Magic Pinwheels

Another quilt finished for January.  I purchased this Pinwheel Magic template from Aussie Patches at one of the craft fairs that I went to last year, and (eventually) I made this quilt with it.

Hard Rock Daisies

It's started off with sewing squares together with a border and then, using the square template provided, cutting the whole thing to pieces again.  There's a tutorial on the Aussie Patches website, but this is what mine looked like before it was recut.

Pretty boring really, and a dramatic reduction in size.  There's quite a bit of scrap after recutting, from which those on-point squares in the border were cut. Or you could cut them into smaller squares to use as a frame.  It was quite interesting to do, and I probably will get around to making another - in the fullness of time, that is!
It's been raining and raining here this week, we had 278mm rain in 2 days (yes, that's almost 11") and  there's been a bit of local flooding, but things seem to be drying up now.  Just as well, I thought we'd all have to grow gills!
See you next time

Back in the garden.......

.....we have grasshoppers!  Little ones, big ones, massive ones, green ones, brown ones, you get the picture.  And they are all hungry ones - but I've got 'em beat now!

Net food covers - to keep the bugs off at al fresco meals for people, not grasshoppers.

This little pineapple is in my neighbour's garden.  Although we live in a pineapple growing area I haven't ever noticed  them starting off like this.  It's probably a bit hard to see them as you're driving past the farms at 80kph!

It's as cute as a button isn't it?  The fruit is about 2" high without the crown.
A few miles down the road and at the other end of the scale is this Big Pineapple which is 52' high.

It has been a local tourist attraction since 1971.  If you want to know more you can read about it here and here.

First finish for 2012

To begin with, and as a New Year gift to myself, I've decided that I don't actually have to save every single scrap of everything that comes my way!

So I've been throwing some stuff out............. and you know, it's quite liberating.  I've even found a bit of space in the cupboards to put some of the stuff that I do want to keep!  But enough of that.

I purchased a couple of Martinique layer cakes last year (or the year before that) from Patchwork Angel, and I made a quilt with the bits that I liked the most......

Tangelo Pie

.....which left me, of course, with the bits that I didn't like quite so well.  Not that there is anything wrong with them, they're just a bit pale and wan.  But I also had two pieces of yardage from the same range, which was quite dark by comparison, and I didn't quite know how to get them to play nicely.  But this is how I got it together.

Mocha Stars

And I'm pretty happy with that!  This quilt will be going to my friend, Bev, to use as part of her fundraiser for Australia's Biggest Morning Tea.

And just in case you're wondering, no, there hasn't been any further progress on Orca Bay, but I'm getting to it soon.

Orca Bay

Yes, well it's getting there!
I have all the parts made (although I am making only 35 blocks), but I have yet to start sewing them together.

Here are 6 blocks on the design wall.  You might notice that I have put the red strings against the light backgrounds rather than the dark, which gives me large black stars with "twinkly" points.  I'm leaning toward sewing it together that way.  There must be thousands of people around the world making this quilt, so check out what some of them are doing with theirs at Quiltville.  It's awesome to see the different colour schemes, and how fabulous they look.  Thanks so much, Bonnie, for making it possible for all of us!