The Painted House

We just finished having our weatherboard house painted outside and can sit back and enjoy now! It went from dark cream (yellow!) and blue trim to the new pale grey walls with dark grey trim and white round the windows ... very fresh and different.

We also had the front porch redone (minus about 2 cubic metres of concrete now) and replaced with a deck, and the back deck resurfaced to match, in merbau. It's still "curing" and will be oiled when ready and we will get a sail made for the front.

Australian Quilt Convention

I visited the AQC on the last day, Sunday, and it was nice to see all the quilts on display as well as browse the shops to see what might be new, though reading in blog land leaves less to be discovered this way. I like to see the Best of the Best and Challenge quilts where many quilters interpreted the same theme so differently. The Beneath the Southern Sky exhibition was very interesting with many techniques showcased. I especially liked this NZ one which reminded me of the Reg Mombasa style.

The selection of Japanese Cotton Poem quilts also had a number of variations on the log cabin block used in their construction:

 Diamonds:

 Squares:

 Rectangles around a diamond:

I did a Make and Take class with Lisa Walton where we carved a simple design on an Ezy Carve stamp and printed or rubbed onto a fat quarter of hand dyed fabric, using metallic paint, shiva sticks and oil crayons. it was quick and effective. I am going to embellish mine with stitching and make into a cushion I think.

Easter 3-Days Carnival

Based in Stanthorpe this year, the carnival was a lot of fun. Many club members travelled up from Melbourne and all the states were represented amongst the 700 plus competitors. There were 20 ladies in my age class! My son hurt his foot and had to withdraw but I managed to finish all of my three events and came in 9/20 overall. Unfortunately I had one bad "leg" on each of the first and third days but ran cleanly on the second. The conditions were also too hot for me at 24-26 degrees! Someone forgot to throw the cool climate autumn switch ... The burrs and grass seeds that we all picked up on shoes, socks and clothing made for interesting discussion and heads down under the tents when we finished. Will the graziers have a very mixed bunch of weeds spring up in the assembly areas next Spring?

The terrain with plenty of granite rocks was scenic but tricky to navigate for some. I actually preferred the spur-gully on the middle day, that many found vague and challenging. Luckily my course didn't take me near the lantana that many were cursing.

Philippa "The Legend" L-C won our age group by being consistent the whole three days. Well done!!

"Family Reunion"

My family missed seeing our son at Christmas except via Skype as he was in Canada on a school exchange having a ball! So we decided to meet in Stanthorpe roughly halfway between Brisbane and Glen Innes as the Easter Orienteering Championships were being held around there this year.  It was a lovely weekend together and the weather warm and nights mild, though a bit hot for running round in the bush.

We sampled some local wines, and the delicious strawberries, had a very nice Italian buffet at Anna's restaurant and took in the view from the lookout and the three orienteering sites at Applethorpe, Dalveen and near Pratten via Warwick. We stayed together in a large house ("Bonaways") on a big block in town and it worked out well. It was big enough for the bike, totem tennis and remote controlled cars!

Flower and Garden Show

I had a short visit to the annual Melbourne Flower and Garden Show in between shopping for children's birthday gifts and preparations for going to NSW and Qld in the school holidays for  family visits and orienteering.

I wanted to get some tube stock plants for our soon to be revamped front and side gardens. The backyard side garden has become very shady since the neighbour's hedge is now very tall and needs more shade loving plants. The front is to be redone with natives.

It was warm day and crowded as usual and gardeners walk even more slowly and erratically than quilters ... not good when you're in a hurry!

I enjoyed seeing my favourite tulips and some of the display gardens were great. Metal artworks seemed to be popular this year.