Admiration

Last Wednesday I escaped with friends for a day of stitching ,coffee and cake at Noelene's house.
Noelene moved to our area a few years ago and we were lucky enough to have her join our little quilting group ( this is the other smaller group I belong to).
Noelene is one of life's beautiful people..generous of heart and kind natured ..chats a mile a dozen and her quilts are a sight to behold. Her passion is hand piecing and quilting . I always giggle when she tells me she thinks sewing on a machine is more difficult than making a quilt by hand....HA !!
She loves to reproduce antique quilts and has made quilts of her own design in an antique style.
Last July , our little patchwork group ventured to Melbourne to see Noelene's quilts on display at the Quilt Show ...as the feature quilter !!
I think she was in her element as she sat chatting to all those who came past and admired her work (17 quilts on display ) and she was only too happy to pass on her knowledge and technique to all who were stopping and asking questions. Noelene favours the paper piecing method .
All her quilts are intricately hand quilted and what is more amazing is the fact she uses the stabbing method rather than rocking the needle up and down to get a number of stitches on the needle at a time.
I admire Noelene and all the other ladies like her, who are keeping the art of
making a quilt completely by hand , alive .
Excuse the poor quality of the photos but I have included
some pics of Noelene's glorious work !Noelene drafted her own templates for this Dear Jane quilt from looking at photos,
before the book was released with patterns included !




Amazing, all the 1 inch hexagons have been fussy cut !


Even those of you whom are more taken with modern style quilting would have to agree her work is stunning.
Well, I think so , anyway !

Our humble Inaugural quilt show.....

I belong to a quilt group that was founded at my workplace and we have been merrily stitching along for 10 years. There are currently 12 members in the group.
We decided our 10th Anniversary called for a celebration of our collective abilities and we should hold a quilt show/ display . One of the larger groups in our region kindly donated the use of their professional quilt hangers which helped to make the whole display look so much better - and we would have run out of wall space without it !
A local quilter who judges quilts on a State Guild level kindly came and judged the quilts .
It was very interesting to read her comment sheet and to see the criteria used to judge a quilt; design elements, Colour ( impact,harmonies,interaction), Visual Impact,Techniques ( workmanship) , Presentation( finishing, how the piece hangs), Best Feature, Areas for improvement.
It was amazing to see our work on display. We have all progressed from the first meeting when we did not know what a fat quarter was or a 9 patch for that matter !

Everyone attending the show was able to vote for the Viewer's Choice Award ...but that was a non contest really. Corrie ( founding member) won with her stunning William Morris Hand appliqued quilt .
Edit: I neglected to note that the William Morris inspired quilt was designed by Michelle Hill...who has somehow found my humble blog and left me a comment...wow !

If you belong to a group that has enough quilts between you to have a display...go ahead and do it ! We were all a bit wary of the idea at first as no one felt their quilts were up to display standard but it was so worth the effort...and it was lovely to hear all the comments from the visitors.
We all enjoyed the experience so much that we will hold the show bi-annually as a fundraiser for charity.

x PJ x

Desperate times.....

Problem. Need to use large spool of embroidery thread but it keeps unravelling from the spool when lying down and I do not have one of those fancy dancy thread towers.
Solution. Piece of wire from the garage and some playdough.


Works like a dream.
If only I had been so inventive back in my Yr 10 Science Class !!

What a whirlwind the last 6 weeks have been! Merry belated Christmas and Happy New year to all of you.
These are the little candle mats I made and matched up with glass candle holders for gifts. I love the tealights, they are battery operated so I don't have to worry about little fingers and flames.

Emily and Daddy read the Potato People by Pamela Allen for bedtime last night so the first job on this morning's agenda was these little guys.Emily has checked 6 times today to see if they have sprouted yet...uumm...no sweetie....check in a few weeks........




I love the school holiday break over summer as it means heaps of family time together. We have had a few short trips to the coast and to Melbourne. Here are a few pics of the highlights..
Lazy days on the beach at Sussex Inlet...

Getting friendly with the local wildlife......

Little white lie at the Museum......"yes dear that is a T-Rex ! "
Emily is mad about the Night at the Museum movie....I did not have the heart to disappoint her !
I had to drag her out at closing time as she wanted to stay behind to see everything come to life.




Very busy crowded day at the Melbourne Aquarium......


and just ask my 12 yr old cricket mad son, what has been the highlight of his holidays....
got to be Watson scoring his century.....that was a father son expedition to the MCG let me tell you.....Emily and I went to watch the singing Chipmunks and then browse the kids section at the Borders book shop in Melbourne Central...talk about heaven! ( the bookshop , that is..NOT the movie ! )


I made the most of my spare time lazing by the beach and have started my Christmas stitchery quilt for the year ahead...scary huh ! ...just need to see if I can keep up the pace !
The kids are all in bed so I think I will go try to master my new toy....Santa left me a Wii Fit plus under the tree....was Santa trying to give a gentle hint ???
Maybe I will leave a Mirdle ( you know ..that man girdle thing ..ha.ha) under the tree for Santa next year...

x Cheers, PJ.X