Opening of SotAQ13

Yesterday was the opening of the State of the Art Quilt 13 exhibition at Gallery 159 in The Gap. The exhibition was juried by Lisa Walton.  It is a beautiful collection; I am honoured to have my coffee bag quilt included!



There were 20 quilts altogether - these are my favourites:
Sunrise Sunset by Helen Kidd (this piece consists of two quilts!):



Great Southern Land by Julie Tasker:



One Red Thread by Kate Oszko:



They will be on display at Gallery 159 until 27 April. After that you can see them in Caboolture, Capalaba, Townsville, Brisbane and Bribie Island (a full list of dates and venues can be found here).

State of the Art Quilt 13

If you are in Brisbane this Sunday, you might want to come to the opening of the State of the Art Quilt 13 exhibition in Gallery 159, The Gap, at 3pm. A number of participating artists, including yours truly, will be there to speak briefly about their work.

Burlap Pincushion

These days I post my new burlap creations (made from upcycled Hessian coffee sacks) mostly on my Blue Jacaranda blog, but I am making an exception for the latest one: a Burlap Pincushion! Relevant for quilters too, right? ;-) I stenciled the words PLEASE ENTER YOUR PIN on the fabric using a hand-cut stencil. The back is made from a scrap of black fabric and the cushion is filled with left-over bits of bamboo batting (cut into very small pieces), so it is truly a recycled object. (I have decided not to buy any new fabric this year to use in my quilts or other projects - there is still so much in my stash)



I am also trying to come up with as many ideas to use the Hessian coffee bag fabric as I can - last week I made some zippered pencil cases:





The next thing to try will be a Kindle case...

I hope to have some exciting quilting news soon, so stay tuned!

Burlap Bowl

Today I finally made something I have been wanting to make for a long time: a fabric bowl. Of course I used coffee sack fabric! (and heavy-weight Fast2Fuse for the interfacing)



I used this tutorial to make the bowl and found it a quick and easy job.



This one is to keep the loose bits and pieces on my desk organised, but I might make some more Burlap Bowls to add to my Etsy shop. And maybe use some of the gorgeous quilting fabrics in my stash to make a few more for myself... ;-)

Burlap Coffee Sack Apron Tutorial

Just wanted to let you know that I have posted a tutorial on how to make an apron from a coffee sack on my  Blue Jacaranda blog. It's the first time I have written a tutorial and I would love it if you would check it out and let me know what you think!



If you are in Brisbane, you might consider coming to the Inspired event at Kylie Farrelly's studio in Teneriffe. It's promising to be a lovely afternoon, with high tea, raffles and great Christmas shopping!

New: Blue Jacaranda Newsletter

One more Blue Jacaranda message: I have set up a newsletter (whew, what a lot of work that was!) that will come out once month and keep you up-to-date with what's happening at Blue Jacaranda and other things you might like to know (such as that it is now jacaranda time in Brisbane!). If you sign up, you will automatically go in the draw for a beautiful Blue Jacaranda prize each month; this month the prize is a set of three Burlap Christmas Cards. And you get to choose the text on the cards!



You can read the first newsletter here, and also sign up on that page. Or use the form in the sidebar on the right.

On Wednesday I'll be at the Queensland Quilt Show - looking forward to that! Two of my quilts are hanging there. Will show some pics soon.

Birthdays and more

Last week was a terribly busy one - my baby turned six, I turned forty-something, it was the last week of school with Letterland Day for the Preppies, on the weekend we had Robbie's Olympic birthday party, and today and tomorrow my eldest son is competing at the Gymnastics State and National Club Championships in Caloundra (guess who's chauffeuring). I got a lovely, handmade birthday present: this donut pincushion from my friend Kate (and a new smartphone to Instagram it with, yay!).



It has been getting quite warm here in Brisbane in the last few days, which inspired me to make another Burlap Beach Pillow. And I put a kookaburra in a hoop:



On Wednesday we are going to our caravan at Wooyung Beach for a short holiday. I am looking forward to it soooo much! See you next week :-).

