A VERY PRODUCTIVE DAY

I've sewn up three patchwork quilt tops and put the frill on a cushion and reached the bottom of the "To Do" basket. Only two dresses to finish but one of those is for going out and I can't see myself doing that anytime soon so it can safely be left. The quilt tops had been pinned for so long the pins had gone rusty. These are only the tops, I haven't bought the cotton batting or the backing fabric.

There's a lot to remember about sewing them. Keep the seams to the mark on the footplate, sew the seams all the one way and something about washing and ironing the cotton before doing the sewing bit. I let that one slide, I just won't get them dirty. They're nothing fancy, just coloured squares which my quilting expert friend would run up between lunch and afternoon tea. I did forget one other rule, take your foot off the pedal when trying to thread the needle otherwise you can sew your finger to the material. Bum, that hurt.

I washed the clothes especially the new King size doona cover I bought last week for $20. Bargain plus, it's 280 thread count cotton and feels like silk. There's nothing quite like an end of lease sale which doesn't finish until the end of March so I can have another crack at the bargains. I would have put it on the bed but I didn't feel like wrestling with the doona and taking all of my 'can't live without' items off the bed. I've tried to live with a naked bed but it doesn't work. I need the books, note pad, walkman, phonebook, diary, journal, kleenex, and the present my sister bought for me last year. I haven't found the right spot for it yet but I like to open the box and look at it.

I also translated several incoherant phone calls from Mother. I stopped my sister from strangling her. I stopped myself from flinging the phone across the room. We have had four days of bitching (from her) until our patience has been exhausted. I cooked for her on Monday night, fresh chicken and potato salad, fresh fruit salad but she couldn't eat all the chicken. She said I shouldn't cook so much. Not half an hour later, she's in the kitchen getting bread and honey, a frozen desert and a cup of tea. I was steaming but walked out and slammed the front door instead of slamming her. She's now telling everyone that the BrickOutHouse spends his nights swilling wine which he never did until he got a girlfriend. It's wine because the bottles are green, she doesn't read labels or she'd know it's Pellagrino water. If I don't stop here and say more, I won't sleep. My nightly ritual is to empty my mind of Mother.