Taupo Symposium

In the middle of all our packing and moving I had a trip to the New Zealand  symposium at Taupo. It was wonderful, had a great time. I went with Bev and we joined up with Laurene, Lorraine, Pam  and Bee. All arrived in Auckland, had a few days in Auckland looking around. Lovely city. So much to see and do, we only had time to see a little bit of the city. Will have to go back for holiday to check out the rest.

 While walking around the War Memorial we found the glass houses, they are stunning buildings and full of the most beautiful  plants. Took heaps of photos but the ones of the green foliage were very inspiring, it's hard to believe there can be so many shades of green in one little area.
 

 When look for a colour scheme for your next quilt you only have to look at nature.


Bev and I got a car to have a 2 day road trip to Taupo. We had a wonderful slow trip checking out every thing on the way. We had the night with Anne and Alistair at Tauranga. Anne has a lovely sewing room. Its up stairs, full of windows and over looking the harbor. Stunning, how she gets any work done with that view I don't know

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  On the road again, This time we had a stop at the Hobbiton movie set.  Unreal, I loved it.

  We spent so much time looking at every thing on the way that we almost missed out on our book in time for the symposium. Got there with one minute to go. Met up with the other lady's once we arrived. We were all staying in the same unit. So now it was time to get ready for our 5 days of  classes.

  The view from our unit, over in the back ground you could see the lake and behind that you could see the snow on the mountains
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  One of my classes was with Kim McLane. It was a great class. Sorry I cant show you more photos. No I didn't do this quilt, the one I picked is not as busy but just as lovely. Though I had better start out  with some thing a little easier. Kim's quilts are all hand work, the second reason I start out with a simpler pattern.
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  Third day into our stay this was the view from our window. Wow, it was bloody cold. Enjoyed every moment, ( don't get this at home ) I did get lots of ribbing from the girls tell me this is what I would get once we moved to Toowoomba. Ha ha

  Pam, Lourene and Bev on our way to class

  Another photo in the fog. All wrapped up in our winter wooly's

 One after noon we had a drive around the lake. The sun set was stunning. We were trying to get photos of the snow on the mountains but missed that and got the sun set.

 My second class was with Robby Eklow. Another great class. We were working on designing our own quilts and it's all done by fusing it together, the only stitching is the quilting. I had packed my work away, so sorry there is no photo. Next time.

 Lorain was also in this class. She has done a wonderful job with her piece, Still has 3 or 4 rings to build out on her quilt.

I tried to get in to Gwen's class but I missed out. Pam and Lourene got in to Gwen's class so I was over there visiting a lot. She is a lovely lady and I really love her work. The symposium also had a exhibition of Gwen's work on display at the Taupo Museum.
The symposium also had a second exhibition with every ones quilts. Stunning!!! It really is a pity I can't put photos up to show you, But I suppose the best thing is to go next time and have a look your self. It really was wonderful.

Back in Oz with no home any more..... Once I arrived back we had 3 days to be out of the house, so it was quickly pack the last few things, do the last bit of cleaning and leave. Very sad I cried most of the way to Toowoomba. ( what are we going to do, My lovely house and garden has gone, wow, what now) All this is running through my head, but once I arrived at Pauline and Rob's house it was all OK. New start, enjoy it all...... We will be house sitting for the Rodger's, (A big thank you to Pauline and Rob for there lovely home ) while here we can look about to see were we would like to settle down. Time to get to the unpacking.

2 wonderful days with Gwen Marston

Between all my packing, sorting and cleaning I got to have a lovely week at Toowoomba with my aunt and uncle. And the double boniest was that I got to go to Gwen Marston 2 day workshop. The wonderful lady's from Precious Time held the workshop, they do a great job.

The first day was "Liberated Medallions". We had to have a center block and build on to it with lots of boarders. You could make them as big or small as you liked.
 

 Gwen showing her quilts at the start of the class. So many stunning quilts to look at.

 This is the quilt I started in class, still have more flying geese to fly around the sides and then I hope to add 2 or 3 more rows around the quilt before it is finished.



2nd day was "37 Sketches". (this is the name of Gwen's new book) In this class we explored abstract design by making small studies (sketches) We were learning new techniques, exploring colour and composition. It was a great day to play and develop your designs.
 

 Gwen with more of her work. Every one of the small quilts Gwen had to show us was stunning. So many wonderful designs

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  A few of the small blocks I was making. We really did have to go small, most pieces were 3/4" cuts

                 

                                    Starting to put a few pieces together to make my quilt.

                                                This is Laurene's work. I love her colours

Pam's small quilt, Pam has really tinny pieces in her quilt. How she worked this small I don't know.

Lorraine's wonderful work. Sorry the photo is on the side. She has more great colours in her quilts.

