Life is Beautiful Giveaway

My life is beautiful.
I am more than blessed.
Visit Oz. Make quilts.
These relieve all distress!

Click on the quilt to link to a giveaway.

Friday Flaunt - Pressies and Hexies

This week I enjoyed nearly two whole days spent with new quilting friends. More about those days later!

But do let me tell you how blessed I am to have met such lovely people while here in Australia. Everyone I've met has been kind and so welcoming. Our conversations about quilting styles and techniques, favorite magazines, how we raise our children, teen proms, houses we live in, grandchildren, and faith, have been just a few of our numerous topics of conversation. It feels just like home!

I have Di, Di, Loz, Wendi and Gail to thank for these thoughtful pressies (presents): a 35-piece jelly roll of Aussie prints, a book of stitchery blocks of Sydney sites, a pin and Christmas stocking kit, a beaded cheetah key chain, and an Aborigine dreamtime handkerchief. Thank you very much for these gifts!

I managed to hand-piece a dozen more hexagons this week while gadding about town. These blocks are all pieced differently than those I've previously made. And thanks to "The English Group" whose sewing day I attended Thursday, I had the opportunity to see two more hexie-pieced WIPs. Great inspiration for me! Pictures of those soon.

Kimberly Stuart, Stretch Marks, and Finders Keepers

One of my favorite authors lives very near me in Des Moines, Iowa.

Kimberly Stuart has written four books. Each one is a treat to read and make me laugh. A particular favorite of mine is Second Act, about a aging New York opera star whose agent finds her a job in Iowa as a college vocal music teacher, and her trials as she lives on a hog farm! A very fun read.

In October, Kimberly asked her readers to accept a "Finders Keepers" challenge for a "GRANDE PRIZE-O-RAMA which includes getting cool stuff in the mail" and lunch on Kimberly. She invited us to give away free copies of her current book, Stretch Marks, and do so in unusual places. You could either choose a place to leave a copy of the book with "Finders Keepers" information attached to the cover, or personally give the book away.

Lucky for me, at the time of the announced contest, I was ready to fly Down Under. Kimberly actually delivered two copies of the book to me at my house! How nice was that!?

So on November 6, carrying the book with me on a ferry from Abbotsford to Sydney's Circular Quay, I came across this Aussie mum and her little boy along the Quay. Not wanting to miss out on the fun of giving away a free book - did I mention I'm an extrovert? - I introduced myself and explained my request. Ariana smilingly agreed to pose with the book. And look! The Sydney Opera House just happened to be in the background! Then again on November 18, I ferried to Circular Quay and walked to the Royal Botaniccal Gardens, and found Aussie mum Tanya with her two week old daughter, Emelia. She also agreed to let me photograph her with Stretch Marks. And gosh, is that the Opera House I see in the background? And the Harbour Bridge too? Oh my! Now who can't believe that the GRANDE PRIZE-O-RAMA and a free lunch are in my future?

A Visit to Prints Charming

On Monday, Jill, Tay and I visited the shop Prints Charming at 2 Young Street, in Annandale (Sydney, Australia). I've been following their blog for some time and just wanted to see it for myself.
With permission, I took a few photos. This may look familiar to those of you who read Quilts and More magazine. Prints Charming is featured in the current, fall issue.
A little eye candy... these are Marcus Bros. and XLX brand fabrics from an older Prints Charming collection.

The starburst print - it makes me think of jacks - is a sort of Prints Charming trademark.

I'm not a pink person, but these do look yummy.

Since these fabrics are available in the US, only a t-shirt came home with me. But it was nice to pay a visit.

Family

Since arriving in Australia on Oct. 23, I've been staying with my family in Sydney (Abbotsford). It has been wonderful to feel somewhat helpful with the new baby, and share in their lives.

Several times, I've walked this young miss to school... ten year-old Celina. Celina proudly wears the new UNI (University of Northern Iowa) Panther t-shirt that Bapa and I gave her.
Last Friday night I babysat while Jill and Maher went to the Nickelback Concert at Acer Arena. Maher accessorized with crutches because he tore the miniscus in his right knee - getting up from the floor after playing with a baby! He's anticipating arthroscopic surgery in the very near future.
While Mum and Dad were away, Tay, Celina and I camped in the livingroom to watch "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."

I've loved every moment of re-learning how to care for a baby as Tay has put all of us through our paces. I've been initiated in various and creative ways, on more than one occasion.

