Rhapsody in Blues

Rhapsody in Blues is the theme for the ATASDA display at the Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair at Glebe Island in June. Six of the members of Fibrecircle are creating a collaborative work for this stand, shortly to be unveiled over on the Fibrecircle blog. This is my section of this larger work...

This is rather deceptive of me, because the main work looks nothing like this! Well, you'll see in a few days, when it's assembled for display and I put a photo over on that blog!

And what did I buy at the show?

Actually, I didn't buy a huge amount. As everyone who knows me will attest, I have been saying for years, "I have an obscene amount of fabric and I don't need any more!" If I begin making quilts now and continue 24 hours a day until I fall off my perch, it will still be a case of "St Peter, don't you call me, 'coz I can't go". Despite that, fabric has a way of wandering into my life uninvited...

I did buy these gorgeous silk sheets, all ready to go through my printer, from Lynne at Batik Oetoro. They don't count as fabric, do they? Perched on top is one of the little Ezy-Carve printing blocks. I bought a large one of these from Lynne some months ago but it's being saved for Something Special. So I bought a small one just so I can have a go at using this medium. You know I love making stamps to use in my textile work - you can see some of the latest, made from cheap erasers, on the Fibrecircle site.

I also bought an Embellish-Knit, one of those gadgets that make French knitting at a mile a minute, instead of laboriously stitch by stitch. So you can expect to see French-knitted embellishments on everything I make in the foreseeable future. I remember making French knitting with a wooden cotton reel with four nails hammered into it, a pin and some of my mother's leftover knitting yarn. Times have certainly changed.. A big thank you here to Prudence Mapstone, from whose stall I bought this little beauty. I also bought the reprint of her book, Freeform, and when she heard it was for the ATASDA library, she gave us a very generous discount. Thank you so much, Prudence, it's very much appreciated!

Of course I haven't mentioned the fabulous Indian wooden print blocks that I bought from Batik Oetoro a week ago. But that wasn't at the show, so they don't count, do they?

Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair

I've had a great couple of days at the Craft and Quilt fair at Darling Harbour. The quilt show is fantastic - so many really clever and creative quilts on display. Not only are there 390 quilts in the Quilters' Guild show this year, but there are also special displays of the Bernina Challenge quilts, the Down Under Quilts calendar Challenge, the AQC challenge quilts, a collection of small works from the OzQuilt Network, the Quilters' Guild challenge quilts and The Best of the Best - the quilts that have won in each state show in the past year. My favourites were the two by Jenny Bowker, one in the Best of the Best (it won at the ACT show) and one in the Bernina quilts, (you can see it on her blog here) and this one by Helen Godden, this year's featured artist, which you can see here in her Pennie which won FIRST PRIZE in the miniatures section. (And this from a woman who once declared she was never going to exhibit anything!) Way to go, Pennie darling! See, we were right, you *should* have been exhibiting all those other marvellous quilts!

Sydney Quilt Show

I spent two days last week at the Sydney Quilt Show, and I think my brain is in overload. So many incredible quilts! I was blown away by the quality of the work. There were spectacular quilts that did not win a single prize, that in past years would have been a sure thing. I scribbled notes all over my program - clever ideas I'd like to try out, interesting approaches that I admired. And I was thrilled to see my friends Lisa Walton and Nic Bridges among the prizewinners. Fantastic work, girls!
You can see the winners at http://www.quiltersguildnsw.com/QS2007/