Finally … the Flaunts!

I had to twist some arms among the English Quilters at our April get-together to capture these photos of their inspiring work.

Rae’s flourishing Grandmother’s Garden quilt-in-progress.

Lyn’s two wonderfully scrappy charity quilts –  one a Disappearing Four Patch, from Linda’s tutorial.

Gail’s beautifully tactile Angel quilt for her granddaughter.

How are these for curly locks? Simple raggy strips do the job perfectly.

Finally, Jill’s finished Deauville Quilt from a pattern by Chris Jurd published in Quilters Companion last year.

Hand appliqueed and hand quilted, this ambitious quilt has taken Jill a whole year, but I think it was well worth the effort.

She deserves to be proud of this one!

Such creativity feeds my spirit!

Di

Photo Phun

Look what my little red camera captured when the English Quilters converged on Jill’s place for this month’s quilting get-together.

There were FEATHERS 

FLOWERS

both outside…

and in…

FOOD

Jill spoilt us with a delicious (gluten-free) lemon pistachio cake!

And best of all…FRIENDS

Anne, working on her scrumptious new applique quilt designed by Lynne Alchin.

Rae patiently adding exquisitely fussy-cut hexies to her collection. I’ll show you what she’s making with them a little later.

Robbie stitching the binding onto another play quilt for her baby granddaughter.

Lyn piecing together more petals for her Joseph’s Coat quilt.

Gail hand-quilting her Liberty style  Joseph’s Coat quilt.

Our clever Gail wears two thimbles and can quilt both forwards and backwards.

And Jill, giving you just a tiny sneak peek at some FABULOUS FLAUNTING that I’ll show you next time!

Di

‘Rah for Robyn!

My friend Robyn’s a very happy graduate of Linda Hungerford’s Stitchin’ Mission three years ago at St Mark’s Darling Point here in Sydney.

Linda taught quiltmaking by machine, so I guess you could say Robyn graduated with honours, since she was the only quiltmaker to make her quilt the hard way - entirely by hand - over the 5 weeks of the course.

I’m very pleased to say that after a little break Robyn’s back in the quilting fold with St Mark’s Quilters, repeating her hand-stitched successes. This time she has two little Blankets of Love in the pipeline.

This Pretty as a Picture baby quilt is all prepped for hand-quilting.

Robyn’s given a great deal of consideration to the fabrics, and she hopes the dreamy clouds and stars might be comforting reminders to grieving parents that the bub they’ve lost is safely in God’s gentle arms.

Her other work-in-progress is a more playful little boy-quilt, and the bright red quilting thread should really make those cars and trucks pop.

She’s achieved all this in just one month! Where does Robyn’s enthusiasm come from?

For her, it’s not the creative process that gives her most pleasure, though clearly she takes a great deal of care with this.

Rather,Robyn says it’s the thought of where these quilts will go, and the comfort they’ll give, that motivates her.  I’m certain these two little quilts will do just that. 

Di

It's the little things

It's surprising how a tiny gesture like an unexpected gift can make someone's day. In this case, the 'someone' was me, and the thoughtful friend was Di B.

The gift in question was placed in my hands a couple of months ago, just as we were leaving the house on our exciting adventure In the Footsteps of Jesus, and although I haven't actually pointed it out you've seen it a couple of times on my blog.

You might have spotted it peeking out from behind me here in Petra.

And here on a rooftop in Jerusalem.

Even in cold and inclement weather, on long days visiting many sites, clambering over ruins and following exciting paths of discovery a bottle of water can be your best friend - and no one had a prettier water bottle than mine, in its holder handmade by Di B.

The carabiner was perfect for clipping to the belt loops on my jeans, or to my backpack.

Pink Robyn Pandolph flowers? Yep, couldn't have chosen better!

Such a thoughtful little gift, thank you Di!

Another beautiful friend, visiting from Korea, surprised me with these lovelies a couple of weeks ago.

The bright, clear jewel colours are so happy and I can't help but admire the exquisite attention to detail in the zipper pulls and the drawstring knots.

I'm so blessed with my friends!

Random things…

Gillian’s Quilted Dolls House

Back in February when I shared photos of Gillian’s quilted fold-and-go doll’s house lots of you asked where you could find the pattern.

