Too Much

As I mentioned yesterday, there are so many things on this weekend that it became impossible to do them all. We could have got up early today and gone for a bird-spotting walk around Lake Wendouree. But we skipped that one.

Today is the annual Lal Lal Market. We had to pop in and have a look there, just because there aren't many things that happen in Lal Lal:

Notice that grey sky and how rugged-up everyone is. That will influence how many of today's events we actually get to.

There are three gardens open in Buninyong today, so we decided to go and check out one or two of them.

The first one is the garden of the Old Vicarage - formerly the Anglican vicarage. The house was built in 1857, and several of the trees date from that time.

This is probably not the best time to see this garden - the roses are not open yet, but the bulbs have all finished.

The 160-yr-old trees are impressive though. The back yard was not open to the public unfortunately. I'm not sure why this garden was open, as you can see all of the front garden from the street.

While we were in the area we popped in to the Buninyong Festival. I think it is a shame that it is on on the same day as Lal Lal market. I wonder if that was accidental or a deliberate choice. Perhaps the organisers of one or the other thought people might go to both, as they are only 10 minutes drive apart?

There were a lot more people and stalls at Buninyong than at Lal Lal:

 We took a quick walk though but didn't buy anything.

The second open garden, Mossmont, was worth seeing because it is hidden away from the road, so you would never know it was there. The driveway is lined with sugar maples:

This house was also built in the 1850s, and the garden features a 160-year-old elm tree:

Not in leaf yet, but it must give wonderful shade in summer.

A Victorian-style circular garden and fountain:

Orchids in flower close to the house:

I wonder if they move those pots somewhere in winter, or if this spot is sheltered enough for them to be OK all year round?

Garden bed with irises, euphorbias and proteas:

I was surprised to find that this weeping cedar is a deodar:

I've only seen them as upright giants in the Himalayas.

We decided we may as well take a quick visit to the third garden. We drove to the parking area, then walked and walked and walked. The property is on a narrow dirt road, with no room for parking anywhere nearby. So the walk to the front gate took longer than we had planned to spend on the whole visit.

Once at the property, there was a walk along the drive:

Stone walls:

And an amazing view across the valley:

Also a pizza oven, a swimming pool and lots of fairly young trees dotted around between the stone retaining walls.

The garden beds near the the house are in a cottage style, which is surprising given the modern building and the dramatic setting on the side of the hill.

My plan for the afternoon had been to visit Steiglitz for their quilt airing, on the way to the Geelong Patchworkers and Quilters exhibition. But after the busy morning, and given that I still have lots to do to get ready for our own exhibition next weekend, I decided to skip Steiglitz (today is not good weather for an open-air quilt show anyway) and Geelong as well.

Instead I spent the rest of the afternoon finishing the binding on Bloom:

Just a few hanging sleeves to do now.

Feeling Overwhelmed

I can't believe October is here already. Our quilt show is the first weekend in November, and I don't have anything ready.

Bloom is taking me way longer to quilt than I expected. Being sick for a week didn't help. I still have to baste my temperature quilt, then quilt it. Then bind everything of course. Plus I will be away for a week later this month. How can I get things done?

Today one of my nieces sent me a message that she wants to make a quilt for her parents for Christmas, so would I be able to teach her? I had to reply that I really don't have time for that in the next few weeks.


Stash report for September

Thread:
One (1,000m!) spool emptied, none added.
Year to date - down 11 spools.

Dress fabric:
None used, 2m added.
Year to date - down 2.25m.

Quilt fabric:
none used, none added
Year to date - up 0.5m.

Ditch Stitching

I haven't decided exactly how I will quilt my Bloom yet, but I have finished stitching the ditches around all the blocks and sashing:

It's a nice feeling to finish with only 25cms of thread left on the bobbin!

Basting Bloom

The Ballaarat Quilters Exhibition is only six weeks away, and I still have two quilts to baste and quilt. Today I got the largest one ready to quilt, Bloom:

I had thought I would get two basted today, but this one is so large I had to do it in four sections, and it took all my pins.

Now to the quilting!

Bloom Top

Borders on, ready for the next step:

Actually sewn yesterday, but it was too dark to get a photo by the time I finished. I was lucky to get a little bit of weak sunshine this morning. The whole quilt looks brighter in real life than it does in photos though.

