Still busy

I am still busy making things for Sunday August 14th, when Blue Jacaranda will be at the Kerbside Lane Markets. Chalk cloth placemats, pencil rolls, chalk cloth tags...
It's fun to do but the itch to start a new quilt is getting stronger too! I think the next one will be a diving quilt, using one of the screen prints I showed here.



Another project that is coming up is to make new curtains, pillow cases and cushion covers for our recently acquired caravan!

Busy

While at home with a sick 6-year-old and a healthy 4-year-old I managed to get a lot done today. I finally finished the ice skating quilt, hanging sleeve and all. I'm not showing you the full quilt yet but here is a sneak peek (ignore the pink spot at the bottom; something to do with the light). I also finally sewed sleeves onto a few other quilts -- not my favourite part of the quilt making process!

I realised today that the first anniversary of Blue Jacaranda, my online shop, was last week on July 15th :-). It's been a good year, with 66 items sold - not bad for an enterprise that was just started for fun! And I'm now taking it to a new level: on Sunday, August 14th Blue Jacaranda will be at the Kerbside Lane Markets in Brisbane! So I have been very busy creating new stock:



(much, much more to come!)
I haven't been to this market yet, but it sounds like a fun place - here is a review of one of the earlier markets. The best thing for me is that it starts at 1 pm so no need to build my stall (ehm, it will just be our camping table for now) at 5 am!

So please come along all you Brisbane people and say hi on August 14th! (still a few weeks to go, I know - and I will need them - but don't worry, I will remind you !)



PS My 6-year-old is much better now, thanks. Just hoping that his brothers won't get sick...

SAQA Benefit Auction 2011

Dianne Mularz - Allium#1

In less than 2 months, on September 12th, SAQA's Benefit Auction 2011 will kick off - a great opportunity to obtain a great little piece of art. Go over to the website to see all 309 artworks. The one pictured above is my absolute favourite and the two below come in a close second and third!


Diane Doran - Blue Bird 2

Peg Keeney - Aspens

This is my donation - Balance 3.

Hong Kong

Yesterday I came back from a short trip (4 days) to Hong Kong. I was at a TB conference which was very interesting and took up most of my time, but I had a few opportunities to do some sightseeing. Of course I took my camera; here are a few of my favourite photos.

Taken on the ferry from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon:



Statue in Kowloon:



Taken on a sampan in Aberdeen Harbour:



A building in the street next to my hotel, in Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island:



And a close-up:



Hong Kong is called the most vertical city in the world and it's not hard to see why:





Spotted during a sightseeing tour in Hong Kong Island:




Me taking photos ;-):



A stall at Stanley Street Market, selling not the usual standard stuff but quirky handmade things:



I bought this creature; it suits my new bag very well! The gorgeous silk shawl was also bought at this market. I think turquoise is my favourite colour at the moment.



Hong Kong is a vibrant, inspiring city, but it's also very crowded and polluted. And of course it is summer there now, so it was very hot and humid. I had a great time but was happy to be back in clean, green Brisbane on a sunny winter's day!

I hope to finish the ice skating quilt this week, and am also planning a Hong Kong quilt for the Australian and New Zealand art quilters journal quilt project!



More Hong Kong photos can be found on my photo blog, which I have resurrected. It will no longer be a 'a photo a day' blog, but will feature series of photos whenever I have the opportunity to go somewhere and try to make some good photos. Do go and have a look!

I'm going to Hong Kong and I'm taking a... phone case

My phone desperately needed its own case, so I made a simple one using one of the Thea & Sami scraps from the scrap pack I bought at their Studio and Shop Opening a while ago.



Now it can safely travel with me to Hong Kong. I fly tonight at 11.05 pm - am a little nervous, obviously don't travel enough! I will be back on Tuesday and hope to show you lots of pics then!

School holidays

It's the 2-week winter holidays here. We have just come back from a short camping holiday, again at Wooyung Beach where we were last month as well. We like the place so much that we have bought an on-site caravan there!



