It Works Upside Down

I am going back to work on Monday. I'm so sad because I love holidays. In a frenzy of, 'I must make more before I go back,' I started working on a quilt. I wanted it to be quick and I wanted to use up some of my old fabric and combine it with some beautiful stripy fabric I bought on sale.

In about four hours I had it all pieced together but it ended up being totally warped! (Excuse the concrete background). I know in photos the base always looks wider but this base really is wider, about 8 inches on each side. I have never made this style of quilt before so I am not sure if it was the stripy fabric, which is not standard cotton and a bit stretchy, or the style of the quilt that has made it sag in the middle.

I took a photo of it upside down and the shape is perfect - no distortion despite the angle.

My sons think it's awful. "Sorry Mum, but it's not one of my favourite ones."

It feels really soft and cuddly and I used up some really lovely linen fabric.

I am going through a phase of not trying to be so exact in my work and enjoying the liberty. 

A bit of Hand Stitching

I'm not really sure how I will finally quilt this but I just couldn't resist doing a bit of hand stitching.

I used my new marking tool to trace out the leaf shapes.

And I used lots of different Perle cottons because I couldn't decide which one I like best.

Maybe I'll just hand quilt in the ditch around all the window panes. Winter is coming and hand stitching will keep me warm. If anyone has any good ideas, please let me know what you would do.

Free and Quick

With a few hours free I thought I might work on my wonky autumn quilt. It is so liberating not to have to think about straight lines and even blocks. It took me about 2 hours to straight (crooked) line quilt the whole piece. I didn't plan, just tried to quilt in the ditch wherever possible.

I had a bit of sewing thread left on the bobbin so did a few extra lines around the edge.

Now I just need to buy some binding. Nothing seemed to work from my stash.

Hannakin - Bits and Bobs by Hanna Mancini

After the Quilt Show I went to the Museum to see the stick insects and pick up my teacher's free entry card, but that is another story.
I drove to Brunswick Street to buy a cake (it was my birthday) and visit the Rose Street Market. It was only 5 minutes away and the sun was shining, people were out on the streets having coffee, shopping and generally enjoying the weekend.
I just had to go back to Rose Street because a few months ago I bought a pair of earrings made out of pencils. They were such a hit at school that I thought I would buy another pair. I found my pencil man and bought a black coloured pencil and  a white one. It's football season and wearing the earrings would be a subtle way of celebrating my team's win on a Monday morning.

I know they are ridiculous but I get more compliments for these silly earrings than my most expensive silver ones and the kids love them. I originally bought them because half way through last year the kids managed to lose every item from their stationery list and keept saying "I can't find my pencil!"

But this is all beside the point. At the market I met a lady selling the cutest little dolls ever. Her name is Hanna and she had brooches, dolls and whimsical drawings on her stand that I just loved. She has an etsy store and her work is worth checking out.

Hanna doesn't have a blog so unless you visit etsy or live in Melbourne, it would be a bit hard to find her. Her work is so intricate and original I just had to post about her.
I was in a bit of a rush as I has visitors coming to eat my cake so I pretty much flew though the streets, past all this fabulous graffiti that Brunswick street is famous for and realised that I still had my camera in my bag from the show. I just had to take a couple of snaps.

Sorry about the shadows. If you ever get to Melbourne on a weekend, see if you can get to Brunswick Street for great shopping, coffee and graffiti. I think I will have to go back next week when I have more time to look around.

More Show Day Stuff

There were a couple of other quilts that I really liked. The close quilting lines gave them a lovely extra dimension.

The first was called 'Bush Walk Flora #4' by Anna Brown.

The second quilt was called 'Design Line #7 Lust in the Log Cabin' by Brenda Gael Smith.

Quilt Show

Yesterday I went to the Quilt Show at the Royal Exhibition Buildings in Melbourne and spent a happy few hours wandering around fabric and quilts. There were a few themes for the quilts on display. One was "The Seven Deadly Sins." There were several interpretations on the theme but the incredible work and detail on this one caught my eye.

By Bronwyn and Bianca Hill.

It's called "Hollywood."

Another section of the show was devoted to Tutors' Quilts.

This one was called "Transitions" by Carol Taylor.

The detail and planning that must have gone into this beauty is mind boggling. Makes all my work seem so simple and amateur. I guess that I am also pretty impatient. I rarely plan, because I have so much trouble envisaging the big picture. 

Valarie Robinson looked at her topic, "Homage to Federation" a little creatively and made this:

There were a few 12" quilts that I passed rather quickly but then when I saw them from a distance they really caught my eye.

Alvena Hall stitched, blockprinted, photo transferred, and used shibori as techniques to make "Ribbon Rock" and "Dickensonia"

And this very beautiful log cabin 12" byJudy Hooworth called "Black Water". It's printed, dyed and stitched.

There was more, of course but I'm running out of blog time.

Maybe another post tomorrow with the rest of the day's events.

Oops-Lah Givaway

Vreni from Oops-Lah has lots of stuff to offer so go on down to her blog and take a look.

 

There is more than this too! Besides that, she is a very talented quilter and blogs about all sorts of things so she's great fun to follow!

Flu? It won't happen to me!

My Supplies 

"I never take time off work..

No I don't need the flu shot.."

Wrong!

Actually the flu shots were given out on Thursday at school, a week too late for me.

So I've done only a tiny bit of sewing despite being holed up at home for days. I've just been too tired. Panadol is my friend!

Under the influence of my friend's few pain free hours I sewed on the binding of this little Kimono fabric quilt.

I haven't finished all the quilting but it's moving along slowly.

On the bright side, it's just 4 more school days before holidays so if I can just get through the next few days I will have a much better time at home.

New Giveaway

Just found this if anyone is interested. A Sherbet Pips Giveaway here at Sew Justine Sew!
Good Luck

New Fabric and Finished Star

This week brought me a new stash of fabric from Contemporary Cloth . I really didn't want to do it but they were having a sale and I loved the colours and before I knew it, I hit the pay button.

Yesterday was the start of the weekend. I just had to get the star quilt moving because I have all this new fabric to think about. Mini star number four was quickly finished. On an impulse, I pulled out some old Kaffe fabric that had been waiting (about 2 years) for just this moment.

All finished. I am quite pleased because I really haven't enjoyed making this quilt. Too much pink and orange and the grey was very somber but I think the purple ikat really helps.