Gum Valley Patchwork

Back in Australia

Emma arrived back safely on Australian soil in the wee small hours of Wednesday morning. Her 12.30am arrival was delayed by an hour, so by the time she did the tour of the duty free shops we all didn’t get to bed until after 3am. After a couple of days home on the farm she has returned to Melbourne to settle back into what remains of 2008. I have been browsing though some of the many photos that she took while she was away and I really like this one:

A view from the eye in central London

And this one

of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Emma couldn't resist trying this:

She tells me that it's not as good as mine ........lol.

The house seems empty at the moment as Hannah has gone back with Emma to attend some study/revision lectures for three of her VCE subjects – Legal studies; Maths Methods and Accounting. They will have great fun catching up over the next week.

Linda    :)

PS. Happy Birthday Cathryn for today.

I've been tagged.....

I've been tagged by Lenora to reveal 7 random facts about myself. The idea of the tag is then to tag seven others to do the same. Unfortunately I don't have that many blogs listed but I won't be a party pooper so I will still reveal some random facts about moi...in fact I'll do 10 just to make up for not passing it on. Let's start:

1. I can't whistle.
2. I like the smell of coffee but don't drink it.
3. I can only get to sleep if I lie on my left side first and then roll onto my right side...(unless it's in front of the TV...LOL)
4. I haven't vomitted for 30 years
5. I hate litterbugs
6. I want to learn to belly dance and weld before I die (not necessarily at the same time!)
7. I have 2 tattoos
8. I have never been drunk
9. I believe that there is life out there in space......somewhere
10. I would only leave my husband for David Tennant (the handsome Dr Who).....or maybe even Bruce Springstein.

Hope that you have learnt a little more about me - even though they are a bit quirky.

Linda    :)

An exciting day / midnight

I have finished the project I was working on with the new Charisma flannels by Chez Moi which arrived in the shop a little while ago. I wasn’t quite sure how the quilt would turn out but I’m pleased with the result.

It is a shaggy quilt based around the ‘cathedral window’ pattern.

It is lovely and warm and even though we are heading towards the warmer weather I’m sure that there will be plenty of cold nights that would welcome such a quilt.

Last Saturday night I had a win in a raffle at a trivia night that we attended – a lovely basket of chocolates made by Ryan & Tiffany Jones from G.O.R.G.E Chocolates.

There were more chocolates than this in the basket but I have already eaten quite a few. I just lovvvve chocolate :)

It will be a very late night for me tonight as I am heading off to Melbourne to meet Emma’s flight in from the UK. She will land at Tullamarine Airport at half past midnight – well past my bedtime, but it will be very exciting to see her again.

Linda    :)

Oh no .........

On Thursday in the Shop I had a visit from Janine (Hi Janine), her four lovely daughters and also her mum. It was great to catch up and have a chat. The subject of rabbits came up as Janine asked how I kept rabbits out of my garden. She has a dreadful problem with them destroying her garden, but fortunately we don’t have any at all (fingers and toes crossed!) Well that evening I decided to whiz up to the Shop and mow the lawns before more rain arrived. Imagine my surprise when a baby ‘rabbit’ hopped across the lawn in front of me. I stopped the mower and found him nestled between 2 rocks surrounding one of the garden beds. I picked him up, popped him in a box and brought him home. I was very much relieved when dh Russell informed me that the baby ‘rabbit’ was in fact a baby hare! I have a hare that I often see in the garden – it scares the living daylights out of me when it darts out of the garden! I wonder whether this cute little baby belongs to her?

Linda   :)

She's Hot Mum

We are now counting down the days until Emma comes home from her 12 week uni work placement in the UK. Even though the time has passed very quickly we are looking forward to seeing her again next Wednesday. So as a celebration of Emma’s return to the "best country in the world – Australia" (Emma’s words in one of her recent emails) I have decided to post the last quilt in my Quilting Journey story.

 

I made this quilt – Karen Stone’s New York Beauty pattern - 3 years ago to celebrate Emma’s impending 18^th birthday. Over a period of about 3 months I made the 30 different blocks, and every afternoon when Emma would come home from school she’d race inside to see which block I had completed that day. The reaction was always usually the same – "shit hot Mum" (please excuse my language – again Emma’s words not mine!).

