My April TIF Challenge finished!

Yesteday was stitching weather. The southerly change on Sunday night brought cold winds with a hint of snow in them, and sure enough on Monday morning the news showed snow around the alpine region in Victoria and even a little around Canberra! I hope Sharon has her gloves and scarf handy!

My cat raced indoors around lunch time, then curled up on top of the couch with her tail over her nose, a sure sign of very cold weather. I took the hint and lit the gas fire, then settled in with my lap table to stitch my TIF postcard. I finished around tea time, so not too long at all once I decided which stitches and embellishments to use. The 2 photos are printed on some pre-prepared silk sheets, not too happy with them, but my first attempts. They are framed by vintage "new-old-stock" laces and a rose braid from my grandmother. I'm seeing something similar available lately at Craft shows, perhaps they are making some again, but my version is about 40 years old! I've added pearls and colonial knots on the left side, simple lazy daisy stitches, picking up the pattern of the lace, with some sparkly beads in the centres and some dyed flower motifs with a sequin centre. The words are printed on a textured paper and stitched with some straight stitches suggesting fancy photo corners. When it came to the binding, the vintage Petersham ribbon was the wrong colour and a bit too "chunky" so I opted for the reverse of a soft satin ribbon. I'm fairly pleased with this one, and even more pleased to have finished within my deadline.

So my postcard pays homage to the fact that in life, some things just never change. We may grow older and outside events may influence us in many different ways. Fundamentally though, our deep inner thoughts and feelings often remain unchanged and while we often don't realise it, one day you look at something and think "Oh, my, gosh, look at that !" I had that moment when I looked again at these photos, taken some 46 years apart. The head angle, the slight smile, the costumes, the baskets and although you can't see in the modern photo I'm wearing long "socks" in both pictures too!

April TIF progress?

I've been mulling over the April topic for Sharon B's TIF challenge, "How do you see change?" for a couple of weeks now. Everyone has been sounding very "philosphical" about coping with unavoidable changes, how change can mean renewal and regrowth etc.

I've decided though to express a different view, you know some things DON'T change. I've decided to highlight this by working a postcard using some images I printed with my ink jet printer onto silk fabric sheets, not very successfully I might add, grrr! First pass through was fine, but when I turned the sheet around to use the other end, the printer literally chewed it up! I was able to salvage the first printed images though. Enough whining, on to the images!

Both of these have been used before on this blog, but I thought they illustrated my thoughts pretty accurately. The first image on the left is me dressed up for a fancy dress parade at the West Botany Methodist Church, aged 7. A basket of plastic flowers and that Mona Lisa smile complete the look. In the the right hand image I'm slightly older (try 46 plus years) still posing with a basket, LOL, and a costume, and check out the smile (or lack thereof) So you see, some things don't change all that much after all. The laces I've pinned around the photos are vintage laces from various sources, mostly "new old stock" from shops which has been collected over the years, one of my many eclectic collections. The roses braid seemed appropriate since I'm pictured at the Roses from the Heart bonnets ceremony, see previous post. I'm planning to embellish the laces with some stitching and beads and bind the card with some vintage Petersham ribbon to tone in.

I realise the end of the month is in 2 days, so I'll do my best to post before then.

Marking ANZAC Day

The 25th April 1915 is a special day to all Australians and New Zealanders. In World War I on that day a combined force, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps as it was styled, attempted a landing on the west coast of the Turkish penninsula at a place we call Gallipoli. They were sent to the wrong landing place by their British commanders of the time, and the Turkish troops were waiting for them. The terrain was impossible, steep hills and gullies and only a narrow shingle beach. The allies were slaughtered in their hundreds often before they could even leave the beach, it was a monumental defeat by the better positioned Turkish forces. They withdrew after many months, leaving behind their dead comrades but having earned themselves a reputation for fighting against incredible odds.

I know the stories well, as do all my generation of school children who learned Australian history at primary school level. Then came many years of schooling where the subject of Australian history fell out of favour and Maths and Science became more fashionable. Even English language and grammar took a back seat for a while. I'm glad to report that Australian history is now gaining favour again, as witnessed by the huge numbers of young Australians and New Zealanders making the annual pilgimmage to Gallipoli for the commemorative Dawn Service, and attendance at Dawn Services around the country is growing every year as the youngest generation starts to realise the sacrifice that all servicemen and women made on their behalf.

I have a link to Gallipoli and the later war in Europe in WWI and WWII through my father. My father's father Harold Fillingham went to Gallipoli as a re-inforcement with the 2nd Pioneer Battalion 1st AIF not long after the landing. I have photos of him training in Egypt, then sailing through the Mediterannean to Gallipoli. He survived, unlike thousands of others, to be deployed to France in 1917-1918.

The photo shows him posing for a photo in his uniform before he left for Egypt. My youngest brother resembles him a lot, same eyes and that cheeky look. Papa brought back a few items of "trench art", an army cap fashioned from a shell casing, and a pot plant holder fashioned from the top of the shell I think. These used to stand on the hearth in front of the fireplace at his home. I remember him going into Sydney every Anzac day to march with his mates, wearing his best suit with polished shoes and medals, and a sprig of Rosemary for rememberence. They marched, not to glorify war, but to honour the fallen and revisit the good times with mates who had also gone through the horrors with them.

Papa was awarded a Military Medal in 1918 in France and a copy of the citation for his medal is under his photo, above. He came home and married my grandmother Sarah Elizabeth (Tiz) in 1919, and had 2 boys Ken and my father Ray.

