Happy Birthday William Morris

William Morris was born on March 24th 1834 and the William Morris Society of Canada certainly celebrate the event in style! This is their cake for this year…….

Since 2002 three members: Laura Bright, Gianna Wichelow and James Bailey have created eleven of them! These are a few but I don't know how one could possibly cut into them - they are way too beautiful!…….

I could manage these though….

So seeing as we are celebrating with cake I thought I would share some of the projects from the May Morris book. It is a small book of only 36 pages and most of the projects are small too. I decided to do this to keep costs down including postage. Accompanying the projects are very easy recipes so the theme was set to call it "Afternoon Tea with May Morris"………

 

We start with an apron……...

There are napkins and large table coasters……..

 A cushion……….

 A quilt throw and table-runner……….

 a wall hanging……..

 and of course there had to be a tea cosy. It is now through the proofing stage and will go to print later this week….so I hope they are available in 2-3 weeks. 

During the past week I received photos from Lyn of her beautiful version of the Adelaide Collection Floral Sampler. She has made if for her mother's 80th birthday and what a beautiful gift. Thanks Lyn for sharing your beautiful work and I hope your Mum is delighted…...

I will finish with something that I saw today that I thought would be the perfect gift for my next birthday…a girl can only dream!!……

So Happy Birthday William Morris…..if he was here today I would take him these two big bunches of flowers picked from my garden a few days ago…….

Bring on some rain!

It would appear we have had Summer for almost 6 long months with heat waves starting last October - so Larry and I are well and truly over it! It has not been excessively hot and most nights have been comfortable, but it seems to have really dragged on this time. We have both succumbed this week and are convinced that it is partly because of the weather! My neck is full of swollen glands, an earache and blocked head….Larry has been coughing unmentionables so bring on the rain please to wash away these allergens! The garden is even confused with bulbs appearing way before they should - and even sweet peas at the wrong time of year………

 We've had a dribble of tomatoes and baby carrots……..

 But joy of joys these little critters are munching away and I am watching them with delight. Their choice of nourishment is a self sown plant so we are happy that they like it! I am intrigued by the 'balls' - not sure if they are a product of all the munching or maybe even more little baby critters…….

 Some of their cousins have already arrived for their short life - but they are so hard to photograph……this one would not oblige with an open set of wings for me……..

 I read here that they feed for 2 weeks and don't emerge from their pupa for 3 weeks. And also that the butterfly will live from a month to 6 weeks and that they are very toxic to predators……….

But we did have a short burst of rain a few days ago which freshened things for a little while……we now just need bucket loads for a few days…….

 Now this blog was supposed to be all things "Morris" but it seems family and home fill it up. But I did read of the release of Effie Gray in the US next month. I can't find a release date for Australia but did read it was released last year in the UK. I do wonder if Mr Morris might have a brief appearance in the story……

So back to family and this gorgeous picture that Brett shared today. It made me feel so incredibly humble as I thought about this dear little girl facing life with deafness on one side. Nothing has stopped her and even at 8 months she is crawling and attempting to walk. She has no preconceived ideas of what life has in store for her and she lives for today…... like we all should…..

On a final note - from time to time I've received emails from people who are unable to leave comments on the blog. I've tried to rectify that so I hope the new system allows it…….thanks for dropping by and take time to smell the roses today! x

Quilting in a country shed

I have just spent the past weekend quilting in a very large country shed on the south coast of New South Wales….and what a stunning part of our beautiful country it is - and so green after the current yellow of our home state…...

 The workshops were held in the agricultural society's shed at Cobargo…and for overseas readers….yes we do have some unique Australian town names! Larry and I have never explored this area but it is now on our radar. I was a guest tutor for the South Coast Country Quilters' of NSW.  I joined Kathy Doughty, Amanda Daly, Jennifer Corkish, Brenda Gael Smith and Fiona Hammond. I travelled the furtherest with a flight to Melbourne and then another regional flight on a much smaller plane to Merimbula. That flight was a tad scary…well actually it was terrifying! We were warned that there would be some turbulence and it was extreme! It felt like a vicious show ride and how we all coped was interesting! The lady opposite me was a local and she did inform me it was the worst she had ever experienced but her way of coping was to laugh…..but with white knuckles I lived to tell the tale! The first day we explored felted wool. Many people have commented that this is not something I normally work with but I have actually been using this medium for a number of years. It all started when I purchased these little treasures in Budapest 12 years ago. It is wool felt appliqué done by the local women and all free motion machine appliquéd………

I have also used wool felt from time to time in my Morris quilts as I love the texture it adds. I appliquéd felted wool flowers to this quilt in 2008 where it eventually became the cover quilt for my second book. ….

We used hand embroidery and a spontaneous decision of mine on the morning resulted in making more of those pinwheels that I am obsessed with. It was a great way for everyone to learn the technique leaving the quilt for a project at home and an added bonus of taking something home finished! I just love them…..

Day two we explored tile designs but I forgot to take photos! We drove back to Bermagui to sleep each evening……a lovely fishing town……..

And then Sunday night closer to the airport I rested in Jenny's home at Tura beach. This is the view from her front window and a short walk to views of the beach. The only thing I could not get used to was no sunset….facing east instead of west like we do at home is somewhat confusing!….

 Jenny has an inspiring native garden as well………

Monday morning was much calmer and the flight uneventful, so I took the opportunity to take some photos………..

As we left you could see the oyster farms in the bay of Merimbula……. 

 We left the coast for the stunning mountain tops of NSW……….

 and the clouds were lofty and peaceful………...

 and then views of home………..wonderful Adelaide with a bird's eye view of the new stadium and hospital…...

 On the way home I needed to catch up with these special people……...

I crashed last night and was in bed by 10pm…..unheard of by me! So now it is back to "work" catching up on emails and planning the next adventures. Thanks for dropping by x