Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Scrappy Trip Around the World

Yes...me as well...hope you all aren't sick of these yet....but as I haven't been able to get to my sewing machine for nearly six weeks, with Christmas and holidays, it has been killing me not to be able to get on the scrappy trip-around-the-world "wagon" kicked off by the Lucy and Norman blog  using the pattern from Quiltville .

So on Saturday when I had the whole day at the guild to sew....I started having fun with my scraps...please excuse quality of photos I was using my iPhone.

Some pink scraps...

Maybe I'll use a little black in this one


What about some big spots


How about no pink...



It's funny how fabrics I have never used together, play so nicely together...
Looking a little trippy now!


I think I am going to have fun with this!

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Happy Australia Day

As I watched the news last night, I reflected on the diversity of our landscape, we have towns flooding along the east coast of Australia, in Queensland, and towns threatened by fire in Victoria. There is three certainties for summer in Australia, floods, fires and cyclones!

My family and I have just returned from a three week holiday, mainly in Tasmania, and I am ashamed to say it was my first trip there, what a beautiful place, but unfortunately not without the summer blight of fires, in the south of Tasmania one community lost 60 homes, all up this particular fire burnt out over 120 homes, but no lives were lost, testament to the organisation of the Fires Services, professional and volunteers.


Being Australia Day I would like to share some the photos from our tour of Tasmania, the diversity in this one little island is amazing.



The view from our home stay just outside Davenport


Sunset at Strahan, on the west coast of Tassie


Sarah Island, accessible through the Gordon River, was built by convicts in the 1800's 


West Coast Ranges....we were on our way Strahan, we were quite high, it was blowing a gale, there was snow up here in the beginning of December!


Nelson Falls


Just love the texture and colour of this...is it a moss or a fern?


Wine Glass Bay....one of the top 10 beaches to visit in the world...a 3 hour return walk up and over a mountain is the only way to access it....not for the faint hearted...it nearly killed me!


Look at that fabulous seaweed



The beach gets over 200,000 visitors a year, so this wallaby is quite used to people, and it made my son (15) and my daughter's (12) day that it would sit so close and be patted....it really was just there to scavenge food but I didn't want to burst the bubble.



Richmond just outside of Hobart...this house looks like it belongs in England

And of course what holiday is not complete without a trip to a quilting shop!


This beautiful store is inside an old chapel, and just fabulous, both the building and the fabric of course!


So if you are ever in Tasmania make sure you go to the Quilted Crow in Hobart, not just for the fabric, but to admire this very special building.

I am now running late to go sewing with my guild, the first decent run my sewing machine will have had in 6 weeks....I am going to be sewing all day....and then home to do a family BBQ for 17 at 6pm...so many thing to do!!!