rain, glorious rain!

Well the rain has arrived today and it is most welcome too!
Since the fires last Sunday we have been living in a horrible haze all week, with unpleasant humidity to boot.
Today is the first day this week that you could actually see the clouds and the prospect of a clearing sky.
Some more rain would be wonderful but I am grateful for what has fallen so far. I wish we could send some North to the poor farmers who are desperate to have some 'liquid gold'.
The poor lawn in the backyard is barely existent and looks more like straw scattered on the dirt.

 A few weeks ago Hub and I went to a trash and treasure market and I kept my eyes open for some treasure. There were lots of tools, old school tools and it made me sad to think of who had treasured these tools and worked hard with them.
I found this gorgeous ruler that was begging me to take it home. It reminds me of my dad and I must admit I teared up when I found it. This one is special in it's own right as I think it is from the early 1900's and is made in Holland by 'Sybren'. It's previous owner has stamped their initials on the different sides. I am hoping that my friend Els in the Netherlands might shed a little light on this ruler if she sees this post.

 When I got home I showed No 3 son the ruler and he said he was sure that he had one of my Dad's old rulers in his tool box and sure enough he did. It was probably one of the last ones he used before he had to stop working. It may not look like much but to hold it is priceless. I can picture him with it.

Enough of that morbid stuff........Yes there has been some crafting happening as well...
The 1/2 square triangles and I have been spending some quality time together over a few nights this week but we had to have a break as trimming so many of them took a bit of a toll on my hands and arms.
I have trimmed down all the fig tree quilt ones and am about half way through the comma ones.
Don't they look lovely and tidy now...

While I was trimming away Hub came and sat down to watch and said "what's wrong aren't you doing hexagons any more?" Well who says they don't pay attention to my crafting endeavours.
This did spark an urge to seek out my neglected novelty hexies. The need for some new green stepping stones were holding up this project. So after some cutting and trimming there are heaps ready to go to keep this project moving for at least another few rows.

 One row was added to the top.....

Whenever I pull out these hexies it makes me want to go and get some more novelty fabrics  to make more.
I should have enough made already though to make it into a decent sized quilt.
So what else have I been up to?
Quilting!
I have nearly finished another row of quilting on my park avenue hexie quilt and quilted my 'Be mine' mini. It is still waiting for the binding so it didn't make the stand for Valentine's day. :(
I started quilting my table runner which is a Quilted Crow pattern.

A little experimental project has also joined the list of works in progress...
Stay Tuned for some progress on this. It may work out and it may not....The fun will be in trying. I am looking forward to working with some lovely wool. I love Paton's wool. My mum always used Patons wool for our jumpers. It has always been a little more expensive but always wears really well.

Well hopefully I haven't bored you to tears with such a long post.....

I am off to start some stitching. 

Next week is Mill Rose get together at Ballan!!! Can't wait to see all the wonderful girlies again. It seems like ages since the last one.

First I should pop out to enjoy some more of that rain, my little garden princess is and so is Coffee in the background!

Happy Stitching!

Marina