Hubblebird's Quilt Blog

I'm starting to wonder why I ever started this project! A few favourites Finding the fabrics has been the most difficult thing as I don't want to use the same fabric twice. I started to get a bit bored with the fabrics at one stage, but luckily I managed to find another Aboriginal jelly roll at my local patchwork shop. A friend donated a half pack that she didn't want any more.  And, I'm grappling with cutting into some beautiful fabrics in order to fussy cut. I feel reluctant to 'destroy' them. But it's time to bite the bullet and add some variety to the quilt. Here's a word of warning. With this block I placed the black design on the outer edge of the hexie diamond.  I loved the look of that, but when I then paired it with a row of black hexies, this is what happened. Notice how the black on the inner border is bleeding into the black outer border?  That's destroyed the shape.  Talk about 'seeing red'.  *&%$ It...

You can unearth some gems at garage sales. Take the last one I went to a couple of months ago.  Usually I find that the best thing to do is to go without any hopes of finding anything that I will like.  That way, it's an even bigger surprise when I fall in love with something and have to have it. Garage sales are usually held on Saturday mornings where we live on the NSW Coast.  That happens to be the only morning in the whole week when my husband and I can spend some time together, since every other morning is taken up with some activity that keeps us apart.  It makes it hard for us to get a coffee and have a chat outside the property, so we always have a breakfast date at a favourite cafe on Saturday mornings. This particular morning a friend called to say she was at a fantastic sale where the vendor (a keen gardener and quilter) had a few things I might be interested in.  We quickly downed our coffees and bacon and egg rolls, and hot-footed it into to...

Like Michelle who is the author of 'From Bolt to Beauty' I love words. Here's hoping that her  initiative to fill the gap left by Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts (taking a step back from a weekly link party) takes off.  I send the same wish for success to Wendy from Wendy's Quilts and More . She is hosting a weekly link party too (Peacock Party) and I am keen to support her, especially since the finish (below) was only started after I read about her finished cushion a while ago. I liked it so much I bought Jen Kingwell's book so that I could try and make one myself. I'm not a prolific quilter, so my blog is about all sorts of things that interest me. I don't have an Instagram account either. I prefer reading about how someone has constructed something, who it is for, what it is for, where it will go - the whole shebang!  I mourn the loss of another (very quirky) blogger on the Isle of White (Little Island Quilting) who seems to have abandoned her bl...

Our avocado green and bilious brown bathroom is getting demolished. My husband (who loves bathing) wanted to get rid of the enormous spa bath and have a long, deep tub that he could lie down in. He is 6ft 2in, so that seemed like a reasonable request.  I, on the other hand, loathe bathing in a tub.  In fact, the quicker I can get in and out of a bathroom the better. Must come from sharing one bathroom with three males for most of my adult life - my morning shower before work had to be quick - but the truth is I don't linger in there because I have far better things to do with my time! If we'd known how costly it would be to renovate such a large bathroom we might have had second thoughts.  However, it has to be done and its best to get it over and done with for the next 20-odd years as we don't plan on moving out of this house unless it is feet first. This house was built more than 26 years ago, and back then there was no regulation about waterproofing in wet a...

That’s surplus flesh versus insufficient covering from swimsuits by the way, not that there is a surplus of swimsuits on sale here!  How is it that in a coastal town there is very little choice of retail outlets for swimwear?   Make that very little choice of swimwear for women over 50, and on the shall we say, cuddly side too. And, is there anything worse than trying on swimsuits in hot, humid conditions? In a surprising twist for this time of year, it is pouring with rain outside, which makes struggling to pull on swimsuits over damp and clammy flesh even more tiresome than it needs to be. This makes my head hot and sweaty which makes my hair (due to be cut and coloured tomorrow) even more limp than usual. Add in the cruel mirrors, which vary from store to store, and the size of change cubicle (miniscule in the surf shops for miniscule women) and I am more than a little hot and bothered. The shame comes from having put on 10kg since I went back to wo...

Friday was blisteringly hot here – around 37 degrees C – with low cloud and a lot of humidity. Sadly, no rain, but warm enough to reassure me that I am on the right track with my exercise program and a new tennis schedule for summer (and the dreaded bathing suit) which is just around the corner.  Thankfully, today was much cooler and it was great to get out onto the tennis court with the coach and a new group of ladies (in my age group) all keen to improve our tennis and our fitness levels. I had my first lesson with Brad (the coach) last week, and after explaining to him that my (almost) 60-year-old knees could not take too much twisting in tennis drill, I was very happy to have him say that he feels it is important to learn how to strike the ball properly so that we are less susceptible to injury if our bodies – particularly our legs and feet – are in the wrong position in the first place. Today we focussed on the backhand, and the importance of follow through in ...