Happy New Year to you

I'd like to wish all my readers a Happy 2012. Whatever challenges lie ahead, I hope I can meet them with vigor, joy and support.
May your 2012 be filled with the good things you wish for yourself and time for your creative pursuits.

More Shettar

Some more glimpses at Ranjani Shettar's sculptural installations. 'Touch Me not'  took 2 weeks to assemble, although from this detail you can't get the scale of the work which stretched across 2 walls. Each pinhole was drilled to get the right angle, then it was added to the design and the resulting shadows add to the mass and give a shimmer to the work.

Francie, it was probably fishing line- you can just see a little of it in the upper right of this photo- unless it is just my imagination.

NGV art

Saw a wonderful exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, by an Indian artist I have not come across before, Ranjani Shettar whose sculptures used the shadow from the installation for added impact or was it the whole point? 'Sun-sneezers blow light bubbles' was a favourite.

Too fast

It's all over too fast! Christmas anticipation....... and then it's gone in a flash.

We celebrated in Melbourne with an olive tree hung with decorations and stockings underneath. The tree is going to be a welcome addition to the family garden.

The alphabet quilt is being closely inspected. I think it will be a work in progress as I find more buttons and charms to stitch on. The panel just came with the letters, so I searched my stash for suitable printed fabric motifs. Now to hang it.

Progress

Had great fun putting together the bits for each page of a little book that is a Christmas gift. Still have to hand stitch and tizzy up the pages with buttons and beads etc.

Have some pockets for special surprises! Hope Santa surprises you in the nicest way possible. Joyful times to all my blog readers in this Holiday Season!

Christmas gift sewing

This is a pile of fabric that may go into a Christmas gift, I need to stitch today for a special little person. It will be fun turning it into the vision I have of the finished project.

I did make a start a few days ago, in selecting a size for the felt book pages.

Lunch with friends

Lovely company at lunch with Kate, Jane and Suzanne and a special handmade gift from Jane. See more on her blog- Jane Madly Quilting. The food at FLUTE, Cavendish Road, Coorparoo was really delicious.

Rare Beef Salad

Fish cakes

Machine clean

How often do you give your machine a clean? With all the stitching I do, it doesn't take long before my QE440 Bernina sends me a little message, when it is ready for me to clean and oil the bobbin race. It's a simple take apart, clean, oil, reassemble and the machine is soon purring away again.

Contextart Forum 2012

Have I mentioned I am thrilled to be a tutor at the inaugural Contextart Forum 2012 in the Blue Mountains, NSW in April 14-20. This is a great opportunity to study with a tutor for 2, 4 or 6 days, depending on your interest or perhaps out of your comfort zone to try something new. My workshops Surface Design Entree, 2 days and Quilted Textile Souvenirs, 4 days will explore the local environment for inspiration and we will get up close and personal with some of it to create our unique art cloth.

If you have friends who may not have heard about the forum, please direct them to the TAFTA website for more information or contact Janet deBoer for a brochure [PO Box 38, The Gap, Brisbane 4061]
Hope to meet you there!

Old quilts #2

Here are a few of the other quilts in the collection, that caught my eye. Blogger is working a little faster now, so the uploading is not as slow as this morning.

The Friendship Album Applique quilt reinforces the social aspects of quilting and makes me think of the many women I have come to know thriugh quilting. As Chris says, "it doesn't matter if the points are cut off, quilts are made with love, to be loved".
So during this holiday season, I wish you happy times with family and friends. These joyful times are the stitches that keep the fabric of our lives together.

Words

Today it has been extremely frustrating to upload anything to the blog, so instead, some words from Sarah Ban Breathnach-
"One of the most important milestones we'll hit along the way,
Is the moment when we finally find our own unique point of view
And realise how priceless it is."

Old quilts

This collection of old quilts from the Kathleen McCrady Quilt History Collection, reminds me of why quilts were important in daily life. The 'making do' is very evident in this Tobacco Sack Puff Quilt by Effie Roe.
We stopped to view part of the collection at Winedale, Texas while we were on a tour during the recent International Quilt Festival. Knowing that this quilt was used and loved gives me hope that quilts I'm making now may survive through several generations. I'd better begin educating the grandchildren now!

Bonus

When I bought peaches yesterday, I got a bonus- this net was part of the packaging. It made a great stencil, giving a snake skin appearance to the print.

And good old bubble wrap!

$1 fun

How much fun can you have with $1 these days? Well in Las Vegas, you can make it go a looooong way in a 1cent pokie [slot machine]!

I didn't hit the jackpot. The lions at MGM Grand looked very bored with all the humans staring in.

We were at the Tropicana which had nice carpet and a few other attractions.

Anniversary flowers

Thank you for all the wonderful messages received yesterday via the blog and facebook. And special congratulations to the other couples who share the same anniversary day.

'When you open your eyes

upon the morning meadows

and look out

upon the beautiful world,

be thankful you are alive.'

Ralph Waldo Emerson

And loved, I'd have to say!

Anniversary

We are celebrating our 36th wedding anniversary today. Here's to many more!

Sunnybank Quilters

We had our last meeting of the year at my local group, Sunnybank Quilters. Many members and their families have had a difficult year with health issues. We presented these heart quilts [blocks made by individual members] to two ladies who need our love & support at this time.

Monoprint enhancement

Thanks to Chriss and Bridget for allowing me to show you their finished collaboration. They were in the monoprinting workshop in Florida and Chriss used a wonderfully textured base cloth. Bridget enhanced the design with threads/yarn and stitch & ta dah! I'm always happy to share your wonderful finished work on this blog.

Diane gum tree trunks are endlessly fascinating.

Gum tree bark

"It's not what you look at that matters, it is what you see." Thoreau

Clean-up cloth

I'm still monoprinting fabric for a new series of quilts that have various January & February deadlines for juried exhibitions. As I'll be in India on a textile tour for most of January, I thought I'd better get them started and finished before I go! One side result is the 'trash to treasure' status of the clean-up cloth. Here there's also a narrow strip of wadding that got the paint treatment.

I have 1 quilt basted, waiting for stitching, I quilt top ready to baste, fabric ready to be cut & pieced into another quilt top & the fourth that is fabric on the design wall on the moment. This last one is going through rearragements, the digital photo design stage & a lot of 'what if's'. Bob has been away so I have made the most of the quiet time!

Sand painting

Other interesting items in the Blanding display were native American crafts. The 2 sand paintings were so finely detailed. There is some reflection as they were under glass.

The softest buckskin with hand beading.