 

After some research I can now tell you it’s called Pippi’s House and is the creation of clever cloth doll designer Jane Coughlan. You can order the pattern from Dollmakers Journey in the US and from Australian online store Idyll Pleasures . As well as Pippi’s House, you’ll find patterns for Pippi herself, her friend Pete, and Pete’s Garage.

There are even patterns for you to make plump padded cars with rotating wheels for Pippi and Pete.

 

The Fabric of Society Travelling Exhibition

Remember the fun had by “Team Di” last year when we flew to Melbourne for the day to see my Scrappy Hexagons quilt hanging in the Victorian Quilters’ Guild’s Fabric of Society Challenge Exhibition at the  Quilt and Craft Fair?

.

When the announcement came that every one of the quilts exhibited that day would be included in a travelling exhibition in 2012, starting with the Australasian Quilt Convention in April, I was so excited. I’d never even had a quilt hung in an exhibition until now.

Unfortunately this was not to be. The AQC is on in Melbourne this week, and I received an email from the Victorian Quilters’ Inc, organisers of the Fabric of Society Challenge, a few weeks ago saying that owing to a perceived conflict of interest of sponsorship, and the fact that only one state had taken up the offer to host the travelling exhibition it was not viable for Brother International to sponsor and would therefore not go ahead.

I could feel their disappointment and sadness at having to let around 40 quilters know their work would not be displayed as they had envisaged, but these things happen and it’s been pleasure enough for me to have my quilt hung at all. It was, after all, only meant to be something to snuggle under while I watch TV in winter.

Word Verification

If you have a blog you probably have moderation turned on so you can check that no inappropriate comments come through before you publish them. It happens. Only last week, after my post about going to The Princess and Jack’s birthday parties a spam comment arrived in my box offering me a “female libido enhancer” to deal with my “problem”. I doubt this would have improved my “performance” at these parties and I’m relieved to have comment moderation at times like this when the Delete button makes short work of spam.

However, if you’re a Blogger blogger (there’s no other way to say that!) you may have Word Verification activated in addition to Comment Moderation and not even know it. I didn’t, until a friend told me.

We’ve all stumbled across this little box, with what look like smeary ant’s trails, when trying to leave comments. If you haven’t, then let me tell you it’s intensely irritating because those random letters you’re expected to copy to “prove you’re not a robot” are almost illegible to even the most sharp-eyed human being, and sometimes it’s just simpler to give up and not leave a comment on that person’s blog. No-one wants that.

So if your readers have been a tad quiet of late this might be the reason. Better check.

To change it, go to your Blogger Dashboard – Settings – Comments. Then scroll down to “Show word verification for comments?” and choose “no”. Trust me, you can do without it.

Oh dear, when I see some of the words I’ve used here I wonder what cyber-robotic ‘comments’ this post’s going to generate

Di

The Son has risen

The traditional Easter morning proclamation, “Christ is risen”, and the response, “He is risen indeed!”, put me in mind of a late winter morning earlier this year when I rose early and crept out of our hotel in Tiberias, camera in hand, to go see the sun rise over the Sea of Galilee.

A poem by a friend, the late Bruce Smith, clergyman, writer, musician, artist and poet, says what was in my heart better than I ever could.

LUX MUNDI

From Tiberias’ shore,

behind tall reeds and rushes,

I saw the sun rise

on Galilee.

I saw it colour the sky

moment by moment in

brightening gold till its

fierce fire rose blazing

behind silhouetted hills

touching and transforming

the lake to a sea of

fabled wealth.

 

How often, I wondered,

did He see this – whose being

here had brought me here

to see for myself where heaven’s

Son shone at first?

Wishing you all a joyful Easter.

Di

Where have I been? I’ve been partying!

Two of my most favourite (under-6 year old) little people in the whole world have had birthdays recently. Of course I’m speaking about my grandbabies!

Our darling Jack celebrated his very first birthday with lots of friends and family at a picnic in the park, and took his first unsteady steps at walking a couple of days later. So many firsts!

Jack loves books – how could he not love them when both his Mummy and his Daddy work in the book industry? – and he was so excited to open this present from Nana (his great-grandma).

Then our little Princess turned 5 with a birthday lunch and lots of candles to blow out.

Where did our baby girl go? She’s quite the grown-up schoolgirl now

 

Di