Last week of June....

This week I have been madly pushing some things to get to the end .....

The next section of Gossip in the Garden is done.... sewing along with Michelle for this one

This is an overview of where I am up to date.... 6 sections of 9 done....

I appliqued a bunch more pies onto backgrounds.... all the ones I have are done now but I still need to count them up to see how I can put them together.....

The tarts are smaller than the pies and will fit in over the corners where 4 pies meet....

I have a couple more tarts to sew up then I will start planning how they go. 

Michelle wrote a nice bit about Toondah Harbour which is in threat of development - a place which should be protected as the threatened bird species Eastern Curlew breeds there.  Read more HERE 

Postcards are being made to send to State and Federal environment ministers - I only sent one each but made others for practice....

I chose one to the artist /bird lover who has set it all in motion and is planning an exhibition at some stage.....

I found a 'draw a curlew' tutorial on-line and used raw edge applique and thread drawing on my machine.... it was such fun.  Please feel free to join in.

My second quilt from shirts has all the blocks ready - trying to keep the same fabrics away from each other is an impossible task - I will live with my final layout - hoping to get them together this weekend.

This is an old mini I bring out this time of year.... because it is winter and because we have a wedding anniversary today....

So us two old penguins have stuck it out for 44 years now....

Yesterday we went into Brisbane to go and see the Monet In Paris art installation as our way of celebrating...

The outside of the building had this lovely facade all done...

The bottom of this picture is reflection on the windows.....

We sat in the cafe and has croissants and coffee.....

The main entrance.....

.... even the toilets floor was painted Renaissance like!!!

The cafe setting.... it was all done so nicely and gave such a great atmosphere....

Boards up with a bit about a lot of artists busy during that time... so many of them dying young due to infections (no penicillin then of course) 

I thought this a great quote by Monet...

the green room... glass and bottles...

the flower room.... flowers everywhere... magical....

This picture shows the scale of the installation.... there were boards like this all around and you could walk around and sit in different places to see what was happening... so clever...

I liked this quote too.... "Why shouldn't art be pretty?  There are enough unpleasant things in the world." (Renoir)

They had a bridge over the water lilies all set up so we could go and get our pictures done - even had an allocated person to take photographs.

The installation was on the North shore of the river and outside we watched this Yacht go by....

then went off for lunch.... and a drink....

A lovely day.....

Righto, I better go off and do that quilt or it just won't happen...

Have a lovely weekend and hope you get a chance to do something you love....

 

Third week of June

We had a lovely few days up Northwards in Bundaberg to watch footie (touch) .... this is Widget who is a tall 14 year old now.  His team came in about 6th.

Lovely weather 

Lots of long walks on the beach which we could see from our house accommodation

Hubz and I went for a walk along the river side - this river flooded 2 times in 3 years with devastating impact on the town in 2010 and 2013 - you wouldn't know it now.

Bundaberg is famous for it's Rum Distillery - it is a big sugar growing region.  Of course we had to visit ... and taste.  I am not a Rum drinker but I did like the Chocolate and Coffee Rum liqueur and a bottle came home with us.

There happens to be another distillery in town and in between footy games we visited another....

loved all the barrels along the wall....

Of course we had to taste - and a lovely bottle of Gin came home with us....

There was lots of these wild Banksia plants on the coastal roadside..... they are about 12-15 cm long (for my non Aus readers)

The seedpods are just as interesting as the flowers....

We had a walk around the Botanical gardens.... this is the trunk of a hairy she-oak.... made me think of the Gruffalo.... amazing plant adaption.

My daughter had found a lovely isolated house for us to stay - I was most impressed they had these lovely throws - minky on the back and nice and simple and soft and cuddly for the cool evenings..... I think I want to do something like this too.

I did go to sewing at club on Tuesday and finished the binding on this quilt - good to have it on my lap as it was a cold day ....

I quilted it all over in big feather flowers....

love the backing that I had for it.....

A few tarts were stitched whilst we were away....

and this week I have been appliqueing pies to backgrounds.... the tarts will go over where 4 backgrounds meet...

Righto, Gotto Go.... it's that time of day to have a glass of my nice new Gin and get my hand sewing out.... more pies to applique!

Have a lovely weekend.....

Second Week of June

Michelle gave me an online video tutorial for doing Kawandi....

I used up some of my cream scraps..... I do like the look and will do more.... I would love a whole quilt of it..... 

This week my focus has been on the next section of Gossip in the Garden.....

An EPP star.....

This little Dresden plate was supposed to be EPP but I changed the lovely rounded edges to sharp points so I could machine sew them before appliqueing onto the background...

Another little block.....

And a sweet pot of flowers....

There are a few pieced blocks I need to make then I can put this section together....

A blog friend in Cananda is doing a 6 block sewalong which I have joined.... each month we make 6 of the same block in our chosen colours....

I ran out of time last month so on a machine sewing day with a friend I caught up the two months blocks

Celeste has called it K Drama Drama - I have to say the curves are challenging me but it's good practice with the different sizes

This weekend we have moved up Northwards to watch a touch footy carnival.  Daughter invited us along to stay at a lovely house by the beach.... this is my morning view watching the sun come up....

Righto, Gotto Go... we just had a lovely long walk on the beach, time for tea then off to footy....