We've been home for three weeks now, I've fully adjusted to Central Daylight Time, but I'm greatly missing Australia! Memories and images are all that remain of the whole five week experience. 

Here are pictures of a wonderful part of Victoria, Australia, the south coastline. The Great Ocean Road follows craggy cliffs and is nothing but beautiful vista after beautiful vista of gorgeous (impossible!) sandstone rock formations. The formations above are known as "The Twelve Apostles," though the crashing surf has reduced that number to eight.

 This one is "The Arch."

And how would you have felt to have been one of the two tourists who was stranded at the end of this formation - "The London Arch" (formerly known as "The London Bridge") - when it collapsed in 1990!? They had to be rescued by helicopter. In person, you can still see the walkway by which visitors reached the point.

Much like the US, numerous pull-off, parking areas invite tourists to stop and take in the scenery. When returning to the Great Ocean Road, drivers always saw this sign. 

Being the driver during our travels, I fully appreciated the reminder, and the gravity of the importance of following this traffic law...but it's not an easy thing for an American to do.

Potpourri

A couple quilt-y things are attracting my attention these days:

• Stitchin' Mission #17 classes are underway, so weekly lessons need thoughtful preparation and prayer. 
• Hand-applique continues to call me, like a siren-song, and I'm steadily making progress on pieces for the Snowflake Medallion quilt. But those 1 cm circles are driving me crazy! I'm needleturn appliqueing them, and have only 72 of them to do! (There must be a better way...)

But what makes those ga-jillion 1 cm circles bearable is that I fondly recall Australia because I'm using the sweet hexagon pin cushion made for me by my Aussie blogger friend, Di.

Thank you, Di.  I miss you. 

Tablecloth

I've been spending most of my quilt-y time listening to audiobooks on my MP3 player while hand-appliqueing. In between, other projects have taken priority.

Because neighbors came for dinner Friday evening, I thought it was time to have a nice tablecloth...well, one that actually fits the table.  I started with a tone-on-tone beige Robert Kaufman fabric, designed by Patrick Lose, called Mixmasters Satinesque. The fabric design is one I love because it looks like shimmering water. At 42", the fabric wasn't wide enough for my table, so I inserted a multi-colored, variable stripe. With burgundy and cream-colored dishes, this sets a nice-looking table.

Bloomin' Spring

This past week, spring definitely sprung. Trees, shrubs and flowers are impressing us with some beautiful colors, as well as lovely fragrances. The Snow Crab tree in front of our house has been magnificent, and when the wind picked up for a couple days, we had a veritable "blossom blizzard!"

In his teen years our son dubbed the Snow Crab, our "popcorn tree" and the name stuck. I guess you can see why.

In the backyard we've enjoyed this Prairie Fire Crab tree.

And my all-time spring favorite is lilacs. We have several bushes in our yard. But, I can't get enough of smelling them! When walking the dog, any lilacs near sidewalks are targets for my sniffer. Heavenly!

And speaking of the dog, Hogan looks fairly relaxed here, laying in our living room picture window. And I thought the saying was about the "dog days of summer."

Looks like spring is good for lazing about too.

Patchwork Inspiration

Now that I'm back in the groove at home, but very much missing Australia, it's a great comfort to in-my-mind revisit the sites and sounds (the birds!) that are so different when compared to Iowa. In Australia every day I saw and heard yellow-crested cockatoos - the most beautiful, but also the most screechingly loud, squawking birds! 

Yet a common denominator is patchwork! Doesn't a quilter see it in many things, at home and away?

On the left is a picture of the floor outside a tourist "I" center, in a Bendigo, Victoria historic building.

On the right is an example of the lovely sidewalk tile patterns Sydneysiders have from their front porches to the street.

How handy to simply look down and be inspired!

A Hand Work Tip

One reason I don't often do hand applique is because it's always a little off-putting to figure out what I need to set up my work area - good lighting is essential - and how to arrange all the tools, threads and pieces needed to do it. If you don't have a handy table beside or in front of you, it's easy to lose track of things.

After thoughtfully considering what I already have in my house that might work...inspiration! I found the perfect item for my handwork tools and supplies. It's a 13" X 20" white plastic serving tray with handle cut-outs.

I purchased it a few years ago at a Container Store in Texas, and we've been using it to carry food to the outdoor deck for summertime meals. But after giving it a go with my hand work, this will probably become a permanent part of my hand-applique paraphernalia. I like how it fits handily on my lap, and with its 1" deep sides, contains anything that might slide or roll away. I don't know how I previously managed without it.

I hope this is an idea that will help you organize your handwork too.