It's a Bit Cool

Well an overnight temp of just 3 degrees was a bit of a shock to this warm blooded Queenslander this past weekend. The fire was even lit!
It was however perfect weather to hand quilt away the hours on my Baltimore.
I can see the end of the road....almost!
Block 7 is complete....

Lots and lots of little stitches.

I am happy to say as of last night Block 8 is almost complete too! I seem to have found my rhythm.....better late than never! Lol!
We have had a week of birthdays and it was just so lovely to share them with family.
Mr. R was first and he enjoyed a round of happy birthday singing, cake and gifts.

Next was our youngest Granddaughter Miss E. She was thrilled with her Bluey cake....she's a huge fan!

Miss E. Also loved her Love Heart I Spy quilt.

Her Mum snapped this one at bedtime snoozing with all her friends....glad they all could fit under lol! So cute!

So a very happy Nana that both I Spy quilts are loved by their owners!
Thanks to my daughters extensive reading addiction I came home with some new (to me) books to read.....

Well, more quilting awaits.....take care and stay well.
Namaste and blessings Michelle xxx

Zoom!

Before I begin I just wanted to say that I have had a few comments from lovely folk who have come up as "no-reply blogger " so if I haven't responded directly to you that will be the reason. When this happens I pop back and reply under your comment on my post x
Ok. Sunday Stitchers met on Sunday through Zoom! It was great to catch up on everyone's news and see everyone in real time. I feel quite grown up to have managed to participate lol! Thanks to Cheryl for instructions and assistance.

There was still a cuppa and energy food...

I did get out of my PJs but went upmarket in the slippers department! Lol! (Gift from Grandchildren last Mothers Day)

I didn't want to lug my quilting from where I am working on it so I worked on my elongated hexies for my Wings border. Amazing what gets stitched whilst chatting!

I now have 2 strips done......

This has been my only detour apart from some drawing from my hand quilting......Block 6 is complete!

And I am working on Block 7.

I have to keep looking at it as a whole to tell myself there is more behind me than ahead of me....KEEP GOING!

I think, however that I am going to have to save it for night time otherwise I am going to go AWOL on it!
The days have been so lovely here lately....cool and comfortable. I took advantage of my little front verandah and took my drawing outdoors this week. It was very nice.

I am so surprised at how many little orchids are still sending out flower spikes....

Not sure you can see but there are three more coming on this one too!

They are such lovely pops of colour when everything else is getting a bit drab.
I hope you are all faring well and your 'real world excursions have been safe ones.
I haven't ventured too far this week......I fear when all this is over I may not want to lol!  Saying that we have birthday Pizza and cakes, yes plural to celebrate this week.
And Family to see......yay!
Take care.

Namaste and blessings Michelle xxx

Ode To The Wandering Clamshells

Good morning lovely people. Today my post is 100% self indulgent. So if you choose to scroll on by that's fine....lots of pics.
I took some time out from my hand quilting to sew the binding on my Clamshells quilt. I have decided to call it "Wandering Clamshells" because almost all of it was stitched whilst we wandered this beautiful country of ours in our caravan.
I was in Victoria and was shown a beautiful completed clamshell quilt made by a lady called Karen......I was smitten! I couldn't get it out of my mind.
A very nice friend took me to a gorgeous shop in Ballarat and I bought the papers and a French General charm pack to begin.

I have stitched them in the bush, the red dust, tropical climes, beaches and friends stitching days.....from Ballarat to Broken Hill, Lightning Ridge to Darwin, Kakadu, Roma, Emerald, Winton, Cloncurry, The Isa, Karumba, Atherton, Cairns, Mossman, Woodgate and Brunswick Heads to name just a few!

 And they grew and grew.....

Finally I had a flimsy and borders went on.

I then sent it off to my friend FIONA to have it quilted and it came home looking gorgeous! I got the binding done...

And stitched it down......I love it!
Fiona's beautiful work......I couldn't be more pleased!

