Delights

Fog across the river to the west

Hello Sun!

Rosy skies to the east

Mt Warning wreathed in colour

 I'm up and out early most days, I just can't get enough of this early morning light and colour. There's been fog the last few mornings, making everything look ghostly, then the sun burns through, revealing beautiful rosy skies and amazing clouds.

More delights to enjoy, with the arrival in the mail yesterday of these F2F blocks from Christina. Thanks Christina, perfect soft low-volume colours.  I just have one set still on it's way, and my own 3 to make, then I can start to play with lay-outs.  

On my to-do list today is making a start on Kate's F2F blocks. She's chosen this sparkling palette of black and white and lime green....nice! Kate has already received some gorgeous blocks, you can see them in the gallery, just scroll down almost to the end.   For those new to my blog.....or returning.....there's a blurb at the beginning of that gallery page, telling the F2F story.

This delightful girl has been waiting patiently for a while, with her ball at the ready, so we're off for a walk now. 

till next time.....

Gathering nuts in May

..........and fruit as well!

 

Once again, my house is full of noisy tradies, and as the power's off for a while so they can install the new sensor lights, I've decided to retreat to the riverbank with a pot of tea.  It wasn't until I sat down, and looked from that different perspective, I noticed a pawpaw tree down the bank a bit, full of good size fruit.  So I scrambled down and picked a box full, even the green ones, otherwise the bats and possums will come and eat the lot.....or more likely, the possums will take a bite from each one and leave the fruit rotting on the tree. I don't mind sharing with the local wildlife, but don't want to see good fruit go to waste.  I'll leave these in a sunny spot and they'll  ripen in a few days.

Walking along the grass, I could feel the macadamia nuts under foot, so it seemed like a good time to gather them up as well, and I managed to find quite a lot. There's two trees here, and I was told by a local arborist that the one on the left, in the last picture, is part of the original Gondwana rain forest, one of the most extensive sub-tropical rainforests in the world.  It's a lighter green and has a finer leaf than the grafted variety that you can just see on the right of the picture.  Go  here if you'd like to know more about these rainforests and the primitive plant species that have direct links with the birth and spread of plants from over a million years ago.

Back to enjoying my pot of tea, the view and the peace and quiet.....

till next time.......

Little left over bits

..... of fabric, of course

In the midst of a week busy with hunting down second hand doors, sanding and painting  said doors, dealing with the electrician, the builder and the tree trimmer, and other pleasantries like enjoying the company of an old friend who came for a surprise visit, and making a start on my veggie garden, I managed some sewing.

First was this for a friend's birthday ....a mug rug, pot holder.....however she wants to use it....made from the trimmings from the latest F2F blocks I made for Claire.  It's around 7 inches square.

 And this one wonky star for green month at So Scrappy. I cheated a bit....I had this lot cut out ready to sew last year when I was making rainbow stars.  Putting my house on the market and getting ready to move meant it was packed away and forgotten but found this week while looking for something else!  

Both were made from scraps, so I'm linking up with Kate and Gun For ScrapHappy May and with Angela for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Lots of bloggers doing amazing things with scraps.
* Edited to add linking up with Cynthia at Oh Scrap!  as well......even more scrappy fun!

till next time....

F2F Catchup

The last time I posted about F2F was back in January, when we pulled out all the stops to get Pat's blocks made and away to Sue in the US, so it could be made up, and hopefully give her a chance to see it and enjoy the comfort of it.....a big hug from all of us.....in her last days. Happily, thanks to everyone's great effort, and particularly Sue who put all the blocks together into a beautiful quilt, and her son, who quilted it, Pat was able to see her quilt and enjoy having it close to her for a short while. Sadly, Pat passed away in early February, but her quilt remains as a legacy to her, and will now be used to raise funds for the Ovarian Cancer Society in the US.....a fitting tribute. 

The finished quilt - what a beauty

Looking back, I realised I've not shown any of the blocks I've made for the other F2F'ers since here last year.  So in order from then .........

Susan - August 

Sue - September

Lyn-October 

Avis -November 

Christine - December

 

Pat -January

Emmely - February

Claire -March

 You can go to the gallery here to see all the wonderful blocks that've been made, or here to see Avis's completed quilt,  here to see Lyn's in progress (scroll down a bit) or here to see how Sue's putting hers together.....beautifully creative work, ladies.

And so on to me.....April! I'm a bit in love with low volume quilts at the moment, so I chose soft, low volume mauves, and soft light grey or cream for the backgrounds. Here's my blocks so far.....it's been so exciting to open the packages and find these wonderful works of art.....I really appreciate the work that's gone into creating these lovely blocks for me.  Five to come...I think...plus my own, which I'll make once I have all the others together.

Kate has already launched F2F2 and you can follow along at the dedicated  blog if you like, when it starts again in June.  I had thought I'd join in again, then realised I had enough ongoing commitments already for the year, but I'm thinking I might sew alongside and make just my own blocks, I even have my colours picked out.....I'll see when June comes around.

As soon as I finish the son's quilt I'll be making Kate's  blocks, which will be grey, black and white with lime green....a lovely fresh palette. His quilt looked like this a few days ago, it's all sewn together now and has borders, if I don't get dragged away to buy paint or hunt down door handles, I'll be getting onto the quilting. 

Till next time.....

Last scrappy orange day

Yesterday was the last day of orange month, and although I thought I'd make a couple more orange churn dashes, it didn't happen.  I did manage to put this quilt top together with the scrappy log cabins I was working on in my last post....two and a half weeks ago!  My computer lost it's way, thanks to a Windows 10 upgrade, and after waiting nearly two weeks for  it to be repaired, I then had trouble connecting to my service provider.  After having 3 techs all go through the same troubleshooting with me, and disagreeing with me that it was the modem, a week later a 4th decided yes, it was and arranged for me to get a new one!   Bah!

This orange number still needs to be quilted, but when it's finished, it's off to Maya's Rest, a respite centre for seriously ill children in country NSW.  Donations of quilts and rugs For Maya's Rest has been organised by Knit4Charities and is one of their April charities of the month.  It needs to be finished and in the mail by next Friday, and since today is grey and wet, once Mirrhi has had her walk, I'll be staying indoors to work on this, as well as my son's quilt, which is progressing nicely.

To see more delicious orange projects,  hop on over to the RSC link up.

I'll be back tomorrow with a long over-due F2F catch-up.  I'm Miss April, so there's plenty of blocky goodness to show as squishy parcels have been arriving in my mailbox.

'till then....have a good day.