a wreath of spring flowers

"Floral" is today's theme.

The postie arrived first thing yesterday with my background from Sew Unique Creations. I love it. Then the shopping trip to find broderie perse fabrics was successful. Cottage Quiltworks , a lovely store in Sydney's Northern Beaches, had remnants of Kaye England's Back Home Again and Harriet Hargreave's Austen Manor (with the fab peacocks). Surprisingly my stash even had something with roses (ignored 'til now).

So here is the wreath, cut out and arranged ready to be appliqued down. Now the hard work begins.

With Sydney receiving both plenty of rain interspersed with warm days, the garden is still blooming madly.  Its another glorious morning and I've been playing with the camera's macro settings in the garden again. Enjoy.

 

Carabella  a pillar rose - we know it's November when this rose blooms with the fragrance of apples. Next stop Jacarandas - hooray!

 

Solomon's Seal - variegated to reflect the light in a shady spot

 

Betchel's flowering Crab Apple

 

?? - a gift from my Mum

 

Epimedium - the new growth is brilliant lime, then we'll get tiny yellow flowers

 

?? - love the pink leaf margins

 

Rhododendron Bronze Wing - first flowers

WWIT (aka What Was I Thinking?) (aka Drayton Hall)

A little shopping occured during my visit to Quilts in the Barn; two of Di Ford's patterns sort of stuck to my fingers and made the trip back home to Sydney. Good intentions were pondered - no new starts until something was finished.

The best of intentions were flung out the window last weekend and baby 1/2" hexagon papers also came home with me after a recent dash up to my "'local" Material Obsession.  It's so exciting to start something new...

In the spirit of Deb from Needles, Sticks and Hooks and her totally fabulous DNQTTT, my version of Di's design has been renamed WWIT.

Di's pattern is called Drayton Hall. It's a medallion with the above large hexagon star surrounded by a broderie perse wreath and the four smaller hexagon flowers, then a very wide border of 2" scrappy diamonds. I originally purchased the pattern with the idea that I could machine piece, but now I'm considering hand piecing because I could do it on the bus on the way to work (by far my preferred method). These hexagons happened this week during my commute. (the centre star got a little design tweak).

I 'm looking forward to starting the broderie perse wreath...a new challenge and a new skill to learn. Just waiting for my background to arrive...but impatience will most likely prevail and there could be a shopping trip happening tomorrow.

oldies but goodies

Recently had a little flutter on abebooks.com and found some what I call "oldies but goodies". Books published quite some time ago, but which still play an important part in a quilter's library...some are not really eye candy, more i-deas books.

Three by British author Averil Colby: Patchwork published 1958, Patchwork Quilts published 1965,  and Quilting published 1972.

Averil Colby was the first to be inducted into The Quilters Hall of Fame from the United Kingdom. Nearing the age of 60, she began her writing career on a subject she so enjoyed. Patchwork, published in 1958, has been reprinted twelve times. Her books are classics and show the depth of Averil’s research abilities.

Never deemed a quilter per se, Averil reported that her scrapbag of fabrics spanned nearly 200 years.

As chairman of the Handicraft Committee of the National Federation of Women’s Institutes, she helped reawaken an interest in quilting in the United Kingdom.

Although there is a little double-up between the books, and many black and white photos (a bit frustrating) they were a crazy 82 pence each, so worth the purchase.

 

Small Endearments by Sandi Fox (1985) showcases crib quilts and other small quilted treasures - from pillow shams and sewing cases to dimunitive crazy quilts. The second edition includes more recent research and additional information including a chapter on early chintz quilts. The newer edition also has larger full color photographs and additional pictures including close ups of motifs on some of the quilts.

Quilts in America by Patsy & Myron Orlofsky (1974) a consummate body of work that both surveys the topic and gets into details, written with a passion and sensitivity that sheds new light on some very old cloth.

Crib Quilts and other small wonders by Thomas Woodward & Blanche Greenstein (1981) - showcasing many charming and different quilts.

 

Quite taken with this eagle from  the front of Crib Quilts. He seems to have a lot to say!

I managed to score all 6 including shipping from either the UK or US to Australia for under $50 total.  All but 1 are new, in perfect condition, Crib Quilts is ex-library but still as new.

I'm impressed. Lots of reading to do now!

things I learned today

Recently, I decided to join an on-line quilting group.

It was a snap decision, and something I have never taken part in before, but thought "could be fun"... The other 11 members appear to be rather proficient with their sewing machines. Thinking to myself that I need to become better acquainted with Elvis,  I joined in.

The first little package of fabrics arrived from Elaine yesterday, so machine was set up, instructions were read, re-read, checked on the internet and then I set off.

