DWYSYWD

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter break.
We had a lovely time catching up with family and friends. I did manage to squeeze in a little sewing time, not as much as I would have liked but some time is better than no time right.
I have nearly appliqued all of the hexagons and stars on the centre of my basket quilt. I have gone a little overboard on making the stars and have found that I am short on the amount of hex rosettes I need, back to the drawing board on that one.

not that I am complaining, I love digging into the basket and coming up with new combinations.

just as a little deviation I decided to make a few of the baskets in readiness for filling them with flowers. Appliqueing the stars and hexies is a mindless task I usually tackle at the end of a working day as a way to relax . Perhaps I should stay focused and finish the task at hand , can't help leaping ahead and putting some of my thoughts and ideas into reality.

and just in case one project is not enough I have another on the go at the same time. I wouldn't be alone of this front though would I . This quilt is just going to evolve I think, I have a few clear guidelines but after that I guess I will just wait and see what happens.

it is mostly applique and paper piecing, I really am not that fussed on needle turn, much prefer covering paper for my applique. Maybe I will use a combination !.

I have an old linen sheet that has been hanging around for some time , no point in saving it any longer so I am going to use it as the background.

I have been needing a new comfy chair to use at the sewing machine ( I am not having much luck with this blog post I have just deleted a better picture of the chair , not sure how I did this but now I cannot add the picture as blogger will add it at the start of the post, also the first picture has been turned around so I had to re do that , I am ready to chuck this whole post in the trash basket) maybe I should read the blogger tips and tricks !! read here mega frustration.
!!! throwing hands in the air.
anyway on with the story, this chair has been rescued from the tip, recovered by our favourite upholsterer using some fabrics found around the traps. I am more than happy with the outcome.

Mr L & R and I often head down to the beach at the end of the day to take in the amazing sunsets and to chill out after a days work. I cannot get enough of them and each time they are vastly different depending on the weather and cloud formations etc etc. It feels like having my personal art gallery. These photos were taken on one evening last week

so peaceful I loved the calmness of the vapour trail intruding on the clear skyand sometimes, just sometimes we may have a glass of medicine.

That's all for today , I am feeling a tad frustrated with this blogger post today.

Until next time have fun and hopefully lots of sewing time

j

Wishing you all a Happy Easter

I hope you are all managing to share some family and friends time.

I'll be bck soon with a post

Happy Easter

j

Time is a Thief

Reading a few of my favourite blogs it seems that a lot of us wonder where these past months have gone. My focus of late has shifted somewhat in a different direction from my sewing. I have taken up some study, I decided I need to formalise the training I have been doing these past couple of years. Hopefully this will help to ensure I give the best possible sessions to my learners. I have to say I have really enjoyed doing this, I still have to hand in 3 modules of assessments and give a group based training session in front of an independent assessor but I am busy with it , hopefully this will all be completed by the end of May. So I can account for some of the time but it is hard to believe we are in April, heading into our Winter. This weekend we headed up the coast to our shack as we had some gardening that needed some urgent attention. Read Jean shovelled and barrowed 2 ton of garden soil , planted 30 Gardenias, mulched, watered and fed these plants. I did have help from Mr L & R. so I can't take all the credit, we need to get this done ahead of winter , just to give these plants time to settle in before it gets way to cold. Awaiting the delivery of the soil I did manage a little play time in the sewing dept. Here is a peek into my play area, surrounded by my favourite things, the computer playing some great music and fabric spread out across the table . What more could a girl want.

I have started appliqueing the stars and hexagon rosettes for the basket quilt.

I did a little auditioning but have decided to just take the next one off the pile and place it in the next position, I am sure it will come out in the wash so to speak.

Following on with my addiction with hexagons, I have been covering some 1 inch hexie papers using only the French General range of fabrics

I have another purse on the go

This is another Brigitte design, now without revealing too much I think Brigitte and Kathy are cooking something up for the Sydney Quilt Show so I don't want to spoil any surprises.

Just remember a girl can never have too many bags.

This morning was a beautiful sunny Autumn day just perfect for a walk along the bridle path, I was quite taken by the shadows along the way, they looked like zig zags, in fact they are the shadows from the trunks and branches of the gum trees that line the walk.

the water was glistening.

Gorgeous days like this always entice families outdoors to enjoy picnics, it is a sight to behold

This time of the year is rose pruning time and as I pruned the last of the flower heads I managed to pick a few buds. I look forward to spring for the first flush , it sounds like I am wishing my life away but the thought of Winter around the corner isn't thrilling.

I have also been cooking for family and friends of late and as I laid out some of the ingredients I was quite taken by the assortment of different greens.

I have been hooked on this DVD it is fabulous. Annabel Langbein is a Kiwi cook (no bias here :-)

All of the episodes on the dvd are shot in the South Island of New Zealand, the scenery is spectacular not to mention the food she cooks. There is not one recipe I do not like, in fact I was so taken with the DVD I bought the book so I have the recipes, no having to takes notes while watching the show.

Well I think that accounts for some of the time I have been missing. Thanks to all of my readers that have left comments and enquired to my where abouts I do appreciate them, hopefully as soon as this study is behind me things should resume to normal.

To Sharyn and Marlene in Melbourne thanks for the gentle nudges I hope this suffices for the time being.

Lets hope the time thief takes a hike for a while.

until next time

Happy sewing, knitting, stitching

j