Tay's most heart-breaking expression is what we've come to call "The Lip." When he gives us The Lip we just melt and say, "Awww." Then watch what comes next.The Lip is a precursor to...
A very lusty cry!But all is forgiven and forgotten when he's cuddly, and smiley.

Mangoes!

Fresh fruit is plentiful in Oz, and I've become completely smitten with mangoes. Even at $3.00 AUD (Australian dollars) to $4.00 AUD each, they're worth their weight in gold. I've never seen ones this large, nor this sweet. I've tried them in a smoothie; with caramel swirl vanilla ice cream; and with chicken in a salad. But the best eating is just as they are.

This is a Kensington Pride mango, grown in Queensland, Australia. I propped this one on the sewing machine bed to give you a size perspective.

Jumbo goodness.My son-in-law taught me the proper way to cut and slice a mango: Cut it in half, avoiding the fuzzy pit. Then cross-cut the half on the inside, and turn the cheek inside out to expose the cubes. Cut them off at the base.

A step he neglected to mention is to stand over the kitchen sink to scrape out each skin half with your teeth! You won't want to leave anything behind. And fully expect that mango juice will be dripping down your chin and through your fingers. Yum.

Now... spoon into this bowl of bliss.

Friday Flaunt - Adventure, Fun, and a Bitty Flaunt

Thursday was wonderful!

Thanks to having a fast friend in Di Jobbins, I've been invited to join her at some of her quilting activities. Thursday it was the monthly meeting of the ABC group - "A Bridge Crosser," meaning that every member has to cross a bridge somewhere to get to meetings which rotate through homes of the group's members.

For me, it meant another outing via ferry, and on such a gorgeous day as this, who would mind?

Leaving Abbotsford Wharf, this is a picture toward Abbotsford Cove, the complex where our daughter and family live.

The forty minute ferry ride offers beautiful views of Sydney, ferrying under the Harbour Bridge, with all points in sight of the Opera House.After switching ferries in Circular Quay (Americans, it's pronounced "key"), I continued along the Paramatta River, past the Opera House......taking in the views along the waterfront. Wouldn't you like to live in that house?I disembarked at Double Bay where Di picked me up. A few blocks away is Wendi's house, this charming brick home built in 1920. I've always wanted to go inside a home like this. I've seen so many of them on my walks.

Simply going to the front door was a treat. I love these sidewalks.

Surely a quilter lives here!

Many of these older homes have customized stained glass like these on Wendi's front windows. Inside, socializing commenced in earnest! It looks just like a gathering at my house, with everyone congregated in the kitchen to pick up a coffee, tea, and a slice.
Everyone was thoughtful to bring along not only current WIPs (works in progress), but a few finished quilts, so I could see and admire them.

Here's Wendi with a finished quilt that she domestic machine-quilted herself.

Lynn's little hexies (about 1-1/2") that she's English paper-piecing as part of a larger quilt.

Anne showed us the Wagga-Wagga she's making. A Colorado friend of Anne's is also making one.

Another of Lynn's WIPs.

Robbie brought along a quilt to donate to St. Mark's Stitchin' Mission. It has a cute focus fabric with designs of Hawaiian print shorts and shirts on a black background.

Rae brought along her finished Sarah Evans quilt. She hand-appliqued, hand-pieced, and hand-quilted it! Wow.

Several quilters in the ABCs are making Kerry Dear's "Candied Hexagons" quilt. They're all using the English paper-piecing technique.

Wendi and her Candied Hexagons.Di and her Candied Hexagons.Di's blocks are charming. Here are a couple of my favorites.Time for lunch. We all sat down at the table for Wendi's delicious chicken, a fresh salad, and this healthy dessert. Stone fruits are coming into season here, so everything was especially sweet and yummy. Topped with yoghurt... delicious.This is the group: (back, L-R) Jill, Di, Robbie and our hostess, Wendi.

(Seated, L-R): Gay, Anne, Lynn, Rae, and me.I cannot thank enough Di and Wendi for including me. It was a day I will not soon forget.

As a post-script... my Friday Flaunt is bitty progress on my own Candied Hexagons which I am hand-piecing, but not with English papers.

This week I've pieced about six more star hexagons. I'm definitely having too much fun meeting quilters, instead of doing the quilting!

