In stitches

My best mate Jane invited me over to play with her and her brand-new quilting machine today.

Oh yay!

We had hours of fun quilting a cute little lap quilt that Jane had made earlier. I even had a go — very exciting!

Jane is a fantastic softie-maker

and a fab quilter, and has a confident eye when it comes to colour and design.

I love that she uses chenille in some of them — so homely and comforting.

All her quilts — which she keeps one on top of the other on the bed in a spare room — are absolutely gorgeous, and she has over 20 of them. I tell her she should sell them or at least show them, but she's way too modest.

So far, they've all been quilted in the ditch, or close to the borders of the component pieces, but now she can go mad!

I was amazed at how easy her new machine makes it to stipple quilt, which is something I simply cannot get my head and hands round when I'm using my own machine at home.

Jane also has this beautiful old wedding ring quilt, made probably in the 1930s. I love its gentle muted colours and red ties.

I've brought it home with me to restore, as some of the pieces are disintegrating.

I can't wait to get started — this is the sort of project that I really love.

:: That note I've added about the V&A quilt show over there on the right is a link to a fascinating blog all about this huge show that will be on from next March. Take a look!

Snow in the distanceWe've had some really cold days and nights, and earlier in the week we had lots and lots of wonderful rain, so up in the high country to the east of us there's been snow.
I took the pic above (click on it for bigger view) about lunchtime today as David and I were driving home from Del Mar on the coast. The Pacific is behind us, and there's snow on the peaks in the distance. That's Southern California! Beautiful!
I'm happy to live with snow in sight and a good drive away — I like it cold, but just couldn't live with snow any more.
In March last year I went to stay with my friend Sue in Chicago, and I've never felt cold like that. — it took my breath away whenever we stepped out of her warm and cosy house. But oh! It all looked so gorgeous!
And just in case any of you haven't seen it yet (I trot it out every winter!), here's the wonderful photo I borrowed from the San Diego Union Tribune's website, showing the city of San Diego with snow in the Cuyamaca Mountains to the east.There's been lots and lots of snow up in the Pacific North-West, even on Vancouver Island in Canada. Lily's friend Grace arrived at Seattle airport and freezing weather after having left Buenos Aires and 40 degrees (104 F)!
Fingers crossed for all our friends in the north-east, with all the huge snowstorms forecast.

It's a small worldGot up yesterday to find an email from Fairlie, one of my favourite Australian bloggers, who is on holiday in Los Angeles. And as I was heading up there with Will and David (to organise Will's new passport at the consulate), we arranged a get-together. Wonderful!
It's weird meeting people for the first time after having been virtual friends for a while. Perfect strangers you feel you know. But the weirdness was over in a nano-second and after we met up in Beverly Hills, we squashed both families into our car and headed off to the Grove, and food.
Over lunch, in Los Angeles, on another continent, on the other side of the world, in the other hemisphere, we discovered:
• Fairlie's husband, The Poolboy, went to David's old school and meets David's former best school friend quite regularly in his business.
• Fairlie and The Poolboy used to live just a few doors from the newspaper office where I worked — while I was working there (and so did M and her husband!).
• Fairlie and The P owned a house in a street just two streets away from where we lived in Subiaco. And ...
• Fairlie, M and I all have identical cameras!
We were also able to have a lively chat about the pleasures and perils of returning to Perth to live after a few years away. We shall see ...
It was a fab few hours in brilliant company.
Next time in Melbourne!

Sunday round-upDecember 1 tomorrow! Do you have an advent calendar? I love them — though now the kids are older, we've tended to go without these last couple of years. However, I bought this rather arty-farty one in New York, and I won't open it this year but will save it for next year when Mack can open all the little doors.
See the dog-walkers? You really do see them in NY — here's a pic I took at Central Park in April. A dog-walkers' convention!
We always had an advent calendar at Christmas when we were kids. It was such a big part of the Christmas build-up. I just love them — the naffer and more glittery and sentimental the better.
:: It's cool at last — we even had more rain. Breathe a sigh of relief. We've stopped needing a fan in the bedroom at night, and we may even consider a second blanket on the bed. The picture above was the view from our bedroom window this arvo — it's been a misty moisty day all day. God, that's a dull pic.
:: I'm getting in holiday mode thinking of all the guests we're going to have here over Christmas. Dace and Halina and Max arrive from Tokyo on the 22nd or 23rd, around the same time Lily arrives home from college with two of her closest mates from Perth. Grace has been living in Chile this year, putting the immersion theory of learning a second language into practice. Pelham has been studying at the University of Illinois. They've both been here before, so it'll be fun to see them again. I think Nick is coming down for some of the pre-Christmas excitement as well.
There'll be bodies everywhere, and I'm on the scrounge for spare mattresses and air-beds. This afternoon I checked out how much bedding I have and washed, patched and mended Will's old quilt, which was getting a bit tatty.
I made it for him about eight years ago, I think, with help from Laura in the planning, basting, binding and colours — Will wanted a quilt in Dockers colours. Love Freo, but those colours are a challenge ...
:: Will's been bringing home some of his artwork from college. This is a little carving he made, working with dried-out clay.I'm looking forward to a whole lot more of these.

