Shameless appeal for your vote

Yes really - please vote.

The only saving grace in this is that for the vote is not for me, but my lovely sister.  Look what she made;

You can read the full story about it in Bell's post here. 

I should note here that we have another sister, and she is the one about to have a significant birthday and be given this lovely little book.  Not that I'm complaining - I have one in rose.

Please vote for Bell's project here - Fab Folds Challenge.  Voting closes at the end of October, and can be done once daily

She'd love to win a blog badge.

Thanks!

Of course, if you're an ACT resident like me, you'll also be voting in our local elections.  Unfortunately, we have to get dressed to do that one.

Stitching and cutting and hooking

It's been a slow day, with time spent stitching my long term block of the month English paper piecing project, cutting fabric for my next quilt and crocheting.



We've had frequent pauses for delicious food, and regular checks on the resident kangaroos and honeyeaters.


I've also made another Christmas decoration from thread and cardboard.


It's a good retreat.

Retreating

Abandoning freezing Canberra, I'm spending the weekend at a quilting retreat. No sewing machines permitted, so the pace is slow. Along the road here, I was thrilled to see a paddock of acid yellow canola and a small herd of belted galloways. My favourite crop and my favourite cattle. Perfect!



(I studied agriculture at university - of course I have favourites!)

Tricks

A great advantage of talking quilts with other quilters is learning their tricks. I learnt a cool trick tonight for half square triangles, and am keen to put it into practice.

Not time tonight though - too much driving in the rain has left me very tired.

The other side of the swap

Far removed from the anxious quilt making side of the swap is the delightful surprise of receiving a quilt.

And look at the lovely quilt I received;

It was made for me by Shaz from Alsha's Space.  I really like it's graphic lines and fantastic bird print features.

Thanks Sharyn!

Granny Square Doll Quilt

Lately, I've been working on different ideas for the Down Under Doll Quilt Swap.  It's my first time as part of this swap, and I've been somewhat worried about every choice I have made.

After abandoning my first English paper pieced project, I turned to the granny square block, which I have seen in lots of places around the net.

It was easy to piece, although the instructions I followed meant every edge section was a bias edge, which worried me.  I'm typically terrible matching things up, so followed every pressing and pinning instruction, for pretty good results.  The finished quilt is around 17 inches square.

I also tried something new with the quilting - (mostly) parallel closely spaced lines of stitching.   I really like the effect this gave, but if I were to do it again would sash the edges with some white fabric.  The heavy quilting meant the edges were quite distorted, despite varying the direction of the stitching lines, which meant my points at the binding were not good.

Despite this issue I am very pleased with this little quilt, and hope my swap partner enjoys it too.

An evening with friends

Delightful company, and I got the bindings stitched on. Photographs of the finished quilt and popping it in the post tomorrow!

Words fail

Too many errands, too many whingeing children.



Guacamole for dinner, and things start improving. Thank heavens.

Saturday

Saturday has been slow. I spent the morning transferring Harry Potter 5 from cd (24!!) to computer to iPod.

I also spent time on animal chores. At my most green, I disapprove of feeding wild birds. Trying to affect their lifestyle least, we put out seed sporadically, but do always provide water. Today we were rewarded with the king parrots dropping by the feeder. Such vividly colored birds - they're Christmas on the wing!

After writing that, I cannot figure out how to move my photo from to this computer, so instead, here's an Eastern Rosella for your enjoyment


We also had the inlaws over for dinner and cards, so it's been a busy day. If boring to read about.

Fabulous!

Today, I spent quite some time washing (5 loads - thankfully, it was lovely drying day.) I also rearranged my Tupperware cupboard. It's fabulous now, but not really something I'm keen to show off here.

Instead, here's a progress shot of my granny square blocks, which I decided to go with for the doll quilt swap.




Tomorrow, I'm planning to get into the quilting. I'm looking forward to it.

The Beach

We spent two hours at the beach this morning, as a last hurrah before returning inland to home.


The children had such a good time. Holding hands against the strength of the waves, building a castle of kelp, and rolling in the sand.

It was bright, hot, sandy and accompanied by freezing water. I much prefer to look at the beach, rather than spending time there. But then, I also like looking at mountains, rather than climbing them. Murder mysteries probably fall into this category too.

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Tonight, we're back in Canberra, very tired. The kids are home with my husband, listening to Harry Potter, their latest obsession.

I'm waiting for the action to start at Canberra Quilters. It seemed more polite to blog than fall asleep.

Visiting

The children & I have spent a few days visiting my parents at their home. We've spent time gathering macadamias (averaging 70/day at present), have had seaside fish & chips fir dinner, and listened to Harry Potter 3.

We've also spent time in the park across the road. This magnificent old gum is the heart of the park.


We worry about it.

There has also been time for sewing - I hope to finish my blocks tonight.

Blossoms in my garden

Spring is my favourite time of the year in the garden.  Endless potential, and the plants we've forgotten about return.

Not that I'm much of a gardener.  I have ideas, but am a terrible weeder, and maintainer of pretty things.  Sadly, my husband's the same.

So, we'll enjoy springtime, plant a few summer vegies, and then let most of them die off when the weather gets hot.

I think I should make a spring time quilt - flowers with no need for weeding!

October means Blogtoberfest

Well, in certain spheres it does anyway.  This year, Kat from I Saw You Dancing is hosting, and it's already looking good.  In fact, just Kat's blog name is enough to get me thinking happier thoughts.  Despite the looming pressure of daily blogging.

I'm starting my festival of blogging with a creative dilemma. I'm a participant in the third round of the Down Under Doll quilt swap, and am suffering major performance anxiety.

My English paper pieced block was progressing nicely, when I realised another quilter was using the same block.  Being mature and all, I decided to proceed anyway.  But now I have no confidence that my quilt will be at all what my swap recipient would like.

Last night, I had a brain storm.  It's an alternative that could work very nicely, but there's only a week left.  It's doable.  I think it will make me happier, so tonight I'll be diving into that so very well organised stash of mine.