A Carnival of Colours!

With the rollover of Autumn into Winter on the 1st of June, I am late with my post on our Autumn foliage, never-the-less, I am excited to show you the riot of colour on display in my Perth neighbourhood.

Western Australia has no shortage of glorious autumn colour- this colour is just a bit different from what the Canadian in me believes to be typical!  Here, you have to look a bit harder for the traditional North American 'fall colour', but in case you feel sorry for me that my skyline is not alight with flaming reds, oranges and yellows as far as the eye can see, let me show you some of the beautiful, seasonal colour that I am enjoying...

Our neighbour has a Japanese Maple that has a grand display going on at the moment!

And how is this for a "Glory Vine" living up to its' name? Glorious indeed!

Our drive is lined with these beautiful blue berries. (I must find out if they are edible.)

The roses are boasting their impressive grand finale of the season...

Bougainvillea bushes 'bursting forth' in a serious display of purples, pinks, corals, orange...

And hibiscus everywhere, pick a colour, you will find it!

The waxy green wattle trees are laden with their sunshine-yellow fluffy blooms...

Native Grevillia, so unusual, so exquisite! They are a true spectacle!

Bright scarlet-coloured Bottlebrush...

Banksia. This colour combo is a current favourite. Check out this bloom in its' bush environment, below...

There are some stunning colours in my neck of the woods this Autumn, and as long as I don't insist that fall is limited to turning leaves and deep carpets of colour, I can be very content with the gorgeous blooms set against vibrant greens and a bright blue sky, as far as the eye can see...

Getaway

Here in Perth, the kids have just finished up a 2 week break from school, and even the uni students had some kind of a change in schedule, if not an actual holiday. So Leah, Anna and I headed to Denmark for a few days of R&R. It turns out, my Canadian family thought by our Facebook posts that we were in Scandinavia! Not so. 420 kms SW of Perth lies the 'Great Southern Region' of Western Australia, where the Southern Ocean meets the Karri and Red Tingle Forests and you can swim with elephants and walk amongst giants!

The girls picked me up in Dwellingup where I had indulged in a weekend away with friends at a quilting retreat - more on that next post - and we hit the open road on a warm sunny Monday morning, Denmark and Wattle Cottage waiting for us!

Turquoise ocean, scenic coastal drives, plenty of bays, beaches and rock outcroppings to hike and explore, ancient trees, rolling farmland, wineries with cellar doors boasting delicious food and wine... We love the glorious scenery, the relaxed pace and the holiday vibe that Denmark treats its' visitors to!
Enjoy the photos of our country's stunning Great Southern and my lovely girls enjoying it...

Swim with elephants

In Two Minds

This past week I have been rummaging through our storage unit and unearthing the plastic tubs of fabric, of which there are (maybe too) many. I loaded up the car and hauled them back to the house, where I am proceeding to cull (and make a great mess). As I sift through and sort, one half of my brain thinks, 'too much fabric, get rid of it, move on now, and who needs another quilt' (besides my dear Ida-Mae whose commission I have back-burnered, but not forgotten).

But following closely behind these logical thoughts, come all those neurons firing from the right, and that barrage brings with it the piqued interest, the steady flow of ideas, and that always-simmering creative excitement, roused by these pretty pieces of cotton.

But, while I work out what to do with my beloved quilting hobby, let me fill you in on my Christmas Delivery to Robert's brother Frankie. I think he was delighted with his Christmas gift!

It was a lot of fun presenting Frankie with his quilt. He was pleased. I was pleased. It is such a great joy to hand over one of these made-with-love items. Perhaps the decision about what to do with my hobby isn't such a tricky one after all!

A Quilt Class

Penny, owner of the local patchwork and quilting shop here in Dundas, has asked me to facilitate a workshop this Saturday! I am so excited about this opportunity. I will be working with this colourful mix of batiks and Kaffe prints.
I am going to use this blog post as my tutorial page, so if you are not interested in a patchwork project "how-to's", then sign off for now.

In Australia, the patchwork shop where I have worked hosts a "Saturday Strip Club" (*!*). I have seen a particular quilt being whipped up by many-a-student during these classes. (In spite of Internet research, I am unable to cite the author, but it is not my own design.)
The following instructions are my explanation for a quick and easy version of this 2 1/2" strip quilt. I have named this version "ARE WE THERE YET?" -you will understand the significance of this name once you begin to sew...

ARE WE THERE YET?
Finished size, before borders, 49" x 64"

WHAT YOU NEED...
40, pre cut 2 1/2" strips. (Penny has some beautiful kits waiting for you!)
1 metre of border fabric ( optional)
60 cm of binding fabric
Cotton thread
Straight Edge
Pen or Pencil
Fabric Scissors
1/4" patchwork foot for your sewing machine
Rotary Cutter and Mat
Sewing Pins

INSTRUCTIONS...
1. Set aside ONE* of your 2 1/2" strips.
2. With the remaining 39 strips, join them with a 45 degree seam as follows:
Place the ends of two strips, RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER, at a 90 degree angle to each other.
With a pen, pencil or fabric marker, and using a straight edge, draw a diagonal line to mark your 45 degree seam line.

