New Spoonflower fabrics

I've designed a few new Spoonflower fabrics that I really like, especially this one: St Basil's.
I've also done a red and a blue one:



And a Sydney fabric:



And, in my Gymnasts Collection, two female gymnasts - in feminine colours, very suitable for little girls who do gymnastics! (here in a sample view - 8 inch square - and a fat quarter view)



These fabrics are not for sale yet but will be soon. I need to order a sample myself first, and will do that later this week, after I have made and uploaded another design that I thought of today during a meeting ;-).
(if you would like one of these designs in another colour, let me know! I am also happy to design a fabric for you if you have an idea but don't know how to proceed)

Today a big parcel arrived - my Textile Tantrum quilt, back from The Thread Studio after more than a year; with a lot of goodies because it won a Highly commended! Woohoo! Thanks, Dale and Ian!



I am working on the Dutch Houses bag and hope to show it here soon. However, tonight it's too hot to sew (no aircon in my sewing room...), so I'm going to read a book on the couch. I loooove my hubby's new Kindle!

Balance 3

Here is Balance 3! Do you like it? I think I will send this quilt in for the SAQA Benefit Auction 2011.



Yesterday I was going through some stuff in my sewing room (oops, sorry - my studio! ;-) ) and I found the scraps of the zebra fabric I used for pants for Hugo and Ernst. I also found some chalk cloth scraps... so a new set of gift tags was born! For sale now in my MadeIt store, Blue Jacaranda. Of course I made a few extra to keep for myself!

And finally... thanks everyone who has signed up as a follower of this blog here or on Facebook. I really appreciate it! This morning I drew the winner of the Dutch Houses fabric:
drumroll...
linda!

Congratulations! please let me know your address (my email is on my profile page) and I will send the fabric to you.

The winners of the fiber postcards are Aart and diohej. Congratulations to you two as well and please send me your address too!



PS Thanks for all the kind comments on my Netherlands quilt. Just for the record - I am not homesick. I love living here in Brisbane. But I do have fond memories of my home country!

The Netherlands

Here is my first journal quilt for this year with the Aus/NZ Art Quilters. You may remember that we are doing Countries this year, and for the first one I chose my home country, the Netherlands. I thought about it for a long time before starting it and finally decided to use the national colours, red, white and blue, and orange (for our Royal House).

I cut strips of fabric, free hand, and sewed these together. On this background I stitched the outline of the Netherlands. Such a familiar shape, and while I was sewing I mentally revisited all those parts of the country.

I added buttons for the places where I have lived - Groningen, Enschede, Amsterdam and Leiden/Hazerswoude. Here is a close-up:



For the backing I used a Dutch boerenzakdoek (farmers' handkerchief):



This little quilt is very different from anything I have made before, and I love it!

I am looking forward to making more of these journal quilts - my list of countries at this moment consists of Morocco, England, Kenya, Egypt and Ireland.



PS Remember, you can still become a follower to make a chance to win a fat quarter of my Dutch Houses fabric! Or a Dutch Houses fiber postcard... See the details of my giveaway here.

MAGnificence is back!

Yesterday, after more than a year, MAGnificence came back - my first quilt to be juried into a show. It was so good to see it again! I have put it on the wall in our living room.
Here's a close-up - I still love that quilt!



And here is a sneak peek of my 'different' quilt for Art Quilts Around the World - it is finished (more than a month before the due date!):



After posting about the giveaway yesterday I discovered that I suddenly had a lot of new fans on my Blue Jacaranda Facebook page. I really appreciate that, but to be in the draw for the giveaway you need to be a follower of this blog, here or on Facebook. Hope that is clear now!
(I will do a giveaway when I reach 200 fans at Blue Jacaranda, but that will take a while!)

Giveaway!!

As promised a while ago, here is a giveaway to celebrate the fact that I now have more than 100 followers here - and 55 on Facebook as well! Thanks everyone, I really appreciate your loyalty!

As a thank you, I am giving away one fat quarter of my red Dutch Houses fabric (available at Spoonflower) and two Dutch Houses fiber postcards. To make a chance to win, you have to be a follower here or on Facebook. If you are not a follower yet but would like a chance to win, you can become one before Wednesday 23 February 9 am (Brisbane time), when I will draw three winners randomly. Good luck everyone!



Meanwhile I am working on a journal quilt for the Aus/NZ art quilters group. This year's theme is Countries and we are making one quilt every two months, so this one needs to be finished before the end of this month. The theme of my first quilt is, unsurprisingly, The Netherlands, and I'm trying to do something completely different to my other work! Hope to be able to show you a pic soon!

