Developments
:: Qantas delivered the rest of our luggage last night, about 10 pm, so I spent this morning unpacking and doing the washing. And feeling very relieved that we hadn't lost anything!
:: I have got the quilts all ready to start work on them again, the priority being to finish piecing Lily's top and then to start hand-quilting Larissa's.
With quilts on my mind, I'm also planning a red one of my own. Just look at all the fabulous fabrics I've collected for it already, beginning with this pile of lovelies from my dear friend Laura's stash in Perth: She has a history for every bit of red in this pile, and she also gave me these all-sewn-up checkerboard strips made with some reds I gave her many years ago to make a schoolhouse quilt. These reds (below) are all from my stash. Some are from Chicago, there's a fair bit from Perth and Albany, and a lot from San Diego quilt shops. I dunno yet what sort of quilt I'll make, but I am thinking that this may be the one I get hand-quilted by an Amish craftswoman, just for the sheer joy of having something worked on by them. So it had better be a quilt worthy of such work!
:: This is my trusty, much-loved ancient Bernina Record, which I photographed at Mum's place while I was back in Australia last week. I've written about this marvellous workhorse on the excellent blog, Zigzaggers, which invites people to write in and tell all about their old sewing machines. It's great fun to read about some of the old machines still in use out there, and it's a great service for anyone planning to buy a used machine. You can read about my Bernina here.
:: Will's had a change of plans and is now going to study at Mira Costa College just a few miles up the road from us here in San Diego, with a view to returning to Perth with us in February (sounds of Lesley whisper-screaming 'Yesssss!'). House after house that we'd found for Will and his mates in San Francisco fell through, then his housemates all found individual accommodation, and then there were problems with the exact course Will was after — so this is a great alternative, especially considering the San Francisco college year starts on Monday! We'd never have made it.
:: All of the above means Will, David and I won't be whizzing up to San Francisco tomorrow to try desperately to find Will accommodation and try to shuffle his course units. So, we can relax, recover from the flight home, put our feet up and put the suitcases away for a spell. Phew ...
:: I've been invited along to a book club! I'm so chuffed! Only thing is, it's meeting tomorrow night and I haven't read the book, which is Peony in Love, by Lisa See. I'm cramming.
My invitation came from the lovely Fiona Chatwin, whom we met through the Bondi earlier this year when she was bringing an Australian guitar ensemble to San Diego. And the ensemble, a quartet, only included the guitar virtuoso Slava Grigoryan and his brother, for heaven's sake! Bigger than big! Unfortunately, I missed it due to one of my many dashes back to Australia, but we had a reception at the Bondi befiore the concert, with the lads playing away in the restaurant (can't believe they are not so well known here — at home they'd have been mobbed!) and on the night of the concert, out at UCSD, Bondi provided refreshments in the interval.
Anyway, Fiona and I have caught up since for chat about our homeland and other stuff. She's a soprano from Melbourne, working hard over here to get a community music school, Villa Musica, up and running.
Now I'm going to take a cuppa to bed and get back to 16th century China ...