The Beautiful Blue Mountains

 We finished our trip with a stop at the beautiful Blue Mountains in NSW. The Three Sisters is a well-known tourist destination and well worth a visit.

 More lovely views across the valley near where the Three Sisters are located. Below you can see Orphan Rock.

 We stayed at the Abercrombie River in another free campsite.

 As payment we pick up rubbish to keep the campsites clean and looked after. We chose to pick up rubbish but it's not a requirement of staying in the free camps.

 We visited Abercrombie Caves which were formed by water flowing over the limestone mountains many, many years ago. They aren't as spectacular as the Jenolan Caves but still worth a look.

 We really enjoyed our time in the Blue Mountains but  were very happy to leave before the terrible bushfires occurred there in the past few days. We could see the smoke from bushfires as we left but it's still hard to believe that there has been so many homes lost there when we haven't even started our summer.

It's good to be home again after our lovely break and now I'm back into working nights again so I plan to sew today while I am still awake.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Active Camping

 We took a trip to Sandy Hollow in NSW (just inland from Newcastle) and met up with other campers who also have an Active Camper. Fifty-nine camper vehicles and mostly there were couples who attended. We met some lovely people with similar interests and the weather was very warm.
 From there we traveled to Newnes in NSW and enjoyed the company of 3 other lovely people we'd met at the camper get together. This is on the road to Newnes.

 Part of the beautiful Blue Mountains.

 Our camp site at Newnes. We were the only campers there and it is just a beautiful place with free camping. There were lots of kangaroos and even wombats.

 We spent a few hours walking around the remnants of an industrial site where they mined shale.

 A view of a coke oven  with the beautiful limestone cliffs behind.

It has been a very fun break and I'll show more very soon. Sorry I've been unable to blog as we had no internet access.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Spring Cleaning

 I'm still spring cleaning and playing with scraps in an attempt to clear out more quilts to donate for Christmas. No sewing was done yesterday as it was a day of getting organized for our next trip to NSW. The night before I did finish off another QAYG quilt to donate and having a pile of the QAYG blocks to work from does make them go together quickly.

Part of my spring cleaning also involves getting some more WIPs finished or at least to the quilting stage so I have also spent more time reverse appliqueing sunflowers to block fabric. I need to make one more if I set them on point but I have some luscious bright pink I want to use for the last block and just one block in that colour will make it stand out too much. I'm also not sure whether or not I want to set them on point as that adds another decision about what fabric to use for the outer triangles. I may make another three blocks and set them 4 by 5 which will allow me to add pink to another couple of blocks so that colours balance.
Decisions, decisions! This quilt is definitely evolving as I work on it. While I was piecing the sunflowers I decided to change the pattern and add a pieced border so I started piecing a border for it and will sash the blocks with a narrow cream sashing and a wider piece for the borders before adding the pieced border on the outside edge. that will leave room for more feather quilting in the border and tone down the bright background fabric of the blocks.

 In between times I also made another paper pieced triangle block. I'm changing that pattern as I go too but this will be a long-term project so no rush on that one. I'm off to see the specialist for my follow-up review following my surgery in March so hopefully all will be well.

I won't be doing any stitching today either but I need to get my bits and pieces of hand stitching ready to take when we are away for a few days. We are keeping an eye out for the first snakes to be emerging from their hibernation and we are enjoying some beautiful spring weather here.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Monday Scrap Progress

 I started off by stitching more half square triangles and I'm getting quite a collection of them in the 2" and 2.5" sizes so that will help me to determine which pattern I will choose for my next scrap busting project. In the meantime I have attached 2 more rows to my Bonnie Hunter quilt- Blue Ridge Beauty. Bonnie's is lovely in blues and beige but I am making mine in a scrappy mix of light and dark fabrics and using 2.5" squares as I have more of them than the 2" squares that Bonnie's pattern uses.

 I also made more blocks and only have 3 more left to make and then will add borders.

While I was tidying up more scraps I made up some QAYG blocks as that bin is now overflowing with batting leftovers. I think I need to put another QAYG quilt together as well to use up more of these blocks and they will make a good quilt to donate for Christmas too.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting on my blog.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Weekend Stitching

 Yesterday was our meeting of my applique group which is always a great way to get inspired with my stitching. The Show and Tell was spectacular as usual and the first exhibition of our work will be held in Castlemaine in March next year. I need to get some of my applique WIPs finished so I have something to share. I took photos of the Show and Tell but had forgotten my camera and used my new phone. Unfortunately it isn't on speaking terms with my computer yet so I haven't been able to share any of the photos. I did manage to hand piece another 6 Bow Tie blocks which has been a very good take along stitching project.

Today I worked on tidying up some more scraps and then focused on reverse appliqueing my sunflower blocks to the background. I have one more block to make and it will be a large quilt if I set them on point as I am planning at the moment. They are going together more quickly than I'd anticipated and I want to keep working on them so I can get onto the machine quilting. I am still hand piecing the borders as well and plan to take those with me when we go away at the end of the week for a week or so.
  Hopefully tomorrow I'll have more progress to share.
I hope you have all had a good stitching weekend as well.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Multi-Tasking

 I've been working on lots of different bits and pieces yesterday and today. There were three tops quilted. The second one was a set of donated half square triangle blocks which I had put together some time ago. It's been good to get more donated tops finished and ready to donate to the needy for Christmas. I'm going to be traveling again soon so I am trying to get as many done as possible which I am hoping will help to tidy my cupboards a bit by emptying them. They aren't looking tidy yet but I live in hope! lol

 I also spent time winding bindings and sorting them into their own bin so I know what I have on hand.

 I made a couple of QAYG blocks to use up some of the scraps I have unearthed and I will make some more very soon.

 I have stitched a lot more triangles  together to make more 2.5" and 2" half square triangle blocks for future projects. They are scrappy and just light and dark so they will be suitable for lots of patterns. I use the small containers that mushrooms came in so that I keep the sizes separate.

 I also couldn't resist paper-piecing some of the scraps into what will be a new project. I need to make about 144 of these long triangle pieces so this will be a long term project when I want to use up odd-shaped scraps.

Tonight I plan to either quilt another baby quilt or make more blocks for my other scrappy WIP.
I hope you are enjoying some stitching time as well.
Hugs, Jan Mac

Getting Scrappy Again

 I have been working nights again so I haven't finished any more quilts but I did manage to find time to cut and sort more scraps into containers. I have sorted them into squares, strips and half square triangles in various sizes.

 As you can see the waste basket was filling with bits and pieces too small to use.

 I had a small container of half square triangle pieces about 2.5" along one end so I started chain piecing them into half square triangles, ignoring the colours and just focusing on tone, matching dark and light triangles. Some of them were large enough to trim to 2.5" squares and some I trimmed back to 2" squares.

 I keep them sorted into small containers that have contained food bought from the supermarket. They are a good size to corral the squares and they are also handy to use when trimming threads. If they start to get worn out of shape then I can easily replace them. When they fill I start stitching them into blocks. I keep making them until I have enough variety in the fabrics.

I've always wanted to make an Ocean Waves quilt and think I may use the 2" half square triangles for this pattern when I have enough to start making blocks. I will probably use them as leader/enders and work my way through the scrap bins.
Linda commented on how many quilts I get finished but a lot of the tops I'm currently quilting have been donated tops and I'm just quilting a meandering pattern across the top. I find that working on small pieces at a time, like the half square triangles, gives me a head start when making blocks.
  Hopefully I'll have caught up on sleep and have more to share tomorrow.
Hugs, Jan Mac