning the place down.

To cap off the above food for the mind is some food for the tummy. Tonight, at the start of the cold weather, a hearty Australian beef stew loaded with vegetables and served with mashed potato, followed by a meringue with black coffee. It was quite yummy.

Conversation is a wonderful accompaniment to a meal but when that is not possible one needs a different kind of company.