Adventures in Kingaroy

Last month sometime...is just a blur really, I was invited to teach at Quilter's Rest Kingaroy Queensland 3 hours north west of Brisbane out in a dirt road seemingly miles from anywhere and there it was....like an oasis. A beautiful property run by Marion and Alan Lees, a working property with cattle and tractors and gumboots and all that rural stuff, plus a purpose built quilter's retreat. A big air conditioned classroom with lots of natural light and easy clean floors, big tables and comfy chairs, lots of powerpoints and cupboard of handy to have supplies. Off to the sides of the classroom are 4 doors, bedrooms with 2 single beds, dressing tables and space for exhausted quilters to just step from their midnight sewing to bed....perfect! A comfortable ensuite is also plus access for making a midnight hot choc or a morning cuppa. Outside on the cool verandah are views of the cattle and the house gardens which are filled with blue wrens and frogs...mind you with no daylight savings, the Queensland sun rises very early, as do the frogs in the down pipes which amplify and sound like a gaggle of geese....well that's what I thought the noise was at 5 am! Frogs are cute at 8am and onwards but not at 5am!

Along the verandah is a path to the main house (above left) where the fly screen door is always unlatched ready for guests to pop in for a cuppa or cooked breakie or roast dinner. Marion and Alan are excellent hosts and made me and all the students so welcomed..you feel like one of the family sharing a beer with Alan from his home brew and exchanging recipes with Marion or sitting around the fire as the billy boils as the camp fire pot roast cooks...... Now you might be thinking yeah, all very nice but they are a long way from the nearest fabric shop or sewing machine retailer, what if I forgot my batting or need yet another fat quarter.....No worries mate. Alan converted the carport shed to a retail shop (above right) and its stocked with the best range of batiks and haberdashery and batting and paints and threads and everything a girl needs...except maybe chocolate. They also have a range of Pfaff sewing machines and are one of the states top retailers. Marion is passionate about her quilting and sewing and loves her Pfaff so has no trouble sharing her love with others.

 I hear Marion has a great deal going on this demonstrator model!!!

So apart from the lovely welcoming surroundings, I met 10 terrific ladies from the local area, very keen to learn and try new things. We did 4 in the Raw  which is one of my raw edge applique classes and Arty Farty Sunflowers where we paint and applique and stitch a whole cloth piece. What a great bunch of talented friendly ladies...it was a pleasure to spend 2 days with you all.

 That's Marion in the patterned white blouse directly behind my behind.....so glamorous!

Quilter's Rest  Kingaroy.......What a surprising find at the end of a dirt road!

www.quiltersrest.com.au   Helen Godden gives it 5/5 Golden Fat Quarters.!

 Sew what have I been up to lately?

I have finished all my away from home teaching for the year and have had 3 weeks at home just playing in the Zone! Talk about luxury.....my idea of a good time is having alone time in my studio with no other demands of orders to fill, classes to prepare, packing to go away, unpacking from being away, catching up on washing, dealing with emails, just playing in my studio with the air con on and my music loud. It truely is luxury.

Sew what have I been doing? Well since the opening of the new textile gallery in Braidwood NSW Material Arts I have been allowing myself to play on smaller scale projects, experimenting with techniques and exploring little whims. Without the pressure in the back of your mind that you have to produce another huge, elaborate shop stopping, award winning quilt, the creative soul is allowed to just follow whims and little ideas and let them happen. As a result I have produced over a dozen smaller pieces in the past 3 weeks, all suitable for sale all good explorations of ideas with potential to be expanding into a bigger piece in the future. I have found a few variations in the way I like to combine my painting and design and dyeing and stitching and it feels great. So I shall share a few of the piece I have recently created.

They have price tags attached and would make excellent Christmas presents for the most important person in your life......you!

These pieces will be on display at Braidwood Material Arts from next weekend saturday 27th Novemeber....which is Braidwood's big weekend with the famous Airing of the Quilts......well worth the 1 hour drive from Canberra for a fantastic day out.

Drop me an email if you you require more info and are interested in purchasing any of the pieces below.

Sew.....first we have......ProCRABstination.......which is what I feel I have been doing...avoiding launching into the next big piece but sometimes taking a little time is a good thing to prepare for a big launch.

