The last posting of 2016

Almost two weeks after moving in we have more or less settled here in the Northern Beaches. It such a beautiful area - the beach is only a 20-minute walk from our house, and the views from the Plateau are fabulous:



All the boxes are unpacked, the quilts have come out and it's starting to feel like home!



Len's Quilt (The Log Cabin with a Lens, original pattern here) used to hang at my husband's workplace. Since he is not starting his new job until February, we can enjoy it at home now for a while:



My middle son's Dragon quilt is up on the wall again:



Yesterday I finally got to sew at my machine again - the first time in almost three months! I whipped up a zipper pouch, using a bit of leftover Marimekko fabric from my Modern Lone Star Quilt:



Today is for blogging, and reflecting on the year that is almost over. Like many people I am happy to say goodbye to 2016 - it was a rather horrible year, not just globally but on a personal level as well. I lost the job I loved, my husband's work contract ended and his new job meant we had to move 1000 km away from our home. We had to leave our rental house six weeks before the move and spent those weeks in a one-room apartment... Not fun. In the midst of all this our youngest son fell and broke his right elbow, a horrible complicated fracture which luckily is healing well, although he still hasn't fully regained the nerve function in his (dominant) right hand.

However, as the year is ending, things are looking up again for us. We love our new surroundings and enjoy life near the beach. The boys are a bit apprehensive about starting at new schools, but they have another four weeks of summer holidays first. I started running back in October as a way of dealing with all the stress, and although I have been struggling with injuries (Achilles tendonitis, shin splint) I am enjoying it, feeling better and losing weight.

Looking at the quilty side of things, it has been a productive and quite successful year. My Calendar was juried into the travelling exhibition a matter of time and Colourful Pencils was selected for the 2016 Modern Quilt Show Australia. My quilts for the SAQA Benefit Auction and Quilt Alliance Auction both sold. Being asked to judge at the Auckland Festival of Quilts was one of the highlights of 2016.



After losing my day job in February, selling my patterns on Etsy has become an important source of income. Luckily they are doing quite well! Here are all patterns currently for sale (ranked according to popularity - click to enlarge) - I hope to add a few more in the coming year:



Last but not least, I rediscovered knitting in 2016 - to the delight of my family! Here are a few of my finished projects (you can see them all, plus my works in progress, on Ravelry):



I am definitely planning to do more knitting in 2017, and hope to publish more knitting patterns after my first one, the Wine Bottle Cover!

I would also like to make more art quilts, and add some work to my sports quilts series.

And my final goal for 2017 is to design more patchwork quilts in Adobe Illustrator - I used it first when writing up the pattern for my Lone Star Baby Quilt and quite enjoyed the process.

I hope you will continue to follow this blog and leave the occasional comment. Thank you for coming along on the ride so far!

I would like to wish all my readers a happy, healthy, and creative 2017!

SAQA Oceania Blog Hop 2016

Welcome! I am happy to kick off the SAQA Oceania Blog Hop 2016.
SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) has a Benefit Auction of art quilts every year, and this year 36 Oceania members contributed a piece: the Oceania Collection.

The Auction starts on September 16th, and in the weeks leading up to it 16 Oceania members will show how their quilts were made and what inspired them to make them in the SAQA Oceania Blog Hop 2016. A full list of all participant artists can be found here on the SAQA Oceania blog.

This is my Auction piece, Colouring In:



I love the current trend of colouring books for grown-ups and have quite a pile of them:



When I was thinking about my contribution for this year's Auction, my eyes fell on this pile and I decided to quilt a colouring page. I started with plain white fabric. My favourite colouring-in books are the ones with geometric patterns, so I quilted a triangle grid using black Aurifil 50wt thread:



For the pencil strokes I wound a bobbin with Aurifloss embroidery thread and turned the quilt around to sew from the back. For the top thread I used a matching Aurifil 50wt thread.



I then used fabric in the same colour to appliqué a pencil shape:



Initially I had planned to use only one colour, but I decided that that wasn't enough, so added another one:



And then a few more:



And some more pencils:



Then I decided it was enough, and I finished the quilt with a facing finish. Here is a close-up of the colouring-in:



And the view from the back:



This is my fifth Auction quilt! Here are the four previous ones, clockwise from top left: Balance 1 (2010), Balance 3 (2011), Black and White #3 (2013) and Escape (2015).



Don't miss the next posting in this Blog Hop by Dale Rollerson on August 17th!

2016 SAQA Benefit Auction Quilt: Colouring In

I love the current trend of colouring in for adults and have a small pile of colouring books - ranging from a Tula Pink colouring book to a Game of Thrones one (A Christmas present from my hubby! But to be honest, I haven't filled any pages yet - I'm usually too busy sewing...). My favourite is the one on top - the small Mindfulness Colouring Book, with simple, often geometric colouring pages (it must be the traditional quilter in me). I coloured in quite a few pages of that one last year, while waiting for my middle son to finish his acting classes.



My eyes fell on that book when I was trying to decide what to do for my 2016 SAQA Benefit Auction quilt, and suddenly I thought of a colouring in quilt! I quilted a triangle grid that I would enjoy colouring in myself and wondered what to use for the pencil strokes. Then I remembered the spool of Aurifloss I recently received from the lovely peeps at Aurifil - as you may have noticed from the blog button in the sidebar, I am now an Aurifil blogger, and very proud and honoured to be one!



