On Wednesday we will be driving down to Adelaide with my Dear Brother and Sister-In-Law; they have been here for a three week visit, and it's just flown by. They will be celebrating their 42nd wedding anniversary that day, and are shouting Mereth and I dinner at their favourite hotel. We'll stay the night, drop them at the airport the next day, and then hopefully see the latest Harry Potter movie before we come home. That's the plan, anyway.

Because we have to miss two days of work we thought we'd better work all through the weekend so we won't be behind in the quilt schedule. We had a quilting marathon on Saturday and Sunday, Millhouse ran non-stop. While one quilt was quilting we prepped backing and batting for the next, it was like a factory here! We got four finished, and a few more ready to load. They were all very big quilts, and it feels good to have them over and done with.

We had the DB and SIL over for tea on Saturday, chili with all the fixings, and then Mereth and I went back to the workroom and worked till about 2.30am. Dolly slept in her bed under the table, giving lots of sighs of disapproval that we were up so late. "Can we just go to bed Please!!"

Mereth slept over, and was up disgustingly early the next morning to start Millhouse stitching again. I'm just glad we don't work like that all the time. Dolly thinks we're nuts to spend so much time working that machine.

A little while ago I came to a painful decision, and cancelled my Judie Rothermel fabric club. I loved getting a FQ of every fabric she released, but honestly, do I need anymore? These are four drawers full of FQs and some associated yardage, and there are another 4 or 5 stacks in various other places. I decided that I have to make a dent in this lot before I join the club again, and I can just buy individual pieces as they are released.

This book of Mereth's has some lovely quilt photos, and I've had this quilt bookmarked for years.
The fabric mix is perfect for my Rothermels, so I spent Saturday night cutting 3 1/2" strips from my FQs. It was very satisfying to actually cut into them, and I just love how the fabrics look together. I can't wait to get started on this, but I'll be strong-willed and finish the ninepatches first. I love having a new project that inspires me to sew in every available moment, and this will be one. I might have to sneak some of these in as leader-enders when I finish the nine-patches.

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I'm in transit right now, staying with my nephew in Adelaide and getting on the plane to Sydney tomorrow. I'm teaching a slew of workshops at the Craft Expo, and I've been finalising notes and class samples and arranging things to run smoothly while I'm gone. I just hope I've thought of everything, and if I haven't, well tough.Yesterday I finished quilting these little wholecloth samples, and that was a lot of fun. I love patchwork, but there's something very satisfying about quilting plain fabric where the designs show up so well. I just love making these patterns and working out easy ways to stitch them. Even on Millhouse they can't be quilted all in one pass, the quilt has to be rolled on and the next bit done, and it's an art to make it all match up perfectly. Or as near as you can get.

Who could ever get tired of feathers? I just love how classical they look, and they suit so many types of quilt. They are such fun to work with.
On Saturday it was a glorious day, so we went off to Bowman's Park for an afternoon walk. It was the end of autumn, so we thought we had better get in some quality outings while the weather was good. We walked up by the quarry, and along the top pf the ridge to the lookout. I love these trees and spinifex grass, and the clear blue autumn sky. So Australian.The view from the lookout was wonderful, and towards the eastern ranges it looked like a watercolour landscape, all soft and delicate. It's well worth the climb up.
I tried to get photos of Dolly, but I only have about 20 blurred images as she galloped here and there at great speed. With no other puppies she had the full brunt of Bonnie's and Macca's attention, and it was a bit overwhelming; she spent a lot of time racing around with them bowling her over and both trying to play with her. Parents can be a bit like that.

She's growing up so quickly, I just hope in two weeks time she'll still remember me. It's a long time in puppy time. I know she's Mereth puppy, but it's the closest I'll get to owning a dog for quite a while. She's has my highest praise; she's as good as a cat.

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