Brim...

Easter Tuesday (yes I know that was six months ago but I came across the photos and thought why not!) I had to go to Stawell first thing to drop something off...it was a lovely day and I didn't have to go to work so I thought...well, I'm already in Stawell, why not keep on and go to Warracknabeal to the patchwork shop [Quilters Harvest].   On the way to Warracknabeal it occurred to me that only a short (20km) further on are the painted silos at Brim...yes, there was a theme of oh I'm here why not go there to the day...so on to Brim it was...

The information board in the paddock across the road...

View from a distance takes in the whole scale...silos aren't small...

With acres of room and plenty of cars parked on that side without blocking the view/effect and a paddock across the road to park in, the tool in the 4WD with caravan stops dead in front of the silos.

Finally, after about 15 minutes, a clear view of the whole effect...
The detail in each portrait is amazing...Four local farmers...three men and one woman...

Then it was back to the patchwork shop which I don't get to go to very often but it is one that I always enjoy visiting...Not the intention when I left the house that morning but a nice unplanned way to spend a day off...

Happy Stitching...

Framed...

It sure is hard to restart once out of the blogging habit...here goes...

Back in June Melissa Grant of One Day in May travelled west to spend a day giving a workshop put on by the Stawell Craft Shop and to start off on the Friday night held a trunk show at the shop.  Not sure what to expect, but thinking it might be interesting, my friend M and I went along...and we weren't sorry...Melissa was lovely, we got to see all her lovely projects, hear her story and she freely offered tips and tricks...definitely made the prospect of the workshop the next day even more enticing.

At the workshop we were to be given the choice of two projects. One a pattern Melissa had already released and one a surprise. I looked at the known pattern, Sew Tidy, on Melissa's website, liked it, so on the Friday morning before work thought I'd put some background fabrics and threads in the bag for the next day and before I knew it...whoosh! fabrics and threads came together and all I needed was the pattern to go with them!  The feature stitchery was started on the day...

Finished the words in class...yes, in class!...happiness indeed...

It became my fortnightly Saturday sit and sew project... the stitchery was finished...

 The whole constructed and put in a frame...

And filled with some bits and bobs as a try out...

An actual finish (maybe a month ago which means only a couple of months since the workshop - almost a miracle!)... 

Happy Stitching...

Small Hexie Pincushion...

Jindi found this post languishing as a draft yesterday...who knew I'd actually attempted a blog post!  So moving on...

I enjoyed making the pincushion for Demi so much it spurred me on to finally make my own using the gorgeous fabrics gifted along with the pattern. The fabric strips were sufficient to make a pincushion the same size as I made Demi, which I think was about 7" across (I forgot to measure it), but I really want to also include some of the fabric in a particular quilt.  The size is determined by the size papers so problem solved...made it smaller... 

2 1/2" across, it fits so neatly in my hand it could double as a stress ball (pins removed!!) on a bad day!

I just love the raspberry and duck egg blue fabrics.

Happy Stitching...

Sunday with Jindi...

A walk in the park...

 No view today...just white air stuff...

Recovery mode...

As you were...

SQT Small Quilt Swap - Extra

Demi & I also chatted about extra goodies in the swap parcel and we were both of the same mind with that one as well...you've seen what Demi sent me as extras but what did I add to Demi's parcel?...I tried to include as much "Aussie" as I could...

A pincushion pattern of Karen Cunningham's using EPP hexies and squares immediately jumped to mind...I had just enough of a piece of "Melbourne" fabric to fussy cut the hexies...

the Arts Centre and trams on one side...

the Aussie flag on the other the other...

 

Demi had mentioned favourite colours including navy and brick red...red linen and an Ink & Spindle (a boutique screen printing team in Melbourne) fabric that has been waiting for years for its turn - perfect!

I had so much fun making the pincushion I stopped work on the quilt! Must make my own one...

Cottage Garden Threads, Darrel Lea lolly and a cute little magnet were wrapped in a fat quarter of fabric, there was a magazine too but it didn't make the photo shoot...I bought the magnet and fabric at Quilters Harvest in Warracknabeal and I got one of each for both of us so when I use the magnet and the fabric I will remember the swap, I think the fabric might go with the fabrics Demi sent me which would be great to use it all in the same project.

Anyway, I hope Demi enjoys the little extras...I had fun putting it together...

Happy Stitching...

 

Small Quilt Swap - Incoming...

I was sooooo spoilt by my partner Demi in the Small Quilt Talk small quilt swap...as I mentioned in the Outgoing post we decided on monochromatic with white/cream for our colour scheme, main colour chosen by the recipient - I chose aqua, then decided that was way too hard to find and changed it to duck egg blue.  Demi went all out to find my colour - she used paint chips to colour match fabric...

A closer look at the pretty fabrics...and handquilting...

Demi added a swag of extra goodies...especially reminiscent of her area of the United States, a really interesting part which would be amazing to visit I think...

All together now...

Love it all...thank you Demi...

Happy Stitching...