more postcards

Well there is nothing like a deadline is there? I made these yesterday for our meeting tonight. They will be shown/sold at the Fleurieu Quilters display at the Leafy Sea Dragon festival in Yankalilla next month. The festival is always worth a visit if you get the chance. It celebrates the marine emblem of South Australia with lots of art displays over numerous venues. The Inman Valley Quilters Exhibition will be on too - a bonus!

A sample quilt - not a sampler

My thoughts this week, like most peoples' I'm sure, have been for the people of Christchurch in the aftermath of the earthquake. What devastation and sadness? It's been another reminder that we can't outsmart nature. It is a little ironic too, that all the modern day IT equipment and resources meant that the world could know instantly what had happenend, and organise and look on to the rescue efforts, while many of the people in Christchurch being kept out of the city centre and with no power, telephones and internet access did not know the extent of the disaster.


I'm back in quilting mode again. At the moment I am trying to make a quilt from bundles of little fabric samples I acquired years ago - on the bottom of a box of fabric I was given. They are from the days (late 80s and early 90s) when you could receive sample ranges from the shops. I have added a collection of 3 inch squares I cut way back then too. The photos show the bundles, a fabric sample card from 1986, and the process of string piecing 4 rows at a time.




I snapped these pictures quickly last night as my candle was burning itself out. It managed to overflow a few nights ago onto a quilted mat (yes I got the wax out but not the pink colouring ...grrr) and not learning from that, it got a corner of a quilted coaster last night although I thought the dish would contain any overflow), I was however fascinated by the relief 'picture' left in the wax as it burnt. I could imagine all sorts of things in it - rather like a Rohrschach inkblot.

softly softly sunset

4 weeks since I posted. I am not sure where the time has gone, though I have spent some time on my annual / holiday pleasures - watching some cricket and tennis and doing a couple of jigsaws. I have to limit the time I spend on them otherwise I would never finish any quilts. I have always loved doing jigsaws, and I like them to be reasonably challenging and difficult (usually 500-1000 pieces because there would be no table to eat off if I did larger ones!) I think it is the way the picture emerges in the same way that quilts do, from a mass of little coloured 'scraps' that has always appealed to me. The difference is with a quilt, I get to 'draw' the picture!



I have lots of new ideas for quilts, but am stalling, not stitching! I am battling at the moment with removing glue from the back of some fabric samples I want to use to finish one project. Anyone any ideas? The cold soak and nail polish remover haven't budged it. Most of it will be in the seam edge but it would be nice to remove it.




First 'must do' for the year is a postcard or two appropriate for the Leafy Sea Dragon Festival. For those who don't know it, that is our State marine emblem. Here is a link if you would like to know more www.premcab.sa.gov.au/emblems/dragon


First guild meeting for the year last night and we were lucky enough to have Rachel Deneny talk about the journey to Houston for her and her World of Beauty winning quilt Royal Amethyst and show us some photos of the exhibition. I thought her quilt was amazing when we first saw it in our Festival of Quilts exhibition, but then she topped that by hand colouring the back to match the front - a well deserved win.

I have been 'resting' my camera a bit, but here are three shots taken in my brother's garden, of apricots (large and luscious), lettuce going to seed, and a close up of insects busy on a daisy.


This evening I looked out the window to see a strange lightness in the sky. Went out and captured the unusual, pale sunset colours you see at the top.



Today has been very hot and humid, and although we haven't had any rain (a little is forecast for the next day or so) it seems our weather is being affected by Cyclone Yasi as it crosses the inland areas to our north. Last month I wrote of the flooding. While that continues in some areas the northern coastline of Quuensland is today starting to pick up the pieces after the devastation from this cyclone. It hasn't been a very good start to the New Year in many areas.