Wednesday, June 10

Long Weekend.

Last weekend was our Queen's Birthday long weekend. We get a holiday Monday to salute the Queen's birthday. It is not her actual birthday, & I am unsure how it came to be celebrated on that particular day.

New Zealand celebrated it the weekend before. Perth also celebrated it a week sooner than we do. I am unsure of other States.

Canada also celebrates the occasion, but on a different date again.

I would suppose that Britain must surely celebrate their Monarch's Birthday too, but I have no idea. I am too lazy to Google it, this evening.

We had a busy weekend.
On Sunday, we had our daughter, SIL, & grandchildren to visit.

Gom excelled himself. He prepared all the snack foods, & he even made Prawn Toasts! From a recipe he found, & he did all the preparation & cooking thereof, by himself.

They were brilliant.

I gave him a deep fryer some years ago, & it was a bit of a one month wonder, for a while. Of course, neither of us really need deep fried food, & it is only fairly recently he got it out, & began using it for social occasions, to cook tasty morsels for finger foods.

Successful, but awkward to clean, & awkward to use. It was over 12 years old.

This past Christmas I bought him a new one, a swish 2 vat model, & he was delighted. He was like a man with 2 vats, one might say. as opposed to a man with 2 rats!haha

He has whipped out chips- french fries- to have on cold days. He has cooked up delightful Chinese delicacies. Fish, Chicken. No problems to the Gom. As BFJ says, he is a real Social Delight!

Monday afternoon evening, we had friends come to visit, & Gom did his magic with the fryer again. He has become the perfect host.

It used to fall to me to do all that, once upon a time. Gom enjoys doing it, it gives him an interest (besides his Garden Vandalism, & his Pantry Nazi-ism), so I just let him go for it now.


On Sunday night, as it got cold & dark, SG wanted to go off to sleep. He asked for a quilt, & I told him to help himself out of the box where they are kept, in the lounge.

I expected him to get the brightest, but it wasn't there.

Then he remembered it was at his place, on his bed.
He had fallen asleep here one other night, & had been scooped up in the quilt & taken home.

His mother told him he would have to bring the quilt back to Nanna's, because it was my quilt & it was made for 'The Family'.

He declared he had to have it on his bed, and he said, "Well, I am family!" Cant argue with that!

He has always loved that quilt since he was little. It is ideal for a child, because it is so bright, & has lots of lovely animal squares. I made it from a gift pack of charm squares, plus some brights I was given, to make a quilt for myself.

Edit added. I had some queries about the pattern for this quilt. It is called Tumbling Blocks, (I think) & I got the pattern from an early edition of Australian Patchwork & Stitching, around 2002. It is really great because it is all roller cut, machine stitched, & there are no insets. It went together super fast, & I just quilted it in the ditch, which means it is very soft & cuddly.
If anyone would like to make it, send me an email.




We had just found out that SG was on the way, but had not yet found out he was a he.

Here he is, with the 'Class Bear' " Stanley" last year, with said quilt, when it was his turn to have Stanley for the weekend. He uses the quilt for cubbies, & loves to snuggle up in the brightness.





Here is another pic of "Just for Fun", which is what I called the quilt, with Honey peeping out from under.
I have made him other bright quilts, but for some reason, he really loves this, & it is a good size for a single bed.


Gom & I were quite tired, after our busy weekend.
There has been a cold snap, with the weather being a chill 5 degrees Celsius, due to wind chill. That is almost unheard of around here!


Truly weather for comfort foods! Thick soup, casseroles, slowcooker food.





I was hoping not to have visitors today. I lumbered about with so many layers of clothing, I looked like a Yeti who had raided the Sallies Bin.
I really need to get out to the shops for some new shoes, that are not falling apart, & some new, extra capacious warm tops, for the new expanding me!
My excuse is I need multi layers of clothes to keep warm.




Keep Warm! Or Cool if you are in a hot climate.






Sheryl Crow, Every Day is a Winding Road

23 comments:

Angie said...

Oh I do miss you, Meggie dear! :) I spend so little time at the computer right now, with it being Spring here, and so much to be done outside. That quilt is so pretty! Love the fabrics, and the pattern. Does it have set-in seams? (I haven't even thought about mastering set-in seams LOL). The photo of GS with the bear and quilt is so cute---he's such a handsome little man! It sounds like your weekend was quite wonderful, and quite exhausting. :) Seems so strange for you to be in layers of clothing right now, and I'm sweltering in our unseasonably hot Spring days. :) Thank you so much for staying in touch with me. I value our 'friendship' and miss you when I'm away for so long. Stay warm, dear heart! Hugs to Honey and Leo--even GOM! :)

Anonymous said...

Stay warm. Find a sunny spot and wrap yourself in quilts.

Thimbleanna said...

How fun that SG loves the beautiful quilt you made. You'll definitely have to let him keep it -- how can we deny those that love our quilts??? I hope it warms up for you soon!

Anonymous said...

Dear GS is darling and no wonder he wants the quilt! It's so colorful and fun. Your post reminds me of the period when we had and used a deep fryer to make fried veggies. After a season of using it we forgot about it. Eventually I tossed it out. I used to make seasoned chicken fingers in it which I loved but like you, I didn't need the fried food either. When your weather starts chilling out, we start heating up. We have 80's F here for now and the humidity is rising so it will be a hot summer most likely. I'm not a summer person, I don't like hot so there will be days when I would gladly exchange some heat for cold with you. :)

persiflage said...