ProCRABstination

50 x 75 cm. Background hand painted using a watercolour technique on cotton. Blue swimmer Crab painted with acrylic paint. Extensively stitched and beaded through the foreground adding texture to the sand. $325.00 AU SOLD

Magpie Melody on Red

 50 x 65 cm Acrylic painted magppes on Ricky Tims hand dyed background. Extensively stitched background and thread painting on the magpies. The red really does glow $188 AU

MOONshells

55 x 85cm. Commercial hand dye background in stunning colours which spoke to me of moonlight on the sandy shore. Handpainted in acrylic, precious vunerable turtles are hatching. The shells are trapunto ( yep they are stuffed!) and 3D....the moon and shells share the same glowing pearlescence. Lots of free motion stitching details with rocks and sand and waves crashing on the shore. In the sky the clouds have been enhanced with yarn couching, just hapened to have yarn with the exact same colour combo of orange purple and navy blue. New couching foot the my Husqvarna Sapphire 870 works great....lots of potential there for getting off the lounge and couching  !$325 AU

Morning Maggie! #2

50 x 65cm. Background hand painted using a watercolour technique on cotton. Magpies painted with acrylic paint. Extensively stitched sunrise in glowing warm colours with heavy thread painting on the magpies. $188 AU  SOLD

Luminous Lizards #2

(As you can see if you are still reading...I have finally got the hang of adding images to this computer thingy withoput too much frustration....ya for me!)

30 x 70cm. Second in a series of funky lizards, bathing in the sun light with lots of decorative doodling. With these I hand dye the circle shape first, then stitch the lizards with black thread going crazy with patterns and doodling and then paint into the design...it is so much fun. I enjoy the doodling and the colouring in so much ....is like being in preschool again..and I stay in the lines! $188 AU

Thanks for reading...email me This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you want more info about these pieces for sale...Santa can work in mysterious ways!

The CreACTive Process - Snow Leopard.

Thought you may enjoy an insight into how I work thru a new piece and how it comes together. (A full version of my CreACTive Process Theory is below this Snow Leopard article if you wish to read more.)

This is a commission in a long list of 10 commissions to be completed before I can move on to my own stuff...that's the motivation.

 My husband and I have a very dear friend , an italian mountaineer named Armando....he is like a father figure or uncle to my husband and has taught him rockclimbing and enjoyment of the big outdoors.

Armando is involved in the celebrations of 25 years since Australians ascended Mt Everest and this is culminating in a very special evening, the Australian Himalayan Foundation Fund Raising Dinner on October 9th at the Federal Golf Course, Red Hill, to raise funds for the endangered Snow Leopard.

So the brief for the commission was a quilted wall hanging depicting a snow leopard descending a rocky Himalayan Peak.

So Step 1...INITIAL SPARK...Off to the Canberra zoo to sketch the snow leopards and get a feel for their size and movement and colours and the length of there tail! a metre long, they use it for balance when navigating rocks and as a rudder when sliding down snow...cool...I bet they would enjoy snow boarding too.

Typing in to google "snow leopard images" and clicking on Wikipedia for a whole list of links to sites with pictures...all different angles plus their environment. Soak it up and saturate your mind with all aspects of a snow leopard - body, shape, movement, colouring, fur, environment, eyes, feet size, proportions,  whether they are typically in a pack or individual etc etc.

 This is the first stage of the painting...the following pics show the stitching.

Step 2 - CAPTURING - capturing your ideas and thoughts, with drawing and images and taking notes of feelings or colours ....working out how it will look, the feeling, the mood, the colouring, the message you wish to send, what you wish to evoke from a viewer.....finding a fabric as the base which helps establish the colour range, play with pencils and paints and get set a palette. Giving the piece a title helps to focus your thoughts and give definiate direction of what the message is about or the feeling. So in this case i wanted to show the rugged environment, the huge mountains that he calls home, his beauty and power, but also the idea of being a loner and isolated and out in the cold, in the moonlight but with a hint of a bright future as the snow melts and spring flowers appear amongst the rocks..the brighter future we can give him if we donate time and effort and money to his cause.

