Life goes on

Modern medical science has once again saved my father. His own Dad suffered from heart disease and for him there was no by-pass surgery, stents, etc. and he died at age 65. My Dad, who is now 79 years of age, (and his brother) have both been able to continue with a better quality of life after receiving this life-saving surgery more than once. This time around, my Dad has had another two stents (angioplasty surgery) insertered into blocked arteries and this has once again, given him another chance. We thank God. Unfortunately, because of the severity of his heart disease, there are ongoing problems with his weakened heart and lungs, but he remains positive.


Work on the quilting front of course has been at a standstill and now with Christmas looming there will be even less production no doubt. I have great aspirations for the New Year however. Look forward to practising my applique skills on the Toowoomba Quilters 2008 raffle quilt and one my "teachers" has given me some excellent instructions in a book by Elly Sienkiewicz entitled "Fancy Applique". The instructions are clear and precise and now I feel it is just practice. Thank you Caity.


The photo I am posting today is a post-card for a swap I participated in for the Queensland Quilters Picnic which was held back in May at a delightful little town called Peachester. Peachester is located in the hinterland of the beautiful Sunshine Coast and it is a tropical paradise. It was a lovely, memorable day, and in 2009 Toowoomba Quilters has been selected to hold the QQ Picnic. Very exciting!
The post card was to depict Australian Wildlife, and I chose the quintessential bird, the Budgerigar (budgie for short), and I called it "Boodiful Budgies". Budgies are more often than not bred and kept in captivity these days, but may be still seen in the wild. Domesticated birds come in all sorts of colours but the wild ones are mostly green/yellow. We don't see them around our area, but we have many other beautiful Australian birds and parrots visit us. Just wish we had the time to sit and look at them more often.
The birds were appliqued mostly on the sewing machine with a little hand embroidery and a little colouring using watercolour pencils. Next year, I would like to pursue more arty type quilting and sewing projects and my mind is racing with techniques on the list "to try".