 

Next came the borders and these were drawn up on long pieces of paper for foundation piecing. Knowing that I certainly couldn’t quilt it good enough I sent the quilt away for quilting to Susan Campbell of Rowdy Flat Quilting. Susan did a fabulous job – every block is quilted differently.

When I entered the quilt in the 2006 Victorian Quilters Quilt Showcase in Melbourne I wanted to call it "Shit Hot Mum" but I chickened out and instead called it "She’s Hot Mum". I have had the quilt hanging in the shop on display whilst Emma has been away, but it will head back to Melbourne next week to take pride of place on Emma’s bed. I really enjoyed making this quilt and am very proud of the way it turned out, so that’s why I have used it as the background for my banner, leaflets and business cards.

Linda    :) 

Couldn't resist

I just couldn’t resist. Once I unwrapped those lovely flannels

I just had to start making ‘IT’. ‘IT’ is a project that I’ve had swimming around in the old grey matter for quite sometime just waiting for the right fabric to arrive. I’m not sure whether it will work out the way I have planned but here’s hoping. Not going to reveal too much at this early stage – just in case it’s a disaster but here’s a sneak peek.

I'll let you all know how it progresses.

Linda   :)

Flannel with charisma

Well we have all made it past 5.37pm and the world didn’t end – thank goodness. (I wasn’t watching the clock at all as I far too busy milking the cows!). Besides I have far too much living and sewing to do before I want to get sucked into some manmade black hole thingy.

Now onto more important things – fabric! I love it when I see the delivery van pull up as it means a nice new parcel of fabric has arrived. Today saw the arrival of the ‘Charisma’ flannels by Chez Moi. They just look so lovely and snuggly. Unfortunately I didn’t have a chance to take a picture but I’ll try and post one tomorrow to show you all what they look like. My problem now is that I will want to make something out of them straight away but I know that I really must finish some of the other projects I have on the go. Mmmm ….. I think I’ll just wait and see what happens.

Linda   :)

Butterfly Fling

I have finally done it. After 5 long wet weeks of waiting and watching I have finally mown the lawn! It might not look pretty and there are a few black marks in some places but it’s a start. Hopefully it will dry out a little more so that I can give it another mow in the next couple of days.

A lovely parcel arrived at the shop on Thursday – the first 10 bolts of ‘Butterfly Fling’ by Me and My Sister. I didn't order the full range but there will be a great selection to choose from.

They are lovely and bright and will be just perfect to get you in the mood for some spring sewing. There are still 10 bolts to come along with some jelly rolls and charm packs.

A couple of months ago I wrote about how my dh Russell had a accident in our lovely Honda Accord and consequently it was written off by the insurance agency. Our search for a new car was not urgent as we have been driving our daughter Emma’s car around as she is in the UK for 12 weeks (she comes home in 2 weeks time which is very exciting). I think that we must have looked at and sat in nearly every make of car on the market – or at least it felt like it – but we decided on the Volkswagen Golf.

 

It arrived on Wednesday, it is already dirty and I’m still getting used to the indicators and wipers being reversed but otherwise it’s fantastic.

Linda   :)

Becky's Quilt

Yeah…..it’s Spring… or is it? After a glorious day on Friday we have quickly reverted back to weather that is more like the depths of winter. I hope that Mother Nature reads my blog and sends us some sunny weather soon. To all others in need of rain I hope that Spring rains fall in your area.

I finally finished the quilt I was making for my friend Becky. I got to know Becky through her employment as our Landcare Co-ordinator for the Heytesbury District Landcare Network. She is an inspirational young person who always gave 110% (+ more) and has had a big impact on the landscape in our area over her 4 years as co-ordinator. Becky decided to finish up at the end June to complete her university studies (the proverbial monkey on the back) and to have a break. I wanted to make her a quilt to say thanks so this was what I made…

I was going to quilt it myself but decided that the ladies from Clever Ducks would do a much better job so off it went in to Colac. I was very pleased with the way it came up and I hope that Becky likes it too.

Linda   :)