2016 Where did it go?

That is a very good question, where did the second half of 2016 go? I have had a few draft blog posts ready to go, waiting for some photos. Sat down today, added them, typed words to suit and hey presto, a wrong keystroke and they all disappeared. Tried to salvage it all, no good. So here we start again.

This photo is of the wharf at Euchuca, where we went for an early morning paddle steamer ride on the Murray River enroute to Ballarat in July. If you get the chance, do it. So noisy but peaceful cruising down the historic river.

 

The above photo was taken on a time out trip to Dalby with our youngest daughter. A freezing cold day in July saw us venture up the Bunya Mountains, in our parts ( on top of the world) Mind you , this was after I had travelled to Ballarat for my Working in a Series Class with Lisa Call.

 

This was my $15x15cm x 15cm piece that I donated for the MINDA auction. I was most impressed that Lisa Walton (one of my quilting heroes) bought this piece.

 

I have since continued working in a series, made up to 15 larger ones so far. This photo below is one  in progress.

Here are 3 from my series on display at the Bundaberg Quilter's Exhibition in August.

 

I was invited to make a piece of artwork for the Mundubbera Hospital Auxiliary Fine Art Auction. My mother had a slight accident with their car in their driveway and ended up spending a few nights there in late July, so I donated a "Mundubbera Landscape"

 

I personally think the buyer got a bargain, so I hope they like it as much as I do. It is a citrus landscape. Mundubbera is well known for it's citrus orchards and as one of them was my childhood home, I could not do something else.

 After a few dry months, Christmas was nearly upon us. We were drought declared, our plans for all of us to stay at the beach were looking dimmer. I had to work 5 shifts ending Wednesday 28th, and the weekend before Christmas we had Santa visit. This was a special Santa for the local pony clubbers, and our grandchildren were unaware a certain family member was "missing" whilst Santa was there. This is the only grandchild who sat still long enough for a photo. All of the others "took off" when he gave them their present. There was a reasonable amount of rain that evening as well which took some pressure off for Christmas, allowing a beach visit as planned so I could go to work from there.

On the house side of things, the top coat of paint in the dining area is still 11/12 unfinished.
I purchased this small side table in November. Sitting on top is the 15th quilt in my series awaiting quilting. On top of the quilt is my 3D piece I made for Quilting Arts at the Quilter's Rest. I have joined this small group so we shall see what I end up sewing in 2017.

I will try to be a better blogger, house painter, quilter, scientist, farm accounts manager, in 2017. My camera is playing up so may need a new one. We now have NBN with heaps more data allowance so soon I really will have no further excuses. Take care, seen too many tragedies of late. Catch you in 2017.

Finally, a free weekend to Prepare for Fibre Arts Australia.

I found this post saved to Drafts :  The last 8 weeks seem to have passed in a blur. I visited Amby for the Springhill Craft Retreat Open Day, met some new family relations out there that we didn't even know about. Recognised Anzac Day at their service, then drove off to Longreach via Charleville to see some parts of Australia we had never seen before. Sure was dry, very heartbreaking to see, but now some of them have had some good rain. Hopefully the gaps are filling in now. Called into Taroom, for a family wedding. It was a wonderful day for a wedding. A good time was had by all who attended. One of our family members managed to get lost on the way home and saw more parts of Cracow than he cares to remember. Since then I have been busy catching up with work as I had to swap shifts so I could go away.

I have also been still busy planning my Working in A Series workshop in July. I have been continuing on with my Tracks Series. Still not sure if I am on the( pardon the pun), right track with my ideas of  a series for art quilts.





This is the third one that I have made for my abstract vineyard. It is amazing what seeing a photo can do for your appreciation of the colours. Maybe I need to make another, I have parallel rows that are found in a vineyard but now I realise that maybe this is more a lavender farm. I need more greenery above the grapes too!

I will return with a more comprehensive update of our trip to Ballarat and the workshop  in the next few days. I have had to wait as the paid job took precedence. Back soon.

February Here at Last!

Every year I hang out for February to arrive. It is the last month of summer. I have always believed it is easier to keep warm, than cool down without air conditioners everywhere. The Australian Tennis Open finishes, the TV viewing may get better after the Christmas/New Year break, I may get a chance to not have to watch the cricket which seemed to dominate 2 free to air channels this summer. Our TV reception after the lightning bolt is still not what it used to be, making viewing a bit of a challenge. It is also birthday month in our house for both of us. We try to do something to recognise those special days. Even if it is just a day trip away together to somewhere we have not visited before.

