A mighty tree falls

14 07 2014

I left my quilting retreat weekend early last Monday as there was a storm raging and predicted to get worse. It was about a 90-minute drive home for me, through some of the most forested regions in Western Australia and I didn’t want to be on that road when the very strong winds hit. I made it home safely, but not without some white knuckle moments.

I didn’t have a chance to take photos of it, but the estuary, which is usually very calm, had two to three foot waves that were crashing over the road. The high tide didn’t help…

Some days later I drove into town and saw this mighty (Tuart?) tree crashed into a paddock close to us. Fortunately, it didn’t crash onto the road. This tree must have been rotten inside, as the outside looked healthy and the leaves were all healthy too. Such a shame.

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Update: About two weeks later, this was all that remained:
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Update June 2015

Almost a year later, and new growth has sprung out of the old stump!

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Categories : Life stuff

Community Quilt 154

14 07 2014

I quilted four Community Quilts on my quilting retreat weekend last weekend. I didn’t keep track of the threads I used, so unlike the others I’ve documented, you won’t get thread choices in these posts.

What a pretty quilt this was! Navy and yellows just go so well together. There was a lot of work in this quilt, and like #152, it just cried out for different quilting motifs in each block.

As usual, I started by stitching in the ditch around each block, then around each appliqued piece. Once that was done (yes, it took a few hours…), I tackled each block separately, deciding on one or more quilting motifs to stitch in it. I did all the navy blue stitching first, then the stitching with the yellow thread.

(Click on a photo to view it larger)

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Community Quilt 153

14 07 2014

I quilted four Community Quilts on my quilting retreat weekend last weekend. I didn’t keep track of the threads I used, so unlike the others I’ve documented, you won’t get thread choices in these posts.

Unlike most of the quilts I’ve quilted for the Community Quilts program, I did NOT like this quilt. I didn’t like the colours, the fabrics used, or the size of it (it was HUGE), though I didn’t mind the backing fabric 😉 The plain blue fabric used on much of this quilt just didn’t match (in my eye, at least) the other colours used, and I suspect it was old sheeting or old fabric from someone’s stash. The size of the quilt made it a real pain to move around, and, as I was away from home, I didn’t have my improvised bungee cord system to help prevent drag and hold up the quilt, so my shoulders were really aching by the time I finished it.

To avoid looking at that horrible blue for too long, I took the advice of one of my quilting buddies (none of whom liked this quilt’s colours either!) and just did a simple straight line motif to hold the layers together.

I started by stitching in the ditch around each star and the blocks making up each star and the joining squares. Then I used my Line Tamer ruler to stitch straight lines joining the points of the stars to each other, then to create a ‘wonky’ star in the centre of each of the expanses of blue fabric. In the border, I did a large meandering stipple.

I was glad when it was done and I could fold it up.

(Click on a photo to view it larger)

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Categories : Quilts and fabric stuff

Community Quilt 152

14 07 2014

I quilted four Community Quilts on my quilting retreat weekend last weekend. I didn’t keep track of the threads I used, so unlike the others I’ve documented, you won’t get thread choices in these posts.

This quilt just screamed out for different quilting motifs in each block, so that’s what I did! I stitched in the ditch around each block first, and around the appliqued centres, before stitching a different rounded motif in each block.

I did a large meandering stipple in the outer border in a variegated thread that blended with the fabric.

(Click on a photo to view it larger)

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Community Quilt 151

14 07 2014

I quilted four Community Quilts on my quilting retreat weekend last weekend. I didn’t keep track of the threads I used, so unlike the others I’ve documented, you won’t get thread choices in these posts.

This first one had lots of hearts in each block forming a central star-like shape. I stitched in the ditch around all the blocks and borders first, then around the hearts to stabilise the quilt, then echoed around the hearts to make them ‘pop’ from any decorative stitching. I then free motion stitched ‘straight’ lines in the centres of the stars, and in the very busy floral fabric sashing strips (with a spiral at each central part where they joined). I left the solid yellow and green borders in each block free of stitching. Finally, I stitched large spirals in the border fabric.

(Click on a photo to view it larger)

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New breakfast taste sensation

14 07 2014

As an Aussie, I like my Vegemite! I don’t eat it often, mostly because I rarely have toast for breakfast, but like most Australians, I was born and bred on the stuff so when I do have it, I enjoy it. The standard way to eat Vegemite is lightly smeared on buttered toast, or on fresh bread with (hard) butter, or perhaps with cheese. Other options I’ve tried and enjoyed are with cheese and celery, and even just with celery.

On my recent quilting retreat weekend away, I toasted the crusty end of a loaf of bread and was going to have it with avocado, but one of the girls suggested Vegemite then avocado and then topped with cheese. Yummo! It was great! I’ll add that one to my breakfast repertoire.

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Categories : Food & Wine