I did one workshop during the retreat, a nice roomy space to work in and the balcony outside was pretty good too.

the food was pretty good ;)

Went walking on the jetty with a couple of friends who were also attending the online quilting group's retreat

this is a view of the Glenelg beach from the balcony of our room at the retreat in April

My son in law collects American number plates and sent me this photo of one, that I presume he did not buy.

Look at what arrived today - that was quick service !!

Thank you Maree

http://www.ozquilts.com.au/

Now to find some of the 15 minutes to start cutting for the double delight quilt - no longer a mystery, but it is such a pretty quilt that I am so looking forward to getting it done.

Will have to move along the steps as quickly as am able though coz Sarah has let me know that she has purchased the sashing fabrics for her giraffe quilt.

The grand daughters bring a special joy into my life, giraffes are a part of that joy.

While Sarah was out shopping she found some tops that took her fancy, this is one of them.

Our weather tomorrow is predicted to be between 43 - 45 C - way above 100 F

Am not looking forward to that !!

Theme for these cards was 'favourite animal' so I used the opportunity to remember our much loved pet and watchdog 'Quartz'



Have finally ordered some rotary cutter blades from a seller on ebay, so hopefully will soon be able to start cutting out for my quilts.
Meantime it has been fun to make these cards and it helps to take the mind off this excessive heat we are experiencing here.
It should be cooler in a week

Why the photos of the bedraggled plants you may well ask ?

It is a case of the same language being different in Australia and America ...
Here we refer to these as pot plants, however in America they are called potted plants - pot plants refer to something entirely different - and illegal.

So I have been challenged to show my plants to prove my innocence ;)

Currently we are experiencing a massive heat wave, the hottest in my lifetime so it is a struggle to keep some plants alive.
Today it is Saturday and the 'coolest' since this weather began last Monday - it 'only' reached 42C today


Our medicine cabinet in a plant is in this section - Aloe Vera

The vegatables are growing in foam boxes, tomatoes, zucchinis, beans, potatoes and basil

The palm fronds act as a shade for the plants and provide a help to the beans to attach to the trellis wire.

There are six ATC's like this for the insect theme swap.

Reminds me of a nursery rhyme when I was a child "ladybird, ladybird fly away home ..."

Don't remember all the words though.

Mail call

This package of fabrics arrived.
The two fabrics top left are novelty prints, every other month a group of us swap conversation prints cut into 6.5" charm squares, so I purchase five prints during two months for this.

The brown and the pink on the top right are fabrics to add to my double delight.
The creams at the bottom are both for the double delight and to add to my 'lights'

This package was purchased from Kim at AAA quilters supply.
There is a link in a recent post.

These artists' trading cards are for birthdays and there were just these three to be sent.
Hope the birthday girls like them.
The cakes are cholesterol free.


Cockle - Doodle - Doo is my interpretation of the chook theme, they are made using a fabric by Bonnie Sullivan and Maywood Studio, an 1880 reproduction.
There were six cards like this.



This is a postcard made for the theme swap "the seasons" my interpretation is
Autumn - the leaves start to fall
Winter - we hope for rain
Spring - blossom time
Summer - is cricket season

There were five cards like this.

We have been experiencing very high temperatures all week [over 100F] and the relentless heat is predicted to last at least another week.

Think I will melt .....

terrible photo, unfortunately it is the only one taken last night at our small family gathering for Grandpa's birthday.

This is one of the five cards sent this week to the swap group for the theme "Alice in Wonderland"
Hope the recipients enjoy them

Double delight fabrics

my fabrics arrived in good time, I ordered them from Kim at:





http://www.aaaquilterssupply.com/



I am looking forward to using them in Bonnie Hunter's double delight, it was a mystery but I have peeked and really like it.
No idea when it will be finished, but I intend to enjoy the journey.

this atc was my interpretation of the theme of "sunset" reminded me of watching sunsets at the ocean with my man

made three different stles for the purple postcard swap - 5 cards for this swap

this is a birthday atc for someone who wanted florals, the centres of the flowers have a bead

this is another birthday card for a January birthday girl whose request was for a surprise, so hope she likes it.

For the "I love Australia" theme atc's I chose to use koalas and gum blossoms

the surfers were for "summer fun" theme atc's, there were two different ones in my set of six cards

this was my depiction of the Christmas tree for the ATC swap - six like this.

ATC's - artist trading cards

These are the cards I made in December - they were in sets of six cards made the same.
Favourite colour - mine was purple

For fish , Nemo on a bad scale day

Christmas crazy patches were made individually so have some differences

For music went to

http://www.paperpanache/

and printed off some notes to foundation paper piece.

There are some good designs on that site.

for fruit my choice was to make cherries as it is summer here

As something new there is now a birthday ATC swap where we send an ATC to the birthday girls.

These cards are *one off's* rather than made in sets of six.






This card is for a purple girl

My Dad's comment is that "these cards are like lollies - you can't stop at just one."

Bonnie's new design - Double delight

this fabric is what I have chosen to work with - will use it as the border and because of that decided to change the indigos to greens in the quilt top.

Hopefully this fabric will work as the chocolate brown in this mystery.

This is the fabric I chose to use for the gold/cheddar

All others in this mystery will be from my scraps