Red Round-Up

As the end of January approaches it is time to see how the Rainbow Scrap Challenge went for this month.

Red is not a colour I use a lot, so I didn't have a lot of red scraps:

Five hearts is actually more than I thought I might manage. The Quiltville mystery Rhododendron Trail that I have been working on resulted in a few dark red off-cuts that made their way into hearts.

I have passed the half-way mark in assembling it, and it is too big to hang straight on my design board. Once it is all together I will take it outside and get a photo that shows the colours better.

Speaking of outside, I just noticed the first flowers open on one of the crepe myrtles:

And a couple of red leaves anticipating autumn.

Linking this post to ScrapHappy Saturday, where you can see lots of amazing red blocks for this month.

Next month's colour will be aqua/teal. I have a lot more fabric in those colours, but it will be interesting to see how much is in the scrap collection.

A Bit of Rain

 24mm in 30 minutes!

The garden really needed it.

This was 1:40pm despite how dark it looks.

Later in the day we went out for a walk and everything looked fresh and green and the air smelt fantastic!

Not Going Anywhere

Although we don't have an official lockdown, I have been acting as if we have. Other than visiting my mother in her nursing home, I've been staying home. There has been so much Omicron virus around, it has felt too risky to mix with other people. How could I forgive myself if I picked it up and passed it on to my mother?

This article from a week ago shows I'm not the only one staying home: There's no Victorian COVID-19 lockdown, but Melburnians are choosing to stay home anyway

On top of that it is march fly season, which has kept me inside to avoid those biting menaces. And every day for the last week has been hot. I was feeling a bit stir-crazy, so this morning after visiting Mum I went for a walk somewhere I could avoid people and flies, and where the heat would not be too intense. 

Somewhere I could see some baby swans! And lots of other water birds.

I didn't go for a paddle:

Or a swim:

But the breeze off the water of Lake Wendouree was refreshing, there were hardly any people, and there were no biting flies! It was lovely.

I have been slowly continuing to work on the mystery quilt, and now have the first three (diagonal) rows together:

The photo is probably a bit confusing - ignore the blocks at the bottom and right. I have them pinned up in a particular order for the next rows. The actual sewn-together blocks are inside the "V" of dark red squares. But even that is a bit strange as its corners are hanging down because the whole piece is wider than my available design wall. At least this gives a little bit of an idea of how the main part of the quilt will look when it is all together!

Next Step

I've now made all the parts for the the body of Rhododendron Trail, so I pinned up as much as possible to get a look at it:

This is without the sashing. My final quilt will have a grid of 4x4 of the pink blocks that you can see 3x3 of here, but I ran out of space on my pinboard/design wall. 

After I had taken them all down again I thought I really should see how it will look with the sashing. So here's a few blocks pinned back up on the aqua fabric:

I haven't totally decided if that is better or not!

I tried posting this to instagram, but I am currently blocked from using it. I knew I couldn't like or comment on other people's posts, but it turns out I am not allowed to post my own content either. That's the second time this year I have been blocked, each time for 7 days. The reason given for blocking me makes no sense. Has anyone else been blocked by instagram for liking too many posts? How many is too many, one wonders? I liked less than 5 between my first and second blocks!

The Garden in January

Summer has not been particularly hot or dry so far this year, and as a result the garden is looking a bit more lush than normal for this time of year.

First here's a couple of critters we saw while out walking the dogs this morning:

 Later in the afternoon I wandered round the garden and took the rest of these photos. 

Waterlily:

Christmas lilies:

Daylilies:

Gladioli:

There are heaps of gladdies in lots of different colours, although they are a bit past their best now. Unfortunately we never really saw them at their best, as a couple of summer storms flattened them just as they were getting there. 

Here's a couple of things rescued from my parent's unit.

Fuchsia not quite in focus. The original plant was in their garden in the city. They took some cuttings when they moved into the retirement village. The fuchsia grew there outside one of the bedroom windows. When I was working on emptying the unit I intended taking a cutting myself, but one day I arrived and discovered that the whole thing had been ripped out! Fortunately there were a few twigs left lying on the ground, and from those salvaged twigs I now have several pots of flowering fuchsias.

