Tambani

I have just had a note from Clara Wagenmeester from Tambani up in the Northern Province about their new blogsite http://tambani.blogspot.com .


For those of you who don't know about Tambani, its an embroidery project run in conjunction with Venda people, providing them with an income so please take a look at their blog and what they are doing to help establish (mostly) Venda women in viable income generating activities.

International Quilt Association ( AKA HOUSTON!)

I have just come across the link to the IQA  summer newsletter and thought I would share it with you.
http://www.quilts.org/journal.html


Its a really well put together magazine with nice clean lines, lots of space and easy to flip pages. Added to that, its REALLY easy to read.


There are now many digital quilting magazines on the Net and as people get more experienced at net publishing so the magazines are improving.

Eish! but Topsy- She is Growing!

I have now resolved my differences with this quilt- especially the bit in the top left hand corner.
After playing with 3 or 4 different treatments of this particular piece, I settled on using the charcoal I originally had but sewed in some "skinnies" using a very dark blue with a gold splatter. Its hard to see in the photograph but it works. The gold splatter on those skinnies shows up just enough to pique the interest.


Here is a photo of what I did:

What surprised me was that each section could have been a quilt on its own.

This is"Topsy"  with three sections joined. The one on the right hand side is currently loose as I still have to construct the bottom right hand corner and sew on the two pieces of fabric right at the bottom of the quilt.


I suppose I'll have to give it a name at some stage.

Visiting Local Quilt Exhibitions

This weekend, some three friends and I paid a visit to the Meander Quilters Guild exhibit at Howick, about 1 1/2 hours drive inland from where we live.
We were lucky enough to have beautiful weather and there weren't too many idiots on the road.

The venue was a hall at the local high school which looks out  south west across the Howick area. The guild did themselves proud with dozens of well executed quilts on a variety of themes.
Here is an example of one by Mary-Anne Smith

This forms part of a triptych, the rest of which can been seen on the Tollgate Quilters Guild Blog  

 www.tollgatequiltersguild.blogspot.com

This is adaption of a pattern by "Katie Lane Quilts".













After this exhibition, we paid a visit to the Church of the Vow complex in Pietermaritzburg where an exhibition of quilts with an architectural theme was held.It was unfortunate that when we arrived there, the person on the reception hadn't a clue about the exhibition.It was also a pity that there were no names on any of the quilts.

However,OUTSIDE the building we found piles of old parquet flooring stored against a wall and they made for some wonderful  photographs.

Here is one:

I just love the lines that these tiles produce,all piled up in a corner.












If you want to find out more about this museum complex go to  http://www.voortrekkermuseum.co.za

Growing like Topsy (3)

I've progressed a bit more than I thought but equally I have hit a snag.
Here is a photo of the latest progress and I have a concern about the top left hand corner of this quilt. I don't know whether to leave it as it is and rely on the quilting to break up the rather large expanse of charcoal or to insert thin lines of perhaps the dark blue from lower down in the quilt? Or should I just leave well alone? Comments, please!

New Pattern

The pattern is now finished -and the customer is holding off until next  year so here is a sneak preview until I can get it up on my website.

Its s-o-o-o easy to make and only takes 1 colour family roll and 1.25 meters of back ground fabric. I rather like the format so I might design another quilt with different subject matter.

Growing like Topsy

In between working on "Topsy" I've been designing a new pattern for my website- but can't publish the thing until I've heard from a client who would like to use the pattern for a mystery quilt first.

This afternoon was the first time in a week, I have had the time to concentrate on "Topsy" and its growing apace again. I have almost finished the left hand side of the quilt -barring a few more strips and then I will start on the bottom right hand corner. This is the area where I want to use Alicia Merett's method of making squares.

I dug out the camera and took some more photos.  Here is what "Topsy" looks like now.

Comments anyone?

Arctic Circle Photos

I was looking through my Arctic Circle photos this morning and came across this photo of husky pups at a settlement in Greenland. They are seriously cute at this age and run free until they are about  9 months old - at which point they are chained up along with the older dogs and they begin their training as sledding dogs.

Growing Like Topsy (2)

I've had time to work on my "Topsy " quilt in the last couple of weeks and this is what it looks like now.

I've still one long vertical section to do, one horizontal section across the bottom and another squarish section in the bottom right hand corner.

I was at a bit of a loss as to want to do with that bottom right hand corner until a friend reminded me of Alicia Merrett's video on You Tube.
  Here is the link to this video:


You might want to take a look at Alicia's webpage as well.
www.aliciamerrett.co.uk







 

Growing like Topsy

I started this quilt last weekend,based on a plan I had devised about two months earlier.

I started with the central section and it was only after I had completed the section on the right hand side that I realised that this was NOT a small quilt! What is interesting to me about this right hand section is that I think it could stand on its own as a quilt.

I have no idea where this quilt is going at the moment- except that its growing-and right now the quilting of this thing is becomming ever more daunting.

The piece underneath this quilt has been on hold for about 6 months. I have the general idea but got bogged down in other work and its proving difficult to get back to.
Normally my quilts are a lot smaller than this and this one might just be the one to make it to the World Quilt Competition next year.I am pretty sure it will be big enough.

Confidence

                                                This little guy was sitting in a bush in the middle of a

                                                 busy  shopping centre, filled with tourists.I was amazed at the detail my camera picked up.I am sure there are elements for quilt in somewhere in this photo.



Finishing quilts

This last week has been spent finishing off the bindings on a number of pieces. I no longer bind my wall quilts but face them instead. It gives a far more professional finish and they look like the art pieces they are supposed to be instead of quasi quilts.

I've set myself a target of completing all the unfinished work before I tackle anything new. Boring but necessary.Another two to go and then I can start to play again.

In the pipeline for the near future is the testing of two new patterns for the business and then I want to create an African American inspired quilt for teaching purposes. There are far too many people here doing the paint by numbers bit and,g-d- its BORING!There is very little really good design going on- or I am not seeing it.Surely we can do better than this?

Resurrection

I haven't posted on this blog very often- mainly because it was a bit of a schlepp and I have other things to do.

I had another look  at  the new templates and the editing features and I must say I am impressed. Even an idiot like me can play around with my blog sufficiently to change it for the better.

Maybe I'll post a bit more often. I'll see.

I wish that there were more South AFrican quilters blogging but it seems that is not to be.