RED 12 x 12 Challenge and Life Encircling quilts.

You might remember I posted this picture of my four 12 x 12 RED challenge entries.  This was a mini-exhibition held at the Taupo Symposium and arranged by Aotearoa Quilters Guild.

They were all for sale at the same price and I was really lucky that one of my pieces sold on the first day.  In fact, it sold before I got a picture of all four together!  You can see mine in the second to bottom row, but they've filled in the gap created by the sale of my 'Red Bird Home to Roost' with someone else's quiltlet.

Here is another wall of them.  There were four walls altogether and they looked really fantastic hanging together.

And here is the obligatory goofy photo of me standing next to one of my other main exhibition entries, 'Life Encircling'.

This was the other quilt that I couldn't show the whole thing online before the exhibition.

A couple of detail shots for you.  The birds were painted onto white fabric then cut and appliqued onto the pieced background.  Lots of the leaves of plants are either scrim or organza - hand painted and then appliquéd.  The background is mainly pieced from my hand-dyed, painted or printed fabrics.

I had a lot of fun with this quilt.  There was a lot of playing and trying out new techniques so I'm glad it was successful in that it was accepted for show.  And it was neat to see it hanging nicely on the black walls of the exhibition.

I also took two classes whilst I was at the Symposium, but I'll do some posts on them another day.

RED 12 x 12 Challenge quilts

One night a week I head off to my quilting buddy's house for a night of stitching and chatting.  Last night I took along my camera for her to have a look at as her camera has died.  I didn't realise she snapped a pic of me, but I'm glad she did.  She's moving back to the UK soon and I'm going to miss our quilting nights SO much.  Doesn't it look cozy?  And what was I working on?  Hand stitching down the facing on my last RED 12 x 12 challenge quilt.

Here's a snap of all four of them.  They are finished and waiting for the postman.  Here's a link to the RED 12 x 12 challenge if you want to know more.

http://www.aotearoaquilters.co.nz/events/red-12-by-12-challenge/

The Building Continues

Saturday again and so off I went, camera in hand, for the weekly pilgrimage out to the land to see how close we are getting. Dear Husband spent all day with a friend clearing out the shed bay that hasn't been walled in so our (slightly primative) bathroom can go in there.

From the outside it doesn't look much different. The capping has gone on along the roof line and the edging around the windows (I have NO idea of the official building terms for those). But inside......big changes! The electrician has been and done the initial wiring and all the insulation is in, now waiting for the internal cladding. I think my progress shots are now all going to be taken inside.

Dear Son has decided that he would like his walls painted red. He also wants red curtains. And half blue and half red drawers. I'm beginning to think his favourite colour is red!

And while he is busy planning his bedroom, I'm busy dreaming of my vege garden. I get a weekly newsletter from Lynda Hallinan, the editor of New Zealand Gardener magazine. She set herself a challenge to be self-sufficient out of her garden for a year and only spend $10 a week on groceries. Very inspiring, and very useful for people like me, who have only gardened on a small and casual way!

And this has to be one of my other fav gardening sites, Koanga Gardens, Center for Sustainable Living. Kay Baxter, who used to be one of the mainstays at Koanga, has written two amazing books which I wouldn't be without: "The Koanga Garden Guide" and "Design Your Own Orchard", both are available from the Koanga site. They are both amongst the gardening books that I am immersing myself in at the moment, planning and dreaming with growing anticipation for when we move.