Ray served in WWII in New Guinea towards the end of the war. He was in the RAAF, the Australian Air Force and was an aeroplane mechanic on the Catalinas, an amphibious plane. He didn't like to talk too much about the war, other than to tell cute stories about keeping a little native cus cus (possum) in his breast pocket, playing the ukelele ( a small guitar like instrument with 3 strings) and Pigeon English from the natives. He used to love to recite the supposed Pigeon (the native interpretation of English) phrase for a man playing the piano. Let me see if I can remember it,

"Man he sitta down alongside bockus, bockus he 'ave 'im teeth all b'longa crocodile. Man he hit 'im bockus, bockus he cry out!"

Not sure how correct that is, but you can see the picture, I'm sure !

My father died late last year, so although he could no longer march in the Anzac parade, I still watched the televised coverage, and looked for his unit marching. The vetereans are certainly fewer now, after all it has been 60 years since WWII. The televised Dawn Service from Gallipoli and Villers-Brettoneux were both worth watching and very moving.

LEST WE FORGET!

"Memorial of the Bonnets" Day at Parramatta

Today I took my completed Roses from the Heart colonial bonnets honouring my "adopted" convicts to the ceremony at St John's Cathedral Parramatta. What a great roll up of people we had, the cathedral was full. It's Heritage Week, Parramatta has a very strong convict history and it is a very worthwhile project. We were honoring the 25,566 convict women transported to Australia in the early days of the colony.

Now a very brief history lesson. Convicts were no longer being sent to America following the War of Independence, and once the hulks (prison ships) moored in the Thames River were full to overflowing, the British government decided to try sending some to Botany Bay where Captain James Cook had discovered suitable land. However, Botany Bay proved to have sandy soil unsuitable for cultivation, so Captain Arthur Phillip, a gentleman farmer at home, sailed north to Port Jackson and Sydney Cove with his First Fleet. A convict settlement was established, and within 6 months another was established at Parramatta where the land was rich and fertile along the banks of the Parramatta River.

I wore my 1820's costume, as would have been worn by an assigned convict of the time.
I was asked to pose for a few photographs on the day, and a friend was kind enough to take this snap of me in front of the boat full of bonnets and notes to the women. You can see by my shiny face we had a very warm day, LOL. Donated rose petals were scattered amongst the bonnets as well. Christina Henri thanked me for dressing up and gave me a long stemmed white rose as I was leaving. Unfortunately, the poor lady had an accident last week, breaking her ankle and so was confined to a wheelchair, but she soldiered on regardless. A real credit to her and all the organisers of the event, very moving and worthwhile. I will certainly be making a few more bonnets before the deadline expires in about 12 months time. For further information, see her site on the side bar under Roses from the Heart.

TIF Challenge April - first thoughts on "Change"

Sharon B. has asked us "how do you see change?" this month. As it's almost the second week of April I thought it time to post a response, LOL.

I have to admit I hate it, generally. I recognise that there has to be growth and evolution but I love having the familiar around me all the time. People say we should embrace change, and go with the flow, but I find it very difficult! The biggest changes in my life were unavoidable. I've lived at 6 different addresses in my life, and while I acknowledge that's not as many as some people, all but the last 2 were quite dramatic. I HAVE changed my hair style and colour occasionally, usually for the better each time. Some of the old photos are just horrible ! But I baulk at changing my makeup colours, trying a new perfume, or buying new shoes. I buy shoes when the old ones are nearly worn out but sometimes the new ones are still in their box weeks later.

I only drink tea with milk at home. I always buy the same brands when I shop, it saves time that way, LOL. I can get around the supermarket and out the checkout in 25minutes by always reaching for the same brands on the shelf. Of course, if they run out of my favourite, it takes me ages to decide on a substitute. I'm a creature of habit in so many ways. I have 2 or 3 favourite varieties of lollies and icecream, and when confronted by one of those displays of 40 varieties of ice cream, nearly always buy macadamia or vanilla. Tried and true favourites.

I must sleep on the right side of the bed, can only sleep on my side not on my back, and have to have the window closed (burgulars might get in!) I think you see the pattern here.

I tend to break out in a rash when major change happens. I might seem placid and understanding on the outside, but obviously inside I'm raging / trembling/ worrying myself silly.

My husband recognises this flaw in me, and when he shaved his 30 year beard off for charity he saw how much I didn't like the change and grew it back fairly promptly!!

I once quit a job I absolutely loved because the boss intended to change the way the business functioned, making major changes in price, service and attitude to customers. I'm going to be a grandmother in our Spring, and while I know I should be looking forward to it, and everyone keeps congratulating me (I didn't do anything !!)I hate the thought of being old enough to be a grannie. I've even told my DIL I want to be called Nan, because it sounds younger than Grandma or Nanna.

The only kind of change I can bear is in nature I guess. Plants grow, pets grow up, the sky changes colour and clouds form and die away. The seasons change, well we won't talk about that one, LOL. I wish it was always Spring or Autumn, my two favourites.

I would be quite happy to be one of the ladies stitching in the photo, wouldn't you? Leisure time for simple pleasures, instead of rushing around being superwoman. That seems to be one very negative change that came with "progress".

So how to put those feelings into textile? That will be the most interesting challenge so far, and I haven't forgotten that I owe a piece for March. Now there's something that will never change, I'm always pushing deadlines !!

TIF Challenge March

As much as I hate to admit it, I have to concede that the March challenge deadline is going to pass me by for the moment. I had decided earlier this week I would work to the theme Sharon offered us, to look at the small details in things. My only excuse is that lately when I have a day out I need the day following it to rest and recuperate, and it's been a hectic week (again!) No-one tells you that you slow down A LOT as you get older, VBG. I envy those folk who dash around with seemingly boundless energy and I look at them wisely and think, one day you'll be paying for that, my girl !! Oh dear, that sounded just like something my mother would say!

