my amazing students

I had to share with you some of the fabulous morsels my students created for their cup cake design assignment.........

They put a great deal of thought and imagination into their work, and produced their own photographs. I am incredibly proud of their efforts. What do you think?

(By the way, if you want the answers to the sushi quiz, the students' work is pictures 1 and 3 - did you guess correctly?)

Spring Blooms Quilt in progress..

This is my offering for the quilt swap. It seems a little strange, depicting spring here when the weather is coming straight off the Antarctic, but I am certainly enjoying the process. I still need to complete the stamens, back, quilt and bind it, so I had better hurry!

I love this block - it was originally from Dianne Johnston's "Happiness Is" pattern.

I adapted the original quilt pattern, making it smaller and rearranging it into a large wall hanging. I used my hand dyed fabrics and Steven and I designed the hot air balloon block to accomodate the kids. (If you look closely at them in the basket, you'll realise that I made this quilt quite a few years ago!)

We also personalised it - the name on the bottle of wine is denoting a stunning spot in Tasmania, where we met in 1981.

Where did you meet the special person in your life?

April's projects

I told you I had a few things to finish off this month.....

Firstly, I finally had a chance to add the binding to the mystery Mayhem quilt top I made in January.

Secondly, I made a strip pieced QAYG quilt to donate to the bushfire collection. Marilyn at Patchwork Teahouse in Warburton helped me out with the lovely purple sashing fabric, which Steven and I thought added more interest to the end result - what do you think? I am trying to finish off a different quilt to donate also, and then if I can manage it, I want to do another strip pieced one using black as the sashing and binding, suitable for a male. Hopefully next month!

Next is a little Easter gift for my lovely stitcher friend Karen.......

I hand painted the pink sections on the butterflies before I stitched them. The fabric on the bottom is a lovely Lakehouse butterfly fabric, so she can use it either way. (How is it working out, Karen??)

Now, for the ATC's I made this month.....

These "Friendship Fans" ATC's are needleturned and then accents are stitched with gold thread.

The three "April Showers" ATC's are made with my hand dyed fabric. They are buttonhole stitched, then the black accents are stitched. Special glitter I use on my cards has been added to give a flower centre and to signify the raindrops. I enjoyed sitting down and creating them.

The last set of ATC' s was the nine I made for the Haiku swap. You may recognise the photo I used on the front?? I printed them onto fabric, machine stitched some of the branches and added some dew drop with the glitter in the places they actually occured when the original photo was taken.

That's enough for now - the challenge is certainly inspiring me to complete something each month - I am amazing myself how much I am actually able to achieve in the limited time I have available. How have you progressed this month?

A lovely surprise

Look what I found on my desk this morning.......

If you are having difficulty reading the note, it says:

Joy of Health

surrounded by

Joy of Life

XXX

I have not as yet worked out who they are from, but they made my day very special - I am lucky to know some very special people!

I hope your day was a good one

Another sanity saver?

if you look to the right, you will notice a new swap I am joining......

If you have the urge to create a spring blooms inspired mini quilt (it will brighten our Autumn days!) then go to this site to join in.....

http://quiltinggallery.com/2009/04/21/spring-blooms-mini-quilt-swap

Let me know if you join up - it could be fun to check progress!

A quiz for you

Over the last few weeks, I have been showing some classes how to make sushi. After sending a selection of their photos to the staff, several colleagues asked how to do it, so I ran a special class for them after school this afternoon. We had a lovely time, and shared a lot of laughs


Now for the quiz - can you pick which of these photos are the students' sushi and which are the teachers'? No hints - let me know what you think!

Picture 1

Picture 2:

Picture 3

March Projects

I have SO many items very close to finished, but with the pressures of work, few have managed to be completed this month.


My only achievement is the 9 themed ATC's I managed to create for this month's challenge - this was what I wanted the assistance and inspiration for in my last post........







Thank you all for your suggestions - I now want to create a larger project, as so many qualities listed were important ones to attempt to emulate.

To create the ATC's, I painted a piece of fabric with blue and pink paint, (which merged into mauve at about the centre of each ATC) and salted it, causing the ripples and interesting effects. The words were then stitched and the sparkly trim added after that.
What do you think?

I'm really enjoying creating the ATC'S!


One project I was hoping to complete this month, but will be included in next month's tally is this strip pieced quilt:

I just have to complete hand sewing the binding, and then I will drop it in to Sandra at Sandlyn House. For many years, there has been an annual retreat to Marysville, and while I couldn't attend last year due to Steven's illness, I have many happy memories of a previous weekend retreat the year before. Sandra will pass it through to her friends to brighten the life ofone resident affected by the fires. I'm also hoping to make a masculine version, but I will see how I go.

Positive qualities

Can you help me please?

I am working on a project that I want to base around the positive qualities people possess.

I have been brainstorming some myself, like:

honesty

resilience (Karen's contribution)

compassion

loyalty

kindness

humour

Can you think of others that you consider important?

Thanks for you help!

Small steps forward

For the first time in eight months, Steven has made some wood items.........


My very special Stitcher's Angel, Karen (who I HAVE to do a full post on!) has been busy sending Steven photos of projects she has found on the internet that may tempt him to start wood working again.


One of the ideas was a wheel to made finger pressing of foundation pieced or hand sewn work easier and better.


He finally felt well enough to make a prototype, which we sent to her for an opinion.
I was the lucky recipient of the second one, pictured below. Of course, he had to make mine out of Lace She Oak to match the second sewing box and other items he has made me.

The beautiful Karri sewing box he gave me recently was one he made early in 2008, before he became ill. He had planned to sell it if anyone was interested, but was very reluctant to, as he loved the wood. He finally convinced me to have it, which brings to 3 the number I have been given...... I absolutely adore them, not just because he made them, but also because you can fit so much in them - I pack a different project in each, complete with scissors and accesories, and can just pick them up and set to work instantly. They are also beautiful to stroke, due to the silky finish he achieves.


The third item is also very special - when I came home from a fabulous workshop with Gloria Loughman last Saturday, I was given this Karri needle case - Steven had made it for me to match my new sewing box.

Thes little projects represent a milestone in our lives - although Steven is still trying to recover from the spinal fractures and nerve damage done by the tumour, and it is unclear if he will ever return to how he was, the fact that he has been able to attempt these small projects means he is feeling a little more like himself. I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful man as my partner, and I will continue to enjoy every spare moment I can with him.

February's completed projects

I have managed to complete a few items this month.......

The first is my geisha quilt. I gave up trying to work out a quilting design myself and sent it to Chris from Sandlyn House to quilt it for me. As usual, she has done a wonderful job.

In January, I attended a Cathedral Windows workshop with one of my favourite tutors, Julie Fenn at Somerset Patchwork.

So far, I have completed two of these nifty pin cushions, but I am hoping to complete more as, although they are time consuming, they are quite addictive!

Lastly, with the encouragement of my lovely friend Barb, I have discovered ATC's. Here are two I created for my group's monthly swap....

The theme was "Love is", and these were my attempts on the theme.

I'd love to hear what you think of my month's efforts!