Weekend at the beach

 The last few weeks have been really busy. I have been away or had a house full of visitors. So not much sewing got done. Lots of talking and eating (diet sure flew out the window) 
I did get to catch up on my mystery quilt, patiently waiting for the next step. For this quilt I'm very pleased with my self because I have used mostly older fabrics from my stash.

 Megan was raiding the cupboard again. This time she is making a cover for her new ipad. She is getting pretty clever with the things she is making. Hopefully a patchworker in the making.

I had a lovely weekend at the beach catching up with friends. Pity about the weather, it rained the whole time. It was Daphs birthday so we all went to Yeppoon to celebrate with her. We haven't been together for a few years. It was great to catch up. We had lots to talk about plus lots of stunning quilts for show & tell.

 Sylvia had the best show & tell. This lady has the most gorgeous quilts. All the ones she had to show us were all hand appliqued. Absolutely stunning, not a stitch out of place. I really do love Sylvia's work. You don't get to see it very often. She quietly works at home by her self & then one day she will surprise you with one of her master pieces.'

  Sylvia gives most of the treasures away to her family (wouldn't it be lovely to be in Sylvia's family)

 Helen with her show & tell. Helen has been busy making kids quilts.

  Lovely beach view from our motel room. It poured all weekend.

                                   Helen, Andrae, Daph & Sylvia.    Thanks for a great weekend Lady's

Just as I arrived home from Yeppoon I got a wonderful surprise with more visitors.
Sally and her sister Anna arrived for a few days. It was great to see them. When Sally & Pat left on there travels, she left me a big bag of velour fabric that I was supposed to make in to a coat for her. But it was pushed to the back of the list all the time. (sorry Sal)
One lazy day, Still in our PJ's at 10 we pulled the bag out & Sally started to put the coat together. I had to go of to work at 12 so Sally had a busy afternoon piecing all the bits. By time time I got home she had most of it done, just the lining to go.

  All finished and ready of the chilly winter weather ahead. Great coat from a bag of scraps.

Have a quilt on the machine ready to start quilting, so I had better go and get busy or another week will slip by with out any thing done.

Week at Sydney

 Megan & I had a week in Sydney with family. It was great to catch up with every one, my mum came up from Baan Baa to join us. We had the first few days with my cousin Dice & her family.
One day we had a trip to the mountains. It was cool, wet, & foggy. Even though it was so cold we still had a lovely day out. Not much sight seeing but lots of wonderful shops to check out.

 Found this lovely warm coffee shop to stop at for smoko. We all ordered Flower Pot scones. They were scrumptious.

 This is the curtion to the change room in a little boutiqu we found. It was made from lots of old fadrics, dollies, lace & fringing.

  The last few days of our holiday we went in to my Aunt Pam's. She lives in the city so it was very close to Dariling Hardour.
 Did I say that the Quilt Show was on while we were there? Of course I had to have a day there.
Not allowed to take photos so I can't show you anything. I had a very fast look around all the shops & stalls. First stop was Material Obsession to pick up Kathy's new book "Making Quilts...the promise of joy"  also had to stock up on a few copys for friends. The rest of the time I was looking at the quilts. So many fantastic quilts. I realy liked the Judy Hooworth display. Loved all the colour. It was too hard to pick a favourite, but they were all realy nice.


Pam took us to King Street shopping . It was full of second hand, antique, retro, & trendry shops. We had a great time (pity we were flying home, a ute would of been handy) Found a wonderful button shop with lots of ideas for the use of buttons besides putting them on your clothes.

A lot of the older shops had these lovely tiles at the entrance to the shops.

 Mum, Pam & I heading in to the city. It was cool & wet in Sydney for the whole of our holiday, the sun come out the day we had to fly home. We still had a great time.



Back home for a few days & then it was of to Springsure for my last class.  This class was a Quilt- as-you-go Table Runner
I had 5 do the class & the rest finished off what they had started in previous classes.
It is sad that it has all come to a end, I realy enjoyed teaching & catching up with the ladys at Springsure. They were a lot of fun & I got a lot of inspiration from the classes as well. 

                 Most of the lady's were doing the table runner

  Dale was working on a big quilt. She had 3 or 4 ways to put it together, this is the one she is going to go with. We all liked it best. It is a great way to use up a lot of your scraps.

 I have been busy doing some patching for myself, just put the boarders on Terri's quilt. It is ready to pin out & quilt. (To go in the pile with the other 4 I have to quilt) Also work on the Mystery I started with Laurene, only one more step to go. Will be exciting to see the end result.
I had better sign off  & go do a bit more sewing bye.

