Yesterday I went to...

.... to the Australasian Quilt Convention. For those of you who don't know the Convention is run over four days -there are classes to take, seminars to attend, quilts to gaze upon and of course stuff to buy. What I like about the Convention is that it is dedicated to quilting and related stitching. Really it is far too big to do it easily in one day...

Originally I was going to take the Friday off -but my boss had a surgical procedure midweek -which would have made us short staffed had I taken the day off... But I did myself proud and covered as much ground as possible. I stayed right up until the announcement which declared it the end of the day. Boy, I am tired today though...

I am planning to do it over two days next year, perhaps take a class or two and stay overnight in the city... A little luxury for me!!!! I can see it already!!!!!

... and saw these...

The Leap - Inge Mardal & Steen Hougs - France

The Imaginasurus - Helen Godden - Australia

Scarlet Runners - Laura Fogg - USA




The Pen Is... by Jette Ford - Australia

This was 2006 Husquvarna Viking Gallery of Quilt Art, Materpieces: "Imagine That!" machine quilting exhibition.

I picked these four at random to show you. The photos just don't do them justice...

The Imaginasurus - Helen Godden - Australia also won Second Prize. I had heard Helen speak about this quilt last year - it did nothing to prepare me for what it looked like...

....and bought all this to play with...

... again the photo doesn't do it justice - especially the materials which shimmer and have wonderful hues and depths. Although trust me to go to a place like that with a mulitude of beautiful things and buy books. The Quiltmaking by Hand - Jinny Beyer is a magnificent book full of informative pages which fuelled my romantic vision of me hand quilting. I actually doubled back to buy this book - I had looked at it earlier in the day and has been encouraged by its content but I had walked away thinking about what else I wanted to buy and thought that the book was a might 'out of budget' - however I 'just felt' that it was the right book to buy - yes, I did blow my budget - but I do think it will be one of those books I shall refer to time and time again...

The same could be said for Perfect Hand Applique - I had "eavesdropped" in on a conversation that the author - Liuxin Newman - was having with another woman and I watched while she was demonstrating. Browsing through her books I saw the answer to a couple of questions I had been asking myself about applique and I thought too that this book could be a valuable resource. Her book came with a DVD which I will settle down and watch when I have more time...

Update on 'release' & 'useful'...

Sharonb was wondering how everyone was doing with their New Year resolutions. I thought about my two words - release and useful - January 02 2008 entry.

I wanted to 'release' anything I had no longer use for and retain only what was 'useful'... I started with my immediate world - my home.

Here is an update ..

My first job was to to de-clutter and restore some sense of order - the second part (Part II) is to 'spring clean' - washing walls etc and lastly cleaning carpets - that will happen when I have found a place for everything.

* Kitchen - completely de cluttered. I can now 'breathe' in my kitchen and it has become 'useful'
* Dining room - well on the way - returned to a useful area - all my stitching has been sorted and moved.
* Main bedroom - excess furniture gone - dressing table sorted.. Still a bit to do in this room though - wardrobes need a very good going through!!!!
* Bathroom - nearly there.
* Hall way - this has been reorganised and is a bit more user friendly.
* Study - wardrobe has been decluttered - but the rest of the room still needs major work.
*** the rest still to be done

While this doesn't sound much - it took a lot of time to do. The kitchen has had the most major changes - open shelving (courtesy of P and Bunnings) now houses all my appliances which are all in easy reach. Fantastic!!!!!

The dining room room has been cleared of all my stitching stuff - that has been sorted and stored into a chest of drawers. I want to rearrange the furniture in there but that is planned for Part II. Now too has my stitching stuff become useful as it is sorted and I know what I have.

Main bedroom is still a bit of mess but at least the excess furniture has gone - courtesy of the scheduled council pickup and who ever out there took it first. Books are presenting a bit of a problem - they are breeding!!!! I am also wanting to create a 'quiet space' a place in this room where I can write and perhaps study next year...


Bathroom - again -courtesy of the above mentioned - needs a bit of 'tweaking' - again Part II.

The hallway has had furniture re arranged - still not that happy with it but it too could change in Part II. The cupboard in there has been completely de-cluttered and one section is now the linen press.

*** the rest - I have chaos in some rooms that has resulted from creating order in other rooms... Harry Potter's school had a sorting hat - I have a sorting room - which in its other life is the study. As I type this I am surrounded by piles of 'sorted' that needs to find a home within these four walls or else a new home... I think the op-shop ladies groan whenever they see us - we have taken many and varied boxes up to them... I have sold a few things on ebay (again courtesy of P's time and expetise) but for the most part I am more than happy for the 'overflow' to go to the op-shop - I know it will find another home...

The soft toys are a bit of a problem as we seem to have accumulated so many - there is an emotional attachment to them which is hard to break - for the moment they are going to live in a cupboard until their fate is decided. However some of my teddies are going to a good home where they will be loved and cherished - an older lady in a motorised wheel chair regularly comes into the shop - she orders Georgette Heyer novels - her favorite author. One day we got to chatting and she told me that she had to give away most of her things as her life made it impossible for her to live alone and she nows lives in a hostel/assisted living type arrangement. The two things she misses most are her books and her collection of teddy bears - I then has an idea where some of my bears would go. My sister was with me the day I saw B while I was having lunch in the food court outside to the shop I called to her and as we chatted I asked whether she could 'do me a favour' - she looked at me and cautiously said if she could she would - I then explained that I had some teddies - who needed a good home - would she be able to take them. The look of first disbelief and then delight made my day. After she had gone my sister said she too 'had a couple of teddies that could do with a home'. B looks like she has a ready made family to keep her company...

It has been amazing what has come from this so far - my mind has started to clear and I believe I can 'feel' the first signs of some sort of inner peace... In my outer life I have started to lose weight again and there is the protential of a new job(s) on the horizon - far too, early to say more about either - but I truely believe one is 'birthed' from the other. Some endings - some beginnings...

Still lots more to do - release- but I am well on the way to restoring things to the way I would like them to be thereby making them 'useful'...

Happy Blogday !!!!!!

I realised that today I have been blogging for three years... Life certainly moves swiftly when one is having so much fun... Happy Blogday to me!!!!

People of the Book..

People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks

I have heard and read so much about this book I just couldn't resist it... This is not the cover I have - I believe it is the hardcover version...

I have a gut feeling that this is going to be one of my reads for the year...