Meanderings and wanderings with my Nature Trail quilt....

So I've a few things to share following my long absence...but I'll start with the present...I'm working on my autumnal quilt, although I think now I'm leaning towards the name "'Nature Trails" quilt as it looks like snippets of landscapes and nature that you would see and touch and feel on a bush walk or outdoor tramping holiday in late summer or autumn.  I find myself thinking of the wonderful walks in the woods I always loved in England.  I love the changing colours of the seasons there.  We have them here on a lesser scale - actually lesser scale is not truly accurate.  It is more a different level of colour saturation. The colour palette in Australia is unique and lovely in its own right.  We are embracing spring and emerging from our safe warm wintery hidey holes.  It's exciting and there is a sense of anticipation and excitement.  I ponder all this as I sew.  Such lovely musings wandering through my mind!

My original plan was to use the linen as sashing to create a contrast to highlight the quilt blocks themselves.  Perhaps as though you were looking through a window (middle picture) or as a pathway through the countryside (picture 3), but now I'm contemplating no sashing at all (first picture)....  I will contemplate away as I construct more blocks.

All fabrics are Liberty tana lawn.  It's high time I stopped hoarding them and made them into quilts and things.  Really it's an injustice to have them sitting in a box in a cupboard, they need to out and played with and enjoyed and appreciated.

Having moved house in June, has highlighted how much fabric I own. Quite crazy!  I can't part with any just for the sake of reducing the size of my stash.  I have to use it all, so I'm on a mission, to sew sew sew, so that when I move next (I'm only renting for now) I have a lot less fabric to move.  I greatly need to economise in my new circumstances too, so I'm going to try to use my current resources.  I may even begin to offer quilts for sale....but I'm getting way ahead of myself...

Any thoughts on sashing or no sashing from the above pictures?  Please share if you do - it would be lovely sharing creative ideas....

May

Things might be a bit quiet on my blog this month.  I have a lot going on.  My eldest daughter is turning 21 so planning and arranging her 21st is consuming me for now.  My mum has arrived as my support team.  There are endless lists and my mind is running non-stop.  Her theme is Caribbean Carnivale - it's such a happy colourful theme and we're having lots of fun sourcing inflatable palm trees, parrots and pineapples, just to name a few.  And costumes - lots of sequins and feathers are floating around the house. There will be lots of photos post event, but I'm not going to give anything away before then!

Poor Tilly's world was turned upside down on Monday with a trip to the vet to be de-sexed.  It was incredibly traumatic. There were 4 of us holding her down (after heavy sedation) to anaesthetise her, which took 2 attempts. Luckily the vet was a tall and strong man - I hadn't considered that when I booked her in, but it is a definite pre-requisite to be Tilly's vet. She is so strong and becomes a bucking bronco when out of her comfort zone.

So I'm afraid there won't be much sharing of crafty projects for now, instead here a few images from my morning walk.  It's an opportunity to look around and up and see glorious little things that remind me how amazing nature is. 

The leaves are the only autumn colour in my garden. They have featured on my blog before...they are so fleeting.  One day I will make an autumn quilt so I can wrap myself in their glorious glow.

 

 

 

This is a bud I passed....and sniffed and snapped a photo.  



And here is a part of a fence I pass on my walks.  I must take my daughter with me so she can sing it to me....I long to know its tune.  How unique is that?  I love people's ingenuity! I would love to know the story behind a musical fence...I ponder what song I would put on my musical fence?  How about you?




Post Op Tilly...totally depressed