William Morris in Quilting: January 2020

I have no idea where the last three weeks have gone but clearly we've been very busy in the Hill household!! Before I 'prattle' on about the mundane I wanted to share with you a very special project that has been on the design wall at home! As we all come to terms with the ongoing devastation from the Australian bushfires most of us feel the need to give back in some meaningful way. With the Tour Down Under bike race having just finished we've been seeing images that remind us of the devastation. The first photo was taken by Josh Geelan from one leg of the tour last year at the 2019 tour and just a few days ago Meaghan Coles took a photo from the same spot....haunting.......

Source of photos

So it was over a conversation with Tim from Lloyd Curzon Textiles that a new project was born! I've been designing a brand new block of the month quilt that will be a way of raising funds for bushfire aid in particular to wildlife groups. The completed quilt will also be raffled and we are especially keeping in mind the Kangaroo Island bees. The only surviving breed in the world of Italian Ligurian bees were on Kangaroo Island and you can read HERE that over a quarter of this bee population has been lost. So bees will be featured in the quilt along with many species of flora and fauna that are now threatened (some were before the fires). The palette I have been working with is divine...delcious colours and all batiks that are so wonderful to work with for appliqué. These fabrics dyed in Indonesia are only sold to the Australian market and have been produced by Lloyd Curzon Textiles as well. We rely so heavily on imported quilt fabrics so it is is wonderful to be supporting a locally developed product - AYU Batiks......and aren't they stunning?.........

Part of the process for me involved researching breeds of flowers and wildlife that are now at risk of becoming extinct. We are flooded with images like these........

Photo source

But I wanted to look at the other not so well known species. Hours of reading..........

Plants I have chosen include the wee jasper grevillea, Canberra spider orchid, banksia brownii, bindoon starbush and velvet wattle. The wildlife includes some birds such as the endangered black glossy cockatoo, regent honeyeater and eastern bristle-bird. I also selected the Kangaroo Island dunnart, the corroboree frog and of course lots of bees...all with artistic licence for ease of appliqué!.........

Flannel flowers are also featured as I read that bushfire smoke helps them germinate.......

The blocks will all be on point......

with possibly this design for the set in triangles.........

a glimpse of some more blocks.......

So in the coming weeks I will be having some open days at home for friends that might like to drop in for a cuppa to help me get this quilt completed! So with that announcement behind me I will share some of the 'mundane' family stuff that is far from dull to us, but apologies in advance......you can just scroll past if you wish!! In no particular order we have had some happy times outdoors while the little ones were on holidays.....

We had a reunion lunch at our place for nursing friends and partners with lots of laughs as we recalled the ups and downs of the past 46 years since we started training........

I turned some donated embroidered squares into a quilt for charity..........

I quilted another for a dear friend......a UFO from about 30 years ago!! My hand that had surgery is still not fully functional but it is amazing what you can achieve with one good hand.......

Miss Maisie did some more blocks for her quilt and her piecing is perfection....unlike her nanna!!....

And she also had her very first day at school today......

Larry and I have had some special times together in the unpredictable weather with jumpers one day and sweltering the next.....but the smoke seems to have abated despite some fires still burning......