A Bit of Phillip's Island!

From the hot Australian Outback to the windy coastline of Phillip Island –

I’m still going through photos and making video collages. We saw SO MUCH STUFF!

My favorite part of all? Being outside in nature.

We had traveled on a day trip out of Melbourne to beautiful Phillip Island, a nature sanctuary with a beautiful coastline and incredible wildlife.

Home to the Little Penguins, idyllic beaches, captivating coastlines, unique wildlife, family fun activities and world-class events,

It really did feel like the edge of the world down here.

Check out that water color!

And I had some fun walking companions!

And yes – it was super windy, which is reflected in my little video montage. Sorry about that – nothing I could do about it. Besides, it gives you a bit of our full experience. Click to Play:

This was such a great way to spend my birthday!

From The Nobbies to Pyramid Point.

Phillip island has an amazing coastline.

And yes – there are wallabies!

(Little blurry – taken from the bus window.)

The sky at sunset – we were waiting for darkness to come…..bringing in the world’s smallest penguins!

All us is. In the wind. Waiting!

Cameras were not allowed but we did get a QR code to direct us to the gallery where photos were posted.

It’s important not to even take a cell photo without flash as the light from the screen can deter them from coming up on shore to feed their babies in the dunes.

Cute cute cute!

They come out of the ocean, right up on shore, run across the sand, up into the dunes to their burrows and you can hear the peep peep peep all around.

Here’s a YouTube vide. Click to Play:

These little guys are also known as fairy penguins measuring only 10” tall and weighing in at about 3 lbs at adulthood.
When we think of penguins, we instantly think black and white but these little guys tend to be Slate-blue, indigo-blue, or almost black head and upperparts, with a white chest.
To be honest – I couldn’t see anything very clearly other than silhouettes of clusters moving out of the water and on to the beach. My eyesight just isn’t good in low lighting like that kind of darkness. But I could hear them. And it was exciting!

Back home in reality – this is exciting too.

Even just a month away from hand quilting can allow quilting callouses to soften down, so I’m back to working on the hand quilting of my Abbeygate quilt.

I’ve turned another corner and am now working up the 3rd side….getting close to the time when I’ll be able to trim up the batting and backing margins and get the binding and sleeve on.

One round of evening stitching at a time will get me there!

This happened yesterday – did you see it?
If you haven’t started your Old Town yet – did you enter?
This time I even included the paint chips in the pattern. It’s ALL in there, even the printable paper piecing templates for the square-in-a-square star block centers, and the small flying geese for the pieced sashings.
And YES – there is introductory pricing for those who have been waiting to start their own Old Town when it was released in pattern format.
The price is already marked 25% off and is good through 2/17/25 at 11:30pm Eastern time. No coupon needed.
International customers: Please DO NOT USE THE BUY NOW BUTTON. It uses autofill to put in your mailing address. This causes a problem with international folks as I do not ship physical items internationally.
Instead – place the pattern in your shopping cart, and go to the cart directly to choose your payment option (Which does not use autofill) Things should work fine for you this way. You do not need a physical mailing address to receive a PDF file. Just your email.

You can also enter the Gift-Away on THAT POST.

Retreats start TOMORROW! Much to do today to get ready –

What are you up to?