My FNSI and an Adventure

Friday started out a little differently for me....well, different to the stitching I was expecting to do all Friday for our Friday Night Sew In.

Mr B has been laid off his job due to the C-19 so has resorted to a business he has had sitting on the back burner......piloting.  No, not the 'up in the air' one but rather vehicle piloting (aka escorting, but that leads to a whole lot of other questions!!).  His car has all the flashing lights and signs to warn oncoming traffic that there is a wide/long load coming and that they need to get off the road.  His 'real' job, although fulltime is a a casual position and working on a property, that means he's down from work there when the wet season hits.   Last year with the Townsville floods, he was out of work for 5 months.   Our wet season this year wasn't much however this corona virus has taken a toll everywhere and they have told him they probably won't even be looking at getting him back till August at least, if at all this year!  So, lucky we don't have all our eggs in one basket as he has reacquainted himself with his other job-love and it's a good opportunity for us to spend time together as I'm his bookkeeper/media driver/business partner!

So Friday saw us up at 4 in the morning to drive 100 + kilometres to join our load, and boy was it a big one!  We, along with another pilot and 2 police wide load specialists, escorted a rather large bucket from a mining dump truck (those things are HUUUUUGE) that had been reconditioned from the engineering works in Bowen to its worksite at Sonoma mine. Then we were picking up another, in not such a good condition, and taking it back for a facelift.  All in all the journey was a 12 hour round trip what with waiting times (a crane used to remove the bucket broke and they had to organise others!)

Like I said....HUUUUUGE - 9 metres (or 29.5 feet) from side to side.  Needless to say, the road HAD to be cleared well in advance of this beast because there was definitely no room for anyone else on the road!  It was lucky to clear the posts on the side of the road as most of the way the bucket hung over the top of them.

So by they time we got home, I had a lovely hot shower and relaxed in front of the tv with my stitching, working on my next block from Love and Hugs from Australia Stitch-a-long Facebook group.  Have you seen them yet?  They're free and lovingly donated by a myriad of Australian Designers to help us get through this lockdown period.  I managed to get some of my block done before I collapsed in bed, but managed to finish it over Saturday before beginning the next one.

I've added a bit of wool felt applique to this block by Marg Low end employed a bit of 'creative licence' to the colouring and stitches I used as well....it's all in the fun of the stitch-a-long, seeing how each person has interpreted the block and made it their own.

This block is the one I'm currently working on by Robyn Welsh of Country Hart Designs.  You may have noticed the printing on the fabric below my hoop, the unstitched flowers and the stitching line around the 6 inch block?  This was an idea by one of the ladies in the group.  She had tried and suggested printing on fabric using our inkjet printers and I thought I'd give it a try.   I loved how it turned out so easily.  If you want to try too just using your inkjet printer and  some freezer paper,  I've included the Youtube video for you.  

If you would like to give it a go, the Freezer paper is available in your favourite quilt shops and Spotlight (in Australia) and I'm sure most quilting supply stores worldwide.  I have a large roll of the Reynolds brand which has lasted me 'forever' as you can reuse it a number of times.  I hope you give it a try. Let me know if you do and what your thoughts are on it.  I like how it makes stitching much more accurate as the stitching lines are 'true' and not how I've randomly traced them.

Off to organise dinner /tea (we always have that argument in our house...is it dinner or tea at nighttime?  Mr B says tea, but I've grown up with dinner.....bit like the chicken and the egg scenario!)

I hope you enjoyed our FNSI this month and make time to pop back HERE to catch up with the other ladies.  I'll be back in a day or so with some winners too!

xox Sugary sweet hugs :o)