PROCRASTINATION ON QUILTING. (2nd for Wednesday)

That "Dahlia" quilt I made all of five years ago, has sat waiting while I procrastinated over what to quilt on it.
The trouble was that I'd seen many, with very beautiful freehand feathers, flowers and stippling , which I knew that I couldn't even think, about let alone replicate, so it just sat there.  Then lo and behold I've seen two with allover patterns and they still looked beautiful, so this is what I am doing.  The pattern I've chosen came with my Statler and is Flower Swirl, by Designs by Deb.  One row has been done and I just had to take a photo. (not very good, I'll have to get better with this new camera).

Part of pattern.

Just after lunch, I went out to rake some of the leaves, actually lots and I quickly took some photos out there too.  On the weekend I will try and learn a bit more about my camera, as these aren't the best either, but here goes anyway.

A beautiful leaf blown in from next door's tree.

Nerines coming into flower.

The weeping cherry hanging onto it's leaves.

One forget-me-not already in flower.  Most are still tiny seedlings.

I picked these bottlebrushes, which I hadn't noticed till today.

TWO QUILTS GO FLYING!

The two quilts  below are probably now somewhere in the air between Oz and UK.

"Froggy Antics"
This little baby playmat/quilt is off to Essex to the daughter of  hubby's best friend who is expecting her first baby in July.  We stay with them when we are down that way on our holidays in UK.
The pattern is from Laurie Bevan's book  "Lickety-Split Quilts for Little Ones", on page 41.

"The Cat's Meow".
I have put this one on before, when I was ready to quilt it.
It was Pieced in 1999 as a mystery quilt from Traditonal Quiltworks magazine.
It was by Debbie Caffrey.
I finally quilted it this year so I could send it to one of my best friend's, sister and daughter as a gift.
It will reside in Yorkshire.

Now this is the one below that I hopefully will start to quilt today.

I made it in a class in 2008 that I was asked to go to by two different people as they were doing it too.

I quilted one of the other ones, but never got around to my own.  I am going to do it in an allover pattern,

and hope it will look ok.  One of the ladies that asked me to go, has a long arm too, and did an allover pattern and now Lucie the Happy Quilter is doing a Lone Star with an allover and it looks lovely, so here's hoping mine will look good.

Dahlia Quilt.

Well, that is just a quick post for today and thanks to all my blogging buddies for lots of inspiration on their posts. 

Susan. 

THOSE PESKY 2" SQUARES

I Wonder What Is In This Box?

This box contains a rather obscene amount of 2" squares.  These were samples sent to me through a mail order shop in Sydney during the period 1994 to about 2000.  They came along with your parcel, or if you went to the shop they were given to you if you lived in the country.  Sometimes they weren't 2" squares.

In 1999, I was made redundant from the bank and found the whole experience very stressing and could not concentrate on anything very time consuming.  What was this person going to do?  Why, sit and play with these squares.  I put them into colour groups and made some nine patches and four patches.  They then needed to be made into something,

On Point Nine and Four patch quilt.

These two quilts are the first I attempted.  They aren't particularly original, but I didn't follow a set pattern, just put them together after playing around with graph paper and pencil.  ( I've been sewing on a machine since I was 7 and made my first quilt in 1977).

My second option.

This little quilt (20" x 25") is made from the ones that weren't 2".  I cut them all to 2" x 1 1/2" and then sashed  it. Didn't seem quite right, so I appliqued the birdhouse and then it seemed finished.

Not sure how I came up with this design, but the graph book was  out again , and this just seemed to happen.  I  started to quilt it on my old long-arm, that wasn't stitch regulated or computerised.  It has not very good feathers in the diamond green middle and simple pattern in the border.  I started to do the squares on my Bernina and have now unpicked that as it was bunching up too much.  I'll just quilt in the ditch on about every third row, then bind it.

This sampler is an adaptation from a Doreen Speckman book shown below.  I am thinking of quilting it in an allover pattern, as it seems very busy and I don't think anything special will show up well.  What do my "quilting buddies" think?  I am open to suggestions.

Book, (picture of Lace Circles is on page 61)


This afternoon I made a Raspberry Blondie, but I've not tried it yet.  A new slice from a supermarket freebie mag.  I will put some yoghurt on tonight.

