Two-Way Radio

I have the most interesting husband. This is what he is preparing to install in my 20-year old Tarago (Toyota van). He is replacing the old 2-way with a new one. The speaker is one we already had. He's fitted two additional 'cigarette lighter' plugs for 12 volt accessories and will also fit the usb sockets in an unused panel on the dash. It will be interesting to see if we use all these plugs, but we'll be ready for action if the time comes.

Quilting

I'm quilting my I-Spy with straight-line utility quilting. I'm stitching either side of the seam lines in the sashing and want to extend that through the orange border. To mark the stitching lines I used the Hera Marker by Clover. The light crease in the fabric is enough to stitch with and it doesn't leave any permanent mark.

In addition to safety pins, I use these long straight pins to secure the line of stitching. These pins are long enough to use for both stitching lines. I hope to have more time in the next fews days to work on it.

My goal to finish is before the 11th when I want to pass the quilt on. It's totally achievable providing no storms, floods, fires, earthquakes, car explosions, leaking dishwashers, agitated washing machines and (insert your disaster of choice).

Eye-Spy

At my recent retreat, I finished the makings of this eye-spy quilt. I didn't have any wadding with me so had to wait to make the sandwich. Here is the backing taped to the floor.

Then the wadding.

I used pencil marks to help centre the quilt with the backing.

And here is the quilt ready for pin basting.

I've put over a hundred pins in and am taking a short break before grabbing my Kwik Klip to close them all. This quilt is for the two year old son of a dear friend.

Anzac Day

ANZAC was the term given to the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps soldiers who landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula (Turkey) early on the morning of 25 April 1915 during the First World War. ANZAC Day is a solemn day of remembrance, gratitude and national pride.

Perth War Memorial, King's Park, Western Australia

"Ode of Remembrance"

an extract from a poem written by Laurence Binyon.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

We must never forget the cost of our freedom.

Swanleigh Retreat

I went to the Swanleigh Retreat over the weekend and met up with my lovely quilting friends. We had large, well-lit rooms to work in with plenty of room for all our stuff.

My little friend Shaun came with me. He had a good look around at all the projects.

And of course there was lots of yummy food around.

And shopping too.

It was a really lovely weekend. I will be posting my work in a few days.
I hope your April is progressing nicely. 

Non-Quilty Projects

When I came to use my daughter's computer the other day, this is what I saw. She is a very interesting young woman. The bunny is now gone, and the Angry Bird wears the bell.

So the only sewing going on has been to make another tent pole bag. This time I boxed the bottom as the poles were bigger. It will be good to distribute the weight across two bags instead of the original one.

We've also been working on the car seat - some of the foam had perished so we cut away the old bit, shaped the new bit to closely match and then glued it in.

To repair the tear we trimmed the loose threads, drew the edges together then glued a patch to the back. We then weighted the whole thing with a brick. We used the baking paper so any excess glue wouldn't stick to the wrong thing. It worked really well.

Both seats are back in the van and looking good. Today we've been bleeding the brake lines and the clutch. Should be ready for a test drive soon. The van is 20 years old, but so worth keeping going. It's a Toyota Tarago and there's no reason it shouldn't last another 10 years or more. I have a quilting retreat next weekend, so hopefully will actually get something pretty under my needle.

As an aside, I've been trying to reduce the amount of time I spend on the computer. I'm trying to re-focus my thinking and improve my short-term memory and comprehension. I do believe that too much blog-hopping has been adding to the effects of Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.

Easter

"... just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father,

we too may live a new life." Romans 6:4b (NIV)

Easter

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 (NIV)

This and That

No quilty sewing going on at the moment. But I am torturing my sewing machine nonetheless by sewing this heavy-duty tarpaulin into tent pole bags. I've done one of two and believe me getting the needle and tension right was not fun. This is definitely one of those projects where close is good enough. I'll make the secong bag on Saturday as I will be home alone. My husband and my youngest daughter will be going driving so she can get enough hours in her logbook to get her license. She needs 25 and she's at 15. Of course she needs a zippy little car to do it in. She's worked hard to buy this little car, and we are glad she chose to get a new one. She's really looking forward to the freedom of not relying on public transport and Taxi Mum.

And because I simply don't have much to say lately, I will share with you a classic Australian snack: SAO biscuits with vegemite and cheese. Perfect with a cup of tea and also good for the occasional light lunch.

Blogger is being very funny - does Google really think they've improved it? Why try to tweak or fix something if it works the way people want it? I can't insert any links and it disappears my photos when I try to shift them. Can't wait to see what happens when I try to post. Hopefully you'll be reading this!