stellar challenge

supernova
Originally uploaded by textileseahorse

the next around the world in 20 quilts challenge theme is stellar (and i keep wanting to shout 'stella' like elaine in that seinfeld episode...)

at the moment i am thinking of using this sketch that i posted back in january as my starting point

the challenge part will be to use lutradur and/or paper as the main material.....

sun and bluenessness

a work in progress by e

yah!!!

sunday report

today i was moderately industrious -

• i took a load of toys to the op shop
  
• bought 2 boxes of tight colour-saturated fruit 'n' veg from psarakos
  
• cleaned the bathroom
  
• replenished the cats' litter trays
  
• removed the winter pelt from my legs and consequently sported cargo pants without mohair socks
  
• made the violently pink and orange polar fleece blanket (when i trimmed the excess seam allowance it looked like dr seuss has been operating in my living room...)
• cleared the kitchen table (it was still there under the detritus of life)
  
• inspected the progress of the catalogue along
  

• and the phone book along (william and i each have a volume of the current melbourne phone book, lurking under the ivy)

• and made a skirt

bounce worthy

this weekend has so far been good, good, good. i slept in, got up and then after breakfast decided i was still tired so hopped back into bed and read my book.

did a little light but worthy housework, cruised over to my favourite non virtual fabric shop (website-less gj's in east brunswick) which has the most bargamonious fabric in melbourne. i was restrained and kept things practical by buying vliesofix, thread, ribbon and a red red zipper. i couldn't possible leave without fabric so toured the bargain tables upstairs and fell upon some flamingo pink and orange polar fleece (each piece was $8 for 2 metres - how bargamonious is that???) and some lovely polished cotton - a dark cream with olive green ginkgo leaves patterned over a sub pattern of creamy spirals - libertyish but less precious ($10 a metre)

then over to urban scrumping's palazzo to eat pies, drink beer, knit the impossibly fine habu and watch the grand final (with the tv sound off of course and roy and hg commentaryon the wireless turned up loud)

then we took a and e to see bill bailey at the arts centre - walking down swanston street among celebrators staggering back from the mcg and (from the other direction) white faced exhausted returnees from the melbourne show. bill bailey was fantastic - so funny i was crying with laughter.

and it was warm!! the time/temperature magic lantern thing at the abruzzo club in east brunswick read 29 degrees at 3 pm - it's spring!

habu crazy

well like many in the blogosphere i succumbed and bought some habu yarn - the wool/steel mix. the one that is so fine it is like knittng with spun whiskers....

it is magical and bizarre and beautiful. but so so fine.... i did choose a pattern that uses 5mm needles so i'm not completely nuts.

i gingerly started a sleeve during the grand final and i can see this is going to be a love hate relationship. it loves to tangle and wind back on itself - and i hate that...

so we shall see what we shall see. but don't expect a finished garment any time soon

cupcake saturday

3 year old w had been having some Behavioural Issues especially at creche and after exhausting the stern options i hit upon a more carrotty approach. we agreed that if he could refrain from cursing and hitting his confreres for a week than he could have some friends over for a play. this morphed into a party with 6 little friends invited and 3 teachers....
mercifully only 3 children were able to come and the teachers all were mysteriously busy...
but there was a tumult of baking - 60 gazillion cupcakes and a few battalions of 'gingerbread mans' although for this party the mens were kangaroos and the number 3 (we have a diverse range of cookie cutters). the kitchen was awash with icing (frosting) and hundreds and thousands.

much worse was the cleaning - parents were also attending and my house suddenly looked notifiably dirty. m unwisely dropped in and was handed herculean cleansing materials and sent to the bathroom. he also kindly scrubbed the kitchen cupboard doors. i swabbed floors and stacked my bedroom with household detritus not ready to be thrown out and things i didn't want touched (like my spinning wheel).

all in time to be a gracious hostess with a winning smile and a boiling kettle......

i think everyone had a good time - the party boy told me he was 'mexhausted by fun' so that has to be good. we do have some spare cupcakes if anyone is interested?

the catalogue along

uk art quilter guru maggie grey has issued an interesting challenge - see here

thousands of art quilters have put catalogues out in their gardens and await further instructions. i have already made a mistake - i see re-reading maggie's blog that i should have slashed the cover. perhaps that can wait until tomorrow.

i have put mine out under the japanese maple near the grey water hose from the washing machine. here in melbourne we have water restrictions so we are using buckets in the shower and recycling grey water.

i plan to have weekly updates on the catalogue's fate - this could be interesting depending on how long it's out there. that bed is right near the fig tree which is a major bat attraction in the summer and bats have very dodgy digestions.....

my weekend - full of wips

detail of the first solomon's temple quilt - it bears no relation to the plans and sketches but i think heralds a series of solomon quilts

alice delta quilt - an experiment in quilting before painting, drying on the line


the recently arrived and impeccably well mannered billthedog (looking rather cary grantish here, i think)
miss molly moth, spinster of this parish
artichokes growing in the chook pen
dyeing useing frozen violets - a la india flint



ta da! my hair is now long enough for pig tails! for a small pig admittedly, but still.... do you like the fashionably untidy bathroom?? it's styled to match my fashionably untidy house

Publish Post

more words to follow...

yup

44 is the number of derangements of 5 items.


(thank you wikipedia for explaining everything)

buda bunya pine quilt

my piece for the 'around the world in 20 quilts' challenge #1 'trees'. i described the inspiration and the composition and assembly process a couple of posts ago.

i was completely stumped by the conundrum of how to quilt this piece. i did lots of sketches, played with ideas and ended up throwing them away and just hopping into the quilting. i quilted where the spirit moved me and lo there was something much better than any of my sketches.

luckily the quilt had firm ideas so i let the piece dictate how it wanted to be quilted and just obediently pushed the quilt around under the free motion foot, kept refilling bobbins and changing thread as it ran out. the most surprising bits were the roots going into the pebble quilting and the outline quilting over the photos - i had no idea that was going to happen!

the next challenge theme is 'stellar' and i already have some ideas zooming around. it's not due until 30 november so i have plenty of time to do your solomon's temple quilt, mum :)