AUTUMN LEAVES IN SPRING????

While we are embracing Spring in Australia, the small quilt challenge for October was to incorporate the maple leaf block into a design.  I have always loved this block.  It was one of the blocks in my first large quilt, an album style quilt run as a block of the month over twelve months in 1998 at
The Quilter's Store in Auchenflower, Brisbane.

I hand appliqued and machine pieced this quilt in 1998-99 and hand quilted it in
1999-2000.  Making the quilt involved learning lots of new skills -  needle turn applique, how to inset seams, how to baste a large quilt together, mitring borders and hand quilting.  No wonder it took so long to make!!!!

The small quilt challenge was a much easier project. The day I finished machine quilting it I sponged out some chalk marks and hung it on the line to dry.  It was so windy that the little quilt looked like a gymnast going round and round the uneven bars just begging to be watched.

I included a bright red leaf as a reminder of Autumn on the South Island of New Zealand.  During several trips to New Zealand I have been amazed at the bright yellows, the striking reds and oranges and the deep maroons of the spectacular autumn foliage in Christchurch and Queenstown.  Because of our milder climate and the type of trees planted in Brisbane we don't see such an abundance of autumn leaves nor the depth of colour found in colder areas. I quilted veins on the leaves to distract from the squares and half-square triangles in the piecing.

I so enjoyed sewing the maple leaf blocks for that quilt that I was inspired to make another smaller quilt with different fabrics for each part of the leaf. 

 

Mid October I visited the Stitches and Craft Show at the Convention Centre in South Brisbane.  My friend Judy and I both travelled there by train.  We live approximately two hours drive time apart so it was a perfect opportunity to catch up.  I was very restrained, buying only a small bundle of reproduction fabrics.  My main aim was to find information about threads and stabilizers for machine embroidery, and about machine embroidery patterns that can be used for quilting on a home sewing machine.  So while I didn't purchase much on the day, I have lots of information about different websites for online tutorials and shopping.  Enough to make my head spin.

Queensland Quilters hold their annual quilt show in conjunction with the Stitches and Craft Show.  These photos give just a glimpse of some of the exquisite work on display.  

Beautiful Applique

 

1/4" Hexagons in Liberty Fabrics appliqued onto a white background

 

Dear Jane

 

Hand Appliqued Small Quilt

 

I also saw a little stool which I loved. I've asked my husband to make a similar one for me, another project to add to his retirement "to do" list.  I love the little storage area underneath.  So cute!!!

 

 

 



Another display I saw recently at my local markets centred around a lovely set of old sewing machine drawers. Very pretty.

 

 

 

 

We've been out boating in the warmer weather. My daughter Allison enjoying the sunshine.

 

 

 

While we haven't been catching too many fish, we enjoy watching the antics of the birds, especially the pelicans.



 

 

And the swans at the lake are growing up far too rapidly.                                                                   

 

 

 

 

Until next time,

 

Happy Quilting

 

Bronwyn

  

 

SPRING IN AUSTRALIA - FLOWERS, QUILTS, LIGHTS

I recently went to the annual Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers with a friend and this is what we saw.
Garden beds of flowers, flowers, and more flowers !!!!

 

 

 

 

 







 



We also took time to visit two quilt shows and the local quilt shops while we were there.  I found a beautiful Jo Morton fat 1/4 bundle and some King Tut quilting thread which just begged to go home with me.  How could I refuse?

  

There were many beautiful quilts, but I have never seen quilts as small as the ones in this display.  The hexagon quilt is on a little bed approximately 6 x 8 inches. The crazy quilt on the other bed was beautifully detailed, and there was a quilt with the tiniest pieced triangles on the cot.

 

 

We also visited my favourite country wares shop Gottabee Country where you can find all kinds recycled timber furniture, textiles and decorative household items.



 

But as a self confessed chocaholic I was confronted with the most alarming piece of information!!!

 

On another trip during the ten day Carnival of Flowers festivities, this time with my husband, I visited the Spring into the Country craft show at Geham, a small community outside Toowoomba.
I found an old ice cream scoop to add to my collection of kitchenalia of rolling pins, beaters, bottles and bowls.  My husband remarked that it looked very old, probably dating to the 1950s, probably as old as us.  That was a comforting thought!!!

Also during September we went to see the laser light show as part of the annual Brisbane Festival.  We met up with a relative from the country down in Brisbane for a conference.  After a lovely dinner at the Treasury Casino in the city, we walked across the bridge to South Bank to watch the display.  





 

 

I've also spent lots of time this month learning about my new sewing machine, practising machine quilting and using up more of that never ending supply of antique floral fabric. 



 

 

 

And I've made a small pumpkin quilt for Halloween, one block from the Pumpkins on Parade pattern in the Fall 2013 edition of Primitive Quilts and Projects magazine.



And the swans on our local lake are growing up beautifully.

Happy Quilting,

Bronwyn