A little light on the subject

 Daylight hours and better light! But the wind is blowing and it is making it impossible to capture a shot without the quilt top blowing upwards when on the clothes line or is partially in shadow when hung on the pergola.

But you do see how much brighter the blue fabric is in the light! Far more appealing and not so dull looking.

Last night shot looks grey compared to the one taken this morning.

Baby Blues Quilt

 Yet another colleague and friend has fallen to the lifetime commitment of parenthood and is preparing to give birth any day now to a baby boy. This lovely lady is a joy to work with and so I said I would to love to make her baby a quilt. I had already made up a quilt top of crosses (look here) for her upon hearing of her pregnancy but later found out that she was having a boy, so I deemed it not suitable.

 Her theme to be for the baby room is Jungle and I had thought of doing a quilt with animals in bright primaries (which is probably what I should have done). But not having made a start on the quilt other than drawing the design (mainly due to illness and work) I have opted to utilise what I have.

Hand printed fabric ..hand carved lino print monkey

I've dragged out my hand printed fabrics with the view to utilising grey and blue colour scheme and the monkey print. I had thought of making chevrons in grey and blue interspersed with a monkey print here and there but gave up on that idea fairly quickly - another day when I have more time.
So a simple square framed by a border is an easy and quicker quilt to make.

The thistle print actually looks really effective cut up  in the quilt

Some left over lotus flower print

A naturally dyed square of grey material from eucalyptus leaves and iron

 Lotus flower print

So it is a little darker than I would have envisioned for a baby but I think  it would be utilised more of a lap quilt.

It certainly is unique and a one of a kind quilt.
I will grab a better photo  tomorrow in the daylight hours, once again doing my photography at night!

Entertainment

Rummaging around IKEA and found a balloon artist entertaining any stray kids (mainly adults at the time) She was pretty funny and very quick.

Check out the odd mannequin we found at our local op shop. She is new and very green I don't know why Jordy converted this picture to black and white but next time I'm passing I'm going to have to photograph her again

Auditioning fabrics to start a quilt when I finnish hand stitching in details on my hand printed fabric

And lovely blossoms nabbed from the neighbours garden. They complement my pillow. Gosh it is dark outside, really windy and wild today.

Tickled Pink

 A lovely morning spent at Just Tickled Pink. Morning tea in pretty girly surroundings with pretty young ladies.

 The  cakes are yummy and the displays thoughtful  and inspiring... would be such a lovely place to work.

These two sweet girls looking so innocent above and then you look at them last night and think a riot of mischief.....fun all the same.

Some holiday cooking of feta and spinach muffins... with fresh thyme leaves and some really fleshy meat.....a garden caterpillar came in for a visit with my pickings... I sent him back outside toot sweet.
The muffins were yummy, I ate too many...What I want to know is who washed my cake tin the last time??

Mid Year Sampler - June - The Month That Was

Better late than never .... June Sampler for the month that was.
1. Bird life on the Onkaparinga River South Australia. 2. Brighton Jetty South Australia. 3. Op Shop renovation, telephone table 4. hot water bottle cover. 5. waffle weave crochet cushion. 6, Jordana's sunflower printing 7. Bobble cushion 8. Sunset at Brighton 9. crochet bed socks

and more photos from Handorf...lots more

1 &2 charity op shop Handorf -pretty bunting 3 & 4 Handorf The Old Mill - good fun in summer to sti outside and drink beer

1 &2 lovely cafe settings to relax and eat,,, 3 wagon 4 Old Mill stonework

1.0Great worn paint wall.2 the old well 3. model sheep outside sheepskin and wool wear shop. 4. pretty fronted yellow cafe

 1. A big lick 3. German Arms  Hotel - act like your german ancestor 4. lolly shop - lots of cute milk bottles full of lollies

Lunching it in Maccesfield

Holidays

 A lovely sunny winters day.. so sunny I took my cup of tea and sewing outside to enjoy the rays.
I love the light in winter, the sun hangs a little lower and dapples through the trees with more of a brilliant glint. In summer the sun is so harsh and almost berates you for venturing outside, scolding you   with its heat and glare.
So although the daylight hours are shorter it is a pleasure to spend a few of them out doors when it is sunny.
Don't you think the center of my flower is like a little burst of sunshine.

This is one of the prints I did for the handprinted fabric swap and I have decided to utilize it for a center block for a quilt for my niece for her 21st birthday. Of course I wont complete it on time but all good things come to those that wait......click here to view blog post on handprinted fabric swap

 It's school holiday time here. A couple of days ago Jordy, Sophie and I headed off to the city markets for a wander around and then a feed in chinatown. These girls love to take snaps of themselves - maily pulling faces but occcassionally you get a sensible photo.

 A Stall in the market obviously thought they were pretty cool... so did the girls although Jordy doesn't particularly like mushrooms.

Yesterday we went to Harndorf to go op shopping and then onto Maccesfield for lunch. Girls drew on the table cloth (White paper) and also critique their meal

 Shaunnah and Jordy giggling

 And being stupid

 Fun girls... I get the pleasure of their company again tomorrow. If it doesnt rain we are off to and adventure playground complete with flying foses, castle (timber fort) and huge slippery slides....fingers crossed it doesnt rain.

Op Shopping and other treats

An op shop adventure some time ago lead me to find this lovely curved phone table buried underneath a pile of books, doilies and knick knacks. I was taken by its shape and bought it without inspecting the overall condition of the table. Its original colour was a deep cherry red and some of the laminate was in need of replacement. I bought the cupboard as a holiday project but made the fatal mistake of dropping it off in Dad's work shed. (I knew he wouldn't be able to help himself)

Within two days he had it stripped back to bare bones and then set about straightening the table so it wasn't twisted anymore (something I wouldn't have worried about because I dont have the skill for it) He spent some time sourcing new laminate  and cleaned the metal side table support. I enjoyed watching Dad's progress and enjoyed my time on holidays without the sanding and hard yakka that I had planned for myself .

It took some convincing to let Dad know that I like the natural wood colour over a stain - Dad really is of an era where everything was painted in mission brown and stained in middle brown colours - nothing wrong with this twenty years ago but I think I have gotten over it..

Inside the chest the original colour.

My brother has since claimed this beauty for his new property in Port Broughton SA. I was happy to give him something he liked as he is always fixing our cars at next to no cost, such a generous man.

Some other little bedside tables I spied op shopping last week with my brothers farm house in mind. $60 each

These little table were cheap and a little effort to remove the backing piece would render a really nice little bedside table -They would look lovely in white dont you think... only $40 for the two..mmm thinking about it.

 

I liked the bed head- only a double bed size - for $20

 On the home front ...... my daughter and I decided to forgo takeaway night and steer to something a little healthier tonight. To be honest I am putting on too much weight and I can no longer put off the inevitable - lose it or carry it to the grave. So we made some chicken balls with fresh salad

Two chicken breast fillets minced, one grated zucchini, one grated carrot, finely chopped mint leaves about four. Mix it all up, roll into balls and coat with sesame seeds. bake in the oven until golden brown

And  lastly some lovely work by the talented Jordana... love the girls patterning skills