I have been quite creative in the last week, but mainly in helping with these children's projects!
I did manage to finish quilting the new ice skating quilt and now only have to do the facing finish. I hope to get that done before Thursday night, when I fly to Hong Kong for a 4-day trip to a medical conference. Am looking forward to that!



I am not continuing my photo blog, but will post the occasional photo on this blog. Here is a Grevillea that I photographed at the campsite. Love these funky flowers!

Here's looking at you, kid

Today we unveil our Animal Kingdom quilts on the Art Quilts Around the World blog. This is mine, hanging in my sewing room. I would like to show you how it came about.

I wanted to use my new large screen for this quilt and thought of an interesting animal shape to screen print. Of course - a zebra! I found this copyright-free image on the internet:



I cropped it and printed it in A3 size using Posterazor. I traced the lines on freezer paper and cut out the white shapes - about an hour of work!



I ironed the freezer paper stencil to my screen and got everything ready to print:



Then I took a deep breath, pulled the squeegee down a few times, carefully took the screen off the fabric and voilà!



Oh, the moment when you uncover a great print! :-)



I made a few more prints and then had to clean the screen - and that was the end of my beautiful stencil...

I chose the best of the prints, sandwiched it and quilted it with a black Aurifil thread along the lines, letting them continue in the border (using the original photo as an example). I used a facing finish for the edges of a quilt and attached a sleeve rightaway. Usually it takes me a while to get to that, but I really wanted to put this quilt up the wall!



I think this is my best screen printed image ever and am very proud of it! I uploaded it to Spoonflower where it is now for sale in a few different colourways (a regular black-and-white one and two pop-art zebras!).

The quilt measures 60 x 43 cm (23.5 x 17 inch). There was no size requirement for the challenge and I wanted the quilt to be large enough to enter it in my guild's quilt show in October. Afterwards it may go to my husband's office for he absolutely loves it! :-)



PS The title popped into my head while I was quilting this piece and I thought it fitted the bill...

Call for entries

This exhibition sounds very interesting, I have put my thinking cap on!
(actually the quilt I am working on at the moment fits the size requirements - but ice skating is not something that is often found Beneath the Southern Sky, I'm afraid ;-)...)



PS As you will have noticed if you read this, my blog is now at www.lindarobertus.blogspot.com. If you are a follower or link to my blog on yours, you may have to follow/link again because the old url, www.lindarobertus.com, is now directed to my website... Sorry for the incovenience and thank you for continuing to visit me!

Progress

DH took the boys to a park today so I could work in peace and quiet on my new ice skating quilt. I made some good progress and hope to finish the quilt in the next few weeks.



On my new website I used a photo of the Tuberculosis quilt I made in 2009 as a journal quilt with the Australian and New Zealand Art Quilters group. I cropped it so the stitched writing wasn't visible and realised that I actually like the quilt better this way. So today I chopped off that part and finished the new edge with a satin stitch.

Speaking about my website: I am going to rename this blog www.lindarobertus.blogspot.com and use the domain name www.lindarobertus.com for the website (with the blog integrated in it). I hope that this will work and that you, dear reader, will be able to find me again! It may take a little time for the url to work again though...



PS For thise of you who were wondering: my gymnast son won a ribbon for 5th place on high bar at the Queensland Gymnastics Championships yesterday! On Tuesday he will compete again in the Regional Team Challenge, as the number one of Brisbane North in Level 3 Under 9.

Busy

Long time no blog - I have been very busy since the last posting but haven't got much to show for it. I finished the Animal Kingdom quilt for Art Quilts Around the World but can't show it here yet... Too bad, because I am really excited about this quilt! I think it's my best one for AQATW so far. You will have to wait six more days for the unveiling.

I've also done some boring but necessary tasks like sewing sleeves on quilts... And most of all I have been busy with my family - DH was away for a week so I had to taxi everyone to taekwondo grading, band performance, gymnastics training etc... And take care of my little one who was sick again - it looks like he suffers from migraine, poor little mite, he's only four years old :-(.

This weekend my oldest is competing in the Queensland State Gymnastics Championships; very exciting! And next Thursday we are off for a few days camping at beautiful Wooyung Beach again (see photo above) - I am really looking forward to that!