A new page.

So I was playing around and I've discovered how to add another page to my blog.  Cool!  I've been thinking I should catalogue my quilts in some way and this seems perfect.  Except once you have the photos on the page, it's a bit of a pain trying to rearrange them chronologically.  And I realise I'm really slack at taking photos of my finished quilts.  There are quite a few missing.  Hmmm.  Must improve on that.

So, if you are nosey interested and want to see my sum total of work over the last six years that I've been indulging in quilting, then click on My Quilts above and you can have a browse.  I will try and caption them all and rearrange them chronologically and fill in some gaps eventually.

Enjoy!

Books to bury your nose in.

I've given up reading novels.  Well, I've put it on hold till I have gained the skill of self-control (snort!).  I just can't put a novel down until it's done.  Instead, I'm picking up books that you can delve into for a few minutes here and there and enjoy.

So what am I reading looking at?

The Hobbit by J R R Tolkien.  This one I am actually reading, in sections, to my boy at bedtime.  He in enthralled.  And I'm rapidly running out of pages.  Any suggestions for our next read?

The Diary of a Farmer's Wife 1796-1797.  This is a reading one too.  But as it's a diary and written in ye olde style English, it was put downable.  Interesting to read, not sure if it's genuine or a well done fake.

Twelve by Twelve.  The International Art Quilt Challenge.  Now this is a fantastic find.  Lusciously and generously photographed, this book is a round up of a collaborative challenge.  Twelve art quilters, making twelve 12" x 12" quilts.  Each artist took turns picking a theme and it was fascinating to see the different interpretations.  Each month features one quilt in depth and profiles the art quilter who made it.  This is well worth a read and has entertained and inspired me.

1000 Artisan Textiles. Sandra Salamony and Gina M. Brown.  This one is a great find too.  Page after page of rich colour, fantastic shapes, texture and design.  There are five sections; wearable art and couture, fashion accessories, soft furnishings and vessels, tapestries and display art and art quilts.  The only beef I have with it is that the only information shared under each was the name of the maker.  The title, size and materials were all in a directory at the back, awkward to keep flipping back and forth.

The Crafting of Narnia by Weta Workshop.  This one I picked up for my boy and he has loved looking through it.  The illustrations are enchanting and incredibly detailed.  I was taken with it too and enjoyed flicking through it.  I can't say I read too much of the text, but it is well worth it as a picture book.

The other two in the stack are:

The Quilt.  Beauty in Fabric and Thread by Marie Salazar.  Again, lovely pictures.  But published in 1997, some of the quilts are a bit dated.  Interesting to see style progression though.

And The Nude by Giovanni Civardi.  This is the odd one out!  I borrowed this from the library to help me with a quilt I'm planning. 

So what books are on your nightstand?

Fabulous Flowers

Today, in between herding children, I've been chipping away at the garden and then pinning, pinning and some more pinning.

These are the stems for the flowers on a quilt I'm doing for a friend's little girl.  All 105" of them.  (The background is cream, not yellow, but that's what photographing at night will do for you.)



I designed these flowers with Jacobean crewel work in mind.  They will be fused to the background and then machine appliqued down.  I will embroider a few stamens here and there to flesh it all out.

I really love the over-the-top shapes and the how the colour combinations have worked.  Plaids and polka dots!  What more could you want?

Spring weather makes them wild(er).

My kids have been watching a version of Peter Pan on a DVD.  So naturally they want to prance around half nekkid with bits of fabric (nicked from my stash) draped around them and tucked in strategically.  A bit breezy I would have thought.  The weather is good, but not THAT good.  Still, when you run around chasing an imaginary Captain Hook up and down the woodpile, I guess that keeps you warm.

Hope you had a productive weekend.  I did nothing quilt related, but I did weed, compost and then re-plant a whole garden bed.  I also killed and plucked the chook that kept flying into the garden to dig up the new seedlings and we're having her for dinner tomorrow night. 

Sweet dreams!

I'm glad he only turns 40 once...

You could be forgiven for thinking that I had dropped off the side of the world, but I'm still here, beavering away at life.  I guess I just lost my blogging mojo for a little while.  And I've been busy gearing up for my Hubby's fortieth birthday.

So Saturday found us firing up two spit roasts, making enormous salads and boiling tubs of spuds.  We had been tidying up around the place for the last few weekends and clearing a big space in the shed.  It's amazing the motivation an impending horde or visitors can give you!

We had a fire to take off the chill and provide entertainment.  I counted 26 kids running round at one stage and they made short work of a half kilo bag of marshmellows!

The band started up and then kept on rocking till the wee small hours. 

I guess I can't deny the rumour that I danced!  Someone managed to get photographic evidence.

Of course, the next day brings the aftermath.  Clean up is still going on.  I've made mutton and potato soup for dinner tonight and the chickens and dogs have been so well fed they are waddling. 

I guess I can't deny this rumour either!  Yes, we all needed a nana nap on Sunday.

And one of the best parts of the whole weekend was that I got this baby finished and off to it's rightful owner.  His parents came along to the party and were very happy to take it home and pass it on.  Another finish!