...sew are the days of our lives...

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Thursday, February 4, 2010

Last Weekend

Last weekend was one of those weekends when you feel like all you do is work. Do you ever feel like you just can't catch up? I really needed to clean the house, but I'd set up my cutting table to baste quilts in the middle of the lounge room, and although I finished a few quilts on the Saturday night, I still had one to go on Sunday. I was tired on Sunday... but I did end up finishing basting the quilt. It's a top I made almost a year ago from African shweshwe squares. I've decided to hand quilt this one with sashiko thread.
The pile of basted quilts. Isn't that red one a lovely backing? it's from the Moda Rouenneries range and I used it for the indigo, red and white quilt above. You can also catch a glimpse of the large applique flowers and fish one from a few posts ago.
And here it is again! I'm trying to decide on a quilting thread for it, and Dolly's helping. In the end I chose the pastel variegated Signature thread to blend the pastel background strips. The flowers have already been free machine appliqued with a black thread to make them pop. (I've finished it now and love the look of it, even if I do say so myself - very different style of quilt for me... but I'll tell you more about that in my next post.)
Finally, I finished this little fairy Baby Wrap. I really made it to show case the fabric, but it's so simple and could be done with any print you don't want to cut. I just had to put the red half square triangle borders on the top and bottom. When I sew those, for some reason I feel happy. Perhaps that's what quilting is all about.
Do you like the background? It's the lovely shabby chic shelf full of fabrics in my boutique.
Have a good week ,
xoxo Ann.
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Saturday, January 30, 2010

Cats and Quilts

Enter, the Cats...
Dusty
and Dolly...

make their first appearance for 2010, and they'd like to wish you all a Very Happy New Year, I'm sure!
They're both snuggled in their favourite spots. Dusty's on a quilt on my bed, and Dolly's taken over a quilt top waiting to be ironed before basting, on my ironing board. (it looks a bit like a surf board here.) It doesn't matter what's on there, Dolly will be with it - even a steaming iron.
The quilt at the top is an old one, Clare Valley Rainbow , when I was still practising and trying out traditional machine quilting patterns on my sewing machine. My wobbly vine stems always bothered me, but it looks quite nice in this light. I bought a pack of gorgeous fabrics which reminded me of the Clare Valley wine growing area in South Australia, from Frangipani Fabrics when they first opened in Darwin years ago. Then I proceeded to make a medallion quilt.
The next quilt has been in progress for about a year now, and has spent most of it's uncompleted life as a table cloth to cover up a trestle tabe when my shop was temporary. Now I've moved in, I have proper furniture and I can finish the quilt. It's quite nice, made with South African Shweshwe indigos and red.
I seem to have a lot of quilts at the quilting stage - actually at the basting stage, which I hate! I've spent nearly my whole weekend hours not at work, pin basting. What a dreary bore...
Now I have to get dressed and vacuum, yes, on a Sunday!
But I have had breakfast in bed while reading Memoires of a Geisha my latest book club book. I'm surprised that , although I've read it before and seen the movie, I'm enjoying and am gripped by it as much as before, maybe more.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend,
xoxo Ann
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Friday, January 29, 2010

Sweltering Summer 2010, Baroon Pocket Dam

It's been REALLY hot here, and Maleny is usually a couple of degrees cooler than Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast! We went for a picnic with friends from Darwin, to Baroon Pocket Dam.
The Kookaburras are very cheeky there and often swoop down to grab your sausage from its bun while it's en route to your mouth!
Here's one just waiting for the opportunity...
Black swans also joined us on the lake. I altered this image a little - it's a bit like a lino print now.
The water was so clear for this little flock of swans.
And here's something I'm working on at present, to fit the summer mood.

