QFD CIJ 2010...

Quilt Fabric Delights held an on-line Christmas In July event and from that a swap was born...send your swapee a Christmas decoration and a fat quarter of fabric...

I've just had a lovely email telling me that the parcel I sent on Friday arrived (sometimes Australia Post does deliver in a timely fashion) so now I can reveal....

This is what I sent to Mhairi...

Mhairi's colours were purple, silver, green and her style was modern, kid focused and not to fussy...the felt the elf boot is made from is the wool felt that I had to have at the Ballarat Quilt-In...beee-u-tiful stuff to work with.

Happy Stitching...

Just. Sit. Still. Already. ...

Pleeeaase sit still.

I get comfy on my bed in the lounge room and You...Get Up And Go To The Sewing Room.

So, being a good dog I follow and Just. Get. Comfy. on my Sewing Room Bed and...You Move Again!!

For goodness sake, I'm trying to Sleep!

Human....Sit!

Jindi

NZ Pike Mine Healing Hearts Appeal...

Reading Squilters* digest this evening I came across information about Shirley Goodwin, an NZ quilter, co-ordinating an appeal by Kiwiquilters** for Healing Hearts to make into quilts for those affected by the Pike River Mine tragedy, the mining accident that has resulted in the loss of 29 men.

Details of the appeal can be found here here on Shirley's blog.  All they are asking for are for healing heart blocks. If you don't know what these are, they are 6 1/2" (unfinished size, they finish to 6") cream background blocks with a heart motif ... appliqued, pieced, embroidered, whatever ... And because of their small size, postage can be kept minimal as they can be folded into a D4 envelope as mailed as an ordinary letter...

Can you help?  Visit Shirley to find out the details, the link above takes you directly to the relevant post on her blog.

* Squilters is an online group for Australian and New Zealand quilters

** Kiwiquilters is an online group for New Zealand quilters

What Happened to Last Week?...

I seem to have lost a week somewhere…bugger!...there are some things I just never find…you might need a coffee and a pillow…this has turned out to be looonnngggg!!!

Well, it seems that Herself managed to tell you all about Her Adventures in Ballarat and Mildura but not mine…darn dog!...

Now there really was a good reason for going to Mildura (head north from home) via Ballarat (head west)… I really really wanted to go Ballaarat Quilters Quilt-In. I’m so glad I did…it was a great day out…good company in Mistea and Ms R, together with four other ladies from my local sewing groups who also made the trek, so I had quite a social day thank you very much…the guest talker was Jodie from Ric Rac who had the room laughing along with her and her stories…there were a good selection of shops, lovely quilts hung on the walls to admire…and…

…I even managed to sew!  I know, amazing!!!  I started the day by attempting to continue work on my Chooky Blue Secret Santa project…I failed…big time…it just wasn’t happening for me…so I moved on to finishing the hand quilting lines on my Leanne's House project from Immerse Yourself In Stitching and finished that part of the project…yay!...and then yesterday (skipping right ahead)…I finished the whole project…

Sticher's Keeper

Very happy with how it turned out…it doesn’t fit my ruler for travelling as I had kind of hoped it would but never mind that, it will still be a most useful addition to the collection of “carry things about receptacles”…

So back to Ballarat…once the quilting lines were done I couldn’t go any further as the next step required P-faff’s involvement soooo I proceeded to flick through the latest issue of Homespun and found a project that would take care of a couple of swap inclusions and that meant I had to shop…right there at the Quilt-In from Sovereign Needlework I found the most gorgeous wool felt and some Threadworx embroidery floss to match…Mistea donated some paper from the part of her photocopy that she didn’t need, thank you Mistea, and with a sense of obsession templates were made and the project begun…I am in lurve with wool felt…seriously… well, all know the acrylic stuff is horrible…the wool blends are OK a definite improvement on acrylic…but pure wool….iss...Bliss….simply gorgeous stuff to work with…

A sneaky peek...

Oh, and the reason why I had a copy of the latest Homespun with me…’coz I was skiteing…just a little bit ‘coz it’s not like I’m a big time designer with a project in there or anything but my little flower doily made it to the mail bag page…I was very excited…

I found me in here!...

...in the Mailbag section...

