family time

had a picnic lunch at the local park - Coulthard reserve, this is mid winter but it was a sunny day.
This area is still in drought as the level of the lake will show.
Realise now have uploaded one picture twice - right clicking on it did not bring up the option to delete ...

The magpies were appreciative of the tidbits thrown their way.

Hubby had a nice time in the mens' shed playing the Inka drum that Trevor made.

Jeff played his accordion and together they played a rendition of Amazing Grace, I was just walking past the shed when I heard the music, wished I had a small tape recorder but at least my camera recorded the happening.

Been cutting some charms for group swaps - Boys I spy prints, next month is for girls and some fabrics with metallic prints.

this week

After the quilt 'Twenty Annies' going to the retreat in Perth, Leann now has it back again, it is a nice feeling to make quilts that the recipients like irrespective of whether they are simple in design.
I greatly admire finely made quilts which should be heritage listed but am most unlikely to ever create one myself, never mind I get to wrap people I care about with quilts to warm them.

At last Trevor is able to be able to be out of bed for long enough to be able to gp down the street etc., so those shopping bags I made earlier are now really being tested as the shopping is transported by wheelchair, the length of the handles is critical to keeping the bags off the wheels.


So much better than the plastic bags in my humble opinion though ....



The borders are now on my Orange Crush - thinking I 'cheated' a bit by including a border print instead of the piecing that Bonnie suggested.






However I bought the print at the same time as the orange and as orange is NOT a colour I would normally use there was no point in not using this.






IF I make a blueberry crush I will add the pieced borders on that one.






Of course as soon as I put the quilt on the line to take the photo up sprung a breeze, so you have to take my word for it that the borders are indeed flat!






Now to give it a good press and sandwich it ready for quilting.






Still have no ideas of how to quilt it though so any suggestions are more than welcome.

Orange Crush

Here is my top before borders.


Am having to be a little creative with the borders coz I am using a border print - and I am short by about 3" so having to mitre the corners that fit, then trim the fabric to piece onto the short borders aagh!!!


Hopefully they will be finished this weekend.


Was going to make a pieced back but have enough of the berry print that I used as the accent ... gotta love stashbusting!


Need to decide how to quilt this and then do it!


The close up is just in case you wanted to see some of the variety of prints I used , it is what I call Heinz 57 varieties or as Bonnie says "kitchen sink"

a new settee?

My wonderful sister is always keeping my spirits up by sending amusing photos, stories and jokes.
Tonight this photo was included - I imagine it was in an art exhibition somewhere.

my winnings

Julia had a lucky draw over on her blog and I was fortunate enough to win a lovely pack of Moda Christmas charms - my dad absolutely loves Christmas so plan on making him something using these fabrics - no ideas as to what yet though.
He really was absorbed in checking out all the different prints in the pack.

Thanks for this Julia.

we have a winner

Today my daughter came for a visit so printed off the comments cut them apart, folded and put into a bowl, then closely supervised by Trevor, she drew one piece of paper ....

........ so Stephanie, please send me your snail mail addy and I will send you a squishy!

100th post!

100th post - had no idea but that is what the dashboard is telling me.
So guess that means I get to play at giving away *stuff* - but what???
I have almost no idea ..............
so..............
if you want to be in the draw, when you leave your comment add in what you would like - before we start - quilts are out! any that I have on the go are already either promised or ear marked!

Some suggestions might be for charms, I spy's or colours.
crumb pieced rotary cutter case
pin cushion
pot holder
shopping bag
so over to you clever ones ...

Now on to the reason that I came to the blog - Tip nut had a post today about a blog that is about living a simpler life, so it is more about gardening, growing vegetables etc and I thought some others might be interested in the blog too
http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/2008/02/not-step-by-step-guide-to-simple-living.html

Just a quick note about the orange crush - the intended recipient does like the quilt top so will make some more blocks to bring it up to the size.
Bought a coordinating border fabric when I bought the yardage of orange so will use that for the border in place of Bonnie's pieced border.
bye for now,
100 - maybe that is why I feel old ....

Orange Crush setting

Having seen Julia in Perth's straight setting I decided to rearrange some blocks to that setting , took a photo in the poor lighting we have at night and will decide tomorrow which way to finally set the blocks together.

Am thinking I like the lattice effect of the diagonal lines rather than the straight.

These blocks are just roughly pinned, wanted to do it while the setting was fresh in my mind.

If by chance you happen to see this before I finally decide on the setting please leave me a comment.

Just as an aside this is how I cope without a design wall, have the foam panels from packaging around a fridge and simply lean them against something - in this instance it is a cupboard and the back door.

my today

Started to pin the blocks up for the orange crush and in walked the person that this quilt is intended for
"Wow"!! was the reaction, so I decided to snap the photo to see if I could get the same reaction - unfortunately, no.
Orange is not *my* colour, happily though it looks like the intended recipient will be delighted when they get it as a surprise.

What I received as a surprise though was this postcard from Viki!!!

Made from selvedges so now I have no excuse for not using my selvedges ;))

Thank you Viki your RAK really brightened my day.

orange crush

Bonnie has now solved the mystery!!!

I finished part 4 last night so will work my way though part 5 then I can set this quilt together - lots of split patches to make for the border but can do them as leaders and enders.
Then start my 2nd quilt using this design ;-))

With the finish of the design comes the graphic - looks good doesn't it?

Stephanie's charity qui;ts

Stephanie does a lot of charity quilts - she is a very generous person.

These versions of rail fences have been made using donated fabrics.

One was being made while I was there so that I could see how it was done.

In Perth

Before and after the retreat I was fortunate to stay with fellow scquilter Stephanie.
This was my bed to use - aren't they wonderful flying geese??
Even went to a sit and sew on the Wednesday.
Some of the usual attendees were at the quilt and craft show so numbers were down but I had a lovely time there.
Some are working on a civil war diary quilt, I did some stitching on a welcome hanger for my kitchen door - it is still not finished.

Perth retreat

This picture theatre was just around the corner from where the retreat was held, all original art deco.

Unfortunately did not manage to go inside to see a movie but did enjoy looking at the building anyway.

Whether it is because our net connection is by dial up or some other reason, the photos are taking 'forever' to upload and when I try to put more than two in a post, the navigation gets lost.

It may take some days to get them loaded, will do another post tonight, so if you are interested then please check back in a few days.

retreat

The roofline is of the Pagoda at Como in Perth where the scquilters retreat was held.

The interior photos are from inside the Roman Palace restaurant where the Thursday night pre dinner was held.

flying home

On the flight home our stweard was Daniel, he took the photo of me.
Daniel said his mother is a quilter and lives in Sydney, he himself lives in Melbourne.

The flights there and back were both good.