Beautiful Tasmania

The photos don't really do it justice as the scenery in Tasmania is spectacular. You seem to have fantastic views every time you turn a corner in the road. The weather has been very good with only some showers over the past few days. We've seen the rugged west coast, Cradle Mountain, Lake St Clair, Strahan and a boat cruise up the Gordon River, including a trip out to the open sea through Hells Gate. Also a visit to Sarah Island a convict settlement gave us a good insight into the tough times of the 1830s.We've also toured around Bruny Island and a trip up Mount Wellington gave us a fantastic view over Hobart. Tomorrow we plan to tour around the old part of the city of Hobart and we're really enjoying all the history of the little towns we pass through as well as the lovely sights.
  I haven't been able to update the blog as often as I would like as my camera stopped working and the internet was very slow. Hopefully now my camera is working again I can post more often.
 I have crocheted enough squares for half a blanket so far and I work on them every day so I hope to get 1 or 2 finished before we return home.
Thanks for stopping by.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Friday's Mail

 The postman has been very busy again with two more parcels arriving today. Linda Ashworth sent 20 lovely QAYG blocks as well as some pinwheel blocks, all the way from the UK. They will make some lovely quilts to donate and I'll be finishing them off when we return from our travels.
   I also received a lovely pinwheel top from Elizabeth Murray of Qld. She is a friend of Gina's, who is one my blog readers, and she has asked me to finish the top and donate it on her behalf. so I'll quilt it when we return too.
    I have found that I need a bit more rest as too much activity has meant that I'm not recovering as quickly as I was so Ray is making sure that I rest up and I plan on taking it easy while we are away. I doubt that I'll even take my sewing and just work on crocheting more blankets while we are away.
  I hope to show some photos of our travels if we have internet access so there may not be much quilting to share but there should be some photos of the beautiful island of Tasmania. I'm looking forward to catching up with Julie, my travel buddy to Houston, and seeing her beautiful part of the world.
 Thank you all for your generous donations which will help bring comfort to those in need.
  Hugs, Jan Mac

A Week Of Rest

 Thank you all so much for your lovely words of support. I've been very good and have had a week of rest, just sleeping a lot, some reading and some knitting. I found this little baby jumper which just needed the neckband to be finished and then sewn up so that was an easy UFO to complete. DH has been making sure that I don't do too much and I really haven't been well enough to sew or even spend time at the computer, but today I'm starting to feel normal again. I have posted off a box of crocheted blankets to a group which helps the homeless in Melbourne and I have another box packed and ready to post off with quilts and toiletries as there is a Homeless Connect Day being held in Melbourne in mid April.
 The generous donations have continued with two huge parcels of wool being sent by Kathleen Appleton (Vic) as well as more lovely QAYG blocks and binding strips made and donated by Delys Rogers (WA). I also made two more bags from tops and I have found a sweater I knitted Ray in the 1980s and which is so out of fashion now that I am taking it with me to Tasmania to unpick it and re-use the wool for more crocheted blankets. I will still be resting while we are away but I will be crocheting more squares so I stay awake while we are driving. Luckily I can crochet without needing to watch what I am doing too much so I won't get car-sick.
 You have to admit I am providing a service to the community to deconstruct the sweater Lol. I am still waiting for the pathology results but hope to hear good news tomorrow. I am feeling like doing a bit of spring cleaning so I must be feeling better!
Thanks for stopping by and I hope to have more to show very soon.
Hugs, Jan Mac
****Dr just rang to say that he is confident that he removed all the cancer cells and I don't need a check-up for another 5 months.  Many thanks for all the prayers and good wishes.

A Difficult Week

It started off well with a visit to my Melbourne quilting group, AQA, where we were treated to a lovely talk and showing of the Chester Criswell Quilt by Sharon Barnes.
 We returned home that afternoon so I could sleep as I had two night shifts to work. I didn't work the second night as I had surgery yesterday. It was a very long day but I'm thankful that it's over and I'm home again. I had an appointment with a gynaecologist last Thursday as I had an abnormally high reading of abnormal cervical cells on my last Pap smear. He did a cone biopsy and hopes that a hysterectomy won't be necessary as he thinks he was able to remove the pre-cancer cells with the extensive biospy but next week should give the answers.
  I've done nothing but lie down all day as they warned me to rest up for a week as I will feel like I've been "hit by a truck". It's very unusual not to take a stitch of sewing but I'm just not up to it yet. I also want to write and share about Sharon's beautiful antique quilt but I'll wait until I feel up to it. In the meantime don't forget to have your pap smears regularly. I've never had an abnormal reading so it was a bit of a shock for the family but I'm sure all will be well.
 Thanks for stopping by again and I hope to be back to normal very soon but DH has asked me to slow down with the donation quilts and rest up for a while. He took my Dad to the Dr and to do his shopping today, bless him, so I'll have to heed his suggestion too for a while.
Hugs, Jan Mac
 PS The fabric I showed above is one I've been thinking of using as a border for my next applique quilt.

Sunny Sunday

 It's Sunday here and the sun is shining but thankfully the weather is not as hot as it has been and we are finally easing into autumn. I have been stitching on my sunflower blocks when time allows and I need to make some decisions on which colours I need more of for a balanced quilt. I have finished 16 blocks but the last one didn't make it onto the design wall as it's not pressed yet. I have almost finished hand piecing the 17th block and I think I need some more browns to balance the green and purple, as well as another bright yellow or orange. I am pleased with the progress so far and I'm enjoying making it up as I go along.
 I've also been tidying the cave (aka sewing room) and have made some more QAYG blocks from found scraps as well as using some orphan blocks for the backings of the blocks. It's a great way to use up those bits and pieces that are languishing in the sewing room.
 I have decided to go back to moderating the comments as I have found an increasing number of spam comments have been arriving and some are getting through the spam filter. Today I deleted 46 in just a 10 hour time frame which is very annoying. I hope it settles down soon. I haven't required you to go through the bother of typing extra numbers etc to prove you are not a computer lol.
I hope you are all enjoying some sun and time for stitching in your corner of the world.
 Hugs, Jan Mac

Week's End Finishes

 Finally the heat wave has broken for a few days and we had a torrential downpour which has filled our water tanks. Even better, the humidity has abated a bit and I've been busy getting 5 quilts finished. Four of them were donated tops and the other was another QAYG quilt made from donated blocks.
  I also received another lovely parcel of QAYG blocks and knitting wool from Stephanie Driel (WA) which will all soon be made up into more gifts to donate. I've also used some odd moments to make more QAYG blocks as well to use up some of the many scraps I seem to have leftover from other projects.
   Luckily the weather cooled a little so that I could finish off another crocheted blanket to donate and, as we are going to be traveling to Tasmania in two weeks time, I'm trying to get as many quilts finished as possible before we go away. I'll show the finished quilts on my other blog at Oz Comfort Quilts.
 Thanks for stopping by again.
Hugs, Jan Mac