More trees and sprouts

There's been more sewing and decision making going on around here lately.

And there are more Truffula Trees for the Brown Bar-ba-loots —

A small forest now, The Lorax will be pleased. Four more added to the two in my last post. 
And now comes the exciting bit; piecing the blocks and somehow making these blocks and The Lorax block work together in a quilt for young Odie :-)

I looked up at my design wall to use and it was covered. A month or so ago when I was still in my calving-funk I put my scrappy sprouts blocks up in the hope that they would inspire me to get working on them. (After all, it was one of the many projects I optimistically wanted to complete this year for my PHD). However they didn't inspire or motivate and have just sat there glaring at me. 

And now I needed the space for The Lorax quilt.

Instead of just packing it away I told myself I had to sew another block. 

The problem I have had with sewing this project together as I go is that I put too much thought into planning the next colour; the transition from one colour to the next. My stumbling block was where to go after the blue/green blocks in the row second from right. 

(The Sprout photos aren't the best colour-wise I'm afraid. I took the photos too early in the day.)

Anyway, after forcing myself to put some thinking power into it, I realised that if I am doing it in rainbow order (as seems to be happening) then blue is the logical next step on that row.

And, what do you know? Sewing flowed —

Four more blocks which equals two more 'sprouts'. 

The blue works well —

After that bit of inspiration I packed it away so I could use the wall for The Lorax quilt. The first rounds of borders have been added —

A little while ago I got a message from Lou of the Manxgirl blog. She and her hubby were going to be 'up north' and wondered if we could meet somewhere. Of course!
As I was still busy with feeding calves I wasn't sure how I would do it, but we started weaning more and more calves and I could see light at the end of the tunnel. One mob (of 20) left on once-a-day meant I could leave them to the MOML for a few days and work in a visit to Mum's as well as a drive to meet Lou and Tony. Mum moved about 6 weeks ago from the farm she'd lived on for 60 years (and about 49 in the same house) and I hadn't been able to get down to visit.

It was so nice to meet Lou; we've been bloggy friends for a while and I knew we'd get on :-)

Lou and I exchanged gifts, as you do. I wasn't organised enough to make her something but made sure she had the materials to make herself something!!
She made me a lovely zipped pouch.....

Tucked inside is something to open closer to Christmas time —

Thank you Lou, I love it, and thoroughly enjoyed meeting you :-)

Time to be off, there's a Lorax quilt waiting for attention,

'til next time,
Happy stitches,

A catching up post!

It happens so quickly - all of a sudden I'm well behind in my blogging news and reading!

Here's an attempt at a catch up 

We had some friends visiting last week. They are the sort of friends that you just pick up from last time you saw each other. And we spent the whole time talking!

Us girls went to town and did the rounds of the Op Shops - she has a costume hire business and is always looking out for garments to use/recycle/etc. While she looked at the clothes I checked out things like buttons!

A nice lunch while we were out —

Robyn and I crafted. Every time she comes she brings a 'few' boxes of supplies. This time it was card making (as it was for their last visit two years ago) —

My card making skills are rather limited and slow but I did enjoy the change of craft for (just) a few days!
Robyn made a banner for our wee boy's wall —

I made some bon-bons —

You use a gadget that tells you where and when to cut, then score lines to fold along to form the cracker shape, and then decorate with more cut-outs. I'll put some yummies in these for the kiddies.

And then I made some cards —

Robyn sure does have a good supply of dies, stamps, papers and cards to choose from.

Apparently, next time they visit, we'll be making 3-D cards or boxes......

They also brought their (four) dogs with them. Incredibly well behaved.

They needed a swim to wash off the green - they found some nice fresh cowpats to roll in when we were walking. And may have found a few more on the walk back to the house again!

Oscar enjoyed watching them do their dog-agility tricks. From the safety of the fort!

Over the weekend I got the chance to join in with Chooky's zoom meeting - sew session for an hour. 

I hadn't intended to sew, just to chat and say hello to those who were there. But my fingers got itchy and I found myself sorting through some leader-ender Omigosh blocks that were nearby. It's been a long time since I've sewn any of these so it was quite good to have some time to play with them. I pinned those I could, and created a good little pile to sew —

A spare hour or so later on in the weekend and I had sewn the pieces joined, pressed and trimmed. And out of the scraps, created two more blocks, and some nice tidy units for more.

The way I'm making this quilt is very messy. I'm using true scraps (don't forget I can use down to 1" in size) so I always seem to have bits lying around. However it is very satisfying to create something tangible out of them all!