After following Lucie the Happy Quilter's blog, I have been inspired to start finishing some of my WIP's,
Below is an apron I cut out many years ago after making many as presents for family and friends.  This one only needed me to make some bias binding, so last week it was all done and I wore it today in the kitchen.
I've also pulled some smaller projects that I will hopefully make a start on over the coming winter months.
I am also going to make a dent in my own stack of "flimsies".
There is already some backing on "Bubs", my long arm machine and may be tomorrow I will take a photo  of the top when it is ready to go.  I'm still contemplating what I will do on my Grandson's quilt.

These photos were supposed to be better than my last lot, as we purchased a new camera during the week, but I think I'll be on a steep learning curve.  It is an SLR and I've only had  a small digital one up till now, so here's hoping they will get better with time.

Well, that is my Saturday nearly done.  I will keep sewing the binding on the baby quilt tonight, while waiting for hubby to come home, after a long Saturday shift.
May post a couple more photos late tomorrow.
Have a nice weekend ladies.
Susan.

MOTHERS DAY GIFTS & OTHER BITS

Where has this last week gone.  It seems like yesterday we were over at my daughter's house and celebrating Mother's Day.

The beautiful card my daughter made for me.  If you click on it,  you can see the writing more clearly , and it is so  me.

And these are my presents.  The owls are fridge magnets, the book  is one of Erica  James  that I've not read and the  fun birdcage something I tried to buy, but they had sold out.  I have put three jelly rolls inside to make sure they get used instead of in the cupboard where they may be forgotten.  We'll see, but aren't I the lucky one.

I also brought this home with me.  My daughter has made this for Gs "L", as now that he is 7, his little cuddle quilt I made for him is too small for cuddling under whilst watching TV.  She hand appliqued the cars and vans using buttonhole stitch and drew some faces in the windows.  It looks absolutely lovely.  Gd "M" will be getting one also, with beautiful fairy embroidery.








On Thursday my hubby had the day off and we decided to go out for the day, but as it was windy and lashing down with rain so we went to the Tyabb Packing House Antique Centre as we knew we'd be dry and there is a nice little cafe, so we could have a light lunch.  We wandered around  and saw lots, but luckily didn't buy anything except a couple of old books.  The above pictures are how the sky was looking for most of the day and the second one, galahs sitting on the wires.  These birds are pink and grey and there were dozens of them.  I was lucky to get this pic, as we were sitting at a set of traffic lights and I couldn't find the camera, but it came out better than I thought.


 


On the way to Tyabb, we stopped at one of my favourite little interiors/gift shops.  I don't get there very often and she sells both new and old things.  I bought these 5 little bottles, which I do need to get a little cleaner, but couldn't resist to put them on the window sill this morning with some flowers from the garden.  Not much is flowering at the moment, and what is there, is a little battered from the heavy rain.  My feet were soaked when I came in.  I also picked some rhubarb and will make a crumble for dessert tonight.

My English Garden quilt is now bound and is to be displayed in the Lioness Quilt Show in September, or so I've been told.  I have a few others I would like to finish as well, but with a baby quilt and Gd's to do, they will have to wait.

These are stitcheries I've done over the last few years and I'm debating on a design for them.  It will be a small quilt and probably with lots of floral fabric.  Watch this space.  The designs are from Bronwyn Hayes.

Well, this is some of what I've been up to this week.  Must go and finish making some soup and baking a slice.

Have a lovely weekend girls and thanks for my comments.

Susan.

BITS AND BOBS

A couple of my blogging buddies have had some unusual posts lately, which I've found quite interesting, so here are some fun things that I'm following on with.

 Old Knitting books with prices of 7d and 6d.  These were handed down to me from my Mum.
Two of the patterns from inside include a full length dressing gown, a vest and pair of knickers (panties).

Two very old books that I always loved.  The first  is very English about a little girl and the other about the Cocker Spaniel is probably why I love this breed so much.

 This Maple is beside the front verandah, outside our living room window.  When the sun shines through it first thing in the morning, it is lovely.

These two Maples are in our backyard and turn completely different colours to the one at the front.

A lovely Pierre de Ronsard rose sitting on my desk at the moment.

This is my lovely "Springer Spaniel".  Hubby made him from a car spring and other bits.  Isn't he great.

These are just because I've commented on other blogs and feel the need to follow on.
Have a lovely weekend and thank you for your lovely comments.
Susan.

