Thursday, November 9, 2017

Houston tour

I had the privilege to lead a tour of 35 quilters to the US, ending up at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. And boy what a trip it was!
On the long haul to get there we spent a while in Denver airport - these signs are on every bathroom.

Then to Missouri where we had two days at Missouri Star Quilt Company in Hamilton. The town is pretty much quilt shops all owned and run by the Doan family. Lots of shopping and mailing home from the girls!


A chance visit to the Pony Express Museum - really interesting place if you're ever in St Joseph.
Chillicothe for murals and antique stores and a quilt shop visit in Cameron. There were lots of those on the tour!

One night in our hotel was a sit-and-sew to complete the project I gave the girls. A nice little thread catcher basket made with pentagons.

Next stop, Chicago. Wow what a city! Freezing cold but that didn't stop us. City tour, Frank Lloyd Wright's house and a visit to the Modern Quilt Studio of Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle. Fantastic display of their quilts and a bit of shopping too! Plus a visit to the 96th floor of the Hancock building.

A definite change in temp when we got to Houston - hot and steamy. We were a 10 minute walk from the Convention centre but these bike things were very popular.

Art around the city

We stayed at the Magnolia Hotel - great place

I had time to do a class with Jane Sassaman. Lots of ideas for future projects.

 With nearly 500 shops there was a lot of variety and some pretty good displays

Two days at the show and we were of to the Texas Quilt Museum in La Grange. These  murals are on the side of the building in a lovely garden setting.

Houston is a big city with lots of homeless people around. We were there for the Astros' win of the baseball World Series and the city went crazy for two days. Partying and a big parade that gridlocked the streets for hours.


Farewell dinner then home - here is our tour manager Lyn on the left and Helen from Michelle Marvig's group on the right.
Goodbye Houston and the Magnolia - we had a blast!


Dorrigo and Christchurch

I haven't blogged for ages but I have been busy!
 
September saw me at Misty Mountains Getaway in Dorrigo with some very famous tutors...
happy hour with Chris Timmins, Karen Styles, Kathy Doughty and Wendy Nutt and Wendy Williams

We tackled String Stars and Strippy Sampler - great fabric combos all round.

We even had KP duties each night!


Then off to Christchurch in New Zealand for Symposium. 50+ tutors from around the world and it was great!

I taught Pickled Fish and Strippy Sampler again...


but Blogger is not behaving with photos the wrong way round!

 Next post is my Quilters Companion tour to Houston!
 

Thursday, August 31, 2017

Pics from a few recent classes to start...
Sue's getting there with her String Stars top. The grey border sets the centre off perfectly.

And Christine has started binding her Dots blocks. All the same stripe will look fab.

I had a QuiltNSW workshop at Hazelhurst Gallery where ten eager students stated on the Strippy Sampler. Great results over two Sundays and what a nice venue.

Springwood Quilt Show committee had a lovely lunch at Bygone Beautys in Leura recently to hand over a cheque for $10K to our local RFS. Proceeds from our quilt show in April. A great effort by all involved in the show!

Here's the carpet in the restaurant which also houses a massive collection of teapots and tea paraphernalia. Amazing!

More students' work - Dale's Emperors Wheel just needing a couple of borders.

And Lisa has made a start on Snowball Circle which is such a good quilt to showcase large prints and fussy cutting.


Then it was off to Belinda's Thelma's Cottage in Orange for a day playing with old linen.
Bring your tablecloth of serviette and fill in all those blank spaces. Diamonds, hexies, dresdens - you name it we had it.


Plus some broderie perse - this was from a beautiful piece of vintage fabric that had that Liberty look.
Modern hexies...

... to more traditional ones. Gorgeous!

And I even snuck in some sewing time for myself. A new project from an old block...
And some FMQ'ing on a table centre.

 
Only 5 weeks til Symposium on New Zealand and 7 weeks til we head off to the US and Houston. Hope it's all dry by then!

Monday, July 31, 2017

Snake Gully and beyond

July was a busy month for me on all fronts...
My annual visit to Snake Gully in Muswellbrook produced lots of great work like Judy's Pickled Lillies above and a compilation of workshops on Mariners Madness and Strippy Sampler below.


At Sew Can I this month Robyn finished her String Stars top - Cat Woman I say!
Trish at Hobbysew Kings Park brought in her Square Dance top - a couple of the corner blocks looking fab.


And Wendy has taken her time with African Queen but it looks amazing. The border fabric is perfect.
 
 The centre for Sue's Broken Arrow is so soft and calming. Can't wait to see what comes next.

I had the privilege to help judge Victorian Quilters Showcase entries this year. Along with Wendy Wyth and Karen Mersiades from Qld we had no hesitation awarding this Colourful Retina BOS. Made by Sugy Kim, it's hand and machine pieced and hand quilted. It was more amazing in real life and it will be travelling Australia as the Best of the States for Bernina. Don't miss it if you get the chance - it's superb.
I'm not often asked to talk to groups but this month I had three different occasions to perfect my public speaking skills. First was Camden Country Quilt Guild then Cherrybrook Quilters. These were both such friendly and welcoming groups I felt right at home instantly. Finally a presentation to the Quilt Study Group which functions under the umbrella of Quilt NSW.
They have great meeting rooms in the Rocks and I'll definitely be attending them more often.
My talk was on foundation piecing and except for a tech glitch with the projector I think it went well.
Everyone loves to see quilts don't they!

 

And in my spare time I've been working on these. More to come!
And I've added a few engagement for next year on the left side bar if you're in the area.