Things that inspire me....

I'm getting over this virus, gradually. Very big thanks to those who sent me well-wishes. It made me smile, and that made me stop being grumpy for a while - and that made life easier for patient Mr Tacc., who was heard to say, "You're grumpy as all hell when you're getting better." Yes, I'll take that award. It's perfectly true.


Last night I dragged my weary self to the Victorian Writers' Centre for a talk called "Getting into Editing", which was an interesting discussion about the profession, starting with the experiences of four very different editors. The audience asked some excellent questions, and the session gave me plenty to think about in relation to long-term goals. Not least, I know I have a few things to learn!

It was lovely to be out and about, and the city is vibrant in the early evening, with everyone out after work, strolling the lanes. On the way to the session, I stopped and picked up a course brochure for the CAE, who do short courses in the city. When I got home, I went through with a red pen and circled the courses I'd like to take. Gosh, that's a lot of red! Apart from sewing and textile design, there's crochet, book binding, silversmithing, dichronic glass jewellery, resin sculpture, woodwork, mosaics, contemporary drawing and so, so much more. Decisions, decisions.

With energy returning, I'll try to get a few seams done on the summer quilt today, and take some photos (I've also got two rather intense job applications to do).

Looking through some photos recently, I realised that what's inspiring me at the moment are the rich saturated colours that appear in nature.

Springy bright pink flowers on the trees on my street.

Summer flowers at the O'Keefe Ranch, BC, Canada. (Our visit and gorgeous quilts blogged here: Quilt Hunting and here: Quilt Hunting, Part 2.)


Darkness falling, late afternoon in winter. Okanagan, BC.


These are the colours in the summer quilt, and I hope they'll remind me of this year's extended summer in the Northern hemisphere (travelling through Canada), and the summer that's just waking up here in Melbourne.