At the Show

The Ballarat Agricultural Show has been on this weekend. I popped in for a visit on the last afternoon.

I checked out all the animals I could find:

Had a look at the floral show. I liked this "Seaside Garden":

Although the maker told me later that she was the only entry in that category, so she didn't think winning 1st prize was a huge achievement.

There were some fantastic decorated cakes:

And I had a good look at all the handcrafts. 

This was the section that interested me most:

Some prize-winners in the "commercially quilted" section above, and below the non-commercially quilted and the "modern" entries:

You may recognise my Greenhouse wall-hanging, which I made during a lockdown last year and is about the only thing I have made for myself since the last show in 2019. I was placed 2nd in the "no commercial quilting" category, but I also won the "best machine quilting" prize, which is a $15 voucher for a local quilt shop. 

The quilt to the left of mine was made by the person who is teaching the "Improv Piecing" workshop that I will be doing next weekend, Suzanne Lyle. I am really looking forward to learning some of her techniques.

Variations

I have to make a small item by next weekend. I've had most of the year to do it. But I've just started.

 
Here are the pieces all cut and laid out ready to sew:

After I had started assembling it, I thought maybe it would look more interesting like this:

Or even this:

Or, the final possible variation, this:

I made a decision, and one of these is the final layout. I'll show you which one in a few days when it is finished.

Flowers That Won't Last

These flowers won't last until my garden round-up in the middle of the month, particularly because of the constant rain.

Rhododendron:

Tree peony:

Water

A couple of views of the bottom of our block, which you wouldn't want to try walking across at the moment:

This is all normally dry land, but now has water everywhere.

 

Sunshine

 Our first sunny dry day in a while (although it is raining again now).

When I did my post of the garden in October I mentioned the wisteria had looked good this year, but it turned out I never took a photo of it at its peak. So here it is today, well past its best but still flowering:

This one has pale, almost white flowers. At the other end of the pergola there is a different one which has finished flowering now.

Under the pergola I found this butterfly, which I have never seen here before:

It's an Imperial Jezebel, Delias harpalyce.

Also taking advantage of the sunshine is this lemon-scented sun orchid, Thelymitra antennifera. It has been trying to open for over a week:

And look what we found late this afternoon:

Another koala! And this one is on our block, so that makes it ours.

Surprise Wildlife

 Seen while out walking the dogs this afternoon:

Extra surprising as it was just at eye-level, not way up in the canopy.

New Projects

In a couple of weeks I will be doing a workshop on "improvisational piecing". The requirements list called for a number of solid colour fabrics, about 6 of one colour and 2 or 3 of a contrast. I popped into Spotlight a couple of days ago, and found that their plain-dyed homespun fabrics were 30% off. Hooray! Here are my purchases, washed but not ironed yet:

The colours aren't accurate in the photo. In reality the "blue" ones are shades of aqua/teal. My contrasts are coral shades.

Of course I have since received a mailing from Spotlight to say that the homespun fabrics are now 40% off until Sunday. Oh well, I was happy with the 30% discount, and I will stay happy with it!

 

Another new project - parts on my design board at the moment:

It is a Pickle Dish Variation Quilt designed by Red Pepper Quilts. I'm intending to make enough blocks for a donation quilt or two. This is not a final layout, just blocks pinned up so I can get the feel of them and see what colours work and don't. And it is good practice at sewing curves.