But seriously, I feel really naughty about missing the deadline again, but I know "Life" happens and will probably happen again to some of the other Challengers. So please except my humble apologies for not finishing, but accept my photo offering as my design inspiration. I'll try to post a March challenge completed soon.

This week we've had some really heavy dew falling in Sydney overnight, and after recent wet weather the spiders have really been plentiful in my garden. On Monday morning, this lovely web with its sparkly embellishment greeted me when I went out to feed my stray black cat. That night I went out with the camera to see which spider was building it. Wow, what a monster! Not sure what kind he is, possibly called a crab spider or something similar because of his giant fat body and crab like legs. There are 3 or 4 webs along this fence, and they are anchored to the tops of the trees or the clothes line as well. I feel very guilty cutting the anchor to the clothes line when I have to hang washing and turn the line around. But they rebuild faithfully every evening around dusk. The natural world certainly is fascinating in every little detail, isn't it?

PS Just looked him up on the "Spider Locator" website, he's a Golden Orb Weaver and apparently very common. Wonder if this kind was the culprit when my poor DH encountered a spider at face height outside one night a couple of years ago? The result was a bad fall onto a concrete path and a patella (knee cap) smashed in 3 pieces (the husband's, not the spider's !!!)

TIF February - finished !

I'm feeling very virtuous tonight, I've just put the finishing touches to my February challenge postcard. Our theme was "What are you old enough to remember?"

After several very LONG posts where I let the memories flood out, I was fairly sure about the my subject. I chose the Nat King Cole song "Autumn Leaves" which featured on an old 78rpm record I used to play on a wind-up grammophone as a child.

My piece comprises several fabric leaf shapes in cotton, organza, and gold metallic leather trapped under variegated tulle. The background fabric is a piece of leaf design velvet brocade furnishing fabric (very hard to sew through so didn't need any stiffening!) Then I stitched some feather, twisted chain and leaf stitch "twigs" over the top, and some faceted green beads for a bit of sparkle. The words are from the first line of the song and just by reading them here I'm transported back to the front porch of the family home where I used to sit and listen to the record. A very powerful medium, music.

I've really enjoyed this journey down memory lane. The Challenge was for me to actually interpret my feeling in fabric and complete it, even though it was a tad late. Now on to the March piece, still planning and auditioning fabrics and threads and trying to decide what to do. Perhaps over the Easter break I can finally put needle to fabric.

Several exciting things have happened this week. I travelled into the City to visit our Powerhouse Museum storage area where my special Women Convict costume group was shown extant examples of early women's clothing from the Collection. Then we visited Hyde Park Barracks where there are lots of actual convict / early settler relics on display and in the storage room. We were given a behind-the-scenes tour, a very interesting place. In the early days of our new colony, soldiers then convict women and destitute people were housed in the barracks. Over the years the rats made nests under the floorboards with lost and discarded clothes, utensils and papers. During renovations the "treasure" was discovered, and now they are unravelling the nests (after treatment I hope!) and re-assembling some of the garments and household goods they are finding. Intriguing stuff, wish I had time to volunteer to be a "nester" but maybe next year?

The other exciting thing was that the package containing 2 of the counted thread band round robin pieces has finally arrived from Texas. We've been crossing our fingers and toes that it wasn't lost in transit, it seemed to take so long to get here. Perhaps we should blame the dreadful US weather and then the slow international postal system, but it was very exciting today to collect the package from the post office. I had to show my passport as I.D. as I'm a non-driver. People are incredulous when they ask for your drivers' licence as ID and you state that you don't drive. They stare like you're from another planet, I swear they do. Anyway, parcel safely arrived, collected, opened, and now the work is pinned up on my design board waiting for inspiration to strike so I can stitch my section and send them on to the next person.

TIF Challenge March - something positive !

I decided to begin this post with something positive for a change, VBG. I'm positive that I won't be finishing the March challenge in the next few days !! In fact, I've only just selected the coloured threads, and I've NO IDEA what I'm going to do with them. Even though I've been dropping hints like falling Autumn leaves (oh ! NO!! That darned song is in my head again!) my DH has not yet declared that we are having a short holiday over Easter. So unless I take the initiative and book somewhere, I guess we're not going away. That should give me some more time to stitch and I'll just have to wait till late April for my trip, as we are supposed to be going on an Executive Retreat with his firm.

I check my Google Reader daily for updates from some of the participants in the TIF Challenge, and I'm amazed at the diversity of the projects people design. I tend to stick with what I know, but this is supposed to be a "Take it Further Challenge". I'd like to use it as a way to push myself into different areas I haven't explored, or have only touched on in courses and never done again. Perhaps I should leaf through my resource and reference books from the 4 years of studies I took through the Embroiderers' Guild of NSW. I took their Basic Course and then the Embroidery By Design Course (formerly the Intermediate Certificate)and really enjoyed them. Then I might rekindle interest in a technique and that will lead to a design idea. I think sometimes we do these courses, and then file the information away, till something like this comes along and sparks our creative fire again. Whew, all these "firey" references, can you tell I'm suffering with the heat? We're having a snap heatwave in Sydney, Summer hasn't quite finished with us yet after all.

