Golden Days
Hello!!
I recently had a lovely email letting me know that email notifications for my blog posts weren't working. My computer hero, Mr Daisy delved into the matter, worked his magic and it seems they're working again. I thought I'd better mention it in case you are wondering why, if you subscribe, you got an email with a big bunch of blog posts. If you're not a subscriber and you'd like to be one you can sign-up at the bottom of the page. You wont get any emails other than ones letting you know that I've written a blog post, and they're almost as rare as a blue moon these days, though I am really trying to write more regularly.
I had a wonderful surprise this morning.. I made a cup of tea and decided to have some quiet time reading the latest copy of Simply Moderne.
I flipped it open and truly - the first thing I saw was my Whizz Bang! quilt. I literally yelped with delight! For a moment I thought my mind was playing tricks on me but then I realised it was an article about the Houston Quilt Show and my quilt was included in an awesome line-up of amazing quilts from the show.
It never ceases to feel special to see my quilts in print.
This time to the historic town of Maryborough in Victoria.
First stop was lunch at the very grand train station.
The sky really was that blue!
Then it was off to the Old Fire Station
Which is now the Central Goldfields Art Gallery,
where the opening of Golden Textures exhibition was being held.
As I mentioned in the last blog post I have two works in the show but I've decided not to share them just yet. I think they're a nice surprise for those who visit the show over the next month, plus I've entered them into another show (fingers crossed they're accepted) and I'm superstitious about sharing photos of work before shows.
Photos of the other quilts weren't allowed, I did however get permission to show you the quilt that won the acquisitional prize. Australian Print was very impressive and beautifully made, and I really enjoyed meeting it's maker, Sue Reid.
After admiring all of the quilts in the exhibition and chatting with fellow textile artists we headed off to Ballarat. It's the town where both Mr Daisy and I grew up and we still have family there. Ballarat was built in the 1800's with gold mining money which is reflected in its grand buildings, wide streets and beautiful gardens. I always get a little nostalgic walking on the big bluestone cobble stones. They feel lovely to walk on and to think of all the different feet that have tread along them.
We were nearby so I took a photo of where I lived when I first moved out of home.
It's a residence above a shop. We were told at the time the architecture was Turkish Baroque. I'm not sure if that's true or not but it sounds wonderfully exotic. It was a pizza shop when I lived there so the smell of delicious pizzas were always floating up through the floorboards. It makes me smile to think of the fun times we had there.
More photos,
I was trying to capture a sense of sunlight..
I'm a sucker for corrugated iron sheds.
I loved the subtle colouring of this one.
These photos were taken on a stop in Gundagai.
Bits of buildings, interesting details.
I'm always looking at lines and colour,
This quilt is a great example of how I use those lines, rectangles, squares and angles in quilts. It's newly finished although I started it 2 years ago, but then we all know some quilts take a while. I'll share more about it in another post when I get some proper photos.
But of course my quilts aren't all sharp lines and angles... Round shapes prominently feature too!
A sea of pink petunias...
look a little bit like Lolly Bliss Bombs - This is one of the photos from my upcoming book.. If I get excited about a photo in a magazine, you can imagine how it will feel to hold a book in my hands and to be finally able to share with you what I've been up to over the past months.
It's not long to wait now, just a few more weeks.
Other bits of sewing,
Playing with borders for this quilt.
This is one of my older tops... from about 2011-2012. One of my lovely friends has lovingly given it a good home and is hand quilting it. She's about half way through, taking time to enjoy listening to the quilt and adding quilting where it wants to be.
It's a joy for me to see it coming to life with stitched texture.
Wishing you happy days of inspiration and colour... If I'm good my next post will take us back to my Houston trip last year.. ( now I've said it I'll have to do it. )
