Back from my travels

I got back from my visit to the Sydney Quilt show on Sunday night.  Very tired, and found the new Hewlett Packard computer unpacked and sitting up on the table, ready for action.  I am not at all in the mood for this, but I have to do it.  Yesterday I managed to load Photoshop, which is the DH's favourite.  He does not have a smart phone, and takes photos with the camera, then uploads to a file.  I told him all those files are gone, and he has to get a smartphone.  Will see how that eventuates......I also some how managed to load the email programme, and it worked, so big tick there!

This is my Return to Paradise quilt hanging in the Sydney Quilt Show.  No ribbons this time, but I still love it and loved seeing it hanging.  The best part of the show for me was the Red and White exhibition.  You can see the winners HERE.  This was made from a pattern by Dawn Collector with a Needle.  NSW Quilters Guild Blog has more photos.

I had a big week....Visiting family, and then my friends arrived  -  one from Adelaide and two from Queensland.  I had arranged our accommodation, and I was a little anxious about it all.  I had booked at a good location through www.bookings.com, but you never really know until you get there if it is ok or not.  We were very happy  -  we had 4 seperate beds in 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.  Hooray for the bathrooms:-)  4 girls and one bathroom does not work very well at all.

Bev, Penny, Marilyn

How about this double perfect Rainbow.  Has to be a good sign

 Sydney, being my home town, is a wonderful place to explore and took my friends to a few special places.

This is Marilyn on one of the staircases in the Queen Victoria Building

This building is amazing.  When I was a teenager in the late 1960's working in the city, this building was ready to be demolished.  Unbelievable, but true.  It is now the most outstanding shopping/eating/picture taking spot in Sydney.

 We had a few nice dining experiences.  One night we went to the Spanish end of town, and indulged in sumptuous Tapas.......and many glasses of wine.

We accidentally found this little pub in Annandale while looking for the quilt shop Quiltsmith.  We sat inside from the rain, and this is the view into the back garden.  No, that is not a quilt on the wall!  It is mosaics.  It was so nice, we went back after our shopping to recouperate.

Yes, we did find the shop and they were having a sale.......surprise?  No I knew it was on.  They always do the sale on the same week as the quilt show.  Did we buy anything?   Did we ever!  Some people bought bolts!

I posted mine home.  I was going to post home my dirty clothes, but thought the fabric was heavier.

The parcel arrived today, and I was happy to see it and the goodies inside.

Does anyone know what these horrid looking things are?  they were in jars in the Chinese shop next to our hotel.  I am not going to say what they looked like, but they were grey and hard.  Any ideas?

Star and 4 patch

I went poking through my box of odd blocks yesterday, and found an 8" variable star and 5 4" 4 patch blocks.  They are the blocks for this months "sew-along".

The instructions are on the RHS of this page, and you can print them off.  Pretty simple little collection, that makes up to 12" when complete.  You just click onto the photo and that takes you straight to the file.

I feel that I am lucky to have got them done this month at all.  My computer is about to die, and once I transfer the files to my expandable hard drive, it is being pulled down.  I have bought a brand new all in one, WiFi Hewlett Packard computer.  I expect to have some teething problems, and hope that the handy BIL will sort that all out for me.  It will certainly be re-training time for me, so I might not be able to do photos and files for a while until it is worked out.

On the bright side, I am off to Sydney this Sunday, and next week visiting my relatives and friends, and the Sydney Quilt show.  Hopefully all the boring computer stuff will be sorted by the time I get back.

I have been working on my Kim McLean Flower Pots machine applique.  Almost completed assembling the parts.  There is one more border of  2" squares, but I am thinking that maybe I will not do that one.  I quite like the way it looks now, and have some nice red fabric for a binding.  Sorry about the photo.  It is on the sofa bed and hard to get a full photo in a small-ish room.

Right, now off to do the stuff on my list before my trip away.  Hope you like the new block.

Quilter's Camp

What is it about a camp that is so appealing?  Is it getting away from home?  No cooking or cleaning? or just spending time with "like minded" people?  All of it we say!

Adare House, Victor Harbor, South Australia

A few weeks ago I happened to see a post on Facebook from the Coromandel Valley Quilters saying they had a few vacancies in their up-coming camp.  A few of their members could not make it, and if they did not have the numbers, then it was all off!  Tragedy!  I asked my friend Mary if she was interested in going, and it turned out that she had been invited anyway.  So all set!

The location was one of the historic homes in Victor Harbor, Adare House, on a hill overlooking the ocean.  It is about an hour's drive from Adelaide.  Far enough away to think you are escaping, and close enough so the drive is not tedious if it is cold and raining.

I spent quite a bit of time mulling over what to take to sew......you got to make serious use of the time.  I was thinking of something that had a deadline, or a UFO.  I settled on the Kim McLean "Flower Pots" quilt that has been sitting in the box for about a year.  All the main parts were finished, and I just had to get the borders and sashing sewn.

This is my first machine applique project, and I was very pleased with the way it had all turned out, being a beginner and all......It has turned out reasonably well.  I am quite pleased with the result.

I figured I needed a plan for the weekend, so i started straight away on the Friday afternoon and got one whole border strip appliqued, and several strips of 2 1/2" sewn together, ready to be cross cut into small strips of 2" squares.

By Sunday morning I was able to start the assembly of the parts.

Border Strips complete

 

 I hope to have the whole thing assembled within a week, if I keep up the pressure

centre piece

Top section

Second centre piece

 

 

The house we stayed at was really beautiful.  It is now owned by the Uniting Church and run as a business for camps and retreats.  The interior is beautiful as well, with many stained glass windows, stair cases, and open fire places

View from the dining room window

I tried to get the window, but too much light

We kept seeing quilting designs in the windows

This is one of the breakfast nooks

Needless to say, I did not sleep well, and was exhausted last night, falling asleep in the chair before 8pm.  I slept well in my own bed, but still really tired this morning.

Thanks to the Coromandel Vally Quilters for letting me come a long to their camp, and I certainly hope I did not behave too badly, and might be invited back again next year!