SIT - Day One.

It was a rainy Thursday that I boarded the plane to Darwin for the much anticipated SIT! After a restful night in Darwin it was back on another plane for Sydney!

The lovely Cass picked me up from the airport and whisked me away to join the ladies on the Friday Shopping trip. It was great to finally meet the amazing Sheridan at last! I joined them at the second stop which was the beautiful Calico and Ivy shop in Balmain. Here are some of the girls loitering on the steps! It was great to meet ladies that I have known through blogging and quilting forums and block swaps. Hello there Leah!

Inside the shop it was just beautiful, lots of colour and light.

I brought just a little bit of fabric.....

Then it was back on the bus to the Prints Charming studio. I have purchased a bit of their fabric over the years, I love their colours and designs, it was like visiting an old friend. These ladies have a dream job in their studio, a lot of hard work I know but can you imagine anything better?

They had some scrap fabric packs for sale. I purchased 3..... Not sure what I am going to sew with them. But I have them tucked away for that day when I do know!

Here is the lovely Karen holding up one of the colourful designs from Prints Charming. After seeing them in real life I wish I did sign up for the stitching session!

And here is Kylie holding up one of their dresses. Hello Kylie!

And this was hanging up. Pure inspiration. This post has taken me two days to write! I'll pop up day two of SIT next.

Around the Block Update!

Due to the road closures, mail has been slow getting up here. So it was with great excitement I got two packages for my round of the Around The Block Swap today! This one above is from Abbe. Thank you Abbe, I like how the dark green and white dots are just one line.

And this one from our lovely leader, Sheridan. Thank you Sheridan! My thoughts turned today to "I wonder what swap Sheridan will organize next......"

And this one from Becky. This one actually came the other week but I put it aside to blog together with the next one. Thanks Becky!

And I have been trying to sew a few with the scraps as they come back. So I made this one....

And this one! They are very therapeutic to sew.

So you put them all together, and you get this! These are just randomly placed. 16 blocks so far. Just for my notes, there are 4 x 12.5 inch blocks. 3 x 8.5 plus 5 x 4 inch blocks. 5 x 4 by 6.5 inch blocks. 4 x 10.5 with lots of little 2.5 inch squares. Looking good!

Grace's Merit Certificate

First merit certificate for 2011! Awarded to Grace at assembly on Friday for "always actively participating in all class activities and discussions with enthusiasm and good humor". Well done Gracie!

Due to all the rain, one of the internet cables linking Kununurra to the rest of the world was washed away - so the story goes! - and we had no net access for 3 days! The horror!!!!! I logged back on yesterday evening to find 191 emails, including one from Modern Day Quilts to say that my Blue Squares Quilt I made was featured here. Cool!

Cut Off!

We have had a bit of rain lately, just a bit. I must be getting old as the weather fascinates me now! We have had 179mm for the month of March so far, last year we only had 84mms for the whole month. The sky is looking like this colour most of the time and I'm using the tumble dryer to dry clothes!

So after 88mms of rain since Friday, word got around town that the water was rising! The road to Fitzroy Crossing has been closed since Friday which is the link to the rest of Western Australia. The road to Darwin is open still but all the food and mail comes from Perth. The supermarket shelves in the fruit and veggie section have pumpkin or lemons! We went down to Ivanhoe Crossing after school today to have a look. It's all under water! It should look like this but it's all under water.... that green tree top island on the left there in the water? I think that is the tree that the warning sign about crocodiles is under.


Then we drove over to look at the Dunham River, which was raging under the bridge! Its about 4 times the width of what it normally is! It's all very exciting, besides not having any fresh fruit it's all good!

DQS10 - Take Two!

After much pondering over to send or not send this quilt off for the flickr DQS, I have decided not too. A girlfriend came over today, just popped in too drop off something and she saw it on the wall and I could see on her face how much she loved it. Really loved it. Appreciated the work in it. And it is her birthday in a few months so I am going to leave it hanging there until then. And then watch her face when she unwraps it. Of course when she was viewing it this morning I said nothing of that and told her about doll quilt swaps. She thought I was mad!