This succulent was growing in the back yard of the unit:

I grabbed some bits because I knew it had nice flowers. But when I asked Mum about it later, she said she thought it had been in the unit garden when they moved in, not something they had planted. Oh well, I have a few pots of it now too.

Roses:

In the background you can see some red hot pokers, and if you know where to look, some of the gladdies of various colours.

Kangaroo paw - with gladdies in the background:

An aloe (one of several in bloom) and in the background another flowering succulent (Crassula tetragona) which is very attractive to butterflies:

 

This is Mimetes culcullatus:

 An eremophila:

The first of the dahlias:

Penstemon and salvias:

Cistus:

First cosmos flower:

Another first:

Three strelitzia plants were originally planted in our "Gondwana" bed, but they were not at all happy there. Last year they were dug up and put in pots, and moved to the outdoor living area where they are protected from frost. And one of them has rewarded us with a flower.

Buddleia showing why they are known as butterfly bushes:

 Yellow trumpet:

 

Some hebes in the back yard:

Also very popular with butterflies and other insects.

Last of all, this kookaburra who kept a close eye on me as I was taking the photos, just in case I turned up any food for it:

That's it for the garden in January!

Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Over the years it seems a lot of bloggers I follow have participated in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge hosted by SoScrappy. This year I've decided to give it a go myself. 

Basically you make any block you want, in the colour selected for each month, and gradually build up a rainbow of blocks that hopefully turn into a quilt. I've decided to make Ivani's Heart Blocks, as they use very small pieces. Here's the link to Ivani's instructions.

 

January's colour is red.  Here are my first 2 heart blocks:

 

Although they are not really my first blocks, as I made some last year which will be a head start for future months:

 

There's a linkup here where you can see lots of red blocks happening: https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/2022/01/week-2-scraphappy-saturday.html

It might be too late for me to join the link-up this time, but at least I've started the challenge.

Step Seven

 I've made one block for step 7 of the Rhododendron Trail mystery quilt:

But now I am wondering whether to continue, or wait to see what comes next. At the moment I'm not keen on what these two blocks look like together. But maybe when I see the whole quilt I will love the full effect.

This step takes us to 92% of the finished size of the quilt. We haven't used the aqua colour, of which 2.25 yards was specified. Maybe it is just for borders, and you need that amount to cut them on the lengthwise grain? I could have a problem if that is the case. I have only a 1m piece of aqua and the shop I bought it from has closed for health reasons until further notice.

And what about those flying geese we haven't used yet? Borders, or something else?

This is really a mystery!

New Year

 Happy 2022!

2021 threw one more horrible thing at me right after I wrote my last post for the year. I got an email saying that 4 residents at Mum's nursing home had tested positive for covid. The home was locked down immediately. Anyone who had visited since 21st December should monitor themselves for symptoms. So I spent the last day of the year upset and worried about Mum, unvaccinated and vulnerable with the virus around her. I expected that she would catch it and die without ever seeing anyone from her family again.

Then late in the day on new year's eve I received another email telling me that the pathology lab had made a mistake. All 4 of the positive tests were actually negative. The home was reopening to visits, residents were allowed out of their rooms again, everything back to how it was. What a relief! 

First job of the year was sewing these shorts. A finish for the first day of the year! According to my note on the pattern, I first used it in November 2001. I've made something like 60 pairs since then, but never photographed any for my blog.

The next clue for Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt, Rhododendron Trail, was released on new year's day. Unusually, she has us assembling blocks before the final reveal. I like that idea! I've assembled 6 so far, with several more half-sewn. I'm sure I will have them all done in time for the next clue on Saturday.

Our covid case numbers are soaring. This screenshot from the Guardian tells the story: 

What we thought were major outbreaks in the first and second waves are just little blips on that graph, barely noticeable. What we have now is an unbelievable increase every day. Today over 64,000 new cases were announced around the country. And the testing system is overwhelmed so probably there are thousands more who have not been able to get tested. I'm visiting Mum every couple of days, but apart from that I am going nowhere and seeing no-one. I am not so much afraid for myself, having had 3 vaccinations, but of potentially catching the virus and passing it on to my mother.

What will the rest of this year bring I wonder?