The other lovely thing about this quilt is I have fabric  I have purchased here and there from all over Australia.....some lovely indigenous fabrics from Alice Springs and Darwin.....

Fabric gifts from a friend from New Zealand.

And lots of beautiful contributions  from generous friends and many, many of my stash favourites......loads of French General and other Reproduction fabrics! I am astounded at the variety of fabrics in this quilt and I know it would hardly make a dent in all the quilting fabrics out there!
I used a vintage doiley from a friend for the label.

 So Wandering Clamshells is FINISHED!

Very happy Stitcher.

I am going to need another 'caravanning' quilt project now lol! I shall have to put my thinking cap on!
I am a little late but I hope all the Mums out there enjoyed their special day. I was very spoilt with visits, flowers, chokkies, cakes and a voucher for MORE books.......

Ok now that the humble clamshell has been duly honoured it's back to my hand quilting.
Stay well, take care.
Namaste and blessings Michelle xxx

FNWF 2

I had a senior moment and forgot the last one so I was happy CHERYLL gave us a second opportunity to come together cyberly to stitch.
True to my word I hand quilted. Block 5 is complete...

And I very nearly got all one direction done on Block 6.

I think I am starting to find my rhythm again!
I have taken a break today to machine sew the binding on my clamshells.

But I will be back hand quilting this evening.
I had a lovely surprise yesterday. Little Granddaughter and Daughter dropped in with some gorgeous cupcakes.....DD has a work colleague who makes the most Devine cupcakes....she knows I can't resist!

Happy Mothers Day tomorrow to all the Mums and women who care and Mother out there. Have a wonderful day.

Namaste and blessings Michelle xxx

Braving The Outside World

Yesterday we decided to take our lunch up to Daisy Hill forest which is less than a 5 minute drive from our home. Our closer environmental park which is usually lovely and peaceful is too busy with joggers tearing  through it constantly at present . I was hoping perhaps  it would be nice and quiet up at the forest with not too many people around and maybe we could safely get in a wander through the bush. And it was. Not too many folks around. Just lovely......how wonderful is the bush! You can feel your shoulders relax straight away.

The above is a stand of paperbacks on one of the tracks we took.

 To look up and see sky through those tall trees! Beautiful!

It is still quite dry.....only a puddle or two in the creek.

I love trees.....old ones, twisted ones....even fallen ones.

I was so happy to snap the burnt bits in this tree....I have a drawing I am doing shortly that has this....got to take a real good close up look!

The picnic area has some beautiful carved totems to encourage children to explore.

I loved this signage with the rusted iron work...

We made a new friend when we were eating our lunch....

He wasn't impressed when we didn't share......you're asked not to feed the wildlife but he was hoping we didn't read the signs.
It felt so good to come home refreshed and tired all at the same time. We are so fortunate to have this forest so close to home.
My stitching has been a little more work on my #sewalittlehappinesseveryday project.....its growing nicely and it will soon be time to decide what to do with it. I have a couple of orphan heart blocks and I saw someone else had used those around hers and I loved it....so I may borrow that idea too.

I hadn't really made a UFO list this year. I was just doing whatever took my fancy. However I did want to get back to some hand quilting when the weather got cooler.
So very shamefully I have retrieved my OLDEST UFO from its box and started back on the hand quilting.  AGAIN! I had completed 4 blocks all cross hatched work. They are large blocks....16 inches.

In hindsight I should have drawn all the lines in pencil first instead of using the tape for such large areas. As some miscalculations have been made......there are more than a few fudges and artistic licenses as a result that I cannot do too much about at this stage. You can't notice them and you would have to know where to look, so I am soldiering on! I really want this DONE as it is becoming ridiculous! I completely blame my hubby for dragging me all over Australia in the cooler months lol! That's my story anyway!

Wish me luck for enthusiasm to remain high.....and no guesses what I will be doing for "FRIDAY NIGHT WITH FRIENDS"  over at CHERYLL'S tonight!
Happy stitching friends...

Namaste and blessings Michelle xxx