Bali hut temporarily secured

26 06 2012

The insurance assessor/builder came out today to assess the damage from the storm two weeks ago. I was particularly concerned about the instability of the Bali hut, especially as the forecast for today was for another front of 125 km/h winds (later revised down to gale force…). He was equally concerned about its safety — he said it could be saved as long as it didn’t fall over and got straight on to his carpenter guys to come out and stabilise it. While we were standing near it and the wind was whipping around, that entire structure moved in about a 20 degree arc — 10 degrees one way and 10 degrees in the opposite direction. Scary stuff!

A structural engineer still has to come out and assess its condition and report back to the insurance company etc., but at least the guys got the stakes and support beams in this afternoon before the worst of the weather hit. It’s not pretty, but at least it’s a lot safer than it was. And it’s much less likely to do any further damage as a result of falling over. The builder reckons it should be able to be saved, but we have to wait for the structural engineer to give his assessment.

Bali hut temporarily secured

Bali hut temporarily secured

 


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Categories : Life stuff

Community Quilts 1 and 2

26 06 2012

After a lot of haranguing (in a good way!) over the years from a quilting friend of mine, I’ve finally joined WAQA (West Australian Quilters Association) and have volunteered to quilt some community quilt tops made by other members. These quilts will all go to various charities and organisations, such as the Royal Flying Doctor Service, children’s hospitals, emergency relief, etc. My role is to sandwich the (supplied) finished top with batting and backing fabric (also supplied by WAQA), do the quilting, then attach the (supplied) binding and label.

I’ve now completed quilting my first two community quilts – one last weekend and one this weekend. Both were quite large quilts (large lap or single bed quilts), and each took about a day to quilt and bind.

With the first quilt I did something different – I quilted from the back, using the yellow feature thread in the bobbin (rayon) and the bobbin thread (Deco-Bob) in the top. I’ve done that before with my sewing machine, but not with Bee, my Handi Quilter Sweet Sixteen. I had a hard time trying to decide how to quilt this quilt, until I hit upon the idea of following the flower motifs on the backing fabric. I quite like how it turned out! And quilting ‘upside down’ wasn’t a problem.

Quilt 1 - backing

Quilt 1 – back

Quilt 1 - front

Quilt 1 – front

With the second quilt, I also had some difficulty deciding how to quilt it, then I decided on a ‘cathedral windows’ look around each square and flames in the borders. I didn’t use any rulers or markings – it was all free motion, including the stitch in the ditch, on Bee. I was pleased that I got reasonably even (but definitely not perfect!) arcs without using a ruler. I used the same thread for the main top and the border — a variegated Superior Rainbows thread (colour 845) in pinks, oranges, and purples, and a taupe Deco-Bob thread in the bobbin.

Quilt 2 - front, showing border

Quilt 2 – front, showing border

Quilt 2 - back, showing border

Quilt 2 – back, showing border

My initial set of quilt tops was six — so four more to go in this batch! I must say that it’s great practice for both the stitching side of it, and for deciding what quilt motifs to use.


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Categories : Quilts and fabric stuff