June Progress

This month has been a bit of a write-off for me, sewing-wise. I nominated quilting my Mum's old quilt as my project to make some progress on for WOOFA. I did make a little bit of progress, but it is a difficult job. I've had a lot of thread breaks, which makes progress very stop/start.

I'm really regretting taking on this job! But I will keep plodding along with it and maybe by this time in July it will be finished.

I gave myself a little break one day and tried out this scrappy heart block that Ivani posted instructions for here: How to make the Heart Block

Ivani has been making them for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and I have long admired them. So it was fun to try one out one day when I just needed to sew something. I can see myself making more of these from my scraps.

 

Much of my month has been taken up with legal matters, cleaning out my father's house, and preparing for his memorial service on Friday. 

 

I did attend a couple of sit and sew sessions where I took along components of my Birdhouse quilt to hand applique:

There is still a long way to go, but it has been nice to spend a little bit of time sitting and stitching quietly.

If I am not too late, I will link this post to Cheryll's WOOFA link-up for this month.

Mary Quant and the Jade Buddha

How about that for a post title? Actually the connection between Mary Quant and the Buddha is only their location: Bendigo.

Mary Quant: Fashion Revolutionary is the latest V&A exhibition to reach the Bendigo Art Gallery.

Fortunately the lockdown lifted in time for Melbourne friends to get there before the exhibition closes on 11th July. We chose today based on the weather forecast some days ago, but the weather pattern didn't follow the script. There was a lot of rain! One of these could have been handy:

Entry is timed in 30-minute blocks. But to people coming out of lockdowns, the crowd waiting to get in was very uncomfortable, and maintaining social distancing was almost impossible in the first couple of rooms. Fortunately the crowds thinned out further on:

Although I felt like I wanted one of those glass boxes for myself, rather than the exhibits!

 

This dress, made from a Butterick pattern (3287), brought back memories for one of us who had the same dress:

For people who like to sew, the V&A have a free downloadable pattern available for this dress:

I was surprised to discover it is in a wide range of sizes (even mine) and print formats.  Check it out here: Georgie Dress. There is also a Quant-inspired Minidress pattern for anyone with the legs for it!

After enjoying the exhibition, and finding an almost empty venue for a yummy lunch (all the cafes and pubs near the exhibition were way too full for comfort), we drove out to the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion, currently under construction:

I would like to explore the surrounding gardens sometime when it isn't raining. 

Inside:

Looking up, above the canopy you might be able to see the bare steel of the unfinished building construction.

The Jade Buddha for Universal Peace. My photo doesn't do the green jade justice.

It was a good day out, despite the constant rain. The exhibition was fantastic (apart from the crowds). The stupa was interesting, and will be worth re-visiting in good weather, to explore the gardens and see the building progress.

The Garden in June

The garden looks a bit bleak at this time of year, but there's still a bit of colour here and there. As well as the plants that normally flower in winter, there are autumn-flowering plants still going, and spring-flowering plants just starting.

Tree dahlia - not completely flattened by the storms

Salvia still going, because we haven't had much frost yet this winter

Bergenia

Hellebore "Cinnamon Snow" looking gorgeous

Penstemon

Rose "Bonica" flowering on bravely into winter

Blue chalk sticks - not really grown for the flowers, but they are cute in a way

Correa

Eremophila

First of the yellow jonquils.

Another salvia enjoying the lack of frost

Lavender

Thryptomene

Forsythia is meant to flower in early spring. This is quite early for spring

Bethel sage doing OK in its new position

Rosemary

Viburnum tinus

Abutilon

Orchid looking a bit the worse for wear. Not sure what is eating the flowers

Flowering quince

Hebe

Parrot's beak (Lotus berthelotii)

More spring flowers - white jonquils and ranunculus

Transplants

My father was not a gardener, but he planted a couple of fruit trees in the backyard of my parents' unit. He made a note on the fence when he planted each of them:

Neither of them have thrived. I'm not sure either of them have actually grown since they were planted.  But the cherry produced a couple of fruit last summer, for the first time.

Rather than seeing them dug up and thrown out when the unit is renovated, I wanted to rescue the trees.

I forgot to take a photo before, but here's a progress shot:

 

Some roses and an unidentified succulent were also removed. The last photo in this post shows the full haul, but I just cannot get blogger to put it here where I want it.

Cherry in its new home in our orchard:

The lemon tree in a large pot:

 

I cannot get this photo where I want it.

I hope the transplanted trees will be happy here.

Creatures

 A few critters seen on long walks during our week of lockdown:

Cuties

Close encounter with cattle

Captive emu

Alert guardian of sheep

May WOOFA Report

As May draws to a close, it is time to report on my WOOFA (Working On Or Finishing A ... ) progress. In fact I didn't even set a goal for this month, due to the circumstances occurring at the end of April. 

However, I did manage to finish my April WOOFA project during May. Hooray! So now it is time to pick a project for June.

This is a quilt my mother made, I don't know how long ago:

She has another of her quilts on her bed, but it has to be washed quite frequently. I offered to bring her this one so they can be alternated through the wash. You might be able to see that this one has no quilting in the borders, and if you look at the close-up photo below you might see that there are loose threads in places.

So my plan is to quilt the borders, and add enough quilting to the pieced section to allow it to withstand washing. I think perhaps just stitching in the ditch between the blocks might work? This will be my project for June.

Linked to Cheryll's monthly WOOFA link-up. Thanks, Cheryll!

Who Could Ask For More *

 It's that time of year again:

I had been planning to spend the day with quilting friends in Melbourne, but our new covid outbreak (after 3 months of no cases) put an end to that idea. Then came today's announcement of a 7-day lockdown starting at midnight tonight. Here we go again. At least this time, having had my first vaccination, I don't feel quite as worried about catching the virus. It would have been good to be fully vaccinated before winter, but I've still got 9 weeks until my 2nd dose. Hopefully the first one gives at least a bit of protection.

Other much more welcome gifts included a welded rusty metal creation :

A rosebush:

"Elizabeth of Glamis", named after the Queen Mother.

Some gifts arrived by post yesterday and I saved them to open this morning:

Thank you, friends! You made me feel very special.

After lunch I went to visit Mum, as I won't be able to do that for the next 7 days. Sadly, she wasn't too well today. My sister and a niece arrived while I was there, and I came home with a few more goodies:

The glasses case is from my sister, and the scarf that everything is sitting on is from my mother (courtesy of my sister buying and wrapping it for her). Thank you sister!

The book is another story; that was my present to myself. When I was recently asked if there was anything I wanted for my birthday, I nominated the companion BlockBase+ software that allows you to print out patterns for the blocks in the book.  And lookie, here it is!

Screen shot.

I have been spoilt today!

(* - line from a relevant Beatles song)