Beginning the rainbow quilt

I have put the star flowers aside a few days as I have gotten enthusiastic about a rainbow quilt. After spending a bit of time on Pinterest researching I had chosen a zig zag style when I had an about face and went with something totally plain.

I would still like to do the zig zag, but I'm thinking only two contrasting colours repeated.

For the rainbow quilt I have gone with simple graduating stripes. First I cut the rectangles into 6 inch blocks, but realised they were too chunky.


So then I recut them all down to 3 inches wide. Looks heaps better.


I have stitched up the first column and packed the rest up till tomorrow so the kids don't destroy it in the morning.



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Spotlight mark 2

So my trip to Spotlight yesterday was successful. Luckily for me it was quiet when I staggered up to the counter with 33 rolls of fabric and requested 15cm of each one!




Now I have a huge dilemma. When I made the first star flower as a trial I didn't have any plans to go on and make a whole bunch of them. I also (believe it or not) didn't have any plain white fabric. So I cut up one of Williams cot sheets. I have been using that ever since.
Yesterday I went to get some more white fabric and the cot sheet fabric is much thinner. If you look in the photos it's practically translucent. So any new white fabric will make them stand out as mismatched. I don't have any more cot sheets the same and am facing having to redo the ones I've already done. Really don't want to do that either. Suggestions?

Whilst I was at Spotlight I could help but grab this:




I'm seriously hooked on rainbow at the moment and thinking of a zig zag quilt.
Something else found its way into my basket. It is so darn cute and I thought it would make great quilt backing. Now I get to choose a front for it ;)




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October 28th

Sitting down to pay some wages yesterday and I realised it was our 12th wedding anniversary! Pretty darn good 12 years at that.
We spent the afternoon with good friends, fine dining and swims in the pool. Wonderful!




The other day i made up a red star flower block.




I had the red fabrics ordered for another project but help steal a sliver off each for a star flower. Now I have 2 colour wheel blocks, 2 light blues and reds block. Each cutting session makes 2 block but I havn't sewed the other red one yet.




Im going to make two blocks of each if the colours in the colour wheel block. Yesterday evening I decided to sort out what fabrics I had for my star flowers so I would know what I needed to get at spotlight today. I then decided to pre cut them ready. So now I have a stack of 4inch squares waiting for their companion colours.




In addition to a star of pinks, blues, yellows, oranges, greens and purples, I have decided to do a rainbow block and a black & white block. I have no idea how it will come together really, but I'm having fun doing it.

As an aside, I have changed the settings so you can now post a comment with out having to login. My masses of readers have been frustrated by this so I have decided to make it easier. :)


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Hero Worship

My neighbour and good friend has a little boy the same age as William. His name is James and whilst he and William are good mates, he has also taken quite a shine to Sam (and vice versa as I discovered tonight).

I was telling William that we were going to see James tonight at the pub and Sam responded with, "is JAMES going to be there? Awesome! I love playing with James. He is so much fun!"


Admittedly Sam has always been great with toddlers. He has the right amount of gentleness and slapstick to really appeal to them.

People often ask me how William gets on with his big brothers and I usually say that Angus mothers him, Sam plays with him and Henry annoys the crap out if him.

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Batemans Bay

Back in July we went on a mega family holiday. The first leg involved my extended family (all 17 of us) and we headed to the snow at Smiggin Holes in NSW. That was fantastic all round - well... except for the bit where my Dad slipped in the snow and sliced half his ear off...

After the snow our little family of 6 headed over to the east coast. Richard's Aunts have a holiday house at Batemans Bay and we spent a wonderful few days there with them.


The beach below their house was a pebble beach not a sand one and I collected all these fantastic rocks there. The boys and I had a lot of fun. It was a great keepsake to bring home and remember our holiday, despite the extra weight in our already bulging luggage. Well it was either the rocks or Dads dead ear dangling from a necklace and I think the rocks work better ;)

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Iridescence

I havn't used any kind of filter or editing tools. This is straight from camera to you.
This is the most ridiculous iridescent colour I've seen in the garden. It just stands out and grabs your attention.








Also need to include a pic of out beautiful Angophra. It is heavy with bud and about to burst into flower.




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Made it back out to the garden.

Today I ignored the sewing machine and spent the afternoon in the garden.


With beautiful afternoon sunlight who could resist?


I rescued a stoneware bowl from the chook yard and used it to hold all my gorgeous rocks and pebbles collect on a family holiday in July. We went to the snow with my extended family (all 17 of us) and had a blast - well, maybe except for the bit where my Dad slipped over in the snow and sliced half his ear off...

After the snow our 'little'family of 6 drove over to the east coast to spend a few days with Richards Aunts at their holiday house. The beach below their house was a pebble one not a sand one and it was truely awesome.

So I collected all these treasures there and they are all the more special because of where they came from and the memories tied to them. It was either the rocks or Dads dead ear dangling from a necklace and I think the rocks work better ;)


Our old worker who collected the bottle tree bottles came to visit while I was away last weekend. He always brings me knick knacks from the flea market. As well as more bottles he also brought me the Eiffel Tower. It was a pretty tacky wine rack, but I got out the angle grinder and cut out the bottle holders and now I'll pop it in the garden somewhere with something low growing over it.


