Monday 22 June 2009

Werribee Zoo

What shall we see first?



Everyone's got one in the family!


Yum - a ginger snack!




Oh this has to be my best photo of all!!





Stunning creature: African Hunting Dog- very family focused.



Pretty realistic!



The baby was sooooo cute!



Don't get near Papa!



Impressive!


The view over the zoo's grassland area from the tour bus:





These are everyone's favourites!


Bushfires Quilt Hanging - what a success!!

What an exciting day we all had! Over 50 quilts were on display - beautifully set up with wonderful hangers on walls and discretely covered art easels; also used skirt hangers and cut up venetian blinds but you couldn't tell - it looked so professional!!

A quiet crowd at first, which grew and grew - no-one remember to take count of the visitors, but there must have been at least 200 people over the 5.5 hours.

We raised a lot of money through donation and raffle entries (oh, I wished hard to win one of them, but alas, it went to a Bendigo lady). There were great door prizes drawn every 30 mins - I tried so hard to win one of those too - but, again, no. I will survive.

The following shots are just snippets of the day early before the rampaging crowds descended:














This was one of two choices for the winning Raffle prize:

This was the other choice: there were definitely two camps of favourite (this was mine)








Some textile art by Kaye Shanks:



The tea-room with quilts and flowers and lemonade scones with jam and cream (and a choccie!)



Jodie's dress - ooh la la! and Kellie's quilts - ooh la la again!


When I saw the gorgeously pink tulle petticoat - I had to get a photo. Hubbie tried to be discreet, but it looked really suss when he shoved a camera under her skirt!


A highlight for me was the knowledge that two children whose parents both died in the fires were able to come and chose their favourite quilt to take home. An emotional part of the day - which makes the aching feet and tired eyes all worthwhile.

Lots of people were part of this event, from those who first donated fabric and blocks months ago, to the machine- and hand-sewers, to those who brought jam and popped out several times to get more cream, to the money handlers and the laminators and display arrangers and bench wipers.......thanks go to everyone....

but none more deserving of a huge bloggy 3 cheers than Jan of Sewjourn - the tiny dynamo behind this event - the hours and effort she has put in was phenomenal and she deserves a rest with a large glass of plonk! The mixed look of joyful surprise and horror when someone mentioned the Quilt Hanging could be annual said it all!


Tuesday 16 June 2009

Never say never

Just went I thought I didn't need to find another project, it found me!!

With a bit of encouragement from other lovely bloggers; this is finally my start to my Half-Hexagon Quilt-Along!

Using a 'layer cake' which is a series of fabric all cut to a 10" square is perfect for cutting into 2.5" strips, then using the template from ruthdesigns, cut 2 half-hexes from each strip. Not much wastage at all.

8 half-hexes from each square, 40 squares = 320 half-hexes = 160 hexagons;

Is that enough? Don't know; I'm kinda winging it as I go - no plan; just cut and sew!

D2 and I had fun laying out a few while during 'Tear-up Tuesday TV' aka 'Find My Family' - makes me cry every single time!









Sunday 14 June 2009

Hexagons - never thought I would

I just noticed that my name is on the Half-Hexagon Quilt-Along list by Comfortstitching - and I think people are visiting to see some....so.....okay

As the title says, never did I think I would be interested in hexagons - sorry to anyone who lives and breathes English Piecing of Hexagons - but I shudder even as I type! I like the look once sewn but this is one lazy quilt-sewer here and the thought of pieces of cardboard to sew around bit by bit would drive me INSANE!!

Saying all that, I came across Cathy's wonderful blog Cabbage Quilts and her wonderful start to the Half-Hex Quilt-along and I felt inspired....visited Comfortstitching (also lovely!) and so let the Hexing begin!! This is definitely the cheat's way of Hexagon stitching (maybe some purists are turning in their grave/seat/paper-pieced-cardboard-pile) but I can relate to it and I am loving others' combinations of either liberty-sweet or modernly in-your-face!

I have a layer cake of Patisserie - which amazingly can cut into 2.5" strips and then chop up with the half-hex template - I say this now, but I haven't actually done anything. That's okay 'cos Aneela says 'no pressure, no rush' - exactly how I like it!!




Vintage + dots = more work

'member how I fell in love with this.....

a lovely pile of dots later......

plus bits of my latest vintage sheet swapping....

and I have an even bigger pile of vintage and dots...just looking at me...daring me to start one more thing!!


I HAVE done my Chaletgirl Block Swap homework - check the blocks out here!

That means you Lara and Lynn!





















Nikki - if you are reading this, wondering why am I allowed to continue blogging and posting, when your giveaway prize is still not in your (sore) hands - it is DEFINITELY being posted off Monday - Promise!!