Christmas Preparations

Whenever we arrive at my mother-in-law’s place in Pittsburgh, she presents us with a lengthy “to do” list and is astonished at how quickly we cross things off. We also had a list of our own. At the top was to get a Christmas tree. Mimi always protests that she has an artificial tree that would be perfectly adequate but secretly she loves the real thing and to see it tall and trimmed in her living room. Next on the list was grocery shopping. In this Italian household it is catastrophic if the holidays are not accompanied by food and lots of it.

We bundled up Mimi in her wheelchair and whisked her off to the markets in the Strip District. Of course half of Pittsburgh had the same idea but, aside from the hour+ “take a number” line for the cheese counter at Pennsylvania Macaroni Company, it didn’t take us too long to gather our provisions. So my sister-in-law and I checked out the Contemporary Craft Gallery and really enjoyed these metal cabinets by Jim Rose that were apparently inspired by the quilts of Gees Bend.

Win some Twelve theme postcards

Today’s mail brought a bundle of Twelve by Twelve theme postcards ordered from www.moo.com.If you would like some of these postcards, then check out the Celebration Awards over on the Twelve by Twelve blog and leave a comment to go into a draw.

Twelve Celebrations

There’s a party happening over at the Twelve by Twelve blog. Not only is it Gerrie’s birthday but we’re hosting a light-hearted series of awards over the next twelve days starting off with the “Also Ran” award for the favourite work that didn’t make it into the official collection.

Tomorrow Helen is going to confer “The One I Wish I Had Made” award and so on. We look forward to your comments on these goofy awards. Everyone who leaves a comment will go into a draw for some special Twelve by Twelve postcards.

Tickled Pink

Tickled Pink (6×6in) is a companion piece to Desires Lines#4: Roseus Goddessii that I donated to Bid 4A Cause to raise funds for breast cancer research.
As I celebrate four years of blogging, you can win Tickled Pink by either signing up to my e-newsletter or by leaving a comment right here on my blog. The draw closes at midnight on 4 October but, since I know many of my readers are in America, I will make that midnight Pacific time.

And I’ll be leaving my pink fabrics out on the cutting board because PINK is the focus of the next Twelve by Twelve challenge as we embark on our Colourplay series.

Anniversary Gifts

This small celebration quilt is the latest work on my design wall. Today my neighbours celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary - yes, SIXTY years of togetherness! - and I plan to present this quilt when we meet them for dinner this evening. L&M are an active couple - always busy out in their garden or pottering around the house and often to be heard playing table tennis (typically accompanied by gales of laughter).

I don’t have an extensive garden and I don’t play table tennis - but do I like to laugh, potter around, bounce things backwards and forward and stop to smell the flowers, including right here on this blog. And I just realised that yesterday was my four year blogging anniversary - I first tentatively stepped out into the blogosphere with this post and have enjoyed the ambience ever since. To mark this occasion, I’ve decided to expand the scope of my current giveaway so:

• all subscribers to my e-newsletter as at 4 October (date changed from 1 October)
• PLUS anyone who leaves a comment between now and 4 October

go into a draw for a small textile work that I hope to be able to show you tomorrow. You can sign up to the occasional newsletter on the subscription page and follow the prompts. You can also view Issue #2 online. Or you can leave a blog comment.

Thank you to all my readers and blogging friends. The world seems a smaller and more congenial place.

Number 8

Ever since I saw the new Bernina Series 8 sewing machines at the Australasian Quilt Convention, the thought of buying a new machine at been at the back of my mind. I don’t strictly NEED a new machine. I bought my current machine over 8 years ago and it’s serving me well. Nevertheless, I would certainly enjoy having greater harp space and, after my latest green quilting project, I can see the appeal of dual feed; multiple spool holders and high capacity bobbins. With a price tag with a number of zeros, this is definitely not an investment to rush into though. (I’d go for the 820, I don’t need the deluxe embroidery features of the 830.)

Quiltmakers have made some fantastic quilts to celebrate the Series 8 launch. See, for example, Captiv8ing by Sue Dennis and Jenny Bowker’s quilt that was actually bought by the Bernina CEO. Eight is also a very auspicious number in Chinese culture - I wonder if there are any Chinese entries in Bernina’s competition.

Closer to home, and the Laundry King and I are celebrating our 8th wedding anniversary. Wind and rain precluded any picnic plans but we did enjoy an evening meal at home of ocean trout, chocolate mousse* and champagne bubbles…

*This recipe uses olive oil instead of eggs and is VERY smooth. I substituted golden syrup with a dash of balsamic vinegar for the vino cotto which may sound odd but tasted great.

Australian Days

On this national day, and as I approach my 20th anniversary of living in Australia, it seems appropriate to remind you that the MY PLACE travelling exhibition of art quilts will be on display at the Australasian Quilt Convention in Melbourne from 26 February to 1 March 2009. Here’s a snapshot of the thirty Australian entries:

My quilt Tudibaring was inspired by the water and headlands where I live. Around this time, I was experimenting with shibori dyeing for the Twelve by Twelve challenge theme - water. In the end, my 12×12 piece (Coriolis) did not incorporate any shibori but I went on to use my shibori water fabric in several quilts.

Similarly, fellow Twelve Deborah Boshert was inspired to further explore the theme of illumination following the Twelve by Twelve challenge on the same theme. You can read more about Deborah’s art quilts quilts based on sacred texts, and incorporating elements inspired by illuminated manuscripts, in the February/March issue of Quilting Arts magazine. Deborah has also posted some images on her blog.

The next Twelve by Twelve challenge quilts exploring the theme of chairs, are due to be unveiled on blog on 1 February (US time). I’m on the edge of my seat in anticipation!

Christmas Elves

The Christmas elves are busy here at Casa da Praia. Cooking, cleaning, pulling out the Christmas CDs and DVDs and generally getting into the festive spirit. Then this elf is going to take a short blogging holiday. I’ll be back on 1 January. In the meantime, peace and goodwill to all.

PS: We’ve been making these paper napkin elven shoes for years in my family (here’s a tutorial).

Christmas Menu

It occurs to me that Christmas is only three days away and we should really work out what we are going to eat and stock up. I expect it will be a low-key affair. Seafood will definitely feature, although we will be skipping the traditional southern Italian Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes. And there will be traditional Sago Plum Pudding. However, with the warmer climate of the Antipodes, I also like to have a lighter, chilled dessert dish. Perhaps a simple pannacotta with mango and/or berries. Or maybe a cheesecake. Anyone have a classic, lemon cheesecake recipe?

Box of Goodies

Just look at what arrived in today’s mail:

These are my prizes from winning the Mixed Media Quilt category in the Canberra Quilters’ 2008 Exhibition back in August along with a lucky exhibitor’s draw. Goodies generously donated by Unique Stitching include hand-dyed fabrics and cheesecloth, orange silk bits, shiva paintstiks and rubbing plates, flouro angelina fibres; lumiere pearlescent paints, tyvek, pearl x powder, Textiva fusible film, dyed silk hankies and hand-dyed silk threads. In addition, from Dayview Textiles, there are two sets of charm squares from the Wiggles and Giggles Thimbleberries range and the Roaring 20s by RJR.

It feels like Christmas has come early!