All the bottles lined up ready to back on the bottle tree after bringing it home from exhibition in Frankland.


What Australian country garden is complete without a resident pet kangaroo? Meet Rosie. I raised her from a tiny Joey and she is about 12 now.


Found these coggy things at the tip. Rusty old bits look good as long as they are not too kitsch. -

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Blue Star Flower

So this morning I decided to whip up a couple more star flowers. I made blue ones and think I might make each flower different fabrics of the same colour.


The instructions warn against using prints like stripes because of difficulty, but I think I have done a nifty job of lining them up.





And just when I had my back turned for 5 seconds, William decided to have a go at ironing a photograph off the freezer.


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Thank God I Finished the Bird Quilt!

So the bird quilt is finished! Thank goodness! I found the size of it a bit unmanageable and this is sure reflected in the sewing. The seams are a lot wonkier that what I've been doing lately.

That said, I still really like the colours and the fabrics. It's 'pretty'. I'm sure my 4 SONS will be fighting over it like cat and dog LOL!


The backing is simple pink stripe alternating with bird fabric.


The binding is soft pink and white polka dot.


It's an extra long single bed size so the is plenty of room to tuck a pillow under there. Don't anybody say the words 'matching pillowcase'!!!


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Contrast Quilt Finished

I managed to get to the sewing machine again yesterday after a couple of weeks of it calling me pitifully. I finished off the contrast quilt with a strawberry print backing that my sister sent to me. I also had a black swirly fabric for the binding.



For the actual quilting I decided to edge about 1/4 inch inside each of the large squares of black or white, so on the back there is a series of geometrically placed squares of white thread on red fabric.







I really like it and think it will provide bright visual colours for a newborn to gaze at.
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Karate Gi's

Angus and Sam have been doing karate for 2 terms and were very excited to receive their Gi's yesterday. They put them on after a shower to model them for me!



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8yr old logic

Sam had to do worksheet on Water. One of the questions was "how can I use water responsibly?"
As well as your sensible 'turn taps off' type answers Sam decided there was a certain wisdom in his last two points. (Either that or he was running out of ideas!)




"Don't leave cows at a beach"
"Don't leave dogs near a swirly whirly river"
Bless his little cotton socks!
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Mail day!

Lookee lookee what came in the mail today! More goodies!


No idea what I'll do with them but I'm sure I'll figure something out;)

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Girls Weekend Away

So I havn't updated here for a week or so. I got a little caught up with back to school stuff for the kids. This weekend I also have had the most awesome few days away with a group of girlfriends. We're all Mums of small children and shot through to Dunsborough for 2 nights of relaxation, fun, pampering and SLEEP!

I had a lovely time and came home ready to plunge back into things. This was just as well really, because as we drove into the yards the boys were all with Richard down at the sheds and William was busy dipping his face in a bucket of sump oil! Luckily for me, he didn't want a cuddle ;)

Outdoor Bead Mobile

I made this a couple of months ago, but forgot to catalogue it until now. I found the metal disc in one of my dump trawls. Unlike normal rubbish tips, farm dumps have all sorts of useable goodies besides household waste. I tucked the disc aside and knew I'd find a use for it somewhere, somehow.


Then on Pinterest one day I saw a picture where someone had made a bit of a pole that sprouted beads threaded onto wire. It gave me the idea of hanging beads like a wind chime or mobile. Whilst wondering what I could hang them from I remembered the disc with the holes in it! I have no idea what it was, but it sure is perfect for this!


I already had all the beads from a beading phase a few years ago so all I had to do was acquire some fishing line from my husbands stash and I was all set.
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Star Flower Blocks

I gave you a little teaser the other day of a fabric stack I had plans for. I saw these Star Flower blocks on Ellison Lane Quilts and was keen to give them a try. I think I might make a whole bunch of different coloured stars with the hazy idea of joining them together into a quilt. No real plans, I'll just see how it goes.






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Triangle quilt finished

Ok so I have finished the triangle quilt. Backing and binding were put on yesterday and today. I even hand stitched the binding this time and I have to admit it really does finish it very nicely. Unfortunately it also takes so much longer.

I really enjoyed making this quilt, I just wish I had chosen different fabrics. However it has taught me that even with fabrics you love, the finished product still may not be to your liking.











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What's next?

My mind started turning over tonight about what I could tackle next. I really enjoyed the intricacy of the spotty quilt and that it was small therefore quick.
So I had a look at what I've got pinned on Pinterest and soon found inspiration. It involves these :)




I'm going to do a trial run with these scraps that I have and see what I think of it. Stay tuned.
And just cos he's cute:




William fell asleep in the Rhino today when we were mustering sheep.
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The Garden in Spring

Walking round my garden this morning I just love it in spring. So many beautiful colours and luscious growth before the summer heat sets in.



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