Better late than never - My Red and White Quilt

Last year I attended the Sydney Quilt show and was totally enthralled by the Red and White exhibition.  I had actually started a quilt to enter into the exhibition, but did not get very far with it.  Since then I have started 2 and finished one of them.  The finished one is here for you to see.

Under usual circumstances I would have hand quilted this little quilt, but I just did not have the time as I needed it as a class sample.  Also, I did not want to spoil the whole thing by trying out my machine quilting!

I asked my friend Chris if she would be at all interested in quilting it for me.  This was not a random request of a friend who is a "good machine quilter".  Chris is a spectacular Prize Winning quilter, who has only become a machine quilter in recent years.  She has always been an exquisite hand quilter, but decided to expand her skills  -  with breathtaking results.  I made the request on a business basis, and it appears I am her first customer...lucky me!  You can see the results here.  Beyond the call of duty I would say, don't you think?

Should you be able to attend the Australian Machine Quilting Festival, later this year, you will find Chris O'Brien as one of the Tutors, and there may be a vacancy in one of her classes.  I signed up, as I want to get a bit more confidence and learn a few of the expert tips.

This festival is not just for professional machine quilters - it is for everyone, and there are great lectures, and market stalls, for those who love to shop.  I have no connection to the Festival, other than a participant.

On the workshop associated with the little red and white quilt, I will be teaching for Victorian Quilters on 14th August.  I am travelling to Melbourne on 13th August for the Annual General Meeting, and teaching the workshop the next day.  I will also be teaching the Rose Garden quilt.

which is hand pieced and hand appliqued blocks.  If you are interested in attending, please get in touch with the Victorian Quilters about vacancies.  Hope to see you then.

It has been a while

Did you miss me??  I have been to China

This has been the holiday of a lifetime!  It was a wonderful experience, but I will be very happy to stay home on Australia for at least a year.

 We have come home exhausted, and with a cold that is not shifting very fast at all.  This afternoon I head down to Victor Harbor for a quilter's retreat.  I expect that lots of good South Australian red wine, and the company of like minded women will help a lot!

Before I left on 9th May, I was able to get the next block ready for you from the Red and Green Again Block of the Month.  If you have not found it yet, the free pattern is available by clicking on the photo at the RHS of this page at the top.  The pattern is different to those already shown.  It had never been my strategy to make these patterns in a similar cross-over style, it just happened that way, and now I have been able to find a few that are a little different for you.

Start with the circular background, add the leaves, then the layers of the flowers.

As part of our tour of China, we took a cruise on the Yangtze river, and visited the 3 Gorges Dam project.  They have built a series of escalators so that you can actually go to the top of the mountain, without having to climb!  on the way up I found these hollyhocks growing.  I grow them in my own garden, so could not resist taking this photo.

There were beautiful gardens everywhere we visited.  Here are a few for you to enjoy.  I don't know what I expected to see, but not this.  Everything was clean and shiny.