Earlier in the year when I put the finished project on my blog I received an email from the editor asking me to submit it to the mailbag…so I did…and then I thought it would never appear…and now it has…and they used my very own words as well…I was sure that if it ever did appear the words would be heavily edited to make sense but no…OK skite ends…but I just had to you know…

Mildura was lovely of course but the purpose of the trip wasn’t crafty though I did keep going with the swap project I had started at Ballarat and had coffee with a quilty friend who has relocated there.  I tried a little hopping for Jeannet's Pincushion Swap on International Pincushion Day but it really didn’t work out and as I managed to lose this week in the debris of my world I’m hoping today to get to visit all 152 blogs…oh that would be 151 ‘coz I don’t have to visit my own, well, that makes it easier *LOL*…and see all the wonderful pincushions that were made…thank you to the lovely swappers who visited my blog last week and left a comment…most of you were no reply so I couldn’t answer but I hope to get around and leave comments on your blogs…it was a fun swap and if Jeannet holds it again in the future I’d be putting it on the list to have another play…

Oh, in a lovely surprise…a friend came back from two months in the United Kingdom (*sigh* wouldn’t that be wonderful) on Monday and along with the lovely china thimble from the Royal Yacht Brittania that I asked her to pick me up if she managed to get there…(I had regretted from the day that I didn’t buy it when I was there, the design is the beautiful embroidery in the Queen’s bedroom on the yacht)…she also bought me back the V&A Quilt 2011 Calendar…a beautiful hand embroidered bookmark from the The Lost Garden of Heligan and a postcard of the amazing tapestry “The Hunter” from Montacute House, Somerset…

Presents from the UK...

Had a lovely night Friday stitching with some sewing group friends…thank you Andrea for hosting…and tah dah…the last hexagon diamond for the centre of Bumb’le Bee…wahoo! now only 162 sashing and seven feature hexies to baste so that the medallion can be assembled *sigh*…

All laid out on the "sashing" fabric...mmm, has promise...

I also managed to finish up a Gardener’s Journal stitchery for the Stitch-A-Long…

Chirp, chirp, little birdies...

...it’s from the September block…oops! slightly behind yet again…I completely lost my GJ mojo there for a couple of months, I can feel it creeping back ever so quietly…

This weekend I’m working on the latest incarnation of my Chooky Blue Secret Santa swap project...the original one failed so miserably I took the hint from the Universe and moved right along.  After much anguish (read: couldn’t make up my mind for the life of me) have finally settled on something else…

Another sneaky peek...

which has to be in the mail between the 19^th and 25^th of this month which only gives me a week or so!!!…so while LG is doing his thing making the clothes dizzy and as the weather is not clement enough to want to put a toe outside, my plan for the rest of Sunday is was to stitch and blog hop……instead I've spent most of the day fighting with the internet connection thingy convincing blogging platforms that uploading photos is a part of the plan...sheesh!...have almost finished the stitchery part of the exercise though in the parts where I was waiting, waiting, waiting...

Hope your weekend is a good one…

Happy Stitching…

What Jindi Did Next...

Sunday, after our big trip on Saturday, we spent the day in Mildura...it was a catch-up with people day, the purpose of our trip...

As the human and I were both a bit tired from all those kilometres on Saturday we started the day slooowly and didn't rush about seeing this and that...instead we took a ride down the road to Red Cliff and spent a lazy hour wandering around the market stalls in the park and the main street...I was suitably admired by the stall holder when the human was buying some dried apricots and a nice lady walking past stopped and gave me lots of pats...I do so like it when humans do that...

Then it was off to Irymple for a BBQ lunch...the human was going to make me wait in the car but the humans who live at that house said I could play in their yard and I had a wonderful time...I said hello to the dog that lives there but he was staying at his kennel and...

...I played totem tennis and catch with the girl humans...

There were so many hoppers (immature locusts) that the ground looked like it was moving...

See all those "brown dots"...they are all hoppers and that is just a teeny tiny selection of their population...and they sure do a whole lot of damage...

...the yard was all green grass until a couple of days before the hoppers moved in and ate and ate and ate and now it is brown and dead wherever they have had lunch!...

After the bbq the human went to have coffee with a quilty friend and I waited in the car...again!...then we went to visit some more humans and I got to play with the big boy blonde labrador that lives at that house...

I got to play with lots of different dogs and little humans...there was another Kelpie staying at the caravan park where we stayed and I got to say hello and play a little bit with her too...she was just like me except her tummy was a bit rounder and closer to the ground than mine...but she was a very nice Kelpie...

I was very good at the caravan park and I slept on my bean bag on the verandah...

Monday we had to come straight back down the highway as the human had to go to work in the afternoon...she says it was a Very Long Commute to Work...

