Hello friends far and wide. I do hope the unseasonal snow is not creating too many problems for you in the Northern Hemisphere. We are in the middle of heat and more heat here in South Australia! I have some more William Morris quilts to share - first from Maureen in the UK. Both projects are from the first book and Maureen also created placemats as well. Maureen also shared her personal cancer journey with me and said it helped her through tough times.......I am glad Maureen and they are all just beautiful
Sadly my packages of quilts are "still missing". But this amazing 'replacement' cushion came in the post all the way from New York........just stunning - Thankyou Eli
And Denise from home made the Peacock quilt for me.....thanks Denise
Fay joined me last year in the 'Morning Chorus' quilt class at an interstate retreat and this is the result. Isn't the graduated background fabric sensational! (I am doing this class soon in New Zealand and I gave away my sample........whoops....have had to do another!!)
During last week my brother sent me a link for an exhibition that was coming up that he thought would interest me.....Stephen Bowers is a ceramic artist and how is this for a collector's piece......well just one piece would be nice......
If you look carefully behind the Australian birds the backgrounds on the plates are William Morris
My final note tonight is this little snippet (!!!)
Yes my arm was twisted and I am coming for a visit to New Jersey to visit the Garden State Quilters before venturing on to Houston. WOW....I might finally meet some of you in person!! But first will be the exciting William Morris tours. More in the coming months - Have a good week
Thankyou for all your messages about the continuing saga of my lost quilts. Sadly mine are "still lost". For those of you overseas: Castlemaine is a long way from home and my packages would not have ended up anywhere near there........well I think they wouldn't have!! So for now I am getting back to designing and stitching my way through that list! I have also had a chance to potter and plant in out new courtyard garden.
Tam and Sue............the William Morris rose is blooming!
I've planted one of my favourite trees - a silver birch
...and a Gingko tree
And a sneak peek above and below at the grand baby's quilt! The new parents put in their order for 'Vintage Mickey and Minnie'. Now I am not sure about copyright here and I hope I am not in strife for putting this on the blog....but a few of you have asked what I was doing for the baby!! This design is only for personal use and I have to say I think William Morris designs are far easier to draw and applique than these characters! But I do know Emily and Brett are thrilled with the little peek at the work in progress
Now to the best part of my week...........My wonderful husband has found a new skill!! I hate not being able to help more with the cutting of kits for the Bedford mystery quilt project... so who better to take my place? Larry has found a new skill and just in time before he retires in a few months! Yeah - no more cutting for me! Maybe I can train him to quilt all my quilts as well. What a treasure and such a great cause...
Do go and visit the Bedford Mystery quilt blog for more pics and the latest info (and thankyou Larry XX)
"An Australia Post worker in a small Victorian town has been sacked after police charged him with stealing mail.
More than $60,000 worth of property was seized - equating to four trailer loads of items - including WWI and WWII medals, women's lingerie, televisions, jewellery and piles of registered mail. Peter Martin Jackson, 53, has been charged with obtaining property by deception. He is charged only in relation to cashing in three Bunnings vouchers stolen from the mail after he was caught on CCTV cameras. Property and mail has been going missing from the post in the Castlemaine area for the past six years. Police are now trying to reunite more than 1,000 items with their owners. Australia Post says it understands the distress caused by the thefts, but says it has rigorous detection measures in place and it is an isolated case."
When I received an email and the above photos from Ellene in the USA it took my breath away! Sand Hills Quilters Guild - a group from North Carolina, have used the cover quilt design from More William Morris Applique for their latest raffle quilt - what a prize. I was so thrilled and honoured that they had chosen this design AND used fabrics from the Adelaide Collection! And isn't the quilting just sensational as well....and this is the second of my William Morris designs that they have used for charity - thanks to you all and I hope you raise many $$$$! Ellen has shared this for any of you wanting to win the quilt.......
"If anyone wants to purchase raffle tickets, they can send their name, phone number and email address along with a self addressed stamped envelope to me at:
Ellene Place 90 Lake Dornoch Drive Pinehurst, NC 28374 USA emplace@nc.rr.com
The tickets are US $1 each or 6 tickets for $5. The drawing will be held November 13, 2012. I will send the ticket stubs back to the purchaser in the SASE."
Pamela needle-turned this intricate design (!!) and gained an award in a Keepsake Quilting challenge. And you have my admiration for doing it by needle-turn Pamela!
And another winner from the US - Linda Laine Banner. I love how she has cleverly placed and used designs from two of the quilts in Book 1. I think Linda has won a few prizes for her quilt as you can read on this blog; Quilts of Love. Well done Linda!
And closer to home this is Dani's stunning quilt - a 1st place at our local show Festival of Quilts - and she beat Val and myself. Go Dani!! (and I will have another stunning raffle quilt from Victoria when the committee give permission to share - it is a stunner!)
and SPECIAL PEOPLE
I had lunch today with Dani and her Mum Cathie and look what they presented me with.........