So with that decision finally made it was time to turn my attention to what I would now send.

I had made these stars during the week. Using scraps from my white tone on tone stash for some interest.

So with the four completed it was time today to think layout. I was originally thinking in an arch but it would have made it too long so I played it safe and just sewed them in a square pattern.

Nice and safe as you can see! Then the border...... after thinking wonky flying geese I thought nope, little squares in a row, inspired by this block here.

So I sewed a long strip about 7 inches long, then sliced it up into four strips.....

And sewed it to the stars. Frames it nicely, I like the colour against the white. So all ready to sandwich and quilt during the week.

There has been a few emails going behind the scenes and messages on flickr about swapping and not sending if your partner hasn't commented on what you have made. Just want to point out I don't expect gushing over my quilt, not at all. But I do expect appreciation for the hours gone into making something special. I have been in a lot of dolls quilt swaps, a lot. One of the last ones I sent, I got the feeling it wasn't appreciated and that was a bit hard to swallow as I know a lot of people would have loved that quilt. Maybe that is just the risk and joy of swapping? So rather than take that risk again, I'm keeping a quilt that was originally made for someone else and give it to someone I know will love it. That's all I really have to say about that. I have a quilt to sandwich. :)

SIT Badge from Amy!

My badge for SIT arrived in the mail today from Amy. Thanks Amy! I opened it in the car in the carpark of the post office and the girls in the back and I went awwwwww, how cute all at the same time! Can't wait to wear it! Not long now!

DQS 10 Finished!

I finished sewing down the binding on my quilt for the flickr DQS 10. All finished except for the label! But still deciding if that label will say made by Helen for Helen. Or made by Helen for ? I'm really torn between sending away something that took ages to make to someone who hasn't expressed an interest in appreciating it. I do have another already to sandwich, but still....

One side of the rainbow....

Can't get enough of those pointy points!

I have it hanging on a rod next to Lynne's Rules quilt. It looks great. The husband suggested a queen sized bed in this pattern for our bed would look fantastic. Yes, it would........

SIT Houses Finished!

I finished my houses for the sample swap for SIT. This time next month it will all be over! But I am not thinking of that at the moment, instead savouring the anticipation of going!

The one on the right does light flat. Just my dodgy quilt styling there!

I think the one on the right above is my favourite. I used my last scrap of Jan Mullen leaves for the grass hense the jaunty angle of the ground the house is built on.

I just have to sew this label on five times. Not long to go!!!

ETA - Blogless Lisa has pointed out I'm a year behind in my dates! LOL Good thing I haven't sewn it on yet!

Molly Springs In the Wet!

It is the wet season up here at the moment which means lots of rain! According to one of my favorite web sites BOM, we had 249.4 mm in January and then 425.4 mm in February! So we try and get out on the weekend amongst the showers! This is a pretty typical view from the front seat of the 4wd, water on the track, green lush tree's and grass and grey clouds.

A few weekends ago we ventured to Molly Springs which usually looks like this, a gentle little waterfall but you could hear the water crashing down 5oo meters away as you walked up the track to it! This is as close as we got to it, the water was just rushing by too fast for us to cross or the girls to swim in. I had visions of them being swept away.

So we walked back down the track and swam in a quieter section that is usually just ankle deep. There was still a strong rush of water here, Daz and I were standing in the water just out of shot on the bottom left, and if I faced the current and did breast stroke, I didn't move anywhere, the force of the water kept me swimming in one spot. It was amazing.

SIT Badge

My badge for the SIT Secret Name Badge Swap has arrived safely at Lara's house so I can reveal it here. Not long till I get to see it dangling from her lanyard in person!

WIP Wednesday - Pebble Quilting.

Well since I deleted my time wasting "game" of Farmville on Facebook on the weekend, I suddenly have all this extra time to quilt! I have finished the time consuming thread changing echo quilting on the spikes and sewn all the loose threads in the back. Then I echo quilted around the outside of all the spikes and then put the FMQ foot on the machine and started the pebble quilting. Just a little more to go and then the binding!