  I have been busy trying to sew in the heat and humidity. I have now finished 2 strip pieced wall hangings. I used golds to dark orange colours in this one. This is both  of them hanging on my impromptu design wall.

This is the beginning of a beach inspired one. I have 2 more strips of aqua colour, then a series of gold strips cut ready  to stitch. I have used a different grey batik as the background for this one. I managed to source some more of my original grey fabric from Gympie in our travels last week. Not sure which grey I like best.

 A while ago, I added to the kickstarter funded Sondra Millard's book "Having a Meltdown" about Ice Dyeing. I think I'll have to wait awhile though before trying it here. Still a bit too hot I think for success. Maybe I might bring home a few of the sytrofoam boxes our reagents come in, at work, to use as cold incubators.

I also collected  this gadget up from the Post Office today, to ensure some ice, but seriously I think it is far too hot and humidity too high for much success yet. I have to find a few more supplies before I get started. The paid work is beckoning, so will have my enthusiasm curbed for a while.
We have managed to score some rain with some decent falls without deluges causing problems. Happy to see that many parts of Queensland have also had some rain and a mood of optimism may prevail.

January Journal Notes

 In a previous blog post I mentioned our roofing iron. I had Dr Dirk Spennemann from Charles Sturt University contact me about our Redcliffe Crown Trademark. He was doing research into the use and whereabouts of the type of Redcliffe Crown Trademarks. He has established that the sale of it started in Australia in 1875 and was discontinued during World War 1. He has published his findings at this link https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287533307 if you are interested in reading it. Ivanhoe is included as one of only a few houses known to have it still in use. Has helped me establish that this house is close to 100 years old. I wonder if we can get the exterior and the top surface of the roof painted soon so hopefully though I'll never know, it can stand for another hundred, hopefully there is never another close lightning bolt again.

I did some sewing for Christmas for the Grandkids, the girls scored a few tops and nappy covers, Parker a few pairs of bright PJ's and Levi a crocodile. Charlee scored Marli the monkey, I managed a photo of Marli after she was unwrapped on Christmas morning. I'll have to get one of the Croc. he looks more like an armadillo to me.

 This was Christmas afternoon after the toys were put together and successfully being used.
I headed back to work for lates/nights on Boxing Day. My advice is if you must need to visit DEM don't do it on Boxing Day evening/night. The place is always super busy. Whether that is from no GP's open or people delaying seeking medical advice until Christmas is over, but I was really busy. I was pleased to get home a day before New Year's Eve, we were mustering, branding and weaning, and I arrived  home for the last day of mustering, so had a bit of peace and quiet for New Year.

I know I have shown this quilt top before, but I have finished a few more using the similar batiks. I will be thinking about quilting these very soon.

 This is finished also, ready for quilting. A friend said " it reminds her of an ocean" wouldn't I love to be living closer to one now in this January heat. It is a bit of a struggle to keep sewing in the middle of the day when it is so hot, and night time brings the insects that crawl through cracks. However I have managed to finish the next two UFO's as well.

Work in progress for this one. The foundation I used here is actually a pattern drafting fabric from Spotlight. Mind you I learnt that it doesn't like an iron. Shrivelled up in an instant. So glad I finger pressed the piece instead of ironing it each seam.

 It is still waiting for a small diamond to be appliqued in the wave bulge in the middle. I really like this technique and the colour grey I used for each alternate strip.

 I finally got around to working out the top and bottom border for my Inner City UFO. I started this 2 years ago on my first block of late/night shifts in Jan 2014 after we changed our work roster. So I thought it was time it got finished. I am still hand stitching the hexagons onto the bottom border. So quilting again will definitely be on my agenda.
First though, there is the BAS and paperwork for that. The annual PIC reconciliations for EU accreditation has been underway. We are in the process of getting warranty NLIS eartags to replace the hundreds that have fallen out of the breeder ears. Apparently the company has discovered that the original tags they manufactured since 2004- 2012/13 have about a 40% failure rate after 4-5 years and gets worse after that. That explains why most of  our old breeders are now tagless. The PIC reconciliation has been getting harder each year.

We also have been inserting a property management tag in the weaners since 2014. I really wish we had at least this number every year. 
Had some good rain, but Queensland needs a lot more. Hope you have been under some of it. it was good to see some areas had some decent falls but sadly some missed out. It was very heartening to see the Burrumbuttock Hay Run last week. I am off to Amby again in April, and am thinking of doing something like that but quilty wise as I want to extend my trip up to visit Tambo/Longreach at the same time. Will let you know if I can organise something as I may need some assistance, so watch this space.