Antique Star Quilt

Sorry I haven’t blogged recently but between work quilting and travelling around the countryside the poor blog has suffered. This is my challenge quilt which was a Drunkard Path challenge, I finished it with an antique style medallion.

The NSW Guild Quilt show 2007 was extra special this year as my daughter Nikki came second in the Junior Section and won the Encouragement award which was a Bernina Sewing machine for her quilt "Mosh" which was her HSC major work. The standard of the quilts this year was outstanding and you can look at the winning quilts at www.quiltersguildnsw.com

This is the latest arrival, the second in two weeks!!!!!

Its like I can’t help myself, the online shopping thing is becoming a problem, should I go and see someone? Probably not.Should I confess to my husband?? Definately not. I’ll be OK. I can stop. Its the bargains, and the newsletters that inform you of the bargains, I’ll just turn off the computer. Lets see how I go next week, then I’ll get help, I can stop.

More Fabric! We have just been on a lunchtime excusion to the local patchwork shop Patchwork products, and found this gorgeous burgundy fabric. Of course I don’t have a project in mind yet but I just had to have it. I have been stocking up recently and have found a few great online stores as well as a few new Sydney shops like QuiltSmith. I am currently making three reproduction quilts at the moment so the stash has a definate vintage feel to it.

My latest hand-piecing effort is nearing completion and I have just hit 100 star blocks and thought I would  audition some of the florals and prints for the unpieced hexagons and see what it looked like. I have kept the palette very subdued with the odd red or pink colour burst, there is a huge mix of fabrics with a lot of reproductions and lots of scraps, anyway heres a preview.

I love flowers arranged in posies and our local florist  - Rays does a lovely job so yesterday I was visiting my Mum as she has undergone shoulder surgery and this cute posy really brightened her day .

The storms in Sydney just keep coming and my weeping cherry has decided its springtime and is blossoming profusely, the tree is 4 years old and this is the best display to date. It was 7am and I had to use a flash, however the wet weather is very welcome - the park across the road was so parched in February-  look at it now!

Well I made it back from the Australian Quilt convention in Melbourne totally exhausted, yet totally inspired. It was a quilters paradise, no scrapbooking stands and only one bead stand with the rest of the show totally dedicated  to patchwork, stitching and quilting. Lynelle Slade (Editor of Country Threads) and I had a lovely time meeting contributors and people in the industry we had spoken to but never met. We visited two shops that were quite close to the city and met more lovely ladies (quilters are such a great bunch).

After a bizarre cab ride to South Melbourne on Thursday night we met at a yummy Thai restaurant with a group of contributors, so I must thank  Leanne and Rosalie for organising such great night. Of course there was a lot a fabric shopping and I was surprised to see such a different array of fabrics and kits on display, here is a little of the stash I collected, the pink and green theme became apparent quite quickly as I am thinking about making an applique quilt , aside from that theme there were also stands specialising in reproduction fabrics which I love and lots of bright funky fabrics, it was an absolute smorgasbord of fabric.