It must of been Sunday yesterday as we went for a walk. For the past eight or so years we have been using the timber reserve to the south east to walk and ride our mountain bikes in, there is even a track there for mountain bikes. Yesterday we did the long track on foot ~ 6kms of beauty. However this lovely reserve will be gone shortly as it is mined for bauxite. The Shire did some deal for the land the new tip was built on.

Our lovely friend the Librarian took this photo. Drosera sp. with knee and boot included
???????? and knee included.

I'll get back to you on the plant as I know who the knee belongs to.
Homo sapiens with burnt Jarrah tree
In a Bull Banksia (Banksia grandis) tree.

Some more eye candy in the form of another stitchery by the lovely Margaret. This one is called Teddies Garden Treasures by Libby Richardson of

Artsmart Cottages

All the quilting is freehand.
The feathers were great fun to do.
I left the quilt on the machine and didn't turn the quilt to do the long borders.

Over the past nine years that I have been quilting, I have only 'turned' three quilts as I really dislike it with a passion. There are ways of avoiding this technique and believe me I have seriously pursued them.

Well it is that time of year when all the mice head for utopia (read our house), and I put on my Pied Piper hat and kill the *(&^%$#@. Autumn and winter are the seasons when they appear in even the cleanest and newest of houses. I am pretty tolerant, however when they start copulating on the lounge floor I see red, and bring out and assess the armament. This year I have extended and replaced my weapons of choice, and I now have six traps at my disposal. I hate baits with a passion and this is what the hairiest Sweetie uses, so I have to do something before he comes out with his poison. The count today so far is three, and the bait I use is peanut butter. Sultanas work well, however they do dislodge off the traps and although I have been known to secure the sultanas with thread, those days are gone and the bottom line is to kill as many of the tackers as possible. I have thought of using a humane trap, and I did borrow one from a friend, and came to the conclusion that relocation doesn't work, they either are back at your place before you are, or they go to some else's house and breed with their mice and then come to your house, in bigger numbers.

Years ago I read a very interesting book on a bloke that documented his year when he lived with and observed wolves. He decided that he would eat what they did, and through dissecting their scat and noticing their skittish behaviour, concluded that the time had come and he had to eat mice. He did, and came to the conclusion that although mice were full of protein, they were in reality only a subsistence diet as he and the wolves lost weight. As I said a very interesting book. We aren't at that stage yet.

Last Christmas BK gave me a Clover Needle Threader. Hmmm I thought, she must think that I'm infirm and blind. Most affronted I was, however now I'm so glad that I have one as it saves me time and although I have been selling these items for a couple of years I have never really used one in everyday sewing.

I have suggested them for my older friends whose arms never seem to be long enough for them to thread a needle, and now I would recommend them for everyone and they come in some lovely colours. If you see one ask for a demo and you will be amazed, however always buy Clover as they are the best. They are also great to take on aeroplanes as there is a cutter included in the device. So if the fabric is cut out all you have to do is cut the thread, no fumbling for scissors or snips and no stabbing when you do find the wretched things.

On another note, the mornings here have been fraught with danger and excitement. The Hairiest Sweetie, bless him, has been leaving for work very early in the morning. When I say early I mean early and he has been experimenting with the alarm on his mobile 'phone. After alternating between the 'Can-Can' and the '1812 Overture', with cannons, I know I heard them, I am near to performing homicide. I managed to edit his alarm the other morning and it was a persistent 'beep' which allowed me to fall back to sleep quite quickly, and honestly at that time of the morning there is no need to invite the Philharmonic Orchestra into the bedroom to help get him out of bed.

Reminds of this clip out of Wallace and Gromit's The Wrong Trousers. There is a bit of commentary from Nick Park and it's a bit blurry and the porridge scene is missing, however you'll get the general gist of what I feel like at that obscene hour of the morning when I have had another wretched night.

Sorry for the blurriness in this picture - in my excitement I think I put a finger or three on the lens.

A lovely friend made this top years ago and then attempted to hand quilt it. Well things didn't go exactly to plan and while she didn't finish quilting it was always in the back of her mind to finish it.

The weight of the UFO sometimes weighs heavy. I used part of her lead pencil lines to creates the freehand feathers and then I line danced through the chain and then continued dancing through the final border and quilted a pseudo swag to add some curve to the lines of the chain.
It is for her only daughter and spans a few years. I think there was a 15 and a 20 muttered in the conversation.


The cream is poly cotton and the coloured squares are cotton. This was a time when quilts were cut out using scissors. How I love my rotary cutter.

These are from a stitchery quilt called a Gardener's Journal by Hatched and Patched. Hatched and Patched have some lovely projects and their books are well set out with humour throughout the pages.

You'll have to see one to appreciate just exactly what the husband and wife get up to.
All the quilting is freehand and I was in two minds to quilt over the stitching.

I quilt over my stitcheries, however sometimes I baulk on a customer's quilt.

I am here - finally - lots of things happened and didn't happen and it all took a while to regroup and get it all together again. Just a couple of pictures to ease us all back into 'blogging.

This double wedding ring is hand pieced and I just wanted to see if I could do it, and I can, so it is hanging on the orphan wall. There may never be more double wedding ring blocks so I'll just put it there and it can join the other orphans and cause me no grief.