Finishes, Facts, Funnies and Thoughts

Lets start the day with a couple of funnies and a downright hilarious.

Sue Andrew
Albert Einstein once said
“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, then what are we to think of an empty desk?”

Sue followed up with:
One for the blog - just follow the youtube link for a real belly laugh. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRlBtabKRFM

Sheila shared this (Oh Dear, sounds to me like the dreaded 'house cleaning bug' that we have been warned about has struck Sheila)
Hi All I found this in the the back of a drawer when cleaning out - contributed by Ruth Blom, it comes from a B.C.Cottage newsletter in 1998 , S
A rich American family commissioned a well-known author to write their family history but insisted he should soft-pedal in case of one particular family skeleton.
This was the late uncle Dan whose life of crime ended with his death in the electric chair in the 1920s.
“ Just skirt around this “the author was told.
Being an expert writer his account read-“ uncle Dan occupied a chair of applied electronics in a leading government institution. He was held to the post by the closest ties and his death came as a real shock”


Pat has been busy finding lots of sites and links to keep us busy and interested. Firstly, a quilt along for us to follow.
A small slice of this lovely quilt, pop over to Alyce's blog 'blossom Heart Quilts'to view the quilt.

-

"This is an Aussie web site run by beautiful Alyce in Melbourne. Thought some of our patchworkers might like to part take in a free quilt-a-long for a few days and use us some of their scraps. It is quite a simple quilt and would be quite pretty depending on your scraps.
Cheers" Pat.

http://www.blossomheartquilts.com/2020/03/the-happy-scrappy-quilt-qal/

as well as the quilt along, here's a great set of links to follow
"Just noticed the Queensland Quilters have a lot of web sites listed where you can watch tutorials on various projects and also some free patterns. Just a thought some group members may like to take a peek, cheers" Pat.

https://www.qldquilters.com/

and then, cause we all feel a need to shop in times of stress (It's a comfort thing) Pat sent "Amatie, In Victoria has Aurifil cotton on sale with 15% off and free postage. They have all types of thread for hand or machine and some fabulous colours. Just bought a few reels". Pat.
Pop over to the Amitie Online Shop
Amitil advised that "The discount is available for everyone! It will be applied automatically on all online orders.
We are having some delays with our stocks coming in from Italy so first in first served until stocks sold out."

What has Pat been up to along with finding us lots to view?
"Quilt finish. Finished binding and have named it "The Old Roman Bath". Putting binding on a UFO and quilting another one. Hang the painting and gardening". Pat.

Finally,
"Here are some good things I think about being in lock down, I am sure our ladies can add to the list".
Sue

A few good things about being in lock down.

You can stay in your P J all day if you want to.
You save money on petrol.
You don't get stuck in traffic
You don't do any impulse buying
You learn to use the computer correctly
You can call friends you haven't spoken to for a while ,just to see how they are going
Make that thing you were always going to make

We have 2 more entrants in our 'Sewing Space' competition, pop over to https://buderimpatchwork.blogspot.com/2020/03/guess-whos-space.html for some real fun.
The names of those that have entered so far are:
Pat, Karen W, Di, Wendy, Sandy, Lorraine I, Sue, Sheila, Andrea, Stella, Sherrye, Janice and Karen D. Have fun matching those names to the pics as you scroll down.

Was asked about stores new hours and shopping strategies. Here's a few that have been found.

Kimz Sewing and Patchwork Center 0754934977 9a.m. - 1p.m for collection of phone and online orders only. Machine Servicing as per normal http://www.kimzsewing.com/products/ Online orders are still being processed and a delivery service is available upon request.

Brians Fabrics 5493 6826 9a.m. - 3 p.m. Brian is offering phone purchasing as well as a drive through service. If there is something in particular you need, Brian is also willing to send pics to your phone. You can view some of Brians fabric range on his facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Brians-Fabrics-Accessories-222144494486839/

Patchwork Angel is remaining open until told they have to close, check their site for opening hours or give them a bell on 5477 0700. You can online shop on https://patchworkangel.com.au/shop/ They will also do a drive by service, call to place an order, and use their online credit card facility. Facetime can also be arranged for fabric selection. (find the app in the apple app store)

Johno's Fabric Center
Vicki and Robyn from Johnno’s will be staying open until told by Govt to close. You can see some of their fabrics on their facebook page.
They are offering phone purchasing. That is, phone to place an order, (5443 5966) and use their online credit card facility. Vicki will also send you pics of goods, such as fabric, lace etc via her phone to your phone. The girls are also offering a drive by service. Don’t forget they have parking places at the rear of their store.

The Sewing Mill 5441 2482 (Call to check opening hours) is offering shopping by facetime (the app is available in the apple app store)with a drive through service. you can also e-mail Beth on beth@sewingmill.com or through messenger or via her facebook page.

Eye Candy Cushions and a silly story

What has Cheryl been working on?
These!
Karen D sent us some pics of Cheryl's work
"not sure if you are looking for content for the blog. Cheryl
Westbury has been working on her reading pillows. These ones are custom
made for the client as they also have the persons name on them."

