You Sew, Girl!

Today Nikki gave me a copy of her book, which will be in the shops on 1st May. How exciting!

I had my nose buried in it all the way home, so much so that I nearly missed my stop.

The book is full of great stuff (tips, projects and patterns, as it says on the cover) and there are quite a few things I'd like to make. But what I might try first is one of the pattern-free skirts:

Pattern-free sewing sounds intimidating, so it is probably something I need to tackle.  Nikki says in the intro to the pattern-free section, "These projects are all about discovering the freedom and flexibility of 'winging it'." I know she knows what she is talking about; see that black fabric I've photographed the book on?  That's actually a skirt Nikki whipped up for me, with only my hip measurement to go on, one day when I suffered a wardrobe mishap at work.

Cute Little Sedum

I was given a piece of this plant by one of my students a couple of years ago, but this is the first time it has flowered.

It is Sedum sieboldii variegatum. You can see the pretty green and cream variegated leaves in the background.  They turn reddish before the plant dies down over winter.

Brighten Up

Today I picked up the last blocks to finish off the council quilt, then sewed them all up.

When I hung the quilt on the line to photograph, the shadows of my fruit trees didn't help:

So I had the bright idea to turn it around and photograph it with the sun behind it, but there wasn't quite enough room to get far enough back from it to show the whole thing.  At least the colours show up better this way:

 

Now it just needs binding, which I hope to get done on the weekend.

While I was sewing, I could look out of my window and see this:

Isn't it beautiful? It's a cymbidium orchid - according to the label, it's Peter Pan X Snow Eagle 'Malcolm'.  One flower spike is open, and another is getting ready to bloom. It was waiting for me with the blocks today, to thank me for my help with the quilt. Wow! Thank you, Paula, for this unexpected gift which brightened up my day.

Strata

The pile of blocks accumulating to be sent to Jan Mac.

Today I finished quilting and trimming the last of the UFO blocks, and added them to the pile. It looks as if the lower levels have been squashed flat, but it is mainly because they have thinner batting in them.

Miniature Forest

Today I did more seedling maintenance; trimming roots, thinning out, transplanting some, and checking for pests.

This is what the manna gums (Eucalyptus viminalis) look like now, just seven weeks after the seeds were sown.

Garden Show

A lovely day out at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show. It was a bit of a grey day, but early in the day it was easy to get around and look at things.

The Exhibition Building seen from a "coastal garden" across the lake:

Some of the sculpture:

One of the display gardens:

It is nice to see the fountain working again.

By about 1:00pm the crowds had built up, and it was becoming quite difficult to get around. Tomorrow is the last day, so if you want to go, I'd advise getting there as early as possible.

Early Morning Texture

While I was waiting for the tram on my way to work, I noticed this unusual pink flowering gum across the road.

The low angle of the sun seems to be bleaching out the details of the flowers, but I like the soft-looking texture of the flowers and the foliage of the tree (sheoak?) behind it.