Aren't we lucky?

I’ve had a great weekend, socialising with like-minded people. All are people I’ve met through the Southern Cross Quilters list, the original and best of the Down Under quilting lists. That list has given me so much over the years, including some great friendships. We're so fortunate to live in a time when communication is so simple. I can chat to people across Australia and across the world, and share ideas and techniques so easily. But most of all, I can develop relationships with people who are interested in the same things as I am but don't happen to live in my backyard. Even after more than a decade on the net, it still blows me away!

First was the great unveiling of the challenge quilts. I ran out of time to turn mine into a quilt (is anyone surprised?) but I can finally show you the top.
I’m so pleased with how it’s turned out. (It actually isn't green at all, it's black red and cream, but it seems to have been a difficult quilt to photograph today.) We only had 1/8 metre of each fabric and it was very hard to buy more, but happily we could add whatever fabrics we liked to those original fabrics. I really love the way mine has turned out. I’m afraid there’s no publicly accessible link to show you what the other members of this challenge group did with the fabrics, so you'll just have to take my word for it that they were all incredibly different and very striking.

Then we celebrated the Significant Birthday of my friend Sharon with great enthusiasm. The strangest part of the evening was the way her quilting friends, from three different groups, all congregated on the one table. Quilters must just recognise one another as kindred spirits. (When do we get to the funny handshake?)

So I’ve been partying rather than stitching this weekend. It’s also been a time of rationalisation. I’ve finally recognised that a) things take twice as long as I anticipate and b) I can’t do everything I’d like to do. Simple, isn’t it? You’d wonder why it took so long for me to realise. So, in the second half of the year, I am cutting back on my expectations, and trying to focus on specific things I’d like to get finished. So I probably won’t be making as many postcards and small pieces, though I have remembered to incorporate some playtime into my schedule, something I’ve been conspicuously without for some months. We’ll see how that goes!

Coming up from under

I’ve been a little swamped by life this month. Happily, the computer is back up and running sweetly, and I can show you the little I’ve achieved this month.

First, the quilt I can’t show you is a finished top. I thought, for all of about five seconds, of pinning it for quilting, but then I calculated I had about two hours this week to devote to quilting it, and the madness passed. I will show you a photo after the unveiling next Sunday.

Looking back over the years I’ve been doing this quilt challenge has made me consider yet again how effectively (or not) I work. I started doing these challenges in 2000, so this is the eighth year for me (the original pair of challengers have done nine). So far the tally is four finished items and four unfinished, on an alternating basis. So, it suggests I really only have one finished quilting project in me every two years! Maybe I ought to do the challenge just every second year?

However, more cheerfully, I have finished some projects! Remember the yarn I showed you a photo of back in June? Well here it is as a jumper. I still love the colour! Shame about the model but one can’t have everything!

Not only that but I have finished the jacket I cut out in February as an autumn garment. Well it will be great for spring! It goes deliciously with a lot of colours I wear – burgundy, pink, cocoa. It wasn’t difficult to make, but it kept getting pushed aside. I’m so pleased at how well the stripes matched, thanks to very good instructions in Power Sewing Step by Step, by Sandra Betzina. My next plan is to make some winter pants. I’ve drafted a pattern from scratch this time, and plan to make a toile first, before I cut into my treasured wool yardage.

And do you remember that scarf design? I’ve begun stitching it, and this is what it looks like so far.
The shine is from the layer of Romeo onto which I traced my design. The scarf fabric is very soft, so I’ve had to hoop the design for stitching, which I really hate doing. But the results are worth it. The scarf was a free giveaway from the shopping centre on Mother’s Day 2006. I just know I’m going to love it so much better with this embellishment!

A sad absence...

.. of photos anyway. My computer is being reconstructed as we speak and this rather elderly laptop doesn't have the graphics capability to allow upload of photos. So you'll have to wait a little while to see what I've been up to.

I've not been entirely idle, though. More stitching has been done on Like Honey from the Rock, though there is still a daunting amount of stitching to do. I'm putting the third (and final) borders onto the Secret Quilt, which I'll photograph for you after the 21st, the day of the great unveiling. You can see the fabrics for the challenge on Rooruu's blog. I had hoped to have it finished completely but I don't think I'll have it quilted in a fortnight. Well, we'll see.

The scarf motif I showed you before has been traced onto Romeo and one end has been pinned ready for stitch. I might start that this afternoon. I've also just begun a stitched piece for the DBDU monthly challenge, which is Dream Landscapes. I'm actually cheating a bit as it's one of the images I printed when I was doing the Forest postcard, but I printed it back them because I knew I would want to stitch it sometime soon. I haven't given a lot of thought to the Like Minded Threads challenges this month - there are a lot of deadlines this month! I'd really like to do something for them this month. As always, there's more ideas than time!

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/

An experiment in layers

Before the Walls of Rome 8inx 10in
This weekend, I finished a challenge for Design Bytes Down Under that I've been playing around with for a few weeks. It's called Before the Walls of Rome and it's based on photos we took of the ancient walls surrounding Rome. It always intrigues me that so much history has taken place there. Enemies have camped before the walls of Rome from the late Roman Republic right through until gunpowder made city walls redundant. The images of the walls taken from various stages of Roman history are superimposed over each other, with traces of the past showing through. I wanted to work with sheers, and see how I could suggest shapes while playing with the layers. I'm not 100% happy with it but it's an idea I think I'll want to revisit.

Back to the Honey

I finally had a bit of time over the weekend to get back to Like Honey from the Rock. I know I'd make heaps more progress if I just focused on one thing, but that isn't how it works around here! I stitched a lot of the lighter purple foreground, which is bringing the whole thing more towards purple, as I planned. I'm very happy with how it's going, though I have considerably widened the range of thread colours I own, in the course of making it!

I also did some drawing this morning. I wanted to experiment with drawing directly onto the computer. I really like how this turned out.

Of course I should have been doing something else. Sigh.

Beautiful postcards

These postcards arrived today from Carol today. Aren't they absolutely gorgeous? She is so clever. If you haven't been to see her work, I really urge you to have a look. She makes such beautiful things and she is so generous with her skills.


Looking at these works, made on the other side of the planet by someone I've never met in person, I can't help but think how lucky we are to have this medium to communicate about our work. I've "met" so many wonderful warm talented people, who are so generous with their skills and talents. It just blows me away.