Wouldn’t it be Nice…

to be in Melbourne?

If you were in Melbourne you could wake up early tomorrow and take yourself to the Australasian Quilt Convention.

While you were there you could check out the exhibitions.

While you were checking out the exhibitions you could look for my quilt hanging.

That’s it on the cover of this 2006 edition of the Quilters Companion magazine being used to advertise the exhibition.

Wish I could go and see it too…

Please indulge me

While I post video of Pip and his mates playing at the Battle of the Bands last week. Their first ever gig. Pip is in green.

I love how Pip is introduced in this one (which is not 8 minutes long – even though it says it is.)

Pip’s lyrics and riff feature here. Look out for his solo.

Naturally he was hyper-critical of his own performance, as artistic types tend to be.

I thought he was fabulous…

Oh, and they are playing their second gig tonight.

Un-revealing

Today I posted this quilt off to Sydney, ready to be published in the Quilters Companion magazine later in the year.

Unfortunately I can only show you the back.

The quilt is lovely and made from fabric in the gorgeous Verna range. You can see some of it in the pieced backing.

The whole thing is  soft and delicate, quilted in feathers, appliqued with flowers, but you’ll just have to take my word for it.

I know that someone special has seen it and she thinks it’s lovely!

That’s good enough for me…

**Off to the side is Pip, helping out by holding the quilt up so that I can photgraph it. Unfortunately he held his bottom a little too close to the side of the quilt and I wasn’t able to edit him out. He is very helpful…

Stripes

Today I made a striped binding for a quilt which I am just finishing. Bindings are joined with a diagonal seam.

When I opened out the seam this is what I found…

Perfection.

Finding this made me imagine what it must be like to win the lottery!

Just so you are not totally overwhelmed by my utter awesomeness, this was the next seam.

That is how it stayed too.

Battle Lines

This weekend our local council has organised a youth festival. It’s a weekend of free events for youth and a fabulous initiative.

Pip participated in one event. It was the battle of the bands.

He wore a suitably ironic t-shirt and let his hair flop about in the breeze as only teenaged rock-god can.

He and his mates have been a band for about six months. They have written two original songs, but this was the first time they performed outside of Zac’s garage and the first time real, live people watched them play.

The boys sounded amazing! A huge group of his friends came along to watch. They showed support by jumping and screaming in all the right places.

Pip said he felt so nervous that even his fingers were shaking…

but he loved every second of it!

Salad

The weather is finally starting to turn. The sting is going out of the sun. The air conditioners only rattle for a few hours each day. The days of torrential rain are behind us.

The wet season is over. Now the tropics move into the dry season.

Imagine the most beautiful blue sky, each and every day. Imagine light breezes. Imagine putting on a cardigan in the morning, but taking it off by 11am.

This is our next five months. Utterly glorious.

My Pete and I have taken advantage of this weather to replant our vegetable patch.

Tiny tomato plants…

and leafy lettuces are now in our care.

We will tend them carefully…

then we’ll eat them!

Flo has to Go…

Tonight is the last night that I will see my beautiful friend Flo for quite a long time.

Generally I see her once a week, sometimes twice a week, for stitching and sewing. On Thursday she is leaving Townsville to make a new life for herself in the UK. The time between our visits will no longer be measured in weeks, but most likely in years.

I am so excited for her to be heading off on this adventure, but I will miss her terribly.

She will take this red button bag that I have made with her. I hope it makes her happy.

Flo had to go, I couldn’t go with the flow…*

* a line from this song – which we both find highly amusing.

Bye, Flo…

Making Art

During these shcool holidays Pip has been busy making art.

He has been enjoying a spot of photography…

turning his photos…

into sketches…

and testing out some newly purchased print making supplies.

Naturally, as he is on holidays,  all work has been completed AFTER midday.

Unpicking

So… I am making a quilt for publication. I have been provided with the MOST gorgeous fabric and am loving using it.

In a flash of genius I decided to make two versions of the quilt. I often take just one quilt block, then scale it up to be the whole quilt. I thought I could demonstrate this by making a small version of the whole quilt and very cleverly send both to the magazine.

I made both quilts at the same time. This was a strategic move as I know very well that I would never manage to find the focus to go back and do the small one later.

After completing the blocks for both quilts I put the small one together first.

I carried it back to the studio, crowing at my cleverness.

I laid it out on the table and marvelled at my own abilities.

Then… I saw it.

Do you see it?

That block is upside down. It’s blue where it should be green and green where it should be blue.

Luckily I have had a lot of experience at unpicking.

Picnic

This afternoon we’re going to the beach for a picnic.

We’ll have chicken sandwiches and lemon cake.

Every picnic should have a cake.