Happy happy....

Dianne on Like Minded Artist asked us "What's your definition of a perfect day?"
My answer was "Warm and sunny, so I can go out in the garden early.
David home, working in his workshop and calling me to look at what he is making. Then back into my workroom for a few hours of contented pottering with no deadlines.
A visit from another textile artist for an hour or so.
Then back out into the garden in the late afternoon.
Lazy dinner with friends at an Italian or Moroccan or French restaurant, or the local Thai."
I didn't quite achieve all that lately, but I have had some really great days! Yesterday, in particular, was very like my perfect day. New medication is making me a considerably happier camper, and I have been really storming along, in the garden and in the workroom. My veggie patch is almost cleared after a year's disuse due to the water restrictions. I left it a little late in the day to photograph it, sorry!


The quilt for my son Ben and daughter-in-law Lee is to top stage. I'd like to pretend I just whipped this up this week, but to be truthful, it's taken me six years to get it this far! It is a very big quilt! Doesn't it look good on the bed David made for us?

And here is a little teaser of the fabric book pages for the Like Minded Artist swap, which are all almost finished. We had to make 14 pages for the swap, on a flower theme. They are due to be posted on Friday.

Nice Matters Award

I was really touched to receive this from Carol last week. It's a new friendship award started by Bella Enchanted. This award is for those bloggers who are nice people, good blogging friends and those who inspire warm friendships and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world.

I have to choose another seven people. I always find that hard because a lot of the really nice blog people I know have already been tagged, like Dianne Tonniece and Mags. Now I see why people often say "all those generous textile artists out there"!

I'd especially like to tag
Erica at Creative Dabbling

Nic at nicquiltz because her work always blows me away

Janine at magic happens

Lisa at Inspirations

Speaking of Lisa, she's having an exhibition in Sydney soon:


Her work is just fabulous (and award-winning!) so it's really worth going to have a look, if you are in Sydney.

Holes, full of secrets

Signs of spring - the jonquils are flowering
Isn't it annoying when you fall into a hole? I have done that this week. Not just creatively, but in every area of my life, things seem to be on hold. Waiting to start new meds, waiting for spring, waiting for the Assistant Gardener to have time to help clear the overgrown veggie patch, waiting for the garden supplies to come so I can do plant those tiny seeds and watch the miracle of life begin. One nice bit of waiting has been starting to plan our Europe trip next year. We have a rough outline of where we will be and when, and now we can start to flesh it out with what we will see and do.

Creatively, there's been a bit of waiting too. I've been working on quilt blocks, for later sharing. My quilt group is making friendship blocks this year - one for each person each month. No drama, there are only four of us in this group! But the blocks won't be revealed until our Christmas lunch in December, so I can't show them here. I'm also working on a couple of other secret projects, including the book pages for Like Minded Artists - my life is really full of secrets just now! So you'll just have to imagine me working busily at all these things I can't share just yet.

Oh, one bit of waiting has come to an end! The bread is calling me from the oven... mmm delicious!

What flower am I?

I am a Canna What Flower Are You?

"You stand up for what you believe in, even if it gets in the way of what other people think. You are proud of yourself and your accomplishments and you enjoy letting people know that."

I'm not sure this is me, really!

Quiet weekend

I haven't achieved very much in the workroom this weekend. Next Tuesday is David's birthday so we went out for lunch with his mum on Saturday to celebrate, and then on to Fagan Park, a big public park at Galston. I took lots of photos of interesting textures and shapes for future reference.

I have made a little progress on the scarf, which I'm told by Erica I should be calling a wrap or a shawl. It's 28in wide so I guess it's more than a scarf. Slowly, slowly....

I've also been painting. I wanted to try stitching, then painting, as I usually do things the other way around. I am playing around with images of Marguerite daisies for a swap. I tried a double and a single, free-motion stitched and then painted. This what they look like:
The single one and...
...the double one

They are rather uneven because I drew the shape with the machine needle. As an experiment, they were fairly successful and I learnt a lot, though the ones for the swap will look a little different. I also painted the background fabric for the swap pages, and a few other pieces that might or might not get used for the same swap.

Challenge quilts

OK, here are some others of the 2007 challenge group, posted with permission.
Maggie's "I wish I had a dog" quilt:

Lyn's quilt:

Robbie's quilt:

Kathryn's quilt:

Pennie's quilt:

Aren't they a clever bunch?

Pennie is currently setting up a blog for the past challenges, which you can visit at http://kambrachallenge.blogspot.com/ She's up to about 2004 now!

Those challenge pieces

So many people asked me about the challenge pieces that some of the members of the challenge have kindly allowed me to share their work here. Not all of them have blogs themselves and access to our photo files is limited to group members. Hopefully one day soon the group will have its own blog.

Most people in the group were less than thrilled with the fabrics chosen this year, and it was a real struggle for some to make anything at all!
Brenda's block, which she has promised to turn into a quilt by next year

Donna's stunning jacket....

And the back!

Michelle's amazing woven pieces, beautifully framed

Stephanie's vest....

...and the back.

Loz's trip around the world, with a clever map print on the back.


Stay tuned for more tomorrow!