Rare airWell, we certainly landed okay when it came to the apartment we stayed in in New York. The pic above shows the view from our complex's roof terrace! Honest!
We had a very roomy two bedroom, two bathroom apartment with an enormous living room and fairly flash kitchen, and a balcony, in a historic building right opposite the NY Stock Exchange.
In the pic below, taken from the steps of Federal Hall, where George Washington made his inaugural address after becoming the first US President, you can see the NYSE to George's right, and our roof terrace over his left shoulder:The entire 40-odd-storey building and the building next door, which is right on the corner of Wall Street, were once upon a time the headquarters of the JP Morgan financial corporation. In 1998, they were both due to be demolished to make way for a new stock exchange building and office tower, but that all screeched to a halt after 9-11.
Instead, the two buildings were made over by Philippe Starck, converted from offices into very trendy condos and apartments. There was an Hermes shop on the ground floor, and in the lobby there was a ginormous crystal chandelier hovering just over the floor, recycled from the original Morgan Chase office building.
I don't understand why I have no pics of the inside of our apartment — but it was very groovy, and totally unlivable. A triumph of design over function. One bedroom was almost open to the living room, save for being slightly higher and having a half wall.
The main bedroom suite had no windows, and the wall between it and the front bedroom didn't go all the way up to the ceiling, to allow in a sliver of light and air.
And Will ended up sleeping on a blow-up mattress in a cupboard that was slightly bigger than his bedroom here at home!
The living room furniture was all very black, and very uncomfortable. You just can't lounge on a hard, shiny black leather couch with a low-slung back!
But we had so much fun, and were hardly there during the day anyway.
The amazing thing was the roof terrace, called Starck Park ...... with its water feature like a giant tap, and glorious view of the facade of the NYSE. It also had a ping-pong table, a huge dining table where you could hold dinner parties, and an open-air fireplace. Yum.
Security was understandably heavy in this area. The roads are all closed to cars, and there are patrol boxes and security guards everywhere. Ground Zero is only a short walk away — and it was really very spooky to consider what must have been happening in this area on that fateful day.
The location was otherwise excellent. It was a walk away from Tribeca, SoHo, Battery Park and the Hudson River ...... and a stone's throw from the out-of-this-world apartment of Nick's grandparents, who have 120-degree windows with a view of New York Harbour and across the Hudson River to the Jersey shore — this is just part of it, with the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island (click on it for a bigger image): We were also a short stroll away from the famous Wall Street Bull. How that poor beast must have suffered at the hands of our late-night revellers ...(Thanks, Iman, for your pics!)

Seven and one in a wheelchairOur five fabulous days in New York for Lily's 21st birthday (Sunday) went far too quickly, and this morning, sitting in the sunny silence of San Diego, I'm missing my girl and all the noise and excitement of being (almost) all together in that amazing place.We thought for a while that Simon would join us, and be there to buy his baby sister her first legal beer in the US, and we were so disappointed when he couldn't make it. Will made up for it, though, sticking close to his sister, sharing wheelchair pushing with Nick and Larissa for the miles and miles we walked, and helping her about.Of course, when we started planning this trip, we had no idea she'd have a broken foot and be in a wheelchair — but she didn't let that cramp her style, dampen her enthusiasm, or get in her way at all. From crowded Subway trains and tiny historic pubs, to Broadway and the top of the Empire State Building.
There were six of us to start with: Will, Lily, her boyfriend Nick, her room-mate Larissa (who turned 21 the Sunday before), David and I. Then, on Friday night we were joined by Iman, one of Lily's old school friends from Subiaco. Iman is studying in Washington DC and working until December as a Congressional intern in the office of Don Young, the sole Representative from Alaska, and a Republican to his gun-totin' boot straps.Iman (pictured above with Larissa) is staunchly un-Republican, though, and it was great fun to catch up with her and hear all her stories — especially about election night, when she was at the Democrats' sparkling celebration party in a DC ballroom.
She also really knew her way around in NY, having studied here for a while last year, so she was very handy when it came to negotiating our way through the Subway, one of the major lines of which had been closed for renovations. Chaos!On Sunday morning, early, we were joined by another old Subi mate, James, who's been in the US since August, working as a volunteer on the Obama campaign, doorknocking and 'getting out the vote' in Detroit, Ohio, Philadelphia and Virginia. More fab stories! It's a pity we couldn't have had longer with him, but at least he got there for Lily's birthday.