TIF Challenge March, first thoughts

Oh dear! It looks like I'm destined to be a "late starter" again this month. Just when I thought I was making headway with committments, a couple of new things have popped up. One is quite interesting, a request to pen an article for an American needlework publication about the NSW Embroiderers' Guild Young Textile and Fibre Group, see link on side bar. The other came in an email today, a request for a Victorian mourning costume for a short film. Haven't phoned the producer yet, will do that this weekend. But could be interesting since the film is being shot at the end of April!! I still owe 2 historic costumes to my historic house job, 12 ATC's to my online quilting group, 2 colonial bonnets to Christina Henri, and I was HOPING to go away for Easter. Fat chance now, you say!! Oh well.

Back to the topic, TIF Challenge for March. Sharon asked us to "consider the small details" and offerred us the palette shown above. Now I'm not sure whether I should take the easier road and stitch something with the colours, or make something really small eg. an ATC using the theme. I think I'll have to think some more over the weekend. Must go to bed now, I have to get up early to do a community radio interview about the Linnwood Open House this Sunday, see sidebar for Friends of Linnwood blog. No rest for the wicked, as Mum often says.

TIF February update

Some more progress on my postcard for the February TIF Challenge with Sharon B.

I've free motion embroidered over the background with rust coloured machine thread. Leaves of velvet in 3 colours, gold leather leaves, a couple of marbled quilting cotton leaves, some oganza leaves and some jute scrim are all trapped under marbled autumn coloured tulle. The threads shown around the rectangle are going to be stitched over the background in random stitches. They include DMC metallic gold stranded, perle threads, stranded DMC cotton and a great olive green rayon "perle" someone gave me. I also have some cute faceted olive beads which I think might work with this too, and a lovely dark olive tulle with a gold metallic diamond pattern which I also might use.

Unfortunately, a deadline I have for a costume job has just been moved forward so I now doubt I can finish this by tomorrow evening the 29th February (and stay sane!)
So if that happens, I apologise sincerely in advance, but I will certainly post the finished piece on this blog at the earliest possible. In the meantime, I'm sure you can imagine the finished piece.

I've definitely been challenged this time, in choosing the format of the piece and in allocating enough time to actually stitch it. I'm afraid I always underestimate how long things will take to accomplish, I forget I'm getting older and slower at nearly everything, VBG.

TIF February - light at the end of the tunnel

Tonight I've been watching the Oscars on the TV and playing with a background for a postcard for the TIF challenge, see sidebar link. I was in 2 minds about the size, but since there are only 4 days till the end of the month now, I thought I'd be sensible and work small. The song "Autumn Leaves" by Nat King Cole has been haunting me all month, I catch myself "singing" it out loud sometimes, and that's scary because I'm not a great singer, and sometimes I forget the words. Bob the quilting cat just looks bemused, and luckily the 2 Siamese fighting fish love me as long as I feed them every night ! I can't believe that I performed in 2 Australian musical plays when I was younger, though in the chorus no-one can hear you hit an occasional wrong note, VBG.

I plan to stitch on this background over the next few days, add some other embellishments and perhaps some words. I'm hoping that come the first of March, I'll be so occupied with the new TIF theme or colours that I'll forget Autumn Leaves for a while !!!

Progress on February TIF Challenge

I've finally found some time to pull out fabrics and a few embellishments for my February Challenge with Sharon B., see sidebar for link. I've decided on the actual theme, just not the format yet. I've printed out some words from the Nat King Cole song "Autumn Leaves" and these fabrics will be turned into a collage of some sort which pays tribute to a simpler, slower time. I'm old enough to remember when songs had words you could understand ! Can you tell I'm not a fan of Rap, LOL. I can't even call it music really, it's so alien to my ears.

My fabrics from my stash (see photo), some of which I intend to use, include hand dyed cotton muslin in orange, dyed jute scrim, a skeletonised leaf, velvet furnishing fabrics, some silk dress fabrics and a tea dyed (by me) lace motif. I'm thinking small this time too, perhaps a postcard, or a small A4 journal page. I'd like to do some free stitching, and some beading, so I don't think I'll have time to be too extravagant with the end of the month looming. It's my own fault of course, I spend too much time this month being Superwoman to the world, VBG. It's almost an addiction ! At least now I can recognise that, and start to take steps to fix it. Watch this space for more progress on both the Challenge, and my rehabilitation !!

P.S. I took the photo without flash to show the true colours, and have just noticed that I used my new leaf print tablecloth as the background. I'm very tempted to use that as the background in my project !!

TIF February Challenge - gathering thoughts

I've re-read my previous posts where I just let the memories flood out. There seems to be one overwhelming theme, I'm old enough to remember when life was much "simpler", slower paced, less complicated. Girls were destined, mainly, for teaching, nursing or clerical occupations, and when they married, they didn't go out to "business" again unless in dire circumstances. This only started to change in the 70's with "female liberation" and the reported bra burning episodes. Now I don't recall seeing anyone actually do this, but it was reported on the TV so it must have happened, VBG !! Personally, I don't feel so liberated lately. There is always the obligation to DO something instead of sit and stitch, relax, sleep, daydream if you choose. You're expected to belong to groups who volunteer and do good deeds, cook fabulous meals for your family, earn an income, be a fabulous wife and lover, mother perfect children who never get into any trouble, have a fabulous slim figure, exercise and be super fit, have perfect white teeth (gosh I HATE Zoom Whitened teeth!!!!)......... phew, how can you call all that liberated?

