Australian Quilt Convention 2022 - Brisbane

This is the first time the the convention has come to Brisbane and the first Quilt show with lots of exhibitors we have had in a couple of years.  Because there was so much to see and do I will have to spread this over a number of posts.

As the shops were the first thing you see I will start with that.  My first stop was at the Bernina workshops to catch up with Bree Ledington.  Bree started in our local shop straight out of college.  Even then she showed so much potential.  Now she is an area manager with Bernina in Sydney.

I know my friend Martin would be so proud of her.

Then I walked all the stalls and didn't buy one things.  I can't believe that.  Shopaholic me didn't buy one piece of fabric or any other textile related thing.  I just got tired really quickly. Added to this the shops I was interested in were over-run with customers.  I wasn't up to fighting my way into the melee.

I looked at Natlie Bird's stand.  I still have lots of those little pre- printed designs to finish but it was interesting to see how they were used in a quilt and other items.

Then Hatched and Patched

I still have a number of patterns that I haven't made up but I was looking for her new book and just couldn't get near the counter, so that saved me some money.

I know this is published by Quiltmania so I headed there but no luck.  Looks like I will have to buy it on-line.

Then I headed for the stalls that had Japanese fabric, but I couldn't get near them either.  So all my money stayed in my wallet!

Next was the exhibitions of Quilting.  So many quilts!!

All the photos of past winners of the Rajah Awards were up on display.

(This award is called the 'Rajah Award' in tribute to the historic Rajah quilt made by convict women en route to Australia in 1841. This award will acknowledge an individual who has made outstanding contribution to their community through quilting.)

I saw a very young image of my neighbout, Margaret, and lot of other quilters I have known.  But, my friend Pam wasn't there.  I really thoughts she should have been.  Then this morning I find she is the 2022 winner of this award, so now her picture will be up there with all the others.

to be continued.

 

Back to a more normal life

Well the family has moved on to see other places.  Although my sister and I keep in touch over the phone it has been some time since we saw each other in person.  We are close, which is only to be expected of sisters who's mother died when they were 16 and 12 y.o.  We are nothing alike, I am (was) dark and she was fair, we are now some what grey.  We liked totally different things but we are still close.  We made a promise to each other after our mother died that if anything happened to one of us the other would bring up her children.  Luckily this didn't happen but I have always looked upon my nieces and nephew as my own children, so catching up on all the news has been wonderful.

During her visit my grand daughter,  Jasmine, who looks like my sister, turned 10.

She celebrated with all her friends.

I spent a lot of time selecting a present for her.  I ended up with a sketch book with an embroidered cover, some drawing pens and some little canvases.  The cheapest items were the canvases.  These are the results.

You can never tell what will take their fancy, can you?

A little break

I will be occupied for most of this week as my family is visiting from Interstate.  No time for blogging as there is so much to catch up on.

This is some of the work by my niece Amanda.  Just wonderful.

You can see more on her instagram page.  Her sisters and her nieces are great artists also.  This week is about catching up with what they are doing.

Where I Live

It is just so wet!!

It is supposed to be dry at this time of year and we are in the midst of floods, yet again.  I haven't seen a clear sky in over a week and now the mould is starting to grow again.  My house smells of bleach as I try to keep it's growth at bay and I have spent days with the pressure hose getting the paths clean of the slime.

The mornings are still. This image was taken waiting for the barge to arrive.  I am used to clear views, not all this mist.  Usually you can see the other islands.

The water looks great, but in reality it is full of mud and vegetation bought down in the flood waters.

But if the sun peaks through everything changes.

I just wish the rain would go away.

It is even too wet to mow the lawn.  I hope winter comes soon.

WIPW

I am starting work on my Kogin bags but am bogged down on selecting the fabric for the cuffs.  (I do procrastinate over some things.)

I still don't have a suitable drawing program so it may be some time before I post these Kogin patterns but I will eventually.

The crochet goes on and on. I am up to joining the flowers together and so far the width is what I had estimated, but it is slow going.  I think I will try to complete and join 9 to 10 flowers a day, although that might be a bit ambitious.   (Will I ever get to the end of it?)

And I try to do a little of the applique each day, so what is finished is only a couple of leaves.

Inspired by my friends

I have two groups that are concerned with textile related activities to which I belong.  The Embroiderers' Guild and my patchwork group.  The women who are members of these groups constantly inspire me with the work they produce and the wonderful friendship and support that they give to me. 

I have belonged to my patchwork group, Maberly Quilters, which is limited to 20 members, for over 20 years now.  I missed the Mother's Day breakfast because of the weather but still felt included because of all the photos that arrived on my phone as the morning progressed. (They let me know what a good time I was missing.)

And these friendships have continued, even when members have moved away.  It is here that I met my good friend Angela and her quilting is so impressive that I don't have words to describe it.  She bought this panel at a local shop and turned it into this.

and pieced and quilted this quilt for a relative.

The group meets twice a month and most people have some thing for show and tell.  Some great jokes, or updates on family life.  One member Pat has been making rope bowls that I have shown before and some of us, (I would love to make this) have been inspired to try it.  Sue made a great set of place mats.

Then there had been discussion about using 2" square of fabric.  Now some quilts are starting to appear.  This was from Barbara and I know there are others in the pipeline.  (Not from me!)

So I feel very grateful to my love of textiles and all the wonderful people who it has brought in my life.

I am drowning in crochet!

The thing with this "Spring-along" is that they are making a cushion and I want a blanket.  There are only 19 flowers in the cushion and over 150 in the blanket.

The next problem is the yarn I am using.  There is NO WAY I can justify buying yarn with the size of my stash.  That yarn has to be used.  The problem here is that what I have is thicker.  This means that the finished flowers are bigger and therefore do not look the same as the ones in the image above.  But, I have come up with a solution to this problem.  Just change the pattern, slightly!!

It will still be slightly different than the original, not that you can notice,  but I will be using up that wool and be feeling very righteous about the whole experience.  That still leaves the problem of how many flowers I have to crochet,  I will be drowning in flowers for a while yet.

Where I live

These are some more shots of Mowong beach, this time with Nugget.  He is my son's dog and is completely loveable, but no brains, except when there is food around.

He is most unhappy because he would like to be swimming with my grand daughters but on this beach he has to be on the leash.

Still, we took him to the dog off the leash beach later in the day.  This day was for the girls to enjoy the swimming without that annoying dog.

WIPW

I have a beginners class this week end coming so have prepared all my kits and bib and bobs in preparation.

The crocheting continues and I still have another 40 flowers to crochet row 3 to.  Each flower ends up as a hexigon but I have to finish row 3 first.

And I have a little bit of applique under way.

  I couldn't buy the Moda towelling anywhere nearby so have had  to send off for a kit.  I am going to make a couple of modifications to the pattern.  The main ones being omitting the lining and interfacing.  I want this runner for the patio table so those things are not necessary.  I was sent a complimentary pattern with my purchase so I might need to stitch this as well.

And the last Kogin bag for the experiment on how to make up the bags. 

No set design here, it is just making up it's own way how it wants to go.

A little Mole

I have no charcoal knitting wool in my stash.  Looking at Julie's blog I think I might need to buy some soon.

These look the cutest little fellows (girls and boys) and I just can't wait for the pattern to be released. 

Well maybe I can wait.  I have to get that crocheted blanket finished before I start something else.  I will have to crochet quicker.