Memories

Remember I told you about the quilt I bought from the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, "Alzheimer's: Forgetting Piece by Piece"? It arrived today! The idea was that the quilts were the size of a USPS flat cardboard priority mailer without folding. When my daughter brought it up the drive and told her it was my quilt, she said in disbelief, "That's not big enough to be a quilt!"

But when I opened the package and there it was... It was so exciting! The quilt, called Memories, by Victoria Findlay Wolfe, at Bumble Beans blog, is exquisite. The applique is hand done using invisible stitches, and the quilting dots all over the piece. It's really lovely.

Thank you V!
xoxo Ann

A Very Nice Day

I had a very nice day at the end of last week.
I was quilting my Fish and Flowers quilt in my shop, when a quilter and blogger from Cairns dropped in. Debbie, from Deb's Quilting, stayed for a coffee and chat. It's really special when someone you've never met in person, but reads your blog, contacts you and you meet in the flesh. I'm sure you know the feeling.
I used an all over stipple on the quilt, after free motion stitching around the flowers with a black thread. They're quite large, and I found it a little challenging keeping the stitching lines straight, or smooth, and although I've done a lot of machine quilting, I've never actually stippled such a large area.

As I was doing the stippling, I was surprised by some old friends from Dalby, a bit further west of Brisbane. I went to school with Ruth, and was the bridesmaid at her wedding. It's great to see a couple still together and happy after more than 20 years!

I finished the stippling, and was quite pleased, then to do the border in some kind of wavy, crinkly design... my sewing mahcine spat the dummy about a foot from the end of the last edge.
That's when Sandi from Embroideroo popped in with her sock monkey for a loan.
Here he is sitting on a can of insect spray. Since we've had so much rain, the ants have invaded and I've had to resort to surface spray to protect special things like the cats' food mat and kitchen tidy bin. Yuk!
But the monkey is sweet. Just in front is a magazine with quilt patterns from Don't Look Now. Kellie is a really talented designer - beautiful quilts- and I'm pleased to stock her patterns in my shop.

Later that evening I was visiting some blogs and a beautiful little quilt at Bumble Beans caught my eye on a number of side bars. (I think Victoria at Bumble Beans must be one of the most prolific and amazing quilters in the world!)It was part of an exhibition to raise funds for Alzheimer's disease research and awareness, Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. I checked out the website, and bought Victoria's beautiful quilt, Memories! So exciting! My own grandmother had Alzheimer's, so I felt a special connection to the quilt and the cause.
Have a look at the websites, and you too may find something you like to support this worthy cause.
Hopefully I'll receive the quilt soon - I'll show it to you,

xoxo Ann.