Postman

The postman came at 7:30 am today- with a much welcomed parcel.
I ordered these books several weeks ago, a discounted day at C&T publishing, shuold have ordered more really.
A nice day to sit and read and just absorb some new ideas, that is after I have done 2 hours of on line training for work- yuk, and you need 100% pass on some of the tests! no fun with some and no luck with one, oh dear, back to the sewing machine to unscramble my brain.
I am really happy with the machine quilting on my row by row quilt, yay!

Works in progress

I have been madly quilting! some pieces on a deadline for the October QQ show. Well at least thats what keeps me sewing at a frenetic pace at the moment!
Several pieces at different stages of completion.

 some fun with different machine quilting styles, and below




enchanted sea- a response to a paint chip challenge, that evoked some amazingly different and thoughtful responses! In fact mine was the boringest!

Some serious sewing needing to be done, but a deadline is good as it makes me work harder.
Number one son went overseas today for 3 months, so the house will be different, the food bill smaller and the laundry less!

State of the Art

Today marks the launch of the 2013  Queensland Quilters State of the Art Quilt exhibiton at Gallery 159, The Gap, this is a juried exhibition, juried by Lisa Walton this year.
There were many quilts entered from all over Queensland.
 I was lucky enough to have mine selected this year. It is called Organic Triadic, it is a real unadulterated quilt, bright colours and amoebic like shapes that are really organic. The background fabric is by Lorriane Carthew, and I have free motion machine quilted the whole quilt. It was fun to make and appeals to the simplicity of quilt design.
There are many other quilts, check out the SOTA and 2QAQ ( Queensland Quilters Art Quilts ) link http://www.qldquilters.com/groups.html for a list of exhibition venues around the state.

close up

Worth the effort

I have been making a Where is the Green Sheep quilt for a friends son. It is based on the book by Mem Fox and is  a delightful read, as are all of her childrens books.
It stared with some rough sketches and turned into a fun and lively quilt. My husband and children all enjoyed looking at it and making suggestions- I am only sorry that we couldn't put all the sheep in the book on the quilt.

It is just as easy to make a good quality quilt as a poor quality quilt. Seams must meet, corners square and threads finished off securely.
This quilt was an absolute delight to make, and the recipient will surely enjoy it. I know his father was a little touched at 5am his morning when I presented it to him! (we were at work).

clown sheep

Moon sheep- this is the label on the back

The whole quilt, minus the kite for the wind sheep, it did go on straight after the picture was taken! if you get the opportunity, have  a read of this fun book.