The BIG catch up

 Well Jenny has been and gone and we have stitched and crocheted (is that even a word??) and finished 10 KOGO blankets which have been delivered to the chemist for delivery to KOGO. Phew!

I have missed one somehow but you get the gist. This lot went together well, some look better than others but I am sure the people they go to will be very happy with them and the warmth they provide.

this was how I was most evenings, sitting across from Jenny.

We had lunch out at Van Loons, my fav lunch place

We went with Mary, a Bellerine Quilter, it was a cold and wet day but we were given blankets and there was a heater on nearby, we were in the Atrium so a little open to the elements.

Jenny is taking home the red work quilt top I was given, so a backing was put together

a local quilter will be doing it for Jenny and now it can be double sided.

The view from my morning walk.

The Geelong Guild held their Quilt In last Saturday, they had a crowd of 292 people, we had a very good day

Knitter and quilter together

The speaker was Tania Tanti, her work was amazing, modern and quite different, some even had parts that moved when she adapted them to her computer programme. She was a wonderful speaker, she has had many issues with her health over the last few years, she was booked for last year but had just had surgery and so couldn't come.  This year she had another surgery 10 days before the Quilt In but made it to see us with the support of her husband. She had everyone enthralled.

We have had a few visits from this young man, golf was played in amongst the mushrooms in the back yard, he wanted to wear a glove but eventually decided his grandfathers gardening glove was too big and not helpful to his game 😀

I had a dentist appointment in Drysdale so went over a bit earlier and had a walk in the foggy drizzle around the small lake there

there were lots of cobwebs in the trees, they showed up well with the moisture on them

this is out of order, the pelicans down at the boat launching ramp waiting for the fishing people to return

back at Drysdale and another cobweb, luckily I didn't see any spiders.

OK I think that is enough from me and it is me all caught up!

I am off now to get the fish and chips for dinner.

Happy stitching.

Retreat and catch up

Last photos from the retreat here

I made a block for the Guild challenge,  the rule was black white and gray, 8 inch block. This didn't get a mention but I was happy I made it. .I made it twice actually as I had sewn the basket the wrong was around the first time!! (Blogger has decided it is a length ways photo!!)

Carleen had a few blocks  more to do for her quilt top

Judy had all her blocks together for this beautiful colourful quilt top.

Maxine got her blocks sashed and sewn together, just the borders to go.

On the way home Carleen and I followed a trail of caches down a side road or two, we looked for and found nine, including the one below

These caches had sayings in the title, this one for instance, was Bite the Bullet,  sadly the bullet is gone, but it gave us a good laugh, and I am sad to say took us a while to find!! Hard to imagine with it looking so obvious once we had found it!!

This was the view from one of the caches.

At one cache we saw this gate to a cattle station

this was the letterbox at the cattle station

and the cache

This old church had another geocache near it.

Last Saturday The Guild had the annual Quilt In and the speaker was Sugy Kim

This is her award winning quilt Retina, many thousands of little pieces in this quilt.

Sugy speaking, Sugy is Korean, was taught quilting in Japan and now lives in Melbourne.

a bit of a dark photo, Tracee and Marg stitching away

The moon last night as it appeared out of the clouds

hard to get a good photo the shaky hands and the camera on high magnification.

Today was sewing day  at Bellarine Quilters, we had a speaker from Kinship Carers

the group presented her with knitted goodies, toys and quilts. The Kinship Carers are mostly grandparents who are raising their grandchildren as their children have drug or alcohol problems. Certainly was eye opening stuff. I appreciate my life very much!

I stopped to find a cache on the way home, the rain had stopped, the sun had come out and it was lovely looking up the beach.

Well this afternoon I was supposed, once again , to be tidying the sewing room, but I have done the grocery shopping, had lunch, caught up with a friend on the phone, done this blog post and it is 4.30pm!! Might go and disturb a few dust particles before I have to get dinner!

Happy stitching.

Quilt In

Last Saturday was the annual Quilt In for the Geelong Patchwork and Quilters Guild, a good day was had by all. The speaker was Chris Serong , she talked about her quilting and showed us many of her beautiful quilts

here are a few, most are hand pieced, a couple are foundation pieced

on the right is a coverlet bought in the US and on the left the version hand pieced in 18 months by Chris Serong....just beautiful.

Stunning quilt.

Happy quilters, Margaret, Donna and yours truly 

There was an amazing sky when the Supervisor and I went walking yesterday morning.

 The Snowball and Nine patch is finally finished and checked by the Supervisor, who will not pose but will happily walk thru a photo!!

and the back using a sarong from Bali and left over batik pieces.

and another hexie diamond is done, I am happy with how they are growing.

I am off on holidays with Donna tomorrow, we are heading for Alaska and Canada, and as WiFi will be hit and miss I am not sure when the next update will happen.

But we will be enjoying ourselves.

Happy sewing.