Zooming with Alice Progress...

Yesterday was a Zoom day with Chookyblue and the bloggy ladies from all over...

I didn't join in until lunch time as I got all the distractions sorted and out of the way first so I could stay and play without feeling I needed to multi-task...once settled I got stuck back into the centre medallion for  "Alice"...

At the start of the session I was still at the point of attaching the background/teal units around the blue block and by the end of the day all stitched together...missing the top middle orange hexagons because something went wrong with my counting skills and I need to prep three more orange dinner plate hexies to go in there...once the "picture" is applique into the centre it will be time to prepare the half and quarter hexies to square up...definitely a slow stitching project and not yet bored and wanting to put it away for a while so keep moving before the interest wanes (which very much could happen at the prep the squaring up pieces stage, we'll see)...

Another fun day with lots of catching up, laughs, oohs and ahs over each others projects and solving the problems of the world...balm for the soul...thanks again Chooky, best thing to come out of the COVID pandemic...

 Happy Stitching...

Zooming into 2022...with "Alice" and Friends...

Well here we are in 2022...and what better way to start the year off than with a zoom day with the bloggy friends from near and far hosted by Chookyblue...

I spent most of the time on the "design floor"... yeah yeah there are many and varied ways to create a portable design wall and I have such a solution but nowhere to hang it in the sewing room here without covering up the actual doorway which is a tad inconvenient...so design floor it is...I could still listen to the chatter though and look up to the lap top screen to see what was being shared...

I worked on "Alice"...a Summer School quilt by Karen Cunningham from 2019...Karen used Alice in Wonderland pictures in her quilt which I didn't want to do, I'm using teapots and teacups which still fits into Alice in Wonderland just more the Mad Hatters Tea Party...

First up laying out the centre "wheels" (which are fully constructed), choosing which teapot oval I wanted in the centre and arranging the constructed double hexagons around...this project has been quietly making progress during zooms and at patchwork group this year...

That done the next step was the fill in hexies...this caused my brain to forget how to translate what it was seeing in a diagram to what it was seeing on the floor and for the life of me I couldn't work out what was needed in which fabric...so I photocopied the diagram, got out the Derwents and had a little colouring-in session...colouring-in is still quite fun :) ....ah ha, so those ones are the double hexagon shirting fabric...sorted...

Now for the squaring up...oh I think orange for the corner and side fill-in hexies...an hour of rummaging through fabric...more fun!...and the orange spot won...

 

How it finished at the end of the day...not sewn together just laid out but progress is progress...need three more large hexies (at 1 1/4" I've nicknamed them dinner plate hexies they seem so big) to fill in that centre top triangle space but by the end of the zoom day who could be bothered...

Thanks Chook for starting the New Year off on a positive note...

Happy New Year and may your days be filled with needle and thread...

Happy Stitching...

On the Road...Waterfalls...Silverbank Falls

From Wonderland Car Park we turned left and continued up and over to our last stop for the day...Silverbank Falls...the car park for this one is on the side of the road and gives no indication of a waterfall as the path goes through a drier forest of gum trees and is flat and easy walk in...to a dead-end at the end of the path and the falls...this one is really interesting as the water falls into the creek bed and immediately disappears...the creek is dry and rocky until about 50 metres back along the track where the water pops out...

That was the end of our waterfall spotting for the day...it will be good to return after rain and see them running a little more fully but it was still a lovely afternoon spent out and about...

Happy Stitching...

On the Road...Waterfalls...Splitter's Falls & Grand Canyon

Oh dear it's taken me a while to get back to finish the tripping about to the waterfalls...

Next up...after Beehive Falls we headed back towards Halls Gap and Splitter's Falls...

From the Wonderland Car Park we walked in to the falls - these ones are viewed from a distance over a cliff and I don't do heights well...at all!...so I stayed far back and let only the camera get up close...we walked out via Grand Canyon, rocks and boulders and the creek running though...I have to admit Grand Canyon I found way more interesting than the falls but that have been the height thing and the falls not running a lot of water...

Happy Stitching...

On the Road...Waterfalls...Beehive Falls...

After Bunjil's Shelter it was time to head off to find the day's aims...waterfalls!...first up was the second tick for my previous list...I'd been wanting to find time to go here for ages but you know, the work thing is constantly in the way of doing fun stuff...

Beehive Falls...a walk in from the car park...

More flora along the way...

There were lots of this one...

Interesting cones on this conifer...pointy...

More interesting rock/boulder formations...

At the end of the walk in...worth the trek and uphill climb over rocks and boulders...not a lot of water but still...pretty and peaceful...

One down...on to the next...

Happy Stitching...

On The Road...Bunjil's Shelter...

Mistea (she doesn't blog anymore) is having a mini holiday here and yesterday's request was "are there waterfalls in the Grampians?"...well yes there are...so off we trot to "find some waterfalls".  I intentionally stayed away from the big one well known one because all the tourists flock so too many people.  There were two places I'd been meaning to go for ages but hadn't got around to...so they went straight on to the list...the first was Bunjil's Shelter (not a waterfall but still an opportunity to put it on the list) - it's really less than 30 minutes drive away but you know how it is sometimes, the hardest things to get yourself to are actually the closest!...

The information board makes for an interesting read...

I'm not going to post a photo of the rock art...that just seems...well, wrong...but...otherwise...

Interesting rock and boulder formations...

Flora...

Sometimes both...plants take hold wherever they can...

Lichen on rocks...

Views for kilometres...

No waterfalls yet...but tick this one off the list!...

Happy Stitching...

Owl Story - Borders...

After the spurt of action in getting the owl swap blocks together (last post) I kept up the impetus in searching for border fabric...I landed on orange with blue binding and had the exact right shade of orange in the fabric emporium...well I had a scrap of a fat quarter in the exact right shade of orange so hardly enough for a cornerstone let alone a border *sigh*....to the internets!!!!...spent a few hours thinking "oh that's the one"..."oh no this one's better"...flicking back and forth between browser tabs comparing and holding my wee scrap of orange up to the monitor (yes, I know all about graphic cards and colours not necessarily being on point on monitors but it was what it was)...in the end I found two fabrics I was happy with at the one shop (instead of a blue at one and an orange at another and double postage!)...Jemima's in Craigieburn won the day and delivery was as swift as Australia Post would allow (dispatch by the shop was pretty much next day, let's not talk about how long Australia Post holds parcels hostage in what can be various distribution centres depending on where the parcel is coming from)...

Today's excuse for avoiding doing the ironing and mowing...borders...

The orange is a little more "red" than I first wanted, with my scrap being a clear true orange, but it works in well with the blocks.

I have the binding fabric but I will have to sort a backing...not to worry it is now a top and can go into the tub of pretty sheets (completed tops)...

Oh and I realised while it was laid out on the floor that one block is "signed" with the year...2010...not as long ago as I had imagined...only 11 years, almost yesterday!

Happy Stitching...