Tropical Summer

 Tropical Summer...........Sounds nice doesn't it? 

In summer the weather in North Queensland is hot and gets hotter. People find ways to keep cool. Many go to the beach to swim in the cool water, or they find a shady place in a garden or just keep to the indoors and air conditioning.

 

Townsville has a dry tropical climate that is dominated by
two distinct seasons:

The wet season, summer (November to April); 

and 

The dry season, winter (May to October).

As you can imagine we do two things here well, when it's fine we have our air-conditioners running and our washing hanging outside and when it's raining we have our dryers going with the washing inside.

 I remember the washing lines at home on the farm. There were 3 long lines tied to buildings or posts, with a long stick to keep them from sagging when full of wet washing.

I love the smell, the freshness and crispness of sheets that have dried on the line. It's as if a little bit of sunshine has absorbed into the fabric. The good side of a dryer is that washing is dried in next to no time, folded away and a few spare moments are collected for other pursuits.

I thought I would wash my hubby's peanut pillow that he likes to put under his neck while watching TV.  Had the sun been shining I would have hung it outside! Needless to say the dryer was not kind and given the age of the pillow it sort of fell apart.

I found a free pattern here with full tutorial and whipped one up this morning. Now he always said it was a bit too small so I decided to make it larger by adding 4 inches (his suggestion and who am I to argue) in the middle of the pattern before cutting out. 

Looks a bit long but the telling will be tonight with the trial. I may need more stuffing if it's not firm enough!

The great thing about all the rain is that the garden is blooming.

 

 

 

I have discovered a new Series to binge watch while stitching in my craft room called "The Mill". 

 

After watching The Great British Sewing Bee and learning about the history of different fabrics this story goes back in time to the 1830s, children worked 12-hour shifts in the cotton mills, and the new class of mill-owning families prospered. The apprentices have no choice but to work at the mill until they reach adulthood. You  can find it on 7plus TV.

Now it's off the make an orphan stitchery into a cushion  cover.