Adopt-a-Goat

And here is another group set up to help keep farmers and their livestock going through the drought:

http://adoptagoat.blogspot.com/

Adopt-a-Sheep

This is an excellent way to support our struggling farmers and ensure that we quilters continue to have the best quality merino wool for our favourite wool battings (wadding) and jumpers (sweaters) and blankets.

http://www.adoptasheep.blogspot.com/

This blog also has some more information about the drought and just how tough those on the land have got it.

Add to that the bush fires being faced in a number of areas in Southeast Australia, and it's going to be a long summer.

Morning Clouds

Fountain #3

Fountain #2

Fountain #1

The End of the Line

Crown of Thorns

MNO Challenge Top

Here is my Mosman Night Owls Challenge quilt. The challenge fabric, an off-cut of a Marimekko fabric, is the tiny blue, green and white check. I've used two woven FQs, the FQ I used the Shivas Paintstiks on, a bunch of hand-dyeds and two commercial fabrics.

There are three pieces of fabric in each block so the piecing is dead simple and the character of each fabric isn't lost in the piecing.

The blocks looked different lying on the lounge room floor than they do assembled into a quilt top. I'm not sure I like how they went together and am thinking about taking it apart and putting it back together again. Would help fill the time created by my inevitable procrastination about how to quilt and embellish it.

MNO Challenge -- Woven Fabric Update

My second attempt at weaving two fat quarters went a bit better using a heavy duty water soluble stabiliser. It was a bit sticky on the bed of the sewing machine when I first started sewing through the layers, but that didn't last long. No gunk on the needle althrough there was a bit of fluff around the bobbin case. I'll have to remember to clean it out after using this water soluble stuff.

Here's a close-up of the front ...

And a close up of the back ...

When I dunked it into cold water it got slimy for a minute and then dissolved away cleanly. I squeezed it out in a towel to get rid of the extra water and hung it up to dry. After ironing, it was a bit scrunched up around some of the stitching but that added some nice texture to the finished fabric.

One lesson for next time: be sure to weave strips so that there aren't any gaps in the corners between the strips. I've got a couple but don't know if the wadding will migrate through or not.

If it does, I can always write a book with my new embellishment technique and going on the international lecture circuit.

MNO Challenge -- Shivas Paintstiks Update

I got some more colours and finished up my fat quarter. It helps now that I understand more about how to use the rubbing plates more effectively. The metalic white really adds sparkle to the patterns.

Horizontal

As we flew into Kingsford-Smith and banked for our final approach over Botany Bay, the smoke from the Blue Mountains bush fires was blowing out into the Tasman.

Kingsford Smith Tall Poppies

Through Smoke Haze

While I was in Brisbane for the Ashes, the bush fires in the Blue Mountains continued to burn with more fires in the Hunter and Hawkesbury. It looked pretty smokey as we flew over the Harbour.

You can see the Harbour Bridge in the middle and, a bit down and to the left, the Sydney Opera House through the smoke haze. Once we had landed, the sky didn't look so hazy.

Gabba Tall Poppy

Gabba Tartan

Pinku Maniac

This quilt was made for HRH for her 6th birthday. She chose the fabrics while on a fabric shopping marathon with her grandmother and Aunt Jan. HRH also chose the name based on her belief that the Japanese word for pink is 'pinku'.

Looking back at this quilt, it was the last one I had machine quilted before I decided that I could learn to machine quilt myself.

I Didn't Touch It

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas ...

Tiled Tables

In a moment of parental weakness, I agreed to take HRH to the mall to find a dress for the Year 6 Farewell at her school. While wandering through the cultural wasteland to her favourite shop, we came across these tables at a coffee shop that was part of an Asian imports shop. Tres kool!