It's been a long time, now I'm...

coming back home....I've been away now, oh how.......

Hands up who was singing it in their head?? (Gotta love the Beatles).

I haven't been away too far, just very busy with Christmas, some commission work and getting stuff ready for my market stall...and I finished a couple of items too.

We here in Oz just celebrated Australia Day - it commemorates the first settlement of Europeans in Australia - it has been mired in a little controversy given the status of the traditional landholders, but it is still a public holiday and it is very traditional for folks to get away for 'the long weekend' (Oz Day is the 26th January and it happened to fall on the weekend, so Monday was declared a public holiday, giving us a 3 day weekend).

My bff, her partner and my husband decided to get away camping, to Noojee, a spot the boys recced the weekend before.  Gorgeous spot, next to a river and not too far to travel.  There's new long drops, lots of shade and given the weather forecast, it seemed like an ideal spot.

Oh dear, how wrong we were...

When we pulled in late on Friday afternoon, it didn't take us long to set up and get the kettle on and contemplate what we'd have for dinner.

Nicked the photo from my bff's facebook page

A Ranger came around to let us know there was still a Total Fire Ban in place, so cooking over the fire was out of the question.  No drama's - perfect opportunity to have dinner at a place called The Outpost in town (the schnitzels were amazing, real chicken breast and came with a multitude of different toppings.  The boys had a Billy Burger and declared them very, very tasty - we'd definitely go back again).

A couple of camping groups in the same area decided that the Total Fire Ban could not possibly apply to them, so they lit a campfire - given they had young kids in their party, this behaviour was completely irresponsible.  It was compounded later by the arrival of several dirt bikes - obviously they'd been out riding when we arrived and the noise they made on their return certainly shattered the serenity of the place - being in a valley added reverberating echoes all around the camping ground - hmm, not enjoying Noojee as much now.....but wait, there's more....

Several groups decided that they should play their music, loudly, so everyone could hear - so we had Jon Bon Jovi up against doof doof (I can't call it music - Gawd, how old do I sound!!) - not the same doof doof artist at each site mind you, but lots of different ones, just in case we didn't like one of them....

This continued for some time - but it did finish reasonably early on Friday night so off to bed and hopefully a better day on Saturday.

Have to say, Saturday not a great deal better - more bikes - a nice surprise though was that a Total Fire Ban was not declared so campfires legal and we looked forward to a good night around the fire.  Wasn't to be - the 'music' was louder - it appeared that each group decided their particular music should have centre stage - so they just kept turning the sound up - we even had the Bon Jovi group 'singing' along to their cd (don't give up your day job girls!).  The group behind us played a card game that apparently required a lot of shouting - things like f**k, a******e and raucous laughter - don't get me wrong - I love a drink and I swear - but omg, there were kids about and OTHER PEOPLE CLOSE BY.  The noise continued until 1.30am Sunday morning and I'd had enough - not enough sleep - terrible music - noisy bikes.....

I'd love to say I marched up to the ferals/bogans and demanded they thought about others besides themselves - but I didn't - they'd been drinking since lunchtime and I wasn't game enough - so, after breakfast Sunday morning, we came home - a day earlier than planned.  The good thing about that was I was able to watch the Oz Open men's final  - sorry Murray didn't win but it was a great match.

I love camping, especially bush camping, and the irresponsible idiots that tear up the bush, frighten the wildlife and think of no-one but themselves make me despair.  I know this type of anti-social behaviour happens in towns and cities all over the place, but I usually avoid situations where I have to deal with it..there was a time when I wouldn't have thought twice about confronting the perpetrators...I wonder when I got so afraid?

In the grand scheme of things, I've nothing really to complain about - we have people battling floods and bush fires in this great land - and I grieve with them...and send my best wishes to all them, including the emergency services members and volunteers assisting them.

Happy Australia Day..

The one where the music soars.....

in my head at least - and I danced a bit (my husband thinks I'm nuts) - because this evening, I finished the last FWQA blocks - yep, all 111 of them - and yes, I know I still have to sew the blocks together and finish the quilt - but Rome wasn't built in a day and all that - I started these blocks in June 2012 when I joined the FWQA and initially I made several each week.  However, as things go, my exuberance waned and I found it was months between blocks...they really did become quite tedious.....and then I got another spurt on and another til finally, they're done - the first 3 of the top row I finished last week and the remainder I've finished today - the bottom left block took me longer to make than the other 7!! - actually, that was the penultimate block and just because I really wanted to finish them all today, my sewing machine decided to start playing up - bloody thing - a clean out, a new needle and a change of thread and bobbin helped a little, but it looks like it needs a professional service.....but, it was ok enough for me to finish them all....YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

....and the stack all together...

