Survivor Arty Farty Weekend
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- Created on Tuesday, 14 May 2013 20:01
Please allow me to introduce to you some very brave ladies that survived an Arty Farty weekend with me the end of April. We had ladies from Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Orange and even Point Lonsdale, down the bottom of Victoria. We had a great time with much laughter and chocolate and wine and chatter.
Have a look at the results..outstanding work ladies.
This is Marilyn and Carolyn, our sisters from Orange. They both brought with them their Sweet Sixteen sit down machines and stitched up a storm. Some of the other ladies had a "play" too and found the machine so easy and quick making their quilting so much more enjoyable and fun........and are now saving their pennys.
One of the 3 Robyns with Linda having fun! Thanks for the photos.
Another Robyn we had this weekend and her new roomie Carol.
Below, this suspicious mob drove in from Sydney...Bev, Viv, Karen and the fearless leader Angelique.
As for these 2, if you see these ladies, approach with caution.
Juliet and Dawn, founders of the new uprising, the Blue Wren Quilters!
They have suspect cohorts, one with an outrageous accent who calls her self an Aussie and another that I consider quiet but deadly! Kendra and Liz! They may look sweet and cute, they might even pass them selves off as nurses, but you have been warned...they are dangerous. These four will lure you with their looks and humor and make you laugh until you almost spill your paint pot!.
So here we all are Robyn, Robyn, Robyn and the rest of us!
Fantastic results ladies, you can all be very proud.
After a weekend of fun I often get feedback from the ladies..cards and emails.....thank you...and here are some of the comments:
Just wanted to send a quick email to say thank you so much for such a fun and inspiring weekend. Your enthusiasm, talent and generosity of spirit in sharing your knowledge and skills made for a perfect weekend.
In addition, your Mum - well she is just pure magic !!!
Will be keeping an eye out for more of your wonderful courses and I am really very very seriously contemplating purchasing a Sweet sixteen. Carol
I can't really think of enough or the right adjectives to describe how I feel about the experience you both gave me over the weekend - it was just wonderful in every way. The relaxed and supportive way you both steered us through our creative endeavour was just brilliant - I thank you so much! Barbara.
Thank you ladies...it was a very relaxed and fun weekend.
If you would like to join us reader, we have places left for Arty Farty Weekends later in the year.
September 6 - 8th and October 4 - 6th. Go to the menu and click on Arty Farty Weekend for more info.
Cheers
HG
Galloping Wild and Free
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- Created on Wednesday, 08 May 2013 21:29
Hello Quilt World. Yes i have been quiet for quite some months but with good excuse...I've been quilting. So let me share the process of my Galloping Wild and Free which has been awarded 1st in AQC Challenge for 2013, FREE.
As is the case quite often i have an idea or even a sketch I have been playing with and then a competition theme comes along that seems to be made to measure. this was the case with FREE. My other idea was to be a dandelion blowing in the breeze which 3 other artists including my friend Robyn Eves, had the same thought whilst only one other, Cindy Watkins had the Horse idea.
Here is the sketch and the blown up version. I have a local printer with an architect plan printing machine so he can spit out huge enlargements for only $25...saves me hours. You can see all the flowing lines dissecting the horses and the background, describing their movement and the air flow and hopefully has the feeling of galloping.
Here is the black fabric 125cm square, down on the floor (with heavy plastic underneath) being painted with my fav Lumiere fabric paints as sold on my website! They have fantastic sheen and metallic shimmer and make the homespun cotton look like satin and silk applique. The painting took me 2 days. The black spaces in the horses were then filled with turned applique in just 3 commercial fabrics...1 to match each horses colour way of gold, copper and silver/blue.And YES I did turn the edges of the applique...thank you lady at AQC for noticing. I then filled the surrounding open areas with insane mega zen quilting, pushing myself to come up with as many variations and surprises as possible. ( yes that is Griffindor the Finnish Lapphund dog walking along the edge of the fabric and me shouting,,,get off!)
Metallic thread from Superior in the background and just black thread work on the painted areas of the horses.
This pattern I call Daisy Chain and I draw a wonky grid in fabric chalk to work into...each daisy is actually joined and stitched continuously.
My soon to be launched Booklet "50 Shades of Quilting" (more about that soon) has a chapter called Your So Vein and this is one of the variations called Berry Branch. I draw with fabric chalk a basic stem/twig/vein and then "grow" the Berries on to the structure.
This design has a fabric chalk guide line to get the flowing curve and fairly regular placed details. I call this String of Pearls.
Galloping Wild and Free will be appearing at each state quilt show for 2013 so you will hopefully get a chance to get up close and check out my insane stitching. Look for my dragonfly hidden in there somewhere too.
This quilt was an absolute pleasure to stitch and I enjoyed every minute. I was almost disappointed when it was finished....now the answer to the question people always ask....I stitched it in only 5 days! Seriously!
I am very happy with the look of this piece and I am planning another similar in style with an Owl flying in the Moonlight with branches in silhouette and movement lines of his flight pattern as he swoops. Yes its in my head, just has to get to paper first and then ready set go! I can even feel a Canberra 100 quilt brewing with lots of hidden Canberra icons....hmmm back to the studio I go!
Sweating it out in Mildura
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- Created on Wednesday, 12 December 2012 04:37
Sweating it out in Mildura
3 days of workshops in Mildura.....great bunch of gals. Plenty of laughter and chit chat, home cooked cake and wine....after 5pm of course. My first time teaching in Mildura, hosted by Mandy Gowers of Lesley Mays Patchwork, established only 2 years ago but growing strong in clientele and product range. As Handi Quilter dealers I was able to demonstrate my favourite Sweet 16 and share my love for the machine with 12 ladies. We did Liberation from the Ditch beginners class day 1 followed by 2 days of Flying Into Colours. The ladies loved their painting and enjoyed the beautiful colours.
Lesley May Patchwork is established in a lovely old estate home which has maintained the old world charm plus a very large new classroom added to the back of the home with plenty of room for lots of creativity. My stay was lots of fun all except my arrival....arrived Thursday afternoon about 4 pm in a very small Rex regional plane, the flight attendant opened the door of the plane and everyone gasped as 45 degree heat and humidty flooded in the door! Turned out to be the hottest November day on record in Mildura since recording begun. Bit of a shock compared to the pleasant spring weather of Canberra. The first day of teaching, the classroom has evaporative cooling but with the humidity it wasn,t quite keeping me cool so in the first 1/2 hour of class, I am suddenly overwhelmed with the sweaty heat and just had to rip off my blouse, luckily I had a camii on underneath so I taught the day in my underwear! ( my jeans stayed on to protect the innocent) A fun weekend with one evening at the famous Mildura Thai restaurant called ThaiRiffic and to top it off....a ride around town on the back of a Harley...wahooooo...thanks Colin...loved it.
Thank you Mildura and Mandy for a lovely 3 days teaching, and a very friendly home stay. Back home tomorrow and back to the Baltimore or Less. Cheers HG - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Mildura Vic