Raindrops keep falling on my head...

Well at least there was a car roof between me and the raindrops as we were driving along the other day.    Hubs and I were heading off as the rain was coming down in sheets.    We seem to go for such a long time without any rain then it starts and does not know when to stop.

As the Dorothea Mackellar poem goes Australia is certainly" a land of droughts and flooding rains".

The sun has made a return this afternoon so hopefully the racks of wet washing will dry.   There are just some items of clothing that you cannot put in a clothes dryer.     Ask me how I know!     I had a very expensive lesson many years ago and somethings you do not forget.

Sadly not much progress has been made on sewing my strips together due to other pressing matters.

Back soon and in the meantime happy sewing.

Cutting, cutting, cutting

Well the rain did arrive and so I headed to my sewing room to start on my next quilt project.     A new blade was definitely needed so after a quick service on my cutting ruler off I went.  I like to use two rulers when cutting.  I line up the fabric against the lines on the cutting mat and then place the metal bar with the cutting blade  the desired width then with my second ruler I check that I have the fabric and blade line up straight.   Once I am happy  I then remove the second ruler and run the blade over the fabric.       I find this gives me an accurate measurement and the fabric does not slip whilst I am cutting.   To me this so much easier than using a rotary cutter when cutting many strips of fabric.

After a couple of hours I have produced many 2" x 6" strips

And another pile of smaller scraps which are destined for another scrap quilt.

And still the rain falls but we did have a little ray of sunshine yesterday which produced a small rainbow - it is in the middle of the photo - which appeared to be  in the street behind us.    Sadly the pot of gold was not in our backyard.

Back to my strip cutting and I hope to make a start on sewing them together.

In the meantime happy sewing.

A step back in time

It was one of those lovely crisp clear winter days yesterday so hubs and I decided to play tourist in our city and caught the ferry from Manly to Circular Quay.  

My  favourite part of the city is around the Rocks area and I love to meander around the laneways and see what I can find.

Original brickwork which looks like it belongs to a fireplace or oven.

A mural on one of the walls leading into another lane

All of the old buildings have been restored and many turned into eateries and shops.

The photo below is of Cadmans cottage which is the oldest surviving residential building in Sydney.  It was built in 1816  .

And a red phone box is something that I have not seen for more years than I care to remember.    When I was growing up they were a very common sight on street corners - quite often the phones were broken and you had to walk to the next one to make a phone call.   Everyone now uses a mobile phone hence the demise of the phone box.

  
Tomorrow is supposed to be a wet day so I plan to get in and audition my stash for my next quilt which I had hoped to have had time to do during the week but with such lovely days it is nice to be able to get out and about enjoy them.

Back soon and in the meantime happy sewing.

My first......

Attempt at a cloth book was finished off during the week.    I started with a simple book of basic shapes which can also be used to show colours.   I tried where possible to find fabric which had a picture of the shape that is on each page.    As you can below I was able to use fabric with small squares on it for the square shape and stars for the star shape.

I also rummaged around in my stash of leftover scraps and found some fabric with hearts on it for the heart shape

Fabric with circles  for the circle

I was not so lucky to find a piece with triangles so I just used plain fabric - as I did for a few of the shapes -cut into the shape but a further rummage in the scrap box revealed a piece with most shapes on it.

On the front and back cover I used  simple shapes to make a house, with the sun, tree and a cloud.

Bub loves her books and enjoys turning over the pages which she can do without tearing these pages.  I made a few notes along with way whilst making this pro-type and will make one or two adjustments when doing next one.     The themes for cloth books are endless and the best thing is they can be thrown in the washing machine for a wash when needed.

I have not had time to audition my stash for my next quilt as I have been busy catching up with some very good friends who are visiting from Bribie Island.     We have known each other for just on 38 years and even though we now have a distance of some 800 kms between us our friendship is just as strong.    We have seen each other's children grow up and now they have children of their own.

Today hubs and I also met up with some friends of ours for our "once a month retired couples lunch" but there is always next week to make a start with the stash.

In the meantime happy sewing.  

Winter is still with us...

As we saw today in the mountains just west of Sydney.   Hubs and I ventured to the mountains for the day and saw much evidence that winter is still here.

Many of the trees lining the streets are still without leaves

Chimneys are gently puffing out smoke

Roofs have ice on them

And a dusting of snow on the ground in shady areas at midday

All this cold weather requires one to have a hot drink and a little "sweetie" to help keep the body temperature stable and what better way to do this than to stop off at a coffee shop to refuel.

On the way back to the car I was given hope that maybe Spring is not too far away when I spotted this pretty blossom tree in full bloom.   Roll on warm weather.

And of course no trip to the mountains is complete without a visit to the lovely patchwork shops along the way.     I did not buy any fabric this time as I was on a "inspiration mission" for my next quilt.     Mission accomplished - now all I have to do is "audition"  my stash.

Stay warm and happy sewing.