This piece is called Descending to Spring and the fabric I chose..... a batik in dark grayish mauve  and purple with a hint of warm pink over a flower batik pattern. Most of the pattern is lost but gave a varied base to work on and gave the sky some lovely texture.

Step 3 - TIME AND TIMING....giving the design and idea time to gel in your minds eye then giving yourself adequate time to complete the task....not much luxury of time with a daunting list of pending commissions. 

 Step 4 -  Active Questioning - should these clouds be darker or lighter as they go back into in the distance.? Should they be cooler or warmer in tone....does the pink hint work as a light source.? How to create the textural differences in close rocks and way distant Himalayan mountains...? these are the questions I am working through as Ii paint the image and then move into the stitching....saving the best bit for last, the layers of thread painting to create the snow leopards fur and markings...fun stuff. 

I am very pleased with the distant Himalayan peaks and clouds....the finished piece is 50cm by 1m long with a greeny olive binding. Called Descending into Spring with a hint of the Spring flowers blooming in the foreground, symbolising a hopeful future for the endangered snow leopard. This piece will be auctioned off on Friday 9th October at the  Australian Himalayan Foundation dinner celebrating 25 years since the first Australians ascended Mt Everest and raising funds for the snow leopards. For more info go to.......... http://www.australianhimalayanfoundation.org.au

NEWSFLASH - highly successful evening was had, wonderful guest speakers with amazing stories and adventures to share - such an honor to speak to people who have climbed the big one! I was very star struck by their  achievements..... of otherwise average people...sensational inspiring evening....and I am proud to say my Snow Leopard donation was sold at auction fo$1200 towards the cause. Thank you John.

 Below is my theory on the CreACTive Process - grab a cuppa tea and read on if you are game!

Helen’s 4 Steps of The CreACTive Process

1. Initial Spark
2. Capture
3. Time & Timing
4. Active Questioning

1. Initial Spark
* fabric in a shop or stash
* observation of the world around us - design/colour/shape
* image/picture in a book - feelings/tells a story
* play on words - connotations
*theme/challenge/competition

2. Capture
* Drawings/sketches in visual diary
*Take photos
* Take written notes of words/feelings/mood/colours/the story
* Label it, name it, make it concrete

3. Time & Timing
* Give the idea Time to mix and meld in Mind’s Eye
* Get your Timing right to actually start the project and make a date with your Muse without interruptions

4. Active Questioning
* Internal Dialogue
* Use a critical eye
* Constantly evaluating/devil’s advocate
* Prepared to go with the flow/allow changes to your plan and listening to the quilt talk to you as it materialises
* Ask questions such as -
• What if…the colour was darker?
• What if…the placement was different?
• Does it showcase my best skills?
• Does it answer the criteria or theme or challenge?
• Does it involve the viewer & evoke the WOW factor?
• Does the initial spark shine through?

The CreACTive Process

In sum, the CreaCtive Process an initial spark of an idea, capturing it and then allowing time for it to develop in your Mind’s Eye. Then translating this idea to reality, actively helping it evolve to its full potential and literally materialise.
Sounds a bit like Motherhood I know but sometimes my quilts are like my precious babys and it can take a while before you are ready to let them go out into the big world.

The key point I want to make is that the process is completely interactive between the quilt artist and the piece as it grows.
Creative + ACTIVE = CreACTive…..use it in a sentence this week!

For me, this CreACTive Process produces a Natural High - a buzz that can keep me going for weeks/months/years.

The quilt artist experiences the personal pleasure of interacting throughout entire process from start to finish; learning along the way.
No matter how much a viewer/s likes the quilt or appreciates the quilt, they see only the finished product and can not experience the joy of creating that particular quilt - 2 completely different outcomes from the one piece.

This personal journey for the artist is often why a piece can be hard to part with as it represents a ”good time” a bit like the fond memories a favourite holiday snap can evoke.

The CreACTive Process for the Creator is
the journey not the destination,
the process not the product.

I declare this gallery OPEN!

