AQC

Attended the AQC yesterday at the Royal Exhibition Buildings in Carlton. It was a great day to catch up with fellow quilters that I hadn't seen in a while.

Didn't do a great deal of buying.

I think I am at the stage of my quilting that fabric and big quilts are not on my agenda.

I am now into the textile side of things and majority of the shops were catering for the new quilter and those still into the quilt side of things.

This building has the most amazing ceilings and painted walls. A truly beautiful sight.

I never tire of looking up at the ceilings.

Must stand to the side next time. Too busy looking up and ran into several ladies, they were not impressed.

I was on White Glove duty for a couple of hours. I was surprised at how many quilters were interested in the reverse side of them. We have some very clever quilters in Australia.
Apart from the usual traditional, I noticed there is a turn towards the Art Quilts.
Also textiles on quilts are becoming popular.
I might even go again on the weekend to sit and listen to the talks, something I missed out on yesterday.

Beautiful Start to the Morning

Forget the housework and the washing,

what a great day to sit outside and hand sew or read a good book.

Dear Hannah in progress

It has taken me nearly 2 years of hand sewing the 152 blocks of my Dear Hannah.

Now it is a matter of squaring up the blocks and packaging them in their rows in freezer bags ready to sew the rows together.

Rows A and B are together.
I have chosen the colours to the pattern of A Trip Around the World with the centre square red.
Looking forward to seeing them altogether.

The Mountain House

I was having a tidy up of my sewing room yesterday and found the sampler that I stitched when I was about 6 years old.

My maternal Grandparents had a "Mountain House" in Lawson, NSW where I spent many a holiday.

"Foggy", my Grandmother taught me to cross stitch and bought this sampler for me.

I am off to the Scquilters Bathurst Retreat in May and we will be driving from Sydney through the Blue Mountains.

Lawson is on the way, I can't wait to stop by the old Mountain House to see if it is still there in Mary Street.

The sampler is a bit worse for wear, a little stained.

I treasure the memories of those holidays except for my fear of snakes, which Iam sure started at this house.

Felting workshop

I spent the day yesterday at a felting workshop.

I thought we would be doing samples but we made a long piece for clothing.

My DD gave me an evening dress that was too big for her, (royal blue satin with a black silk overlay) and after I cut it off the lining, it was the shape of a vest.

I added some pieces of green which were on the back

I enjoyed the day very much, great workout for the upper arms.

*********************************

My DH said, "that would make a heap of postcards and ATC's".

I tend to agree with him, it isn't really me and I don't think I would wear it.

I now know the process and would definitely make smaller pieces to embellish, felted bowls/containers and perhaps use this piece for a bag.

Smile

Noticed this on a cookie package.

A smile is a curved line which sets a lot of things straight....

How very true.

Second Flush

I awoke this morning to see several of my roses with a new flush of blooms

Australasian Quilt Convention

Australasian Quilt Convention April 29 - May 2, 2010

Royal Exhibition Buildings

Carlton Gardens, Melbourne

The AQC catalogue arrived in the mail this morning. Good excuse for a cuppa whilst reading through it.

Looking forward to the AQC. One day is taken up with 2 hours of White Glove duty.

Another day is a special one. I am Teachers Pet for Rosalie Dace from South Africa.

Last year I spent 4 days in a class of Rosalie's called "Branching Out". I adore trees. And loved every minute of those class days and her wonderful teaching.