Before we launch into the pillow candy, let me say that the blog, your blog, is open to everything (well almost everything) that you want to share, especially in this challenging time we are facing. Anytime you want something on the blog, e-mail me, it doesn't have to be Wed arvo only.
Now on to Cheryl's deliciousness.

Jackie has been sleuthing for us:
"The pattern Power of three is available until the end of April.....
Just looked at Lisa's Facebook page, she has stated that 1100 patterns have been downloaded.......how about that!!.........
Cheers....Jackie"
Pop on over to Lisa's page for a peek, well worth the journey https://lisawaltonartist.com/product-category/lisa-waltons-books/

A bit of silliness to make you laugh, nothing to do with stress, not at all!!
The Fruit & Veg question keeps getting asked, when to wash and how many times
Well I have to tell you, it can be overdone.
The cleanest lettuce in town, indeed the entire darned country can be found at my house.
Yep, washed the lettuce & laid it out to dry in a folded tea towel. We then had a menu change …..grrrr….
The tea towel got collected up with other used towels…(you can see where this is going, can’t you?) into the tea towel basket, next day into the washing machine.
Fluffy green stuff everywhere!!!
How many non- loads does one have to process before it is all cleaned out!? The darn stuff keeps reappearing, and of course with these new machines you have to have a special tool to remove the agitator, and no one wants to make house calls to old folk.
Over it I am.
If you see any of us around with fluffy green stuff, please, be kind, its proving to be a tad tenacious.

We have one more entrant to our Sewing Space competition. Pop down to the "Guess Who's Space? post to see if you can guess who's space it is.

Deep the candy coming gals, everyone is interested in what you are doing and it does provide inspiration.

Jackie points the way

Jackie sent us a heads up on a free quilt pattern
Jeanette Swan
These details came through via the UK, every week I get info from a travel place in Uk they organise many textile trips....
Today they listed a free pattern from one of our Sydney textile artists, Lisa Walton, her pattern Power of three is free for a month, just search Lisa Walton Artist, and go to her patterns.....
Happy stitching......Jackie

https://lisawaltonartist.com/shop/

The pattern is only free for a short time, so hop across to Lisa's shop page and grab yourself a copy and maybe even some of Lisa's delicious hand dyed fabrics to make this cutie.
Lisa mentioned that she is running a facebook page for this quilt.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/559921501602958/
When I popped across on the Fbook link there are 67 members, so perhaps the month the pattern is free is March, only 3 more days. Rush gals, Rush

We have another entrant to our competition taking us up to 10 players. To see all sewing room/spaces go to post "Guess Who's Space" for Tues March 24th
The Updated list of players is
Pat,Wendy, Sue, Sheila, Karen, Di, Karen, Lorraine I, Sandy, Andrea
Have fun matching the rooms to the gals.

Even the wild life is getting restless

A big 'Welcome Home' to Karen, her e-mail to the group this morning gave a few of the 'highlights' of making it home. What a marathon. So glad you are back Karen.

Spotted this laugh on Fbook yesterday.
The rare TP tree, only found at Rosemount Nursery

Sally from Rosemount is their Fbook poster, and in these stressful and difficult times finds posting a little laughter helps their customers, staff and herself.
Mitch and his walking buddy Dave came up with the idea whilst walking their dogs around Buderim. Mind you when we visited rain was threatening so the tree found itself relocated to indoors, too rare and valuable to dice with a drizzle!
And yep, these are the guys who were offering T.P. seeds earlier on - you guessed it, a plackie bag filled with toilet roll inners.
Gotta keep your sense of humor folks.

Lorraine I found this fella (gal?) making itself comfortable.
I found this fellow in my bird feeder when I went out with some seed. I don’t know whether he was after an entree of seed or waiting for a poultry lunch.

Sheila had this run in with a little furry pest -
Hi
I was sitting in my sewing room and heard a bang in the kitchen(I had seen it yesterday) good old peanut butter and the ‘big cheese' trap. It will go in the garage overnight and in the morning I will don the gloves and bury it.

Fed up with making masks so back to green improv sewing.
Cheers Sheila

Lainey also sent a link to a thought provoking piece. Its long but worth the read.
Bonnie Hunter posted these words written by Brother Richard Hendrick, an Irish monk.
Lovely to read.
Is it something you could spread around?
Lainey
the link is to Bonnie Hunter's post, the words are at the bottom, just scroll on down or meander down, lots of eye candy and great chat on Bonnie's post.
https://quiltville.blogspot.com/2020/03/from-quarantine-quilting-to-binding.html#more

Lainey also shared this with us,from the National Quilters Circle something to expand our talents and a challenge, 'Colour me Chameleon Quilt' a lap or wall hanging size, teaching how to use colour pencils. Lainey's e-mail had lots more info which becomes available once you register, its free so why not.
https://goto.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1290701&tp_key=f15596970c&sti=nqc-swap

This old joke surfaced this morning....thought you might get a giggle.

