Back to blogging

Thank you to everyone for your well wishes. I have been down with the flu and totally unmotivated to get down to any of the many things that are waiting for my action.



Yesterday I celebrated my birthday, so it was a cheering day. Today I have post birthday cake and pampering overload – but I’m not complaining, it’s a nice problem to have!

I sold my middle sized polar bear this week, so I’m packing him up to be shipped. I always get newly attached to my bears when it’s time for them to go to new homes, so I took a farewell photo.

I’m finding flowers in the house so nice, I’m dreading the summer that is quickly coming upon us here, as it scorches the garden and wilts bought flowers within hours.



I have much quilting to get done before summer is here, so I really have to get down to it. I was unhappily surprised to find the supermarket full of Christmas decorations, menus and ‘stuff’. Only a matter of weeks until the end of December. Must get busy!

Fighting the flu

Well, haven't done much, as I'm fighting the flu. Have some exciting Red Delicious developments taking place - will update in the next few days.

Congratulations!

Thank you to everyone who left a comment on Sunshine & Shadow, my Quilt Festival Entry. I love stenciling and was hoping to share my enthusiasm for this technique by offering 25 free PDF patterns for Tulip Delight to randomly selected posters who left a comment.

After writing down all names and popping them in a teapot - 25 winners have been selected. Actually a few more because some names 'popped' out or 'latched' onto other drawn entries and we decided to let both win in those instances. Ok, I say both, actually I got my youngest DD to do the honors while I watched on with a coffee, its been a busy busy week in my house!

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO COMMENTED!

For the lucky 25, I hope you enjoy stenciling as much as I do and I'd love to see the results!

Anita
Bea
Brigitte
Carrie p
Edna
Lily
F. gina
Flisa!
Marls
Gayle
Kathryn
JulzHolly
Lesly
Julie Q
Michelle
LIZ
Mrs Moen
Quilt Rat
Rachel
Debbie
Roccagal
Roz
Ruth
SewCalGal
Trisha
Rene'
Costa Rica
Kristan
Sharon

* Winners: If you have NOT received an email invite from me, please email me directly at genesis@kew.hotkey.net.au

The Quilt Festival is finished

The Fall Quilt Festival is now finished and I'm pretty sure that a lot of you probably spent as much time as I did browsing through all the great sites and admiring all the inspiring quilts out there. A great idea and so rewarding to be part of it all.

Thank you to everyone who left a comment under Sunshine and Shadow, I hope it did something to invoke interest in stenciling for those who had to chance to scroll through.

Since my last post, I attended a wedding and made TD as a gift. I think it turned out beautifully. My DD prefers the new colour scheme to the original, she's not keen on the lime green. Frankly, I love them both!

Red Delicious Mystery BOM upload 12

This month the Red Delicious upload covers
BORDERS & SASHING for finishing your quilt top.

It's an exciting time! Those of you who joined in my free Red Delicious Mystery Block of the Month these past 12 months will know that the blocks have now all been posted. But Red Delicious isnt quite finished yet... as well as finishing the quilt top, there are a few more Red Delicious suprises in store. More to come later...

Have you been keeping up? Is your quilt top nearly ready? Why not join the free Red Delicious Yahoo Group and look in on some great images of what others have done with this BOM? If you need some motivation, there's plenty to go around in the 'picture' file!

Tulip Delight is re-visited

Blending the hues on the fabric directly

Organising the medium, brushes and paints


Laying out the stencil for working (notice the tidy surface?:)

I've been wanting to re-visit Tulip Delight since I made it. It's one of those designs which can be worked in so many different ways. As a stencil table runner, I'm especially interested to see the difference colour can make. Last week I was working on a design for an upcoming wedding when I received an email from an Etsy shopper who wanted my opinion on whether it was suitable as a Wedding gift for her best friend- worked in the Bride's favourite colours of (cornflower blue, butter yellow and magenta). Did I think it was suitable? With a wedding of my own to attend at the end of the month, it got me thinking about how much use I've had from this table runner and how practical table runners are. (Obviously quilts are my first preference - but my own DD has demonstrated that taste can vary significantly). So I decided to take my own advice and set to making Tulip Delight myself for the wedding I will be attending.

Today I've gotten down to business and will keep you posted as I progress through. I am working in Fuschia, Green, with Gold highlights on a hand dyed marble background (yes, technically this beautiful piece is a stash buster!)

The Studio Gets Tidied

First things first - look at that beautiful work surface! CLEAR!

I ran out of bench space so I really had no option but to get my act together and tidy my studio. The most important item in there is my design table which was looking like a great shelf. But not any more. Now it is free! I have been thinking about the next Mystery BOM as well as my other pending projects - and sometimes you just need to lay your work out flat and take a good hard look at it.






This is the area beneath my desk - boxes of bundled projects and UFO's - some which are more than half way completed. I have them shelved and ready to be actioned. I know, I know, it could be tidier, but for me - this is organized. And I'm so delighted I can see my floor. It was a carpet of threads only yesterday.










This is my 'immediate' design shelf. As you can see, it still needs a bit more work. The only problem is that everything in there is -vital- and can't be sorted away any further.

This is my shelf top of rolled up patterns, designs and master sheets.

Now it's time to turn out some work!