Penultimate Row of Hexagons.

I want to catch up on lots of topics.

The photo shows the 2 piles of finished hexagons for the final 2 rows of the Blue Hexagon Quilt. If all goes well I will begin sewing them into strips tonight....so the end is in sight! I thought I would leave the very last one I am hand sewing there with my glasses to show cause I really like the fabric. Yes, its a Laurel Burch on a blue background. The other day I raced into the shop to get some velcro to make the hanging sleeves ( I'll tell you about those when I sew them ) for my quilts and couldn't go past the fabrics without having a quick look. I found 2 I really liked and didn't have so got them to be the final 2 I could fussy cut for this quilt.

We were in the city that day to both have our Eye Examinations. Glad to report my eyes are healthy but the sight has deteriorated a bit, over the last 3 years, which meant updating my glasses. The pair in the pic are my present ones that I love. They have all sorts built into them for different tasks - ( sewing reading ) ( computer ) ( TV ) and ordinary over the top.( plus a stigmatism in my left eye. ) it's amazing that all that is built into those tiny lenses. The optician and I decided I should probably start wearing them to drive in too. Consequently, with both of us needing new specs we paid a rather heafty bill.

> $2000. The good thing is I splashed out and got a whole new pair cause then I will have a spare; besides I didn't want to be without my old ones right now....not even for 3 or 4 days. The new ones will arrive in about 2 weeks. [I think they are a bit like swim suits ....the less there is, the more you pay ] That all leads on to another subject.........

Sheila has been trying so kindly to help me with difficulties I have been having here on my blog to get pics or awards onto my side bar........maybe the failing eyesight doesn't help...being careless with the typing certainly doesn't, but then today I find I am not seeing the same things when I go to Blogger Dashboard that she is and maybe some of you too.( So I'm not going loopy after all! ) Any way I am not giving up but will find a quiet time soon and give it all another try. Perseverance is one of my middle names luckily, so is Patience ( usually )....hence I can do things like sew hexagons by hand - ha!

I think I am sick of Winter, certainly of rain and stormy winds! I have been a little out of sorts, morose this week, but maybe with Spring being in the air, between the showers of rain it will lift. A little excursion around my garden found pockets of colour and promise amid the last fallen leaves and debris from yet another stormy day yesterday. Spits of rain on my lens sent me back in....but don't these Velthemias ( like big lachenalia or small pokers ) look bright. The little clumps of Hellebores (or winter roses ) are always understated but I love their wee faces. I have Daffodils out now too and the first coloured Freesias, some Polyanthus, lots of Camellias and Magnolias. They don't last well when it's stormy and wet. At least there is nothing on the Kiwifruit that can get damaged right now. Probably the Avocados are getting rubbed or are falling off.....I hate to see them on the ground at this stage...such a waste.

Last Thursday my copy of Australian Quilters Companion arrived ( with Tracey's Heart's Compass quilt and other great reads . ) It is about 3 weeks since she mentioned it on her blog...takes a while to get to NZ. It arrived on the same day as NZ Healthy Foods mag. So I am in a position of having too many good things to read - that's a great problem to have. While on the subject of reading I am pleased to say for once I had read the book that won the fiction section of the Montana Book Awards - "Mr. Pip," by Lloyd Jones. It's a great read - I'm glad it won. I just finished reading "A Spot of Bother," by Mark Haddon - wasn't my sort of read really...too over done! Now for some light relief I am reading a Phillipa Gregory one "Wildacre."

Enjoy your weekend everyone!