HOME AGAIN PART 2

Sunday

Decided to take a walk along the beach this morning, which although cold was lovely.  We had a cup of coffee at the small cafe near the footbridge and noticed a small market being held along the foreshore park.
Had a look before heading back to the caravan park.
The following photos are just snaps I took around Lakes Entrance.

Colourful whirlygigs for sale at the Market.

Black swans on the Lake

Black Cockatoos eating seeds in a Banksia.

Pelicans and seagulls looking for a feed.

Just one of the many chainsaw carvings from trees that needed to be felled.
If you click on it, you should be able to see the plaque that tells some of the story about them.
They are lovely.

View of part of the extensive lakes system from the Lookout.

The Gippsland Lakes are a very large body of water just off the coast, in Eastern Victoria with lots of different lakes and waterways.  Ninety Mile Beach runs along the sea side.  You could probably explore the area for months.

The actual "Entrance" for the system from the ocean.

Monday.

Today we headed for home.  On the way I just had to make a stop at Lily Lane in Rosedale.  Oh, and that is a Patchwork Shop.  The owner Jenny and I did a long-arm quilting workshop together many years ago, so it is nice to catch up occasionally.  We also popped into 2 antique shops before we had some lunch.

This little tractor is actually made from an old sewing machine.  This was in the antique shop and there was two of them.

Interior of Lily Lane.

Our car and caravan.  I was supposed to take a photo while at  the caravan park, but  forgot, so here it is now.

This is the most amazing gum tree.  We've stopped in this picnic area  several times and I've never had my camera on me.
Now I take my camera everywhere, so I finally took the picture of it.

OK, that was the long weekend and some of our photos, hope you enjoy.Thanks for the lovely comments.
This weekend we are off to our daughter's place as it is Mother's Day here in Australia.
It is lovely to spend time with at least two of  our grandchildren ,  as the others live in Canberra, NSW and UK.
Susan.

HOME AGAIN

A lovely weekend and it didn't rain, although it was very windy for a couple of days.  Here are some photos, which I hope you will enjoy.  We left Friday morning to take us to Lakes Entrance where we parked the caravan for 3 nights.  On Saturday we headed off for McKillopp's Bridge.  We stopped in Buchan for morning tea at a small Road House where the service was great.

BUCHAN

.Looking back towards the cliffs just out of the town of Buchan.  As you may notice, the trees are definitely on the turn for autumn.

GRAVEL ROAD.

Soon the road turned to gravel and I knew that we were in for a bumpy ride, although it was better than I thought.  This section the road was OK till we got to the next section.

LITTLE RIVER FALLS.

We made a quick side trip into these falls, where we had a short walk.  They are  lovely, but I couldn't get a good photo because of all the trees and foliage.
After this quick stop, the road took on a different look altogether.  We passed a sign that read "NO CARAVANS OR SEMI TRAILERS ALLOWED PAST THIS POINT".
For those in the U|K, this means no articulated lorries.  I should have realised it was going to be horrendous, but I also know that my hubby is a professional driver and I should not worry.
Oh boy, did I freak when I saw what was over the top.  A steep, narrow, winding road with an immense drop on my side and a steep bank on the other and definitely only wide enough for one car.  I put something over my face to start with and then was told to read a magazine, REALLY, read a magazine.  We got to the bottom fine and I am always grateful that I have a wonderful, sensible hubby.  He loves these sort of places and I do too, just not this type of road.

Typical sort of country we were travelling in.

McKILLOPP'S BRIDGE.

This photo is taken through the trees, which about the best I could get of the structure,  Below is hubby standing on the approach to the bridge.  It has a timber platform with two more strips which you drive on.  Only one car  can go in either direction.  I t was worth it and something that has been on our to do list for a long time.  The road on the other side was much better and people do come in and  out that way more often.

Information Board.

As you may guess from the board, this is actually the second bridge they built.  We ate our lunch here, then headed back to the Lakes.  Just after we left, we met about 20 young lads on trail bikes, which gave us a scare to start with as they were travelling in the centre of the road, but they let each other know there was vehicle coming, so that was good..

AMBYNE SUSPENSION BRIDGE.

We found this little bridge by the side of the road on the way home.  Stopped and took some photos, then back on the road and a strange noise from the car.  Oh dear, we had a flat tyre.  Luckily we were near a small parking area and changed it for the spare.  We have not had a flat tyre for many years and of all places, out in the middle of nowhere.

I'll do another post later today about the next two days with some more photos.
Susan.