Blast from the Past

No sewing of note here this week......instead I have been busy moving my huge stash of sewing/fabric/books/patterns/miscellaneous items to a new room.  It long ago outgrew its previous home in my son's old bedroom and as there are only the two of us here now we don't really need all the living areas we have, so the rumpus room is to be my new bolthole.  It's a lovely room but the only problem is that it has four floor-to-ceiling windows/doors so the two available wall spaces will be crammed with cupboards, shelves etc.  Anyway, more on that later as it takes shape.

Instead, this week I am showing you the very first quilt I ever made.  It has a secondary tessellating pattern formed by the Bright Hopes block.  So easy and yet so effective.  It's a very good quilt for beginners with no triangles to contend with and so I taught this quilt as a first one for newbies at an evening college class a few years ago.  I have to confess that the way I went about it originally wasn't so clever though because I did it without instructions, sewing it completely from squares!  Also, one of the fabrics (dark green) I am sure is not cotton!!!  I still love it though.

Missing Milly

This is my daughter's missing 2 year old Cavalier-X.  She and her partner-in-crime, Rex (pictured) dug a hole under the fence and took off into the wilds of Canberran suburbia in the southern Tuggeranong area.  This is not the first time they have escaped their lovely roomy backyard and we are wondering why.  My daughter and her husband moved to the house less than two months ago, but the dogs have never appeared to try to go back to their former home so that doesn't appear to be the reason. 

Happily, Rex was found just three doors away, having followed a child home from school.  Normally both dogs have stayed together during their wanderings.  However, most search avenues (any many have been tried) are turning up little or nothing in the way of sightings.  As it's now five days since Milly was last seen, we are very worried for her safety.  She's a friendly dog so it's just possible she's just followed someone home.  Oh, and she is microchipped.  If you have seen her please phone 0409 379 659.

Thank you,

Semi-Flaunt

Didn't get too far with this;  hence a semi-flaunt :).  I had planned to make a swag of The 12 Days of Christmas, using embroidery designs from Embroidery Library (http://www.emblibrary.com/) but after I had sewn two narrow borders around the designs I realised I would have one very long swag as each block is more than 9" (around 23cm) square.  Second idea:  make a Christmas wallhanging but I won't say more at this stage and then I can save it for a Fully-Fledged Flaunt.  I do have one idea floating around.  I am also thinking I might buy a set of smaller designs to do a swag.  I mostly seem to go all out and buy the biggest designs my machine will take but just sometimes, the smaller designs would be preferable.

A Little Flaunt

Not a big flaunt this week but I really like the idea of flaunting because without it, I would still be thinking about it, LOL.  This little bag came from one of the designs on DIY Bag Lover

Ooh, I am getting clever - I managed to put a link in - I think....

Anyway, the bag is of a heavy Indian cotton and lined with a tangerine-coloured fabric.  I embroidered a design on it before cutting it out.  It's OK as a small handbag but to be really useful, I think I need to enlarge the pattern a bit more - had a few difficulties with that and my printer.  Guess I could simply draw it, couldn't I?

Below is a close up of the embroidery:

Floriading in Canberra

Yesterday we spent the day at Canberra's famous annual Floriade display, although a good part of the time was spent looking for an elusive parking spot. We took our step-GD Jenna with us and I have to say she put a different perspective on the day out to what we've become used to but it was a lovely day seeing it through her eyes. We enjoyed a ride together on the ferris wheel but we baulked at the giant slide for some reason (!) although Jenna of course enjoyed it. She also enjoyed feeding a mother swan and her two downy cygnets on the lake while two step-grandparents thoughtshe was going to end up in the lake with them. Remember we are just Learners!

Unfortunately the some of the tulips were a little past their best but what an overall spectacular sight - whites, yellows, scarlets, pinks, blacks (really maroon), oranges and variegated. Some of the pictures below will show the splendor of the display. Another very pretty display was the coloured and lit lanterns which criss-crossed one of the walkways.

Jenna had a great time on the giant slide.

Aren't they beautiful!

Multi-coloured lanterns hung above a pathway.

 

These were the swan and cygnets Jenna fed.