New nephew quilt

I finished this one off at quilters on Wednesday - it's a good time to do binding! Sitting quietly around the table stitching at something fairly uncomplicated and listening to the ladies ....

This is for my sister's baby boy due sometime next month. I think. She won't tell me the name so I'll have to wait until he's born to do the label and send it over. I don't have to worry about these pictures ruining the surprise though, she doesn't read this. No-one reads this.

It's quite a busy quilt, perhaps a bit too patterned for a small baby, but I figure it won't show the dirt! And a few washes in the machine won't hurt it either; what more could you ask for. I used some of the left over fabrics in the bag too - pretty blues.

Curse you, school fete

Our primary school fete (sorry, it's a "fiesta") is in October, or possibly November, and I'm trying to think of things for the craft stall. Given that I'm working such a piddly amount this year I really should pull my finger out and be a little bit helpful ... but it's hard to think of things that would sell and aren't too much trouble to make.

Anyway, I'm trialling bag patterns to find something that is straightforward and looks good. This is a Robert Kaufmann free pattern (and freely adapted by me, it had a poofy bow on it that had to go) which went together well, but it sits oddly at the top. So I won't make any more. This one still might make it to the craft stall though! The colours are pretty.

And this weekend we enjoyed the fresh and crisp winter weather by going for a walk - this is just up behind my house. Would you think we lived in a city of nearly half a million people?

My happy birthday quilt

This is the other one I'm putting in the exhibition - in the "bed quilt" category. This quilt was a deliberate attempt to make something that would sit well with the other quilts - traditional and with colours that would stand out from a distance. I'm pleased with the result. I've bound it now and it looks good - it's not particularly complex or well made but I like the colours and the way that the borders work with the central medallion. It's hand quilted which adds a softness to the overall look.

I've called it "Happy Birthday to me" because the Saturday I'm doing floor duty at the exhibition is my 40th birthday! And if I have to walk around telling people not to touch the quilts I may as well get the odd "happy birthday" thrown in there too. I've put why I've called the quilt that in the catalogue, so we'll see if anyone reads it and my name tag and puts it together! Maybe, maybe not.

Squares and circles

This is the quilt I'm putting in the annual show in the "wall quilt" category. I'm not entirely sure what makes a wall quilt rather than a bed quilt - the dimensions allowed are much the same .... I think all quilts belong on beds! Well, at least all of mine do, but I'm happy to call it a wall quilt if that's what's needed. It's about 175 cm square (maybe 65 inches).

I like the colours of this quilt. The fabrics I dyed myself and they work well together because they play off the same yellow-green base. I'm not super thrilled with the quilting so far - it's not finished but I had trouble doing perfect circles, even with tracing the lines.

Someone at quilt retreat suggested spirals so that's what I'm going with. It was a great suggestion - gives the impression of circles and movements but if it's not a perfectly round shape it doesn't matter as much. So now I just have to finish it! My monofilament thread kept arguing with me so I've switched brands and we'll see if the new stuff is more compliant. And here are some wonderfully green wasabi peas in a yellow bowl. Pretty.

Black and white scrap is finished

And doesn't it look cute! I washed and dried it to make it sit a little bit better (wavy border issues) ... but it only made it look rumpled. Fortunately, I like rumpled! I've been happily quilting away these past week or two, finishing up things that I started at quilt retreat. I've also been getting my exhibition entries to a point where I can photograph them for the entry form - I'll post them here when I'm done.

And despite my little rant about AP&Q I have renewed my subscription, they were down to $60 for 20 issues, and the cover price is $9 each. So if I'd bought more than one out of every three from the newsagents (and I probably would have), then it makes more sense to subscribe. Sigh. But I can read them and pass them on, which will make me feel less like a mindless consumer. Not sure why :)

Done that, no need to do it again

Quilt camp was interesting - the good things were very fun, and the other things were as expected. Sitting and sewing with forty women in a room is very enjoyable. Everyone was as busy or as contemplative as they wanted to be; and they were all very nice and welcoming and good fun to talk to about all sorts of things! Some very beautiful quilts were being made too, although as usual I didn't quite find anyone who made them in the same way as me ... everyone else seems to be more ordered and planned and precise about every aspect of the design and construction. Mmmm.

The weather was appalling - rainy and freezing. The camp was beautifully set in bushland with lots of trees, which would be wonderful in summer but was very damp and gloomy last weekend. I went for a walk down the beach on Saturday afternoon during a brief dry spell - but look at that storm coming in from the sea! It hit with a vengeance at about dinner time.

This is the view from the dining hall, with lorikeets that would eat pieces of apple out of your hand. It was wonderful getting three hot meals a day (plus morning and afternoon tea and supper) cooked and served to you. We quickly learned to stick to our allotted meal time and avoid the 200 primary school students who were there on music camp! They were exceptionally well behaved but you can't have that many kids eating meals together without a phenomenal amount of noise.

So I don't know if I'll go on another one. I don't enjoy sharing a room, even though my roomy is a good friend and very easy to be around. And I got that slightly depressing feeling I get after just about every quilt show, that everyone is using the same words as me, but still speaking a different language.

Off to a quilting retreat

This weekend I'm going to do something I've never done before and go away for the weekend with a quilting retreat! It's being organised by the mother-in-law of a friend of mine, so I'm going with my friend, largely for moral support I think. I won't know anyone else there, and I have no idea what it's going to be like. I am generally more of a luxury traveller, and it's at a camp-type thing, so I'm a bit nervous, but it's only for a weekend.... and I won't have the kids! So it has to be, at least, more peaceful than home. And I suspect I've packed enough projects to last me two months, not two days - is that normal?

My husband is being very good about looking after the boys all weekend on his own - they've planned a pizza evening on Saturday with some other blokes big and small. And of course it is the ACT Scale Modellers annual exhibition and competition - my husband also has a tragic hobby, just like me. Not sure what he's entering this year, but it can't beat his millenium falcon!