A couple of finishes

Finally I got my piece finished for the Toowoomba Quilters Exhibition Botanica display. This is a memory of our trip last year through the Kimberleys in WA.

This is the product of a workshop which I attended with Lisa Walton, we started with a  plain white piece of fabric and then did sun printing, painting and rubbings with shiva stiks then we collaged the pieces of fabric. I have named this Colours of Australia. It reminds me of the diversity of the Australian landscape.

 

Recently I retired from work ( after 25 years)and was presented with this lovely bunch of flowers, a gift card to go shopping with and a signed card from fellow workmates. I am busier then ever but I am enjoying some sewing time now, and the garden has also received some much needed attention too.

Textile treasures

Recently I attended a workshop with Lisa Walton from Dyed and Gone to Heaven. We dyed fabric and then added some stencilling to the fabric and painted designs onto the fabric.

The last day we started to put the fabric pieces together, it was sort of like putting a jigsaw together, this is what my finished piece looks like, now it needs to have some stitching on it to tame down some of the colours in it.

The colours remind me of the poem by Dorothea Mackellar “My Country” the land of drought, flooding rains and then the fires that are so much a part of rural life.

School Holidays

Last week we had 2 of the grandchildren come and stay for a week. They enjoy getting out on the farm and helping feed the animals and other outdoor activities.

So we played some backyard football, painting pictures, played a game or 2 of Snakes and Ladders, cooking and even had morning tea down the paddock with Grand dad. Sorry no photos -forgot to do that. But did get a couple when the cousins came to visit.

                 

Hayley                                               Mikayla, Cody and Bailey.

Feeding the chooks                               Mikayla and Prince.

The house is quiet again now that they have gone home, maybe I will get to the sewing room again.

This is Cody who turned 3 yesterday. It is hard to believe how quickly time goes by.

Mothers day quilt

Last year one of my sons sent me a pack of layer cake fabrics, I was very pleased with his choice and have made this quilt with the fabrics. I also machine quilted it. The pattern is in the Layer cake and jelly roll book.

This is another quilt for one of the grandchildren. At last I have been able to use some of my collected childrens fabrics.

Fabric collage

Last week a friend and I had a little experiment with some fabric collage, now I can embellish it although I don't have anything particular in mind with what I will make out of it.

The weather has been so lovely lately I have had a burst of energy to give the garden some TLC. The roses have had a beautiful display of blooms, probably the last before winter. Have weeded the garden and spread out some hay to mulch the beds before winter. The local plant nursery is closing down the retail side of their business so I had to make some purchases too. Some of the plants don't survive the heavy soil and the cold frosty winter so I usually go for something frost hardy and tolerant of heavy soils.

Childrens quilt

Over the last few years I have been collecting some childrens novelty fabric. I thought it was about time I put them into a quilt before the children grow up, so over the last week or so have sorted and started to make some I spy blocks.

I have probably got enough fabric to make half a dozen quilts! I am enjoying being on long service leave, have certainly found plenty of things to do and catch up on.

We spent Easter Sunday at a local dam, the weather was perfect and the kids had a great time.

Birthdays

The grand kids came and stayed over the Easter holiday period, while they were here they each had a birthday to celebrate.

 

Bailey turned 8 and requested a Spiderman birthday cake.

Mikayla turned 7 and requested a LaLa Loopsy cake, I managed to find a small doll that went nicely on the cake.

They were both very pleased with their special cakes.

landscape scene

Yesterday I attended a workshop with Lisa Walton creating a landscape scene from a photograph. It was a fantastic day, learnt heaps, and of course with wonderful company.

 

 

It is not finished yet but you can see the photo on the left and what I did to create the landscape. I need to do more stitching to finish it off.

Quilting

This is also another project that I have slowly been working on. It was a jelly roll that had been in the cupboard for some time when I got the idea to make a french braid with it. It has turned out to be longer then I planned and still needs to have borders put on the sides.

  I like the shades of red through to black.

 

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Wallhanger

Over the last few weeks I have been doing some secret sewing , a challenge to make a banner with 2 owls on it using the selected fabric. The banners will be aired at a meeting of the club in March and voted on by members.

Some sewing

At last I have got to doing a bit of sewing, I made 2 library bags for the grand kids this week and got them in the post for them to receive next week.

They chose the fabrics before they went home after having a holiday with us. Bailey likes motor bikes and dinosaurs. Mikayla likes Dora and also chose the golliwog fabric.I also lined the bags with calico to make them a bit more sturdier.

More mouths to feed

The dry weather is getting worse, we have had cattle out on agistment but last week had to bring them home to feed hay to. Hope  we soon see a break and get some good rain.The storms have been missing us altogether.

The kids had to see all the action too. The neighbour came down to help and brought his couple of little ones down too. The other photo is the 4 grand kids enjoying themselves.

Getting back into it

We had the grandkids stay for 2 weeks over the Xmas New Year period, they are full on as any 6 and 7 year olds would be. Went to the beach for a few days then entertained them at home on the farm helping to feed the animals and helping cook. They really enjoyed themselves but I needed to have a couple of days to recover after they went back home.

 

And yes I even went for a ride, I hung on pretty tight I can tell you. We went to Underwater world also, they found it unbelievable.

Then at home the kids were able to cool off on the slide.