I picked this border fabric up at Spotlight last week. It had been originally $25/m, but was on the clearance table for $10. However that day all the clearance fabrics were marked down to $5/m, so I grabbed this one and bought everything left on the bolt.
 

Blooms Together

Got the Bloom blocks all together today, then grabbed a photo on the line before the winter sunshine went away:

Now I need to decide on borders.


Linked to Cheryll's Bloomers Party.

Last Bloom!

Bloom block twenty:

Attached to nineteen which I made last week, and completing the bottom row:

Not yet attached to the rest of the quilt, but that will give me something for the next Bloomers Party link-up.

Meanwhile, this post is linked to Cheryll's current link-up for everyone making Lori Holt's Bloom. Thanks for keeping me sewing, Cheryll!

Productive Day

Inside I finished block 19 of Bloom:

Outside some gravel was spread:

This area at the bottom of the back garden has been a bit of a wasteland, but now it has a little retaining wall and gravel. The next step will be some large pots along the garden side, and something nice at the far end.

Dot checking out the new gravel:

Jack hiding in the undergrowth:

Blooming Progress

Bloom block 17:

Bloom block 18:

Only 2 blocks to go! I will link this post to Cheryll's Bloomers Party when she publishes it in the morning. Here's the BLooMeRS PaRTy.

Here's a few things blooming around the garden at the end of May. First the tree dahlia:

Unfortunately it has been so cold this week that the bees aren't getting any benefit from all these flowers. The tree dahlia was always buzzing with bees when it flowered in the city. But here it flowers much later, and it is just too cold for the bees to be flying.

A couple of broms:

Since it is the end of May, here is my progress on reducing my stash so far this year:

Thread:
One spool emptied, none added.
Year to date - down 7 spools.

Dress fabric:
Used 3m, none added.
Year to date - down 5.25m.

Quilt fabric:
Used 0.32m, none added.
Year to date - up 1.98m.
It takes a long time to use up quilt fabric when you are just making little bits and pieces.

Bloom Fifteen and Sixteen

Block Fifteen:

Every garden needs a fishpond.



Block Sixteen:

That' the end of the 4th row.


The story so far:

Only 4 blocks to go!





Linked to Cheryll's Bloomers Party.

Bloom Thirteen and Fourteen

It is Bloom day again! The weeks are flying by, and so is this quilt. Here are my next two Bloom blocks:

Linked to Cheryll's Bloomers Party. She is back home from her trip and I hope she will have some interesting blog posts to come about her adventures.

Retreat - Saturday

A chilly start!

Interesting frost designs on someone's car.

An early start for people setting up stalls for the Lancefield Farmers Market, as the sun appears at the end of the street:

On this pre-breakfast walk, I noticed that the nursery had a sale on trees. And right near the front fence I noticed a tupelo, Nyssa sylvatica. I first admired this tree in the Ballarat Botanic Gardens seven years ago.

Later in the morning I went back and bought one:

then popped it in the bathroom of my room to keep it safe for the rest of the weekend.

Here's our workspace:

Empty because this was before breakfast. That's my Elna Lotus in the foreground, and you can see the hourglass blocks I worked on yesterday. My first challenge was working out how to make them so that the seams would nest when I sewed them together, but I came up with a method that worked. By lunchtime I had made quite a few more:

In the afternoon I finished the binding on a charity quilt that had been giving me a few hassles.

I think this is my 14th charity quilt quilted. I intended to completely machine-sew the binding, but I forgot that the new machine has a different width foot than my old Elna, so I had too much seam allowance. That meant the binding couldn't nicely cover the stitching on the front, so I ended up having to hand-sew the front of the binding, and it was hard going. The whole quilt suffered a bit:

 I'm hoping that waviness will relax with time.

Here's the back view so you can see the quilting:

I also laid out the rest of the Bloom blocks to finalise which fabrics will go where,

then I prepared a few of the applique parts for the next blocks. Photos of those can wait until the next Bloomer Party next Saturday.

Bloom Eleven and Twelve

Block 11:

Block 12:

Which finishes the third row, and now the top is 60% done!

Linked to Cheryll's Bloomers Party, even though Cheryll is away at the moment. She is a dedicated host who scheduled the post before she left on her travels.

Bloom Nine and Ten

The next two Bloom blocks finished:

This means I'm at the half-way point already!

Linked to Cheryll's Bloomers Party, which is not a social gathering of women in rational dress, but a collection of people in different corners of the world making Lori Holt's Bloom quilt this year.