Retreat & Quilt Show

After a bit of a hiccup I made it to our annual retreat for Toowoomba Quilters Club. 

Me, Vicky and Marleen.
It starts on the Friday afternoon around 4.30 but yours truly was in bed all day Friday after just recovering from a vomiting bug during Thursday night, quickly followed up by a migraine.  Yukko.
Not to be beaten, I thought I would get up really early Saturday morning and head out to the retreat.  it was not to be.  Still had the migraine at 5.00am so went back to bed and nursed it til around 9.00.  Then I was well enough to go – can’t keep a determined quilter down!!
Alas, the sewing planned did not get done, but I did do a little bit of wool embroidery and a little bit of zentangle to keep my mind off the fact that I was still nauseous and unwell.
At retreat we had a Christmas swap at Saturday lunch and I was lucky enough to win these very cute owls made by Vicki W.  They kept going missing over the next 24 hours and I would find them scattered randomly about the room. 

Aren’t they just sooooo cute.  Mamma and her three babies.
On Wednesday our quilt group took a bus down to Brisbane to Quilt and Craft Show.  It was a hoot (sorry for the pun).
It was one of the best organized trips I have ever been on with our quilt club.  Organized by the beautiful Ineke, we had a pit stop at Goodna where we had a lovely cup of tea/coffee and cake and bikkies and then on to the show.  Our tickets and other information was already attended to and we walked straight in and spent a wonderful day exploring the show.Here are just some of the goodies I bought.

Some arty farty stuff – coloured lutradur, batik fabric I had to have, colourful sari silk stirps and a rubbing plate.  Some washi tape which I don’t know what for, some daisy braid, angelina fibres (also bought a copper shade) and a micron pen for zentangle.
There was a bit more too, and I spent waaaaay too much but had a lovely day.  It was good to catch up with some friends at the show who aren’t in the group, and I even caught up with Mary, a crafting friend, from Rainbow Beach.
The winning quilts at the Queensland Quilt show can be seen here.
Blogger –  The verification on blogger these days is a pest.  It is hard for people to read and deters people from commenting, so I turned it off.  Alas, now I am being bombarded with spam and silly anonymous emails so I will have to  put it back on, sorry.  Just wish blogger would make the verification process easier.

Quilt Show and a Surprise

It has been a busy week.  The housework was neglected as I headed out each morning early to open up the venue for Toowoomba Quilters 2011 exhibition.  It took me back to the days that I was working full time – how the heck did I do that?
There were some really splendid quilts.
This is my utmost favourite by Robyn Ginn.  Robyn is a hand appliquer (appliqueist?? or whatever)  and hand quilter and designs all her own quilts.  This particular quilt is a variation on an antique quilt she saw in a book.

The hand quilting on this quilt is extensive and is just so beautiful.

Kookaburra amongst the hexagon leaves.

The central medallion.  The tree’s leaves are made of little hexagons.
Robyn calls this Quilt “Irish Cream Hexagon Tree” and it is a HUGE quilt.  She seems to ‘whip them up’.

Another friend of mine Pam made this fabulous quilt using Kaffe Fassett fabrics, and we all know how I love KF.  It is also hand quilted.

This hexagon quilt was also a favourite.  It was beautifully and tastefully machine quilted.  Made by a TQ member, Joye.

My friend, Marleen, has finished her sashiko quilt.  Shame on me, I have only done the central part in the same time.
She has put this together like a jigsaw puzzle and called it “The Sashiko Puzzle”  It is stunning in ‘real life’.  This photo doesn’t do it justice.
I got a nice surprise when my blogging buddy Teresa from “All Things Vintage” called into the show briefly one day.  It was so lovely of her to do so,  as her time in Toowoomba was limited.
She is just as gorgeous in real person as in her blog.  It was great to meet her and hope we can meet again one day.

Looking forward to next year now where, hopefully ,I will be able to show more than one quilt!!!

