Have you ever stroked an alpaca? Their fleece is amazingly soft!!! Here Don is holding a two month old alpaca for our homeschool group to see and touch. Alpaca fibre is half the weight of sheep wool as the fibres are hollow. Alpaca fibre is also warmer and stronger than sheep's. This was my favourite part of visiting Lanbruk's Gunyah organic farm and museum early this month.
A blacksmith demonstration had also been arranged for our group's visit - of interest to the children and parents/grandparents who came along this sunny spring day.
Crammed with a fascinating variety of historical items, including a relocated original settler dwelling, Lanbruk's private museum is a local treasure. Our homeschool group enjoyed having a close look and listening to Don's informative talk. They even have an original Ned Kelly 'Wanted' poster!
I wonder what stories this old building could tell - I spotted it in the distance across the river as we listened to the blacksmith.
Don and Dorothy are passionate about both history, organic farming and alpacas - and love sharing this with other people. Our family had visited for L's birthday celebration five years ago. Sadly L's DIY husband D had a tragic accident at home late August. We met up with Don and Dorothy again at D's funeral soon after this homeschool excursion.
September is the beginning of spring - I celebrated it with another photo visit to Flowers by Bonnie!
I heard the noise just after sunrise one Sunday and rushed outside! Snapped the photo above with my phone from our backyard. I quickly grabbed my 'real' camera and went hot air balloon chasing....
This balloon held precious cargo of local friends😊❤️💙 floating over our beautiful river and beyond.
The balloons drifted down river so peacefully in the stillness of this Sunday morning.... 💛
Even the birds seemed to enjoy the balloons this. It's been around 12 years since I've seen hot air balloons in our town. It would be amazing to see them regularly like some of you do or have in the past. This was part of a fund raising venture by one of our local Jacaranda Queen Candidates. Top idea! Our town's annual Jacaranda Festival begins at the end of next month. .
Master T turned 18 so we declared a one day family holiday (the joys of homeschooling). After opening his gifts he paused to read the personal affirmations/stories which each of his siblings had written for him. Later we headed to the coast for a few hours exploring and relaxing (except for my husband who is not well enough yet).
The birthday boy surrounded by the four sisters who are still living at home. Three older siblings sent their birthday wishes from their respective locations. Wonderful day out at Lake Arragan and surrounds.
Where Lake Arragan meets the sea! Lots of interesting sand and water combinations and textures. This was the main destination for our family birthday trip.
Then we drove a few minutes further to this amazing spot - not hard to see why it is named Red Cliff! This stretch of coastline near Brooms Head is part of Yuraygir National Park and is one beautiful section of the extensive Yuraygir Coastal Walk.
A few more minutes drive further south to Brooms Head, a small coastal village. We all enjoyed spotting whales and following a large pod of dolphins.
Pristine beaches - our local coastline is brimming with them. Often there's not another soul in sight either. It really is a very special area. Looking south towards Sandon from Brooms Head lookout. 💙💛💙
Miss O's garden has a colourful sprinkling of beautiful spring flowers. We've not had rain for some months now. A little watering goes a long way with these hardy plants.
My weeks have been sprinkled with hand sewing (Ice-Cream Soda quilt designed by Jodi Godfrey) and the occasional walk - both of which are a great joy to me.
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With some quilts you know exactly what design you want to make and then it can necessitate many months of sewing to bring your vision to completion. With the quilt above it was rather much the other way around, taking many months to resolve an idea and only a couple of weeks of intermittent sewing to create.
Some of you will remember my Set Free quilt shown directly above, completed October 2015 (with further hand quilting being added in 2016). When I was sewing the 'flying geese' blocks required for it, I stitched a second line parallel to the one needed to stitch my corner 'off cuts' together, intentionally creating multiple half square triangles in the process. Below is a pile of some of these, pressed open, and this is how they sat for over twelve months.
Every now and then I would pull them out and trim some into 3 1/2" squares, then fiddle with adding different fabrics, colours and various arrangements. Nothing 'clicked' as being just right, so I would put them away again, waiting for inspiration to strike.
Then early January this year I had an idea and began sewing each print together into these squares. I liked what I saw. :)
Within a couple of weeks I was finished and very pleased with the result. The printed fabrics are all from the 'Moody Blues' collection, designed by Geninne Zlatkis for Cloud 9 Fabrics. The white fabric as well as the batting are also certified organic cotton.
You can read some of the finer details regarding this quilt in the Etsy listing here.
Sharing at the Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Amy's Creative Side.
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"Would you like me to make you a quilt?" I tentatively asked Jess who was newly engaged to our eldest son.
"Sure, if you'd like to that would be great," she replied.
This was mid December and we created a shared Pinterest board for Jess to pin quilt images which captured something of what she might like. I tried to figure out some common designs and colour themes from Jess's pins. On her next visit in January we briefly discussed ideas and I gathered an armful of fabrics from my collection/stash which I thought she might like - mostly organic and with a nature theme. Jess loved nearly all the fabrics so that night she spread them out on our dining table, arranging them from most liked to less likely. I snapped a quick phone photo to refer back to.
We both agreed that this queen size quilt wouldn't be complete by their wedding day in early February but hopefully by our mid-year winter. Jess is a maker/crafter/sewer/knitter and knew time would be needed.
After much thought, and auditioning of fabrics and ideas, the design elements began to slowly come together. By early April I was sewing completed sections together. The completed top was ready for basting by 7th of April. Jess and Jose were due to visit us over the Easter weekend, a week later, and I was desperately hoping to have it quilted, bound and ready to gift them. I had begun the machine quilting when on April 10th I dislocated my right shoulder. :( At the time I had no idea of the very long, slow road to recovery ahead, but I did know that this quilt was not going to finished in a matter of days as hoped.
Six weeks later I was finally up to gingerly recommencing the machine quilting. With my initial deadline well gone, and Jess and Jose unlikely to visit again immediately, I took my time to enjoy adding more and varied quilting, both by machine and by hand. I had really wanted to add some hand quilting love and the time delay had meant this was now possible.
At last it was complete and a quilt label stitched and attached. The next morning it was gently wrapped in leftover solid fabric and tied with selvedges, ready to gift later that day, July 2nd. I wrote a quick note on the back of a favourite photo I had taken at their wedding (which I discovered is also one of Jess's favourite wedding photos too). I believe the quilt is well loved and keeping Jess and Jose warm in their much colder tablelands hometown. Love Always!
Update - Jess has just let me know they 'Absolutely love it, staying cosy every night.' Now that's a wonderful reward. :)
Sharing at the Blogger's Quilt Festival: Fall 2017 Edition at Amy's Creative Side.
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