I'm digressing....last night my son and his wife visited for a meal, and I mentioned that I remembered "Autumn Leaves" by Nat King Cole being played on a wind-up gramophone at home when I was a child. I was obsessed with finding out what tune was on the reverse of the record, so he offerred to check an online music dictionary he uses. Did I mention previously that he was an amateur DJ and has played at large parties at Luna Park in Sydney? Very prestigious!! Anyway, in no time at all I had my answer. "Love is a Many Splendored Thing" was on the reverse of "Autumn Leaves" and apparently we had been looking on the wrong list, it was a 7 inch record not an LP. For some reason Autumn Leaves is my favourite, I just can't stop humming it!!
Here is a photo of the lovely man on a more modern album cover, our version of Autumn leaves was a bakelite record in a brown paper sleeve with a hole in the centre to show the label on the record, no fancy printed glossy album covers in those days !!

So it looks like that will be my focus for the February TIF. Not sure how it will be interpreted just yet, still working on that one, but at least now I think I have narrowed it down. You see, even the holder of a Black Belt in Procrastination can make snap decisions sometimes, LOL.

Growing up in Australia pt 3

I have to begin this next episode by saying that although we were pretty poor in monetary terms, I think I had a fairly happy childhood in retrospect. We had regular visits to our grandmother at Neutral Bay by train and ferry, and Dad drove us to Rockdale to the other side of the family too. We had picnics and sports clubs for the boys and I went to church youth groups and Girls' Friendship Society. All 4 kids managed to stay out of serious trouble for most of the time, VBG.

I remember in the early 60's how the milko delivered our milk in glass bottles with foil caps, by horse and cart in the early hours of the morning. He'd run between the houses with a little wire carrier with the bottles in it, and whistle for the horse to move along a couple of houses. There was one problem though, around puberty I started sleep walking. After a famous episode where I fetched in the emtpy milk bottles left out for the milko, filled them with water then replaced them, Mum had to put a slide bolt up high on the front door to stop me doing it again. My bedroom was the closest one to the front verandah and I used to have nightmares about prowlers climbing in through my window in the Summer. I still can't sleep with the window open without a sturdy window screen.

In the early 60's we still had daily bread deliveries, with the uncut square or tank loaf wrapped in white tissue paper. It was quite remarkable a few years later when the bread began to be packaged in a bag, and then it came pre-sliced. Don't we take these things for granted?

Any male readers are excused from reading the next bit.
I can recall when we girls had to endure being trussed up with belts, pins and layers of thick padding once a month. No thin, self adhesive sanitary products then, just one or two products at the chemist, usually Modess pads and belts to hold them up. You couldn't wear trousers, you couldn't swim, you felt "indisposed" even if you felt well. We've come a long way, girls.

The boys will WANT to read the next bit, the subject is ladies underwear, VBG. Modern girls think stockings and suspender belts are sexy, but I'm here to tell you that in the 60's they were anything but that. I recall going to church on Sunday wearing my newest bri-nylon paisley baby doll dress, in pinks and yellow and white swirl fabric. In the photo see some of the fabrics typical in that period. The quilt top was made by my paternal grandmother from scraps donated from the Osti dress factory, used for fete items for the church. She never wasted the leftovers though. For church I wore new nylon stockings held up with a suspender belt. It kept slipping down my hips, and then you had to get in and out of the car without flashing your legs and suspenders, I mean real ladies just didn't do that!! Whenever I wear real stockings I think of those funny times. I can also remember the trauma of being fitted for my first bra at 13, it was a monstrous all cotton affair, with 1cm wide cotton straps and it was uncomfortable. Years later when I wore cotton maternity bras I had flashbacks to those first bras.


I mentioned in a previous post that Australia was welcoming many immigrants in the 1950's and 60's from post war Europe. They were setting up Greek fish and chip shops, Italian green grocers and Chinese restaurants in larger numbers and we loved it. Our first take-away fast food outlet in Sydney was Kentucky Fried Chicken. As most Australian families had a baked dinner for Sunday lunch in those days, a leg of lamb or cooked chook, this was a real bonus. Mum could have a break from cooking and buy a full chicken, and possibly some potatoes and corn as well. She only had to put on the green vegies to cook while Dad drove up to the shop. This late 60's and early 70's period also saw a huge influence from ethnic cooking. Up till this time we mostly enjoyed English style cooking, meat and 3 vegies for tea followed by apple pie and icecream for instance. Now we were cooking Greek, Italian and Chinese at home, not just in the restaurants. And they were real restaurants, not little cafes. Recently my DH and I took a trip to Melbourne by car and we stopped at Gundagai overnight in southern NSW. The local cafe is still run in the old style, with wooden booths to sit in, bevelled mirrors on the walls and a mixed grill on the menu. It's been in the same family for over 50 years, and still going strong.

The area that has probably changed the most in my lifetime has been technology in the home. We didn't have a TV till we arrived at Lurnea in 1962. At the old house we had a radio in the kitchen, and I think Auntie Win had a TV in her room, but that was always locked. Our first TV was bought from Waltons at Liverpool, and paid off once a week when the Waltons man came around to collect the payment. Lots of families paid off furniture and appliances that way, but in the neighbouring estate in Green Valley there were lots of repossessions as people overcommitted and then defaulted on their payments. We didn't have a telephone, there was a red wooden phone box on the corner of our street though. When mum was expecting my 2 youngest brothers Dad rigged up an emergency buzzer to the next door neighbours' house so Mum could call her in the night if needed, while he was out playing the piano at a supper club. We did have an electric refrigerator and Mum only used the copper supplied with the house a few times. She preferred an electric washing machine, so the Waltons man called at our house for many more years to collect his payments.