Cathie and Dani have become part of the December Angels and are helping me out with replacing my lost samples. Thanks so much girls.....and they went away with a bag full of patterns and fabric to do more - bless them.
And another friend Maree in Melbourne sent me her partially completed tea cozy. I think all my samples are nearly replaced! I just need to purchase the books, design mirrors and a very special pair of scissors that I have now realised were in the 'bottomless' box! (I am sure there is more that I will remember when I go looking)
I also received some exciting news from Edith in Tasmania.......The editorial team from Quilters Newsletter picked my 2nd book More William Morris Applique as one of their TOP TEN books for 2011 - whoopee! Thanks Edie for letting me know.
And my final special person is my doctor (glad we are in 2011 and not the 1500's!). Today she confirmed why I have been feeling so low - no motivation, tired and depressed........that jolly thyroid has gone off the scale again!! So a good cry, up the medication and I hope I am back to my old self.
So with all these special quilts and special people we have gotta be feeling good! I will leave you with a stunning piece of glass art that I would like to get my hands on from Kate Clements of Kansas City Artists Coalition
Thanks for dropping by and HAPPY 2012 if I don't blog before then! X
One of my favourite songsand seems so appropriate for a number of reasons....The past 2 weeks have seemed such a drag and I cannot get myself motivated and I need to! I have taken myself to the Commonwealth Ombudsman to take my lost post complaint further - I have obviously been extremely unlucky to lose three packages - and No they still haven't turned up!
The week leading up to Christmas is always full of mixed emotions. Thinking of friends who have lost loved ones recently and Larry and I also have anniversaries of both our Mum's passing this week. I also have a birthday just before Christmas and I usually spend it doing Christmas shopping or writing the Christmas cards. But flowers from Larry and friends bring great joy. And some more from Lloyd Curzon - I will enjoy watching the lilies open....
So I am trying to get back in the swing of things....I have been so tired from such a hectic year, so I thought I should make myself a list to try and prioritise!!!......
Who it’s for!
Project
Due date
Emily and Brett
Baby quilts (wall and cot)
Before we leave for New Zealand – 2nd week February
New Zealand
Morning Chorus quilt
Replace William Morris samples (lost Aust Post)
2nd week February
Hawkesbury Retreat
Finish quilting Arts & Crafts Sampler
Before we leave for New Zealand – 2nd week February
AQC Melbourne
Design and make Mystery class – quilt, runner, cushion
1st week April
Quilters Companion
Design and make small runner or cushion
Feb 10th to Sydney
Ballarat Quilting weekend – 2 projects
Design and make Wool applique block holder
Russian quilt / runner (finish Hermitage floor)
Early February
Ballan
Design and make Quilt / runner/cushion from Ballarat photos (Town Hall)
Possibly March??
William Morris Tour
Design and make Miniature embroidered Kelmscott quilt
End of June so I can do kits
Berrima Retreat
Dragon Quilt – only need to do design pattern
End of June
Will I be able to do it?? The December angels will be getting their parcels after Christmas to help replace some of my lost items.....so all will be well with their wonderful help. And then today this came in the post from Fay of Simply Stitches in Wagga. She said she just had to do something to help and she had already started this quilt! She even made a pieced background for it! Thankyou Fay
And then last week this was left on my doorstep - thank you Denise (and I know Eli in the USA is making one as well)
So Christmas is "on" in our new home.........
My Mum's old Santa is inevitably surrounded by birthday cards
And this week I also received a wonderful thankyou gift from Heather at the Barossa Cottage. (Aust Post delivered!) Every year Heather sends me a thankyou through the business. So thoughtful and so appropriate (William Morris of course!)....
So with the New Year approaching we can look forward to the"grand baby bump"arriving in about 9 or so weeks!!
Enjoy your preparations for Christmas and New Year. We especially think of those who are missing loved ones or are unwell. Enjoy our new tree - we needed a small one for our new townhouse and this was sold as"an apartment tree"
PS:for those girls who came to Galong....I have designed those quilt borders so do email me your address if you haven't already done so! And anyone from any shops doing the two new block of the month quilts - there are a couple of typo errors....do email me about them! (a sign of too much going on and too little time!) Till next time XX
Thankyou all so very much for your kind messages and thoughts. A little band of generous workers are helping me out with some sewing (the December angels!), and in the meantime I am trying to remain positive that all the quilts are still on their way home. A few days ago I had a lovely email from Maria Elkins who many years ago set up the Lost Quilts website. She had heard via the internet grapevine that I had lost quilts for a third time. This was the first missing quilt which Maria put on her site over 9 years ago when it went missing (and that was registered mail - can't believe it was 9 years!!)
So Maria has kindly done this service again for me as you will see when you visit the lost quilts site. It was then that I discovered that I am truly not alone.
Deborah Kemball is a quilter I have admired for many years. Her quilts are exquisite and all done by hand often using silk. So it was with horror that I read she too has lost this masterpiece - the cover quilt to her book......
Some months ago I purchased Debby's beautiful book just so I could enjoy looking at her masterpeices. Now that book is even more precious.
