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Are Cookies causing my troubles?

Not the edible kind…. these cornies made to great grannies recipe are a family favourite.

But it may be those customers experiencing issues putting things in the shopping cart have turned on “block all Cookies”, a reset of your device might be required.

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Sale – Overstocked

HELP….. Overstocked…. SALE ON NOW

I cannot take them all to Australian Machine Quilting Festival. The website is currently hosting a HUGE sale of 5000m spools of Glide Thread, only those currently in stock. I need to be able to fit more in the trailer and in the shop space. My loss is your gain. Once sold out in 5000m spools it will be stocked in 1000m spools, so always available.

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New Postal Charges

Australia Post are now allowing up to 5kg in their Post Satchels. I prefer to use Express Post as you receive your parcels usually the next day.  I also have all parcels signed for on delivery, so that I have recourse, should the parcel go astray.  To help with your ordering I have done the Pack repack measure etc….. I can fit 24 – 1000m spools of Glide Thread in a Small Express Parcel Post Satchel.  OR
I can fit 5 – 5000m spools in a Small Express  Parcel Post Satchel, 8 into a Medium  Express Parcel Post Satchel or 12 into a Large  Express Parcel Post Satchel. Once my current bags are used I will need to change some of my  current postal rates. Since the savings on using snail mail  are only $3-$4, I know I want my threads yesterday so use Express Post.
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Geata Teaghlach pronounced garta ch-eye-lokh

During a visit to Great Britain in 2005 I took many photos with the idea that one day they would make themselves into a quilt.  The Chirk Castle Gates in Wales really impressed me.
When a friend encouraged me to try Ice dyeing while I was in Victoria for The Best of Australia Awards in April  this year, I knew that my idea of a wrought iron gate quilt had found its quilting muse.
I took this photo on the 23rd June after I had played around for a while with scale to make sure I was using the pieces of fabric to highlight my vision of what I wanted to achieve.
Drawing tools,  stencils, reference books, template,s trusty lead pencil and the ever present eraser
It was only after I was happy with a design in pencil that I then committed it to ink on  quilt size piece of paper.
Sketching different fills as I go.
Pulling threads  from all over the place in the stash to achieve what I envisioned, before I started to trace the design. Once I had had the design on my paper, I traced the main details with a fine tip  gel pen.  Then I used at least 3  Blue Water Erasable Leonis Pens to trace the design onto my top. I don’t have any pictures of the actual top all blue penned.
I had decided I wanted a thicker thread look with my quilting so decided to run two threads through my thread stand and the eye of the needle.
The Perfect backing fabric was also in my stash, possibly from a similar era as the inspirational photo. So on the 4th August the quilt was loaded onto my  longarm machine.  you can see some of the blue markings here.
The quilting is no where near the same as Chirk Castle, I was using the picture to reference where I would stitch a solid line between metal pieces or leave it open to appear like it was a solid piece.
I wanted to depict a stone base to the wall of the gate.
I am actually standing on the table of my longarm machine here to take this photo from directly above the centre of the quilt.
There is a garden path and gardens in the foreground of the quilt.
The Southern Cross a constellation visible above Australia is beaded into the background.  There are 8 different shades of maroon thread represented in this “Diamond Sky”, gradually fading as they distance themselves from the gate.
after two weeks on my longarm I was able to take it off the machine, have a sticky beak first, then give it a cold water bath and start the process of blocking it.
I felt curved binding replicated the  idea of gates, but still felt it needed something a bit more
The label gives an insight  to how I chose what I felt were the major design elements, within the quilt.  The name is for my mother, My Father used Morse Code to mark his items in the workshop during his apprenticeship.  Can you find my Morse code links?  There was also a story from a Great Aunty in my youth of something shady in the family past. I learnt this year that my Great Grandfather, of my father’s side,  when he sailed to Australia changed his surname from Smith.

Geata Teaghlach pronounced garta ch-eye-lokh –  Irish for Family Gate – in all her painted glory.
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Lake Eyre Magic Moments

An early morning flight with our 10 year old grandson was a highlight of our recent trip outback.  This is the sunset the night before.
Sunrise after a 7am start  on a coolish morning in a 6 seater plane
We were fortunate to have cloud cover that provided some absolutely magical memories.
Lake Eyre North only fills after extreme rainfall thousands of kilometres away.  The devastating floods in Queensland in March flow inland and create this beauty.  Since the water is only 10cm or 4inches deep it is like glass.
The Lake Itself is 18metres below sea level so is very salty.  However 80% of Australia’s pelican population find their way to the northern parts where the fresh water flows in.  Flying at only 500 feet above the water and seeing the birdlife was an experience to remember, we were too fast for great bird shots!