I've got mail!

A while ago I was the lucky winner of a give away at Barnyard Chatter, fiber artist Grace Howes's blog. This week I received a parcel from America - unwrapping it was so much fun!







It is a gorgeous mini notebook, in my favourite colour. Thanks again Grace, I really appreciate it!

It came at a good moment, as I was a bit down on Wednesday. I had just had a hearing test which showed that I have a mild high frequency hearing loss. I wasn't surprised, for I have had trouble understanding speech when people speak very softly or when there is some background noise for quite some time now. But it is a major blow that at 39 I am becoming hard of hearing... (yes, it does run in the family)

I have an appointment with an ENT surgeon in 3 weeks and will discuss the matter with him. I would be happy to try anything that will help me to hear better. The fact that English is not my first language makes it all just a little bit harder.

To end this posting on a more positive note: the selvedge quilt is almost finished! I am halfway through hand sewing on the binding and hope to finish it tonight, and show you the quilt tomorrow. In the meantime my sewing machine is away to be serviced. I can pick it up tomorrow and start on my next project!



PS Check out the latest issue of Down Under Quilts online - it has my Jacaranda quilt on p. 18 and the Optical Illusion Quilt on p.56 and 57!!! It will be in the stores next week.

Look Inside >>

Almost finished...

Only the binding left to do!

OMG!

I just discovered Photoshop! I always thought it was very expensive and very difficult to use, but the basic Photoshop is free and it is not hard at all.
Above is a recent pic of Hugo, after some photoshopping. And below is a photo of the view I have when, 3 days a week, I take the train to work. After more than a year it still takes my breath away: the riverview of the City of Brisbane.


(click on the photo for a larger image)

OMG, I can see endless possibilities for printing Photoshopped images on fabric, making screens etc...

:-)



PS I have sewn 3 rows of 8 selvedge blocks together so far, so 3 more to go, then sew the 6 rows together and then bind the quilt... I am itching to start some new, more artsy projects, but do want to finish this quilt first!

48!

Here they are, my 48 selvedge blocks! I've just laid them out the way I think I will sew them together... But it is dark now and I want to see the lay out in daylight before I start sewing.

What do you think? The strips joining the blocks are bright red, by the way. (the same red I used in Ernst's I Spy quilt)

Exciting times

Forty-six blocks done! It is a bit hard now to photograph all the blocks laid out (have to remove the furniture first), so I'll just show you some of the blocks I have made so far. I am trying to achieve a colourwash effect, from red to purple with all of the colours of the rainbow in between. Apart from that there are some theme blocks, like an Australian fabric block, a few children's fabric blocks, a Halloween block and a Christmas block. (click on the photos for a larger view)





For the backing of the blocks I have mainly used plain fabrics (most of them handdyed) and tried to match it with the colours used on the front. It looks like this:



I hope to make the last 2 blocks tonight, and to start sewing them all together tomorrow. If all goes well I intend to have the quilt finished before the end of the month.

Why the hurry? Because Down Under Quilts is going to have an article on selvedge itmes in its November issue and they would like to include this quilt! So it has to be in Sydney on August 10th... Well, it's good for me to have a deadline.

It's not as if I did not have enough excitement at the moment - I am in the process of applying for a PhD candidature at the University of Queensland. My subject is the transmission of tuberculosis in Queensland and especially in the Indigenous population, and I will continue to work part time as a data manager at the Queensland TB Control Centre as well. (and contine to make quilts, I hope!)

Creative Arts Spectacular

This weekend Hugo's school organised the Creative Arts Spectacular event at The Old Museum in Brisbane. We couldn't be at the Gala Opening yesterday night (no babysitter) but we did go to the Family Fun Day today, and had a lovely day. There were lots of art activities for the kids - Ernst (4) had a go at monoprinting:



And Hugo (6) at etching:



Here are the results:



(Hugo just had his (first) report and scored 'very high' on Visual Art, with the comment: 'Hugo visually represents and explains his experiences, feelings, ideas and observations through making images and objects with a very high level of skill.' Do you agree with his teacher? I do!)

There also was an exhibition of emerging local artists, which had some beautiful pieces. We bought this small painting by Dave Behrens:



And we couldn't resist this piece by Roulcomlight (Hersey) Jingle, an indigenous artist from North Queensland, now living in Brisbane. It is called Global Recession. I think it is marvellous.



As you can see in the ticker I put on the blog, I only need to make 4 more selvedge blocks! I have a very good reason to finish it quickly now, and will tell you all about that in the next posting...

Giveaway Day at Dye Candy!

Fellow AQATW-member Chris has a giveaway at her blog Dye Candy. If you leave a comment you have a chance of winning one of her gorgeous handdyed fabrics or delightful Quilt Block Jewelry. Do go there and have a look! (and by posting this I have just tripled my chance of winning something ;-))

Yesterday I finished the 36th block of the selvedge QAYG quilt! Unfortunately I can't show a pic, for DH has taken the camera to Beijing where he is attending a conference this week.

Although I don't really want to make any more blocks, I must admit that the quilt would be just too short with only 36 blocks... so I will have to make another 12. Sigh. Oh well, better get on with it...

Inspiration

We're back in Brissy, and even though it was wonderful to be back in my home country, it is good to be home!

On our last day in the Netherlands we visited a pancake farm where this peacock was showing off for a peahen. I managed to get some good pics of him and immediately thought of my next bird quilt... I may do a peacock quilt after all!

I'm really looking forward to start making quilts again. I visited one quiltshop in the Netherlands (this one, in Zutphen) and bought some Den Haan and Wagenmakers fabric (Dutch reproduction fabric).

I've also brought back lots of selvedges, sent to my mother-in-law's house by several Dutch quilters (thank you!). So the first thing to do is finish the selvedge quilt. Then there is the quilt for my mother-in-law, some journal quilts and maybe a quilt for Robbie's 3rd birthday (September 15th)... And of course the quilt for Art Quilts Around the World - the new theme is When or where sea and land meet. A very inspiring theme. The unveiling of the connctions quilts was on June 30th, when we were in the Netherlands. Here you can see my Connexion quilt.

Something else I bought in Zutphen, on the market: this plastic-coated fabric:



It's cute, isn't it?! Meant for a table cloth, but I'm thinking of making a bag out of it...

It's too late now but tomorrow I will start sewing! :-)