I'm back, and some lozenges to share...

I really do apologise for the quality of these pictures.

I'm not sure just how to take non-shaky pictures with my Ipod.  So much to learn there.

So I've dropped off the planet again.  Sorry about that.  I have the head cold from hell (still) and it's not showing any sign of leaving my body.  The reason I have the head cold from hell is that I told someone the other day 'we've not been sick for ages.....' and you know what the universe thinks about a bragger, don't you?!

I've been sewing when I can, and I decided to try Bonnie Hunter's leader and ender challenge - the lozenge.

It's an interesting block really.  It has lots of stretch in it due to the bias, which worked for me.  I could make most of my points match quite easily.  The colours are not too much to my liking, but I have this bag of fabric left over from the shop days and I'm determined to use them up, hence this new quilt.

Of course while we say we are going to use all our fabrics in these scrap quilts, the actual amount of fabric used was really very small.  I suspect there will be a few more scrap quilts made from this bag of fabric before it all gets used up.

In other news - the children go back to school tomorrow (yay....). I've loved having them home this time, they are good kids and play so well together.  But it'll be nice to have some quiet time and maybe even a chance to have some naps.  Maybe then I can kick this cold to the curb.

So hopefully all is well in your neck of the woods, and hopefully I shall be a better blogger in the next few months.

Happy Quilting!

Show And Tell

Hi there.

It is school holidays.  I’ve packed off my children for three nights with their grandmother.  The house is quiet and still.  I’ve all the time in the world to quilt.

And I have a head cold.

Yay.

I thought I’d give you some show and tell today.  This quilt is a really old one that has been languishing in the cupboard for years, just waiting for ‘something’ to finish it off.

It’s a disappearing nine patch, and it was finished to the red outer border.  But it wasn’t ‘finished’.  On my last visit to a fabric shop I brought some black and whites and in half an hour had stitched an outer border.  I think all it needs now is that red as a binding and it’s done. 

It was a shop sample (so many shop samples) and we sold metre after metre of black and whites once people had realised what they could do with them.  I must admit that black and white prints can look very daunting, but this worked a treat.  Don’t you think?

I hope you’ve had a good day sewing, or quilting, or knitting, or whatevering!

Suzie

Sewing? What is that? Who does that? Who has time?

I wish the rollercoaster would slow down!

I keep saying to myself ‘when I have a clear week I shall do this!’ or ‘when things slow down I shall do that!’ and of course, it never happens.  I think I need to resign myself to the fact that I am now living a busy, busy life and it’s messy and unorganised and I’m messy and unorganised and no amount of trying harder will change it!

So I’m trying to get into a ‘go with the flow’ mentality.  I’ll let you know how I go with that. Wish me luck.

I had a really lovely Easter.  We didn’t go away (it’s a thing here in Australia that you go camping over Easter).  We live in a really pretty camping region, so half of the country seems to set up camp here.  I don’t love camping too close to neighbours, so we tend to do the ‘staycation’ or the ‘glamping from home’ thing here.

But we did get out on the river.  My husband has recently purchased himself a new boat – what we call a dinghy, or a ‘tinny’ if you’re a bloke.  It’s nothing flash – there are some very flash speedboats around here but we’ve just gone low key.  It’s fast though, and we took the girls out for a ride on Sunday. 

It was an amazingly glorious day weather-wise.  We had sunblock all over.  The very next day it was 13 degrees and raining.  Weather in Australia is mental.

We have a resident paddlesteamer.  The paddlesteamers were the only means of transport back before roads and cars, and this one has been restored and now goes out on joyrides on weekends.  On this day it was listing badly to one side as all the tourists were on the other side taking photos of the riverbank.

Our river is big and wide, and I adore it.  I never want to live anywhere else.  I saw a thousand black swans, white swans, pelicans – all sorts of birdlife but the navigator (my husband) kept saying ‘We’ll go back for photos in a minute’ and of course, we never did. 

Throughout the river, there are many creeks.  The creeks are where you go for the fish and the yabbies.  They are full of what we locals call snags (the branches and older trees that have died and fallen underwater) and the fish love to live in their little nooks and crannies.  Of course it makes life interesting, boating through there.  And the local boys go as fast as they can through it.  As young boys will do.

Such amazing trees.  These are river red gums, and this one is a baby.

I tried to be techy (and can I just put it out there that it has taken me ALL morning!) and I have uploaded my video of our jaunt through the creek system.  Please watch and enjoy.

And then, you can watch how the silly young men do it. They are so clever.  I'd be scared silly.  

Hopefully I will be able to sew today.  So hopefully some quilty photos to show you.

Suzie