A Life's Journey - Margaret Sampson-George

Quite possibly the most inspiring exhibition you will ever see is about to happen this Friday and Saturday.

Sue-Anne xxx

Crow Gathering in the Barn!

L to R:   Michelle, Helen, Jan

Friday saw us up and on the road very early as we had a very important meeting - a Crow Gathering at Linda's famous Barn! 

We were welcomed with freshly made scones with jam and cream (still warm from the oven) and tea and coffee.  Our tables were beautifully decorated and we each got a huge goodie bag and a little gift bag.

The Barn was decorated in all manner of things from Crow Central and Leonie and Deidre instructed us on all facets of working with wool. 

This pincushion kit was in our goodie bag and this is my progress so far.  We learnt lots of interesting "stuff" and Leonie and Deidre were there to advise and help all day.  Thank you ladies for a wonderful time.

Linda, along with her wonderful helpers, put on the most amazing luncheon.  We had freshly made scones, club sandwiches, cheese and fruit platters, lumberjack cake and my personal favourite - mini merangues.   you can tell how good the food was, by the time I got my camera out, it was nearly all gone.

L to R:  Me, Rosemary, Elyte, Linda

A highlight for me was meeting Rosemary.  She is visiting from England and is Shirley's friend, a lady who I have become great mates with.  Wish you could have been here too Shirley!  Also pictured is our hostess, Linda - thank you so much for a fantastic day!!!  Also, thank you to Bev - why didn't we get you in the photo???

The day would not have been complete without our usual stop at Seymour Chinese on the way home, although I don't know why I ordered anything because I was still full from grazing all day!

Sue-Anne xxx

Melancholy

It has been very strange, these last few weeks.  We are all feeling the effects of Nicholas not being here - poor Buddy is lying on his bed  feeling sad that his "Big Bro" isn't home and I have decided (shock horror) that I don't like having an Empty Nest.

And after waving the newlyweds off on their honeymoon, things have been very quiet.  They are having the time of their lives travelling through Europe and as they visit each new country, I think of all you wonderful bloggers I have become friends with over the past year. 

I been distracting myself with some sewing.  This quilt top is from the latest book by Kathleen Tracy and is called "The Soldier's Cot Quilt" .  How appropriate for my soldier boy.  I will give this quilt to him at his March Out parade next month, to keep him warm and remind him of home.

And speaking of Civil War quilts and soldiers, this is a quilt I made a long time ago for Christopher's 21st.  It is called Civil War 2 and is designed by Susan Smith.  I finally grabbed it back before they left for their honeymoon so I could get a couple of photos of it.  Oh my goodness, there was a LOT of sewing in this quilt!

I haven't spoken about Browne Sisters Sampler for a while but I have been putting a few stitches in every now and then.

And these two album blocks (one from Jan and one from me) are on their way to Linda from Quilts in the Barn.   They are going to be part of the raffle quilt for this year's Quilts in the Barn exhibition.  The guest artist is Jo Morton and every block will be made from Jo Morton fabrics.  Can't wait till September!!!!

The weather was beautiful over Easter but it has finally turned.  It is snowing at Falls Creek and I can feel the icy chill in the air.  I think I will go sit in front of the tv with a quilt over my lap and sew a few stitches into my clamshells.

Sue-Anne xxx

Happy Halloween!

We don't seem to embrace Halloween here in Australia like other parts of the world but in recent years the marketing has been getting stronger and this year I couldn't resist getting into the spirit when for the first time I saw these Jack-o-Lantern pumpkins at the supermarket.

After watching numerous Youtube videos, I went to work and was quite pleased with how "Jack" turned out.

And finally, I have a use for this Witch I made several years ago - don't you just love her lace-up boots!

I received this beautiful parcel from Nadine.  The fabrics are from Provence and were selected by Nadine whilst she was there on holidays.  There were lots of little treasures in the parcel and I felt really spoilt when I opened it - thank you Nadine.

I have a couple more photos of Quilts in the Barn to share with you but please go and click on the badge on my sidebar for much better photos of all the quilts that were displayed.  I just wanted to show this one.  Look at all the detail with the different layers of fabric to create this beautiful bird.  This level of work was indicative of almost all of the quilts displayed - amazing!

Here is Sarah Morrell, made using a pale blue background.  I am so in love with this quilt!

One for all the hexie lovers.

I have made the centre of this quilt.  It has been in the cupboard now for a couple of years and I may just have to get it out and finish it???

This is called Drayton Hall by Di Ford and I came home with the pattern for this one. 

I also came home with this chair for my sewing room - yes we went to Ikea after visiting 3 patchwork shops.  As I said in my last post, we had a very big day out.

Fabrics purchased from various shops and,

this beautiful little book.  If you love cross stitch, go have a look at Jean's, from Linen & Raspberry, latest post.  You will be in cross stitch heaven!

I have been working on Swan Lake and "Hooray for Me" I have finished the fourth border!  In saying that, I still have 44 star flowers to applique down the mitred borders once it is all joined together - won't that be fun???

Now I don't have too much to show for Clamshell Club this month but I have been working on them.  I ran out of clams so I have cut lots more and have been turning over the tops in readiness to applique down.

Here is my Buddy boy.  Just had to share this pic I took of him.

Sue-Anne xxx

Quilts in the Barn Exhibition

I left home at 6am Friday morning and after picking up Helen, Jan and Michelle, we headed down to Wonga Park, Melbourne to the Quilts in the Barn exhibition, with quilts by the Secret Sewing Sisterhood.  We arrived right on 10am after a fairly intense drive down through the hills towards Yarra Glen and Lilydale in probably some of the heaviest rain I have driven in for a while.  Let me just say that it was well and truly worth the effort.  Above is Deb's Quilt, The Poppies, designed by Di Ford.  It was magnificent!

This is Georgetown Circle by Di Ford.  This quilt is also stunning and unfortunately my photos have not done the quilts any justice.

I didn't catch the names of the above two quilts but they are the same pattern made by different quilters.  It was so interesting to see the different colourways for the same quilt and there were several examples all throughout the barn.

The famous Sarah Morrell quilt was there in all her glory and I got to see her close up!!! 

And of course I had to get my photo taken with Linda, our wonderful host, and Di Ford, the designer of all these wonderful quilts.  Can you see in the background to the right?  It's Phebe!!!!  I also got to view  her up close and personal too!!!!

Corliss from Threadbear was there with her shop and I bought the most beautiful cross stitch book.  I will have more pics for you next post.

Please go visit Linda's blog, Quilts in the Barn to see lots more photos of the quilts.  There were around 90 quilts on display and they were all amazing.  She is putting together a slide show for those of you that couldn't get there in person and hopefully, if you like what you see, you can donate something to a breast cancer charity - she will have it all explained on her blog - and it can then get added to the total of the monies raised from the Exhibition.

After Quilts in the Barn, we went shopping, of course!  More on that next post.

Sue-Anne xxx