Friday 22 June 2012

Short interlude

We have just had a few days at our favourite place - Robe which is about 4 hours drive, south of where we live. It is my annual sanctuary where I can sleep in and catch up on stitching. This year we had Emily and Brett join us for a few days so the stitching got put on hold for a bit of this..............
Emily took this photo today after his second lot of immunisations...such a good little fellow.
While we had Beau on our own for a few hours I decided that 4 months is definitely not too young to start sewing! He was absolutely mesmerised.....probably by the lights, sound and action and not the stitching - but who cares??!!

 He was spellbound and looked up with a "......look at this Poppa" face!
 And then he was just plum tuckered out after all that stitching.......
We have come home a day early today as it was so cold and windy.....mind you Adelaide is not much better (max of 10 degrees....goodness we might have snow next!) But I did manage to get an "Eye Spy" quilt finished for Beau. I used some of Jason Yenter's Legendary Basics for the strips surrounding the blocks. This range is sensational - and not just for applique. There are so many delicious colours that can be used with other fabrics. I hope Jason keeps the collection going for many years.


 Loved this fabric for the backing.....
I am home for a week before heading up to Queensland for the Koala Embroidery convention on Friday. I have more preparation and stitching to do for new classes in July and August and of course many emails and phone messages to answer. My emails have included several of you who watched Country House Rescue on ABC1 on Wednesday evening......so glad I was watching too and thanks for thinking of me!!
(Photo from ABC)

Tapeley House and Gardens website is well worth a visit and the story is fascinating. Hector Christie inherited the house by the toss of a coin with his brother! Hector is an activist particularly in the area of genetically modified foods which he opposes vehemently. I have just read online that he may go to gaol because of a recent protest which you can read about Here. Tapeley has one of the biggest collections of William Morris furnishings in the UK and Hector's grandmother dined with Morris regularly in the house. I might have to visit one day as it has one of these........

I took photos of this Burne Jones piano at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery two years ago and I think we will be visiting again on tour in a few months - lots to do before then!

Wednesday 13 June 2012

Proud to be a South Australian!

Well the results are in and South Australian quilters have done us proud at the Sydney Quilt show!! Congratulations to Rachelle who got .....1st in the Masters category!.....well done Rachelle! Rachelle also got 3rd in Small/Wall quilt for another quilt
and to Ming Hsu also from South Australia with BEST OF SHOW!......well done Ming and can't wait to see it in the flesh........
Another South Aussie - Mary Williams won 4th Pictorial Open.....
You can see all the winners here

Monday 11 June 2012

Country quilting with the new PA!

The time for blogging seems to have evaded me again - but I have not been idle! I am hoping life will be eased a little as I have a new PA - whoopee! Check him out......
Yes  - Larry has finally retired - well almost. Officially it is next week after 2 weeks leave but he has been home with me for over a week already. But that is not really true either as he has been working as PA already as we have been on the road for 11 days! The day after Larry stopped work we headed to Cohuna to the Country Quilting Weekend. A wonderful time was had with 105 quilters in attendance. The tutors included the amazing Linda Steele, Gloria Loughman, Mariya Waters, Margaret McDonald and Judie Bellingham. All these tutors  had the most amazing "show and tell" on the first night but sadly the camera was not with me. Check their websites as you will know their work. Nearly all of them have won international awards and their quilts are truly inspiring. Here are a few images post workshops.....
 Above: is Linda and so much embroidery was achieved by the girls on the crazy patchwork blocks
Above: Judie's girls pretended to have completed needle turn applique and Celtic quilts - but I think they belonged to the teacher!
 Over achievers in Margaret's class and I think one participant didn't sleep overnight!!
 Above: Mariya's group learnt to do bobbin work with luscious threads
And we all scrambled to get photos (above and below ) of the colourful landscapes in Gloria's class - they were stunning

And above is our class - thanks for coming girls and I hope the quilts are finished for show and tell next year!!

We stayed in a wonderful cabin in the caravan park where we were greeted by this fellow (or maybe it was a lady??).......

 Up early for a memorable sunrise and this was the view from our cabin!


 This intrigued me....I've never really thought about the trees that make cricket bats. The sheep certainly keep the undergrowth down

Then we headed north to Mildura where I was the guest of the lovely Mandy Gowers in her beautiful shop Lesley May's (named after her late Mother). The shop is a stunning old house which has been renovated tastefully, complete with a massive classroom....and home baked food. (must get that Oreo slice recipe!!). And sorry but the camera was missing again!

This Thursday I am off to the Sydney Quilt Show just for the day. I managed to get a cheap return airfare as I just have to go and see the quilt below in the flesh!! I am also looking forward to seeing the new Master Quilters Category. This is a category to celebrate the NSW Quilters Guild's 30th anniversary. Quilters from around Australia were invited to enter and I was honoured to be one of those asked. Sadly I could not particpate as I have not had the time to do something new.

But back to this quilt! It belongs to our talented Rachelle Denneny and it is all done on her domestic machine! Our fingers are crossed for a well deserved award ........but I also want to see it win in Houston when I am there in November! Good luck lovely Rachelle XX