I am also working on the different quilt for Art Quilts Around the World and will show a sneak peek of that one soon!

We've got mail!

Today we received a big parcel... the prize pack I won in the Queensland Flood Relief Auction at Jennie's Mrs Beckinsale blog! As soon as I saw her W Class Cushions I wanted one... She personalized it for me by adding Wooloowin 07 (the suburb in Brisbane where we live and the year we arrived here). I love it! (and you can get your own cushion in her MadeIt shop!)



And that wasn't all - there was a screen printed kids t-shirt, a W Class tram notebook and brooch and 10 fabric postcards! Thanks Jennie, we love it! :-)



And here are the gymnasts - I was at home with my 4-year old today and while he played with the buttons, I quilted this little quilt. I hope to do the facing tonight. After the parent-teacher night...

A good day

My youngest is at Preschool this year, on Mondays, Tuesdays and alternate Wednesdays. I am at work on Mondays and Tuesdays, but not on Wednesdays... and today was my first 'free' day! Woohoo! After doing the shopping and other domestic chores that had to be done I had a few hours left to play, and I managed to quilt these three gymnasts. I had intended this piece for SAQA's 2011-2012 Travelling Trunk Show, but it was too big, so now I am thinking I may send it in for this year's Benefit Auction. Once it is finished, of course.



This is a project from the book I showed you earlier, Playing with Books. Using an old paperback novel I made this business card holder. Adding the letter tags was my own idea. I absolutely love it, don't you? Here is the view from the side:



And last but not least, some NQR (not quilting related) news: today the first paper written for my PhD thesis was published, in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health! I am very, very excited about that! (if you are interested in 'Tuberculosis in the Australian Indigenous population: history, current situation and future challenges' you can find the article here. It is not very 'technical' I think, but maybe I'm wrong there?)

I am going to have a celebratory glass of wine with DH, who has just heard that he will be promoted to Senior Research Fellow at the University of Queensland :-).

Seth and Snow White

Here I am again - I forgot to show you this adorable robot, Seth. I won him in an auction for the Queensland Flood Appeal at BusyBsewBiz blog . Isn't he cute?

I won another item that I hope to be able to show you soon... DH and I discussed how much we would give to the Premier's Fund and I set my sights on these two auctions... and was lucky to win them both!



Here is my newest book recycling project: vintage fairytale cards! At the Lifeline Bookfest I bought an old fairytale book that had stains and missing pages... but lovely illustrations. I made five cards and envelopes out of the tale of Snow White, and put them up for sale in my MadeIt shop, Blue Jacaranda. Do you like them?

It's not as if I have time for another hobby... But I am really enjoying 'upcycling books'!

Small things

It's too hot and more importantly too humid to do any serious sewing or quilting - especially in a sewing room without airconditioning :-(. But I did make this cover for a mini notebook (A7 or 8 x 11.5 cm), from the leftover bits of the Kindle cover fabric. Since I have far more notebooks than I need, I have put it up for sale in my MadeIt store.
(by the way, I absolutely love the Kindle - I am reading Under the Dome now, by Stephen King, and it is so much easier to carry the Kindle around than the 1000+ pages book!)



I haven't shown you this postcard that I made a while ago for the birthday list at the Fibermail group. It has arrived now, so here it is. I still love selvedges :-).

Busy

I have been quite busy in the last few days - I finished this quiltlet, Speed 2, for SAQA's 2011-2012 Travelling Trunk Show. Yes, it looks a lot like Speed 1, but in different colours, and I quilted it differently as I wanted to see the effect of those lines. The edges are not finished as the quilts will be matted and only 8 square inch will be visible.



I have also been doing something quite different. A while ago I bought this book and I couldn't wait to start playing! At the Lifeline Bookfest in Brisbane last weekend I bought a lot of books in the unpriced section (50 cents per book) and then I got going!



Pages from an old atlas were turned into postcards and envelopes (I've put a few up for sale in my MadeIt shop). Great fun! Some other projects are under way and will be shown here soon.

Meanwhile we are once more glued to the television, radio and the internet as tropical cyclone Yasi is making its way to Cairns and surrounding areas. Cyclones are always scary, but this one is so big and very, very frightening... Queensland has been through so much already this summer and now there is this monster cyclone...

I'm thinking of the people in Far North Queensland (especially my colleagues and quilting friends in Cairns, whom I visited in April 2009) and hoping they will stay safe.