I wound a bobbin with the Aurifloss and turned the quilt around to sew from the back and fill in the triangles. For the top thread I used Aurifil 50wt threads in matching colours:



The pencils are appliquéd with the same threads. It was a fun little project that has now been sent off to the USA to be auctioned in September. You can see the other Auction quilts here - there are some fabulous little works of art among them!

Stay tuned for the SAQA Oceania Blog Hop that will take place in the weeks before the Auction, similar to the one we did in 2013!

One quilt finished, one quilt started

The quilt in progress that I showed last week is finished! (yes, I am left-handed)



I have entered it in an exhibition overseas and am not sure if I am allowed to share it in full yet, so I'll just tease you with these sneak peeks. I hope that all will be revealed soon - I can say that it is a very colourful quilt!



Meanwhile I have started on another quilt - a small one. This is going to be my 2016 SAQA Benefit Auction quilt!



Stay tuned for I will show more of this one very soon!

2015 SAQA Benefit Auction

Just a reminder that SAQA's 2015 Benefit Auction starts tomorrow (on my birthday!) - you can see all the quilts that are for sale here and read how the Auction works here.



This is my contribution, Escape - it is part of Section 2.

Escape

Yesterday I finished this little quilt - it's my contribution to the 2015 SAQA Benefit Auction.
You know I love Kombi vans - I just had to make an art quilt featuring one!

Merry Christmas

This year I purchased a quilt in the SAQA Benefit Auction for the first time; Poinsettia by Canadian artist Anna Davison. I love it and it's hanging in our living room at the moment, next to the Christmas tree.

It's the perfect image for my last posting of the year as we are getting ready for our summer holiday at the beach. I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas (or happy holidays, if you prefer) and a happy, healthy, colourful and creative New Year. Thank you for visiting my blog, I hope to see you back in 2014!

Take care,
Linda

SAQA Auction

You may remember this little quilt, my donation for the SAQA Benefit Auction. I'm happy to say that it was sold during the first week of the auction. It's featured on the SAQA Europe/Middle-East blog at the moment, as they announce their plans for a gallery of auction quilts for 2014. Do check it out!

For the first time I have bought a quilt at the SAQA Auction. I will show it here when it arrives!

SAQA Oceania Blog Hop

Welcome to the Oceania Collection Blog Hop!

SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) has an auction of art quilts every year, and this year the Oceania members contributed 32 pieces to the collection.



The Blog Hop goes “behind the scenes” to reveal how many of these pieces came about.

A full list of participating artists is on the main SAQA Oceania blog HERE.

This is my auction piece, Black and White #3:



I love black and white quilts and optical illusion quilts. Black and White #1, also known as Op Art Quilt, was made in 2010, for an art auction at my kids' school:



Black and White #2 was made in March 2012. I had planned it to be my SAQA auction quilt for 2012, but it ended up being too large:



All of these quilts are made in the same way: the background is pieced by sewing strips of black and white fabric together. More strips are sewn together and from this fabric pieces are cut and appliquéd to the background with a satin stitch:



Up close this is easy to see:



For more inspiration, visit Susie Cujes and Maggie Gilbert who have already shared their creations.

Coming up soon are Linda Stokes on 15 August and Robin McGrath on 17 August.

Oceania Collection Blog Hop

SAQA (Studio Art Quilts Associates) has an online Benefit Auction of 12" x 12" art quilts every year and this year the Oceania members have contributed 32 pieces to the collection.

During July, August and September the members of SAQA Oceania will be sharing the stories behind their Benefit Auction quilts. The Oceania Collection Blog Hop kicks off today and the first member to show how she made her quilt is Sue Dennis.

A full list of all participating artists and a timetable can be found on the SAQA Oceania blog here.

On 13 August it's my turn to tell you something about my quilt Black & White #3:

SAQA Benefit Auction 2013 quilt

This is my donation to the SAQA Benefit Auction 2013. As you see I have gone back to my black and white optical illusion quilts. My quilt is on page 3a on the SAQA site, along with a number of other quilts from SAQA Oceania members. Later in the year we will do a blog hop showing how we made our quilts.

Handprinted fabric swap

Yes, these are Dutch Houses, but not the ones you know! These are stamped, not screenprinted. I made this fat quarter for the third handprinted fabric swap organised by Leslie Keating. But first I did a stamping workshop with Lisa Walton at the Stitches and Craft Show here in Brisbane on Friday:



We each got a square of this soft, easy to carve material and a fat quarter to play with. I carved a Dutch house and made a rubbing with an oil pastel stick:



I liked the process and the result, so I bought a large block and at home I made this stamp:



It is loosely based on this photo, that I took in November 2010 in Groningen, my favourite city in the whole wide world:



And then I just stamped and stamped!



For the swap I had to make four fat quarters, in the preferred colours of my swap partners:



This morning I folded them and bound them with a scrap of my Dutch Houses wrapping paper (Spoonflower offered wrapping paper for a short while last year):



And here they are, ready to be send off!



At the bottom of the pile is my quilt for the SAQA Benefit Auction 2013, which I also finished this weekend. (yes, I am feeling quite smug!) I am not showing it yet, as it will be part of the SAQA Oceania collection and we plan to do a blog hop later in the year where we will show the quilts.



I took this quilt, The Final Round, home on Friday; it was part of the State of the Art quilt 12 exhibition and returned to me by Suzanne, the curator. I gave her my SotA13 quilt in return - yes, one of my quilts was juried in! More about that soon.

The Final Round is now for sale in my Etsy shop; you can find it here. I like it, but I just don't have enough walls to hang all my quilts!