We had black and white television of course till 1975, and I can recall watching our favourite shows in the loungeroom with the kids being told to sit further away so as not to ruin their eyes. Dad loved World Championship Wrestling and the televised golf programs. I can remember visiting my maternal Grandpa and seeing the cricket being played on the TV there. We kids loved "The Big Top" with Don Ameche, a circus show with fabulous acts including trapeze artists and lion tamers, plate twirlers and acrobats. "I Dream of Jeanie" and "Get Smart" were American shows which were warmly received by us in Australia and of course as a girl I started to watch "Days of Our Lives" the long running American soap opera which is still airing in Australia every weekday (when the cricket isn't on that is!) Of course the only way to learn to type was on a manual typewriter, with carbon paper for copies and a rubber to make corrections. Word processing on a computer was unimagineable back then, as were fancy phones. We had a beige plastic rotary phone installed after Dad left in 1972 as by then most families were getting the phone and the phone box at the end of the street was removed. Mum cooked on an electric stove with rings on top or in an electric frypan. She only got a microwave oven after I left home to be married in 1974.
And audio technology has made rapid advances too. In 1962 we brought a wind-up gramophone from Bexley with 10 thick hard plastic records, I think they were bakelite actually. My favourite was by Nat King Cole, called Autumn Leaves released in 1955. Recently I Googled it and heard an original record playing on a collectors' YouTube site. I cried!! I was instantly tranpsorted back to the front porch of the Lurnea house, with my baby brother Warren laying on an eiderdown in his play pen while I played the record at 78 rpm. The first portable music recording devices were 8 track reel to reel players, and in fact at high school the seniors recorded a mock radio broadcast on my DHs reel to reel player to be played over the PA system at school and we still have it in the cupboard. Not game to play it though in case we damage the old tape, must investigate having it tranferred to a CD for fun ! Cassette cartridges were soon all the rage, but they broke quite easily and you'd often see discarded tape littering the country roadside from an irate driver when the tape broke on a long journey. Cars only had a very basic radio until the first cassette players were availabe to go in the dashboard, no 6 stacker CD systems back then, or Ipods or MP3 players. Another area where technology has boomed.

I'm also old enough to remember when you didn't have to take a second mortgage on your home to pay for your daughter's wedding. When my DH asked Mum for my hand in marriage (because Dad had left us) she apologised that she couldn't afford a large wedding. We sat and planned every little detail and decided my DH and I could do it for a reasonable sum. I made my wedding gown and veil, 2 bridesmaids dresses and a flower girl's dress. I think my white hail spot cotton fabric cost $1.29 per metre and the bridesmaid's fabric was 79c per metre. My Nana paid for silk flower arrangements from a city florist and a head piece for me from my gown fabric. DH supplied the buttonholes and corsages, and for the transport ee borrowed his father's car and hired a Mercedes for the bride and groom. Our reception was held at the local community hall and we got in caterers, and if I recall the wedding breakfast was $3.50 per head including drinks. Friends who had a professional band entertained our 90 or so guests, and everyone agreed it was a lovely wedding. We honeymooned in Queensland and came home to sleep on my grandmothers' loungeroom floor until we could find a flat to rent. Contrast this to the average price for a wedding in Australia now, some $25,000 for a pretty basic wedding.

Well, I've enjoyed reminiscing about what I'm old enough to remember, a few ideas have begun to form in my head about a project for the February TIF. The problem will be which memory or memories to use..... I think I mentioned at the beginning of this year that I intended to try to F O C U S this year..... now seems like a very good time, LOL.

Growing up in Australia Pt 2.

I've decided to just let the memories flow, hoping that an idea for Sharon's TIF Challenge for February, see sidebar link, will crystalize.

Mum and Dad had applied for a NSW Housing Commission house and eventually in 1962 around Easter we moved to Lurnea, a south western suburb of Sydney near Liverpool. The new estate had few facilities to speak of. There was a brand new primary school, a red wooden telephone box on the corner of our street called Bare Avenue and a general store not far away. The major shopping centre, if you could call it that, was at Liverpool, a 30 minute bus ride away. We had an old Volkswagen car for Dad to drive so Mum and the kids went anywhere by bus. I started the new school in year 3 and it was a culture shock. The school at Bexley had old fashioned wooden forms with a seat that lifted up attached to a desk with a hinged lid and old smelly inkwells. The new school had seperate tables and chairs, and the plastic inkwells were all new. I remember struggling to write neatly with pen and ink, and using a blotter to avoid smudging your writing with your hand.

Our new house was fibro cement with a fibro cement corrugated roof. There were 3 bedrooms, a lounge room, kitchen and dining room combined, laundry with a copper, bathroom with a gas heater and wonder of wonders, a shower over the bath. The dunny was still up the yard though, but at least here it was a neat metal pan with a cover and a seat on a neat concrete floor in a fibro cement toilet building. Our old loo at Bexley had a wooden seat, and splinters were quite common. There we had a vertical plank toilet building with cracks which you could peek through if you wanted to spy on someone. The new loo had a solid wooden door with a lock and key. In the photo I'm in our bare backyard in 1963 with my brother Glenn, we were 9 and 4.
The "Sani Man" or night soil man, used to visit once a week and take away the full removeable pan, leaving a fresh empty one under the cover. They wore special leather capes with a cap attached as they hoisted the cans on their shoulders, I hope they got danger money because if you had guests or a party, those cans got quite full sometimes. Dad sometimes had to dig a hole in the backyard to siphon out the dunny can if that happened, it was a health hazard! I always dreaded going out to the loo in the night on Sunday in case the Sani Man came while I was enthroned. And we'd leave a bottle of beer out for him at Christmas and in exchange he'd leave a humorous printed seasonal poem, I wonder if anyone still has some in an album somewhere? Eventually the sewerage line came through our street, and we had a really deep pit in our yard as the junction and inspection pit was on our property. We could only afford to have one toilet though, so it was put in the out building.