We've finally had a bit of rain today and things have cooled down a bit for now. Thank heavens for air-con in my shop!
Hope you're keeping cool too,
Ann xoxo
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Monday, January 25, 2010

Searching for Inspiration at the Start of a New Decade


It's time to post, but it's so hard to get motivated! I just read An Indian Summer, one of the blogs in my favourites thing in the sidebar, and the splashes of brilliant colour there helped.
I was really sad to see that Amanda Jean has written her last post at Crazy Mom Quilts. She has made an amazing collage of ALL the quilts she finished in 2009. That blog was truly inspirational and I'm a bit bemused about how upset I was that it's finished too.
I don't know... maybe it's school holidays, the heat, or opening my shop, Quiltopia full time that's to blame.
School goes back on Wednesday, so maybe I'll get some work on quilts done then... instead of watching the first 4 seasons of How I Met Your Mother, or season one of Gossip Girl. I've always been a fan of a good soap, since I used to almost jog home from school in the '70s to catch the last 10 minutes of The Young and the Restless.
I decided to put a little bit of the quilt I made my sister for Christmas up the top there, just to get some colour happening till I post properly tomorrow. I finished 23 quilts last year! And I've already finished a couple this year... but nothing to get excited about yet. I've also written up and sent my next quilt project for Down Under Quilts, Quilt Africa. And I've moved Quiltopia into a permanent retail location in down town Maleny. So I guess I've done something. I am constantly amazed and awed by the sheer persistence of those of you who create and blog and spread the word seemingly tirelessly, when we all know how much effort it all takes.
Right now, I'm finding out that full time retail is fun and very draining!
Keep up the good blogging all you out there and roll on 2010 and thanks for reading -
Ann xoxo

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

What TYPE of blog is yours?

The Typealyzer says about my blog:

ESFP - The Performers

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.

I found this entertaining little gem on Diane Wright Quilts .
Thanks Diane!

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Quilts for Christmas


The quilts revealed!
Happy New year to you all and may 2010 be a wonderful, prosperous, fun and fulfilling year!
Our family spent the Christmas - New Year break in an amazing Queensland style house backing onto The Noosa River and only 5 minutes walk into Noosa Heads. It was lovely.
The quilts I gave for Christmas were very much appreciated and I had to take some nature shots of them on the jetty at our holiday house. The day I took these was a king tide and I only just managed to rescue the quilts from a wave rolling over the spot where the quilts were posed!
How more satisfied can a quilt maker be than when her teenage daughter loves the quilt she's received? I made this one for Amelia from 4 Moda Charm Packs, each from a different range. I used Verna, Rouenneries, Rural Jardin and Blush.
It was amazing how the serendipitous selection turned into this pretty, subtle little quilt. It's the perfect accessory for the sun and sea bleached beauty of my daughter, and the soft weathered boards below.
Even at 14 months, Eva was overjoyed with her "I Spy"/ "Very Hungry Caterpillar "quillow! She got comfortable on it and started pointing as soon as it was unwrapped.
Here she is just ruminating on all the different things she can see. Look at those little feet! She spent many moments quietly gazing and pointing in her cot, pre-sleep. It's such a simple quilt (I posted about a similar one just a few weeks ago) but the kids love it.
Looking forward to another year posting,
Ann.
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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Who's Giving Quilts this Christmas?

Who's giving quilts this Christmas?
Who's spent the last few weeks frantically finishing off projects just right for those special people in their lives? Who's breathed that deep sigh of relief at a task finished and a job well done?Who's wrapped them carefully and packed them up with just a little anxiety, hoping their recipients will love them?
Who has stepped back to admire their handiwork and skill? This is one I think we tend to forget.
After I'd packed these four quilts for family members, I looked over and saw them stacked up and looking magnificent in their Christmaswrappings - I'd forgotten to appreciate them stacked as themselves with there bright and subtle colours clashing and complementing each other as the personalities of their receivers do!
I wonder if they'll guess what their presents from me are, under the Christmas tree this year...?
Many wishes for a Joyous Christmas and Wonderful New Year!
Ann.
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