I had the absolute honor this weekend of opening a new gallery in Braidwood NSW, an historic town 1 hour from Canberra on the road to the coast. MATERIAL ARTS is in the old bank building in the main street of town and is a studio gallery for all things textile. Kate Marshall the proprietor has invited 15 Canberra and region textile artists, some well known, some emerging, to exhibit their works for viewing and for sale. Textiles on show include art quilting, large and small, felting, embellishing, photo transfer to fabric, beading, creative knitting, bag making, machine thread painting, incredible hand stitching, weaving plus beaded jewellery and silver jewellery. Artists include Jenny Bowker, Dianne Firth, Beth Miller, Carolyn Sullivan, Fionna Hammond, Wilma Cawley, Beth and Trevor Reid, Anieta Barendrecht, Michelle Law, Toni Valentine and yours truly plus others whose names I can't spell! The red brick gallery also provides an opportunity for Kate to rekindle her passion for weaving with space to set up her looms and get back into her own art.

I was so thrilled to be asked to give the opening speech and I even cut the proverbial ribbon.....with a rotary cutter of course! Over 70 people crammed into the otherwise spacious gallery to witness the special occassion, followed by the popping of champagne and the clack of credit cards as keen investments were made.

MATERIAL ARTS is open Friday thru Sunday and will feature a new artist every 6 weeks so the collection will be always changing and have new pieces to catch your attention. 

i wish all the best for Kate and her new adventure.

MOTHER EARTH..wins 1st in Art Category at Quilt Festival Birmingham UK 2009

.........What a fantastic surprise....there I am finishing day 7 of 10 days of teaching in the Gold Coast and Brisbane;  answering final questions from my lecture titled "The journey of an Art Quilter who really can't sew!" and the 120 woman have been so attentive and laughing at all my jokes; then I am taking questions from the floor and one of the ladies pipes up and asks....."so what did you win in Birmingham?...." deathly quiet as I stop still and look puzzled and respond with so much authority and knowledge "I don't know! Did I win something?" Her friend visiting Birmingham had emailed her to say 3 aussies had been awarded in Quilt Festival UK and HG was one of them.....I had no idea, so I am up on stage doing a little personal victory dance. Later that afternoon I am being driven to my next hostess' home and my new hostess says...."Congrats on your 1st place in UK!".........1st place!...... so again my little victory dance starts happens in the passenger sit of her car....we get to her home, dump the bags, meet the cat and go on line to look at the Quilt Festival website to see that the news is truly ruly!

Check out this video of what the judge had to say - click below to watch a quick video -

Joanna O'Neill Shares Insights into the Art Quits Category

this ever so wise judge gives a critique of what they are looking for in a winning art quilt so at long last, some feed back we can all learn from! I think it must be her British accent coz she sounds so truthful and knowlegable and wise and authorative as if its Margaret Thatcher reporting or the Queen giving her opinion....I was just blown away by her comments and intrigued by her slightly different insights she has had when observing my Mother Earth! I am just so thrilled and pleased. Watch out Europe....her I come!

Remember when I reported to you that Press'N Seal was the best thing since sliced bread if the quilting world was a sandwich! Well a new development is creating a Sticky situation leading to a potential Quilt World Black Market! read on!

  Presss'N'Seal is becoming very difficult to purchase ...try your local IGA or Supa Barn. I have been scouring the Food Wrap aisles where ever I go ......below is a copy of the insight and beauty of P'N'S...if you can still get it!

What is the best thing since sliced bread?......Talking of sandwiches, what do you wrap your sandwiches in? No doubt it is a Glad Wrap product or something similar. Well there is a new type of sandwich wrap out there and its worth every cent of $5.90 that you will pay for it, and its well worth the investment.

Please explain - It is called Press'N'Seal and it is a Glad Wrap product. It is a very thick form of average sandwich cling film with a sticky side so it sticks very firmly to plastic containers etc . The manufacturer recommends the stuff for wrapping meat for freezing and to cover table surfaces before kids craft activities etc. For the quilter it is excellent for tracing designs on to a quilt to do free motion quilting. Lets say your quilt calls for zebras to be "drawn" in stitching on to every second block.....ahhhh I can hear you cry. Easy with Press'N'Seal.