We didn't have much of a garden in the beginning, when the estate was established they just threw the clay from the road up onto the footpath and front yards. Some people got in the rotary hoe man to dig it under, but Mum did it by hand so she could plant a few things. We never had a lawn like some people, just what grew when someone gave us a few runners of grass. Sometimes neighbours shared cuttings, we were all uprooted from inner Sydney and shipped out West so we were in a similar situation. Mum had 2 more boys, the last when I was 12 years old. By then Dad was spending pretty heavily on drinking, so Mum had to go out to work to help support us. The boys were looked after by neighbours until I got home from school when I'd take over. I learned to iron, cook simple snacks and clean the house to help mum out.

I remember when the Beatles came to Sydney in June 1964, I was in 5th class and had to make the decision whether to be a Rolling Stones fan or a Beatles fan, you couldn't be both, LOL. I still like their music, while the Stones never quite did it for me.

On the 14th of February 1966 Australia changed to decimal currency. Long gone were our farthings (1/4 of a penny) and florins (2 shillings) but now also the ha'penny (half a penny) penny, shillings and pounds. Instead of 24 shillings to a pound and having to work out complicated sums, everything was in multiples of 10. It did take quite some time to get used to, and shop signs, newspaper advertisements and eventually TV advertisments all continued to show prices in both currencies for quite a while.

I started at the one year old local high school in 1966, about 2 miles away. In the early days I'd catch the school bus, but by fourth form (year 10) I was walking with friends to school. Most of my friends went from my primary school to the local high school although quite a few others also came from surrounding areas. My husband was at primary school a year ahead of me, I was aware of him as he famously dressed up as a flapper girl once in a school fete parade. His mother made a wig from a dyed cotton mop head, and put fringeing on a black shift. He fooled his male classmates for quite a while, VBG. There are no photos, unfortunately.

TIF Challenge for February - first thoughts

Well, I'm a bit late blogging my thoughts about the February TIF Challenge as posed by Sharon B. at
http://sharonb.wordpress.com/2008/02/01/take-it-further-challenge-february/

The colour palette this month is "interesting" while the concept is very thought provoking. I started scribbling random thoughts on a foolscap notebook on the topic "What are you old enough to remember?" and 3 pages later I'm still coming up with memories. Some of the other participants have already blogged their memories, and a lot of them are political and significant events in America and the UK. So I thought I'd try and record my Australian childhood memories and see where that leads.

I was born in the early 1950's when Australia was just starting to accept migrants from the war torn countries of Europe. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second of Britain visited an Australia with just 9 million people the year I was born. My family lived in half a house at Epping shared with my godparents for several years after I was born. Vivid memories include the neighbours rose gardens and their children picking wattle (a small native bush with fluffy yellow flowers) to take to school for Wattle Day on August 1st. I must have been about 3 years old. The kids carried Australian made Globite school cases, which were made from pressed cardboard and could be shined up with shoe polish when they got dingey.

Our next house was at Arncliffe, again rented, as Dad had lost a business before I was born and money was tight. We boarded a disabled relation who helped a little around the house, Mum was having a difficult pregnancy with my oldest brother. I remember Maureen as a big girl who was intellectually delayed, but good at heart. It was sad when Mum had to send her on to a group home when my brother was born, Mum just couldn't cope. I can remember a group of kids setting fire to a palm tree in the park next door with fireworks, and the red fire engine racing up. We also had a grandfather clock in the house, it chimed all night.

In 1959 we moved to a rented house in Bexley. It was an old horizontal weatherboard one with a wooden plank verandah, 2 large bedrooms and a kitchen/ dining room. The landlady lived in the former lounge room. There was a back verandah closed in to make another room for me as I got a bit older, and a bathroom with a chip heater for the hot water. There was no shower, and the worst bit was the dunny (lavatory) up the path in the back yard. We had a very deep yard, with a chook shed down the back. I never realised it at the time, but we were pretty poor. We called the landlady Auntie Win (I guess Winifred) and she worked at Benson and Hedges cigarette factory and smoked like a chimney herself. She was very good to Mum, and often brought home little treats of food and sweets for me and my little brother. I used to run around bare foot all the time (still don't like to wear shoes, although I love them on other people!) so I was always treading on nails in pieces of broken down fencing, and we'd walk down the road to the doctor for a Tetanus injection AGAIN. I earned 3 permanent scars at that house. The first one was on my forehead where my best friend (?) threw a lump of concrete at my head after an argument. I remember the look on Mum's face when I ran screaming down the yard with blood pouring out of my face, she didn't know what had happened. Then my Dad made me a wooden swing to hang in the doorway of my room, and you guessed it, the silly think hit me in the mouth, scarring my bottom lip permanently. Lipstick still won't stick there. The third one I haven't seen myself, let's just say I climbed through a window where a nail was sticking up and scarred my groin.

I started school at Bexley in 1959. In the photo I'm the very serious little blonde girl in the second row from the bottom 4th from the right (marked with a spot)I think my dressmaker Mum sewed my fashionable jacket, you'll notice there wasn't an official school uniform back then. I did my first needlework in K2, where I made a woollen canvas work teapot shaped trivet (see photo). Mum put on the binding and a label for the Education Week display. Then an elderly neighbour taught me how to crochet. She did the little ring in the centre and then I crocheted around them to make squares for a rug but I don't recall making it.

