Challenge Winner Revealed

I said I would let you know the results of the Quilt Challenge.....due yesterday or was it the day before (I do wish the days would slow down just a tad!)....but as usual, life is hectic and I had other priorities (does anyone else suffer from this, or is it just me that suffers from poor time management?) I digress....

photo nicked from Apatchy Quilting blog - Smoke Signals from a Log Cabin

There were 14 entries into the quilt challenge and all entries were anonymous although there was a list of all entrants. There were three prizes to be won. The Judges Award, Commendation Award and Viewers Choice Award.

Oops I missed one

While the judge and Kay discussed how to choose a winning quilt, the rest of us ate, drank (although no alcoholic beverages were present) and were very Merry. We had a Secret Santa event and I picked out an adorable Money Box.....just look at her taking pride of place in my sewing room and collecting coins so I can go out and add to my stash!

Then we had a visit from Santa's Angel (really Kaye's granddaughter in disguise.....shhh) who handed out gifts to all of us for being so good at stitching throughout the year......we all got a project folder! Kaye is really the MOST generous person ever.  Throughout the year she attends different craft fairs with her shop but I really think she mostly does shopping as she always buys Christmas Presents there for us girls.....34 of us were at the Party but there were presents for those who couldn't attend too.  This is what I got

A gorgeous teatowel (how will I bring myself to use it?) and ribbon winders

Then it was time for door prizes (3 to be won) and guess what? I won one!

pattern, hexagon template and hexagon precuts

Finally it was time to announce the winners of the Challenge. The Highly Commended prize went to the lady who was sat to my left who also won the 3rd Door prize - no kidding!

Her inspiration for this quilt was an art piece in her holiday unit in Mildura.

First Prize went to the lady who was sat on my right and who also won the first Door prize! Do you see a trend here?

This quilt is reminiscent of family holidays spent camping at rain forests. There was only one winner left to announce.....the Viewers Choice and the winning quilt got more than double the number of votes than any other!!! WOW!  Since you have already had plenty of pictures of this quilt......yes it was me!  here is the label on the back.

and here is my certificate which I recieved along with a $50 gift voucher and a sewing basket.

Lastly, I have to show you the 14th quilt which was made for the challenge although this one is not allowed to enter as it belongs to Kaye and thank goodness for that as she would of been the all round winner. Although not visible in the photo, the detail is amazing.

inspired by her visit to Time Square

 

Challenge Accepted

Some of you are probably wondering where on earth I have disappeared to so apologies for falling off the radar but I have been ever so busy. Some events are too personal to discuss on a public forum and are not happy events, others were extended family committments and much happier moments.....my husbands niece got engaged so a trip to Melbourne was in order. Miss M and I went a day earlier and enjoyed a full day exploring the city and surrounds.

Beach huts at Brighton Beach, Victoria

Sticking to the beach theme, the other big thing that has kept me head down, tail up and occupied for a couple of weeks has been the Apatchy Quilt Challenge for 2013.  The theme was "Holiday" and even though, as you would of read recently, I have had some amazing holidays in the UK, Paris and quite a number of other places in my life time, but I opted for something a little closer to home and holiday times spent with my little family at the Beach.

I got the inspiration from a birthday card my hubby received from his sister for his birthday back in October. I just loved the bright coloured flip flops and thought I could somehow use them in a quilt.

 My first idea was to just do appliqued blocks with the flip flops and then I started to think about building a beach scene with the flip flops representing the different members of my family.

An idea was born and I started to build the layers of my beach scene.

It took me longer than expected to applique all five pairs of flip flops on to the foreground of the beach and with a week and a half to go I thought "no problem" because even though I had a weekend in Melbourne to get through, I had 3 whole days the following week before the deadline to get it finished.

And that is when the panic started to set in.  I was called into work on Wednesday (day 1 of planning to get quilt finished), Thursday, I was suffering from exhaustion and spent the day in bed - asleep! (there goes day 2) which left Friday! 

I got up early and put on the air conditioner and got stuck into the idea of having to finish it from sewing on borders to quilting and binding in one day......tall order, I know.

close up of my quilting of the sand

close up of the quilting for the wave foam

at 3:00pm, I thought I was doing well.......HA!