Patriotic criteria

My Melbin mate, Sue, sent me this test:

You know you're Australian if....

You know the meaning of 'girt'

You believe that stubbies can either be worn or drunk

You think it is normal to have a Prime Minister called Kevin

You waddle when you walk due to the 53 expired petrol discount vouchers stuffed in your wallet or purse

You've made a bong out of your garden hose rather than use it for something illegal such as watering the garden

You understand that the phrase 'a group of women wearing black thongs' refers to footwear and may be less alluring than it sounds

You pronounce Melbourne as 'Mel-bin'

You pronounce Penrith as 'Pen-riff'

You believe the 'L' in the word ' Australia ' is optional

You can translate: 'Dazza and Shazza played Acca Dacca on the way to Maccas'

You believe it makes perfect sense for a nation to decorate its highways with large fibreglass bananas, prawns and sheep

You think 'Woolloomooloo' is a perfectly reasonable name for a place

You believe is makes sense for a country to have a $1 coin that's twice as big as its $2 coin

You understand that 'Wagga Wagga' can be abbreviated to 'Wagga' but 'Woy Woy' can't be called 'Woy'

You believe that cooked-down axlegrease makes a good breakfast spread

You believe all famous Kiwis are actually Australian, until they stuff up, at which point they again become Kiwis

You know, whatever the tourist books say, that no one says 'cobber'

You know that certain words must, by law, be shouted out during any rendition of the Angels' song 'Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again'

You believe, as an article of faith, that the confectionery known as the Wagon Wheel has become smaller with every passing year

You still don't get why the 'Labor' in 'Australian Labor Party' is not spelt with a 'U

You wear ugh boots outside the house

You believe that the more you shorten someone's name the more you like them

Whatever your linguistic skills, you find yourself able to order takeaway fluently in every Asian language

You understand that 'excuse me' can sound rude, while 'scuse me' is always polite

You know what it's like to swallow a fly, on occasions via your nose

You understand that 'you' has a plural and that it's 'youse'

You know it's not summer until the steering wheel is too hot to handle

You biggest family argument over the summer concerned the rules of beach cricket

You shake your head in horror when companies try to market what they call 'Anzac cookies'

You still think of Kylie as 'that girl off Neighbours'

When returning home from overseas, you expect to be brutally strip-searched by Customs - just in case you're trying to sneak in fruit

You believe the phrase 'smart casual' refers to a pair of black tracky-daks, suitably laundered

You understand that all train timetables are works of fiction

You get choked up with emotion by the first verse of the national anthem and then have trouble remembering the second

You find yourself ignorant of nearly all the facts deemed essential in the government's new test for migrants.

You will immediately forward this list to other Australians, here and overseas, realising that only they will understand!

Touch of the noble*The kids issued us with shopping lists while we were in Australia.
They wanted nothing very onerous or expensive — Lily asked for a few hundred Madura teabags, Redskins, Peppermint Crisps, the latest Panics CD, the new volume of Isobelle Carmody's The Obernewtyn Chronicles, and some eucalyptus oil.
Will wanted a pair of Aussie boardshorts and a cricket set. That's him, above, bowling to his delighted dad at the park yesterday.
Obviously, Will's out to persuade his mates about the joys of street cricket. And they're loving it! On Saturday, he had a big group down at the local park and they played for hours, much to the amusement of a family from India, and a New Zealander who was playing beach volleyball on the sand court in the corner.
It was a very, v-e-r-y informal game, with some weird deliveries ...
... and some great smashing hits. Justin, above, was a natural.
I was thrilled to see the Carmel Creek U-18 XI included a few bold girls who, like the boys, did their best with the eccentricities of bowling, after years and years of pitching baseballs and teeballs and softballs.
Will dressed for the occasion, in his red Queenslea House athletics top from his old school, Christ Church.
Trev, above, is clearly too much a rock star for this game. He's much more likely to end up on a stage than a cricket pitch, but he did a great job.
And this lad had the bat the wrong way, which led to hoots from the crowd.

