Audio book

This audio book from the library has kept me company for the last week while I have stitched on the sewing machine. Blood and Beauty by Sarah Dunant was a very engaging story of Rome, religion and the Borgia family in the late 1400's and early 1500's.

New work

This is a photo of work in progress- printed and the quilting so far.

My daughter tells me I have a caterpillar problem as the leaves are all eaten in various patterns! The interesting thing is that all the leaves I have printed are from the one tree but appear so different depending on their age.

100 years young

Our lovely Sunnybank Quilters member Evelyn has celebrated her 100th birthday! We love you Evelyn, you are such an inspiration to us all.

Yum cha

A perfect way to see in  the new year is with a yum cha. These are some of the offerings on one of the many trolleys that passed our table.

These flowers were too good to pass up and we tried them. They are a sweet, with a ground paste in the centre and the orange petals are crisp from being deep fried.

You know you've had a good yum cha when the table looks like this at the end!

And then......we went to Meet Fresh for a Taiwanese mango volcano!

Chinese New Year

Seeing in the Chinese New Year is a noisy and colourful celebration at Sunnybank. The Lion Dance, with 4 lions was spectacular.

Very energetic and captured on many phones and devices in the audience. The drum and cymbals mark out the beat for the dance. The fierce lions allow the children in the audience to pat them.

Congratulations to Ruth deVos, winner of the Acquisitive Prize at the Golden Textures exhibition at the Central Goldfields Art Gallery, Neill Street, Maryborough Victoria. The exhibition continues to April 5 and I'm hoping to see it at the end of March. www.visitmaryborough.com.au

Wet weather printing

Yesterday, as Cyclone Marcia was approaching the Queensland coast, I decided I needed to print a piece of fabric I'd dyed last Saturday. As I was setting up my equipment  I discovered our back patio roof has a few more leaks and annoyingly over my print tables!

A few more buckets out to catch the drips and on with the job at hand.

The result I wanted to achieve on the dyed piece didn't happen. I think I got a bit nervous about it and forgot to play, so I ripped off another strip of plain white fabric and played. Voila! great result and better than I imagined.

Hard to tell the difference between my print table cover and the printed fabric! I'm sorry but I can't show the full result as I need it for a juried exhibition entry.

I hope Cyclone Marcia is kind to all my friends and that you, your family and pets are safe and dry.

Inspiring

When I visited the Gallery of Modern Art [GOMA] in Brisbane recently I felt like I was meeting old friends when I saw these works from their collection. Asia Pacific Triennial exhibitions have introduced us to amazing artists and many pieces have made it into the permanent collection.

PixCell-Double Deer #4 2010 by Kohei Nawa. The deer are covered in hundreds of transparent glass or resin beads and originally when I saw a single deer by this artist at an APT it was in a white room.

Woods III 1991-92 by Shigeo Toya.

 

 

 

 

Leafing on

I have been away from blog-land with child minding duties- school lunch making, school drop-offs and pick-ups, homework, cooking, washing and lots of driving from one side of Brisbane to the other! Phew, hard work but so nice to see the growing maturity of our grandchildren, Mr 12 and Miss 10.

This 12" quilt Leaf it was fun to work on and you may be able to see the quilting in this photo. The quilting thread colour blends with the background colour.

I didn't use a contrast coloured thread as in the photo above, as I felt the green and gold print was enough interest.

Yes, I've made a few of these.

 

 

Leaf it

After I completed the Seduced by the Imperfect series of quilts, I had a few leaf prints left over and rather than have them just shoved into a basket of scraps, I have been using them in small projects which are all for fundraisers. Above is the first photo of my leaves on a background fabric. The scissors indicate the top of the quilt. I am striving for a balance within the composition and am working with the cut off print pieces I have.

Seven rather than six is a more balanced composition.

Fused in place with wadding and backing. The leaves are fused and appliqued. You can also see the outline of the size I am working towards, a 12" square.

Going dotty

The Obliteration room at GOMA is fun for all ages. You can stick the dots, large, medium and small wherever you wish. From the fertile mind of Japanese artist Kusama.

And great fun to visit with friends Ali and Lucy. 

Weed quilt progress

This is my solution to unite the differing sized blocks and break up the big expanse of blue. Little pieces cut from scrap strips and larger pieces and when combined in a random way give a great pop of colour.

Coming along nicely now, but I need to move on to another project for Down Under Quilts magazine so it will have to sit like this for a bit.

 

South Africa tour

I'm super excited to have been asked to host this special Down Under Quilts tour to South Africa in June/July this year for 14 days. It's a great opportunity to go on safari and see wildlife, interact with women making a difference to their lives through their stitching and craft and also end up at the biennial South African National Quilt Festival.

Active Travel have put together a great itinerary and I know we will have great adventures together as a small group. Perhaps some rubbing and printing opportunities will pop up too! Places for the quilt festival are filling fast, and as the accommodation is live-in at Kearsney College we may miss out.

If you are interested or want more information please contact Active Travel and I am also happy to answer any questions.



 

More printing

Happy with how this is coming together. This was an end of the print session clean-up piece that has proved to have potential- well I think so. The commercial shaded fabric has been in the stash a loooong time! But looks good here to add the extra zing.

I can only be grateful for the weeds in my garden!
 

Weed prints

I have been moving these prints of weeds around on my design wall, but haven't come up with the final version yet. This first photo is of all the OK pieces together.

Some removed and another added.

Perhaps a different filler colour? These permutations are all part of the design process for this piece. I also have a finished size in mind to conform with an entry requirement but will abandon this if I get a better layout for the pieces.

Fight against cancer

 

If you would like to donate to the fight against cancer and receive an original work of art here's how-

 

100 Artists + 100 Patrons + One Day = $10,000 To Fight Cancer THE 100 opens 10 a.m. Central on Wednesday, February 4

 How to Participate: http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/FFACThe100Fundraiser.html

 

Please note this is USA time, not Australian time!

THANKS in anticipation!

 

 

Something different

Sometimes you need to spread your tastebuds and senses and try something different. The very popular Meet Fresh at Sunnybank Plaza brings the taste of Taiwan to us to enjoy. Desserts on offer can include taro balls, tofu, herbal jelly, mango or strawberry, red beans or honey beans to name a few of the choices. It is very refreshing on a hot day.