I stayed up until 1:30am to finish sewing on the binding and required hanging sleeve.  Up again at 6 to create and attach a label and by 10am, I was off to the quilt show.  All applicants are annonymous so it was lovely to stand close and listen to people discuss my efforts. And here it is

Tomorrow I will tell you the results and share the other quilts with you.......hope you can wait that long!


 

Exploring London Town

Only a few days left. Red was meeting up with his special friend again so I had to decide what I was going to do for the day. I had thoughts of visiting Madame Taussards or perhaps the Zoo and since they are not too far from each other, maybe even both. Grabbing my camera and extra lenses, I made my way to Euston Square Tube Station.

Running down the steps at the station, I felt something snap in my calf and "OUCH" it was painful.  Struggling to walk, I limped to catch the train and got off at Baker Street close to Madame Taussards.   MT's would have to do.  Was no way I could walk to the Zoo with this calf.

Expecting crowds queuing up outside, I was surprised to walk straight into the foyer. But the queue from here was longer than I expected and after waiting about 20mins and thinking I was almost in, I passed a sign that stated it was another 1 hour queue from that point. I don't think so! Just to look at a bunch of "dummies"?  Time to re-evaluate my day exploring.  Can't walk far, have a whole day to kill..........how about an open top on/off bus tour! And there was a stop just outside MT's.

So that is what I did.  I tried to get off the bus at Oxford Street (can't remember why) but the leg was not doing so well and I realised that going up stairs was much easier than going down and I missed the stop so I sat up top and snapped away with my camera, listening to the commentry and enjoying the breeze.

Here is an interesting use of old London Taxis adorning the facade of an Oxford Street shop.

 I really wamted to get off somewhere so when we reached the bridge crossing the Thames near Big Ben I decided to get off.  Ready, Getset, tackle those bus steps.

for a less than perfect panoramic photo of Parliament House.

Wondering why those trees have blue trunks? It was in celebration of the birth of Prince George.

Back on the bus and continuing my journey until we reached Hyde Park and I dedided to get off here to find a spot of lunch. This turned out to be a quick shop at Sainsbury's for a picnic sandwich enjoyed under the trees at Hyde park with a friend or two who enjoyed sharing my crusts.

Before catching the bus again I took a walk to nearby Marble Arch for some photos of the monuments there. There were a couple of dogs paddling in the fountain but by the time I hobbled over there, they were being dried off.

Back on the bus I was able to snap a few pictures of some famous landmarks as we drove by (You may know them) from L to R:

• An old, quaint little pub, The George, and, like many others, apparantly often frequented by Charles Dickens

• St Paul's Cathedral from a different angle

• London's latest and greatest....The Shard.

I actually stayed on the bus for two rounds of the circuit and on the second round I got off at Trafalga
Square to take some photos of Nelson's column with its Lions keeping guard and the fountain. 

 I wanted to walk down to the Mews from here to see the Horseguards but by the time I got there they were done for the day.  Oh well, best catch the bus again.  I wanted to take photos of one last thing before catching the train from Embankement back to my hotel.

Cleopatra's Needle and the bronze sphinx statues

 .
 I never realised before that this monument was damaged by shrapnel from the a bomb blitz in the first world war.

Well despite the trouble I had with my calf today, I had a wonderful time exploring the sites around London. A great way to see so much without doing too much walking.

October turns Pink

October was Breast Cancer Awareness month

Every year at work, we have a bake sale to raise money for this event amongst our staff.  This year I made White Chocolate Cherry Blondie and Coconut Ice.

If I make the coconut Ice next year, I think I will cut them smaller.

I also donated two of my "manipulated" photos to the cause.  Here they are with my DJ special edition Teddy.

These are my own photos which I have manipulated to appear like art work. Roses above, tulips below.

I am still to find out who won the pictures but the cake sale was a huge success and the proceeds were donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.  We are all very supportive of our store's efforts to raise money, especially since two of our collegues passed away from breast cancer over the last year but even happier to report that two others are on their way to remission.

Baked goodies for sale and awareness literature in the staff room.