Back from the wild, wild west

School Term 3 = Primary Musical at our school. This year's was set in the Wild West of 1800s USA.

I help with the costumes each year, 

and love every minute of it. 

This year was especially challenging as our usual 'wardrobe mistress' flew to Morocco the weekend before the production, taking all her experience and expertise with her, and asked me to stand in her place. Her shoes are big to fill. 

 Thankfully, all three performances went off with much drama, but thankfully none in the costume department. 

I am feeling my usual tired and shattered self on the first Monday of school holidays, but nothing a good sleep for a few days won't fix :)

Looking forward to some warm weather and time in the garden and at the machine ... after sleep!

Daybook entry #10

On my mind ... Headache, headache, go away ... I really have too much to do today.

In my hoop ... some monogram action!

In my garden ... hardy arctotis waiting patiently for their springtime friends to pop their heads up and blossom.

I am inspired by ... Sam Stosur's win in the US Open. Inspired not only by her powerful forehand, but also by her poise, grace and understated manner. 

I am miffed ... by my apparent inability to stitch a straight line today. I am blaming it on a useless 1/4" marking on my walking foot! More reverse sewing for me.

I am reading ... 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks', on Lily's excellent recommendation. It is a warm but poignant account of Henrietta, who died of cancer in the 1950s. Cells were taken from her cancer tumour without her knowledge or permission, a common occurrence at the time. These cells have since been cultured to create an immortal cell line for medical research. These so-called HeLa cells have generated billions of dollars for the medical industry; they have helped uncover secrets of cancers, viruses, fertilisation, cloning, and gene mapping and yet compensation or acknowledgement for her surviving family were minimal. A thought provoking true story of medical ethics versus scientific progress and at what human cost?

In contrast, I am listening to ... four-hand boogie wooogie on Youtube - part of a music assignment for my littlest bloss. Cool!

Making me laugh today ...

... my Sweetness walked past and asked, "Who gets to pick the two"?!!

Roll on up!

Just in case you are sitting around with nothing to do this fine Wednesday, hop on over to the Moda Country Fair - a month long celebration of sewing from September 6th.

The Moda fabric designers have been busy cooking up free designs, wonderful giveaways and a whole lot more inspiration for you to enjoy. The star-studded line up is:

September 6th    Sandy Gervais of Pieces from My Heart

September 7th   Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs

September 8th Barb and Mary from Me and My Sister Designs

September 9th Camille Roskelley of Thimbleblossoms

September 10th Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts

September 11th Basic Grey 
September 12th Polly and Laurie from Minick and Simpson

September 13th Sandy Klop from American Jane (Post will be featured on Moda's blog)

September 14th Liesl from Oliver + S

September 15th Joanna from Fig Tree and Co.

September 16th Lynne from Kansas Troubles

September 17th Barb and Alma from Blackbird Designs

September 18th Aneela Hoey from Comfortstitching.com

September 19th Barbara Brackman from Barbara Brackman, of course.

September 20th Bonnie from Cotton Way

September 21st Christina from Cabbages and Roses

September 22nd Deb Strain

September 23rd Jan Patek of Brannock and Patek

September 24th Lauren and Jessi Jung

September 25th Stephanie from Lily Ashbury

September 26th Julie from Cosmo Cricket

September 27th Kate Spain

September 28th Karla, Susan and Lisa from Sweetwater

September 29th Kaari from French General

September 30th Lisa from Primitive Gatherings

and the fun continues into October

October 1st Kathy from Kathy Schmitz Studio

October 2nd Liz from Liz Scott Designs

Get y'all over there - you never know what you'll learn! I've already had to Google 'fanny pack' for a translation! Here are just a few things I've picked up: 

American vs Australian Fair vernacular 

country fair (USA) = 'the show' (Aust)

fanny pack (USA) = bum bag (Aust)

corn dog (USA) = dagwood dog (Aust) - no idea why!

cotton candy (USA) = fairy floss (Aust)

hot tamales and candy corn (USA) - remain a complete mystery to me; no Australian equivalent.

And if someone could tell me what a 'cake walk' is, I'd be thankful!

I would love to hear what you call these things in your part of the world, or perhaps you have a special memory of country shows to share.

Early spring beauty

I snapped this shot in my garden early this morning. 

It is Magnolia x loebneri 'Merrill', and while it is only small right now, it is shaping up to be quite a beauty. I have added it to my Wallpaper page, just for you :)