Postcards

Here are a few postcards I received in the last few weeks. This beauty is from Ellen.

The following cards are from fellow ATWI20Q members Lynn, Sue, Joy and Simone, for an end-of-year swap we did in December.




I sent an Australia postcard to the overseas ladies (Lynn and Simone) and these cards to the others:



I love making postcards! I prefer them to ATCs because of the larger format.

Speaking of ATCs and postcards, the Cyber Fyber Exhibition is starting today! You can see the online exhibitions of postcards here and ATCs here (postcard nr. 209 and ATC nr. 24 are mine). Do take a look at these wonderful collections!

I finished the backing of the Aussie quilt and hope to sandwich it tonight!

Quilts

Thanks for all the nice comments on my last posting. I must say that after 4 days camping it still looks terrible to me, but I will buy some fabric for the border on Saturday and, in due course, finish the quilt. Of course the background needs some work as well.

In the meantime I am piecing the backing of the Aussie quilt for Hugo. Only 4 weeks to go until his birthday, so this is my priority now. He has seen some blocks, but not the top as a whole yet.

I have committed myself to making an A4 sized journal quilt once a month this year with the AusNZ Artquilters group (a yahoo group that I belong to). There is a list of themes and techniques for every month, but you are free to do your own thing if you like. I haven't decided yet but think that I will make journal quilts based on things happening in my life.

Of course there is also Around the World in 20 Quilts, my online artquilt group. An idea for the Brave New World Challenge is slowly forming in my mind. When the Aussie is finished I will start on that.

And to end with some photos: even when we are camping there are quilts around!



When the boys go to bed, it usually is quite warm still, but it gets colder at night, so when we go to sleep we cover them with the quilts.
DH is complaining that the boys all have one or more quilts (and Hugo is getting another one!), but there is still no quilt for our bed! ;-)

Ruined the owl...

Yesterday I tried to add some shade to the owl's head with a black fabric crayon. I didn't like the result and tried to erase it, but the result was even worse...
I'm afraid I ruined my owl quilt :-(.

We are going away, camping for 4 days, so I'll leave it now and have another look when we are back.

Any way... happy new year!

Owl

Still postponing sandwiching and quilting the Aussie quilt, I have started on another bird quilt - an owl, this time. This is what I did so far. I think it needs some more, but am not sure what... What do you think?
It does need a border, but I have to buy fabric for that.
This is the back - looks good, doesn't it?



I have signed up for the Hawaiian Quilting class starting on January 9th at Quilt University. I have never done any hand quilting but would like to try it.

More postcards

I had a ball working on these postcards yesterday. The fireworks card is a Happy New Year card for a colleague. The other one so far is not spoken for. I'm quite happy about the way it turned out - I used fabric crayons to add some shade.
I also made a few more Australia cards. I love these little projects! (and I'm procrastinating - not looking forward to sandwiching the Aussie quilt...)

Wishing you...

and a happy, creative, succesful and healthy 2009!



PS Thanks for all the lovely comments on the Aussie quilt top!

Top

I finished the top! Don't you think it looks good?

Now I have to construct the backing, with the world map panel and another Aussie fabric. Then sandwich and quilt it - I'm not looking forward to that part...

ATCs

I haven't worked on the Aussie quilt this week (I have bought backing and batting though!) because I needed to finish some postcards and ATCs. I've made 4 postcards for a swap with some of my ATWI20Q mates, but can't show them here yet because they haven't arrived at their destinations.

I can show you an ATC I made for Laura:



I received this one from her:



I liked the daisy ATC so much that I made 3 more for the Cyber Fyber International Random ATC Swap:



And I made this one from a scrap for the stellar quilt, and thought it appropriate to send it to Chloe who set us the stellar challenge:



And finally I dyed some fabric- I tried to get a pink-to-red series, but it turned out more orange-y... Still, I like these fabrics and am sure I can use them. And it was good to some dyeing again!



Tomorrow we are going away, for a long weekend camping. Next week I hope to finish the top of the Aussie quilt!

This and that

I have spent quite some time at the sewing machine this week, working on this and that. Mainly on the Aussie quilt for Hugo; I finished all the blocks (20) and am now sewing them together. This weekend I am going to buy the batting and backing. I think I will use the world map fabric for the back, like I did on Ernst's I Spy quilt.



This is Hugo's last week at school before the summer holidays, so we had to have a present for his Prep teacher. Remember the fabric that he painted? I made it into a giant card (or mini wall hanging) with Fast2Fuse:



The teacher really liked it!
And last but not least, I made some Christmas decorations using Christmas themed selvedge strips - inspired by a posting on the Selvage Blog.They are for my 'mortal' and have been sent in the last present for this year. My identity is revealed now, so I can show them here.



Now I need to make some postcards and ATCs for a few swaps. And a Brave New World quilt for Around the World in 20 Quilts, using recycled materials. Quite a challenge! (the theme, not the recycling)

Auckland, stars and a rainbow

Last Sunday I came back from Auckland. I had a very good time there - the conference was interesting, I met some very nice people, the weather was lovely (it made me realize how much I miss the long summer evenings and the twilight...) and I did some great sightseeing. For some photos of Auckland, please visit my other blog

On Saturday I took the ferry to Devonport, a beautiful, old (well, relatively old, of course ;-)) suburb on the northside and indulged in some serious shopping. There were a few good second hand bookshops, a wonderful toyshop and a great quiltshop. At the last one I bought some kiwi fabric, a book and a magazine. The lady at the counter told me there was an exhibition by a local quilt group on the other side of the road - so of course I went there!

The group is called Shore Thing and the exhibition was called Not Just Another Exhibition ... Again By Shore Thing. Featuring Kites, Dolls, Quilts, Fish, Fabric Art, Journals, Gifts, Sales Table Dye-in-Fabric (which I completely overlooked!).

It was a great exhibition - I made lots of photos and asked if I could put them on my blog. I could, so here are a few:






They had some second hand books (quilting and other)and magazines for sale and I bought quite a few. What a great way to spend a day in a new city!

On Sunday, when I came back home, it was the last day of the stellar challenge at ATWI20Q, - time to show all the quilts. I am not very happy with my stellar quilt, but there are some gorgeous quilts over there, so be sure to go and check them out!

On Monday I had an email from the 2QAQ State of the Art Quilt Show. Sadly, my Rainbow quilt was not selected. Well, it was made in less than a week by a very inexperienced wannabee art quilter... so I was not surprised (but a bit sad, I confess). However, I can now show it to you:



I still like the design of the quilt, but technically it could be better. I don't know yet if I am gong to keep it or cut it up to make postcards and ATCs. What do you think?