Civil War Bride Quilt - block 7 and buttons

Here is the latest block I stitched for the Civil War Bride quilt.
In the past I struggled doing needleturn applique on the feet of the birds, so this time I took the easy way out and used buttonhole stitch around each toe. For the circles on the body of the bird I did the same as the fabric was fraying too much...

I received my order of  buttons and can't wait to use them on a project.

They are clay buttons made in South Africa by ladies from the local community  who have been trained in the art of button making.

Show and Tell from the quilting retreat

I have had lovely weekend away with 19 lovely ladies who share the passion of quilting.
Each of us had different projects to work...
These talented girls have allowed me to share some of the projects they worked on so enjoy their "Show and Tell"...
Only one of the projects is mine.


The colour choices are just fabulous and you can see a secondary design.

Traditional blocks are always so beautiful.

These blocks were machine pieced using the Curve Master foot..

This quilt shows an effective way to use your scraps...

More blocks were done for the on-going charity quilts.

Another great quilt to use scraps...

Combination of a Four-patch block  and Red Work by hand...Stunning !

I progressed a bit further on my UFO ! No quite there yet...

This quilt was completed at the retreat and its a gift going to Japan.

These are some of the blocks for a "Dear Jane" quilt which only uses 'purple".
The amount of work involved in hand stiching these blocks is unbelievable.

This quilt was being quilted as I took the picture and uses Australian and New Zealand fabrics.

Another quilt in progress with stunning fabrics !

Here are some pictures of the cottages we spent our weekend away... Neerim.

Neerim is a town in Victoria,(West Gippsland) Australia, located on Main Neerim Road, in the Shire of Baw Baw. The population is about 1,600.

The town's main industry is tourism. It contains are galleries, a working Alpaca farm with an Alpaca product shop, cafes, restaurant. The town hosts a Celtic Festival each November. The area has numerous wineries, and is known for its blue cheese.

The Post Office opened on 25 August 1877 and closed in 1967.



Face Paiting and AccQuilt Fabric Cutter

Finally I have completed something...
This is the project I started in a class with Bonnie McCaffery a couple of weeks ago. It's my first experience with painting on fabric so overall I am pleased that I completed it.

Here's a closeup.  Bonnie's  technique explained on her book, involved applying tule over the hair but I could not find the right type of tule to have the same effect, so the hair was applied down with invisible thread in a random pattern. I also used a metallic gold thread on the hair.  On the border seam I inserted red sequins to give it a more glamours look.

One thing left to do is to label the quilt and come up with the name....Any suggestions ?

This week I received a much antecipated order from Hancock's of Paducah...



Noddy, also thought it was great ...

Its was a fabric cutter.... I got a couple of die sets.

Had a bit of a play with it.....

And ended up with these shapes...

Just to finish off , here is some words  I look at each day in my studio....



Quilt Show and Opera

I have made  some progress on a number of quilting projects I have but I prefer to blog when at least the  the tops are completed.
So instead, I'm going to show you a number of quilts done by my friend Jennifer.  She doesn't have a blog of her own but has granted me permission to show you her work.
I admire Jennifer's work ever since I met her about 23 years ago.  She is not afraid of trying different techniques and I am always so impressed what she can do with her fabric stash the way she puts fabrics together  to make a quilt.
She gives away a lot od her work to family and friends and her inspiration tends to be magazines or her imagination.

Musical inspiration for today....

Last night I attended Opera Australia production of La Bohème by Puccini.
The video I'm featuring here is not from that performance but by Angela GHEORGHIU  singing " Si mi chiamano Mimi" which is part of the love duet.  There is a connection with quilters and that is when she tells us in this aria that she is a seamtress that embroiders flowers...