Sydney Craft & Quilt Show...

Today myself & the lovely Rhonda went, Thelma & Louise style, down the Freeway to the big smoke to spend some money get some inspiration from the Sydney Craft & Quilt Show.

Just a small section of the Show...

We met my Sister Monique and her friend Liz there. Just long enough to say our hellos and we were all off in different directions to go and stalk our favourites.

I went this year with the intention of finding gadgets and the mission of not buying any fabric... I succeeded!! No fabric!! It's a miracle!!

 I found some great templates from Kim Bradley to use as a design base on my long arm.

 

A few packets of machine needles.

 

A top pattern.

A bag clasp. My sister bought the bag pattern for us both to use.

A book of blocks.

 

A huge roll of jersey knit yarn and a giant crochet hook to make a bag from. I know, sounds weird but it looks awesome.

 

I joined the NSW Quilt Guild. It's only taken me about 10 years to finally get around to it. The ladies were all lovely and I can't wait to get started on the teacher accreditation course.

As I was walking along I noticed a quilt that looked familiar to me. Then I realised that I had quilted it for Ally in January. It is in this months Down Under Quilts Magazine. I did a little excited squeal and Monique didn't know what was happening.

Such a lovely bright quilt and the quilting is pretty good too... haha... 

The Quilt Show was bigger this year. There were a few quilts that really inspired me. My friend Jan won third prize in the Traditional (Professional) category with her beautiful Wholecloth quilt. I'm so happy for her!!

I found myself really studying the quilts that were professionally machine quilted. I took lots of photos for inspiration.

This one was my favourite.

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For the first time there was a workshop area where they were screen printing. It was Louise Snook from WA. I loved it!! The fabrics looked fantastic. It made me want to go home and print some fabric.

Yummy hand printed fabrics...

This was the last photo I took as we headed out the door. Rhonda and I stayed til almost the end. It was another great Sydney show.

 Now we just had to get home through all that Friday evening traffic....

Happy Quilting

Leanne xo

 

Archie is Seven....

I can't believe my little Archer is Seven.

Going for a ride with Daddy in his Cobra...

He had a great day. He took cupcakes to school to share with his class. When we arrived at school all his friends were waiting for him and they burst into the "Happy Birthday" song. It was so cute. His friends love him so much.

When he got home it was pressie time. He got lots of fun things. Transformers, Lego, Cars 2. All his favourites.

Lots of cool presents...

He asked to have a fire and marshmallows. Yuuummmm...

Getting the fire going with wet wood...

Toasting marshmallows...Yum...

 We still have a whole weekend of fun planned.....

Happy Birthday my Little Man...

Love Mummy, Daddy, Ethan & Oz  xoxo

WIP Wednesday....

That week went sooo fast...

I have done tonnes this week but I only took the one photo. So here it is...

My Picnics & Fairgrounds Dresden Plate.

Also...

I finished my Sweet Nothings QAYG.

Started a dinosaur quilt for Oscar (promised to him 2 yrs ago)

Made a scarf from Loulouthi to wear to the show on Friday

Quilted 2 customer quilts

Cleaned out all the crap from my sewing room. I chucked heaps and gave away some stuff too. It always feels good to have a big clean out...

So there you have it. My creative week in a paragraph.

I have linked up to WiP Wedneday over at Freshly Pieced. Go over and check out what all the other creative people are up to...

 

Hope you had creative week too...

Happy Quilting

Leanne xo

WIP Wednesday.........

I am joining up with the WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.

 

 

 

What am I up to ........

 

This is my Sweet Nothings by Riley Blake QAYG. I only have to bind it.

 

 These are my yummy Denyse Schmidt Picnics & Fairgrounds fabrics. I am doing Dresden Plates with them. They are all cut  and I've started stitching.

Hope you are all getting some fun stuff done too....

Happy Quilting

Leanne xo

The Gully's are Runnin'...........

OH,THE RAIN...

The view from the verandah.......

This is the most rain we have seen in years. Our road has just gone under and the normally dry gully's on both sides of our property are a raging torrent. It seams such a waste. All this water just heading down stream. I'm sure in a few years we will have a drought again and we will be wishing we had it all back. That's Australia for you. The land of extremes...

Love my pink gumboots........

The sound of the rushing water is incredible..........

 The water running into the gully in the right of this photo is our neighbours dam bursting it's banks. This dam was quite low before the 3 weeks of solid rain. 

We call this area "The Grove". It's my favourite spot on our property.It has never had this much water in it...

Another shot of  "The Grove"

Leanne xo

All Good Intentions..........

I can't believe how fast time goes. I know I've said it a couple of times, but where does it go ??

Last week I had all good intentions to do 3 posts in the week and here we are 1 1/2 weeks later and nothing.

It's not like I'm doing nothing. I have done heaps of customer quilts, finished Ethan's quilt and been getting a wriggle on on a couple of other WIP's.

Here's a little of what I've been up to....

Nolene's beautiful flannel quilt........

I quilted it with a double rose panto.........

Kerrie's very large quilt for her friend.......

My new favourite swirl panto..........

Ethan's quilt......... (Oscar holding it)

He wanted an oceany panto.........

Bound in a very masculine stripe.....

Happy Quilting

Leanne xo

Look at Loulouthi.......

This scrumptious little bundle of Loulouthi by Anna Maria Horner arrived the other day. It's so yummy. I think I might need more of some of the prints.

I got enough of this to make a skirt. It must be really nice because, as you who know me will know, I don't wear skirts/dresses. I'm a little excited about this one. I have worked out about 3 different outfits around it. Now I just have to make it. I know it will only take about an hour, I've just got to do it...

Happy Quilting

Leanne   xo

Walking With Dinosaurs.........

Today we took the boys to the Arena Spectacular- Walking With Dinosaurs.

We didn't tell them we were going. We told them we were going to look for a new lounge. When we arrived at Newcastle Showground/Entertainment Centre they were a bit confused. Ethan had already worked it out but when Oscar & Archer saw the signs they yelled & jumped with joy.

Definitely the best surprise for them in quite a while.

Our little Dino boys...

We took our seats not really knowing what to expect.

Paul, Archer & Oscar.......

Myself & Ethan.. don't you just love self portraits.... NO!

It was Fabulous...

We were totally engrossed. It felt like we were watching a man go 160 million years into the past.

I laughed, I was amazed, I cried. ( at the end when the comet destroyed them) I had my Oscar, who would love to be a paleontologist, whispering facts in my ear about 2 minutes before the narrator told everyone else. I couldn't believe he knew so much, and everything he told me was correct!

I couldn't get good photos as it was really dark but I did get some good video footage (naughty I know) 

Sorry it's blurry, but you get the idea....

The colours were amazing and the sound was booming...

I loved the blow up vegetation...

I would totally recommend this to anyone that has the chance to see it.

Leanne xo

Guild Dyeing Day.....

Today we had Wendy Scott, who is a fantastic Textiles teacher, come to the guild to do fabric dyeing with a small group of us. It was an awesome day.

Look at the concentration here....

Jan & Rhonda, We've got colour on fabric.......

We used the 3 primary colours to mix the colours we wanted and poured it over our fabric. A total of 3 mtrs was dyed.

Blending dyes and a little rock salt for effect.......

Stenciling with dye in a thickening medium.... beautiful work Lyn..

We all went home wanting more.

Some of our creations.......

Once home I still had to rinse a lot of my fabric out. It's so much fun when you undo all the tying and rubber bands to reveal the design on the fabric.

 Me in the paddock rinsing out dye.....

On the line.... waiting, waiting....

My beautiful finished creations. Not one of them is the same design.....

Happy Quilting

Leanne xo