A Quilt in a Day

Before I go ahead and quilt any more of my good quilts I needed to have a bit more of a play with Elly May.  The software has several levels and so far I’ve only used the basic one.  The design I want to use next is only available on the higher versions, so it was time to have a practise.    

I also wanted to try using the Super Glide foot.  It worked well.

To that end, I wanted to make a very simple donation baby quilt.  Surely, I could do that in a day. 

Saturday was the day.

I had pulled some fabrics ready for this, but on Wednesday, at our patchwork group, there was a big tub of fabric that had been given to us.  Quite a bit came home with me, not that I need any fabric, but there are quite a few scraps that will work for I Spy quilt.  I need to get cutting.  I digress.

Anyway, back to my quilt….. there was a cute fabric with just the right amount to make a version of the quilt I had in mind, and there was already one strip cut off the fabric.  I just cut another strip the same size and added some bits from stash in between.

It was pieced while chatting away on Zoom with Chooky and co.

After lunch, I loaded it on Elly May, using some flannelette from stash and an off cut of batting that was the perfect size. It was all falling into place nicely.

I used the quilting design I want to use on the next couple of quilts to check the scale and everything went really well.  A very happy result.

It wasn’t long before I had it trimmed down and the binding added by machine.

Yay!  A quilt in a day.  I really like it.  Sometimes simplest is the best. I can see me making more of these simple quilts for donation and a bit of fun.

I’ll be happy to take the finished quilt along for show and tell next Wednesday to show that I do use some of the fabrics that come to me.

QUILT INFORMATION

Measurements - 47" high x 34" wide

Pattern - Quicker Strippie - a free pattern from Mary Quilts  

Fabrics - Donated feature fabric and stash

Quilting Design - Water Flow by Leah Day

Batting - Cotton/Polyester

Backing - Flannelette from Spotlight in stash

Thread - Glide Steel Blue

Of course, there has to be a quilt holder upperer photo.

March RSC Blocks Completed

As I said in my earlier post, the best quick win with my busy agenda would be to complete the Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks, as they were pretty much ready to go. 

 I was quite happy to see that I only needed to construct one crumb block, as I had made two previously.  That didn’t take too long.

Next, I decided to make the solid cross blocks.  I had only partially cut them out and had to think what to do.  Therefore, to make things easier going forward, each block is now completely cut and clipped together.  They look rather pretty all laid out, complete with colour coordinated clips.  (A girl has to play.)

Having previously commented that the block is a joy to piece, I don’t know where my head was. I made a couple of oopsies while putting the blocks together.  Jack had plenty of use.  Finally they were all done and ready to photograph.

Do you notice something in the above photo?  It was only when I was cropping the photo that I realised that I had done yet another boo boo! Where was my head?

That’s better.  I’m pleased that I noticed it now and fixed it up.

Finally, the potato chip blocks were put together with no issues. Phew!

I’m linking up with So Scrappy. 

Now to decide what to work on next.

A February Recap

I’m a bit late with this, but better late than never.

You can pop back here to see what my wishes for the month were.

I’ll start with my stitching achievements.  There weren’t too many.  Quite a contrast to January.

There were all my green blocks and strip.

The only quilt that was completed was “Swoon”.

I have been considering how to make a cover for Elly May, but her shape would make that extremely difficult, especially with the tablet holder, so I thought of alternatives.  I have a few fun retro tablecloths that would have worked really well, but they were all a tad too small.  In the end, she is going to bed under a vintage sheet.  Purple isn’t the ideal colour for my room, but the only other option I had was orange, which didn’t suit either.  I may come up with another colour at some stage, but this will have to do for now.

There was no knitting or crochet and the only other project I worked on can’t be shared just yet.

There was just one lonely thread spool emptied in February,

As for my 15 Minutes, not so good, but travel does that.

February =   21/28

Year to date =   51/59 = 86.44%

NON STITCHING HAPPENINGS

I tried no new recipes.

Having said that, our tomatoes finally started to produce.  Not a lot, but large.  This was a relief, as we thought we wouldn’t get enough to make any preserves this year.

