Scatterday Challenge - Letter N

This week's Scatterday Challenge is brought to you by the Letter N and the categories Orange, Something South American and Things That Are Good for You, But You Don't Like.

For Orange, I give you a Nic-Nak that DMom sent from her trip to Spain.

For Something South American, I give you the Naked Dancing Llama. Check it out ... I didn't believe it either.

And, finally, for Things That Are Good for You, But You Don't Like, I give you Nurofen. I hate to take tablets and the old brain tumour has to be pretty bad to warrant tablets.

Next week's Scatterday Challenge is brought to you by the Letter Z. An no categories. How hard can that be?

Scatterday Challenge - Letter U

This week's Scatterday Challenge is brought to you by the Letter U and the categories Street, Cartoon Characters, Things People Pay a Lot of Money For.

For Street, we have Underhill Street, a local thoroughfare.

For Cartoon Characters, I give you Ursula, one of George of the Jungle's cartoon over-endowed but platonic sidekicks. Well, the kiddies believe it, even if thousands wouldn't. Come on, everybody sing. You know you want to: George, George, George of the Jungle ...

And, finally, for Things People Pay a Lot of Money For, I give you Uber Uncomfortable Underwear. Pound for pound, this stuff gives you maximum purchased discomfort for your dollar without actually having to travel to Oxford Street.

Next week is brought to you by the Letter N and the categories Orange, Something South American and Things That Are Good for You, but You Don't Like.

January Journal Quilt - Summer Sun

I am taking part in a monthly Journal Quilt and the theme for January is 'Seasons'. Even though we have had a bit of rain lately, Australia is still in the grip of a very long drought and, with summer in full swing, days of sunshine aren't exactly what we need right now. So I've decided to try to capture the heat and the intensity of the Australian sun.

Here are the materials I started out with. I ended up using the silk tops (rovings), the four at the bottom, but not the wool tops (roving), the two at the top. The quilt sandwich is two pieces of my favourite hand dyed orange from Dyed and Gone to Heaven with a double layer of black felt in between.

I used the threads but the yarns I ended up untwisting and just using the eyelash strands for texture and not colour.

So, I started with the lightest of the silk tops and worked out to the yellow silk top.

Then added the threads and yarns.

And the DMC stranded metalics were added for sparkle but not colour.

Once I laid out all the fibres, I pinned Solvy on top to hold them in place during machine quilting. For a piece this size, it takes just over two bobbins to quilt. I used a silver metalic thread in the centre and a yellow/orange variagated thread for the rest.

I dunked it in cold water to dissolve the Solvy, and here is what I ended up with.

It is a bit bigger than A4 size, so the next step will be to trim it back. I was thinking about putting a binding on it but maybe I'll machine finish the edges instead.

And, to me, it does look like a hot, baking sun. Does need some beads though.

Stash Enhancement Expedition or S.E.X.

There has been some discussion on an art quilt list I belong to about your stash, why you have one and what you use it for. It got me thinking, well, remembering really.

I am a member of Southern Cross Quilters, SCQuilters, an online group for quilters in Australia and New Zealand, and going shopping for fabric to build up your stash is referred to as 'S.E.X.' or 'Stash Enhancement Expedition' in emails. Which caused interesting problems for our members who used their work emails for SCQuilters because spam filters kept picking up those emails where the '.' were left out. The term may have migrated to our list from a knitters list but we have taken it as our own.

The Queen of S.E.X.

On the SCQuilters list, someone who exhibited amazing prowess at fabric shopping, usually buying an entire bolt of that special fabric, was referred to as 'The Queen of S.E.X.' in appropriately hushed and reverent tones. Flurries of emails debating who held the crown flew around the internet regaling us with tales of almost mythical shopping feats as new contenders for the crown appeared.

Emails about when you last had S.E.X. or how much S.E.X. you had or confessions that you are addicted to S.E.X. still show up from time to time.

Telephone S.E.X.

Some of my Sydney SCQuilter friends were shopping one evening (most shops here aren't open in the evenings) because a SCQuilter was visiting from overseas, and they found that the shop owner had wool wadding (batting) on the roll and knew that I was looking for some. So while the SCQuilters shopped away, Laurie, the partner of one, called me to see if I wanted some wool wadding and how much, etc. To this day, he still quite happily tells everyone that we've had phone S.E.X., which still raises eyebrows.

The Best S.E.X. Story

Fellow SCQuilter Kathryn worked for EDS and found that the husband of another SCQuilter also worked at EDS and knew all about S.E.X. He was in Adelaide and she was in Sydney and they had a regular conference call with the rest of their team. One time, they were both early to the conference call and chatted, as you do, while waiting for the others to join the call.

So, very innocently, Kathryn asked her male co-worker, 'Has your wife had any S.E.X. lately?" He calmly replied that she and a couple of friends from her local group had had a lot of S.E.X. on the weekend. Which brought gasps from the others who had joined in the conference call while that little conversation was taking place.

I don't know if they ever explained to the others or not. But, even after all these years, it still makes me laugh. Who knew that S.E.X. could be so funny? And on purpose?

Scatterday Challenge - E

This week's Scatterday Challenge post is brought to you by the letter E and the categories White, The Plant World and Terrifying Things.

For White, I give you Empty Bowls stacked one inside the other.

For The Plant World, I give you an Elephant Watering Can. I have it from a very reliable source that applying the correct amount of water will actually contribute to a plant staying alive. Too much or too little and the plant dies. But not being a gardener myself, I've taken that on faith.

And, for Terrifying Things, I give you HRH, whose real name starts with an 'E'. And, as any parent of a teen-age girl can tell you, these are some pretty terrifying creatures. Doesn't give me much comfort that she and her mob will be running things when they grow up. Heaven help us!

Next week is brought to you by the letter U and the categories Street, Cartoon Characters, Things People Pay a lot of Money for.

Tubes

Suspended

Wet Bark

Furry Blossoms

Stencilled Maple Leaves