An Appliqué Day

 We had a lovely time at our appliqué meeting which was based on a Royal theme. The Queen blessed us with a visit and she brought along baby Charlotte and a corgi as well.
It was great fun and the quilts shown were lovely and much better than my photos indicate.
I was stitching my La Passion hexagon top and have almost two thirds of Round 3 done now.
 Hugs, Jan Mac

Home Report

 I couldn't resist sharing some photos of our seven resident kangaroos. We were coming home from taking my Dad out for his weekly coffee when we found them grazing in one of our top paddocks. Luckily they didn't take fright and I had time to get my zoom lens into action.

 I'm sure they have only taken up residence because we don't have a dog at the moment.

I'm working nights again and trying to finish two baby quilts- or at least start them, as they need to be done by next weekend. All the family are coming home for my Dad's 90th birthday so it's a good chance to catch up and hand over the quilts to the newest babies in the family. Then we are off to the Border Track between Sth Australia and Vic for some sand driving and then on to crossing the Simpson Desert again.
Thanks for your comments and for stopping by.
Hugs, Jan Mac

UFO Week.

 In between working nights again I have managed to complete quilting two more donated tops. The first one was very large so I made it into two tops and still have the second one to quilt.
  The second top was made from orphan blocks and finishing up more UFOs means that I'm also using up a lot more fabric for backings. It's good to clear out some of my older fabrics too.
  Yesterday I dropped off 3 crocheted blankets to a youth respite centre and they were very happy to accept them. I'll try to get a few more QAYG quilts finished for them as well when time allows. I can't see a lot of spare space in my fabric tubs yet but will keep trying to downsize and make more room for more fabric. Lol
Hugs, Jan Mac

Another UFO Finish and a New Toy.

 I have almost finished this UFO from about. 7 or 8 years ago. I took a two day class with Diane Johnstone using her stained glass technique. I really enjoyed the method and made two pieces in the two days. Then they languished until I found them and finished them. I only needed to quilt them and chose to stitch them around the appliqué making them quilted at the same time. I have only stitched around each piece once and now need to add a facing or bind the edges. I love pelicans and this is one piece I want to hang in our home.

I also have a new toy- a food dehydrator. We are thinking of tackling the Canning Stock Route which is a desert track in Western Australia and the world's most remote road. Managing fuel, food and water supplies are vital and it can take 3 or 4 weeks to travel. We're not ready yet but I plan on dehydrating food to make it more compact and lighter to carry, as well as providing us with a more varied diet than canned vegetables.
    So far I have dehydrated 3 kilos of vegetables- peas, corn and mixed vegetables and they have come out very well and much cheaper and with more variety than I have been able to buy. Today I started dehydrating 600 grams of mushrooms, 1 kg of mixed vegetables, half a kilo of carrots and half a kilo of green beans. As we have solar power it is not an expensive way to add more variety to our diet when we 4 wd and we are planning a trip to the Simpson Desert in a few weeks time so I want to take the dehydrated food for that trip too.
In the meantime I have some more UFOs to finish.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Fresh mushrooms dehydrating.

Carrot sticks dehydrating.

Quilting Time.

 Monday was my meeting day for my Melbourne quilting group and it was lovely to take some time for hand stitching as well as catching up with friends.
  I handed over four more quilts for Peter Mac hospital (as shown in recent blog post) and also got back into stitching my one inch hexagons in Robyn Pandolph fabric. I need 18 full flowers and have finished 12 so not many to go now. I'm at the stage of making sure I have enough variety in my combinations of fabrics.
   Show and Tell was also inspiring at the meeting and here are just a few of the quilts shared.
I'm enjoying working on one of my quilts but also plan to finish off more of my UFOs this year before I start too many new projects.
Hugs, Jan Mac