* For the uninitiated, cricket — or criggit as it is called in Australia — is rather loftily known as 'the noble game'. I presume that this is because only toffs, the upper classes, the idle rich and those with private incomes had enough leisure time to indulge in playing and watching a game that can last five days.

Brekkie at the Del

We all went here for breakfast this morning. Isn't she beautiful? She's the Hotel del Coronado, and we have heard (though haven't verified) that she is the biggest wooden building in the world. She looked truly splendid this morning, with her flags fluttering in the breeze and everything spruce and ship-shape.

The Del, as she is known, is right on the beach on Coronado Island — a peninsula, really — just a short drive from downtown. You can see the island in the background in this pic I took from one of the highest hotels downtown, looking almost directly south.

The pic also shows the famous Coronado Bridge, which swings across the San Diego Bay in a wide arc. Apparently, if the bridge was a certain length, the city could attract federal funds to help pay for it, so the designer put a big bend in it to be sure it qualified! It is also incredibly high — so aircraft carriers can pass beneath it — and you can see south into Mexico from up there. It's only a few minutes to the border from downtown.

The Del is one of our favourite places to take visitors to San Diego, as much for the excellence of the $20 all-you-can-eat buffet brekkie as for its spectacular look. At this time of the year, there's an ice-skating rink out on the beach in front of the hotel. Imagine! You can skate on ice in the bright Southern Californian sunshine while the waves crash on to the sandy shore right in front of you.

This is a picture I took here last year, with Max and Halina, who were here with their parents, Dace and Konrad, for most of December. I thought of you guys this morning, as I crunched on my bacon!
:: In between sightseeing, parties, dinners at the Bondi (above), and reading and snoozing in this blissful post-Christmas week, Lily has been playing lots with Devon's double-screen mini-Nintendo.
When they were kids, living next door to each other, they'd spend days in the holidays playing Zelda on the big Nintendo, plugged into the telly. I think Lily has been reliving this all week, playing another Zelda game and calling Dev over to help her when she needs a new heart, or a new sword, or to beat someone ...

:: Yesterday and today, we've been cooking up a storm, getting ready for our sojourn in the snow, at Big Bear. We're making big helpings of meals and freezing them to take with us, so we have as little to do as possible while we are on holiday. Yesterday, I made chili con carne for twenty, and a sticky-date pudding. David made a massive double serving of bolognese sauce for spaghetti — one half of which we had for dinner. Today, Lily has added a pot full of very spicy mulligatawny, and a wonderful chickpea curry, which is so delicious that I have persuaded her to let us have half for tonight's dinner, with roast chicken and couscous.

:: Tomorrow, the last day of the year, is Lily's last day at home. She'll drive back to Olympia with James and Dev from Big Bear. I'm already sorry at the thought of her return to college. I so love having her home with us and it's all gone so quickly.

Perfect guests
This is Devon, making some stars for the dining room mantelpiece yesterday morning, after he'd vacuumed the stairs and the upstairs hallway. I kid you not. And he and James took the dogs for a walk later, which always leaves them so well-behaved (below)!
:: News from Nanook of the North — they are in beautiful, beautiful Mendocino, on the northern coast of California. David rang me this morning to rave about how gorgeous it was, and how unbelievable the redwoods were ... and how very glad he was to get out of the mountains and out of the snow!

:: I took Dev and James downtown today while Will was at school. We went to Borders and the chili sauce shop in Horton Plaza, where James bought some chili sauce called 'Mega-Death' which apparently is several hundred times 'hotter' than tabasco and came with a free skull key ring. You get the picture.
After lunch at the Bondi, we drove along the Embarcadero and got as far as the massive aircraft carrier, the USS Midway, before the guys yelled for me to stop. They spent an hour and a half on board — it's now permanently docked and a museum — while I walked along the bay and returned to the car to sit in the sunshine and read bits from my new books from Borders.

:: Tonight the three guys are making their own burgers for dinner. I shall have a bowl of soup, watch the DVD of All Passion Spent, which Netflix delivered this morning, and go to bed with a hottie.