Progress and catching up

 I am having trouble believing it is February already - January vanished so quickly!

I have been having a few walks, I try to go out most days

Indented Heads today

St Leonard's a few weeks ago when the bush fires were happening down the Otway's and Great Ocean Road

Back at St Leonard's

The flowering gums are doing their thing at the moment, the bees are very happy and out in large numbers. Sorry about the finger in the photo 😊

The shirt quilt is finished, I used trimmed off backing to bind.

and the Peas In a Pod is also finished, I used left over fabric for the binding.

In the bag of shirt pieces I found a nearly complete shirt, it had part of the fronts cut off so I decided to try and rescue is and make it mine

I added some fabric to the back just under the collar

and two pieces either side of the fronts, they were not cut off evenly and I didn't even them up just added the fabric I wanted. I am going to add more but have not decided what else to do yet.

I finally got my act together and hot glued thread to the back of the shapes to be added to Glad Tidings Christmas wall hanging, now I need to add buttons. This is going to a new home in April so I will get moving.

I have been spending some time with this little man

he enjoyed painting (with water) the screen door one hot day, until he had had enough and threw brush and container over the edge of the deck! Game over!!

He loves the camera and spent ages taking selfies with my phone until the battery went flat! You can't get your phone out as he wants to use it straight away. We deflect with kicking the soccer ball and playing cricket. Usually indoors which is getting dangerous for the house!!

I have been stitching away on the Under the Sea quilt, I am slow and it is taking a while. This was started in a class with Kathy Doughty last year, the challenge was to go big...think I failed, but I am happy with it.

This is a cushion that goes on a couch Beth bought for the office of her new business. Adam and Beth's Dad went to get it and part way home it blew off the trailer. Luckily someone stopped by them at the traffic lights and let them know, so back they went and there it was in the middle of the lanes of traffic, luckily it had not been run over by a truck! The end was ripped and not much fabric was missing thank goodness so I was able to sew it back together. I sits towards the back of the couch so will not be too obvious. 

Life has been a bit busy of late, we have finally managed to get David in to a Parkinson's support programme at a hospital in Geelong, he has had two interviews so far, the third one is in a week and a bit. today was the "Speechie" and OT, next time is the physio and maybe another session with the OT.  We came away pleased with todays sessions, I think it will be really good for David in the future.

Ok enough from me and it is time I was cooking dinner.

Second week of January already

 Time once again is moving quickly, to catch up once again

Shane and Rilla came and stayed the weekend after Christmas, we had a good catch up, although more time would have been great!

We went over to Sorrento on the ferry and then drove to Harmers Haven near Wonthaggi to visit David's sister and bro in law

We had one beautiful sunset looking over the horse paddocks.

We drove to Grantville one day so David and Ellen could do a painting over looking the water - the tide went out fairly quickly, so we were looking over the mud flats

I went for a walk along this path and then onto the football field, behind the trees in the left of the photo - being very vary and looking out for snakes (I an very scared of snakes!)

I managed to get a stick caught in my sandal and it dug into my foot, I had to sit for a while and put some pressure on it as the combination of hot weather, aspirin and mild panic made for a lot of bleeding. After a while I wandered back to the others and got David (bro in law) to tend to my wound and clean me up. Luckily I had a new first aid kit in the car!

nearing the end of the clean up and wrap up mission

Bro in law explaining something to me!!

Hubby fully engrossed in painting

still painting

Not long after this the wind got up, David's easel was blown off the table three times, his sandwich container was blown off and the seagulls enjoyed his lunch!

No fun here in the howling wind so we headed home.

The next day Ellen took me to emergency to have my foot checked, the nurse was very impressed with the care I had received and the way the wound was dressed, I explained my sis in law had horses and she said say no more! 😀 She re dressed the foot, gave me a compression bandage and sent me on my way. 

We headed home two days later, we were going to call in on Ondrea but as I felt I was getting a cold we though better of the idea and how lucky was that! After being home a couple of days I tested positive to covid! My third bout. So we have been housebound as hubby now has it too.

In between feeling very average I have finished the Peas in a Pod quilt top

and finished a KOGO blanket

Sorry about the messy photo.

I found a place on line PixxiBook who print blogs, so I have ordered up my 2025 book, later on I will go back and do 2024, Looks like a nice book, we will see when it turns up. 

My foot is slowly healing, takes while for the inside the inside to heal, the bruising has gone down since this photo too.

I bought this bag before Christmas online, wasn't quite what I thought it would be, so now I have plans of sewing fabric strips onto it with big stitching, lets see if that happens!

I have been seeing lots of orangutan things on FB and Insta, this one took my fancy!

I have just remembered I have the hose running on the banana passionfruit, so had better go and turn it off!

Best wishes for a very Happy New Year, here's to lots of creating and having fun.