21st Quilt on the way

 I Have finely made my way back to Terri's quilt. It's been a while, last week I started the applique. Still a little more to do and then I can start the stitching. Lot of work ahead. Kay (Terri's mum) saw it up on the design wall and she gave it the thumbs up.

I had the week end at Dalby teaching my "Circle Play"class. I had a wonderful week end even though it was cold & wet. Met lots of lovely lady's.
The class was held up stairs at Anthony's fabric shop. If you are ever in Dalby, make sure you pop in to say hello to Lorna and Tina.

                                          Our first day, all every busy

  Second day the quilts are all starting to come together.

  It's not snakes & ladders ----- It's rings & snakes

                                            Flying circles

These are a few of the quilts started in the workshop. All the lady's done great work, I can't wait to see them all finished.

 Well I'm of to pack my bags again. This time I'm going to Sydney for the week. Yes, I will be going to the Darling Harbour Quilt Show. Can't wait to see all the quilts on display & check out all the lovely shops.

Springsure Workshops

                                          Show & Tell from last months "Circle Play Class"

 

 Our 3rd workshop was

"Wedge Ruler & Modern Dresden"

The lades made large floor cushion or table cloths.

They all done a wonderful work

  I got a bit carried way & made up a few more floor cushions. The real story is ..... When I got home from Melbourne, Megan & her lovely friend Ashly had been through my cupboard to pick out fabrics they would like to have cushions made out from. So I had this lovely bright pile of fabric sitting on my sewing table with a very nice note asking if I would just whip this up for them.  The large yellow & tan one I have kept for my self.

                                           Back at Springsure for the 4th workshop.
                                                      This time we made "Chenille rugs".

                                              After many hour of stitching. It was time to cut.

                                            And then the brushing or fluffing.

  Most of the Lady's went home with a second one all glued & ready to stitch.  Next month we should have more lovely show & tell to look at.

 On Saturday nigth I went to my wonderful friend Laurene's for sewing. She had Lauraine visiting for the week end. So it was a good time to catch up & do a bit of work together. We are all working on a Mystery Quilt. The two "L"have done a few Mystery's over the last 2 years & there always great, this time I joined in. We made the rule that we had to use as much of our all fabric as we could. Same of my fabric is very old & very ugly.

                                                           Lauraine's blocks from step 1 & 2

                                                             Laurene's blocks

 My work in proses. Still got a way to go before I catch up with the other two. Well I had better go & get busy doing that catch up job.

Melbourne & the AQC

 I have had a week in Melbourne at the AQC. The weather in Melbourne was lovely. This is the first time I have been in Melbourne that I haven't had to wear my big coat all the time. My lovely friend Daph & I stayed at the Nunnery. It is rigth across the road from the Royal Exhibition Building. So that was very handy.  In the stairway of the Nunnery was this beautiful window.

 From outside our class rooms you could look down on all the store holders & the quilt exhibition. There was so much to see and look at. All the quilts on display were stunning. It is fantastic to see  the best of the beat in the Australian quilt world. Sorry I can't show you any of my quilt photos (copyright) You will just have to go and have a look your self.

  I had a class with Rita Hutchens. Wonderfull inspiring lady. The class was Totally Tubular Triangles. Great class, we were all busy cutting and sewing, more cutting and sewing & then more cutting and sewing again.

  It was amazing what we made from a few strips.

  I had such a good a time in Rita's first class that I booked in for her 3rd class on Saturday. Mirror Image Magic. We did create magic with our strips.

  On my 2nd day I done TAP & Lutradur Techniques with Lesley Riley. Wouderfull creative lady. We had a fun day playing with TAP (tranfer artist paper) & Luutradur. There is so much you can do with those products. All the techniques can be used in your quilts.

  The TAP we used on lots of different fabrics, paper, wood, metal, & lutradur.

  Also lots of different ways to use the lutradur. We painted, stamped, burnt, heated & cut it. Lots of fun things to do.

  After 4 days at the AQC I still had a few days to see Melbourne, Went sigth seeing, done a little shopping  (yes I did have a little money left after hitting the shops at the quilt convention) Annie, Daph's daugther took us to Bendigo to see the Grace Kelly exhibition. The fashions from that time really were stunning.

  While out shopping I come across this shop. Totally weird & wonderful name for a shop.

 Well I had better go, It's getting late & I have to be up early to go to Springsure in the morring.