Find a suitable simple line drawing of a zebra from a colouring book or clip art from the internet (copyright free) .Establish a master copy for yourself, the right size,  ready to trace. Tear off a piece of P'N'S and stick down onto the master image. It will stick firmly while you trace with a texta/marker or pen,  but then peel off the paper easily, ready to stick in place on to your quilt block. As it is see thru, it is easy to trace thru and easy to stick in place on to the block with no pins and no residual goo. You can them stitch through the P'N'S tracing with your darning foot over the continuous line of stitching. After the job is done, peel away. The plastic film will rip away from either side of the stitch line like it is perferated...real easy. Unlike tracing paper, which can get quite stuck under close stitched spaces and be a bugger to pluck out with tweezers...I talk from experience here, the P'N'S will leave very few bits stuck under the stitching, but if it does, a quick iron will melt away the little traces of plastic and leave the perfect zebra stitched in place. Now having ripped away the P'N'S you are glad you still have your master copy to trace from again for the next block.

Thank goodness for typing as I have very little voice left! I spent the whole of last week talking talking talking, blah blah blah!...but WOW...what a week it was!

 I have just returned from being the Guest Quilt Artist at the NSW Quilter's Guild exhibition, Darling Harbour Sydney for 2009. What a BUZZ! I had 14 quilts on display showing my 6 year progress from early quilts through to my latest, highlighting how I have developed and where my art is headed. I gave hour floor talks each day with a crowd of up to 40 keen to listen and learn. I was also the Guest Speaker at the Gala dinner and spoke off-the-cuff for 30 minutes and had the group rolling off their chairs....believe it or not, in the Quilt World I am quite comical!

It was a terrific experience to catch up with so many past students and make so many new friends....Quilters are very friendly supportive folk!

I also had another 6 quilts in various displays and competitions including my latest epic, The Man from Snowy River, a large bleach painted piece. He was awarded the Hanger's Prize and Viewer's Choice so although the 3 judges on the day did not find my Man suitable for anything higher than Judges Commendation, the thousands of people who viewed the quilt and all the volunteers who hang the quilts liked my Man From Snowy River just fine....what an honor....I am very pleased to have been awarded most popular quilt.

  The Man from Snowy River - 175 x 210cm

The experience for the week was like being a celebrity.....so much positive response and feedback and encouragement from so many. Lots of exposure and opportunity to meet and chat with so many...it was wonderful and I do sincerely thank the Quilter's Guild of NSW for such an honor.

To add to the experience, I was on TV the previous week and for those who do not live in ACT I have link to my story on ABC TV Stateline ACT ........check it out!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2009/06/05/2590982.htm

 So now it is time to get my vocal chords rested, get my head out of cloud nine and my feet back to Earth and think about the next quilt... and be assured.....it's a brewin'!

cheers HG

Introducing....Miss March for the Sydney Quilters Guild 2010 Calender.

Still Life with Picasso #1 - first in a series of slightly abstract quirky still life studies with a leaning towards a cubist style.

(Fancy sentence means I like it and I am going to do more of these wonky kinda ones!)

12" square and painted on calico using Liquid Radiance from Genesis Creations ( available thru my Retail Therapy in the main menu).

Outline stitched in black and then heavily stitched in to the different geometric areas created by the intersecting design lines.

The others in this series of 25 Picassoesque follow a similar style and colour combination with a variety of everyday objects - finding design potential in the seemingly ordinary. Each piece will have the Black and white floral wallpaper make an appearance and my signature dragonfly of course. Can you find her in this piece?

Thank you the Quilter's Guild of NSW for selecting my colourful piece for the calender.

See you all  at the the Quilter's Guild of NSW annual exhibition extravaganza at Darling Harbour June 10 to 14. Come say giday as I will be there as the Featured Artist for 2009...14 of my works past and present will be on display within the Guild area and I should be available for Floor Talks each afternoon from 3 to 4 pm to give insight into my creative process and answer any questions you have. If you really want to hear more from me, come to the gala dinner Friday night and during your meal I can entertain you with my quilt " song and dance" routine.

Contact the Quilter's Guild of NSW for more info and to book tickets for the Gala dinner on 02 9283 3737

Sew! What did you receive for Mother's Day?......................Like most of us, we smile and say, "All I need for Mother's Day is a cuddle and a cuppa tea in the morning" Well I did receive that and a gorgeous poem written by my daughter.

