Weekend Retreat Katoomba

With the quilt show over (wasn't it great) it's now time to turn my full attention to helping Robyen at Country Pickin's at the Corner to organise the first of what I'm sure will be many annual Christmas in July quilting retreats.

5 teachers including yours truley will brave the cold mountain air, fill our cars with supplies and head off for a weekend with magnificent views over the three sisters, slow combustion fires to keep us warm, all meals cooked for us including a Christmas in July dinner which along with the many delightful Christmas theme projects will warm our hearts.

There will be extra long lunch breaks so that we can take a walk along the cliff top, or ride the scenic railway to the valley floor. Shopping, or taking a nap might be on the agenda for the less adventurous.

Still a couple of vacancies in workshops including Tita Leach - beautiful Santa Sack, Katrina Hadjimichael - foundation pieced quilt, Vaness Thomas - reindeer and bear, and Margaret Cormack - stained glass table runner. My class is officially full but I could be pursuaded to take just a couple more.

Let Robyen or myself know if you'd like to join us.

The Seven Deadly Sins

I didn't have time to go to the AQC in Melbourne this year. I usually manage to find time to fly down there even if just for the day, but my teaching schedule, my husbands 60th birthday and Easter all made sure that I wouldn't be able to get there this year.

I was represented though by my entry in the themed challenge "The Seven Deadly Sins" My entry was based on the sin of "Greed" and how this sin underpinned the Global Financial Crisis. The quilt was made in layers with the map of the world going down first and covered with white netting to give it a misty, distance look and the crashing dollars, city etc over the top. All raw edge appliqued and extensively free machine quilted. The man at the bottom sweeping up the reduced value $'s is a silhouette taken from a photo I took of my long suffering husband with a broom, he was endlessly patient with me while I took pics from every angle.

I'm looking forward to seeing the other 30 quilts in the exhibition alongside The Quilters' Guild of NSW quilt show in Darling Harbour from June 22nd - 26th. Go to the guild's web site for more information - there's a link a the bottom of this page.

Forster

Last weekend I spent an very engaging couple of days teaching my Fibonacci workshop to the ladies of the Seaside Heritage Quilt group and enjoying the tranquility of Forster / Tuncurry.
Thanks ladies

My tidy inner self

On the inside I am a perfectionist, very ordered, neat and tidy.
This might come as a surprise to a casual observer, after all my house is nearly always messy, I often spend needless hours looking for something that I neglected to put away in its place and my newly organised studio turned into a disaster area so quickly that I didn't even have time to take photos of the perfection.
I give so much time to reading books on de-cluttering and wandering around my local storage shop looking for solutions and I give due attention to the process of de-cluttering. I guess I should be given full points for effort but the results are mostly hard to see.

I was very impressed with this made to measure pin cushion (not mine of course, I mostly keep my pins on the floor), well done Josh.
(Lorraine are you impressed).

Enter a quilt

Entries for The Quilter's Guild of NSW annual show to be held at Darling Harbour from 22nd - 26th June close on Friday 11th March. I hope everyone is hard at work putting the finishing touches to their latest masterpiece.

I'm particularly interested in promoting the Junior sections and there are some very talented young people out there in quilt land, so don't be shy and enter your wonderful quilts in this magnificent show.

Precious moments

The photo is of my grandson Saxon being introduced to my very frail mother.
With very poor sight and general health and after yet another stroke, she is now bed ridden in a nursing home. Nenny finds it very difficult to communicate and is finding life extremely difficult.
The time they spent together was very rewarding for all of us, Saxon was content to lay in her arms and Nenny was engaged in life, the difference in her was amazing to see.
The oldest and youngest members of our family - precious moments indeed.

A year in review

2010 was a wonderful year, some of the highlights in my life were -

The birth of my first male grandchild, Saxon.

Meeting many wonderful quilters as I traveled around teaching workshops

The publication of some of my original quilt designs and the launch of my new range of patterns

Some wins and successes with my quilts in various quilt shows and challenges

Knowing that one of my quilts traveled with the My Place exhibition to France and other quilts were exhibited in Japan and New Zealand

Visiting Norfolk Island (I could easily live there)

Finding time in my hectic life to indulge in occasional long lunches with friends

Discovering some really healthy lifestyle options

Gaining my teacher accreditation with The Quilters' Guild of NSW

Having my Waratah give me one magnificent bloom

Adding pearl cous cous and pomegranate salad to my list of great things to make and eat

Finishing a heap of quilts and starting many more. . .

. . . and finally in the last few days of 2010 - the complete overhaul of my Studio from the ground up. It's only 3.5m square, so I had to plan everything very carefully. Just a few more finishing touches and it will be ready for a few photos and an unveiling on the blog.

I love the idea of a new year, a new beginning, so many plans for 2011 and so much to look forward to.

Happy New Year

Christmas

My Friday morning class - A wonderful group of women who have been sewing with me for years, more socialising than sewing, they refer to themselves as the "Special" class.

The challenge this Christmas was to make a pin cushion for a swap.
I made the little cicada in the centre, actually I had to make three until I came up with one that looked remotely like a cicada. I'm a quilter and not used to making fiddly little things unless they are quilts.
I received the lovely pink and green pin cushion with the button in the middle.

My husband often laughingly asks me "when are you going to get a real job". I am very for fortunate to be able to turn my passion for quilting into my work. Thank you to all of the ladies (and Josh) who make this possible. I love every minute.

Do all good things have to come to an end?

John and I have decided that our last gig playing in our Bush band was to be our last.
It's more John's decision than mine, though I'm not unhappy about it. It has been wonderful but the time is right to stop now.
After more than 15 years we have got to the stage where there is no magic left and we are also getting a bit too old to be up playing 'till after midnight then doing the roadie thing, packing up and trying to stay awake on the often long drive home.

I fondly remember leading bush walking groups up hill and down dale all through the nineties and early noughties, the troops and I used to joke about how we'd ever manage to climb Mt. Solitary on our walking frames when we all grew too old to make it up there without them.
The walks came to an abrupt end when the leisure learning centre I worked for closed its doors. Initially I missed the walks, but there is always something waiting to fill the void. It was at this stage in my life that I decided to teach more quilting classes and enjoy having more time for my own quilting enjoyment.

This got me to thinking about quilting...will I ever find the time is right to put down my needle. Not a chance in the world!. Working with fabric is at the heart of my very existence, it's what I do, it's part of me.

Fibonacci number sequence

This is one of the quilts I designed using the Fibonacci Number Sequence and the Golden Rectangle.

I've just finished teaching my Fibonacci workshop to a very nice and enthusiastic group of ladies at Logans.

We were so engrosed in what we were doing I forgot to take photos. Some of the ladies elected to make a small version of this quilt and others designed their own - they are all going to be great quilts.

Did you know that if you add Fibonacci to your patchwork tool box, this simple number sequence - 1 2 3 5 8 13 etc can make a big difference to your ability to plan quilts that have good proportion and balance. It's not the be all and end of quilt design but it's another great tool to put into your patchwork tool box.

Let me know if you'd like to join or organise a workshop for next year.