Canberra Quilt Show

After a crazy week of baking and organising and a day of recovery from Romily's party, I took off for a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon and headed to the Canberra Craft and Quilting Fair. The Canberra Quilters annual exhibition is always good, so I was pleased to make it there - without children distracting me!

While there were a lot of traditional quilts there, I find it's the picture quilts that really draw my eye. Here are some of my favourites from the show.

Jenny Bowker Sandstorm over the White Desert

More unbelievably brilliant work from Jenny Bowker, currently resident in Egypt. I don't know why this quilt wasn't entered for best of show - she won last year with a similar entry. Also exquisite.

Beth Miller Grass Trees

Beth Miller A Touch of Green

Pat Godden Panda Reflections

Natsuko Miyake Life is like an instant dream

Check out the gauze over the base layer, with applique and embroidered details over the top. This was an excellent way to give this very interesting quilt a lot of texture. I really liked the design and technique, although I wasn't wild about the colours.

Jocelyne Leath A Moment in Time

The castle you can see is entirely quilted. You have to see it to believe it!

Jocelyn Green Oak Park - The windows of Frank Lloyd Wright

Helen Godden La Luna Feminingo

Naomi Miyake Happy Magic - Best of show (entirely hand quilted!)

There were also some excellent 'best of show' quilts from other state shows on display. Here are my faves.

Adriana Gismondi Encyclopaedia of Australian Birds (Quilt West Best of Show)

Elizabeth Camping Japanese Treasure Bag - SA best of show

I bought some gorgeous FQs from the trade hall. Will load a pic in the next post. No sewing going on here. We have a sick bubba - Tristan now has croup. Will this winter never end? Eventually!

All partied out

'All partied out' used to mean I'd been out dancing too late. These days it means that after running a party for eight four-year-olds for two hours, I'm absolutely exhausted! And that was with the brilliant help of my husband. What a great team.

I don't think the following pictures need any explanation. The end result was a very happy four year old, which is what makes all that hard work worthwhile (and I have a whole new appreciation of what my mum did for me all those years ago!).I made the party bags. They're from the Prints Charming Rainbow Garden range. Pink for girls and blue for boys. I don't usually go in for the whole colour stereotyping thing, but the fabrics were so gorgeous I actually didn't mind too much!

I'll blog a tutorial once I get some sleep. Carl, Tristan and I have all come down with the cold Romily brought home with her last week. We're stuffed! I'm looking forward to some warmer weather and fewer viruses!

Guess who is four?

My gorgeous Romily.Happy birthday to my darling, funny girl.
xxx

Stars in her eyes

In addition to starting new dance classes, Romily has also started going to a six-hour session at playschool on Fridays. As they're there for so long, the kids have a 'rest time' after lunch. They have to take a little cushion along to lay their heads on while they're having a rest. While we almost certainly had something suitable here, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to procrastinate from study...er, I mean do something crafty, so I dipped into my stash and whipped up a cute little patchwork cushion for her.One side is red and the other aqua. Each side is pieced, with appliqued and reverse appliqued stars in each quarter. (Click any of the images for a closer look) I blanket stitched around the reverse appliqued stars with two strands of embroidery floss. Upon closer inspection, it turns out I should have also stitched around the other stars, as my raw edge straight stitching wasn't. Straight, that is. So I had better do a bit more blanket stitching before next Friday!

Do you think she likes it?
The next project is a set of party bags for Romily's birthday party next Saturday. The lucky girl will have two cakes this year, as her actual birthday is on Wednesday. She's stoked!

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Tristan continues to be as cute as a button. Look what he started doing! This is with no prompting from me. He has been watching Romily 'play telephones' and decided that he can do it too. How cute are they at this age? So funny, adorable and they don't talk back and give you attitude. My mum is right, nine to eighteen months is just a fabulous age :)

Dancing queen

With great excitement, we headed off last Tuesday to Romily's first ever dance class. She was primed and ready to go and I hoped that she would love it. Well, I didn't have to worry! As soon as we opened the door to go in - they were just starting - she joined straight in and started copying every move the dance teacher made. She got down and boogied and it was just fantastic! She also, in Romily's very special way, said this in one breath to the teacher:

I don't go to Gymbaroo anymore because I'm too big now and I can do everything at Gymbaroo and I'm not challenged anymore so now I come to Blueberries!

You should have seen the teacher's jaw drop! It was hysterical. Romily's biggest challenge at dance class so far has been learning when it's appropriate to speak :) She just loved it and I had a hard time getting her out of the studio after the class finished. She wanted to keep dancing and watching herself in the wall-to-wall mirrors.
A dancing queen in the making!

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This may come as a shock to some, but Tristan is now 11 months old! How did nearly a year fly by, I hear you ask? Don't ask me - it's been a whirlwind of sleepless nights, breastfeeding, pooey nappies and chuckles. He is such a gorgeous bubba, such a happy chappy. I just love him to bits. We've been 'night weaning' this week and it's going pretty well - he was ready and just needed a bit of encouragement and withholding by the dairy! Last night, after a late night out, he slept from midnight to 6am without waking. Woohoo! Here's my big boy on his birth quilt made by my EB Quilter buddies, and here he is making off with it!
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Last night we attended our friends' annual Christmas in July dinner party. They do a Kris Kringle each year and, as I did last year, I chose to make our gifts. I made two quilted table toppers using up some of the Christmas fabrics I bought a couple of years ago. I don't really like the fabric anymore, but it was perfect for KK gifts.
Tristan liked them too!

I made this

Just for Pip @Meetmeatmikes.

I made this.And this.And this.(The girl and the pants!!!!!)

Pleats to meet you

I realised I hadn't blogged this yet! Before we headed off on our road trip I made this skirt for Romily. Actually, I made it twice - the first one was waaaaay too big around the waist and a little long, so I made it in the next size down. It's from an Ottobre 6/2008 pattern - #16 'Tammy'. It's the first time I've made anything with pleats, and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. It's also lined. As the first skirt was so big around the waist, I also excluded the seam allowances. A perfect fit!
The bigger sized skirt has been put away for next winter :)

And just because, here's a photo of Romily with her twin cousins Darcy and Cody - they're exactly four weeks younger than her and cute as buttons. This is their favourite trick and they showed Romily how to do it too!
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All goes well here. We are all healthy for a change! We have also been night-weaning Tristan. It's going well so far after a fairly torrid first night. I think we will all be better for having a bit more sleep at night. Once he's sleeping through we'll move him downstairs into Romily's room. She's very excited about not being the only one sleeping downstairs!