Tip: Fold your fabric back to ensure you have drawn your diagonal in the correct direction

Secure with pins and carefully sew along this seam line.

Repeat this for each of the 39 strips in your kit. Be careful to keep right sides together, and to avoid twisting your strips as go.
(I sew one seam at a time, trim and cut my thread, and I find this helps to keep the eventual long line of strips from twisting.)

3. Take your last strip, the ONE* you reserved, and cut it in half at its' midpoint.
Add one of these halves as your final join.
You will end up with a LONG puddle of fabric strips, 1550" in fact!

4. Press your seams and trim your seam allowance back to 1/4".

5. Keeping RIGHT sides together, find the midpoint of your 1550" length of fabric strips. Again, being careful not to get things twisted, you basically fold your length in half. It's long!
Cut your fabric into two lengths, each 775", at this midpoint.

6. Join these two strips, with a 1/4" seam. ("Are we there yet?") :)

7. You now have a 775" long x 4.5" wide strip of fabric. The rest of the process involves cutting these long strips in half and rejoining the halves by sewing along these long sides. As your strip lengths shorten, your quilt width increases.
- cut the 775" x 4 1/2" strip in half at the midpoint. Join these two halves with a 1/4" seam along the long length.
- cut the 387" x 8 1/2" strip in half at the midpoint. Join these two halves with a 1/4" seam along the long length.
- cut the 194" x 16 1/2" strip in half at the midpoint. Join these two halves with a 1/4" seam along the long length.

8. Final Join!
- cut the 96" x 32 1/2" strip in half at the midpoint.
You will have two sets of strips that look like this:

Join these two halves with a 1/4" seam along the long length. Voila! Your quilt top is complete, and looks something like this:

Adding A Border:
A mitred border would be the perfect finish to this quilt.
The mitred corners would suit the 45 degree joins throughout the body of this top.
- cut seven, 4" x 42" (or width of fabric) strips.
-follow Penny's instructions for a mitred seam on the corners.

Another Border Idea:
Since this quilt uses a variety of prints, choose four fabrics that you have used in your top and add a different print to each side of your top.

Binding Strips:
- cut seven 2 1/2" x 42" strips. Join strips with a 45 degree seam.

After The Snowfall...

...there was a thaw, and a couple of days of rain even :(
Now the thermometer has dipped past freezing again and our winter wonderland is quite beautiful in an altogether different way.
These are the conditions however which make the going icy and difficult. Our area has some power outages, and some treacherous road conditions. It's a great day to stay indoors!

Winter Wonderland

"these wonderful things
are the things
we remember all through all our lives"...

We have arrived to a real winter wonderland here in Ontario, Canada. The temps are well below freezing, and we have been treated to fresh blankets of snow, snowflakes falling thick and fast, frost on the windowpanes...such a beautiful welcome! Leah's Callum, and family friend Steven are both with us and this is their first visit to Canada. We are excited that they can experience Christmas in this setting, it is indeed a wintry fairyland.

Straight from the airport we arrived at my sister's home for a dinner feast and the sweet fellowship of family - our Robbie, my sisters, our nieces, nephews, and their precious kiddies and hubbies! It was a happy reunion. I promise to post about this next.

Of course, it wouldn't be Christmas without a gorgeous fir tree laden with lights and trinkets, and so the gang set out to cut down the perfect tree. I am sure my kids were grateful for their newly-purchased boots as they trudged through the woods. Apparently there was the obligatory pelting of one another with snowballs. A good time was had by all!

Here is the tree-cutting clan, the Birdie/Mack cousins, and Robert was not about to miss out on the adventure:

A happy daddy with his kids

Cousins, Lindsay and Gillian

Annie with Gill. (if you look beyond those beautiful smiles and gorgeous conifers, you can see the old grey barn in the background. It all makes for a great photo).

Here they are dragging the tree back to the car. Bekah (orange jacket) did a great job with the knot-tying to secure the tree to the roof of the van.

But cutting down the tree is only half the fun! Now comes the fun and occasional drama of "putting it up". Bekah and Leah did a great job wrestling this big spruce into submission! I believe it nearly toppled on 3 occasions, but the girls perseverance, and Johny-to-the-rescue, a new hole/screw in the ceiling, a few squeals and screams, and lots of laughter later, we now have a stunning Christmas tree standing tall and straight, glitzing up the room and smelling delicious! Ahhhhh, Christmas!

This photo was taken during one of the attempts to right the falling tree! I wish I had taken more photos to show you the ladders and other bits and pieces employed to accomplish this job.

But how about this for a significant end result?!

Such a pretty expression of what is happening in this "happening household" this Christmas season. For it takes work and co-operation and intentional good cheer to make happy family memories and enjoy the traditions that this season is steeped in. I for one, am loving every minute!