So now we are back home again and our little holiday of lots and lots of kilometres is done but maybe Larry will take me and the human up the highway again and we can visit Mildura again...that Murray River looked like it would be a nice place to spend some time...I would like to go for a nice loooonnnngggg walk at the river...

Woofs and Tail Wags...Jindi

On The Road Again...

I got to ride in the car yesterday...A Lot!...I got to wait in the car yesterday too...A Lot!...I'm not so keen on the waiting bit but I do love the riding bit...

First stop a place in...Ballarat...with GF Rosie who I like a lot - she bought me 2 smackos treats - yum yum - and when we got there Mistea was there too!  The humans all went inside a building and did whatever it is that humans do (boring...yawn!) while I waited outside in Larry...there was A Lot of Waiting...but Larry had found a nice cool parking space under trees.

The human came out to give me a drink and let me have a little walk around and while we were doing that the famous Jodie arrived and gave me pats...I do like it when I get lots of attention from the humans...

After A Long Time everyone came out of the building again and then we went for another ride...this one was A Very Long Ride until we got to a place in...Mildura...

For those who don't live in Victoria (why not?) or even Australia (again, why not?)...this is how far it was...605 kms...


yes, it certainly would have been more direct to go from home to Mildura but apparently there was something going on in that building that the human just had to go to so we went the Long Way Around...humans, they are a strange species!

Don't know what we are doing today but I'm sure it will involve more riding in Larry, maybe today the human will remember to use her camera so I have proper photos to show you..it's hard being a Kelpie sometimes *sigh*...

Woofs and Tail Wags...Jindi

Jeannet's Pincushion Swap

In August I joined up Jeannet's pincushion swap...along with 150 other swappers!...As Jeannet is Dutch and I was relying on Google translate I managed to misunderstand and think it was a secret swap...you know, person A sends to person B and receives from person C...but no, it was a direct swap...which became clear to me when I received a parcel from the person that I was sending to!...challenged, sometimes...seriously challeged *LOL*....

Anyway, my swap partner from the Netherlands was Annelies who sent me this lovely pincushion in the colours of the Dutch flag...

 ...card trick, a traditional block that I've always liked...and nice dutch scene fabric on the back...a reminder always of my Dutch swap partner...and in the parcel a nice pattern too...thank you Annelies...

 

I made this pincushion for Annelies...

...a pattern by one our Aussie designers...Leanne Beasley of Leanne's House fame...I enjoyed stitching this design...I forgot to take a photo of it with the fat quarter of fabric that I wrapped it in...oops!
 
Thank you Jeannet for hosting...

Happy Stitching

It was Raining and Pouring...

...so what choice was there but to head to the sewing room and hibernate...he he he...

...Sunday's rain (2", 50 mm, 200 points - whatever way you look at it, a lot in 36 hours!)...meant these projects all got a look in...

The day started with making up the two little "signature" blocks in the top right hand corner...they are for a group project...can't say what as while I'm sure my blog isn't read by anyone who shouldn't yet know about the project I'm not 100% on that one and wouldn't want to spoil the surprise...

Then...in the spirit of cleaning up the mess that is my sewing space and finding the  cutting table top...the Quilt Top Cupboard received some new residents...the Never Ending Wagga (wahoo!) which only needed a strip on either side to balance it out and the bottom edge trimmed straight...the Christmas wall hanging which was ready for its two borders and got 'em...and the Holly Jolly Christmas Swap blocks from earlier this year assembled and borders on...the borders are the fabric which Mistea and I used for our swap 9 patch blocks...I've one of our fancy blocks that Mistea stitched and she has one of our 9 patch blocks which I stitched, effectively also a team swap from the returned blocks...

I got bored with UFOs between the Wagga finish and the bordering of the Holly Jolly blocks and looked around for something new to start and realised that I had nothing to show for OPAM for October...oops!...I did have a finish in Jeannet's Pincushion Swap but the swap reveal day is 6 November so I can't show that yet...so...as I bought Insul-Bright at Ballarat Patchwork a couple of weeks ago I wanted to have a little play with that having never used it before...and the Churn Dash Potholder was the result...OPAM for October...tick :)

Whew!  That is a whole lot of progress for me in one day...and I even did some prep work on my Leanne's House project from Immerse so that I can continue to the next step (which is hand quilting) to take to sewing today...my goodness, if this keeps up I'll need a cup of tea, a Bex and a good lie down! (and if you remember that you are old like me *LOL*)...

Happy stitching...

PS...for the OPAM thing, I did start this last night but the internet connection thingy would not play nice!...I'm blaming the rain...