Rainbow Squares and some more Rainbow Squares!

Are you sick of seeing this quilt top in action yet?! Here is Daz trying to hold it up outside, he's on a step ladder, he's not that tall!

I then got rid of all the background. Looking good! In hindsight (and isn't that a wonderful thing?) I should have added white around the borders twice the width of what I did and just left it at that. But I didn't!

So what to add in the border to take it down to the 8 or so inches needed for it to sit neatly down each side of our bed? How about some more squares? Lots more squares! Better stop blogging and get sewing!

Around the Block - April.

It was time for some Around The Block action today. I decided to sew Louise's block.She asked for a whirlygig or any star block. I found this Wisconsin Star from here. It's paper pieced, I thought the red made the star explode. I hope she likes it.

Rainbow Squares WIP.

As I promised myself, today I sewed. I have added a 5 inch border of white to the sides and am about to do the same to the top and bottom. Then to ponder a little peep strip of colour like here or smaller squares? I need to get Daz to stand on a step ladder holding it, snap some photos and then play around in photoshop.

Easter Camping.

We are on holidays at last! 12 weeks is a long term for teachers and students! Last Easter we went to El Questro and this Easter we went again. We had planned to go here or here but with all the rain recently, nowhere is open! So we packed up our camping stuff and away we went for a few days of adventures. We ran across a stretch of the Pentecost River.

We did some rapid riding as well. This stretch of the river was right next to the camping ground so while it wasn't 100% safe from crocodiles, everyone was doing it! The water here was waist height and fast! It was heaps of fun.

Only two of the Gorges are open at the moment, again, due to all the recent rain. One of them, Amelia Gorge was only open to the halfway point but we haven't walked it so we choose to do this one. I thought that the three logs and all the stones here were placed on purpose to make a little dam but Daz thinks it's from the force of the water over time. Still debating this one.

Taaa da, we made it! The water at the end was chilly but so refreshing. We walked this gorge early, left the car park at 8am so as a result we were the only ones there to enjoy it in the hour or so we were at the end. Walking back to the car people were starting to come in.

A rest spot along the way in. Usually this would be just a trickle of water.

One day we went to checking out where the water got up to at the Pentecost River where the Gibb River Road crosses. It's a bit hard to make out, but in the photo on the left of Daz, see the sign sticking out of the sand? It says Pentecost River.......

Driving back to camp from here we counted 52 water crossings in one morning! Mind you that did range from the above to a mere few inches trickling across the road. Still, 52!!! That's a lot of water.

And because we were so close, we stopped in at Zeebedee Springs a few times. Now we are back home for a few days to recover before packing the camping gear again and heading out to Lake Argyle for a few days to cheer on Daz and his team in the Lake Argyle Swim. We are going to need to take a holiday from our holiday!

Rainbow Squares.

Well I sewed all my rows of rainbow together today!

Pebbling.....

Hi, my name is Helen and I used to quilt when I wasn't having a child turn 8, spending afternoons cruising on boats and receiving packages in the mail! There hasn't been a lot of sewing action my way lately but with school holidays starting on Tuesday afternoon, I'm ready to get back into some sewing action! I finished the pebble quilting on this today. Then I trimmed down all my blocks for the Naked Bed Challenge. It's a start.

DQS 10 from Marilyn.

My dolls quilt from the DQS 10 arrived a few days ago. And I will admit I have been busy with Grace's birthday and the unexpected but lovely arrival of the in-laws to stay for a week and so I am only getting around to blogging all it's beauty now! It is from a lovely lady called Marilyn and when I opened it up there were lots of ohhhh's and ahhh's of excitment!

I opened the box to see all this beautifully wrapped parcels. Everything was colour coordinated and a little note explaining how she saw all the pink and orange in my photos and it gave her the idea of a California sunset. The colours she has used are just stunning.

She even sent the girls a bundle of goodies too which was very sweet. Very, very sweet. These girls love these swaps more than I do as they usually seem to score something in the package for them! I don't expect this, I think the stunning quilt is enough, but it is always a lovely, touching thing to do. Thank you Marilyn. x

And I got goodies too! Marilyn is from California and so she enclosed a beautifully photographed book on California. And she had made a mix tape of all these songs about California! Classic tracks like California Girls and Hotel California. It is great! But wait, there is more! Also a lovely bundle of fat quarters by Anna Griffin from her Riley Collection.

One last shot.... *sigh* Lovely! Thank you again Marilyn!

Lake Kununurra.

On Friday afternoon, after school, we went on a boat cruise with the School's Social Club. Usually it's just down to the pub, but this time it was on a boat with Triple J Boat Cruises. This is called Elephant Rock, because it looks like an elephant? See if you can make it out.

Because we have had a very wet, Wet Season, the waterfalls are still flowing down.

You can drive a smaller boat right up to this one, get out and climb up to that first pool.


It was nice to get out on the water again. Half way through the cruise Daz turned to me and said, "We really have to get a boat." That would be very nice!

Grace is 8!

Happy 8th birthday Grace! Growing up too fast. I have asked you all week if you can stop growing and stay 7 years old to which you have answered, "No way Mummy! I want to be 8 now!" I love how you still call me Mummy though, still haven't grown up enough for that to change!

DQS #10 Sent.

I posted my quilt for the DQS#10 today. I really like the the scrappy border. Think I might keep that in mind for my quilt for the Naked Bed Challenge.

I ended up stippling it. I had forgotten how much I enjoy stippling!

And what quilt would be complete without the label!

The Naked Bed Challenge!

I got excited last night to see on Sarah's blog she is hosting a Naked Bed Challenge! Going along with the idea that those who quilt don't have a quilt for their own bed should make one for themselves. While I do have a quilt for our bed, this one here, I was shocked the other week to be told by my darling husband that the quilt in question was ugly and he didn't like it, despite having slept under it for the last 18 months! hmff!

But it is the perfect inspiration for me to pick up this quilt again which was started back in January with the purpose for our bed. Rainbow squares. I have already made 5 blocks in each colour, I now have to trim them, sash them with a crisp spotty white and then I'm going to raise the bar and even try and quilt it in the time frame....... I have two months from yesterday. Come and join in the fun!

Unpicking.....

Last Saturday at SIT, I spent the day hand quilting this. Well hand quilting three of the spikes, that is all I managed to do for the whole day. And today I unpicked it all. My hand quilting is crap. All uneven and yuck. Such sharp points and then to spoil it all by dodgy quilting. So I have unpicked it and am going to machine quilt it. Same as the other one I think. Thank you for the great photo Michelle. I look like I know what I am doing here! Ha!