It must be the right sort of day - because this morning I finished the machine quilting on this baby...

rotten photo - it's night time!

I've custom quilted this - there's feathers and lots of stitch in the ditch (ish!) - I won't win any prizes for the quilting but it's a whole lot better than previous efforts - onwards and upwards!  I'm going to do some hand quilting too so it's not ready for an official finish as yet - I started the quilt top back in April 2010 - I didn't know how to foundation piece so I signed up for a BoM with Stitchin Heaven - it's called 'Dancing with the Stars' and every block is foundation pieced.  It's a big quilt (80" x 92") - but it's almost Oz Open time so the hand quilting can be completed whilst watching the tennis.

On that note, I'm off to add the FWQA photos to Flickr then go to bed - funnily enough I'm pooped!

Someday at Christmas....

I have Stevie Wonder belting out his 'Someday at Christmas' album (first released in 1967!) and it never fails to evoke memories of Christmas's past - and it never fails to invoke a palpable longing to be holding my family tight around me - my sisters, my brothers and all the extended family that make up our Clan - alas, it's not to be - we're separated by many miles and many differing priorities so for now, Skype, Stevie and family closest helps.....maybe one day.....roll on a Tattslotto win......

I was out and about yesterday, for one thing and another, and received a note from the post office to pick up a parcel - I thought it might be books I'd ordered from Amazon - so back out I go to pick them up....only, it wasn't books from Amazon...it was a gift from one of my sisters - Heather, who has been arty crafty for as far back as I can remember - who has completed the City and Guilds course and who hand crafts exquisite things - she made me a most beautiful quilt.  It is in the style of Yoshiko Jinjenzi - a brilliant artisan and author of books - both of which I have because I'm a huge fan - and it has pieces of Kaffe Fassett fabrics in it - and it's red and white - and so tactile with dense quilting - sisters know hmm??

here it is on my couch

hanging at the back of the couch - dense quilting - and some delightful hand embroidered flowers

Heather tells me it's the first time she's attempted machine quilting - she usually hand quilts - and it just proves how clever she is - there's not a pucker nor missed line in sight - it's absolutely a.m.a.z.i.n.g.

Thank you so much - immediate reaction on ripping the the parcel open (and it was beautifully gift wrapped too, but that didn't last long nor was I patient enough to take a photo first) was to burst into tears - it's just perfect and takes pride of place in my front room so I can enjoy (and brag to visitors!!) it every day.  Love you Heather....

Sewing up a storm

Like everyone else I imagine - Christmas is just next week and my 'handmade' Christmas sewing is only half way through - what the hell happened this year???

So, in between Christmas gift making I've been doing a little of this...

fmq in a hoop and re-purposed tablecloth lace

a little of that....

a 'prayer flag' reminder for 2013 - now hanging outside in place of the tree my husband  butchered

and putting a 'scene' together to accompany my application to have a stall at the Red Hill Market (something I should have done at the beginning of this year)....

and happy to say I've been accepted for my first market in March 2013 - so will be very busy sewing away after I've finished sewing Christmas presents...and entertaining about 20 for Christmas Day.......

Too, too long....

...and procrastination and duff sitting may have something to do with it....anyway, just finished a late dinner (home made gnocchi with prawns), having my coffee and enjoying the cool change after a stinky hot day in Melbourne.  Dr No is on the telly (I'm a huge Bond fan, but I've seen Dr No umpteen times and my husband really wants to watch it again), so what to do? Sew? - I could go and make some Christmas presents....or I could blog.....hmmm, what to do.....?  Well, blogging won - and for those who have commented on the last couple of posts (which were a few weeks/months ago - I'm sorry I haven't responded - I'm turning over a new leaf today)

It feels like such a long time since I actually wrote anything and I have done umpteen things in the meantime that I'm just going to record them as I remember them - so in no chronological order whatsoever...

