Heads up!
I got home from dropping the kidlet at school this morning to find a parcel on my doorstep. “Who’s that from?” I thought. “I’ve only ordered dye lately, and surely that won’t be here yet”. Nothing on the sender details. I tore it open to find a large, flat red box with Australia Post blazoned on it here & there. “Ooh”, thinks I; “I’ve won something for filling in those surveys they send out!”. Opened it up, and realised that no, it’s from Click and Send.
If you live in oz and send parcels overseas (ebay sellers etc, I’m looking at you), go sign up. I joined last week – I’m not sure I’ll end up using it (the price it came up with for sending some patterns to Florida was nearly double what I was quoted at the actual PO, no idea why), BUT! I scored a free set of electronic scales (the hanging sort) for signing up, along with a mousepad and some invoice pockets and the usual literature. Totally unexpected. No guarantee everybody who signs up will get a package of goodies, but it’s worth a shot! I figure the scales will be handy for weighing bags too (20kg weight limit), should I ever have opportunity to set foot on a plane again …
I don’t know why I went incommunicado. Just felt unbloggy. I didn’t even read blogs for weeks there, which is downright weird. Been working on a bunch of different things, from newsletters (did I mention that I’m now both editor of Macleay Quilters’ newletter and a VP?) to quilt patterns to blah blah whatever. School holidays happened in there somewhere, and I finally got inspired and designed MY quilt. I don’t have a quilt on my bed, which seems a bit remiss. Remember these? –> 
There’s a bunch of symbolry of personal importance and a bunch of stuff that’s just plain pretty – the centre is a mandala built around a hexagram (star of david, satkona yantra, etc) with flowers and fruit and leaves and so on; it sits in an on-point square which will be framed in the gorgeous paisley that started the whole thing. The next level out (squared) will have more applique in the corners, probably involving tree of life symbols & special animals. It’s intended to be hot and spicy and busy and complex; it’s surprisingly difficult to make myself put applique down on patterned fabric, which is weird since I just love that over-the-top hyperdecorative pattern-on-pattern glory you often get in Indian textiles. Anyway, so < -- there's a very small sneak peek at some of the motifs and a glimpse of the layout diagram.
CHITCHAT