Cats and Quilts

Isn't he handsome? Dusty really knows how to charm.
He's sitting on my finished Gypsy Quilt... Before I wrecked it by washing and drying it too strongly. I gave it the usual treatment of a gentle wash and drying in the dryer, but I forgot about the SILK. When I took it out of the drier, some of the silk squares had frayed out of their seams AND their colours had run through to the stylish cream and black back. You can imagine some of what I said alone down stairs in the laundry...
It's now in the process of a transformation, so watch this space _______. I haven't been terribly inspired yet but I've got a few ideas.

It's raining again in Maleny and the cats are in their favourite viewing spot on the ironing board. We've got a big fat tabby feral cat trying to make our home his at the moment, and this morning I discovered him fast asleep on our veranda chair (I'd had suspicions) to keep warm and dry through the cold, wet night. It's very disturbing for all of us, especially the cats.
Happy stitching,

xo xo Ann.

It's Raining Cats and Dogs!

We're all getting a bit stir crazy! Last Saturday it was foggy and raining...
This Saturday it is too.
And it has been all week. There's water every where. The towels are wet, the inside of the car is wet, the roads are running with water, the tanks are overflowing, and the constant trickle, patter and roar of falling rain is like a curtain of white noise, always in the background.
The cats are getting quite disgusted...

Cats and Quilts

Enter, the Cats...

Dusty

and Dolly...

make their first appearance for 2010, and they'd like to wish you all a Very Happy New Year, I'm sure!
They're both snuggled in their favourite spots. Dusty's on a quilt on my bed, and Dolly's taken over a quilt top waiting to be ironed before basting, on my ironing board. (it looks a bit like a surf board here.) It doesn't matter what's on there, Dolly will be with it - even a steaming iron.
The quilt at the top is an old one, Clare Valley Rainbow , when I was still practising and trying out traditional machine quilting patterns on my sewing machine. My wobbly vine stems always bothered me, but it looks quite nice in this light. I bought a pack of gorgeous fabrics which reminded me of the Clare Valley wine growing area in South Australia, from Frangipani Fabrics when they first opened in Darwin years ago. Then I proceeded to make a medallion quilt.
The next quilt has been in progress for about a year now, and has spent most of it's uncompleted life as a table cloth to cover up a trestle tabe when my shop was temporary. Now I've moved in, I have proper furniture and I can finish the quilt. It's quite nice, made with South African Shweshwe indigos and red.
I seem to have a lot of quilts at the quilting stage - actually at the basting stage, which I hate! I've spent nearly my whole weekend hours not at work, pin basting. What a dreary bore...
Now I have to get dressed and vacuum, yes, on a Sunday!
But I have had breakfast in bed while reading Memoires of a Geisha my latest book club book. I'm surprised that , although I've read it before and seen the movie, I'm enjoying and am gripped by it as much as before, maybe more.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend,

xoxo Ann

"I Spy" Blast from My Quilting Past

I recently made an I Spy quilt from a design I made about 11 years ago!

I designed a quilt to showcase a collection of fabrics and to teach as a project for my first Patchwork students back in the 90's. At that time it was a collection of Japanese fabrics, with hand-dyed indigo sashing. Then I did it for a couple of new babies, with novelty fabrics as an "I Spy". Most recently, I've re-used the idea in my African Quilts. It's very simple, but greatly loved! I sold a few of them when we first moved to Maleny about 8 years ago.
Recently one of those customers from the past contacted me again to ask if I still made the quilts and if I would make another one!

I said yes, and went to find my long unused shoebox of now vintage novelty fabrics. I looked up my quilt sketch book/planning journal and there found the entire details of the making of the quilt, including the words on the label, fabric requirements and costing. The lesson to be learned: ALWAYS KEEP A LOG OF YOUR QUILTS!
The fabrics brought floods of memories of my little girl, quilts, times, places and feelings from the past...

Here's Doll, always ready to comfort test a new quilt. And I just threw in a peak at another recent commission being quilted. This one's a Random quilt and looks great when finished with a jumbo pompom trim.
See you soon,

Ann.

Sprung!

Every Saturday, I pack up my quilt studio, fabrics and sewing bits and pieces, and squash them into my trusty little 11 year old Ford Festiva to relocate to my shop in Maple Street, Maleny. Amelia helps me do this. She's got a brilliant sense of humour and a real talent at photo stories and animation. Look what she managed to catch Dusty up to and quickly snap on my digital camera -
What's he contemplating here?

Hmmm, I'll just take a quick spin... I've seen Ann sitting here, she touches that wheel, the car moves back and she comes back home with our dinner...

O-OH! SPRUNG!

A quick getaway...

