Waltzing Matilda in Australia

 

The Waltzing Matilda quilt has safely reached its new home in Sydney, Australia!

I love to see my quilts in different locations, and there sure aren't any palms in New England in the northeast corner of the US.

Megan said, "the quilt is, of course, absolutely wonderful..." and that it was welcomed with "the thunderous applause it warrants." She says it has been given pride of place on the lounge where it will be used throughout the winter.

For me, this smile says it all. We make, and give, quilts because of the "Sheer Love Units" they generate.

Mission Accomplished!

Waltzing Matilda Flies!

 

The Waltzing Matilda quilt is packed up, ready to fly to the land down under. I even attached a picture of Millie to the box.

Although I originally planned to ship the box via USPS, in the end I decided it was worth the extra money to ship by FedEx. FedEx could guarantee me door-to-door tracking information, as the package would never leave FedEx's possession, even when going through Customs. With the USPS, as soon as the package left the USPS control, I would no longer know where it was until Megan told me she received it.

The other nice thing about FedEx is they gave me a scheduled delivery date: Tuesday March 30. Ten days. Woo hoo!

Hot Damn! I am so excited. I hope Megan is excited too. I hope she likes it.

Ready for My Beauty Shot

 Waltzing Matilda is ready for her beauty shot.

This isn't quite it. I like to take beauty shots outside.

Millie has given the quilt her Paw of Approval. Four Paws, actually, a rare honor, but then, this quilt is going to a Very Special Person.

I've been working hard the last few days, sewing my way around the quilt, and doing research about shipping it 10,099.90 miles (16,254.22 km) to Megan in Sydney, Australia. (Got that all sorted, actually.)

(You can click on this picture, then click again to get a bigger and more detailed view.)

The quilt is really gorgeous, and I am kinda jealous. I really really like it. But it's OK. I can make myself another. I'm glad it's going to a home that will love it as much as I do.

I will try to take it out over the next few days when I can take pictures of it outside. (When it goes to Oz it will never see snow again.) Then I will bring it inside and stuff it in the washing machine and then the dryer to make it all soft and crinkly. I'll fold it nicely and wrap it in a plastic bag and then I'll wrap a bit of bubble wrap around it, stuff it in a box, and had it off the the guys in the proverbial bloo (or brown or dark bloo shorts) and they will put it on a truck and eventually a plane and eventually another truck and then in some magical period of time as yet to be determined, it will arrive "home." 

What a lovely thought!

update: Dorothy, I always add a sheet with my address and the address the package is going to inside anything I ship. Thanks for sharing the suggestion for others who may not know.

Guess Who Came to Dinner?

It's Megan, from Sydney, Australia.

Yes, Megan from Sydney Australia! Megan who wrote the story of Albert Cosny, this bird:

I think Albert Cosny is more of a white-shoe kinda bird.

Hailing from Belle Fontaine, Alabama, Albie has made a name for himself in the jazz clubs of Mobile, Montgomery and Birmingham. Although he sings a number of Sinatra songs in his sets, he has styled himself more closely on Barry Manilow, inspired by the success of another crooner with a big nose (beak).

Albie has always enjoyed singing. He made his stage debut at the age of 5, when he was cast as the 4th angel to the right in the school nativity musical, written and directed by Mrs McKenzie, the school librarian. His career highlights include winning the Belle Fontaine Junior High School Talent Show at the age of 13 with a rendition of 'Release Me' and taking out first prize at the Montgomery Karaoke Kompetition in 1995, with a sensational performance of 'Unforgettable'. They say that most of the residents of Belle Fontaine made the trip to Montgomery to hear him that night, and if you while a way some time in the Belle Fontaine Diner on East Avenue, you can still hear folks talking about it on occasions.

Albie works as a call center operator for a major pet insurance company - "It pays the bills," he says. But the nights belong to his music. When he hasn't got a gig, you can sometimes catch him doing the odd midnight to dawn shift on radio station WABF 1120AM, where he soothes the insomniacs of southern Alabama by playing Engelbert Humperdinck, Bing Crosby and Tony Bennett. Rumour has it that if you listen very carefully, you might even catch Albie singing along.

 Yes, Megan is a writer, and she has been reading this and Millie's blog for over eight years. She's been a faithful commenter and we email each other quite a lot. When she wrote to me earlier this spring asking if we could get together when she visited the US in September, I said yes.

I asked Megan to choose one of my birds to keep. She picked this one.

She and her husband Michael had dinner together at my house and we talked and talked and looked at quilts. Then we tempted Millie with Kangaroo treats and talked some more.

It's always fun to meet my blog readers. It's more than special to meet someone from 10,070 miles away.

Thanks for a great evening Megan! It was so nice to meet the lady behind the comments.