This is what I was making:

This is what I learned:

1. I am not very good on the sewing machine. As a hand piecer, I pin, pin, pin, match seams and intersections, check and sew. I followed this procedure with my machine pieced blocks, but my machine has a mind of its own and more than a few seams required taking apart and re-sewing to make the intersections acceptable.

2.  The carpenter's mantra "measure twice, cut once" - something my husband has been saying the 25+ years I have known him, does not only apply to timber. Just as it is not advisable to run with scissors, one should never, never take ones eyes off the rotary cutter, it too has a mind of its own. 

O-kay.
(see? evil rotary cutter...where on earth did that extra cut come from?)
Lets try that again...

Turn the little logs around...

Here's hoping my on-line quilting bee friends are tolerant of a learner machinist.

a weekend at quilts in the barn

Meghan Leslie's version of DNQTTT (Deb's not quite telling the truth)

How do I begin to describe the extraordinary talent, the amazing creativity, the open and true friendliness that was this past weekend?  I spent two delightful days in quilty heaven.

Words escape me...

Deb King's Pennsylvanian Applique

Meghan Leslie's Mary Brown (basted and quilting in progress)

I don't want to steal Linda's thunder, so make sure you check back at her blog - Quilts in the Barn - I'm sure there will be lots of photos of the quilts soon.

My sincere apologies to the maker of this beauty, I failed to take a shot of the label, so taken was I with the quilting.

Di Ford's Route 66

There were a few distractions from the visual overload of so many sensational quilts in one place...a little shopping...

 

Some fabric from Threadbear - how cute is the fabric muffin - some essential purples, yellows and repro lights.  (The rest is in the mail, thanks Corliss!)

And (only) two quilt patterns designed by Di Ford; Drayton Hall (oh look at all those wee diamonds!) and the Burnt Quilt. Just a bit to keep me off the streets. There was serious temptation to bring home the entire collection of Di's patterns! (These are also available from Threadbear).

Congratulations to Linda and her team of helpers for putting on one of the best quilt displays I have seen, in the most picturesque of settings.  Congratulations, too, to the SSS a group of very very talented quilters. Thankyou for sharing your treasures.

quilts in the barn - here I come!

Well, I wasn't, then I was... then I wasn't again, but now I am... going,  that is, to Quilts in the Barn.

The flights are booked (thankyou Qantas Frequent Flyer points), the car and room reserved and the camera battery fully charged!

I'm looking forward to seeing some great quilts, pouring over Threadbear's lovely fabric selection and pondering over which of Di's quilt patterns might just stick to my fingers.

And, hopefully I'll meet some fellow bloggers. If you're going, I'd love to hear from you!

a weekend project

This weekend was very productive - two pairs of cushions were made to dress up the freshly re-painted Adirondak chairs.

Hot pink and grey roses on natural linen from Material Obsession, warm grey striped linen, lime green piping and  pom-poms from No Chintz. As I was sewing, memories of childhood days at the beach drifted back, when everyone had broad beach umbrellas with white pom-pom trims that riffled in the sea-breeze.

Clever Mr EF made these chairs for me a few years ago after a neighbor received one as a gift; he borrowed it for 2 days to study and make templates, then made them up (I'd only been hinting for, ooh, about 10 years prior)

After living under the Jacarandas for a few years their paint needed freshening - they looked so pretty that I moved them to the front verandah.

A lovely place to wind down and catch the afternoon sun.

That is, if you can get a seat.

And just to re-assure you that I have also been doing some quilting, here's  a sneak peek at a preliminary border design (just pinned and roughly laid out) for the mad little birds quilt...

Have a lovely week.

breakfast of kings - sydney style

Not a quilting post, but I wanted to share my morning with you...

This morning the empty field family were most fortunate to have Breakfast on the Bridge.

The entire Sydney Harbour Bridge was closed to traffic, the centre six lanes had been transformed overnight - turfed with real grass and decorated like a park - and we 3 and 5,997 other lucky people were privieged to take part in Sydney's biggest picnic!

 

source: http://www.breakfastonthebridge.com/

Although not normally one to seek out large crowds of people, I entered the ballot months ago for tickets and was so excited to receive the email this week saying our application had been successful - I never win anything! This was such great fun and everyone was in a terrific, happy, joyful, loving-life mood. 

After having driven for a gazillion years across the bridge (and under the bridge in the harbour tunnel) it was wonderful to just sit on the bridge and take in the wonders of this Aussie icon.

  

After a rather early start, we breakfasted like kings with champagne and fresh orange juice, strawberries, croissants, bagels, ham and freshly baked pikelets.  The weather didn't really co-operate, treating us to a short downpour, luckily we were prepared!  All in all a great experience, we'll be back next year!

I'm considering now, to throw vertigo and fear to the wind and take part in a bridge climb.