Tiptoe Through The Tulips

September is a wonderful time to visit Bendigo.  Each year The City of Greater Bendigo's Park & Natural Reserves team presents a beautiful tulip display in the Conservatory Gardens (near Rosalind Park) along Pall Mall.   

The display features more than 30,000 tulips in an assortment of colours, sizes and blooming times. Entry is free to all. 

Here are my photos:

Me in front of the conservatory

a rose among the tulips

My Daddy & I

Me & Mum

Visitors are encouraged to tag their Instagram photos with the hashtag #BendigoTulips

Whilst we were there we had a quick look at the "Felted Forest" exhibition which was set up inside the conservatory for the school holidays.  The Felted Forest is a colourful wonderland of animals, bugs, plants and flowers mostly made from hand felted wool.  Created by Mary Hoare.

And as we walked up to the Visitor Information Centre I enjoyed playing tourist & snapped a few more photos:

Quilting For A Cause

A lot has been happening behind the scenes lately and I confess that my poor blog has been a bit neglected as of late as I have been madly trying to catch up, finishing off my swaps and making thank you gifts, wrapping up round one of Hexie Down Under, preparing to launch round 2 of Hexie Down Under, Swap Mama admin work, and other such things.

In the interim I thought that I would share a few things which I have recently been involved with as a few have asked me for further details:

Quilt Blocks to Heal Violence

I saw these quilt blocks popping up on Instagram and knew that I wanted to help out.  Domestic Violence is a sad reality in life and something that unfortunately I know about all too well.  

Jackie Gillies @jackiegillies has requested that donations of "Tic Tac Toe" quilt blocks be sent to her so that she can make some quilts to donate towards a Domestic Violence Refuge.  She has requested a bright centre cross and low volume background fabrics.  Block donations will be accepted by Jackie until the end of October.  Quilt blocks can be mailed to:

Quilt Blocks To Heal Violence, 

7 Barton St, 

West Footscray, 

Victoria, Australia 3012.

Further details can be found on Angie (Gnome Angel)'s blog.

#QuiltBlocksToHealViolence

Jackie's idea of quilt layout

My first block

Mr second block

My third block

My three blocks

Zombie Hug Quilt

Another sad reality of life is that tragedies happen.  Leandra's @thezombiequilter daughter was tragically killed in a recent motorcycle accident.  Her friend Kristy @kgdcraftermath is organising a special quilt to be made up of 10.5" and 15.5"x 5.5" blocks.  If you would like to contribute, please go to: 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1EBDWzEboQ5WB1G-yuR5whlziJ127Sxgr1CK95O8cHwk/viewform?c=0&w=1

Kristy will then contact you directly with further details. She will be accepting contributions until 30 October 2015.

The Instagram hashtag is #ZombieHugQuilt

#ZombieHugQuilt

My contribution is a 10.5" block of a lion.  Pattern is by @QuietPlay 

Hexies for Healing

Carrie of @gotchacoveredquilting has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and has asked if people could send her hexie flowers so that she "has something to work on to help me stay grounded as I prepare myself mentally and physically for what's to come, and I want something to work on while I'm recovering...something that represents healing, strength and community."

She has requested 1" hexies sewn into a hexie flower made with bright, modern fabrics (no colour preference), with a white inside hexie that has your IG name and location and anything else you want to write.

Hexie flowers can be posted to:

Carrie Hanson

3480 Sitio Baya

Carlsbad CA 92009

United States of America

The Instagram hashtag is #HexiesForHealing

Mine are cut out and are currently sitting in my stitching pile.  I have selected some bright Kaffe Fassett prints for her.

#HexiesForHealing

Hexie Down Under

You may remember back in June that Isabella and I started up Hexie Down Under - an Australian based swap for hexie lovers.

Members were divided into manageable groups and were to make 2 hexie flowers per member of their allocated group in that person's requested colour scheme.  They have until 30 September to complete all the ones on their assigned list.

Thankfully I had mine all cut out and ready to make because the week that Gemma died I was not able to cope doing anything other than sew hexies together.

These are the ones that I made for my group - the Thread Baster's Group:

All cut out and hexies made - ready to be sewn together

My hexie making assembly line

Erin's hexies

Margaret's hexies

Michelle's hexies

Rebecca's hexies

Nadine's hexies

Jane's hexies

Tracey's hexies

Julie's hexies

Jenn's hexies

Ann's hexies

Stephanie's hexies

Helen's hexies

Rosemary's hexies

Selina's hexies

Lisa's hexies

Michele's hexies

It was so easy that even Snowy & Mr Greeny wanted to get involved!

For my own hexies I have requested orange.  As soon as I have received all of them I will post photos.

This swap has been so popular that Isabella and I have decided that we will host another round as soon as this round has been finalised.  I will notify all existing Hexie Down Under members when sign ups for round two are due to open & I will advertise it on Instagram.  New members will be welcome to join.