I began my long history of "dressing up in public" at Bexley. My maternal grandparents attended West Botany Methodist church where there were regular fetes and parades. See the photo of me dressed as the Princess of Spring and my brother Glenn dressed as an old fashioned swaggie with my girlfriend Margaret beside us on the f ront verandah at Bexley. Dad found a little plastic pipe which had an insert not unlike incense which burned in the pipe bowl for Glenn. Another year my Papa found a hessian bag on Tempe tip full of flat pearl buttons, so mum covered black serge school uniforms with thousands of buttons and made Glenn and me into the Pearlie King and Queen for the church fete parade. We were too poor to afford a camera, the photos were taken by our grandparents. When my father left Mum years later, he took a lot of family photos away with him, so our remaining photos are few and far between unfortunately.

Paying it forward

Since discovering the blogging world I have come to admire and appreciate the kindness and support shown by fellow stitchers, whether embroiderers, quilters, knitters or tatters. So you can imagine how chuffed I was to receive a nomination for a "You Make My Day" award from Jane, of Nuido - a Student's Journey, see sidebar link. This student of Japanese embroidery in the UK is doing some absolutely stunning work. I have seen another JEC student's work in the flesh and believe me it's such fine and exacting work, the standard required is so high that the mind just boggles!!
The idea is to pay it forward, so here are my nominations for the "You Make My Day" award, in random order, and not all are stitching blogs !

1. The Life of Riley at http://www.allaboutolive.com.au/ where Mike Rubbo maintains a "blob" for Olive, who is 108 years young and sharing her memories and stories with the world

2. I religiously read Sharon B's blog at http://sharonb.wordpress.com/ every day, although now I have Google Reader it's SOOO much easier, thanks for that suggestion, Sharon. The "one stop shop" for information about the needle arts and lots more besides, and of course the current Take It Further Challenge seems to be very popular !

3. Dale Rollerson at http://downunderdale.blogspot.com/ has been a regular stop over since I went to a Playday in Sydney several years ago, and got to try out all the latest products Dale and Ian stock at the Thread Studio. And besides that, Dale is a very helpful, generous person, even if she is a Kiwi, LOL.

4. Norma at http://normasneedlez.blogspot.com/ participated in TAST and kept stitching despite a personal tragedy. Norma hardly missed a beat all year, a great testament to her faith and tenacity in adversity. We are participating in a Counted Thread Band Round Robin, so I'm looking forward to seeing what Norma plans for my band.

5. Jenny B. at http://jennysaustralianneedleart.blogspot.com/ is a friend from the Embroiderers' Guild NSW who I first met as a Leader for a Young Textile and Fibre Group club several years ago. Jenny does wonderful withdrawn thread work, machine embroidery and a little quilting. Such a talented lady, and a worthy recipient of a nomination.

6. Elizabeth at http://quietermoments.wordpress.com/ has been sharing her explorations of stitches with us, with some excellent photos and advice. Very inspiring, makes me feel VERY lazy !!

Well, those are my top 6, as I said in no particular order, but I could add quite a few more from the TAST participants, the TIF challenge participants and of course the regular blogs and sites I surf for research for costumes. So really, I'll just say to the needle arts bloggers out there, "You ALL Make My Day" I'm so lucky to have found you all, and a BIG thankyou to Jenny B. for starting me on this blogging journey in the first place.

January TIF Challenge finished !

I sat down after lunch today and finished assembling my little crazy scissor case from the TIF challenge block I made. It morphed from an MP3 player pouch because the foundation square was too small, that'll teach me to plan better !! I'm quite pleased with it actually, only my second ever CQ block made (the first was a kids' workshop project scroll down to post for picture.)

The photos show the front, back and the inside of the project with my "best" embroidery scissors beside it. I found a co-ordinating cotton fat quarter in my stash of small florals which I'm using for 2 different hand pieced quilt WISP's. I think I might have overdone the beading a bit, and the beaded tassel is not so practical, but a girl has to have pretty things around her all the time, doesn't she, LOL? The scissor case measures 18.5 cm including the tassel and is 11 cm wide at the top. I think I used a stitch called football stitch to join the front, must look that one up to confirm that, VBG. Bob the Quilting Cat and I look forward eagerly to the first of February for the next challenge.

January TIF Challenge NEARLY finished

Here is my January TIF challenge block, decorated some and bagged out with a nice floral lining, just before I turn it into a scissor case. It's so hard to know when you've finished with decoration on a CQ block, isn't it? Usually my projects tell me when, but this one hasn't yet. I have to stitch it into the kite shape, then I'll probably make a tassel and add a closure, and perhaps one or two more beads on a couple of bare spots I've just noticed as I loaded the photo..... Bob the Quilting Cat deserted her post after lunch, leaving me in the jumble of laces, ribbons and beads in peace. I have several other sewing projects that need my attention tomorrow, so I'll probably finish this before I retire for the night and will post the final picture on the TIF blog, see sidebar link.

Progress?

Bob the Quilting Cat and I have been trying to add some decoration to this little CQ block for the January TIF Challenge, but neither off us are very imaginative. I see so many lovely CQ blocks around, but I've never had much success myself, even with Sharon's excellent stitch dictionary and TAST stitches in 2007. Do other stitchers do as much reverse embroidery as I have been doing, I think the US stitchers call it frogging, you know rip-it, rip-it!!? Bob is no help just now, she likes to play with the ribbons and beads, but eventually she has nodded off, leaving me to wade through books looking for the perfect stitch and bead combination. And I've realised the square will be too small to make my MP3 pouch, so I'm now leaning towards a little kite shaped scissor case for my best embroidery scissors. This CQ block might be the only one I ever make at this rate, LOL, it's a lot harder than everyone tells you. Or is it "Secret Women's Business" and I haven't learned the secret handshake yet?