30 Challenges for 30 Days of Growth - Day 3

We are building a fence!  We have removed the old rotting timber pool fence and are replacing it with a new aluminum fence.  Each panel has presented us with different problems and my DH and I have been very resourceful in solving them.  We are halfway there.

30 Challenges for 30 Days of Growth - Day 2

Today I am oven drying some of our abundant Cherry Tomato crop.  I found a recipe and the wee tomatoes have now been in the oven for an hour and a half so they are halfway through the drying process.  We love sundried tomatoes from the supermarket, so when I found this recipe for oven dried cherry tomatoes I just had to try it.  I also have a lovely recipe for Cherry Tomato pickle that I will try when the next batch ripens in a few days.

30 Challenges for 30 Days of Growth - Day 1

I have decided to participate in a 30 Day Challenge that I read about on another blog that actually originated from Marc and Angel Hack Life which has a post 30 Challenges for 30 Days of Growth.  I have chosen 4 challenges for the next 30 days.  The first one being to document everyday with one photograph and one paragraph.  This was to push me back into using my blog, which I have sadly neglected for some months due to work and family commitments closing in on me.  The other challenges I have chosen are to exercise for 30 minutes everyday, get rid of one thing a day for 30 days and to spend 10 minutes at the end of everyday reflecting on what went well.
There are lots of other great challenges that I intend to undertake throughout the year.  So here goes with my first photo and paragraph which is from yesterday, so I know I am already posting this a bit late, but I couldn't get to my computer yesterday.

This photo of a Strangler Fig was taken at Sea Acres Rainforest Centre.  This is one of my favourite places in Port Macquarie and I visit it often.  The Strangler Fig starts it life as a seed dropped by a bird into the top of a tree, the fig then slowly grows downward, "strangling" the host tree.  Yesterday I took my daughter for walk through the rainforest and we were privileged to see some of the native birds sunbathing in pools of sunshine dotted amongst the cool rainforest.

Being Creative Project - September Theme - Autumn

Spring has arrived in Australia with it's usual mix of hot, cold, wet and/or windy weather.  Autumn is usually much kinder with sunny hot days and cool nights - a welcome relief after the humid nights of Summer.  Where I live in Australia there are not many deciduous trees to show off their Autumn finery, but the few trees that do, never disappoint.

My inspiration for this month's  Being Creative Project by Julia Crossland did come from the traditional colours of Autumn - oranges and golds.   I made a leaf bowl from a pattern by Jill Buckley using three layers of fabric; a rich orange upholstery fabric, a layer of cotton wadding and some heavy gold organza.  The three layers were machine embroidered together.  I did have some trouble with some of the points :( but didn't have the time or the inclination to make another bowl when the family wanted to know what it was supposed to be for!

My second project was a tassle.  I am a bit of a tassle fan so this was a great excuse to add another one to my collection, using bits and pieces I have accumulated over the years.

Being Creative Project - August theme Travel

 My post this for this month's Being Creative Project , by Julia Crossland, is a little early, but comes with an .excuse  I haven't had an opportunity, so far,to make anything new for the Travel theme. I had a project in mind but haven't been able to start it because....I will be travelling!  Hubby and I are off to the South Island of New Zealand for 9 days for a bit of skiing, touring and family visiting.
So my contributions come from a Journal Quilt project I set myself some time ago.  It was a quilt block a month and had to have some relevance to the month's happenings.  Interestingly some of the blocks had a travel type theme.

Butterflies travelling through the air, inspired by paper butterflies released from on high at a Coldplay concert.

 My daughter is a student of dance and this is a hand painted version of her travelling through the air.  She is holding a banner which reads "...gravity release me, don't ever hold me down, now my feet won't touch the ground".  Words from a Coldplay song (sorry I do love their music!)

And finally a celebration of our purchase of a caravan, which we are sadly now trying to sell so we can put the kids through University (sigh)

Bottled Rainbows

I have just found a lovely quilt idea on Rachel Hauser's blog Stitched in Color.  I am going to give it a go and have ordered a fat quarter pack of Kona fabrics for the frames from Marmalade Fabrics.  I am really looking forward to sorting out all my scraps and putting them to good use

Fat Quarterly Issue 6

 

I have just downloaded the latest issue of Fat Quarterly e zine.

It's a great on line magazine full of patterns, features on new fabrics and designers.  You can subscribe to the magazine or just receive a free quarterly newsletter.  It's well worth a look.