But this Mother's Day my dearest husband organised a very special gift...something I have needed for a couple of years now...something that required a little research to get the exact right one....something that will maintain my health for many more Mother's days to come......something that I can wear....but does not look very attractive.....and did not come in a choice of colours.........however....I love it and have worn it successfully yesterday and it worked a treat! I won't ask you to guess as you never would, but I guarantee I am the only Mum in Australia to have received one for Mother's Day!!!

A Carbon Filter Breathing Mask for when I am bleach painting!!

So thoughtful.....not everyone's cup of tea but I love it!

..................................NB Mothers in Mexico City might have received something a little similar!

BLACK MAGIC!!

I have a strange request to ask of anyone out there reading... and it involves Black Magic!

As you probably know I create alot of my quilts using my Bleach Painting technique.

The Poppy Paradox, The Daisy Dilemma, Mekong Gold, A Chequered Still-Life, The Fuchsia Confusion, Protea, Mother Earth, and my latest challenge called................nah not going to tell you.....maybe just a hint........the acronym is TMFSR.....free Aussie Applique for the first person to guess it!

But that's not the strange bit nor the Magic...what I am strangely requesting is that if you have 15 minutes to spare, you go to your stash and find a minimum of 1m square of black cotton fabric, homespun type and cut off the corner...just a wee snippet

Go to your laundry, ignore that pile of dirty washing in the corner and go straight to your common household bleach. Dab just a little onto the snippet and wait for a minute and see what happens. If it turns and orange/tan colour, throw it in the bin and get on with the pile of washing.

If it turns white or any other colour than orange/tan, email me and tell me your findings, and how much of that fabric you have and I shall be happy to pay you $10/m plus postage for you to send it to me! Yep...your average old black homespun that you paid probably $3 or $4 /m I will pay you  $10 plus postage. So its gotta be minimum 1m square, preferably bigger the better...even a whole bolt if you have it! Just use the bleach test and check for Black Magic for me......please....I shall just wait here till you get back from the laundry.

Thanks

Email me on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with your results

The Daily Balancing Act.

Its all a balancing act....being a mum.

I have to say I am so glad the school holidays are over.....I love my daughter and we have a terrific relationship but its hard to be a mum for 6 weeks straight and not get time to be a quilter. Sounds selfish, yes I know.....but its the truth. I am working on a huge piece and it needs my concentration, not 1/2 hour here or 1 hour there and we get busy doing stuff together which I love but the muse in me has been knocking , "Hello? Are you there? Don't you want to play with that colour, stitch up a storm, design a new masterpiece...we got so many ideas to explore. hello, You there?" etc. Its a real balancing act.....life that is...the big picture is constantly a balancing act, getting the mix right the black to white ratio, the yin to yan, the left to the right. Its a real juggle

But the more I type I realise all the balance is up against only one factor.....time and that is specifically, time spent in my studio to create.

All the things I feel I juggle are up against my urge to quilt, paint, design and create. So on the left is quilting and on the right is being a mum, which is the biggest factor, closely followed by being a daughter, being a wife, being a neighbour, being a sister(genetic and quilt), a friend, a penpal, a blogger, a teacher, eating right, excersising ( can't even spell it!), housework, socialising, paperwork, webwork, quality family time.....ahhhh is a tricky act. 

 I just received this link from a friend....it is brilliant and sums up the balancing act Mums have to perform daily! You will laugh so hard you will have to play it twice to catch it all.

Try this.....The Mom Song.

Christmas Cheers!

Well what a year 2008 has been. For my family and I it has been quite a ride.

2009 brings new adventures and opportunities. I have new classes planned for next year starting with "Arty Farty Sunflowers with Vincent Van Godden"..( do you know her?) which is scheduled in for 1st term at Hobbysew Belconnen. The class combines painting a background, raw edge applique, free motion stitching and some embellishment and then a bit more painting....is a lot of fun with surprising result.