Therefore, we were delighted to make a batch of Grandma Bird’s Tomato Sauce.

Then, a couple of weeks later enough to make a batch of Red Tomato Sauce.  We are so pleased to have replenished our stock, as we were down to the very last bottle.  These two batches will now last us a couple of years.

There are now enough tomatoes on the plants for us to make a batch of Tomato Relish as well.  

Some books were read and listened to.

On the home front, we purchased our new lounge.

On a fun note, after sharing that I am using a phone book for FPP papers, this year’s phone book was delivered.  How sad is that.  Remember when it was multiple fat volumes, now it is smaller than the free magazine the supermarkets put out each month.  It went straight in the recycle bin, as there is plenty of paper in the book I already have.

We had our fun day out to see the Sunflowers.

Other than that it was just our recent holiday.  

All in all, a good month.

Day 11 - Huskisson to Home

We headed for home on the Friday, with the plan to take two days, having a look around the towns on the way.  However, when the weather was so wet, and having got away at a good time, we thought we may as well get home.  It gets like that, you are ready to be home.

The route we took was through Kangaroo Valley, Moss Vale, Goulburn, Crookwell, Tuena, Trunkey Creek and home.

The thing about visiting the coast is that you have to travel over the Great Dividing Range, regardless of which way you go.  When towing a van it is not an easy drive, particularly in the wet.

It is a steep drive over Cambewarra Mountain, but so very pretty in the rainforest, particularly when it is low light and everything is shiny and drippy.  Very atmospheric.

We have ridden this road several times on the motorbike, generally in the opposite direction.  There is one corner where the footpeg scraped the road surface every time, as it was so tight.  A very different experience to towing a van.

As I said, not the easiest of drives.

We noticed one pretty little waterfall beside the road.

What goes up, must go down.  This took us down to the village of Kangaroo Valley.

It is such a pretty settlement, although rather touristy, but the weather meant it was not the day for having a look around.  The historic bridge is always a nice one to cross.

We then had to climb back out of the valley, this time ending up in the Southern Highlands area.

We finally drove out of the rain once we reached the Goulburn area.  We noticed how different the landscape is from where we had been.  We had lunch in Goulburn.  Mick suggested it was a good day for “Friday Pie Day”, so that is what we did at a local bakery.  Yummo.  They hit the spot.

From there we just drove through to home.    You feel you are on top of the world when you in the Tuena area.  Notice how very dry it is.  This area is in the grips of drought.  Australia is such a land of contrasts.

Finally, as we neared home there was a slight tinge of green to the landscape, which was a welcome sight.

We were home by mid afternoon and had the van all unpacked that day.  

It had been a thoroughly enjoyable few days away, and something we had been looking forward to.  The cricket was well worth attending and we now know what everyone raves about when they speak of Jervis Bay and Huskisson in particular.

Now we have to start thinking about our next trip away.  This trip has whet our appetite to be on the road again.

Days 9 & 10 - Huskisson

WEDNESDAY 

The Wednesday of our trip was a bit of a lazy one.  The weather had turned rather windy.  We went for a wander up the street and enjoyed a nice coffee in the morning.

In the afternoon, Mick played social bowls at the local club.  He had a very enjoyable time, despite losing the game.  A state representative was on the opposing team and the surface was an artificial style he hadn’t played on before, so he was definitely up against it.  He learned a lot from the experience and met some lovely people.

Meanwhile, I had a nice lazy afternoon back at the van doing a bit of stitching, but nothing to show for it yet.

THURSDAY

The rain started on Wednesday night and it rained all day on Thursday.  It may sound strange, but the coastal rain is different to what we get.  It is fine, not driving, but really wet, if that makes sense.  It was the perfect day to go for a drive.

I think the best way to start is by sharing a map of the area, for some context.

First we went into Nowra and did the groceries and had a walk up and down the street.  No photos, not the weather for it, but there are some lovely old buildings.