What you lookin' at?! Can't a cat just sit on a rock minding his own business...?

"Gypsy Bubbles"

Just a snippet to show you I'm still here! I've been incredibly busy with setting up my new "micro-shop" in Maple Street, Maleny. It's been fun, and a really

BIG THANK YOU

to all of you who have dropped in and supported me!
I've also had my 50th Birthday! I had a party with lovely friends and family. My sister, her husband and baby Eva even came from PNG!
I thought I'd give you a peek at the Gypsy Bubbles Quilt's progress... It's actually finished now and will be hanging in the shop for you to see in the fabric, and book into classes for too.
I'm calling it Patricia after the designer of the fabrics, Patricia Bravo. It looks like a Patricia!
Here it is, hanging on the design curtain in the shop below.

Now here it is, becoming a quilt as I've started quilting it. I had terrible problems with my Janome 6500 - in fact I think it died. So I swapped over to my little Pfaff which did itself proud (but it was harder to manipulate the quilt under the smaller arm).

I just had to show you this one! I pulled out my chair to start stitching and what did I find? It's Dolly, making sure I had a rest from quilting!
As I said, the quilt is finished now and I will be posting more pictures.
I'm so excited - I've just made my first sale of Fabric by the Metre in my Ebay Store!
Happy creating,

Ann.

New Things

I keep discovering new things to add to my blog and make it better (I hope!) Look at the gorgeous little kitty I found on Quiltycat Blog (have a look it's a lovely blog.)! I called him Timmy because he's like our dear little cat, Timothy Twinkle Toes. He lives again in the virtual world. You can play with him with your cursor...
I'm off to QuiltEssentials to finish a French Braid workshop today. It's raining, cold but I've just finished piecing a new commission and added Timmy to my blog, so I already feel satisfied.Have a lovely weekend,

Ann.

Dolly and Dusty on a cold,cold,wet day.

Here they are again!I had some students in the studio today, a grey and patchy rainy day at that. Dolly decided she had to make her presence felt by sitting repeatedly on my chair, every time I stood up. Then she changed her tack and settled imperiously on her sewing machine throne...

Christine went over to say hello and received a whiskery kiss on her brow.

Meanwhile, Dusty through the studio window was busy playing the wild and free King of the Backyard. I thought he looked a bit like a ferret. Unfortunately, he lost his tasteful black collar and the only one available to replace it was the brash flouro one. Luckily, he's not proud!

Bye for now, Ann.

Hello Dolly!

Here she is again, my little oversee-er cat, Dolly. She likes to plump herself own on this pile of quilts at my studio doorway. I thought it's been a while since one of the cats has visited this blog and about time one of them put in another appearance...

Ann

Cats and Quilts...more

Time to introduce the king cat of the house. Isn't he handsome? This is my beautiful big boy cat, Dusty. He likes to sprawl across my work table, preferably on some work in progress. Here he is, gazing disdainfully at the camera as he leaves fur on the backing squares stacked ready to use on the backs of those large quilt blocks on the design wall behind him. He also likes to sleep in my big repurposed toy box of fabric scraps.
The quilt is finished now and Dusty's confused about where to recline for the moment.
Look out for the completed quilt in the next post!

Studio: Before and After

I had this old tray mobile that I stored all my African fabrics in and had my threads and the odd fat quarter on the top. Dolly the cat really liked sleeping and leaving all her fur on there so I had to cover it with the Timorese Ikat you can see draped over the top.

Now the tray mobile has gone and it looks much better there. Dolly now sleeps and oversees the sewing on the mini ironing board attached to my work table!

This part of my studio was probably the worst with my desk piled high with all my folders and business documents . A big roll of wadding fitted in OK but it's better over in the space created near my work table.
Below, that area is now my favourite part. I painted the little vintage desk shabby chic white, as well as some cinder blocks I found under the house left over from building. Then I put one of the bookshelves I'd used on the other side of the room on top. Most of my books fit and all my photo disks and office bits and pieces live in the brick recesses.
You can see my cabinet of vintage teddy bears over to the right... not sure what to do with those as I love most of them but the cabinet really takes up a lot of space.

Cats and Quilts Go Together Like Cheese and Vegemite: You either love them or hate them!

Isn't she adorable? Her name's Dolly and she loves to luxuriate on my quilts where ever they are in whatever stage of construction she finds them in. This one happens to be a kit quilt from Julie Wallace, The Quilters' Barn.
We have two delightful grey cats, a brother and sister called Dusty and Dolly, and from time to time they will make their little appearances on my blog.
They just seem to go so well with quilts, as cheese goes with Vegemite so do cats go with quilts... I guess you either love them or hate them!