Nana-Initiated by Bub

The past two days have been quiet. Just hand-piecing and recovering from the weekend of non-stop quilting fun! The weather is absolutely gorgeous. It was a perfect day for a cuppa at a sidewalk bakery in Five Dock. Wouldn't you have liked to join me?And our little Tay is as cute as ever. Today was his six week check-up and he's gone from the 30th percentile at birth, to the 75th percentile. Here he's still smiling in spite of getting two immunizations, one in each thigh... poor baby.Yes, you may feel sorry for him, but just for a moment. Yesterday he gave me the full-on Nana initiation. Yep, that's spit-up. What's a Nana to do but grin... and then go change clothes. I'm glad I'm good for a few laughs.

Meeting Quilters and 'Roo on the Barbie

Saturday was full of delightful activities. I am grateful to Di, who drove me around Sydney to get to the monthly meeting of the Sydney Southern Cross Quilters, or "Squilters" as they call themselves.

The group meets at this restaurant in Waitara, a northern suburb of Sydney.

On the left is the beautiful Di. We first met through the Quilting Down Under (QDU) chat group, and became acquainted during several face-to-face calls via Skype. Now we're meeting regularly at her church, St. Mark's, where she is one of two Stitchin' Mission coordinators.

What a fast and dear friend she has become!

Then, I had the happy opportunity to also meet a mutual friend, Loz, on the right. It's somewhat of a story, but Loz is the friend of one of my Iowa friends, Deb. Note the photo Loz and I are holding between us - that's Deb and Loz. Yes, it's a small world all right! This Squilters group meets to do hand work such as English paper piecing, hand-piecing, and stitchery. Here is Loz with an English paper-pieced quilt she made. Lovely!This is a hand-pieced Periwinkle Star quilt made by Heather. (Click the photo to enlarge it.) I wish I'd taken a picture of sweet Heather who was full of helpful quilting tips and suggestions that she shared with me.

Erica was hand-piecing this one.

Christine was stitching this pin cushion.

What a group! Amongst all the mandatory visiting and project-sharing, and lunch, there was barely time to do any stitching! During show and tell, we saw this lovely, seven-foot long, machine appliqued table runner,

this whole-cloth machine-quilted wall hanging,and this pretty Disappearing Nine Patch, among many others. After such a lovely day, it was difficult to say good-bye to new friends. This parking lot sign warned me, but no worries about me being quiet!
Saturday evening we went to friends for dinner. Remember I mentioned that I wouldn't likely ever try kangaroo? Well, our dinner host had something else in mind.

Yes, that's kangaroo, skewered, marinated, and ready for the barbie.

Hot off the grill......and onto my plate, and into my tummy.

I can't believe I ate the whole skewerfull, but I did! 'Roo has a pleasant flavor, and is a little chewier than other meats. Because kangaroo has little to no fat, I learned that the trick to proper grilling is to not overcook it which would make it tough. I can't say I'll ever intentionally eat kangaroo again, but I'm glad to have had the chance to try it. A unique experience.

As our host pointed out, what other country in the world eats its national emblem?!

Great Tutorial

Like eating my own cooking, I followed my own tutorial to make these dozen bottle cap pin cushion rings. These are little gifties for some of the Oz quilters I've met.

I think it's almost easier to make a dozen at once than to make a couple at a time. It was fun to choose colors to coordinate with the white, green, blue, red, and black bottle caps.

Australia Views

I'm still having a good time scoping out differences and similarities between Oz and the US, most in the written word. Being a writer, I guess I tend to do that.

I can state, fairly assuredly, that Aussies like to shorten their words. For example, a mosquito is a mossie; sunglasses are sunnies; and a breakfast is...

...brekkie! But don't you feel better knowing that Krispy Kreme is spoken in every language?!!

I got a kick out of knowing there's a boot camp just for new moms and their babies.

When I saw this church in Five Dock, I was taken aback.

An awesome God for sure, but not the church.

This is worth a few giggles. No trip to Sydney is complete without one more photo of the Harbour Bridge. Until you've ridden a ferry under it, you can't fully grasp how large it is: three-fourths mile from end to end with eight lanes for traffic - pedestrians, bicycles, cars, trains. And did you know you can pay perfectly good money to wear a jumpsuit and tether to climb across the arch to the top? I'd rather spend my money on fabric and admire the view from the ferry.

More pictures to come.

