"an elegant tapestry of quotations, musings, aphorisms, and autobiographical reflections" (James Atlas)



Monday, March 20, 2017

March-ing right along!

Had a fun day with some of the Friday ladies, celebrating Paula's birthday in Ballan and Ballarat. We explored Millrose Cottage and I certainly let the moths out of my wallet! Woohoo!
We had a lovely lunch at the Millrose cafe. Had a delcious mushroom tart, with exceptional pastry. Very yummy indeed.
My haul from Millrose was a delightful red fabric, to go with my Scandinavian Rose sticheries, now almost completed (one to go!). I'll have to be careful with the cutting - as you know, Donna and cutting don't go well together. Then I found a cool fabric to go with my bear
 panel. I was looking for grey, but liked this small check in greens and browns. I also found a cat fabric, and I just had to buy some because it has a Birman on it! Good reason, right?! The charm squares are just beautiful, lots of colours and rich with golden accents. My mind is busily plotting...
Then, in Ballarat, I found this unbelievable owl fabric! Now, is this awesome or what? The bolt was nearly empty, so I got the rest, about 80cm. No idea what to make with it, but something will occur to me. It's a beautiful linen. I thought I was very restrained at Gail's.
It's been warm and humid today, and Sherman made himself comfortable on the bed in the back room. Nobody can relax as well as a cat! He's lucky he didn't get his feet tickled.

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

March stuff

 Cool Labour Day weekend around here! Celebrated my friend Gudrun's 70th birthday on Friday. She even celebrated with two birthday cakes, lol!
Then my friend Kathryn visited, for some sewing, drawing, and cutting in the Owlery. I was inspired to draw Sir Basil, a cat about town. Very relaxing activity.
I cranked up the Accuquilt Go and cut out these tartan strips for my fox quilt. I wanted one more, a bright yellow tartan, and found one today at Millrose Cottage. And I must add my haul to the next post...
There was a nice sunset a couple of days ago, so I grabbed the camera and took a few shots. Not too bad, but I had major problems photographing that gorgeous big, red moon last night. Back to the drawing board!




Thursday, March 9, 2017

Thursday moose-ings

Felt inspired this week, and spent some time in the Owlery, makng cards, crocheting, and quilting.In between, I tend to read a lot. Just finished "The Little Paris Bookshop" by Nina George. It's about a whopper of a mid-life crisis, but beautifully written. I've started "Galileo's Daughter", but it's a little harder to get into. I shall persevere for a while.
Made some more cards, the 'fairy' one is for my little cousin, who turns eight later this month. I found a mag with all the stamps, and couldn't resist them. I used Gelatos for the background, they blended so well. I highlighted some things with my
Wink of Stella pen, but it's difficult to see on the photo. I really like this stamp set.
My friend Gabbi is a professional photographer, taking photos of newborns. She did me a favour recently, so I thought she might like these two crocheted baby crowns. They're tiny, for newborns' heads, and were easy to make.
The peacock card is for a quilter friend, it's her birthday next week. I hope she's not one of those people who think peacocks are bad luck...
And the pink one is for another quilter friend, whose birthday is on the same day...and she hates peacocks! It's just a bird. I used my new peacock
 die, with alcohol ink on yupo paper, which was left over after a fun day with Chris.
Finally, I started working on a new quilt top, which I'll probably turn into a large cushion. It's for a friend who has recently finished her degree, and the colours (black, red, apple green) are her graduation gown colours. The script fabric is a nod to her new librarian status. I thought I'd make a large cushion out of four blocks, so that she can "rest on her laurels".
In the meantime, I'm waiting for my KitKat quilt to come back, so I can do the binding. Kerry's picked a gorgeous quilt pattern, so stay tuned.



Thursday, March 2, 2017

Awesome Autumn!

 Yay! It's my favourite time of the year, and already I feel a little nip in the air in the mornings. At the moment, it's more of a late summer, with the grass drying out and large flocks of corellas in the yard. Well, here's hoping for a bit more rain.

A few things happening on the quilting front. My friend Kathryn gave me this wonderful fabric - and it's got owls on it! I have a project in mind for it, must dig out the pattern.
My friend Gabbie gave me these bright fabrics and last week I found the perfect use for them - a needlecase, to replace the one that was stolen. The old one was given to
 me by a friend, so I didn't have the pattern. I drew a pattern, and it's not as nice as my first one. It's a bit wonky, but will do what it's supposed to. Now I just need to fill it with needles again.
I also took the Kitkat quilt to be quilted, and look forward to finishing it off. Now all I need to do is decide what to quilt next. It's a toss up between a fox quilt, a Kaffe Fasset quilt, an American quilt, or a modern quilt for a friend. Hmm....
Also made some cards, one (sadly) a sympathy card for a friend, and a 70th birthday card for another friend.
Finally, I was thrilled to get the large Swallowtail stamp in the mail today. I've been hankering for this forever! Can't wait to get a few cards done with this. It's a retired stamp, and I
 was lucky to get it (at a fantastic price, too). I think the seller might have had second thoughts about selling it, so I count myself lucky.