After some morning tea, we went for a drive out to Shoalhaven Heads.  This is on the north side of Nowra and the Shoalhaven River.  The river seems to break up into quite a delta, when you look at the map.

This is the main surf beach in the area and the only one that is patrolled during the holidays.  There is a big area of dune being rehabilitated, and it is looking good.

The rest of the places we visited were on the south side of the river, being accessed from back in Nowra.

First was Greenwell Point.  It has a nice jetty and there was one rather forlorn looking seagull sitting atop the rock with a plaque on it.  I didn’t even go to read what it was about, as it was too wet.

We were getting rather peckish, so thought we would look for some lunch, preferably fish and chips.  

Our thoughts were a little takeaway shop, but were surprised to see a larger establishment with a bold claim.  It was one o’clock, mid week on a wet day, outside of school holidays and the place was crowded.  The staff informed us that this was a quiet day.  Fortunately, they were able to find a table for two for us.  If you want to eat there on a weekend you have to book weeks ahead.  It had been voted best fish and chips on several occasions and has featured on Sydney Weekender TV show.

Our verdict.  The meal was beautiful and excellent value, with nice, friendly, efficient staff.  Another of those happy finds that you come across.

It looks like Greenwell Point is the home of the oyster industry on the Shoalhaven.

All fed, we went back to our exploring.  Culburra was next on the map.  

Then Callala Bay.

These areas weren’t as flashy as some of the other coastal areas, but would appeal to fisher folk.

By then we were ready to head back to the van to start packing up to leave the following day and for a quiet evening.  

It had been a lovely few days in the area.

Day 8 - Huskisson

Tuesday dawned overcast, but not raining, and still.  The sea was like glass.  Perfect for our planned outing. 

We had booked a “Jervis Bay Passage” cruise.  This was to take two and a half hours and go right around Jervis Bay.

Of course we had to sit up the front.  I’m a really bad sailor, but I didn’t have any trouble at all on this trip. 

Do you notice something in the above photo?  The sun came out.  Yay!

The bay is twice the size of Sydney Harbour and if you were to walk the shoreline it is 128kms.  There are several beaches which boast some of the whitest sand in the world. It is a marine park and home to about 100 dolphins, although we didn’t see any on the day.

The water is so clear and a gorgeous turquoise colour.  This spot was about four metres deep with healthy sea grass beds.  Can you believe that back in the 1960s they did preliminary works to build a nuclear power plant here.  The plan was to use the sea water for cooling, which would have killed everything in the bay.  Thank goodness that didn’t go ahead.

The bay is home to a small naval base, which has some lovely old buildings.

We had noticed a large vessel in the middle of the bay, which we assumed was naval, but apparently it is a large fishing vessel.  The captain of our cruise wondered why it was there, as they are rarely seen in the area.

You can see the heads of the bay in the distance.  We went all the way out there.

The lighthouse on the northern side is Point Perpendicular.  It is a name you often hear in weather reports, with seas conditions described as either north or south of Point Perpendicular.  When you get to see it you can easily understand why it got its name.

The boat actually went a little outside the heads to show the series of cliffs that run up the coastline.

Back in the bay, the cliffs were quilted impressive.

This formation is the “Pancake Stack”.

This is the “Boat Harbour”, despite never having been used for that purpose.

And finally, the view of Huskisson as we returned to shore.

It was the best way to see Jervis Bay.  There are so many things you would never seen any other way.  We are really pleased we went, and that we chose to go on Tuesday, as it was the best weather conditions for the week.  

Do you notice that the sea was not like glass for the second half of the trip, as the breeze was picking up.

After lunch we went for a drive down the south side of the bay, where some of the famous beaches are.  It was a Tuesday afternoon, outside of school holidays and we were unable to find a parking spot anywhere near the beaches.  We can’t imagine what it must be like over the Christmas holidays.

Once we returned to the van, we went for another walk along the beach.  It was nice and blue, but the water was much colder.

The wind had whipped up the sand quite a bit, creating unusual patterns against the small shells.

And so ended another day in paradise.  This was the only other sunset I was able to see all trip, for what it’s worth.