Happy 2013

Have had a glorious time away at the beach- sunburn, sand in the togs [Aussie for swimsuit], salt water in the eyes, cuddles with grandchildren, splashes in the pool, good food and wine....ahhhh some recovery time needed, so we are off to Cambodia to Siem Reap to see the temples of Angkor Wat etc.Will share lots of photos on my return.
Wishing you a happy, creative, healthy 2013. I don't make New Year's resolutions or even have a word for the coming year. Will reassess priorities and goals with a fresh perspective after time away. Love to you all xxx
 

Tangle Net

This is a detail of my Viewpoints 9 quilt Tangle Net. Please visit the blog for more information and to see the other responses to Challenge 5.

It's time

Its' time to wish you a Merry Christmas! We celebrate this special time of the year with our family and are having a new experience this year- a beach holiday. Of course I've been to the beach many times but having the 3 grandchildren together at the beach is going to be new experience for us all.

Bob's Mum always had this flower spike [we think from a bromeliad] in a vase for Christmas. It is very tall, about a metre and what an amazing colour!

The Poinciana or Phoenix tree as it is called in Tainan, is flowering too. So I'll take a short break and wish you, your family and loved ones a happy and safe Festive Season. May 2013 be full of creative adventures for you and thank you for taking time to read my blog this year. I'll be back in 2013 with more travel stories, quilts and general ramblings.
PS please check here and the Viewpoints 9 blog on December 26 for the reveal of the latest challenge, Behind the Mask.

 

Sewing threads

What threads do you like to sew with? I have many different brands of thread [Superior, Rasant, Gutterman, Signature, Madeira etc] in my kit and all are good for different purposes. Some are shiny, some metallic, some cotton or blends.  Recently I received these Aurifil cotton threads from SAQA for the Membership drive [ not hard to sell SAQA when I have gotten so much from my membership and believe in them ]and have been using them in my recent India Adventure creations.

If you want to treat yourself the boxed set is available through the SAQA store with 20% off.

Tangled up

I had time yesterday to stitch some more scrap thread ends onto the wash away, this time without a top layer as I wanted to fill in my design. It was tedious as the threads get snagged in the foot, but are easily cut away. A few more thread ends don't matter as I need it to look like this for the design concept.
I'm happy that a few of my blog readers want to experiment with this process- have fun!

Behind the Mask challenge

The Viewpoints 9 challenge issued by Kate is about going behind the mask we wear. It has caused considerable soul searching on all continents. I started stitching mine the other week.

I have been saving scraps for a long time and once I took the lid off the box, they seemed to explode everywhere!

I sandwiched them between 2 pieces of wash away and began stitching.

After getting the 18" x 24" piece stitched I washed it out and ended up with an interesting piece for the background of my design.

 

Portfolio 19

The Portfolio series are published by SAQA each year and as a PAM [professional artist member] I have a quilt in the book, on page 65. The book this year is smaller than in previous years and looks more manageable with great works represented and good colour reproduction.

You can order it easily from the SAQA website. Other Australians featured are Ruth deVos, Judy Hooworth and Susan Mathews.

Congratulations to Australian Dijanne Cevaal whose quilt is featured on the cover of Quilting Arts Issue 60 Dec/Jan 2013.

Relaxed

I have come back refreshed from our short time away, having found it very easy to relax. Perhaps the gin and tonic helped a little?

Ready for the Christmas countdown, with 1 quilt for the Viewpoint 9 challenge to complete.

Happy anniversary to us!

We are celebrating our 37th wedding anniversary on 12/12/12! How it got to this I don't know, but we have had some adventures along the way. Here we are in the wilds of Mongolia in 2010 with our driver. We have more adventures planned for next year and beyond and I hope you'll follow along  too. I'll be back for some blogging shortly after a mini-break. Cheers for now.

APT7

We indulged by going to the opening day of the Asia Pacific Trienniel 7 at the Gallery of Modern Art and Queensland Art Gallery on Saturday. There are many exhibits to see but we got a taster and are excited to come back for further explorations. Here is Bob in the "not so grand Yellow Canyon" as I've named it! A monument to recycling or rubbish? Sorry I didn't get the artist's name.