Of course SG loves the quilt. it is gorgeous. I was admiring the poncho on the teddy, too!
The cold has hit us too, but I rather enjoy being able to get warm instead of trying to keep cool enough.
At choir tonight no one took off their coats.Brrr!
glad GOM is earning his keep and keeping away from the garden.

molly said...

Good for GOM becoming a celebrity chef! Every man needs a hobby, in addition to cutting his grass and shaving his beard.....it makes them easier to live with! Lovely quilt and lovely grandson......

ancient one said...

I'm glad GOM loves to cook... my husband just does breakfast... he had said some years back that he'd start doing some cooking.. I suggested that he specialize in desserts... but that fell on deaf ears...LOL

He does like to cook fish stews and steak on the grill... so I'm happy...

Loved seeing the picture of your grandson again. I think maybe you lost your "Just for Fun" quilt... It is a beauty...

Anita said...

It sounds like you had quite the lovely weekend! I do understand SG's fascination with that quilt...it's lovely! It reminds me of the quilt my grandmother made for me for my 12th birthday. I love that quilt more than anything! Keep warm and have a wonderful day!

Joyce said...

You can send Gom over here to cook any old time. Lol. It's supposed to be summer here but we had a heavy frost a couple of nights ago and it's still not warm at all. Thank goodness for central heating.

Andrea said...

What a pair of smashers the quilt and it's owner. Is this paper pieced Meggie ?

The Sagittarian said...

Your quilts are wonderful, you're so clever. My friend Pixie does quilting too and I am EVER hopeful she will find time to make one for me one day. We've only known each otehr for the better part of 30 years so we can't rush these things can we?

Marja said...

Great pictures and your quilts are the most beautiful I know. About queens birthday. It is here not really a celebration Just a day off. Waitangi day is luckily turning more and more into a celebration. I think that's a good cultural habit

quiltmom anna said...

Meggie,
I love your grandson's quilt- it looks very bright and cheerful. I can see why your GS loves it. I bet is more complicated than you are giving yourself credit for.
I too have a spouse that cooks- he does a very fine barbecue and cooks stews, meat and veg and such.
I am the one who makes the salads and appetizers and anything that is fancier. I cook mostly in the summer time when I have more time to cook and he needs me to be the chief cook.. stirfry, salads and lots of fruit and vegetables. Perfect summer time food. Shared cooking is wonderful...
We have just come back from a short stroll- its a lovely evening- perhaps summer may have arrived.
Regards,
Anna

Unknown said...

I'll save you googling Meggie - here in the UK the Queen's Official Birthday (as it is curiously known) is celebrated at the beginning of June, around the 2nd I think but can't remember. It passes with little recognition by anyone outside of London. We do not get a day's holiday or such like but in London there is a big ceremonial event called the Trouping of the Colour which involves the Queen inspecting lots of her soldiers all in their colourful dress uniforms - she did this riding side saddle on horseback up until only a few years ago in full dress uniform herself - I guess at 83 now she isn't up to all that ceremonial horse riding and now takes part in the parade in a carriage instead. To be honest it's a great spectacle for the tourists, a security nightmare for the protection people and police and a bl**dy nuisance for commuters in and out of London for several days. Incidentally her real birthday is 21 April but maybe they have the official birthday so the Trouping of the Colour can be done in reasonably good weather if a monarch had say a February birthday

Selina Kingston said...

Oh! I was going to be very clever and tell you exactly what Anne has just said.
I am seriously thinking of following that example - two birthdays means two parties means two lots of presents !!! Also means lying more than once a year about how old I really am ....

Ali Honey said...

Now that is good news to know Gom has found his calling! If he hasn't already tried it silverbeet dipped in batter and quickly fried is yum and very good for us - makes a little go a long way too)
The quilt is lovely so is Grandson - we haven't seen a recent photo for a while (? )
I am always warned by your weather - it is probably heading our way very shortly! Keep warm, keep happy.

I think the Queen's Birthday holiday was set when it was a previous monarch and they just left it on the same date.

Pam said...

Lovely quilt, lovely grandson. And fancy you celebrating the Queen's birthday! Still, I suppose a holiday's a holiday. In Edinburgh, it passes without a thought as far as I know.

Cathi said...

What a fabulous colourful quilt! No wonder he loves it so.
Victoria Day here is always celebrated on the last Monday before May 24.

Anonymous said...

Ooh, I do love prawn toast. Yum!

Finn said...

Hi Meggie, what a fun post! So happy you fulfilled GOM's dreams with that new 2 vault fryer!! Perfect *VBS* Who knew he had a secret yen to be frying up things??
The quilt is awesome, and I think you may have to be making another from the sound of it. Great pictures, love the bright!! Big hugs for cold 'winter is coming' days, Finn

Ulrike said...

A GOM with a modern 2-vat (!) deep fryer sounds like just the perfect way to deal with winter!

x
u

Granny J said...

The quilt is a wonderful optical illusion. I look at it once and it is tumbling boxes. I look again and see an entirely different setup. Which is cool! We are also having a weirdly cool late spring here in Arizona. Normally, the sun fries us in June, but we have had clouds and cool breezes.

Veronica said...

I LOVE the quilt Meggie - just stunning! And it's no wonder that SG loves it so much too. With hugs and love to you, Vxx