Monday, January 28, 2013

Au revoir

Crying a few tears now as my best mate, buddy, pal, Shay, is finally on her way back home, despite that I may have tried to kidnap keep her here. Firstly, forgetting to look at the ingredient list on a curry paste that was added to a stir fry. We had both taken a mouthful before we looked at each other and let out a swear word or two and then ran to the refrigerator to check the ingredients.  A long stay in hospital so that I could visit her was averted, and so was any possibility of trying to kill her.  Secondly, the weather gods attempt at trying to keep her here almost worked.  We had THE MOST ATROCIOUS weather,  the last couple of days, horrendous winds and lots of rain. Fortunately we were spared the worst of it unlike a lot of people who have had to experience flooding again, only two years after the worst floods in many years. My sister and a friend are still without power after more than 24 hours, with the possibility of not having power back on until Wednesday morning.   Shay had to change her flight that flew out of Brisbane, as Brisbane airport was closed, and anyway, we hadn't been able to drive down to Brisbane from the Sunshine Coast as the weather was bad, roads were flooded and we were experiencing cyclonic winds. It meant that she had to stay an extra morning, woo hoo, but it still went too fast.

During the first part of the Tour de Shay, we took lots of photos, the second part, not so much.  Believe me, it's better if you don't have too much photographic evidence.

AND the best news,

I didn't get arrested.

WHile Shay was here we spent quite a bit of time sewing and chilling out. It's so nice to be able to sew with a buddy. I finished the binding on the Triangles quilt, and it;s now my second finish for 2013. It's still called the Triangles quilt because I can't come up with a better name right now. The plan was to hang this in the entrance but when I hung it there it looked horrible, the proportions were all wrong.  After a bit of a discussion with my go to quilt hanger upperer buddy, we decided to hang it in the dining room.
 It looks much better and happier hanging above the sideboard. I really love this quilt. It was quick to make and a great way to practice sewing triangles. I'ms definitely going to make another bigger quilt using triangles.

I used a charm pack of Lucy's Crab Shack for the triangles, the background is a grass green stripe by American Jane and the binding is a plaid from Lucy's Crab Shack line.
For the backing I used a Denise Schmidt dot print that I bought at Spotlight and some left over strips of the American Jane background. I quilted it in straight line quilting, 1 inch apart using a quilting guide that came with my Janome. The first line I quilted was marked out using a Hera marker, then I just used the quilting guide to follow 1 inch away from the previous line. I checked periodically to make sure I didn't stray too much. If I did, I adjusted the next line by either quilting closer or  further than an inch at the start of the line but tried to make sure the centre of the line was roughly an inch. It worked out really well, even I can't tell where I had to adjust the width of the quilting lines.

Starflowers has been growing too. I'v nearly finished phase one, all the whole flowers that I need and have 5 half flowers left to do. There has been a big change of plans and heart on this one, mainly because I value my questionable sanity too much.  All will be revealed, soon.......... eventually................when I know what I'm doing.
Untitled
This photo was taken way back in November 2011, it's been a slow but quite satisfying project to work on.


In other news at Chez Sunshine, I had to have some palms removed as they were too close to the fence line, pushing against a wall and paving and were not planted correctly so that a lot of the root system was above ground. The photos aren't great because they were taken at 7.30am facing east into the rising sun.





The guys who removed the palms were amazing, so quick, and did a great job of cleaning up after themselves.  The palms were removed just in time, as they would most likely have blown over in the wild weather this weekend.


16 comments:

  1. After all the crazy weather you get in Qld I'm surprised you didn't get on the plane with Shay and fly to Adelaide with her. I love your triangle quilt, it's really wonderful and is much better in the loungeroom where you can see it. You know how much I love your star flowers so I'm looking forward to seeing your plans for them. Lucky the palms came out before the storms!!

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  2. Love the triangle quilt! I intend to do one of these...one day! What about calling it "Thinking outside the Triangle"? And you also know how much I love those star flowers too! Take care in this crazy weather - (Rachael and I were just talking about you!)

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  3. I'm just so relieved at the lack of arrests!

    It's such a shame about the weather, but that probably kept you indoors out if mischief, so maybe it was best xx

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  4. watching the terrible weather on the news - stay safe :) glad you had such a good time together - and the photo of your triangles over the mantle with the flowers - out of a magazine, surely|?? gorgeous

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  5. Well glad you got a few extra hours, but I want to know what on earth was in that curry paste then?!! Love the triangles quilt. Looks brilliant hanging there so you obviously picked the right place for it.

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  6. Hope you're surviving the crazy weather.

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  7. What a fun time you have had. Love the triangle quilt....might go on my wish list! Hope you are still safe in this rotten weather!

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  8. I love the little blue bag the tree men are holding, is that for the leaves or in case the man falls ;-). Glad you a cracking time with you BF and I love love love that wall hanging.

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  9. Aww, sorry the play date is all over :o( You need to work more on your aprehension skills for next time ;o)

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  10. So sorry Shay had to leave; but I'm glad y'all had a wonderful time while she was there. The triangle quilt is very nice and looks perfect over the mantle. What will you put in the entry way now? Sounds like you got the palms out just in time. Hope the bad weather goes away and you stay safe.

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  11. Glad you and Shay had a good time without getting arrested and with no hospital visits.

    Your Triangle Quit is quite vibrant and looks great where you've got it hung. Congrats on finish number two!

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  12. love those triangles.....sounds like you had a ball with your pal

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  13. The visit sounds great, will you be going to her house next? You live in such a beautiful spot, even if the palms are now gone. Also I love the triangles quilt.

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  14. Glad you both had a great time - no chance of anything else really!

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  15. I bet you are really sad that Mrs. P is gone. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall, I bet I would have had some good chuckles!

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