Final OPAM For 2022 And Last One Ever!

 

Kandiwal Quilt

Ten Christmas Jewels

 

That's 11 finishes for December.

 

This is my final OPAM report as, like all good things, 

OPAM is coming to an end. I would like to thank 

Kris from Tag Along Teddies and previously 

Peg from Happy in Quilting for

 keeping us inspired over the years. 

I joined back in 2012 and 

have a total of 606 finishes that I documented

Hopefully I can keep myself inspired!

Christmas Jewels

 

I forgot to share these Christmas Jewels I made as gifts. 

I decided not to use Christmas fabric so they could 

be out all year round. Eight of them of made in Tilda 

and the other two in some fabric I had in my stash. 

The red one of the right is the original one I made 

from the Tilda Mystery Christmas Box 

by Kitty Rose Cottage back in March.

Merry Christmas 2022!

 

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas

from all of us here at MacDonald's Patch.

xxx

2022 Kimberley Outback Adventure (Part 10)

The Kandiwal kids and I worked on a little project.

First up, hand prints. Winston.

Shianne.

Cheeky little Kingsley.

Shanita.

Arnahm.

Scotty.

Carmen-Lee.

  Kimarnie was away visiting relatives so we made an extra 

block with Carmen-Lee's print as they were around the same age.

 We also got Pat to do her hand print. 

Pat is the Matriach of the community.

Jazzlyn painted a couple of blocks too. 

I sat with Jazzlyn and stitched while she painted.

 This is a Wandjina. It is a rain maker spirit in the north-west 

region of the Kimberley in Western Australia. 

A sewing machine was brought up from the community. 

I was very excited to see it was brand new and had never 

been out of the box. Unfortunately, it didn't work 

properly. It was doing, from what I could see and count, 

about 35-36 stitches per inch. I literally had to try pulling the 

fabric through from behind the foot and it was still an effort.

 

My plan was for everyone to sew one side of the sashing 

to their blocks. Due to the problems with the machine 

 this didn't happen. They all got to sew about an inch 

each so they could at least say they sewed some.

  

 

 

I persevered and got the blocks put together so they

could see what the hanging was going to look like.

  

I bought the wall hanging to finish it. My original plan was 

for the quilt to hang on the school wall. There was 

no space to hang it as the walls are covered with 

educational pictures and the kid's artwork. 

Also, it wouldn't mean anything to them. Paula is going to 

have it as a memory of the time she spent living there.

It was very exciting to have Jazzlyn arrive in 

Melbourne a couple of weeks ago. 

She is staying until the wet season is over.

Poor Jazzlyn has been freezing since she got here with the 

unusual cold weather Melbourne has been having.

At least it's starting to get warmer now!

A couple of Jazzlyn's paintings.

If you get a chance, have a look at this YouTube video 

of "Old Man on the Hill" by Al Mac. It is the story of the 

Kandiwal Community. It tells the story of Wilfred, 

the kid's great grandfather who walked the family 

back to country in the 1970s. 

 

At the beginning of the video, you see all the kids. 

The first little girl with the curly hair is Carmen-Lee. 

When we were there she had had her head shaved after

being hit by a rock and the bandage wouldn't stay on.

And that's a wrap! 

I hope you've enjoyed following along with our big adventure. 

It's going to be tough to beat this trip!

Last Friday Night Sew-In For 2022

Can you believe it's the last FNSI for 2022!

I decided I would start the prep work for a new pattern. 

Like I really needed a new project to work on! LOL! 

It is "Christmas Blessings" by Lisa of Fig 'n' Berry Creations.

All traced out and the freezer paper ironed on.

Ready to start cutting.

I managed to get some of it cut out before it was time for bed.

 

Thank you to Wendy of Sugarlane Designs 

for hosting us throughout the year. Special thanks to 

Dawn of Kitty Rose Cottage for sponsoring FNSI.

One cheeky elf lounging on the dining table!

2022 Kimberley Outback Adventure (Part 9)

We spent three days in Darwin. 

The first morning we did a Bombing of Darwin Cruise.

The commentary was fascinating. There is so much we 

were never taught in school about the bombing of Darwin.

We went into the WWII oil storage tunnels.

We visited the Darwin Military Museum.

These displays were under that huge gun.

There was a display of household items 

in Darwin homes at the time.

You can't go to Darwin and not go on a sunset cruise! 

Or so they say and I now agree with them.

 

 We enjoyed some lovely fresh prawns.....

  

and bubbles! A perfect way to end the day.

At the Mindil Beach Sunset Market. 

There was so many choices for dinner 

but it was seafood for us!

More seafood sitting on the beach watching the sunset!

Back to the market. It was such a great atmosphere.

We went to the Botanical Gardens and saw

 lots of flowers we've never seen before.

After nearly 5 weeks, I finally found some scones!

Our last night in Darwin. 

Of course we had to have seafood for dinner 

so we headed back to Stokes Hill Wharf.

After dinner, I dropped Noel, Ian and Paula off at their

 hotel and headed to the airport to catch a flight home. 

The three of them flew back to Kununurra the next morning to 

pick up Paula's car. They headed back to Broome to 

collect her caravan and then commenced the long drive back home. 

I flew home as we had the NOTYQ Quilt Show 

coming up and I was the convenor, so there was lots to do.

I hope you've enjoyed reading about our big adventure 

and I didn't bore you too much!

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

I've got one more post to come to share with you. 

It's the project I did with the kids at Kandiwal.