Aqua and Burlap Pencil Roll

The Burlap Pencil Roll I showed here a while ago quite unexpectedly became a big hit on Etsy - it has been on the front page twice and been viewed more than a thousand times since I first listed it on 12 August! (gasp!)
I have sold so many that it is now a 'made to order' item. It was also featured on the Illustration Friday blog (along with some other gorgeous pencill rolls and cases). Wow! what an experience! :-)



Today I thought I'd try a different design for a pencil roll. I used a piece of burlap that I had threaded with turquoise (thinking I might use it for a quilt but then changing my mind). I also added a 'flap' to fold over the pencils, so they can't fall out.



What do you think? I am quite happy with the latest addition to my pencil roll collection!



(not that I am keeping it - I still have the one that started it all and really, how many pencil rolls does a girl need? So it's up for sale, and remember: you still get 20% off by using coupon code ETSYVERSARY at check-out!)

Etsyversary

Today is the first anniversary of my Blue Jacaranda shop on Etsy! It's been a great year and I am looking forward to the next one. To celebrate I am offering a 20% discount on all items in my shop - just use the coupon code ETSYVERSARY at check-out.



The stretched burlap print has been added to the shop yesterday and the bicycle word art print in-a-hoop today. The other hoop art prints will be added tomorrow - now that this business is my main source of income, I am planning to add a new item every day.

Burlap Doily Pillow

My ongoing love affair with burlap has produced a new item. I added a vintage doily (bought from an Australian vintage seller on Etsy, as I couldn't find any in my local op shop) and created this small pillow.
Don't you just love the combination of the rough burlap and the sweet, I would almost say virginal, doily? ;-)
In the shop now!

More burlap items

A while ago I lost my mobile phone case, so I thought I'd use the piece of threaded burlap that I showed in the last posting to make a new one. I made a nice case - but it's a bit too small! Silly me. Maybe a strap at the top will help.



I also made this burlap card and added it to the shop. Have you seen Barack Obama sing this song? My eldest and I love the video! (pay attention at the start - such a cute smile!)

Burlap Pencil Roll

UPDATE 2016: The pattern for this pencil roll is now available in my Etsy pattern store.



As you may have noticed, I have a soft spot for pencil rolls. I love how colourful they look with all those pencils:



In combination with my ongoing love affair with burlap, this pencil roll was of course inevitable! (now for sale in my Etsy shop)



Weaving threads through burlap is fun:



Might do some more of that!

Coffee?

And here it is, my coffee sack quilt! Quilting it was a bit of a nightmare - do not try this at home ;-).



I used another coffee sack for the backing. (no batting necessary)I had wondered about the binding, but realised I could just fold over the finished edges of the sack:



I am now trying to decide if I will add some stenciled letters to the quilt or leave it as it is...

Update

To be continued...

Burlap... quilt?

If you have been following my blog in the last few months you will have noticed that I am slightly obsessed with burlap at the moment. After buying some coffee sacks at Reverse Garbage here in Brisbane I have been making pillows, postcards, ACEO, bookmarks, coasters and a bookcover with it. I have used a strip of burlap in my Indonesia quilt - but what about making a quilt out of nothing but burlap?? The current challenge theme at Art Quilts Around the World is monochrome, so it would fit in very well!



I cut strips roughly 3 inch wide from the four sacks I have here - they all have a different texture; some are very loose, others quite tightly woven.



Because burlap frays terribly I used a zigzag stitch instead of a straight stitch to piece the strips together.



This is the result so far - to be continued!



I love burlap and its texture - but working with it does leave a terrible mess!



I also made two new bookmarks to add to my Blue Jacaranda shop. Have to make one for myself as I really like them!

Gymnasts and coffee

Not much to show this week - I did add the large gymnast to the blue piece I showed here earlier, done in Paintstick. What do you think?

And I made another burlap coffee quote card and added it to my shop. I am so enjoying making them! (although cutting those freezer paper stencils is a lot of work...)



Sunday is Mother's Day and I have asked for some 'free' time to make the gymnast piece into a quilt. Hope all you mums out there will have a lovely day and be really spoilt!

Screen printing

This is the result of my screen printing session today. It's inspired by this photo I took of my gymnast son in September 2010 - still one of my all-time favourites:




The plan is to add something more... I will keep you posted!


I also made this card and added it to my Etsy shop - I am planning a series of burlap coffee quotes cards and am having a lot of fun searching for appropriate quotes!