I had more photos to share but think I'll stop here. You'll all be yawning by now 😪

'til next time,
happy stitches,

A Grand Adventure

A Grand Adventure Posted: 18 Apr 2019 09:45 PM PDT It's all over!! Retreat has been and gone, and oh we had a great time! Kiwikid Sue picked me up from the Airport and we set about getting up to retreat at Baradine in New South Wales. It was a good old road trip. We did a bit of exploring — Sue Geocaching

saw some interesting sights —

Grass Trees

And did some sightseeing —

We may have even sung a bit :-)

Mrs google maps lady sent us off on a very scenic route for the last leg of the journey

The sign didn't say "Beware this is the dirt road route!!"

But it was a lovely drive - very interesting for this farming girl!

So disheartening to see acres and acres of drought

There were abouit 35 of us gathered for retreat - friends who had mostly met by way of blogland. It was organised by Chooky and Sonia, who both did a great job of making sure all our needs were thought of and taken care of.
We sewed —

We laughed

Photo of our first 'fivesies' borrowed from Chooky's blog

We celebrated —

Bling night

Sue and a sunset

I saw a Galah —

— or three

Retreat was fabulous. (More about what I sewed in my next blogpost).
After it, and on the way back to Melbourne, Sue and I spent a night at Chooky's.

We three by the Chookshed

An oasis in the middle of the drought

Feeeding time on the farm

More driving and a goodbye at the airport —

Flying off 'into' the sunset

After a little more driving 'before I knew it' I was home again and the adventure was over.
Happy to be home, happy to have done it - and itching to go back next year!!

'til next time,

Happy stitches

What a week!

Once again I marvel at the wonderful world of blogging and quilting I am a part of - this time last week I was having a wonderful time with friends I have met through blogging and quilting.

Last Saturday I flew to Brisbane ...you could say the flight was pretty 'exciting' as thunder storms meant we had to divert to Sydney for a bit...not after first trying to fly though this —

(Taken from my son's place, I think he was looking towards the airport!)
(and thinking about his Mum flying through that!)

 — it was very bumpy, to say the least!!! My conveniently timed flight plans all went out the window at that point, however I did finally get there and Robyn, my hostess, even had a nice cuppa waiting for me at close to midnight :-)

Here I am the next day cooling off in the hot Brisbane sun with Sue and Robyn (no blog-yet!). Robyn kindly opened up her home for us out-of- towners so that we could be part of a special quilt presentation.
A year or more ago, Michelle's beautiful Holly Cottage Christmas quilt was stolen.
A whole bunch of friends, from near and far - Australia and beyond - got together (www style) (and in top secret of course) and replicated the quilt. We were led by the amazing Robyn, who put a huge amount of time and energy into this project.
Finally the day arrived; how excited we were to gather in Michelle's favourite art class spot and have a game of pass the parcel —

"Hmmmm... I smell a rat"

Can you believe it, Michelle was speechless ♥

Two special ladies with the new quilt.
Michelle and Robyn, the Master Secret Squirrel.

It was a great chance to meet, in person, people I have met through blogging...putting faces to names...although I'm still a little muddled! —

And renewing prevous friendships —

Myself, Fiona, Sue, Michelle.

How happy I was to be a small part of this beautiful quilt and event. And to have made such treasured friendships through blogging.

Both Michelle and Sue have great blogposts and lots more photos *here* and *here*.

After all that excitement it was time for me to visit my son and dil's (also near Brisbane) and have a nice few days with them and the little grandies ♥

Still in my party clothes, I was thrilled they weren't too shy right from the start!

Great excitement when the rubbish truck comes!

Very hard to get photos of two busy toddlers at once :-)

Hot days - it was mid-high 30s when I was there!

So much fun up-ending everything!

My last night - oh, whoops, need a photo of Ganma with the girls...bit too
close to bedtime...we just want our mummy!

So precious ♥

And while I am waxing lyrical about the wonders of blogland, look what has arrived in my mailbox! As I have for the last few years, I once again took part in Chooky's SSCS (Secret Santa Christmas Swap). How exciting that my parcel has arrived and I was able to unwrap the decoration —
I'm not sure who my secret Santa was but oh wow, what a lovely decoration she has sent me!

The photo below shows how dimensional it is! Just lovely - thank you "J" - I love her!!

(Do you like my trick of photographing small Christmas decorations on the December page of my calendar?!)

So, as the days towards the Magic Event keep ticking by, I must sign off here, and continue my way though my list!

Happy Days everyone,

Hugs,