A frog goes into a bank and approaches the teller. He can see from her nameplate that her name is Patty Whack.
"Miss Whack, I'd like to get a $30,000 loan to take a holiday."
Patty looks at the frog in disbelief and asks his name. The frog says his name is Kermit Jagger, his dad is Mick Jagger, and that it's okay, he knows the bank manager.
Patty explains that he will need to secure the loan with some collateral.
The frog says, "Sure. I have this," and produces a tiny porcelain elephant, about an inch tall, bright pink and perfectly formed.
Very confused, Patty explains that she'll have to consult with the bank manager and disappears into a back office.
She finds the manager and says, "There's a frog called Kermit Jagger out there who claims to know you and wants to borrow $30,000, and he wants to use this as collateral." She holds up the tiny pink elephant. "I mean, what in the world is this?"
(You're gonna love this.)
The bank manager looks back at her and says, "It's a knickknack, Patty Whack. Give the frog a loan. His old man's a Rolling Stone."
(You sang it, didn't you? Yeah, I know you did.)

Who's in bed with Ricky?

My goodness, some gals lead a spicy life!
Sue shot us off an e-mail saying she was in bed with Ricky Tims, well before we could all turn an attractive shade of green, we got a follow up mail
Whew!!
Sue "Just thought I should have said that I am not ill , just in bed with a cup of coffee and Ricky Tims"
and here's the thing. You can do the same, well, watch Ricky, the coffee and bed thing is your department.
https://youtu.be/35EHNCNm-kw
Enjoy!
Mind you, Sue has been heard muttering about how dangerous these youtube vids are and how careful you have to be, too easy to watch one and think 'Oh I could do that' and next thing you know, another U.F.O.
Sue watched a vid and made a stuffed egg, she reckons it looks great from one side, but a tad wonky from the other...(still waiting on that pic! could be waiting awhile too)

We have 3 new additions to the sewing room competition. Am adding each new sewing room pic to the 'Guess Who's Space' post, just follow the link or even just scroll down you screen.

Some new views of what some of us up to.
Karen W "Amongst other things, I have just finished my coffee/tea mug bags which were to be for the Easter Fair. Some for our stall and some for Machine Embroidery. I decided to keep going and finish what I had hoped to do, now at least, I am ahead for the Christmas Fair. 🙂

Di "I have been working on this at the Craft Cottage and it is now finished. Hopefully more photos to come over time."

Di also shared what she is now working on
Di "I am working on a One Block Wonder. Heaps of pieces!" Di had a wonderful story to share, but would be a dead give away for the sewing space comp. so will save the story to share with you all later.

Sandy shared this amazing quilt and story with us
Sandy "This is a huge quilt (102 inches square) that a friend asked me to make it for her spare bed.
I used the Trinket Box pattern and was able to use lots of fabric from my stash. There is a smaller one on display at Patchwork Angel. I blanket stitched around the shapes and the joined it all using quilt as you go. Would I make another one this big, NO WAY, but my friend loves it."

More on face masks, Sheila had this one to share with us, as well as a link from Pat for the pattern and instructions she was telling us about the other day.
Sheila "Hi This is the pattern & instructions. I watched the video but could not down load & print pattern till Pat sent me this link. Some members may want to make some . I know Marie has."
Thanks S

https://members.sewitonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/How-To-Sew-A-Facemask-Instructions.pdf
The link takes you to a PDF so give it time to load, and just click once, otherwise it could be a lengthy process---no, I'm not sharing how I know, suffice to say I have lousy internet speed, rest of the house is great, me, nope!

Enjoy you day, keep safe, and if you feel a little cut off and missing your patchwork mates, pick up the phone. If your phone has a 'speaker' option, tee up a time to phone a friend and chat while stitching.

Off to post the new Sewing Space pics, so give me five.

Cheeky Cockatoo and a 'How To..."

Got the funniest movie from Wendy this morning. Caught a couple of stills for you all to share.

Wendy "This cockatoo sat on our fence this morning and ate our mandarins off our pathetic tree. It was entertaining to watch.
X Wendy'

The cheeky cockatoo was peeling off the skin, dropping it to the ground and enjoying the fruit, but would he share with Mr. Willy Wagtail? Nope.

Willy flew off when the action got a little heated, being bombed by a very cross magpie didn't faze Mr. Cockatoo one bit.

Sheila loves improv, and shared this youtube video with us.
"Hi. I just watched an interesting UTube video done by Bernina Festival of Quilts 2019 - Nicholas Ball demonstration. In it I learnt improv triangle"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSxN5_RaWWA
The blurb introducing the video states 'Modern quilter and Bernina expert Nicholas Ball shows us liberated techniques, such as triangles and free-hand curves, taken from his book "Inspiring Improv". This demo was broadcast live from the Bernina UK stand at The Festival of Quilts 2019.'
When you bring the link up, lots more videos from the Festival of Quilts also come up, haven't watched them all yet, but looking interesting.