Happy stitching.

November

 Here it is nearly the end of the month....this year had flown by!!

Today at Bellarine Quilters we gave 53 bags with toiletries to the Vincent De Paul group who support women leaving a domestic violence situation.  

Last two bags I made with odd bits of denim and left over felt and fabric.

I hope to get more photos soon.

The FB photo came in just as I was doing this post, here are all the donated bags ready to go. (Mine are on hold until next time as all the toiletries were used up this time)

I delivered several quilts to the group to go to the Oncology ward at Geelong Hospital, made by Judy and Christine. Good feeling when the finished quilts go to where they need to go.

we had a sunny afternoon one day last week so I sandwiched and pinned the Thomas quilt

and the strip quilt

Both quilts are now quilted and the strip quilt has a little more binding to sew down and both will be finished.

The Peas in a Pod blocks are coming along, I think I will get another 12 blocks from the black and gray fabric, then the joining together starts. They should have been finished but a friend visiting in the week said, next time I see you I want to see the Thomas quilt done! So of course as I am seeing her tomorrow off I went quilting and the Peas were left on the desk. Hope to get back to them soon, although we have a busy week coming up, lots of appointments and up to Ballarat on Friday to see the neuro for David.

I had better go and get veges in for dinner, I lashed out and bought a cooked roast of pork at the supermarket today - that is what happens when I don't have lunch before going to the supermarket and I am hungry!! Still makes for an easier dinner and will do two meals.

Happy stitching.

What's been happening in my corner of the world

 It has been a while and here I am catching up once again, David has pretty much recovered from his surgery and now has to face some chemo, we find out about that on Thursday.  It is not what we were told by the surgeon during our first visit, we will find out more Thursday I guess.

I have been sewing up KOGO blankets, I had 3 to finish and they are all now done and in the box ready to be delivered to the drop off point.

I can see now where I have sewn in squares the wrong way around now...too late to change 😀

some interesting squares here

Maybe a Melbourne AFL supporter knitted these squares?

I have had these two nighties on the end of the bed for a year I am ashamed to say, they had long sleeves which I found too hot and itchy, it took me all of 15 mins and they are now short sleeved and fine to wear! 

One afternoon these quilt tops were sandwiched and pinned, they have now been quilted and bound and have gone to their new homes. We (The Bellarine Quilters) had a visit from the Wombat's Wish creator - and donated 32 quilts to be used on their camp in November. They provide services and camps to children who have lost a parent, they also help the remaining parent.

I went on retreat early in October, our last retreat for the year.

Carleen finished her duck panel quilt top.

I made a quick quilt top with a Thomas panel

Full moon happened one night we were there

Carleen finished off another quilt top

Abby who owns the retreat offered us a basket of shirts, she had made a memory quilt with two of her Dad's shirts plus bits of others from Op Shops. So I made this

Maria encouraged me to add a shirt label and one patch has a pocket. Needless to say not much of a dent was made in the basket!

My next hexie project, sadly I can't find a photo of Maxines work in progress, she was making blocks with batiks and a white edge, which when you put them together created a zig zag pattern. Sorry Marina!!

Judy and Christine made these blocks and Cristine made the quilt top, I keep calling them Jelly bean blocks but they are really Peas In  a Pod. 

Maria made this Peas In A  Pod top - all from material that was at the retreat but no one wanted.

I went to the Kilmore Quilt In two Saturdays ago and bought another Sashiko project ( I haven't finished the other one yet)😊, this is all Mandalas and I loved it so it had to come home with me! The speaker at the Quilt In was Jo Grant from These Clever Hands, by happy chance she spoke at Guild last Saturday too and she will be at the Guild Quilt Show this weekend. She had bright curated packs of fabric - I have quite a lot and have fussy cut large hexies to sew together, that was to do at retreat but the shirt quilt took over....nothing like yet another project to be doing!!

These Clever Hands quilts.

My weeks are filled with gardening, the weeds have grown very happily over spring, taking David to appts, doing grandma duties, an occasional walk and the occasional sit at the machine.

The back yard looks good this time of the year, the leaves are back on the trees and the grass has been mown - we have a ride on mower which some days runs well and others coughs like it is going to die any minute!!

I was very happy to find some fruit on the banana passionfruit down  the yard, I hope they can ripen and I get to try one before the possums find them!

One small grandson is growing, we took him to the soccer field to have a run and a kick of the footie, we didn't know cricket training was due to start not long after we arrived. He wanted to play with the big kids and refused to come home!! 😢 His Dad had to call by on his way home to persuade him to come home. I even sent a photo of dinner that was ready with grilled cheese on the top ( his favourite) and that didn't work.

I think that is enough from me for now, I am off to do a little sewing before it is time to get dinner. That time certainly rolls around quickly these days.

Happy stitching.