crunchy apples

and other yummy fruit grow just round the corner. And to think that I didn't discover this orchard shop until today, despite the signs being there for 25 years. Even better a lot of the fruit is taken off the grading line before it is waxed and polished. The Couper orchard, pioneers in reducing insect spraying is a long 3km down Bryson's Road, you can't miss the empty dam on the left (only empty for cleaning, there are other dams 1/2 full). The shop is open on Friday and Saturday Sept to April from 9 to 6. Lots of old orchard equipment and a tractor to climb on too. Mrs Couper is a delight, she sells her jams and jellies (although the quince is almost all gone) and is a mine of information. I can recommend the $3 Kg Sundowner apples and the freshly picked cherries.

garden patchwork

Paling fences are extremely ugly and cut long views through neighbouring gardens. But they do block out distracting things like cars. Here is my alternative. Made of leftover steel mesh and some of my abundant supply of bark, these weavings hang in the Melaleuca that grew too big to do their screening job properly.

Happy Christmas!

shady art

Even though it is now raining (at last) the shade cloth I stretched over the fernery will be useful when inevitably the sun beats down again. The whole view of this part of the garden is changed, and looking skyward tree branches play with their shadows.

Hidden Wells

Five quilts were finished or well on the way and shown off at the December get together. Pick your favourite.

Kia Orana

Yeah, booking for post NZ Symposium is confirmed on the western beach of Rarotonga. Check out my home base for a short stay in the Cook Islands. This can only say relax, relax, relax - then off to see tivaevae studio.

SCQCBD Challenge

Ages ago I put my hand up to make a challenge quilt with other members of Southern Cross Quilters who meet in the CBD of Melbourne once a month. It is due 2nd week in December and until yesterday all I had was a selection of fabrics.
But now I have the quilt! On paper at least so should be a doddle to get it finished in a week or so. The design is Hidden Wells, a quilt pattern that reveals itself when strip pieced triangles are artfully arranged.
First I have scanned my fabrics, then chose strip widths from the images and pasted these into a new image. Because selecting and rotating the triangles from the strip images was much to much brain work in the middle of the night I printed out multiple copies of the strip blocks, cut them into triangles, twirlled them around and stuck them down. Looked brilliant.
Tonights effort has been to scan the cut and paste and multiply the images into a quilt 5 blocks by 5 blocks.

Too easy.
Here are the original strips in case you cannot identify them.

One Step

If you are over Moonee Ponds way before the 12th of November, you can see my quilt"waft in the flow" hanging in VicQuilters One Step Further, contemporary quilt exhibition. I just love the fact that the exhibition is in an incinerator, allbeit a very special one designed by Walter Burley Griffin.
The quilt will then move to my office to cover a very bland wall.
This is not really the finished quilt, just a design idea.

venetians

The blind man came to day so I felt compelled to rearrange furniture and clean windows. Strangely he is Hungarian but called Shane, parents must have been fans. End result is fantastic. Lots of horizontal lines, matching the outdoor decks and making lovely patterns inside.

backstitch

Set this blog up at the beginning of the year. About time I did something as it is in the same state as much of my other work. Good idea, but no substance.