The Heart, the Soul, the Centre...

(Taken on Anzac Hills at sunset)

Today I want to post about a place that is near and dear to my heart... Alice Springs

For me, my life began when I moved to this quirky town in the middle of the Central Australian desert.  So what bought me to this little town in the middle of nowhere?  

 (Railway Station, Alice Springs at the Ghan's 80th Birthday Celebration)

A holiday with two friends from uni, Jeana and Christian. They're working holiday to Thailand was cancelled and needed to change they're plans.  They hadn't seen anything other than Sydney, so I casually suggested they needed to see the Northern Territory.  Also I thought I'd accompany them.  This led to a fantastic two week trip to Alice Springs, Uluru, Darwin, and almost everything in between. 

 (What memories!  December 2008.  Me, Jeana, and Christian)

It was after a three day group to to Uluru, Kata Tjuta, and Kings Canyon, that I was sitting at a fantastic popular hangout, Red Dog Cafe on Todd Mall, writing in my travel journal, and I was taking in the sun, the cool breeze, smelling the dry air, watching locals and tourists walking past, and I thought, 'I want to live here.  I can see myself living here'. 

 (Coffee at Red Dog Cafe, Todd Mall)

After the trip to Darwin, I stayed with family in Tennant Creek, and abandoned the plan to go back to uni and started looking for a job in Alice Springs.  Now there is a saying amongst locals, if you can't find a job in Alice Springs, there is something wrong with you.  However from Tennant Creek it was hard.  So I took a gamble, stayed in a hostel and started looking for work.  I did after two weeks in a beautiful aboriginal art gallery, Mbantua.

(Sunrise balloon ride!)

Now it's a story you hear again, and again.  Basically people visit Alice Springs for a few days and fall under its spell and decide to extend their stay.  Some never leave.  I did but left after two and a half years.    I never felt bad for leaving.  There was no hole in my heart.  However now I do miss Alice Springs like crazy.  Especially the people.  I can't believe how many amazing people I've met living in that town.  I don't just mean locals.  I have so many friends that I've met in Alice Springs who live overseas.  Especially the UK.  

 (Autumn.  Taken outside the Historical Hartley Street School)

We don't know what it is but Alice Springs is special.  Either you hate it and never return or like most people, you fall in love with the place.  As I said, there is something a bout the place.  

(Loved leaving work at 6pm, you'd come out and find a beautiful sunset)

All I can say is if you live in Australia, go visit Alice Springs.  If you live overseas and you're coming to Australia, don't rule out the Northern Territory as a 'must see'.  You won't be sorry if you stop for a visit.

HST Block of the Month

I've decided to partake in the Half Square Traingle Block of the Month by Jeni at In Color Order.  I love half square triangles so this BOM is perfect for me.  Even better, my mum is partaking too :-)  We started two months late but we have caught up and I can't wait for the April block.  We're having so much fun.  At the recent Craft expo in Brisbane we bought two fat quarters packs of 5 for $30!  So we're using the fabric from the packs for this project.  Our colours are close but mum is using a grey as her background and I'm using white.  Now, to photos....

January Block 1 - Sawtooth Star

 February Block 2 - Flying Geese

March Block 3 - Anyone know the name?

I'm not sure if I really like my choice of fabric in this block.  But since they'll all be different, hopefully it won't be so bad once they're all together.

If you want to know more about the project you can follow the link below to Jeni's blog.

Happy Days!

Jeanne

Current Project

I can't really say that I have a current project, because I actually have a few.  But the WIP I want to mention today is this little beauty...

The fabrics are Kaffe Fassett.  I bought three fat eights at the craft show last weekend here in Brisbane and they cost me $2 each!!  Using a white muslin we had in the stash, I've whipped up this mini quilt.  I'm very happy with it.  Even my mum was very impressed.  I sent a photo to my boyfriend and he replied with, 'I love it.  As you know purple is a love hate or hate colour for me but this I love.'  Glad I've impressed him.  I spent all weekend trying to figure out what to do with the fabric and on Monday came up with the above design. You can't go wrong with half-square triangles.

There are still two points I need to fix but she is ready for basting.  I can't wait to get this finished and hang it in my room.  It's one of those quilts which you didn't really know what the outcome would be, but then you're absolutely shocked at the result.  I'm so happy!

There wasn't much of the fabric left over but there was a strip of each so I'm making a cover for my diary which will be revealed soon.

Happy Day!

Jeanne

Beginnings

 (Photo taken in Alice Springs NT, outside the old Hartley St School)

I have revamped my blog!  I've created a beautiful header, added fonts and colours I love, background images, and deleted old posts from four years ago.  I even have a new title, 'Purple Pin-wheels and Things'.  A few things you should know about me straight away; I love pin-wheels, chevrons and half-square triangle blocks and my favourite colour is purple, and I love photos.  This blog will be about my new life on a path to studying Medicine and my new found love of quilting. 

Happy Days!

Jeanne