Sunday, April 29, 2018

The Big Birthday - Or, Abandoning Oneself To One's Eccentricities





I've recently had a Big Birthday (60 glorious years, in fact), which turned into a bit of a fiesta rather than a one day only kind of event.  Mr Shoestring and my adorable offspring, friends and family treated me like royalty and I thoroughly enjoyed being spoilt rotten.  It's a shame it can't go on every day of the year, but I suppose in time the novelty would wear off.  Eventually.  Perhaps.  I decided to stop resisting temptation, and abandon myself to my eccentricities, and asked Mr Shoestring to give me an antique plaster Madonna which I had had my beady eyeball on for some time, and I'm thrilled with her.  She has a cloak of the perfect shade of blue I always envisaged, and though she is a little worn and chipped and the worse for wear, I think it only adds to her charm.


 After all, I could say the same about myself now that I have achieved such a venerable age.  I'm going to use her as a kind of shrine and have fresh flowers and maybe a scented candle and some incense beside her. 

My dear sister, The Equestrienne, gave me the perfect birthday present given my current craze for collecting things related to the Queen's visit.  It was this medal, and I'm not sure whether these were given out only to people who attended events during the royal visit, or whether any old Joe Bloggs could purchase them.  Regardless, it is a very definite symbol of one's attachment to Her Royal Highness.  I did think that my sister was a little unreasonable when she added the caveat that I was only allowed the gift if I wore the medal on all special occasions and outings though. 



Apart from the birthday celebrations, there has been fun and games in the garden.  For one thing, the plates to hang on the back wall have been accumulating and since it was my birthday Mr Shoestring obliged me by hanging a few more on the freshly painted calamine lotion pink wall.  (Perhaps this was where the super-eccentric phase started, it occurs to me.)


They are mainly smallish ones, since that size are the ones which tend to go for 50 cents in the op shop, but this weekend I decided to sacrifice some of the large, pretty ones which I had stashed away in the kitchen cupboards.  They aren't hanging yet, but when they are added to the ever-expanding collection I predict the effect will be pretty awe-inspiring.  Some may say overwhelming and OTT but that's just their opinion. 


Having decided to abandon myself to all my eccentric urges, now that I officially am an old lady and have a good excuse, I have been wallowing unashamedly in all things pink and frilly.  I bought a pair of the vase above and gave one to my equestrienne sister.  (As a punishment for her insisting that I wear my medal at all times, I should have given it to her on the understanding that she needed to attach it to the dashboard of her car and keep it always stocked with flowers, but it didn't occur to me at the time.)  I kept the other one for myself.  The china is fragile as tissue and it's remarkable that the vases have withstood the ravages of time. 


Also I've been loving these two confections.  


There are still some late roses blooming, astonishingly enough given the storms, wind and rain we have had recently.  The pink pleasure garden is looking good for the time of year, and some of the purple foliaged plants have almost become rampant. 


I'm wondering if I could strike some cuttings of this one simply by putting some stems in water.


The alstromerias are also still flowering - it has been wet and windy, but not at all cold.  

The most thrilling thing on the stitching front has been that I am finally approaching the end stages of the chicken quilt.  Madame Canuck helped me rip out the papers and a most satisfying task that was, though it did take an awfully long time.  That is the mark of a true friend, a person who will sit with you and labour over such a tedious but necessary undertaking!




I decided to use the edging technique I have tried once before, finishing off with hexies around the edge and then flipped back over the backing and stitched in place, so that none of the hexagons are lost through trimming.  Also it helps to use up all the "extras" which are invariably left over due to my inability to calculate the numbers required.  I like the look of this but it is awfully time consuming.  I have finished one side, three more to go and then I will be done.  Fortunately this time I haven't developed a hatred for the quilt and can even to look upon it fondly, which is just as well considering all the hours which have gone into its construction. 


It is very disappointing when a quilt has a backing fabric unsuitable to the theme or colours of the quilt, or at least I think so, and this one has the theme whole heartedly continued in the backing. 


We have a chicken all over fabric 


 Plus some chicken wire on the back of the quilt.  

Happy days, once this one is finished I can press on with the cup and saucer/floral themed quilt - strange to relate, it is a very pretty-pretty one and not at all Autumnal in its colourings, unlike the chicken one.  Woohoo, being an old lady isn't bad after all. 

2 comments:

  1. A very happy birthday to you! Delighted to see you back in the blogosphere, and wonderful to read of all your pink-tinged pursuits - may there be many many more of them to enjoy :)

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    1. Hi there Naphtali, thanks so much for your kind wishes. I'm pressing on with all things pink, you can depend on it. In the spring a pink garden party would be just the thing to celebrate the warmer weather and lengthening days.

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