Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Tuesday tidbits (and tails)





This is the only photo from Christmas Day, thanks to J who was the only one who took a photo, as we were putting the food on the table.


The weather has finally improved.  We have had a couple of days of sun now, but that means increased humidity.  I'm not complaining though as anything is better than 8 days with no sun and too much rain.
It's hard to believe that all that rain has caused such damaging flooding north of here. The area affected by flooding is equivalent to the combined size of France and Germany and in some places it's 9 1/2 metres above normal river height, that's about 30 feet high, imagine if that was a tsunami! Over 200,000 people are affected but it.


We have had only very minor flooding in this area. On Sunday we had lunch that is adjacent to a canal off the Noosa River, in the photos below it is only a little above the normal height and that was only because it was high tide, you can just see the wall under the surface of the water.



We had a very nice lunch, the restaurant had big windows/doors that were wide open so we had a beautiful breeze to help keep the heat and humidity to a minimum.




I've started on another quilt top, this one is for my dad, the pattern is from Elizabeth Hartman's book, The Practical Guide to Patchwork. 


Some of the blocks ready to be trimmed to size. I'm using Martinique again as my mum asked if I could make a quilt for my dad using the same fabric that I used in my mum's coin quilt.
It's not even a remotely masculine line so I've tried to de-feminize it by only using the non-floral prints and omitting the apricot colour way and most of the red colour way. I'm hoping it will not look girly when it's finished.


In more exciting news I have decided to........... drum roll please, ta dah, join a challenge. A first for me.  Judy over at Patchwork Times is hosting a 12 month MONOCHROMATIC CHALLENGE. I think hope this is within the realms of possibility for me. I am going to make a block a month, not a quilt a month, I'm still debating exactly what kind of block I'm going to make. This month's colour is YELLOW.  Surprisingly I had more yellow in my stash than I thought, so I don't even have to buy any extra for it, yay. This leads me to my next challenge, I'm going to try to make each block with the fabric I have in my stash. 
Stay tuned to see if 
a) I can decide on a block
b) make one
c) I don't buy any more fabric for the challenge, (I probably won't admit to that if I do)
d) last the year and make 12



I'm very lucky, I have my very own Protector of Quilts.
He's good, he can protect two at the same time.
 He's doing a marvellous job on the two that are basted, and ready to quilt.


The Quilt Protector taking a break from his duties. It's very tiring protecting quilts.


11 comments:

  1. The challenge you've signed up for sounds interesting. So you are going for the rainbow quilt - one square of each colour? I'll be watching with interest. Will it be the same block just in a different colour? It could look really good I think and the challenge of making it from your stash is a great idea.
    Go for it !
    Cheers
    Helen

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  2. I reckon he could protect at least 4 quilts if they were rolled up right - he has potential :0) ahhhh, what a super cat :0)

    Good luck with your challenge - looking forward to seeing your blocks and seeing it you meet your a, b, c and d.

    I think the colours for your dad's quilt look quite masculine - it didn't strike me as being girly when I saw the pictures.

    I didn't get any photos of our holiday gatherings so well done for at least having one - I was too busy shrieking in the kitchen whilst trying to prevent a lamb joint from falling on my head (don't ask!).

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  3. Your Christmas table is beautiful! Maybe one day I'll have one that looks as nice. What is the red object to the right of the knife?

    Good luck with the monochromatic challenge!

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  4. Helen, I still haven't decided what I'm going to do yet. It will probably be the same block but in a different colour each month. I'm contemplating adding some embroidery to them, but not sure whether that's the way I will go.

    Michelle you CAN NOT mention things like -preventing a lamb joint from falling on my head - and then not expect to me ask "What the????" Oh and great that you didn't think it was girly, that's very pleasing.
    Thea it is a ceramic heart that is actually a Christmas tree decoration, but I used them as a serviette "ring" because i wanted to have as much red as possible on the table and didn't want to buy red serviette rings.

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  5. Wow your christmas table looks fantastic - it makes me wish i had gone to some effort! Glad to hear you are high and dry, the flooding is devastating, sounds like most of Queensland is underwater!

    Good luck with your block challenge - it looks like fun!

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  6. Your Christmas table looks very elegant and very you.

    I like what you're doing with that Martinque and I bet your Dad will too.

    Providing you dont use 5 inch charm blocks...I have complete faith in your ability to kick this challenges arse.

    The Royal Quilt Protector scares me. Is that a trained attack cat?

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  7. Very Christmass-y your table. Love the quilt and that cat is so beautiful. They are certainly very good at quality control where quilts or other soft furnishings are concerned aren't they?

    Jane

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  8. Wow, comparing the size of the flood areas to whole countries really puts it into perspective. I'm glad youre getting better weather now! I like you're new project and your challenge sounds interesting, i'll pop over and check it out. Love those fur baby photos. I'd feel safe with him around!

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  9. thanks for posting the Christmas table pic!! You set a beautiful table.

    So glad you and yours have escaped the major flooding and even better news that the rains are over for now!

    Good luck with your challenge - I'm sure your dad will treasure his quilt!

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  10. Challenge sounds good! I love your quit protectors :-)

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  11. The news people here are likening the flooding to the size of Texas. That's a lot of water!

    Glad to see Bailey is doing his job. What a cutie!

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