January 20, 2013

A different view


I have a different view on life this week - new glasses!  They are super-light, have a little bit of bling on the side, cost an absolute fortune, give me a fantastic wide angle view, hurt behind the ears and I can't see my embroidery!  Oh well, back to the optometrist tomorrow for some more adjustments.

As usual, I have three or more projects on the go at once.  This week I managed to get a couple of them finished BG (before glasses!). I showed a little bit of one of the stitcheries of my Facebook page, but here's a different view:


I'm always happy with a needle and thread in my hand!

You may have heard about the terrible bushfires raging all around Australia.  We had our own version on Bribie Island a few kilometres across the water from us.  Thankfully no homes were damaged, but the smoke hung around for quite a while.

This was the very different daytime view down our street - not a thunderstorm threatening but the heavy smoke pall.  It was quite eerie:



This little guy, a Willie Wagtail, has had a different view for the last couple of weeks.  He must be able to see himself in our tinted windows so hops back and forth along our brick windowsill, chatting away and keeping me entertained, just a ruler's length away from me. He still doesn't seem to have gotten the idea that the bird in there is not responding. It's a poor photo taken through the glass, but you can get the idea.  He does make me smile:


We've had lots of very hot weather and no rain so my once lovely green lawn has quite a different view and is looking decidedly brown. However, I've been keeping the water up to my vegetable boxes and the plants are doing well.


One of my lovely blogging friends, Linda, talked to me this week about the free BOM 2013 "Apples of Gold" quilt. Now Linda is totally opposite in her tastes to me.  She is not at all fussy and frilly like I am!  So we talked about how the design could be used with a more modern, simpler layout.  Of course all the stitcheries can stand alone and could be used for projects on their own - on a cushion, the front of a bag, on a needle case, a small wall hanging etc.  Anyway, I gave it a bit of thought and have come up with a different view for you.  (Excuse the rough sketch, but time disappeared down the plughole this week and I don't have any fancy Quilt Designing software.)


If you are interested in this different view of the Apples of Gold quilt, then you can download the file with the layout details here.  A couple of the appliqued blocks have been resized to fit, so there is a larger tree for Block 1 for you to download with the sketch.  I'd be interested to hear from you if this alternate layout suits you better.

 A change is as good as a holiday, so I hope you have some different views this week!

Happy stitching
Val

5 comments:

Carolyn Sullivan said...

Thanks For making MY day. your little spring like garden filled me w hope. my little garden is swamped! we had a lot of rain, and now freezing temps are approaching this afternoon. Yes it is winter in the Midwest of the US! we at least had a few sunny days this past week.

Kate said...

Always enjoy 'reading' you, Val. Your stitched fan is precious. :)

Anonymous said...

I love your stitchery piece. Fires are so scary, especially when they are close enough to put clouds like that in the sky.

Anonymous said...

I love both designs, BUT for me the thing I like best about your BOM quilts is the little bits of patchwork included. Not too much, but enough to add interest and give me practice ( which I definately need). The new design doesn't have those details, so Design 1 is my favorite.
Thanks Margaret Price

Gayle said...

Beautiful fan, love your work. Not much rain around. Everything is a bit brown here too. Hoping for rain everyday. But lucky to have no fires near us.