April 29, 2018

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

I have been absent from my sewing machine for a few weeks, other than to do a running repair yesterday! My over-indulgence over Easter, three morning/afternoon teas, and our wedding anniversary dinner with delectable dessert, meant I needed to add a bit to the elastic waist in one of my outfits!


My excuse is that it was always a bit tight, but I will be tightening the belt on food over the next few weeks. I wish the supermarket would stop advertising Half Price specials on drool-worthy ice-creams!



The sewing machine has been idle only because life has just jumped in the way. Our Church had computer and software problems so I spent many hours trying to sort all that out. Then we had two delightful days with family visiting - a rare occurrence as the majority of them live very long distances away. 



Then there are the emails to answer, the medical appointments, minutes to take and type, and all that goes to make up the life of a retiree!  How did I ever have time to go to work???


But absence does make the heart grow fonder. I spent some of my waking hours last night dreaming up a new quilt! Then I have little sticky notes hanging off my computer monitor. One of them is to remind me of all the things that were in the diary for the last month or so and still haven't been done. The other is for the next project I want to make.


A while ago I promised to make available a couple of my quilt patterns for sale in my Craftsy Store. It really was time to do something about that before I start anything new.


You can now find Joyful Juggling Quilt here


and Fruit Salad Quilt here

I have scattered some photos throughout this post to show you what I was working on before life's interruptions. (My apologies to Fb and Instagram followers who may have already seen some of them.) The fabrics are from the Tilda Sunkiss range which will be released in stores on Tuesday. The fabrics are delightful and I am eager to show you the completed projects soon.


Meanwhile, happy stitching!
Val

April 8, 2018

Amazing Australia

My husband and I are so privileged to live in Australia. It is one amazing country! The little part of the big country in which we live, called Sandstone Point, is like a piece of paradise. On the weekend, one of our lovely friends invited a dozen or so people from our neighbourhood to morning tea. It was such a special time of being together rejoicing in the beautiful place in which we find ourselves and just enjoying each other's company. Having lovely neighbours plays a big part in our love of our area.


Another big part is the wildlife. It is not at all uncommon for us to see kangaroos in the bush, rakali in the pond and 40 or 50 different species of birds on our morning walk. My latest quilt. On the Edge of Town, celebrates life in our village. Close by we have many of the conveniences of a large town  - doctor and dentist, supermarket and bakery, pharmacy and newsagency, but right next door there is the wildlife that we love to see.


The fabric I used for this quilt is Leutenegger Sketch Book range. It has telegraph poles, cute possums on the wire, and birds and gum blossoms scattered throughout. It is quintessentially Australian!


The fabric conjures up pictures of a little country locality, with the bush on the edge of town, kangaroos hopping down the street and a kookaburra in the old gum tree  - in other words it's where we live!


 Koalas are around, but they're not easy to spot so we don't see them very often.


On the Edge of Town was featured in Australian Patchwork & Quilting, Vol 27 No 12.


For those who don't have access to our Australian magazines, the pattern is in my Craftsy Store here.


We had a wonderful Easter celebrating Jesus our Risen Saviour. Our Church services were fabulous and it's always uplifting to have the church full with hardly a spare seat. We missed having family around this year, but unexpectedly ended up with two lots visiting later in the week, so my happy face is back on!

I'm slowly working on a couple of projects (can't seem to confine myself ever to just one!). It's nice not to have too many deadlines at the moment as there have been heaps of interruptions to life lately, so it's one step at a time!

Happy stitching!
Val