Quilt Fabric Shopping

When I moved to Casa da Praia fulltime in 2004, there were more than four dedicated patchwork stores in the area along with a warehouse for a thread mail order business and the usual larger chain stores. In that time, commensurate with my “retirement” income, I have reined in my fabric buying habit so I haven’t been the greatest customer. Obviously I am not alone as, one by one, those shops have closed.

Today I found out that another store, further afield, is closing down and there are great bargains to be grabbed. Did I jump into my car and make the hour or so drive to check it out? Well no, partly with the price of petrol, I did not. However, I have placed a fabric order online with Hancocks of Paducah. Not only is the exchange rate most favourable at present, but Hancocks is offering free shipping on all orders (International over $80.00 Domestic U.S. over $50.00) until August 1. Just enter code JULY08 in the Catalog Source Code field on the billing page.

Baby Quilt in Progress

My “to do” list for the next month is rather long. One of the priorities is to finish off the cot quilt for my niece or nephew.

I’m trying out a new (to me) quilting motif and I am not so accomplished at traversing the quilt top evenly. Alas, some unpicking has been in order to smooth out some bubbles

Two more sleeps until our Illumination quilts will be revealed on the Twelve by Twelve blog.

Comprehensive Blogging

Fellow blogkeepers will understand when I say that there are days when I don’t feel like writing much (so I don’t). And I understand that many blog readers are busy people and may only skim-read their favourites. However, if you are in the mood for thoughtful, well-researched and comprehensive commentary about art and blogging, you can’t go past Making a Mark by Katherine Tyrrell. I came across her blog earlier in the month when Sharon B highlighted Katherine’s excellent series of posts about colour. It’s this kind of valuable resource that makes you look at the world in a whole different light.

My Place Quilts Preliminary Website

Today I have been working on developing a website for the forthcoming My Place exhibition of 90 contemporary art quilts from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. I am waiting on image files and other content but you can take a peek at: www.myplacequilts.com Let me know what you think!

A Shining Light

Today I honour the memory of Mom H (June Hughes) who was born on this date in 1926 and passed away on 15 July 2008. June was my first host mother when I was an exchange student and, along with Dad H, offered a home of faith, love, laughter and music. In the subsequent 25 years, Mom was a faithful correspondent keeping me up to date with all the latest happenings and always interested in hearing my news. She loved the outdoors and I always think of her when I see wildflowers. That will not change.

Power Stripping Students

One of the delights of teaching is seeing what your students come up with when you present them with a new technique. Today’s Power Stripping class was no exception. I was especially impressed by teenage Kareena’s adventurous spirit as she tackled her very first quilt (upper right below):
      
 
I will next be teaching this workshop at The Cottage Quiltworks on Wednesday, 29 October. I hope you can join me.

Light at the end of the tunnel

I’ve finished my illumination quilt so the countdown begins for the Twelve by Twelve “reveal” on 1 August (California time). I can’t show you the quilt but I can report that it features lots of hand stitching with this thread:

I have a penchant for variagated quilting threads and King Tut by Superior Threads is my favourite brand. I buy my thread from Julie’s Superior Threads and see that Julie is offering an “Open Thread Bar” at Chatswood Sewing Centre (Tel: 9417 5454) in Sydney on 9 August. I can’t make it (I’ll be at the Canberra Quilters Exhibition) but it looks like an informative workshop. Here’s the outline from Julie:

I am looking forward to being able to share my knowledge with you, so that you will have the confidence to use a broard range of threads for your quilting at the completion of your class.

During the first part of the workshop we will be talking about thread quality, weights, needles, tensions and how you can use speciality threads. I will bring along some of my quilts showing the quilting using different threads.

During the rest of the workshop you will be able to help yourself to the “Open Thread Bar” where you will the opportunity to try a large selection of Superior Threads. You can created a panel where you can use the decorative threads while making tension changes to your machine and seeing the differences in the look of the stitches, and noting the tension changes on your panel next to your work. You may continue to work on this for the remainder of the day, thread-play on a floral panel which I will have in class or you may wish to make a small whole cloth quilt. I will provide a few stencils available to mark your project and will be happy to answer any of your questions regarding threads, needles, tensions etc.

Esther Aliu Quilt Showcase

The quilting world, like the wider community, is full of tales of people overcoming adversity to do remarkable things. Today I draw your attention to the beautiful quilts of textile artist Esther Aliu. Esther specialises in stencils and is an accomplished domestic machine quilter. Her work is extraordinary and all the more so when you consider that she has experienced serious vision impairments. I am delighted to see that Esther has been selected as guest artist at this year’s Victorian Quilters’ Showcase at the Craft & Quilt Fair from 24th July 2007 at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. If you can’t get to see her special exhibition of 24 selected quilts, take a look at Esther’s blog to track the journey of her latest masterpiece that she completed in just 3 weeks.

Disclaimer: I freely admit that I warmed to Esther from the moment I first met her and she uttered the words to gladden any blogger’s heart “I read your blog every day and am so inspired…”

Thread treats

A pleasant diversion while I was in New Zealand was a trip to The Ribbon Rose in Ellerslie. Their fabric selection is not very extensive but I rarely buy fabric these days anyway. By contrast, their selection of embroidery and stitching threads is stupendous. I couldn’t resist this overdyed Perle 8 thread by Threadworx:

Look Again

This diagram is for the benefit of Chantel and anyone else who couldn’t work out the blobs from the other day:

As Lola correctly noted, it is the silhouette of a woman looking down. The illuminated outline of her features can be discerned on the right hand side of the blobs.