Dilly bags on a grand scale by Lorraine Connelly-Northey.

A lot of fibre and textiles have been used by artists from around the globe. This is barkcloth and is a detail of a headpiece from New Guinea.

 

More work on the silk

I have used a rougher silk as the base for the stitching and it shows on the left hand edge. After many hours of stitching I have all the pieces in place. The colours are reminiscent of the wedding finery we saw on the first night of the wedding we attended in Kota.

Silken Memories is the title I have given it and a piece of sisha embroidery, cut from clothing finishes it off.

Sewing silk

There has been a lot of this going on here lately. I have forgotten how slow hand stitching is, although it is relaxing! This is quilt number 8, that I'm completing for my India Adventure exhibition which will be in France at Quilt Expo en Beaujolais April 18-21 next year. We are going over to see it all.

The silks have a luscious sheen. I have chosen to highlight the edge that is usually cut off the silk and I think becomes sari ribbon.

Sunnybank Quilters

Sunnybank Quilters celebrated Christmas with a lunch at Stellar Star Cafe yesterday. It was a very hot day with the temperature peaking at 37.9 degrees. The air-conditioners at the restuarant had trouble coping with the heat. L-R Myra, me, Mary [thanks for the photo Sue M] The company was great and the food was excellent, sorry no food pics.

Oo la la...

You would think that something Frenchy is going on here with these Christmas gifts from friends and you'd be right! Six Mexettes have made quilts for a touring exhibition titled Beautiful Australia and it will be launched at Quilt Expo en Beaujolais, France in April 2013. We have been in the planning stages for the trip to the Quilt Expo and further afield in France.

Here is a detail of Annette McRae's Cocky's on the way to Beaujolais.

And Marilyn Tucker's Barossa to Beaujolais. The full 16 quilt exhibition will be launched on my website next April.
 

APT7

The 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art is about to open at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art and the Queensland Art Gallery and I'm really excited to see the installations going up!

Outside by the river cafe, this elephant has a problem.

The dragon/snake skeleton is suspended over the water mall at QAG and looks amazing.

13 interactive art works will engage with children and families and the whole exhibition will be very popular. Opens December 8 to April 14 and it's free.

SAQA MOB

I'm off to the Gallery of Modern Art for a meeting of SAQA MOB [Members of Oceania Brisbane]. Last time there was a little of this and this.....

not to mention talking about our art etc, etc. May have to get a table inside with temperatures set to be in the 30's.

Inspiring to be with like minded souls L-R Mel, Linda, Kate and Janet.

 and love the chairs too

World Quilt competition

It is great to get the support of local quilting magazines and State Guilds in promoting the work of Australian quilters who enter the World Quilt competition, which is held each year. As the Australian coordinator I try to spread the word about the competition, so we can get 10 or more entries and have a Best of Country award. This year our quilters took out 4 major awards!

 

The latest Quilters Companion No. 58 features the quilts on pages 64-66. And Down Under Quilts had a great 3 page spread in Issue 154.

 

A new quilt

Hope is the title I've given this quilt. Many gods are worshiped in India and the temples are magnificent. In the old forts and palaces are niches and these 2 visual stimuli resulted in the design of my  metre square quilt.

This is still the construction stage. Some images have been fused in position and others wait with the paper side visible.

The quilting adds the special textural quality that I'm in love with.

Brenda, I had a really great Phillips iron with a stand alone water tank. All appliances seems to come with obsolescence built in.

 

A sad day

It was a sad day when my beloved Tefal iron died!

It had been through a lot of pressing, fusing, heat setting and general hard work. Over the years I've had quite a few brands of iron, but this is my preferred brand for the moment, so I  have switched to using Bob's Tefal. Because he doesn't like oil paint stick on his shirts I rushed out and bought him a newer model.

Not a rusty sole, just full of character from hard work!