Baby Pinwheel Quilt

I have had this little baby quilt finished for a while, awaiting the arrival of the special baby it was made for. On Tuesday my friend Erin from Seven Little Australians and Counting gave birth to their 9th baby, a healthy baby boy! Congratulations again Erin, PC and family!

Last night I had the privilege of visiting Erin and baby in hospital and was able to give her this quilt, so now I can show you some pictures of what has been hiding in my cupboard.

At this point I wasn't sure how to complete the edges, thinking of maybe making prairie points as I did with this quilt. However I chose to finish it differently and have been happy with how it turned out.

I quilted it using stippling around the outer edges and straight lines over the main section, highlighting the pinwheels, more easily seen here on the reverse.

I love the mix of fabrics, especially the ladybugs, chosen to be suitable for either a boy or girl. I'm pleased it now has a new home with a precious family and the baby it was sewn for. I really enjoy being able to give something I have made myself.

Pieces of Last Week

Sunset in the town, our street.

We studied fish, a playdough shark.

Another special birthday

Cricket trophies - for the girls!

A little rain and natural beauty.

I hope your week held special treasures too!

Sunday Quote

Me and my Dad, 1965 

"The secret of contentment is the realization that life is a gift,

 not a right."

                                                                                                                                              Author unknown

My wonderful, strong farmer Dad died last year after a long struggle with Parkinson's disease and dementia.

 Life IS a gift to be cherished, and grateful for, each day.

Little by Little

The underside of the quilt top

Right-side up

Stitch by stitch and row by row, the hexagons quilt is coming together. Another two or three rows and it should be to size. Then I'll have to baste and quilt it, and bind.

I found some amazingly beautiful hexies by Stephanie in blogland today, like bright waterlilies on a pond. Take a look at them here!

The Twelve Apostles

The Otway Fly (previous post) was breathtaking. We then drove on to The Twelve Apostles which are absolutely magnificent! Arriving very late in the day the view into the sinking sun was shimmery and full of huge shadowy stone "statues".

Looking eastward we saw the stunning coastline stretching before us.

The top two photos were taken from the viewing area straight ahead.

Above and below-zoomed in on some of the intriguing details of the giant rock stacks.

We traveled on to  Port Campbell (where we had something to eat) then a long sunset-into-dark drive inland through a changing and beautiful countryside.

Just on dusk we could see an amazing big shape rising from the flat surrounds to our west. Our trusty maps informed us we were looking at Mt Elephant!

Into the night we arrived at our accommodation in Ballarat. Now Ballarat is a whole other short but wonderful chapter in our journey. On this one exhilarating and exhausting day, 19th March 2010, we had experienced the Great Ocean Road, Cape Otway Lighthouse, the Otway Fly, The Twelve Apostles and a delightful dusk drive. Certainly a day well worth remembering, thank you for joining me on my photo journey.

Sharing at PicStory: Holidays (and voted an equal second).

Otway Fly

After leaving the Cape Otway Lighthouse (previous post) we drove inland for a while to the Otway Fly . Once you have walked down into the warm temperate rainforest the 600m treetop walk begins. This was heaps of fun and just amazing. If you look carefully at the photo above you will just see the spiral stair tower at the end of the steel walkway.

You really are right up in the forest canopy at the top of the tower.

Love those huge trees!

And these wonderful people!

The huge tree ferns look amazing from above.

The walk back out of the forest, all uphill.
This was our afternoon adventure for 19th March 2010. Still more to come for that day.

Cape Otway Lighthouse

                                                                                                                                                Available for purchase here

About a half hour drive from Apollo Bay, Cape Otway is the southern most point of the Australian mainland apart from Wilsons Promontory. Cape Otway Lighthouse was built over 160 years ago and was only decommissioned in 1994.

I imagine it would be a rather bleak place for much of the year.

Guided tours allowed internal access and informative details.

And it was windy!!!!

Another informative guide in a nearby building. Sometimes it's easy to forget that the presence of a lighthouse also means many lives had been lost and ships wrecked at that location prior to their existence.

                                                                                                                                             Available for purchase here

The Otway Telegraph Station is only a short walk from the lighthouse. Having these two located nearby helped overcome the problems of isolation for those who manned them, particularly in the early days.

We often take modern communications for granted. There are joys to be had in both eras, yet I think we are spoilt for choice in ours.

Great Ocean Road

19th March 2010 was another huge day on our adventure, filled with great variety and stunning beauty. I will spread the photos over several posts so I can savour the joys and splendour once more.

Not long after we had left Lorne we were held up with a well organised road closure. Eventually we saw camera cars and a sparkly new car drive past, along with other associated vehicles. They had be filming a car advertisement! The road was soon reopened.

Another peculiarity was a number of road signs I had never seen before, all stating traffic had to drive on the left-hand side of the road! I guess they have an unusually high number of overseas visitors hiring cars to travel this road.

The Great Ocean Road along the Victorian southern coastline is magnificent. I didn't know much about this drive so my expectations weren't that high. On this section of the Great Ocean Road we were amazed by the vivid coastline stretching on before us, following curve after curve for more than hour.

Thankfully we were driving east to west and could take advantage of the frequent stopping bays on the coastal edge of the road to soak up more of the views.

We stopped a while at Apollo Bay. The weather was overcast and lightly raining at this point, making it look and feel more like something from another country, maybe England?

After Apollo Bay the road leads away from the coast for a while, winding through the surrounding hill country, before hugging the coastline again further west.

Dusk at Lorne

Smokey dusk, Lorne, Vic, 18th March 2010

Beautiful evening, Lorne

This Time, This Day, Last Year

I hope you're enjoying a look back at our "big holiday" last year, I certainly am. Early afternoon, March 18 last year we were at "The G". This must sound rather unimpressive to many of you but to our family of many sports lovers, both players and spectators, this was a big event! The Melbourne Cricket Ground or MCG is affectionately known as "The G". My husband was born in Melbourne and still considers AFL (Australian football) his sport of choice.

When we visited The G there happened to be a Sheffield Shield  (state cricket) final in progress. Cricket is a sport many of our family are passionate about. Four of our children have played local cricket this season and three are in their respective grand finals here in our town this afternoon.

We went on a guided tour of The G and were taken right down to the field during the cricket lunch break. It was amazing to be on the ground we (well, not me) so often watch on TV. The G seats close to 100,000 spectators, everything seemed huge!

Our guide let us have a look in at the Members' Library, and even the Members' Lounge, quite a treat!

There are many historic pieces of art and other sport related memorabilia.

The National Sports Museum is also housed at the MCG. We were at about the point of overload, having already had a busy morning including a good bit of travel. Thankfully the sports museum had a large section of hands on interactive activities.....

So much to do and see at the MCG. Several hours later we were back on the road for the next leg of our journey.

Melbourne is one of only a few places in Australia which still have trams, quite a novelty.
Thank you for joining me as we relive our family adventures.

This Time Last Year

We were off to watch the sunset penguin parade at Phillip Island. Hundreds of wild Little Penguins, the world's smallest penguin, waddle up the beach each night to their sand dune burrows.

You are not allowed to use any cameras at the "Penguin Parade", however next morning we headed to the far end of Phillip Island, to an area called The Nobbies where we were free to wander along the board walks and take photos at the naturally nesting penguins.

The coastline is very steep and quite rugged yet these Little Penguins manage the journey to and from the sea in search of food.

Miss E is not having a tantrum, she is playing I SPY with some penguins!