Friday Flaunt - Stitchin' Mission Stuff

This week I've continued to stitch away at the Noah's Ark pieces. I've finished all ten of the small designs of pairs of animals...

and have begun to stitch the large piece.
I'm also making two quilts for Stitchin' Mission and have completed two quilt tops: the Noah's Ark pattern... and Fishes and Loaves pattern. Both of these are "boy quilts."
Then, using leftover bits of fabrics collected from the newbies who were rotary cutting at the last Stitchin' Mission class, I made some blocks for a New Life quilt. It nearly feels like home to be sewing on Jill's Bernina sewing machine.My friends know how much I enjoy taking scraps and sewing them into these 6-1/2" X 6-1/2" unfinished Ezekiel blocks. It's my frugal German nature hard at work - making something from nothing. I completed four blocks that I'll leave with the Stitchin' Mission coordinators to work into another quilt.

This morning I'm hopping the ferry at Abbotsford wharf to go to Circular Quay and the CBD (central business district) for the "Friday Showcase" of the Quilters' Guild of New South Wales at their Pitt Street offices. I'll meet up with Di, and of course, make some new quilting friends.

Then, on Saturday, I'm going to the monthly sewing day of the Sydney Southern Cross Quilters. Yes, they're letting this American invade their strictly Aussie group! I can't wait to meet face-to-face several quilters with whom I've swapped blog comments and emails for the past six months. What fun!

Each Friday, bloggers who belong to Quilting Down Under chat group post a flaunt of their productivity. Visit Cinzia's blog to find links to all 19 Friday Flaunt-ers.

Australia - Patchwork Shops

Jill, Tay and I had the car today so we visited two patchwork shops. This one, Patchwork Products, is in the garage of the owner's home in Rydalmere.
Australia's fabric prices are more dear than in the US, but if you can catch a sale, as we did, you can find some good deals. Here's Jill buying fabrics for her Kidillow business. And no, she isn't pregnant as she appears in this photo. She has Tay slung across her chest in a black "Bubzilla," the same color as the tank top she's wearing.

This was my favorite stop on Wednesday. The woman who waited on us thought Jill and I were sisters!

I'm not sure why November is a sale month, but we sure lucked out here and at the Craft Depot in Pennant Hills.

You never know when inspiration for a quilt will hit you. For me, it was two mornings ago. While I was walking through the neighborhood, I was taken aback by the gorgeous colors of an intertwined tree and bush. (Click the photo to enlarge.) I recognize the purple as jacaranda. And though the deep rose-colored one is a mystery, together, they're simply stunning!

I loved the colors so much that I decided on the spot they would be the colors for my next quilt. So, at the Craft Depot, when I came across this piece I had to purchase the 2.1 metres remaining on the bolt. It's called "So Sweet Pea" by Freedom Fabrics of London, England. Aren't the colors just about perfect?

This fabric will become the featured fabric and inspiration for the additional prints I'll use to make a Joseph's Coat quilt. I've joined Kellie's Don'tLookNow quilt-along. Her quilt-along began November 1, and I have a few supplies to get! It isn't too late for you to participate too.

Cheers!

Melbourne Cup Day

On Tuesday, nearly all of Australia stopped for the Emirates Melbourne Cup horse race that ran in Melbourne. Much like our Kentucky Derby, it's a day of celebration with women sporting finery and hats.

Here in Sydney our temperature rose to a whopping 95 degrees (35 degrees Celsius), with strong winds. It felt like standing in front of a furnace register. Hot!

Jill, Tay and I walked to the Sydney Rowing Club for an afternoon with friends. The Club had air con (Americans, that's air-conditioning), but it couldn't keep up because the place was so full. We bought racing chances from a field of 23 horses (and didn't win, though our friends did), and joined in the cheering for our favorite horse. While Jill and Leanne enjoyed these,

I watched one of my favorite singers on TV. Do you recognize her? Olivia Newton-John is looking absolutely gorgeous at the age of 61. Amazing.

She sang "Magic" and...the Australian National Anthem, and did so beautifully. She hasn't lost her looks or her voice.
Tay was pretty much oblivious to the goin's on, though we attempted to get him to cheer for one of the horses listed on the Cup racing sheet. What a cutie. I swear I can see his growth since I arrived.
He's a pretty happy baby. This is exactly how I'm feeling about being in Oz. Joyful.