Every ones work was really good, just sorry I can't show it all. If you have a look on the Precious Time blog you may see more ( if I knew now to do the link I would but you will have to find it your self, Sorry)
Well.... The house is all packed up and ready to be moved. Half the cleaned is done, with the help of my wonderful friend Carol hopefully the rest of the cleaning will be finished tomorrow. Then my lovely girl arrives home to have a few days in the house before we go. The last good bye.
On Sunday I fly out for my trip to NZ. A group of us are off to the Quilt Symposium at Taupo. So in a few weeks I should have a lot more to show.

The Months have slipped away

 It has been a long time since I put any thing on my post. I have been a very busy little girl
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 Well we have big news, Doug and I are selling up and leaving Emerald. So it has been a mad house around here, I have had the last month packing, what a big job. Between packing, sorting and garage sales I haven't had much time for sewing.
Before we decided to sell, I had a big clean out (must of known something was going to happen) I asked my niece Terri over to pick out what she would like. She had a ball, I didn't have to get rid of much  Terri took most of it.

 Few of the treasure's Terri found. It is amazing what you have stashed away in the cupboards

 I still had my classes a Peter's  between all the packing. Lorraine with a quilt she had finished. Looks great and it was very big. One of those quilts that keep growing.




I have also been working with a group of lady's on the Councils  Flood Art Quilt. There have been 5 different groups in the council area that have been working or involved on the project. Every one had to put their ideas in and then we worked out how they would go onto the quilt. This is the start of the background for the Emerald section.

 Had a few days in Springsure working on there area, also the Rolleston area. The backgrounds for each section were piece with the no ruler strip piecing, free machine piecing. We used a lot of fabric that had to do with each area. eg .grass, wheat, sunflowers, farming, trees, horses, water, coal and hills.

This is the Emerald area with most of the add on pieces. Any thing  to do with Emerald or the places around Emerald. What most people would see or relate to this area. Plus a lot of old or historical photos were placed at he top of the quilt. Each of the 5 areas will have a small quilt like this one and then there will be a big one with each of the areas all joined together and this one will be on display at the Emerald council.

 Bail Bed Runner on display at Peter's. The girls have started to make this quilt. I have one half made, it had to go on hold while all the packing was going on. I hope I can remember what I was doing once I get back to it. Bonnie and Loraine brushing up on there modeling skills

 Bonnie with her  quilt. She only has the flying geese to make then it will be time to put it all together. We had our last class on Thursday, I am going to miss our days together. The Thursday classes were a lot of fun. Thank you to all the girls for a wonderful time, when ever I look at my Judy quilts I will remember you all.

My Exhibition

 My Exhibition open on Friday the 3 May. A big thank you to all the people that come along for a look, I hope you enjoyed it. The quilts will be on display for 3 week at the Emerald gallery.
Just put a few up for you to look at, there will be more next time.

Easter Holidays

 Megan and I went down to mum and the extended family for Easter. We had a few days at Bexley, the property my uncle's own near Rowena in NSW. Mum and my cousin Dice had already been there a week, and they had been very busy creating all kind of weird and wonderful things.
Megan and I statred with wire work, Megan made a 3 stand candle holder.Her first go and she done really well. I made more wire baskets and a candle holder.

 Dice and I both made bee boxes. We had seen them on the TV and thought they would be a good thing to have in the garden. The other's all laughed and said the spiders and bugs would move in not the native bees we were hoping for, we will just have to wait and see.

 Dice (Dianne) had a few Hebel blocks for us to play with, I had always wanted to have a play with those blocks. I carved this funny thing that looks like a mile post with ears. It is very easy to work with, bit dusty is all.

Every one made bird houses. Mum made 5 and I said she has to put them all together in the garden like a little village.

We all made barbwire balls for the garden. As you can guess we like the rustic look in our gardens.

                                                  This is Megan's candle holder

My sister and I went a bit mad with the hanging rocks. I had seen this idea in a book but they had used macramé to hold the rocks together. Kay found a lot of rocks in a heart shapes so she made a string of hearts.

While we were all together for  Easter we went over to Coonabarabran to catch up with more family, every one said we had to go and look at the National Park (Pilliga Forest) Since the fires had been through there.It would be the only time we would see all the rock formations. So of we set, It was wet and eery with all the black trees and very sad to see the places that people had lost, our hearts went out to them.

 I grew up in this area and I had never seen the country side like this, first time most of us had seem the rocks, mountains, creeks and rivers. It was unreal.

                                             
                                          But all around it was coming to life again.

 
                                                Bark on the gum trees. I can see a quilt in this.

                                                          The colours are stunning.

It was my birthday while we were away. Meagan and Terri decided to make me a cake but they couldn't find the sugar, I said look in the sugar bin. "The What" they had never heard of a sugar bin, so when they found it they were fascinated.    There had always been a sugar bin in the pantry at Grandmas.

 

At the end of our stay, uncle Geoffrey got his old car out to go in to town. We all went off to Rowena to the pub for lunch. Same of us got to ride in to town in the old car and same got to ride home in it.

 
                                                Its a lovely car to ride in, Very comfy..

We had a great holiday and hope to do it again next year. The garden is looking fantastic with all the new creations.
Now it is back to quilting, my exhibition is next week and I still have a few things to finish.