Community Flavours

I spent yesterday morning at the Newlands Neighbourhood House with the Arabic Speaking Women's group. It was their first big get together after a break for Ramadan, so we enjoyed a bit of a feast. The main dishes were fresh falafel; tabouleh and a mixture of cracked wheat, lentils and onion--I asked for the name, but don't feel confident that I can remember it accurately, let alone transliterate it. The Community Garden Group just happened to be meeting at the same time. They're working on a concept plan which includes a wood-fired oven, picnic tables and a herb garden. There was some great interaction between the groups, and after sitting down to a meal together, the gardeners decided that Monday is a great day for them to be at the Community Centre! There was a natural interplay between enjoying the food, identifying the flavours and naming herbs which might grow in the garden. I'm going to have to do some home-work to get some pictures and names for the gardeners. As a bonus, we might be able to incorporate pictures of some of the herbs into the quilt we're working on for the Neighbourhood House.

Here's some sage that's sitting in my window-sill. Sage didn't figure in yesterday's conversation, but I've been promising myself to take this picture. My friend A brought me the sage from her garden . . . roast pumpkin and sage risotto is on my menu for this week.

Reward

This grevillea is growing outside my front window.The bushes have been there for many years. I originally inherited them from a friend who was moving overseas. They were in small pots. I didn't know how they would cope with being planted out, since many Australian natives don't like having their roots disturbed. They coped fine. Since then I've done very little for them, and they've survived and flowered a little. They received some more attention just over a month ago when I started the great garden clean up. I thoroughly weeded their garden bed and then covered it with mulch--free mulch from the Council depot. I've had my reward many times over: they are flowering abundantly and putting out new shoots! I'm enjoying their progress every time I glance out the window and the native birds are visiting often.

Crocking

One of my goals when I do a workshop for a new skill is to experience the difficulties involved. I'm following up from last weekend's Indigo workshop. I dyed up this bit of silk in the afternoon. It looked great when it came out of the vat. After washing it's not so good. A lot of the colour has washed out and there are these odd spots here and there: From my reading, I think this is a phenomenon called crocking. Indigo, being a surface dye, can build up on the fabric instead of attaching properly. It then flakes off in the wash. Result, blue water and unevenly dyed fabric. The solution is . . . patience! More frequent, smaller applications of dye apparently minimise this problem. I'll have to try that. Not today, though. Today I need to go back to fixing the side fence. Then if I have any time and energy for indoor tasks I'll do a bit more rinsing.

Patch Job

I did this rough and ready repair on my old jeans this morning. I was talking to a friend on the phone at the time, and didn't even bother taking the jeans off or finding a matching thread. I just needed the hole to be stabilised. These jeans are favourites, but really only good for wearing around the house now--perfect for a day like today.

I've got another patching challenge with my side fence. It's a paling fence which was old when I bought this place eleven-or-so years ago. It's threatening to fall over into my neighbour's yard. That would be a very unwelcome turn of events just as I'm expecting workmen to come and put up my new shed-studio. I can't face the effort of having it replaced just now either, so it's a case of doing what I can with what I've got. After a trip to the hardware store I'm getting on to it at last. I'm typing this while I take a breather. Driving bolts into red-gum posts is a tough job even when the redgum is old.

On My Table

I have such a strange mixture of things to think about and do today that I hardly know where to start. Apart from my usual--often neglected--household tasks, I'm in the middle of lots of changes and uncertainties. Then yesterday afternoon I received an email accepting my submission to Window Frames, the Sydney Rd, Brunswick Traders' Exhibition as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival : That should be a simple positive after the work I put into preparing the piece, but it's complicated at a number of levels. I deliberately designed this piece to include its context as part of the story. At the time I had no idea whether or where it would be displayed. It's going to be in the window of the Franco Cozzo Furniture store on the corner of Sydney Rd and Victoria St in Brunswick. Rather than comment on the significance--and risk tangling myself up in all sorts of ways--I'll leave you with the link to the original Franco Cozzo TV ad on youtube. Click on the link if you're a Melburnian who remembers the eighties or if you want to see what can happen when a penniless Italian/Greek immigrant makes good in his new country by catering to the needs of his up and coming contemporaries.

Spring Racing

It's spring in Melbourne and the topic of conversation is moving from footy to horse racing. My Patchwork by Machine class at the Neighbourhood House are racing along too. We did lesson 4 last night. Often by this stage in the course some students are flagging and we're cheering on those who have managed to put their blocks together. This group is somewhat different. Most of them already have material for their next quilt. Several of them have already started another quilt to complete alongside the one they're making in class. One student has five quilts on the go already. I'd asked them not to rush into stitching the sashing and cornerstones because we would spend some time in class talking about ways of sorting through any difficulties . . . so H just did the sashing and cornerstones for her four other quilts and left the class quilt to work on last night!

This little collection belongs to J, one of the students who is only doing the class quilt at the moment. Mind you, she is working on an elaborately smocked Christening gown for one of her grandchildren at the same time. She bought the dinosour fabric for her grandson. She plans to just put a border around it, since she has four grand-daughters waiting their turn for quilts like the one she's currently working on in class. The Beatrix Potter print is just irresistable. We talked about ways to handle the framed pictures so as to minimise stress. I don't recommend stitching a seam parallel to a printed black line to beginners. In fact it's a task I would avoid for myself.

As for me, I'm feeling a little slow this morning. My next stop is the Council offices. I need to discuss the plans for my studio with the planner there. I'm hoping it will all go through OK. Then it's back to the shed company to hurry the building permits along. I only wish I could get that process into the spring racing mode!

Meeting Preparation

The Annual General Meeting of Sussex Neighbourhood House is on this morning. There was a time when I used to thrive on meetings like this: agendas, minutes, reports, elections, debates, plans . . . I'd be involved in every detail. Today my priorities are a little different. I'll be there because I strongly support the organisation and its work; and because I like and appreciate the people involved and what they do for our community. Besides, I've nominated one of my students for election to the Committee of Management--I think she'll be a great contributor--and I've agreed to be the greeter at the door as people arrive for the meeting. My job is to welcome people and make sure they have everything they need to participate in the meeting, but my preparation involves no paperwork whatsoever. Here it is: It's my current easy knitting and I have rows and rows of garter stitch to do on circular needles. Just the thing to sit in my lap and keep my hands occupied while I take in what's going on around me.

Oh, and the raffle quilt will be drawn at the end of the meeting. It's been a significant part of the Neighbourhood House community this year as we've designed and constructed it together. I can't wait to see who gets to take it home.