1.  I hosted the delightful Caz of The Accidental Quilter for some time on the longarm - Caz had 2 queen sized quilts she was loathe to wrestle with through her domestic machine so she came to mine to do them - apart from an unexpected powercut, which curtailed tuesday afternoons' session, she got them both finished and did a fabulous job - most impressive for a first time - way to go Caz :)

2.  I made a frock - one of the 2nd year students at school made a beautiful linen dress and luckily the pattern is a new one.  It called for 4.5m of 150cm wide linen which wasn't very budget friendly so I searched through the clearance table at Spotlight and picked up some gorgeous voile for $5 per metre - the dress is a lot less structured in the voile and has beautifully soft folds - it turned out really well and I hope you get the idea from this crappy picture.....I'm saving for some linen to make another one but there'll have to be a few pattern adjustments....I don't think I can fudge them in the linen like I did in the voile!

3.  The Somerville Community House banner is FINISHED - yay - a lot of blood, sweat and tears in this banner - 12 1/2" pieces of calico was handed out to all the class/activities currently on at the Community House with instructions to fill the square with representations of their class or of Somerville itself.  We got back some very interesting blocks - they were painted, stitched, drawn and knitted and with a variety of mediums, from thread to paper to, in one case, a fan!  Putting it together was a bloody nightmare challenge but a couple of wonderful ladies in my Stitch and Chat group kept everything together and appliqued and stitched away with me to come up with a fabulous finish - there's a presentation/launch next week.....but here's a sneak preview....

4.  The veggie patch is growing strongly - we're already eating lettuce, silverbeet, zucchini's, sugar snap peas, asparagus, rhubarb, carrots and spring onions.  There's fruit on the tomato plants - many that self-seeded from last year and the first lot of corn is almost ready to throw up the flowers that will pollinate the ears of corn...there's also pumpkins forming...this abundant growth is thanks to the very changeable weather we've experienced over the past month or 2

5.  I joined the wonderful ladies of the Mornington Stitch Group for our Christmas breakup, hosted by the lovely Emma at Treehouse Textiles.  I've nicked the next photo from the Group mama, Cathy's blog...(Cabbage Quilts)....thanks Cathy and Emma :)

we had a Kris Kringle swap - what a talented bunch we are ;)

6.  I made 3 more Farmers Wife blocks - so that's 100 finished and I only have 11 more to make - YAY!!!!

...and now I've run out of memories!  So, I think I'll sign off - the sewing machine is calling and Christmas is approaching...til next time

Pretty feathers

Well, one anyway.....

The last month of the QCA for 2012 (and for me too, I'm bowing out for a while) and the Bee Queen requested Anna Marie Horners' feathers in pink, orange and yellow on a grey background.

INSERT PHOTO HERE - Blogger won't let me upload anymore so will have to investigate and go from there......Flickr sounds good......

I foundation pieced the feathery bits (I'm sure an ornothologist will know what they're called) then used the templates from the free pattern to finish it off.

It's really pretty and while I will probably never make a complete quilt of feathers for myself, I'm going to keep it in mind for when I'm a Queen Bee again.

getting busy with it....

...because getting jiggy with it sends out all the wrong messages and seems to invite offers of unwanted accoutrements from 'anonymous'........

anyhoo - have been busy stitching up a storm.....

I completed a client quilt today on the longarm - I used a pantograph pattern I haven't used before - half feathers and a leafy type of shape...

Anne pieced large stars in this gorgeous range of fabrics - Will and Lily or something - not that - but I can't remember the name, mixed with some self patterned whites and creams.  The quilt is really prettily sophisticated and the pantograph I used fits it perfectly...

I also got stuck into one of my assignments for school - we've been studying art history this semester and each of us had to give a presentation about a period in history to the rest of class.  After each class we had to update a timeline and then do a little representative free motion stitching piece......here's the Venus of Willendorf from the Prehistory presentation - noone is really sure what she represents - could be mother, grief or simply prehistoric porn......

For the final assignment, we had to create a stitched piece using mostly machine stitching.  Originally I was going to design something close to my presentation - the Vikings - but after reviewing my notes and sketches, I got thinking about women's hair-do's...

We'd been shown the Willendorf Venus' beanie style hairdo, the flowing locks of Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus" and the tightly wound curls of Queen Elizabeth I, amongst others......so I played around with that (and recording development of the piece in my visual diary, just like a good student would!) and came up with this...

Each of these ladies had red hair which is why I used orange silk for the background - and then I stitched and stitched and stitched.  I added hand made cord to represent ribbons or bands worn in the hair and a few beads.  The only casualty was my finger when I didn't get it out of the way of the needle fast enough - that was fun - not - especially when I had a splinter in the thumb of my other hand...oh well, done now....now to finish the time line...oh, and the community house banner....and the ironing......and a Kris Kringle gift for sunday for my sewing group.....you get the drift....