"I'm just a Girl that can't Say NO"

That is why I haven't been able to blog for so long.
I have been blogging -  but over on the quilt club site.  It has been a busy few weeks with our annual exhiibtion and my not being able to say no.  I am passionate about our quilt group and have made many wonderful friends, enjoyed the company of some interesting quilters and shared ideas and dreams.  It has come time now that I must say NO.
Currently, I am newsletter editor (once a month but taking two days to do it - on a weekend),Vice President and maintaining the blog.  In addition to this, I maintain membership and email lists and co-ordinate the sales table at our exhibition. 
"Yes" - I can come to that meeting, "Yes" - I can help with the raffle, "Yes" -  I can shuffle equipment from one place to the next, "Yes" I can post that to a new member and so on. 
 At the same time I am a partner in my husband's business and a housekeeper, mother and grandmother.  
NOoooooooooooooo
Now, I am not blaming the quilt group, it is entirely my own fault and, in 2011, I am intending to take a giant step back for my own sanity and so that I may enjoy what I really joined a quilt group for, yep, quilting, sewing and crafting.

To soften this blog post I will now post some pictures of my favourite quilts at the show.
 
I have always loved the Storm at Sea pattern and vow I will make one one day!  This one was done by a friend, Vicky, and she has used a beautiful variegated red fabric with the cream.
 
My friend Robyn Ginn has made this spectacular quilt using silks and she has used the traditional crazy fan design, and made them into little silk purses.  This quilt is all done by hand apart from sewing the blocks and borders together - amazing.  The entire outside border is hand embroidered.  I am in love with this quilt!
 
Close up of some of the purses WOW WOW WOW
 
Lynn did this one which was a Debbie Caffrey mystery quilt.  I love it because it is full of Kaffe Fassett fabrics and I am a sucker for star quilts.
One of my darling girlfriends, Yvonne, did this beauty.  It is called "Daniel's Pineapple Farm" and was made for her nephew's 21st birthday.  Daniel always wanted to work on a pineapple farm when he was little.  I just love circles.
 
Another Robyn Ginn quilt.  "Hearts for Hannah".  Robyn made this for her granddaughter.  Whilst Robyn was making this quilt, Hannah was involved in a very bad car accident.  She was seriously injured but is now fully recovered.  This quilt has many loving thoughts sewn into it.
Close up of Hannahs heart - all hand embroidered.  All Robyn's quilts are hand quilted as well.

I so admire the patience it would have taken for Dorothy C to make this confetti style quilt entitled "Murphy".
Imagine cutting up all those tinsey bits of fabric and fibres.  He is so cute.

There were so many quilts I loved at the exhibition, but if you would like to view more, I have put some up at www.toowoombaquiltersclub.blogspot.com

Strip Chevron

Everyone who knows me knows how much I love strippy quilts and I loved this quilt at our our recent exhibition.  It is so bright and cheerful and was right beside us at the sales table where we were working most days.  

Another one for me to have a crack at.  So many quilts, so little time....

Quilt display

Our quilt club exhibition is over for another year.  We battled one of the worst dust storms in our history and still managed to come through smiling.  We had lots of visitors from all over the country and the exhibition was much admired.
In the foyer, we had a display of antique quilts from one of our members and this created a lot of interest.  They are family quilts and she had some very interesting stories to go with them.



 This one is from the 1880's (American)

From the 1970"s

Springing into Action

Here are some more views of springtime in our garden.  It is a wonder anything flowers in our part of the country.  We are very short on water!

This is usually a busy time for me as our quilt group, Toowoomba Quilters Club Inc.,  gears up for it's annual quilt show - Exhibition of Quilts and other Fine Arts.
If you are visiting Toowoomba next weekend for the Carnival of Flowers, be sure to drop in and say "Hi" at the quilt show.

It is at the TAFE building, 100 Bridge Street Toowoomba from Sat 19 September through to Friday 25 Sept.  Open 9.00 til 5.00 daily. 
Admission $5.00 - (Children admission free)

On another note, 
What about Kim Clijsters?
Is she amazing or what?
I think it says a lot for believing in yourself.