Orange you glad I woke up early to take these photos?

Gale force winds, an eerie orange glow and a gritty atmosphere you can touch and taste. Sydney's turned sepia this morning.

We've woken to extraordinary once-in-a-lifetime weather conditions. A fierce dust storm has blown un during the night bringing red dirt from hundreds of kilometres away in the inland.

In an effort to bring you the news as it happens I snapped these photos out of my bedroom windows (through the insect-screens).

Visibility on the roads is reduced to around 500 metres, a mere 2 metres on the harbour they say, and ferries have been cancelled.

The airport is diverting planes to other cities, athletics carnivals are cancelled and medical authorities are advising older folk, asthmatics and children under 5 to stay indoors.

I don't think I'll be hanging out the washing today. Or having my once-white car washed.

To make things even worse bright sparks have been phoning into breakfast radio with every pun imaginable.

Of course I'd never sink so low.

A Friday Flaunt

I'm making slow progress, but steady, on my version of Emma Jansen's beautiful Snowflake Medallion quilt, and this week has seen the completion of the hand applique on the central medallion, and the addition of a double mitred border.

I've begun work on the next border, saw-tooth stars in shades of yellow. Gosh I'm loving yellow in a quilt!

The striped leaves on the raspberry-coloured buds are actually a stronger shade than they appear here, and I'm very happy with the overall appearance of the quilt which I'm making in parallel with Linda.

We share notes, techniques and tips (though mostly I learn from her, rather than the other way round!) and while she's halfway across the world, the internet and Skype mean that she could be living right next door.

Take a look at Linda's version, using a completely different but gorgeous palette of purples, teals and greens.

Winners are grinners!

Not even a bad hair day could wipe the smile from my face after I received a phone call today telling me I'd won the Christmas quilting hamper at my local Spotlight store!!!

Since my friend Di had been kind enough to pop my entry in the barrel it was only right that she share the glory, so here we are just an hour ago, grinning like a couple of Cheshire cats with our prize, a padded trolley full of fat quarters and quilting tools, many of which will be mighty useful for our Stitchin' Mission.

Hey, isn't that a Stitchin' Mission notice Di's holding up? Not one to miss an opportunity to promote our free beginner quiltmaking classes, she managed to sign up another class participant on the spot! Love your work, Di.

(You can be part of the fun too, if you live in Sydney. Just leave me a comment and I'll get back to you.)

Educating Chester

He's only 14 weeks old, but already Chester is learning to become a "courteous canine". He's a bright little guy, as this clip of him with my daughter shows (those liver treats are a powerful motivator for a labrador pup!)

More Australian spring flora among the fixtures in David Jones

David Jones Flower Show

The David Jones Flower Show has marked the beginning of spring in Sydney for as long as I can remember.

For the first two weeks of September the ground floor of our classiest department store is dressed with magnificent floral arrangements, kept fresh by an army of florists working behind the scenes once the shop closes its doors.

This year the theme is "An Australian Perspective" and our native flowers and shrubs share the limelight, sometimes arranged in rather extraordinary displays - just spectacular!

With much of Australia in drought, these dry-climate plants seem to be gaining in popularity.

[I wonder, is it 'un-Australian' to admit that while David Jones looks fabulous dressed to the nines with leucodendrons, bottlebrush, waratahs and gum leaves, I do prefer traditional English garden plants and flowers in my garden?]

Introducing ... Chester

Cute, eh?