A Hot February Night

........and Scraphappy Day

I've been quiet here, but accomplishing much in the sewing department, mostly hand stitching binding on tiny quilts and stuffing soft toys and embroidering faces in the cool of the air-conditioned lounge room.   I'll post about them another day. It's been very hot, it felt like my brain had turned to mush and no words could be written.  It's still very hot now, nearly 11 pm and still close to 30 deg C (86 F) with 90% humidity, which is the killer. We all lay around like this all day, heat-lagged. For some reason, the cats like to lay on Mirrhi, no matter the temperature, and she gets quite cross with them, lifting them off her  forcibly with her nose., or with a well placed gentle kick nudge.

So to scraps...... while digging out crumb blocks for the premmie quilts I was making here,  I also found a few blue churn dash blocks I'd made for last years Rainbow Scrap Challenge, the start of a rainbow churn dash quilt.  Well that didn't get far, there was the flood and 6 months of cleaning up, and a definite lack of enthusiasm for very much, so the churn dashes were forgotten. Until now.

I've decided to make them my 2018 Rainbow Scrap Challenge project this year, and so out came the purple scrap bin and work was begun tonight. My day was pretty busy with a rally and march a couple of us had organised to stop our rail line being ripped up, and replaced with a rail trail.  This decision was made without any community consultation, and so a couple of hundred of us braved the afternoon heat and marched to the Council Offices to present our case to Council.  

 Nothing to do with scraps of course, except now, having prepared one churn dash block, I'm too tired to sew tonight, so here it is, ready for some cool, early morning sewing.  Not sure how many of each colour I'll make, 6 probably, but they'll be a mix of light and dark backgrounds, and a variety of sizes.

* Scraphappy Day

......till next time.

Beating the heat

Spring has skipped on by and it feels like summer is well and truly here, with temps in the low 30s C(80s F), so I've been walking Mirrhi very early, heading out as the sun lifts over the rim, and then working in the courtyard garden until the sun moves up higher and eats away the shade and it's too hot to stay out there.

I've been working on this patch of dirt next to the newly paved area, and under a very old, tatty pine tree.  I've since removed the little fence, it made the garden look like a cemetery plot!

Edged with stones instead....much better.

I found that nice old piece of wood on a vacant lot while walking Mirrhi, so lugged it home,  I like how it looks here, with an agave and a pretty nemesia tucked behind it.

Up close....rocks, wood chips and seedlings.

From the top of the driveway side

I've started to plant it up with heat loving colour.......this area gets sun all day from the north and then the west.......so there's cineraria, pig face and verbena here.  I'll continue this combination around to the other side as well.   Bromeliads will get some shade tucked against the tree trunk.  It's all heavily mulched with bark chips to keep moisture in and the roots cool.  I picked up a pair of big cement pots at the tip shop for $5, one is painted that soft orange, and the other's waiting to be painted. It'll go on the other side of the path, and they'll be planted up with blue/petunias and blue lobelia.

I have a day of sewing planned now, so until next time.............