Maribyrnong River

With my husband injuring himself training for the Sunset Series runs, and my brother getting a new job, I have lost my hiking buddies.  Luckily there are some great bike and walking trails near home, especially along the Maribyrnong River.  These photos are all taken within 5 kms of my home so I could walk here during lockdown.

This photo was taken in July so everyone is rugged up for winter, and shows the ferry tram cafe serving coffee to people out for a walk.  Not being a coffee drinker myself I don't get the appeal, but Melburnians are renowned for their love of coffee, and small speciality cafes and coffee stalls are common.  There is a little coffee cafe at the end of my street and on weekends you often see a socially distancing line up outside of people waiting for their caffeine hit.

Another picture of the Maribyrnong looking peaceful.

Here you can see the Maribyrnong as it snakes through suburbia.  I am lucky that there are these areas close to home where I can walk and feel like I am getting away from the city.   

This photo was taken just before sunset.  On the left you can see a track which is part of one of my regular walks.  In the gully is the river.

This is a lookout on one of my regular walks about 30 minutes walk from my home.  I don't often get out to see the sunrise, but this was after a hot night with a further 40 degree day forecast so I knew the chances of a spectacular sunrise was likely.  It was worth getting up before dawn to walk to the lookout on time to see it.  You can see the city of Melbourne in the background, and in the foreground is a former defence research site.  And on the right you get a glimpse of the Maribyrnong.

An old, and still used rail bridge over the Maribyrnong.

Not a picture of the Maribyrnong, but I thought this was cute.  Out walking along the streets I was amused to see three postie vehicles putt putting along.  The posties where I used to live on the other side of Melbourne would deliver the mail on a scooter.  Where I live now they have these mini all weather protective vehicles.  I asked my brother who used to be a postie why they might be travelling in this little convoy of three, and he said probably training.

Liberty and Embroidery

Judi made this gorgeous quilt for her daughter.  

It was quilted with an allover medium meander in the centre so it didn't distract from the embroidery, and an allover leaf pattern in the border so the quilting could be more of a feature. As I quilt freehand I switch between the two designs as I go. By having allover quilting the quilt is lovely and soft and will be beautiful on a bed to sleep under.

Judi's embroidery was exquisite and I enjoyed looking at each one as I was quilting it.

This one is my favourite.

Bears In My Garden

Sometimes, even after spending an inordinate amount of time working on a quilt, I am not happy with the result.  Sometimes it is because I am too close to it, and after a little time will change my mind.  Sometimes it doesn't turn out the way I had visioned, and I will never be happy with it.  This is an example of a quilt I worked on for months last year during lock down that I just don't like.

I like the piecing, but the quilting is too busy.  There needed to be some space between the quilting elements so they could shine.

You can see this more clearly on the back.  The quilting seems to blend together and everything looks flat.

If you compare it to the back of say Stars and Diamonds you can see the difference where the lines of unquilted space allowed you to see the details of the quilting.  This is what I needed to do with this quilt.  

After I finished the quilt I needed to soak it to get out the blue water erasable pen.  When I went to block it I noticed that one of the red fabrics had run.  I was so indifferent to the quilt I didn't care, and didn't even bother blocking it at this point.  A very different reaction to when a fabric ran in this quilt where I was devastated, but luckily it all turned out in the end. 

I am not sure what I plan to do with this quilt.  Maybe I will keep it as a teaching tool when I am next giving a lecture about machine quilting as an example of what not to do.