 2nd term includes adventures to Coffs Harbour where I have been invited back to "Be Creative by the Sea"...such a lovely venue and an amazing line up of tutors to select from. I have a new class called "Walk on the Wild Side" for students that have been Liberated from the Ditch and want to explore more possibilities of free-motion freedom. I am looking forward to catching up with some students from last year...it really is a great way to meet like minded woman and have an exhaustingly fun week....and guess who is coming with me ...my dear mum to join in the fun! Talking of mum, my daughter is making a quilt for Gran for Christmas (with a little help) so we better get it finished as its now 9 am  Christmas Eve. I do love a good deadline. As my Chicago Quilting Sister tells me, just like the warning written on the side mirror of a car, "Deadlines may be closer than they appear!" So whilst the wise words are being handed out...here is mine for a quilty Christmas.....Capture IT!

What does that mean? Capture any inspiration, any image, any idea. It can be quite frustrating or distracting when you are doing the family quality time and cooking and shopping and paying bills and not getting into the studio....if your muse strikes, you have to capture the moment....write down the thoughts, photo the scene with your phone, rip out the page from the doctor surgery magazine (yes that's me) write down the words that won't leave your head, jot down those song lyricks that keep spinning around....write the emotions you feel, write down the colours it inspires.....whenever the muse strikes you have to capture it for later reference, cause in amongst the bill paying and shopping and dealing with the dog...you can forget the feeling, the image, the colours. Then when you do have that day of relief, when you can escape the relatives for 3 hours in your sewing room.....you have the input right there ready to ignite the idea into action again. So my advice is to Capture IT!

So ask Santa for a journal for 2009 so you can capture those muse no matter what time they drop in.

 Cheers to all and have a safe relaxing Christmas with family and friends and I will see you back in the sewing room in 2009!

Well, the best thing since sliced bread if the quilting world was a sandwich!

Talking of sandwiches, what do you wrap your sandwiches in? No doubt it is a Glad Wrap product or something similar. Well there is a new type of sandwich wrap out there and its worth every cent of $5.90 that you will pay for it, and its well worth the investment.

NEWSFLASH -  this product is becoming very difficult to purchase ...try your local IGA or Supa Barn. I have been scouring the Food Wrap aisles where ever I go so soon there will be a black market in the stuff.....read on to find out why it's in demand and why you gotta get some!.

Please explain - It is called Press'N'Seal and it is a Glad Wrap product. It is a very thick form of average sandwich cling film with a sticky side so it sticks very firmly to plastic containers etc . The manufacturer recommends the stuff for wrapping meat for freezing and to cover table surfaces before kids craft activities etc. For the quilter it is excellent for tracing designs on to a quilt to do free motion quilting. Lets say your quilt calls for zebras to be "drawn" in stitching on to every second block.....ahhhh I can hear you cry. Easy with Press'N'Seal.

Find a suitable simple line drawing of a zebra from a colouring book or clip art from the internet (copyright free) .Establish a master copy for yourself, the right size,  ready to trace. Tear off a piece of P'N'S and stick down onto the master image. It will stick firmly while you trace with a texta/marker or pen,  but then peel off the paper easily, ready to stick in place on to your quilt block. As it is see thru, it is easy to trace thru and easy to stick in place on to the block with no pins and no residual goo. You can them stitch through the P'N'S tracing with your darning foot over the continuous line of stitching. After the job is done, peel away. The plastic film will rip away from either side of the stitch line like it is perferated...real easy. Unlike tracing paper, which can get quite stuck under close stitched spaces and be a bugger to pluck out with tweezers...I talk from experience here, the P'N'S will leave very few bits stuck under the stitching, but if it does, a quick iron will melt away the little traces of plastic and leave the perfect zebra stitched in place. Now having ripped away the P'N'S you are glad you still have your master copy to trace from again for the next block.

Recently I finished the applique and stitching for another cope for the Bishop of Adelaide, which had a back panel in hand dyed colours of yellow, orange and reds with a stylised celtic design of fire flames. I used my Husqvarna Sapphire 870 working a zig zag stitch in free motion, constantly adjusting the width of the zig zag satin stitch from 2.5mm to 8mm. The design was symmetrical so from left to right it had to be mirror image so as I worked stitching through the P'N's following my black traced line, I was able to make notes of zigzag stitch width on the plastic on the job....made it real easy.

Add Press'N'Seal to your shopping list now!