Home Again!

Where to begin?! After two weeks internet absence I am suffering Blog Withdrawal. Now I have to catch up with everyone & see what you have been up to!
Over the next few days I will give a synopsis of our visit DownUnder. Unfortunately I took only a few photos & none from the time in Brisbane but I will show some of those events I did manage to capture on film.
In Brissie where we stayed with friends[from my College days] I was fortunate to meet up with an internet quilter friend Carleen who took me to the SewCo store in Mt.,Gravatt. There I purchased a half yd. of this lovely Hoffman & a panel of "The Sisterhood of Quilters". Both are no doubt available somewhere in USA but I had not seen them so I gave in to temptation!
Our hosts MA & DH were gracious & we were delightfully accommodated, fed & entertained in their lovely home in the suburbs of Brisbane.

We were visiting Australia at this time specifically for my Dad's 98th. b'day.
Some family gathered for a fabulous lunch at the award winning The Deck Cafe/Waterfront Bar at Soldier's Point Marina, Port Stephens, N.S.W.

The staff here were very excited to see my Dad. They told us that my Dad looks exactly like their father/grandfather did, what a coincidence! So my Dad got very extra-special treatment! Here are the staff, wishing Dad happy birthday, the owner on the left his two sons & daughter.

We were all treated royally at this family owned restaurant & my Dad had his favorite "cream sponge" birthday cake complete with a sparkler & they even had those "popper" streamers! If you are ever in this area we highly recommend a visit to this terrific restaurant.
This was Sunday, the day before his actual b'day, so on the Monday we took Dad to the Fighter World Museum at Williamtown RAAF Base. Here we treated ourselves to a delicious traditional Devonshire Tea in the Fighter World Cafe.

This is a very popular treat, you may often be invited to "Afternoon tea" DownUnder. The scones[pronounced with a short "a" in the BE world] most often are served with strawberry jam & we indulged several times during our visit [next issue "The Diet", lol!]
Tune in tomorrow for the next installment of the Aussie Chronicles!

Koala Sunrise

I thought today I would show a photo of another koala quilt, even though it hangs in the loft over the TV it had "slipped my mind" when I was talking about the one I am giving away next week- end[see two posts back for info]

This quilt was a rescue of a failed experiment several years ago in the Ricky Timms Convergence method. I say "failed" because the hand dyed fabric I chose had too little contrast & being very discouraged by the result I was tempted to throw it in the "rag bag", literally!
The colors look washed out from the flash, they are more vibrant in reality. I really need to learn more about this camera that I have had for a year because I know it has ways to reproduce color more authentically.
Back to the quilt- my frugal side forced me to search for ways to use it & I decided that it would make a good background for applique, but what? I began to search through my stash & came across this koala fabric that I had bought way back at Joann's on sale with the intention of making a blouse. That was long ago because that particular Joann has long since closed down, & it has also been many years that I no longer sew clothing, I can buy it cheaper & faster than a pattern, fabric & notions etc. & I'd rather be quilting! The design & colors of the koala fabric appeared to be a perfect foil for the muddy looking convergence, so I cut out a koala & then used the same fabric for the borders.

I had some hand dyed Aussie fabric in the salmon tone with Aus. animals on it-I purchased it in Brisbane from Oz Dye-Art before they closed their business some years ago. Incidentally I was very sad when they did close, I had often ordered their unique patterns & fabrics & I hope some day when their families are grown those two talented women will be back in business.
The gum leaf pin is brass & too heavy for clothing but it has found a home on this quilt.
I quilted the whole thing with gum leaves.

In case I have piqued your curiosity about these items I took a few pics of just a small selection of their fabrics & very cute patterns, none of which said patterns have I made yet though I have used the fabrics in several quilts. The icons on the yellow fabric are too monotone to be seen in the photo, sorry about that!

There is an enormous amount of applique in this "Land DownUnder" pattern that was as you can see a "row of the month" originally. I don't do very much applique any more all those little bitty pieces are so fussy but it would be fun to get these made up.
The patterns above are titled with a couple of iconic Aus. sayings; Santa doesn't use reindeer in Australia[maybe it's just too darned hot at Christmas time for such cold weather animals, summer after all] Santa employs the services of white kangaroos, called "boomers".There's a Christmas song by Rolf Harris about the "Six White Boomers", go ahead & listen it's fun!
"Kangaroos loose in the top paddock" refers to the popular saying denoting lack of either intellectual ability or sanity!
That covers today's Australian cultural lesson!

Koalas In The Window

That's what I have named the little quilt I am giving away, you can see it on the previous post.
I spent most of the past week in hospital so I missed VTT & everything else & I am so glad to be home though it's very frustrating to try & do everything with only one hand & sewing.........well, I haven't tried that-yet- but I probably will! A week in the hospital doesn't leave much of interest to blog so my contribution this week is very simple!
In keeping with my efforts to raise awareness to the desolation left behind from the bush-fires in the state of Victoria, Australia, I took a stroll around our home & snapped a few pics of some of the collection of Australiana & here is a peek at just a few of them.
I left out the Vegie[Vegemite] I know I know y'all just don't get it! But I have to keep reminding you about it, it's so good for you! Guess I could have included the Golden Syrup, now there's another item no Aussie home should be without!





See these little guys, they hang out in my kitchen......they aren't much help with the cooking , not exactly gourmands as they dine exclusively on Eucalyptus leaves & if you ever have a chance to get up close & personal with one of them your nose will tell you what they eat!



and these hang out upstairs in the loft.......
this koala has a wombat for a friend, Wolly Wombat is made from 100% Australian woollen fabric & stuffing & you can see my lovely Jaffa's [I am rationing them until I can get some more in May!]
All of these & more, keep me company in my sewing studio, there's another little wombat in front with the koalas....see the big koala with a flag has a baby on her back. Both marsupials, wombats & koalas have another thing in common, their pouches open backwards to prevent debris from injuring the infants when the animals are digging in the case of the wombats or for the koalas just moving around on the ground.
Here is a lone red kangaroo with a joey in her pocket & a couple of boomerangs..........
and a butcher bird & a kookaburra with more Jaffas! These two cheeky cuddly chaps actually make very realistic bird calls, they make me long for a bit of a walk in the Aussie bush.